City Council - Special Meeting

All right, the time is 7 p.m. August 5th. I call this meeting of the Battleground City Council to order. Please rise if you can for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag

Clerk, could you please call the roll?

Mayor Overholzer?

Present.

Deputy Mayor Vail? Present. Council Member McCoy?

Here.

Council Member Ferrer? Present. Council Member Munson?

Present.

Council Member Kuypers? Present. Council Member Bowman?

Here.

And the clerk is present. That concludes the roll.

Thank you, clerk. We will look to entertain a motion for executive session.

Move to enter an executive session pursuant to RCW 42.30.110, section 1, subsection G, to review the performance of a public employee for a period of one hour.

Second. Really? Not 30 minutes?

All right. We have a motion by Councilmember Munson, second by Deputy Mayor Feil. Oh, sorry. I'm deaf on that. Call for discussion. Any discussion on that? All right. All those in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Nay. All right. I believe the motion passes 5-2. That's correct. I didn't hear you, Gina. Okay. All right. Pursuant to RCW 42.30.1101G, the city council will enter an exact session to review the performance of a public employee. The session will last one hour commencing at 8.02, or I'm sorry, commencing at 7.02 and ending at 8.02 with possible action to follow.

Let's pack it up.

Video is live.

All right. Time is 8.02 p.m., and I reconvene the battleground special meeting tonight. Per special meeting agenda, there is no action outside of the agenda, so there was no action from the executive session. And I will now open the meeting for citizens communications as authorized under the council's adopted rules, the mayor may adjust both the individual speaking time and the overall length of the constituent comments period to ensure the orderly and efficient conduct of the meeting. Due to the number of individuals wishing to speak, each speaker will have two minutes and the total public comment period will last 40 minutes. This portion of the meeting is a limited public forum to receive input from the public. It is not intended for a dialogue with the council. To help maintain an orderly and efficient meeting, please avoid conduct that disrupts the proceedings. This includes speaking out of turn, exceeding the time limit, creating loud or coordinated demonstrations, calling out from the audience or otherwise preventing others from being heard. While all viewpoints are protected under the First Amendment, obscene language, derogatory remarks, personal attacks, or campaign speeches can create disturbances that interfere with the orderly conduct of the meeting. Speakers are therefore asked to present their comments in a manner that allows the meeting to proceed efficiently and respectfully, threatening behavior, intimidation, or any conduct that substantially interrupts, delays, or interferes with the meeting may result in removal from the chambers to protect the safety and the order of the proceedings. All comments should be directed to the mayor. The council may not be able to respond to individual comments and may refer citizens to a staff member for assistance. If due to time constraints, you are unable to provide verbal comment this evening, please submit written comments to the clerk's office with the title public comment for disbursement to council. If you have printed materials to submit for the record, please hand them to the city clerk seated directly to the right of the podium. Thank you for your cooperation and participation in the council meeting this evening. I will now open the citizens communication period at 8.04 p.m. Clerk, are there any members of public on Zoom that wish to provide public comment tonight?

No, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, ma'am. All right. Again, two minutes. First up, Monica Stonier. You can sit or stand at the podium. Your choice, Monica. One moment. Let Kelly get your mic there.

There we go.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. My name is Monica Stonier. I'm here to share my thoughts about my experience with your staff. Chris Swanson has been a dedicated, trusted and dependable professional that brings the interest and experience of a smaller community and a smaller community perspective to state lawmaking, a perspective that's often left out of state lawmaking in Olympia. As a state legislator, I depend on accurate and data-driven accounts of what helps and what gets in the way of cities like Battleground. Any city in this state would be lucky to have Chris Swanson's expertise, but this city has been lucky. Washington is known nationwide for the strongest government transparency laws. So the public knows exactly what's happening with their tax funded government and why. Decisions made without transparency and rationale can and will undermine the confidence of the public, especially if legal action is taken as has been warned by attorneys already. Tax dollars are at risk in battleground and people are paying attention and I will end early to provide time for other community members. Thank you for your time this evening.

Thank you, Monica. Next up, LaDonna Kirkpatrick. LaDonna, sorry.

Thank you.

