1. The ten-inch pile of papers pictured below is just the fifth in what could ultimately be more than a dozen installments of records responding to a request made by former assistant city attorneys Phil Brenneman and Ted Inkley, both fired by new city attorney Pete Holmes last year.
The two attorneys made a broad request for all records concerning personnel decisions by Holmes’ office. Most of the records so far range from mind-numbingly dull (long discussions of fonts on business cards) to catty asides (“I don’t think you should expect much from [former criminal division head Bob Hood] in terms of a transition memo”) to mildly amusing (Holmes’ spokeswoman Kathy Mulady’s explanation of why former deputy mayor Tim Ceis is known as “The Shark.”)
Holmes’ staff is getting back to us about how much staff time will be required to respond to the whole request (and how big the response will ultimately be); however, yesterday they estimated that several staffers have already spent “hundreds and hundreds” of city hours combing through the records.
2. Gov. Chris Gregoire has called for a special session (legislators were supposed to finish yesterday) to finalize the state budget. Josh’s report is here.
3. In response to Mayor Mike McGinn’s announcement earlier this year that he would cut 200 strategic advisor and management jobs, sources tell us that 141 City Light managers have filed an intent with the Public Employees Relation Commission (PERC) to unionize. The group, according to PubliCola’s source, intends to join the Washington State Council of County and City Employees, Council 2 AFSCME AFL-CIO; we’ll have more details later today.
4. Mayor Mike McGinn declined again yesterday to say whether he supports city council member Tim Burgess’ proposal to crack down on aggressive panhandling. However, yesterday, the city’s Office of Economic Development, which McGinn oversees, sent out an email to members of the business community encouraging them to attend an upcoming council meeting about the ordinance, strongly implying that OED, at least, supports the proposal.
The email, from OED’s public-relations specialist, called the meeting “a great opportunity to hear background and developments regarding Seattle’s public safety/aggressive solicitation laws and policies, which affect individuals as well as businesses, and to listen to and/or contribute to public comment on these issues.”
5. City council members said yesterday that they support Mayor Mike McGinn’s choice of Glen Lee to head up the city’s finance office. One likely reason: Council members had an unusually large say in Lee’s selection, after being mortified by the departure of veteran budget office director Dwight Dively, who left after McGinn took away his authority over the city budget.
Lee, a slight, red-haired city veteran who was a constant, silent presence at Dively’s side, has been with the city’s budget office for more than 15 years. According to city council member Tom Rasmussen, after Dively’s departure, “we really encouraged [McGinn] to appoint someone like Lee … [with] a really broad background in finance and budget.” Rasmussen said he expects Lee’s appointment to encounter “no bumps” at the council.
