Concerns surface at council meeting

MEDICAL LAKE – March 1 brought the return of in-person council meetings for Medical Lake and with it came a large crowd of residents wanting their voices heard.

One of those residents, Lahnie Henderson, read council a letter she prepared expressing concern about personal associations impacting the procedures and processes of the current administration.

She spoke of transparency, specifically mentioning a possible conflict of interest with the city of Medical Lake and Zipline Communications Inc. The city is considering using the company is to build its new website.

“Although governing a small city may seem casual and non-bureaucratic, city officials are still responsible for abiding by the same laws as larger cities regarding ethics, open government, elections, and avoiding conflicts of interest,” Henderson said. “Ryan Stemkowski, the proposed web designer, also worked for Zipline B2B Marketing to contribute labor in building Mayor Terri Cooper’s campaign website.”

Henderson produced a record showing $1,000 in-kind contributions were made to Cooper’s campaign by Stemkowski in the form of website design and creative technology services.

While Cooper acknowledges Stemkowski did do some work for her campaign site, she said the work performed was voluntary to the campaign.

“I’ve never received cash from Ryan Stemkowski,” Cooper said.

Henderson also questioned why other vendors had not been contacted and claimed the city’s failure to publicly disclose the work Stemkowski performed could be a conflict of interest.

Cooper clarified that a contract of this type doesn’t require multiple bids.

“I don’t have to contact other vendors,” Cooper said. “With a contract of this type and dollar amount ($8,000), I have authority to push this through.”

Cooper, defending her position, explained she is not required to bring processes of this nature before the council and added that she doesn’t have a say in the approval or disapproval of the contract.

“I initially brought it to public light to remain transparent,” Cooper said. “But remember, the council is the voting body, not the mayor.”

Cooper said she expects further discussion on this issue because the contract is still under review and is not ready to be brought forth as an action item.