I'm going to keep this short, but I just want to inquire about the financial implications for battleground taxpayers. Over the last few months, several contentious proclamations have cost, have resulted in significant costs for the city. Could you please be, can you please be specific on the financial impact of the manager's termination for the taxpayers and how much do you think they're going to want to continue to pay for these theatrics?

Thank you. Thank you, LaDonna. Simon.

How does without cause equal a last minute special meeting with less than two days ago? You didn't bring anything up. I know you can't respond. I'm just using my time.

Is there anything else you'd like to say, Simon?

Yes. Am I allowed to use my two minutes like this? You mean technically? Yes, I am allowed to. Thank you. Also, I wanted to thank Chris Swanson for putting in the actual work of running the city alongside the rest of the city staff being put through all this mess.

Okay, that's all. Thank you, Simon. Jessica Cole.

Hello, Council. I'm Jessica Cole. On Monday night, you gave prayer three minutes, but you're only giving us two. Three would have been really nice because you took an hour of our time, and I think we should take an hour of your time, but we don't make the rules. I oppose terminating city manager Chris Swanson without cause. Taxpayers will be paying her severance plus another person to actually do her job when she's not here. Council often speaks about fiscal responsibility and one of those people is Mr. Monson who especially speaks about it and I appreciate it, but it would be ironic and hypocritical if you didn't follow through with that. This decision is significant and avoidable. The resolution alleges no misconduct or poor performance. Council recently gave Chris a positive performance. If there's no cause, why terminate? This is not in the best interest of the city and it's unnecessary expense for taxpayers. Mayor, you told me recently you were pushing aside the proclamations because it was causing our clerk a lot of extra work. What do you think this is doing tonight? It's causing a lot of controversy and creating extra work, which is hypocritical and contradictory. I request you to reject this resolution to focus on responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars and stable leadership for our city. I want to thank manager Chris Swanson, sorry, my tongue, for all of the work she's done. She's been approachable and it's been amazing. I also kind of glad you had this meeting because I forgot to say this Monday. I really appreciate our legal staff. They're ending in a couple of days and I've really appreciated Mr. Harper and thank you all. And I wish you all the best luck.

Thank you, Jessica. Cherish de Rochers. Come on up, Cherish.

Good evening. I don't even know what to say. I am honestly so disappointed in this council's actions in the past eight months. Now deciding to terminate Chris with no cause, giving her a golden parachute, over $300,000 just to see her way. I mean, is she that bad? Yeah. I think she's been pretty good. She did everything that we asked of her while she was our city manager when I was on council. We had wish lists. She accomplished everything on our wish list. She's taken on every task. I mean, obviously, I don't know what's going on now, but everything that we asked of her, she followed through on that. I mean, we're right in the middle of the biggest infrastructure project in our history. You know, she was part of that. She has... She's done a lot for the city, and I really think that this is a mistake. And I don't know what else to say. I'm just really frustrated. And I'm actually emotional about this because it is very upsetting. I love Battleground. You all know that. And it really hurts me to see that Battleground is so divided right now. I mean, we're getting alerts that our city manager is getting fired. It's like, seriously, something else. I'm sick and tired of people asking me at work, like, what's going on in Battleground? It's embarrassing. Please do better. Thank you.

Thank you, Cherish. Rad Boss.

First of all, I wanna thank you all for your service, every single one of you in this room, those who are elected and those who aren't. I'm here to speak against the termination of city manager, Chris Watson. People brought up the budget, that's fine. The biggest issue for me is the without cause for the betterment of the city. It implies that there's a detriment for her to be here. And I guess for me, I understand that that triggers contracts to where there's can be no lawsuits and those kinds of things, or at least that's my understanding. But I think for the sake of the people of Battleground, they need to know the information behind it. They need to know what's going on. The suddenness of the actions and actually just a swing from what I've seen, even in the last five months, is what brings me pause in this. I was part of her interview process, and I heard reviews from half the people in this room who gave her raving reviews about the work she did. Five months ago, I sat with you and her, Eric, and heard a raving review about how things were going. And now all of a sudden something is different. And so I guess I hope that you would, rather than hide behind the without cause clause or without that, that you just answer the questions. Was she performing poorly? Was there conflict with staff or other city leaders? And if that's the case, that takes two to tango. And let's be honest about that so we can hold everybody accountable, not just her. If it's because she's been giving advice that goes against maybe the will of this council, you guys have every right to make the decisions that you have. But I want a place where your staff and your fellow councilmen can actually critique one another and give input that goes against it. And I'm a little bit nervous about the set, the... visual image that it may give that when she speaks against certain things now she's let go will our staff feel the freedom that they can speak their mind and or not lose their job that's a pretty big concern i have so i speak against it thanks thank you brad next up ed stanton come on up sir

