Charter review commissioner claims conflict of interest

Published 1:30 am Monday, February 23, 2026

EVERETT — The Snohomish County Council voted unanimously to finalize the appointment of Peter Condyles on Tuesday as coordinator for the Charter Review Commission, despite concerns of a possible conflict of interest.

Charter Review commissioners Demi Chatters and Robin McGee spoke during public comment at a Feb. 10 County Council meeting about Condyles’ appointment as commission coordinator. They expressed concerns about his employment as a paid lobbyist for a relative of another Charter Review commissioner, Rob Toyer, representing developers in Snohomish County.

“This was never disclosed to the full commission and should have been a disqualifying factor for the position,” Chatters said.

After their comments, the County Council decided to delay the vote on Condyles until Tuesday.

Condyles works for Toyer Strategic Advisors, an economic development and land-use consulting firm owned by David Toyer, commissioner Rob Toyer’s cousin.

Condyles is also a Marysville City Council member.

The Charter Review Commission works independently, without approval from the County Council, to review county ordinances and government structure, evaluate potential changes and propose enhanced efficiencies. However, the council is responsible for authorizing funds whenever a position is filled.

The commission’s hiring subcommittee selected Condyles as commission coordinator, responsible for administrative management, research, communication management and clerking meetings.

Commissioners Jennifer Gregerson, Patrick Decker, Mark James, Janelle Cass and Ben Mahnkey volunteered to form the hiring committee during a Jan. 14 meeting. On Jan. 28, the commission voted unanimously to give the hiring committee the power to choose who they deemed best for the position and to send the professional services contract to the County Council for authorization.

During a Feb. 11 meeting of the Charter Review Commission, Brett Gailey, commission chair, addressed Chatters and McGee. Gailey is also the mayor of Lake Stevens.

“If there is a problem with the procedures of this commission, I would ask that you come to me or to Mark, who are your chair and your vice chair, versus going to the County Council, who does not have authority over this commission,” he said. “You keep family business, family business.”

In an interview on Feb. 13, Chatters said she was disappointed with how the conversation started.

“I was quite shocked with the tone and the opening that was really, I felt, an attempt to excoriate me and my fellow commissioner, McGee,” she said. “I really felt like it was an attempt to silence us and excoriate us for even having the nerve to raise this issue.”

Gailey was just trying to ask the commissioners to come to him instead of going to the County Council, he said in an interview Saturday.

“We don’t take direction from the County Council,” he said. “We only have so much time to get this done, which is why we selected a hiring committee and gave them the power to appoint whoever they felt was right for the position. What Demi did set us back a week.”

He was not trying to silence any commissioner, Gailey said. “We are a nonpartisan commission, and I think Demi and McGee were playing partisan games.”

People of Snohomish County “deserve transparency and accountability,” Chatters said.

“The people deserve their own advocates, and we know perfectly well that the people’s needs often have no alignment with the profit needs of special interests — of corporations,” she said. “So, paid work for special interests should be a disqualifying factor in someone being paid to work for the people. That is the ultimate double dipping.”

Even in a clerk position, anything produced by a person who does paid lobbying work would be “structurally tainted,” she said on Feb. 11.

Condyles spoke to the review commission on Feb. 11 about his employment at Toyer Strategic Advisors.

“I was hired to do land-use research. Because the company was new, and we were a small shop at the time, we were open to having lobbying clients,” he said.

He and the other employees registered as lobbyists to expand the business model, he said. He was registered as a lobbyist in 2021 and 2022.

“That all changed in July of 2022 when I was appointed to the Marysville City Council. At which point, I unregistered as a lobbyist and ceased all political clients within the company,” he said. “It’s also important to note that those two years I was registered as a lobbyist, I did no lobbying work.”

His primary responsibility is sifting through city and county codes, he said. “What we do is work with private landowners to see if what they want to do with their property is feasible.”

The discussion ended with Gailey recommending the commission move forward with Condyles’ appointment, as recommended by the hiring committee, he said.

After the Feb. 11 meeting, Chatters sent a memorandum to the review commission and The Daily Herald, affirming her position.

“Hiring a paid lobbyist, or a lobbyist’s paid staffer, into a key strategic position on a public commission creates an obvious conflict of interest that undermines the public trust,” she wrote.

She did wish Condyles well in his endeavors, Chatters said.

“I learned last night that we may share values on housing advocacy, particularly where it intersects with opportunities for young adults and future generations,” she wrote in the memorandum.

Before the County Council voted Tuesday to authorize funds for the position, Council member Megan Dunn asked whether the county Ethics Commission had reviewed the situation.

It had not, according to Council Chief of Staff Heidi Beazizo.

The Snohomish County Ethics Commission has four members who uphold the county’s code of ethics and resolve any possible ethics violations by a Snohomish County employee.

Taylor Scott Richmond: 425-339-3046; taylor.richmond@heraldnet.com; X: @BTayOkay