I have challenged the Acting City Manager to debate the impropriety and possible illegality of his actions before the meeting at White Center on April 19, 2006. Let the City Council know of your position on this. The following is my challenge to Mr. David Cline: *******************************************
PUBLIC CHALLENGE TO ACTING CITY MANAGER CLINE
This is a challenge to Mr. Cline to debate with me the following proposition: "Resolved, Burien Acting City Manager Cline seriously violated his obligations as an employee of Burien on April 19 in the public meeting at the City of White Center by promoting the annexation of White Center by Burien.."
I have charged and I am charging Acting City Manager Cline with violating his obligation as a public official of Burien. He acted outside the scope of his authority. The City Council, not the City Manager, constitutes our elected representatives with the right to govern Burien. The City Manager's job is to implement the policies provided by the City Council.The City Manager is not to make city policy on his own.
What disturbs me is not just a technicality. The City of Burien may undertake a difficult series of negotiations leading to annexation. The City has officially designated hearings on May 31, June 3 and June 7 as the time for residents to make their positions known on the matter of annexation.
Until the Council takes action after such hearings, there is no City policy favoring or disfavoring annexation.
Burien residents' rights in proposed annexation matters are strictly limited. Unlike the residents of White Center, Burien residents will not have a vote on annexation. These hearings may be the one and only time that we residents have standing to have our position heard. The very limited nature of our rights makes Mr. Cline's actions all the more reprehensible.
Our rights as residents of Burien to have our representatives hear and act on our views have been undercut by Mr. Cline's unauthorized public statements. To all the world he spoke as the voice of Burien saying, in effect, that Burien had decided it wished to annex White Center.
He was attempting to set policy rather than follow the policy set by the City Council. Mr. Cline was stabbing in the back the very people who pay his salary. Where I come from that is not forgivable.
Democratic procedures and representative government are as good for Burien as for Iraq.
I will meet with Mr. Cline at any location of his choosing. If he would rather not debate with me personally, he can respond to my charge on the internet at the blogsite referred to below. My only condition to this challenge is that a full and accurate transcript of the April 19 meeting be made public at least 2 days before the debate. Since the White Center meeting was recorded for television. I assume that the exact content of what Mr. Cline said is readily available.
As I have tried to make public I have strong views on the matter of Burien's proposed annexation. I have now recorded my views on a blogsite publicly available on the internet. You can find it at
http://burienannexation.blogstream.com/
Incidentally, anyone may submit comments on the above blogsite. I encourage Burien residents to learn the facts and make their views known.
Respectfully submitted, Tom Murray
Like you, I've spent a lot of time studying whether or not annexation of North Highline is good or bad for Burien, but we have come to different conclusions. All of the data shows that it will cost Burien residents far more if we don't annex North Highline.
I don't know if you have seen the recent figures from the City of Burien which show that if we annex all of North Highline it will cost Burien residents approixmately $600,000 more per year in taxes, but if we let Seattle annex North Highline it will cost Burien residents a whopping $2.2 million more per year in taxes.
http://tinyurl.com/pftfu Among the reasons it will cost us so much less per year to annex North Highline is because of the passage of SSB6686 during the last legislative session which provides for additional sales revenues for smaller cities like Burien to mitigate the costs of annexation.
There are a lot of additional costs to us if Seattle annexes North Highline, not just our property taxes going up significantly. If you haven't had a chance to give the recent Southwest Suburban Sewer District Study a read, you might want to take a look at it.
http://www.ci.burien.wa.us/Packets2006/042406discsewer.pdf It clearly shows that our SW Suburban rates are going to have to skyrocket if Seattle annexes North Highline. Currently, SW Suburban's rates are the lowest in King County. http://www.swssd.com/billing-sewerratecomparison.html The study shows that if we annex North Highline, the only rate increase will be about 19 percent in 2010-2011. However, if Seattle annexes North Highline you and I will be faced with the following rate increases: "19.4 percent in 2008, followed 21.6 percent, 13.2 percent, and 11.8 percent in the 2009-2011 period." I don't know about you, but I would really like to keep our sewer rates low and affordable.
From what I have read in your posts, I get the impression that somehow you think the people in White Center are vastly different and poorer than the people in Burien. Are you aware that the median household incomes in both areas are not significantly different?
Median household income in Burien is $41,577 per year.
Median household income in White Center is $40,480 per year.
http://www.ofm.wa.gov/census2000/dp58/bycounty.asp#king
Tomorrow I will post some info you might find surprising about crime in both areas...are you aware that White Center has a lower crime rate than Burien?