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm Ed Statton. I've been a part of the Battleground community as a pastor for 49 years. And I'm here to ask you to please keep our city manager, Chris, in her position. She has met with several groups in this community when she came to us from Longview. She met with our pastors group. And as I expressed these words, one of our pastors asked me please to mention his name, as he couldn't be here, Pastor Rogers from Church of the Holy Spirit. And he concurs with what I'm going to say. And when Chris met with our pastors group, we found her genuinely interested and caring about Battleground. But probably the comment she made that impressed me the most was she loves Battleground. And it's not just a job for her, in my opinion. She loves this community. Because we're not privy to what you are as to what charges or whatever has been brought up, I can only speak from what I know. And what I know is for the good of this city, this city manager needs to remain here. In 49 years, I have seen the best of times in our city and I've seen the worst of times. Sadly, in the last several months, I have seen things that I've never seen before. And it hurts me to see that. What our city needs right now is a time of healing. And by dismissing our city manager, we're just inflicting another knife into the wound. I would rather see us have a time of peace. And the old saying is that a rising tide raises all ships. And my hope and prayer is that we can have a time where a rising tide of hope and peace can give us all a better understanding of each other's viewpoints without the conflicts that we've seen. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ed.

Next up, Judy Blevins.

I'm confused. At the August 3rd meeting, during the time for citizens' comments, Along with the concerns about the usage of prayers, people also asked about improvements regarding the mobile home parks, the housing for seniors, the damage for yards, for internet services, and the Gray Street construction problems. And the latter group of people were assured communication needs improvement. And all of those things are under ongoing consideration. Well, here we are two days later. Little money will be available for those improvements. There's a call for the resignation of the city employee, no reason given, offered $300,000 severance pay. Who's next? You're going to get rid of all of us, all of them. That means any monies for city improvement will instead be used to rid our mayor of anyone with whom he has a disagreement requiring more and more severance pay. I, Judith Blevins, call this an outrageous overreach. Thank you.

Thank you, Judy. Mrs. Clark. Mrs. Clark.

Tonight's discussion should center around competency. City Manager Kristen Swanson is far more qualified for her role than the city councilors voting to remove her without cause tonight. Swanson brings over 33 years of experience in public service, has a strong track record of collaborative leadership, innovation, and leading initiatives that improve government services. She began her career in public service in 1991, managing the Elections Division in the Cowlitz County Auditor's Office, and later elected to five terms as County Auditor. In 2017, she joined the executive team of the Office of the Washington State Auditor, leading the agency's administrative functions as a director of operations. She also served as a director for the Center of Government Innovation, a non-audit division of the state's auditor's office dedicated to assisting local governments to improve their service delivery, be more cost-effective, and have efficient governments. Swanson began serving as a Director of Administrative Services for the City of Longview in March 2020. She was quickly promoted to Assistant City Manager, and in November of 22, she was appointed to the position of City Manager. In 2024, she became Battlegrounds City Manager. Overall, Swanson specializes in saving the taxpayers' money by running the city efficiently. The mayor owned a small pest control company before becoming a city councilor in 2023. His 2025 PDC financial statement shows that he now has five jobs. He also became a business consultant for a tree company, a security manager for his church. And after securing his council role, Maddox decided he was qualified to be a well-paid plant operations manager. I would love to see a list of his qualifications for that one. His church and main employer are connected to Christian nationalism. His actions as mayor continue to waste citizens' money and firing the city manager without cause will cost Bodeground hundreds of thousands of dollars and we need to be told why.

