The City of Snohomish’s former mayor, John Kartak has taken to social media and the press, making ill-timed accusations to disrupt Mayor Linda Redmon’s newly established city administration (“Snohomish mayor ousts city administrator, names new one,” The Herald, March 1). A friend once said to me; “When you hear something untrue, respond. If you let it go, it is as if it is true.” I am taking her advice.
In this situation, the truth is simple. On Jan. 1, the City of Snohomish became a government in transition. As it was in transition on Jan. 1, 2017. The truth is the former mayor, as one of his first decisions, decided not to retain City Administrator Larry Bauman. The truth also is that the newly elected mayor has chosen not to retain Steve Shuller as city administrator. This is a typical occurrence when elected administrations change hands under the strong mayor format.
Another truth is that elections do have consequences. The City of Snohomish elected to revert to a “Strong Mayor” format. This allows the “Strong Mayor” independent control of city hiring and firing. Prior to that, hiring of the city administrator would have been done by the council.
A democratically elected government is always in transition. I encourage Snohomish residents to watch the City Council’s bimonthly meetings. They are public and easily downloaded for listening at any time. Do not expect to get unbiased truth from Facebook.
Carol Meagher
Snohomish
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