LYNNWOOD — Mayor Mike McKinnon says he just wants to improve city services.
Fire Chief Bob Meador says he just wants to enforce fire-lane codes uniformly, the same as he has for 30 years.
Businessman Chris Olson says he just wants to expand his business.
Some on the City Council say they are upset with the mayor for his dictator-like style regarding the incident, others support him.
This all revolves around a fire-lane disagreement that has led to McKinnon putting Meador on paid administrative leave five weeks before his retirement. It also has led to McKinnon defending himself against an ethics complaint made by Meador.
The dispute flared over the city’s code regarding fire lanes and a permit for a new 18,244-square-foot building at Seaview Chevrolet Pontiac-GMC in Lynnwood.
Three city fire officials including Meador, refused to sign off on the Seaview plan, saying “it would compromise the code.”
“That’s what I got sent home for — I wouldn’t sign off on those plans for Seaview,” Meador said. “It would have to be a very peculiar situation for us not to do what we’ve always done before (since 1979), so I refused to sign it.”
McKinnon said that while his action also was based on other issues that he declined to discuss, the Seaview incident “was a very large part of why I put (Meador) on paid administrative leave.”
McKinnon said the incident is part of a bigger problem at city hall: public service. He said he received four complaints about city departments from auto dealers in less than 10 days.
“When I found one of them … was an interpretation of the code, I knew this was an instance I could do something about it,” McKinnon said, adding that he asked City Attorney Greg Rubstello to look into the complaints.
Rubstello said regarding Seaview, there was flexibility in the fire code.
According to Jim Cutts, community development director, and plans filed with the city by Seaview, the dealership was facing an Aug. 31 deadline for city approval of the entire project. On Aug. 29, the day after placing Meador on leave and with the assistant fire chief out of town, McKinnon made himself acting fire chief in a memo to staff and City Council and signed off on the Seaview plans.
McKinnon acknowledged he took the action after consulting with Rubstello and said he has done “nothing wrong.” However, he later said he does know now he should’ve waited for the assistant chief to get back into town to take over the sensitive detail of signing off on the plans.
Rubstello concurred, saying, “What he is asking is within the code’s discretion which was granted by the language of the code, and I told him he had room to make policy changes.”
Rubstello added that he didn’t see any “substantial compromise” when it came to safety.
Meador disagreed. Concerned about McKinnon’s decision, he filed an ethics violation complaint against the mayor Aug. 28, before he was placed on leave that day.
In the complaint, Meador wrote: “Mayor Mike McKinnon has used extraordinary pressure to get a reduction in the fire department’s requirements for Seaview Chevrolet (GMC-Pontiac).
“Chris Olson (owner of Seaview Chevrolet) was a major contributor to McKinnon in the 2001 mayor’s election. I believe that this demonstrates impropriety in the conduct of his office. There is also an apparent conflict of interest between public trust and private business interest.”
McKinnon denied that he used “extraordinary pressure” and said he “just asked a few questions.”
Regarding campaign contributions, McKinnon said, “I never once for a second thought whether or not anyone contributed to my campaign. In fact, Bob (Meador) also contributed to my campaign and took off a week to go doorbell for me. So, this isn’t about who has or hasn’t contributed to my campaign.”
According to documents from the state Public Disclosure Commission, Olson contributed $1,400 to McKinnon’s election and Meador $1,000.
With Rubstello facilitating the meeting, the city’s Ethics Board reviewed Meador’s complaint Sept. 5.
“There wasn’t sufficient facts alleged within the complaint to show a violation of the Lynnwood Ethics Code,” the board wrote.
Meador, who makes $115,204 a year, disagreed with the decision.
“This is the first time in my 30-year career that we’ve had this kind of conflict over a set of plans with mayor’s office,” Meador said. “We know not to be a roadblock for business, but we also need to keep a high awareness of the importance of having good fire codes.
“The codes aren’t too conservative either. In fact they are generally the minimums.”
Meador wanted the fire lane 200 feet closer to the building than McKinnon approved. He also wanted a fire truck turnaround. As approved, fire trucks would have to back into the area in an emergency.
McKinnon said he wants to use this incident to show that he wants to make the business permitting process easier to help economic development in the city.
“There is absolutely no conflict of interest between public trust and private business interest. In my campaign my No. 1 item was customer service as a goal and as an attitude.”
Olson said he was unhappy about the entire situation. He would have had to take 80 feet off the end of his building, enough room for six service stalls, if the change wasn’t made.
“I’m not favored” by the mayor. “I’ve been absolutely brutalized on this,” Olson said referring to efforts to get his plans approved by city staff. “I’ve worked almost two years on this,” he said referring to the whole project.
Olson said the mayor told him he’d look into it.
“The next thing I knew, they made some changes and ran it past the city attorney, and I got my permit,” Olson said. “I told those guys, ‘Hey look, I don’t want to make enemies with anybody, I just need to complete this project.”
Olson said he assumes it is safe and legal “otherwise they wouldn’t have done it. If it’s not safe and legal, I won’t build it. It’s not that important to me.”
The Lynnwood City Council met in executive session Sept. 3 and excluded McKinnon from a portion of the executive session.
City Council President Jim Smith said, “Our fire marshal and fire chief, in their normal course of action, determined that a fire lane was necessary for a particular project.
“Their determination was based on Lynnwood laws, practices and policies that go back at least 22 years. The mayor insisted that they approve the plans regardless of their professional judgment.
“I have spoken to council members outside of executive session, several department heads and several staff members. The council is extremely concerned, and (some) are irate about the mayor’s dictatorship-like style.”
According to council member Marty Nelson, however, there are others on the council who support the administration.
Smith added, “The City Council will continue to look into this matter.”
Meador was scheduled to leave the job Oct. 4, when he planned to take his accrued vacation before retiring Dec. 1. He said he will put his vacation on hold until the issue is resolved.
McKinnon said he has plans to meet with the city attorney next week, and they will decide a final course of action regarding Meador.
“I hope to have the matter resolved within the next couple of weeks,” McKinnon said.
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