Thank you, Mrs. Clark. Mrs. Clark, if you want to email me, I'll send you my resume. Next up, Sharon Wadkey. I know, Lori's got you. Yeah.

I pronounce it Woodkey.

Woodkey. I'm sorry, Sharon.

Thank you very much. I am here tonight as the president of the Battleground Senior Citizens, and I am standing here representing 876 seniors in your community that we are responsible for and you are responsible for. The decision to release Chris, our city manager without cause, it shouldn't be taken lightly. Stability, integrity, and proven leadership are invaluable to the community. As the president of the Battleground Seniors, I respectfully ask that the city council reconsider its decision for the following reasons. Chris has served the citizens of Battleground with professionalism, dedication, and distinction. Throughout her tenure, she has demonstrated a commitment to serving the entire community fairly while also recognizing the unique needs of our senior citizens. Her actions reflect a genuine understanding that seniors are a vital part of our community and deserve respect and support. Leadership is more than managing budgets and policy. It's about serving people. Chris Swanson has done exactly that. Throughout her time with the city, she has treated every resident with respect, compassion, and a sincere desire to make Battleground a better place for everyone. The senior citizens of our community know that firsthand. The senior community has experienced Chris's responsiveness and compassion firsthand. During challenging times, she worked alongside community leaders to ensure seniors continue to have access to programs, services, and a meeting place. Additionally, releasing Chris would cause without cost sends a troubled message to those who value dedicated public service. It risks losing a leader who has built relationships based on trust, respect, cooperation, relationships that cannot be easily replaced.

Thank you, Sharon.

Thank you.

My apologies, Mrs. Woodkey.

Thank you.

Next up, Bev Jones. Lori, I'll get to you next. Okay.

My name is Bev Jones, a proud resident of Battleground for 21 years, self-delegated Battleground cheerleader. And despite having a broken arm, I wanted my voice heard tonight. So I'm here with a broken arm. I urge you not to terminate the city manager like this. I have worked with Chris on a number of projects and found her very knowledgeable, intelligent, hardworking, and dedicated. We need her on this staff. We need her in this city. To terminate her without cause is going to cause us, the taxpayers, money that is much needed elsewhere. We've heard about it. It's the largest infrastructure that we've ever had. We have many projects that need money. This is a total waste of money, of our taxpayer money. I am so disappointed in all of you. You are supposed to be working for us and not your own agendas. I urge you to do the right thing and not terminate her. Thank you.

Thank you, Bev. Lori? Enberg?

I am respectfully asking you to carefully consider your decision regarding City Manager Chris Swanson. As someone who is deeply involved with the Battleground Senior Citizens organization, I've had the opportunity to work with Chris on several occasions. Throughout those interactions, she has consistently demonstrated professionalism, integrity, and a genuine commitment to serving our community. One of the most meaningful examples of her dedication was her work to help resolve the long-standing issues surrounding the use of the Battleground Senior Center. Rather than simply accepting assumptions, Chris took the time, a lot of time, to research the history of the building and review historical documents and grant records. Through her efforts, she confirmed that the facility was originally built for senior citizens and that the grant funding used for renovations was specifically intended to benefit seniors. Her willingness to do the research and ensure decisions were based on facts helped bring much needed clarity to an important issue for our organization. She worked with us and helped guide us with the contract and policies and procedures. She's also shown support by attending events to honor and celebrate with us when our organization and our leaders were recognized. Beyond that, Chris has always been approachable, responsive, and respectful. No matter how busy she may have been, she never made us feel our questions or concerns were unimportant. She listens, communicated openly and worked collaboratively to help find solutions. Those qualities are invaluable in a city manager. Our senior community has benefited from her support and I know many of us are grateful for the respect and consideration she has consistently shown to older adults in Battleground. She has worked hard on behalf of our city and her efforts deserve thoughtful consideration. Thank you for your time and service and consideration of my perspective.

Thank you, Lori. Next up, Dave Varela.

Thank you.

