Over the past 4 years the City of Maple Valley has been working hard to have a seat
at the table with those involved in the Summit Place (a.k.a. Donut Hole) process;
however, when a Letter to the Editor was released to local publications by Mayor
Noel Gerken favoring a particular proponent, King County was forced under its procurement
rules to disqualify the City’s representative from participating on the RFQ evaluation
committee. Members participating on an RFQ evaluation committee cannot show any
bias or preference towards a particular proposal given the open and competiveness
nature of the public procurement process.
On July 26, King County’s 2 p.m. deadline came to an end for developers wishing
to submit Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Summit Place (a.k.a. Donut Hole).
The following day, July 27, it was learned that two companies had submitted their
information by the deadline – Polygon Homes and Powell Development Co. At that time,
the County began their evaluation process of the submittals stating that more public
information would be available after the review process was completed.
On August 4, Noel Gerken’s Letter to the Editor was published by another publication.
Given the need to protect the integrity of the public procurement process and ensure
against any appearance of potential bias, the following letter went to City Manager
David Johnston; City Attorney, Christy Todd; and Mayor Noel Gerken on Friday, August
5:
This letter pertains to your advisory participation in the evaluation of the two
submittals received for the above referenced King County solicitation. On August
4, 2011 Maple Valley Mayor Noel Gerken released an opinion on the overall project,
including a judgment on the merits of the firm’s submittals. This public pronouncement
runs counter to the County’s requirement to protect the integrity of the competitive
process, particularly where multiple factors in an evaluation must be considered.
Your participation in this process has been advisory. The County is required to
minimize actions that may negatively impact the fairness of the RFQ process; therefore,
we must terminate your participation in the evaluation process effective immediately,
with all material pertaining to this solicitation being returned to the County.
This material must be returned to us no later than 3:00 p.m. Friday, August 5, 2011.
Specifically, the County requires you to provide the following:
All copies of the qualification submittal documents you or any staff or city officials
have received, as well as any copies that may have been created from the original
material.
All review and evaluation documents you or any staff or city officials have received
or created, including original documentation or forms provided by the County, and
any and all subsequent material produced, including all notes and scoring.
In addition, if your office has created any electronic versions of the above noted
material, these files must be deleted/removed.
A King County staff member will be sent to Maple Valley to pick up this material
this afternoon no later than 3:00 p.m.
According to the County, it wants to work cooperatively with the City of Maple Valley
to arrive at a strong development proposal for the donut hole even though it was
required to disqualify the City’s representative on the advisory committee given
the potential conflict issues resulting from the Mayor’s published letter favoring
one of the proponents. Meanwhile, due to Johnston being unavailable to respond to
the County demands for the documents to be turned over to County officials on Friday,
he was able to respond and give the documents back on Monday, August 8.
According to Johnston, Mayor Gerken had requested that Johnston pull together information
that would be put in the Letter to the Editor. After organizing the information
for the letter, Johnston gave the information to the Mayor.
Encouraging the Mayor to check with fellow colleagues before the Mayor released
his letter, Johnston left the rest of the matter up to Gerken as to how he would
communicate with the rest of the Councilmembers. For his part, Johnston questioned
why the County was so upset as all the information that was in the letter was a
matter of public knowledge already and that nothing new had been divulged.
Upset with the County himself, Mayor Gerken stated that he thought the City should
be proactive rather than reactive in a public way, therefore the Letter to the Editor
(City enters new chapter on Donut Hole, August 9 edition of the VOICE), which Gerken
stated was written by Johnston and subsequently signed by himself, was submitted
for publication. Not wishing to violate the Open Public Meetings Act, he talked
with only two other Councilmembers who signaled they were ok with the letter. According
to Gerken, once the two Councilmembers signaled their ok, he and Johnston decided
to submit the letter, after which the rest of the Councilmembers were notified via
the Council City web mail.
Mayor Gerken’s displeasure with King County centers on the County telling the City
one thing and then doing another. He felt that the County was not being good partners.
“King County wanted to do the RFQ process in a vacuum without the City having a
meaningful roll,” said Mayor Noel Gerken. “They are use to having their way.”
Asked why the letter went into the paper, Mayor Gerken stated, “We’re not going
to sit idly by.”
