
A New Year, a new pending lawsuit.
As King City entered 2024, there was a recall election underway for a majority of the council members, and 2025 finds the city in potential legal jeopardy over the controversial appointment of a new councilor to replace one forced to resign because of a previous lawsuit. The appointment occurred during a hastily called Zoom work session on Dec. 20 after a protest involving several dozen people forced city officials to close City Hall for the day over safety concerns and cancel the in-person meeting.
To recap, on Nov. 12, Washington County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Erwin ruled from the bench that he was ordering the City of King City to remove Smart Ocholi from the City Council. Karl Swanson filed the successful suit after Ocholi, one of the recalled councilors, filed an application for one of the open seats and was appointed back on the council.
Because the seat was declared vacant after the Nov. 5 election, it had to be filled by appointment instead of by the fourth runner-up in the election, with Jessica Braverman, Rachel Kazmierski and Vincent Arditti winning seats on the council and Steve Gearhart right behind Arditti in the vote count.
The city advertised the council seat opening in the Nov. 15 Oregonian newspaper, with the application period open for 30 days, and the council planned to hold a work session Dec. 20 at 1 p.m. to interview four people who applied for the seat – Gearhart, Gretchen Buehner, John Hartman and Cynthia McCollough – and potentially choose one to fill the open seat.
Protest held/City Hall closed
At 8 a.m. on Dec. 20, a press release was issued with Mike Meyer, a resident of the King City urban growth boundary and future Kingston Terrace area, listed as the contact person. It announced that there would be a protest outside City Hall from noon to 1 p.m. and inside Council Chambers beginning at 1 p.m. It read in part, “In their haste to appoint someone of their choosing before the dynamics of the council change, they (the current city councilors) will be violating Municipal Code chapters 2.38, which covers the process of filling council vacancies, and 1.04.070, computation of time to establish deadlines.
“Earlier this month, the election results were certified for three incoming councilors. Just seven votes separated the third- and fourth-place candidates. The fourth-place candidate received 1,298 votes. The City Council has so far resisted calls for the vacancy to be filled by the voters’ choice instead of by the six remaining councilors…
“If the City Council proceeds with this appointment on Friday, a writ of review will be filed in Washington County Circuit Court challenging the appointment in violation of King City’s Municipal Code. This would be the third voter-related court action against the city in the last 12 months.”
City officials hastily closed City Hall for the day, sent the staff home and changed the council meeting to a Zoom format with Mayor Shawna Thompson and Councilors Marc Manelis, Jan Tysoe, Dennis Gelfand and Randall Olsen present; Gary Wallesen did not participate.
The protest went on as scheduled with about 50 participants. The atmosphere was energetic with impassioned speeches by several speakers, including newly elected City Councilor Jessica Braverman, who took turns standing on the bed of a pickup truck, speaking through a megaphone as participants looked on. In between speakers, protestors joined in chants of “Unite King City” and “Elect Steve Gearhart.”
Applicants interviewed
At the beginning of the workshop, Thompson said that the staff had been sent home over an abundance of caution and that “any intimidation tactics or perceived or real threats (against City Council members) have been and will be forwarded to the police.” She also said that during the application process, “the City Charter was followed to a T,” noting that two applications were received on Dec. 16, 32 days after the notice was posted, and “these applicants were not offered interviews.”
Before the interviews started, Olsen read a statement saying the application process was not in compliance with City Code for not accepting the last two applications. “This election process is tainted in every possible way,” he said before leaving the meeting. “This appointment should be left to the voters. This is what the community is advocating for – advocating for the choice they made in last month’s election…”
Thompson repeated that the council was “100 percent within the limits of our charter,” which the other councilors affirmed. They then interviewed the four applicants, asking them the same general questions.
At the conclusion of the interviews, all the councilors stressed that they had an outstanding pool to choose from, making their decision difficult, and Manelis made a motion to appoint Hartman, which Tysoe seconded.
During his interview, Hartman said he didn’t run in the November election because he didn’t want “to be part of a popularity contest that I thought the last election was.”
Hartman, a King City resident of 2 ½ years, is a project executive at Truebeck Construction in Portland. On his application, he wrote that he has 20-plus years in construction “that has given me experience in contract review and negotiating contract creation and review” and he has “countless hours of experience in conflict resolution.”
Besides bringing that experience to City Hall, Hartman said he thinks the city should offer more community engagement opportunities and more opportunities for discussion outside of City Council meetings because “people clearly feel like they don’t have a voice.”
As for the proposed Fischer Road extension into Kingston Terrace in the city’s Transportation System Plan that started the whole upheaval at City Hall nearly 1 ½ years ago, Hartman said, “What it says on paper – that’s not how it’s going to look in 10 years. We’re going to find something in that dirt that’s going to make us move a road or have to move a park – something. It never ends up being the way it starts on the drawing board.
“That’s why contractors like myself are hired – to find the most equitable solutions. There’s never going to be a solution where everyone is 100 percent happy, but there’s always a solution everyone can live with, and that’s how progress is made.”
In his application and interview, Hartman said he has not participated in any King City community organizations. He and the other applicants also were asked if they had any plans to replace the city manager or city attorney. Hartman answered, “Absolutely not, they have done a fine job in their roles,” but he added that there should be performance reviews and that the officials should be held accountable.
New councilor appointed
The council switched into a special session, and following Manelis’ motion to appoint Hartman and Tysoe’s second, the two of them and Gelfand voted to appoint Hartman, and Thompson abstained; City Manager Mike Weston then swore Hartman into office.
In the morning before the workshop, attorney Kenneth Dobson sent City Attorney Peter Watts a letter stating that 30 days after the Nov. 15 filing was Dec. 15, a Sunday and that the City Code states that if the last day of the time period is a Sunday or holiday, it will be excluded.
“Therefore, the deadline for applications to fill the vacancy to be submitted was Monday, December 16, 2024,” Dobson stated. “It is my understanding that Sandy Cunningham and Karl Swanson attempted to submit applications to fill the vacancy on December 16, 2024, but the applications were rejected by Mike Weston. The rejection of the application was in error.
“Moreover, the City Council will commit additional legal error if it interviews the candidates at today’s meeting. KCC 2.38.050(A) states… Interviews shall take place no sooner than five days after the filing deadline.” Five days after the December 16 filing deadline is December 21, 2024. Should the City Council go forward with prematurely interviewing the candidates at today’s meeting, it will invalidate the appointment of whoever the Council selects to fill the vacancy and subject the city to another petition for writ of review.”
At Tigard Life’s press time, no legal action had been filed, and Weston was on vacation and did not respond to a request for comment.
The next City Council meeting is set for Tuesday, Jan. 15, at 6 p.m. at King City City Hall.