LYNNWOOD — Former Lynnwood Mayor Don Gough lost re-election in 2013, but he didn’t stop paying attention to local government.
Instead, he’s spent months writing memos to the new leadership accusing them of running the city into the ground and even likening them to monkeys. He sent his first note 10 minutes before his term ended. He’s also behind a lawsuit accusing Lynnwood’s transportation benefit district of breaking public meetings laws.
In an interview, Gough said his message has been clear: “You’re intentionally putting yourself in the hole. That’s no way to run a city.”
Lynnwood leaders say they’ve restored balance to the city’s budget, and its government.
It’s all a bit tangled.
Gough was a controversial mayor for eight years and on the council for the decade before that. Lynnwood — population 36,000 — is the fourth largest city in Snohomish County. Under Gough, the city received eight years of bad reviews from state auditors, most recently for 2013. He relied heavily on millions of dollars from traffic-enforcement camera tickets to help pay the bills.
The rebukes from auditors focused on how the city kept track of money and whether it prepared accurate financial statements. Gough says he helped Lynnwood weather the recession. The city’s finance director left in November, and the position hasn’t been filled.
The new mayor, Nicola Smith, defeated Gough in 2013 with just over 60 percent of the vote.
Gough is joined in his criticisms of the new leaders by former councilman Ted Hikel, who lost a close race in 2011. Hikel filed the transportation district lawsuit, with the assistance of Gough, a longtime civil attorney. Hikel also led the failed petition last year to overturn Lynnwood’s new fireworks ban. Between the two, they sent the city more than two dozen public records requests in 2014.
Mayor Smith’s office issued a statement last week regarding the barbs from Gough and Hikel. The statement came in response to questions from the newspaper about Gough’s memos and records requests.
“We also recognize the importance of the Public Records Act as it pertains to transparency, openness and civic engagement,” Smith’s statement read. “Mr. Gough and Mr. Hikel have spent many years advocating and working toward their picture of a better Lynnwood. We encourage all Lynnwood residents to advocate on the issues that are important to them.”
Revenues and expenses in the city’s roughly $105 million budget for 2015-16 are balanced, according to documents provided by the mayor’s office. Indeed, if all goes to plan the city should be able to bank about $867,000. Gough says the city is inappropriately draining savings to get by. It’s true that the budget includes a one time fund transfer of about $1.4 million.
Hikel, 76, said he’s vocal because he’s worried about Lynnwood’s future. He’s called the city home for more than four decades. He said he has no plans to run for one of the four City Council positions up for election this year.
“I am never running for anything ever again,” Hikel said.
Gough, a self-described “semi-retired” attorney at 63, said he doesn’t know if he’ll run. He hasn’t decided whether to add to the 18 years he served the city.
When he left the mayor’s job, it was clear that he was already worried about Lynnwood’s future without him. Just before his term as mayor expired at midnight Dec. 31, 2013, he timestamped the final edits on the first of his memos to the new leaders.
He used bold-faced, color-coded and underlined text to share his advice and disapproval. The memo fills 21 pages, including charts and exhibits.
Gough wrote that the council was “on a cruise to Fantasy Island Budgeting,” or “FIB,” which he called a “public policy disease.” He warned of looming financial disaster.
He wrote that the council needed to focus on fixing budget problems “they have created, and not engage in laming(sic), finger-pointing, fault-finding, and other definitely useless behaviors.”
The memo spurred discussion at the first 2014 council meeting, Smith’s first as mayor.
Gough wrote at least three more memos in 2014, public records show. By the end of the year, his stream of memos filled more than 50 pages.
In a 17-page memo in June, Gough again criticized Smith, the council and department heads, saying they were making decisions based on “whim” and “political spin.”
“Failing to be consistent with policy means our city is no better served than a monkey with a dartboard,” he wrote.
In November, a 14-page memo accused the city of failing to legally post notices of public hearings.
The lawsuit filed by Gough and Hikel on Oct. 9 accuses the city’s transportation benefit district of violating the state’s open meetings act in discussions related to a tax proposal that failed to win voter approval in November.
In court, the city has said the law was followed and is seeking dismissal.
The city learned of the lawsuit when Gough handed a copy to Council President Loren Simmonds in the parking lot at City Hall.
People who work for Lynnwood know he comes by every day around 8 a.m. to check on things, Simmonds said.
He had just opened his car door when Gough stepped off the curb, “reached out and handed me the papers and said, ‘You have been duly served,’ ” Simmonds said.
Last week, no one wanted to discuss the lawsuit. The mayor’s office, the council, and Hikel and Gough all declined to answer questions.
As of December, the city has spent more than $16,000 fighting the lawsuit, Simmonds said.
The new mayor and the council don’t agree on all the issues, but communication between the two branches of government has vastly improved since Gough left office, Simmonds said.
Meanwhile, Gough maintains that his memos outline a better plan for the budget. He says his public records requests prove his advice was ignored.
“They didn’t do a doggone thing about it,” he said.
Hikel says he still is waiting for proof of the city’s claims of financial health.
“I’m not going around making charges just to make charges. I’m concerned about things,” Hikel said. “When things go wrong, I’m not going to sit by silently. The only passion I have is to make sure the city is a success.”
Simmonds said he understands that Gough has the same rights as anyone else in Lynnwood to question the city leadership, but not everyone in Lynnwood had 8 years to be mayor and 10 years on the council. What’s happening now, Simmonds said, is unnecessary and sad.
“There are various levels of reflection here but, in my opinion, it reflects badly on the city at large,” he said. “You get into these discussions and there doesn’t seem now there’s any easy way for there to be resolution.”
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