I'm going to keep mine short. I believe we've heard a lot of emotion tonight on how light Chris is. And my question is, what's moving forward? Right now, the buck has to stop somewhere. And the severance on the surface looks expensive, but how much is it going to cost to keep her? And I think the cost to keep her is going to be a lot more expensive in the long run for businesses, developers, and builders in Battleground than the severance is. So again, qualifications and likability are great, but does it get things done?

Thank you. Thank you, Dave. Next up, April Hall.

Good evening. It's good to see you all again. Just want to thank you all for your service and willingness to serve this community. I know the decisions that you make are not always easy, and I appreciate the time and responsibility that comes with that. I just as everybody else would like to come respectfully asking for a greater transparency regarding this decision to terminate the manager without cause decisions like this affect not only the individual involved, but also our city employees, our community and the taxpayers who ultimately bear the financial and operational impact. As a resident, I simply just want to understand the reasoning when no explanation is provided. It naturally creates uncertainty and raises questions. Open communications, building trust, even when people may not agree with the outcome. I ask that you help restore that trust by sharing the reasons behind your decision. Our city deserves leadership that is transparent, accountable, and committed to keeping the public informed. Thank you for your time and for listening.

Thank you, April. Next up, Tim Probst. Tim Probst going once, going twice. Next up, Kathleen.

Good evening, everyone. I'm present today to request transparency in the actions of the council. At a tumultuous time in our history, both nationally and locally, it is vital that our Battleground City representatives respect the need for the community to hear why exactly the city manager is being asked to step down. What specific transgressions and proper conduct or failings have led to this motion? Why now exactly? The culture of our city is becoming more and more divisive, fueled by the choices of the council with the recent proclamations and resolutions. This special meeting was called directly following the addition of invocation at city council meetings. Is there a connection? Without clarity from the council, the public is left wondering, changing plans in order to be present here today and learn more. Why will the financial burden of a covert and rash decision fall upon taxpayers' dollars? Over $300,000? We have other needs that should be prioritized, plans for the future in which this money could be spent in a reasonable manner and to the benefit of Battleground community members. We are concerned, we want transparency, and we want to focus on community and fellowship for all people. I ask that you please reconsider your call to terminate Chris Swanson's contract. After hearing from folks in the room tonight, we can all hear the call of the people. Respectfully, I ask, will you listen to your constituents? Or will you press on, seal the deal, sign the check, and disregard the concerns of the people? Please, with hope in our hearts, we ask for clarity, for justice, and a path forward together. Thank you.

Thank you, Kathleen. Next up, Gary Obermeyer. Sorry, I don't walk as fast as I used to.

Thank you. According to Section 2 of Resolution 26-06, with regard to the city manager, it says, the city council has determined that termination of employment relationship without cause is in the best interest of the city of Battleground. Let me repeat that. The city council has determined that termination of the employment relationship without cause is in the best interest of the city of Battleground. Now, minutes from the July 20th meeting indicate that at the end, you had an executive session. It was announced that the city council would enter an executive session to review the performance of a public employee with no action to follow. Given that our city council hires only the city manager, I kind of assumed we knew who we were talking about. But sometime between July 20th, that meeting, and the email yesterday, a decision was made that termination would be the best course for the city. But this leaves me wondering, what criteria were used to make this determination? When and under what conditions was this judgment made? Who specifically was included in making the decision? As a member of the Battleground Planning Commission, I'm quite familiar with Washington State's Open Meetings Act and know from firsthand experience that elected and appointed representatives of this city are expected to follow the rules delineated in RCW 42.30.900. I expect no less from this council. Thank you.

Thank you, Gary. All right, that concludes our citizen communication. And we will move on to business. This is the presentation of resolution number 26-06, terminating and suspending the city manager employment contract and providing severance pay pursuant to the employment agreement presented by me. I don't think we necessarily need to read this through. Do you think we do? Do I have to read this in its entirety? Yes, ma'am.

The resolution. You do not have to read the resolution.

Okay. I think it's all been provided to the clerk, staff, city manager, all the council members, and everybody else. So that is the information that we have before us. And I would entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I have a question for legal, if I could. Yeah, go ahead, Troy. Are you available? I am. So Ellis, we received an email, and it was labeled confidential. Is that email protecting attorney-client privilege, or can that be divulged?

