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August 27, 2014
Klahanie, community center figure big into city manager’s year By Ari Cetron
Sammamish City Manager Ben Yazici received a glowing review from the City Council for his work in the past year. The review, dated July 1, gives a look at not only what the council thinks of Yazici’s job performance in the past year, but what it expects the city to accomplish in the year ahead. Under Sammamish’s form of government, the city manager is the head of the city’s executive branch. He does not stand for election, but serves at the pleasure of the council. In reviewing his work over the past year, the council determined that he met or exceeded expectations in every area. The review itself takes place behind closed doors, Ben Yazici but the documentation is part of the public record. The document doesn’t give details beyond whether or not Yazici is meeting or exceeding expectations. “The council has reviewed your performance for the year ending June 30, 2014, and we find your performance, considering the above appraisal outstanding, exceeding expectations,” the review stated. Yazici did not receive a pay increase this year. The Klahanie annexation and new community center project dominate the city’s goals for the coming year. The council expects Yazici to continue to work toward annexing Klananie, calling for a transition committee to keep the effort transparent. It expects him to make necessary staffing and budgetary adjustments to make the annexation run smoothly. It also spells out details of managing the annexation, such as preparing a plan
Pride of Skyline
to police the area, and adding Klahanie’s roads to the city’s overall transportation plan. The review also calls for Yazici to continue to work on building and opening the community center, and keep an eye out for potential cost increases on the project. Besides overall goals, such as being environmentally conscious and fiscally responsible, the review is divided into sections which generally mirror city departments.
Parks The community center may be the big dog in the parks department, but smaller projects are also mentioned in the review. The council wants Yazici to begin an exploration of what to do with the YMCA-owned property near Pine Lake Middle School, talk to the Issaquah and Lake Washington school districts about adding athletic fields, and look for places for a possible new dog park and a new community garden. The council expects Yazici to complete projects that it has authorized, such as a pedestrian trail from the Sahalee overlook to Evans Creek Preserve, and beginning to develop Big Rock Park. The council also wants him to look for ways to increase trail connections, find new open space and find more community meeting space. And it wants him to explore ways to allow the teen center to be usable to a larger portion of the community.
Public safety Yazici is supposed to work with the police chief to find ways to minimize the impact of legalized marijuana on the city, along with illegal drugs. He’s also supposed to continue working with Eastside Fire & Rescue, and look for ways to enhance emergency preparedness. The council would also like the city to begin a Police Explorer program, if possible. The program gives teens a See YAZICI, Page 3
Photo by Greg Farrar
Local schools start the 2014-15 year Sept. 3. Pictured above are Skyline High School Associated Student Body executive board officers: from left, Alec Willig, director of assemblies; Bryce Escobar, vice president; Dana Weatherby, treasurer; Melody Tamminen, director of communications; Tobie Siu, secretary; Hamilton Wasnick, president. Not shown is Alex Mitchell, director of student activities. To read more about local back-to-school activities, see page 6.
Issaquah’s potential state park annexation is given more time for discussion By Peter Clark
Zoning questions held off an Issaquah City Council move toward annexing Lake Sammamish State Park. At the Issaquah council’s Aug. 4 meeting, they deferred action on the next step in the process of annexing the park to their Sept. 8 meeting, citing a desire to study the issue further. The park would still be owned and operated by the state, but would be considered to be in Issaquah instead of King County for purposes of permitting. The proposal came up in April after the state parks department presented the idea to city officials. Issaquah’s Long Range Planner, Trish Heinonen, said the idea came from last year’s securing of $5 million for improvements to the 512-acre
“I think it’ll be a betterrun park under our jurisdiction.” – Trish Heinonen, Long range planner –
state park. “The state parks and the city started to talk to each other because there was the threat that the state, next year in their budget discussions, might pull the funding for some of the improvements that have been going on.” Heinonen said. She added that the city’s annexation would streamline the shared goal of city and State Parks officials to encourage more use in the park through development. “The reason they approached us was partnership,” Heinonen
said. “We’d been partnering with them on the advisory committee and they wanted to partner with us on the permitting.” The action discussed in the Aug. 4 meeting would authorize Mayor Fred Butler to submit a notice to the Washington State Boundary Review Board for King County, while the council and State Parks works out the terms. “I’ve reviewed this really closely and really the zoning and the critical areas are my only concern,” Issaquah City Council See PARK, Page 3