At the Redmond City Council’s special meeting on February 13, 2024, Council President, Vanessa Kritzer, asked Redmond Director of Planning, Carol Helland, “the Operational Agreement that will govern, kind of, how the facility actually is managed, that will come back to the Council?” Director Helland answered, “yes, that will come back to the Council … will be presented to you for final approval”. It turns out, that was NOT true. The Plymouth Housing project does not require the City Council’s approval.
Was it a mistake or a calculated move to mislead the Council and the public? Given that Helland wears two hats: Director of Planning at the City of Redmond and Chair of ARCH (A Regional Coalition for Housing) and she had been planning to give away the Cleveland parcel, along with the $3.2 million, while the City of Kenmore was still debating the Plymouth project, you can come to your own conclusion.
On January 19, 2024, days before Kenmore City Council made the final decision to reject the Plymouth project, Redmond Director of Planning, Carol Helland, was discussing giving the Cleveland parcel, aka the Motely Zoon site, to Plymouth Housing, along with $3.2 million of the City of Redmond’s money. Helland said in her email exchange with ARCH Executive Director Lindsay Masters on January 19, 2024, “Motley Zoo site is the only one that would probably work. We own it outright. I suspect we would need to give the land away” and “We could refill the $Kenmore funding gap. I have the money” . As we pointed out before, Helland also serves as the Chair of ARCH.
On January 24, 2024, in her email to lobbyist Briahna Murray, who helped the City get the $4.2million proviso to close Plymouth’s funding gap, she said, “Redmond is positioned to make it happen.” and “Redmond has the land and the $3.2 million to replace the share originally committed by Kenmore. ” Then, when asked which address to use for the new Plymouth Housing project, she said, “Address is: 16725 Cleveland Street – it’s in the 48th” As an employee of the City of Redmond, where did she get the authority to make decisions on behalf of the voter elected City Council?
As an employee of the City of Redmond, Director Helland is bound by the Redmond Employee Code of Conduct (https://www.redmond.gov/1955/Chapter-11—Employee-Responsibilities-a#11.50). The city code says, “Employees at all levels should avoid both real conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicting interests in the exercise of their City duties.” Her dual roles as the Chair of ARCH and the Planning Director at the City of Redmond undoubtedly create a conflict of interest. She is using her position to help Plymouth Housing avoid the scrutiny that it faced in Kenmore.
More evidence of conflict of interest:
Case #1: In the Mayor’s Memo, it states that “100% of residents will have documented disabilities”. This is different from the state’s definition of “Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)” and the requirements of both the Kenmore project and Plymouth Housing. When questioned why the City of Redmond added the disability requirement when neither the state law, nor Kenmore or Plymouth Housing have such requirement, Helland insisted that “the City of Redmond is not imposing new eligibility requirements on the Plymouth project. “ Our request that “The disclaimer ‘Disability will not be an eligibility requirement for the Plymouth Housing project in downtown Redmond’ needs to be clearly stated on the City’s FAQ page” met with an arrogant pushback from Helland. She claims that “Although disability will not be a requirement for eligibility, people living with disabilities will call this facility home. As written, the website is transparent and aligned with the City-adopted value of ‘welcoming.’. “
As a result of Helland’s action, based on the mayor’s memo, which is the only publicly available statement explicitly defining the disability requirement, unless low-income seniors and/or veterans are homeless and disabled, they will not be eligible to stay at the Plymouth building in downtown Redmond.
Helland does not want the Plymouth building to help the low-income seniors and/or veterans in our community. She is wearing her ARCH chair hat, and wants to solve King County’s problem. She strong-muscled her hidden agenda, which conflicts with the people of Redmond’s interests, into the City of Redmond’s business. This should be called out and investigated.
Case #2: Director Helland is biased against government transparency and public engagement. In an email on February 3, she said, “The state permitting requirements mandate public notice and engagement and that has been used effectively by opponents of these types of projects to derail them. Redmond wants to help the ARCH coalition. “
As a result of her desire to conduct government business in secrecy and avoid public inputs in order to “help the ARCH coalition”, there have not been any public hearings on the Plymouth project, and there will not be any public hearings on the Plymouth project. The community has been completely shut out of the entire process. Even the City Council has limited visibility and say on this project. This is anti-democracy. Helland wants to be the Queen of deal making at the cost of eroding public trust in the local government, and dividing our community. Again, Helland is prioritizing helping ARCH over protecting the interests of the people of Redmond, who actually pay her salary. This should be called out, and investigated.
If you believe that what is happening is wrong and that Helland should be investigated, please contact the Mayor and City Council ( MayorCouncil@redmond.gov ) to file a conflict of interest complaint, request an investigation, and demand that Carol Helland recuse herself from the Plymouth project going forward.