Which email is that you're referring to, councilperson?

It was one that was sent to all of council today. And advised on this meeting in specific.

That the one, the email from me.

I. The only email from legal I've gotten all day that I recall. Let me see. Yes.

If it's from, if it's from me, then yes, I would say it's the attorney client privileged.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right, the floor is open for comments. All right, I will call for the motion to approve resolution 2606, terminating the city manager employment contract in its entirety as presented and to set the effective date as 30 days from today.

Second.

We have a motion. We have a second discussion. Council member Bowman, the floor is yours. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

You'll have to bear with me for a minute. I just spent six hours driving from Central Washington for a meeting that we shouldn't be having. that was called, I found out by getting texts from people saying what is going on. Figured it was more important to be here than to finish a vacation and to finish the work that I needed to do. So I thought about Robert's Rules of Order to call the question. takes two thirds of a vote. And I thought about wasting five hours of my council members times tonight and just talking about nothing but bull crap because that's what we're here doing. And I had a conversation with the mayor yesterday and I told him this was gonna get good. And I asked him why we're doing this, why it came up when it did. My wife was in the car with me. I'll give anyone her phone number that wants to call her and ask about that conversation. I was told there was a letter. My concern was, is how do you call a meeting to fire someone without cause without including four other council members to call that meeting. I've been a mayor, I've been on a council for 15 years. Never would I have thought I'm just gonna call a meeting to fire the city manager without cause tonight and see if I can get three other votes. So I was told there is a letter. I said, why don't we have the letter? We weren't privileged to get the letter. I want the letter. you're not getting the letter. That's what I was told. So I said, okay, then we'll talk about it. I said, if there was a letter, then it wouldn't be without cause, and it should be something that we discuss in the executive session, which we had not scheduled in the executive session, which magically got scheduled after my conversation with the mayor this morning in the executive session was added to the agenda. And so We went and spent an hour in executive session to discuss stuff. And my concern is this. There is no cause. We just finished a review that Ms. Swanson got a 3.56 out of 5.0, of which one of our council members decided not to do her job. And give reasons why Ms. Swanson was scored so low. Or it probably would have been much higher. We're going to talk about $315,000. That's what it's going to cost us to write a check. But that's not what it's going to cost us as citizens of Battleground. You have to look no further to the previous city that she came from to find out what it takes to get a city manager when you start messing with city managers. It's a small field out there. The city manager that was city manager when I was the mayor went to Moses Lake. You want to see some problems? Google Moses Lake. See what their leadership's like right now. We will not get the caliber of city manager that we have. I've been in a meeting before when we fired a city manager and it was very contentious. This was not contentious. There was one person tonight, one person. I've been in a meeting when a city manager had went against a department that was very well liked and there was a complete change in this city because of it. And we had employees testifying against the city manager. We have any employees here testifying against her tonight? If there's a problem, we'd be hearing it. There's a proper process for this. And we did not follow that process. And we're stepping into areas that we shouldn't step in. Insurance rates possibly gonna go up because of lawsuits. When we have lawsuits, they go up. Legal staff has gave us their opinions on this. I believe it was this. A couple of meetings ago, I brought up two things. I said, council members should be liable for any sexual harassment claim and any hostile work environment claim. It was voted down. If we fired her with cause, She has a claim against hostile work environment, in my opinion. If we let her go without cause, because of her contract, she gets a year's worth of pay and benefits and doesn't sue us. Potentially sue us. You can always sue. She could say, I don't want the pay. She could sue us. This is a 24 hour notice, a meeting that I believe was discussed amongst council members to get to the point that we are here. It was a surprise to some of us, I'm sure. It was definitely a surprise to me. I don't find it a coincidence. This is very similar to what happened just north of us in a city that she was in, which by the way, a city council member talked about this in a city council meeting just recently and said, watch what's happening in Battleground. It doesn't make sense to me. Now, I will say this. This is going to happen tonight one way or the other. Something's going to happen. But I did tell the mayor this. About 15 years ago, we had a superintendent that was let go and given a big contract to walk away. The school district has suffered for the last 15 years because of that. When we say we're conservative and we say we're watching out for the people's money, watching out for the people's money isn't firing a city manager that just had a room full of people and no employees come out against and write a check and then write the checks that we're going to write to try and get the next city manager in here and move this city forward. So as I told the mayor, there is an election in a year and a half. And there's going to be people that are up for election. And Battleground does not have short-term memory. They have long-term memory. And Sharon, there's 876 seniors that all vote. 896. Well, 20 of them would probably, you know, maybe they didn't want to vote that day. But remember that. no matter which way this goes, because we have been nothing but divided as a council. I asked the mayor if this was so important, why wasn't it brought up on Monday night at the meeting? And his comment to me was, we didn't have enough time. We weren't going to have enough time. My comment to him was prayer could have waited. This is a pretty important thing when you're talking about the only employee that we have. So if we make this decision tonight to let Ms. Swanson go, it will be a travesty for the city. This will have repercussions that last for a long time. And it is not going to make things better. We turned down the YMCA because we didn't want to invest roughly $600,000 in them. This year alone with legal fees and a buyout of Ms. Swanson is what we turned down to the YMCA, roughly. So I hope people wake up. I hope people hear this. I hope people start coming to our meetings and not to fight. We need to find the things we can rally together. And this is not good governance tonight. And I'm ashamed that we're even having this meeting I'm really pissed that I drove this far for this meeting. And I'm sorry you guys had to sit here and wait through this meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Bowman. Any other comments we have? Councilmember Kuyfers.

Thank you, Mayor. I agree with some of the comments that Councilmember Bowman made. I'm here to say that I am also disappointed. I'm frustrated. I don't believe that we've necessarily come into this and handled this the way we should have. I think if there's information that needs to be considered, There's a process for that. And I think that we need to look at what's the content, what's the root cause, what are the issues? And we need to be able to have that discussion. If we just make a decision to terminate, that's opening up a whole nother issue. It's opening up a whole nother area of contention and divisiveness. It does not solve anything. It damages a lot of people. It impacts the staff. It impacts the citizens. It impacts us as we work together, as we try to work together more. And I just feel, you know, I came from corporate world. I feel like there's a way we should be able to sit down and figure this out, whatever the problem is that's being presented to cause this. I don't feel that this is the best way to handle it. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Kuypers. Council Member McCoy.

Let's look at the track record of this council this year. We've lost legal. By the way, Kirk, I forgot to tell on Monday, appreciate working with you. Didn't realize I'd get another chance, but I did, so I'm happy for that. So thank you and all your team for the service you provided the city. Sad to lose you on the 10th. Thank you. We've lost a lobbyist. We lost a consultant. We've had four meetings go to 1030 or later this year. When I was mayor, you know how many meetings went to 1030? Zero. What have we done? Couldn't tell you. Oh, RVs, but that's coming back because we screwed that up. What has Ms. Swanson done? I just tried to start writing it down. It's too long. This body should be deliberative, not reactionary. The city manager shouldn't be fired. The mayor should be.

Thank you, . Thank you, Councilmember McCoy. Any other comments or discussion? All right. Oh, you got one more around in you?

I just got one more. If this goes to a termination, I just want you guys to know that she has the ability to have a public hearing. So this will not be the last time if Ms. Swanson chooses so to have a public hearing. And this will all get aired in a public hearing. So... Don't think this is it. If this goes the wrong way tonight, in my opinion, the wrong way, pay attention to what's going on. And thank you for listening to your alerts and reaching out. It's very important. So pay attention to that.

All right. Any other discussion? Hearing none. We'll call for the vote. We're going to do this in a roll call vote.

Would you like this to be done as a verbal roll call vote, or would you like it to be done digitally, Mr. Mayor?

Verbal, I think, is fine.

Yes, sir.

Save the technical opportunity for difficulties.

Council Member Bowman, how do you vote?

No.

Council Member Kuipers, how do you vote? No. Council Member Munson, how do you vote?

Yes.

Council Member Ferrer, how do you vote? Yes. Council Member McCoy, how do you vote?

Absolutely, unequivocally, no.

Deputy Mayor Vail, how do you vote? Yes. Mayor Overholzer, how do you vote?

Yes.

Motion carries. Four to three.

All right. Now that the resolution is approved, I hereby direct the city clerk to promptly furnish a copy of this resolution to Christina Swanson in accordance with the notice provisions of the employment agreement and applicable law, thereby providing the required formal statement and 30 days notice of the council's intention to remove her. And then, uh, I'll call for the second motion part of this resolution, which is to suspend the city manager from duty effective immediately with salary and benefits continuing until the removal becomes effective.

Is that your motion or is that what you're calling for?

Oh, sorry. No, I'm calling for that motion. Sorry.

Motion to move to suspend the city manager from duty effective immediately with salary and benefits continuing until the removal becomes effective.

Second.

Motion by Council Member Munson, second by Deputy Mayor Beall. Another round of discussion is open prior to vote. All right, hearing none, call for the vote. We'll do a roll call again on this one, I believe. Thank you.

Council Member Bowman, how do you vote? Council Member Kuipers, how do you vote? No. Council Member Munson, how do you vote?

Yes.

Council Member Ferrer, how do you vote?

Yes.

Council Member McCoy, how do you vote?

No.

Deputy Mayor Vail, how do you vote?

Yes.

Mayor Overholzer, how do you vote, sir?

Yes.

Motion carries, four to three.

All right. On to the next business item, discussion and selection of interim city manager. I'm the presenter on this one, too.

It's odd being the presenter, by the way.

I think there's a couple options that we have, but I think the first and obvious is that we have a deputy city manager, Rob Barrier. from conversations that I've had with Rob in the past, he has stated that he was willing to fill the interim position if needed. And I don't want to speak for him, so I want to make sure that he is given the opportunity to reply to that. But that's how I recall. So any discussion or heartburn on that situation? Mr. McCoy, you have the floor.

I'd just be curious whether candidates you are considering.

Can you repeat that? I didn't catch it.

I was just curious what other candidates you were considering.

Well, the consideration of any further candidates, I think, wouldn't be necessary if Rob was willing to accept the role. Otherwise, we would look at a department head as a possible candidate. And my second recommendation would be Megan Lowry. Megan. Councilmember Bowman, you have the floor.

This is a reason that we have four years ago. It's been four years, Rob. Three and a half years. This is why we made this position three and a half years ago, was to have succession planning. I think it would be inappropriate to not choose Rob if he so chooses to serve as the interim city manager. I agree.

Anybody else before I get to another term? All right, go ahead.

I also want to express my support for Rob taking this role. I think one of the costs we're looking at is staff loss. The institutional knowledge, and I hope you can keep it together for the sake of the city.

Deputy Mayor Vail, floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would be interested in considering Megan Lowry and allowing Rob to stay a deputy if that's what he so chooses as well. I think that she has been here a very, very long time and could help to navigate the city through this situation.

Council Member Kuypers.

Maybe you can explain why we're even having this discussion about other alternatives when we haven't heard whether Rob is accepting or not. It seems inappropriate.

Well, it's a discussion that we're having. After we finish with this round of discussion, I think we were going to, my goal is to give Rob the floor. Any further discussion? Deputy City Manager Farrier, would you like to weigh in on this?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, on an interim basis, I'd be willing to step in. OK.

Thank you. I'd be willing to hear a motion.

I move that we appoint Rob Ferrier as interim city manager. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Was that council member? Yes. Thank you. Effective. You want to give the date on that?

Well, he'd be effective immediately.

Correct.

I just have a five at nine o'clock.

All right. We have a call.

We have a motion on the Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor.

yes rob uh that interim position acceptance is courses depending on negotiation of terms i see yes sir absolutely he'll have a contract just like our city manager would yep yeah so we'll uh advise legal and hr to draft that contract and we'll go through the negotiations um so we have a motion on the floor and we have a second Any other further discussion to be had? Hearing none, call for the vote. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Nay.

All right, we have a five to two, I believe.

The clerk requests, I understand that Deputy Mayor Bale has voted nay. Thank you, Council Member Munson.

Oh, sorry. Mike was off. Motion passes five to two. Seeing no further business to discuss, this meeting is adjourned at 9.01.