Demand Council President Vanessa Kritzer To Resign or Be Removed

The Washington Constitution states, “All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights.” When the Redmond City Council, under the leadership of Council President Vanessa Kritzer, deprived people of their right to give input and rushed to give away public land to Plymouth Housing for developing a low-barrier homeless building in downtown Redmond, they failed to comply with the Washington Constitution.

Facts about the Plymouth homeless building in downtown Redmond:

• Located across the street from Anderson Park, only 0.5 miles from Redmond Elementary School;
• This is a 5-story, 100-unit, single adult only homeless building;
• No drug testing will be conducted. Drugs will be allowed in the building;
• Other than lifetime registered sex offenders, all other sex offenders are eligible;
• Other than meth producers who were convicted in the past 5 years, all other drug producers and drug dealers are eligible;
• The city made falsely claim and secretly plans to limit eligibility to people with disabilities. According to state law and the common practices of the state, county, and city, mental illness and substance use disorder are all considered disabilities. The city and Plymouth Housing want to secretly limit eligibility for this building to people with mental illness and drug addiction ;
• Homeless people from outside of Redmond are eligible;
• The City of Kenmore started this project via RFP in 2022 and rejected it in 2024 after three public hearings. The City of Redmond approved this project in 7 days with no public input period at all;
• The city is now withholding critical information and refuse to hold any public hearings;

We, the people, must remind elected officials that they are elected by the people and for the people.

We believe that Vanessa Kritzer needs to resign from the position of Council President or be removed.

Here are the reasons:

• At the public meeting after the Executive Session on February 6th, the council decided to vote on the land transfer at a later date. The Council did not express an urgency for such a vote. However, Kritzer scheduled a special meeting on February 13th to vote on the land transfer.
  • According to RCW  42.30.240 , “Except in an emergency situation, the governing body of a public agency shall provide an opportunity at or before every regular meeting at which final action is taken for public comment. ” Obviously, arranging a special meeting to vote on the land transfer would allow the council to circumvent public input before proceeding with the vote.
  • Councilmember Steve Fields reminded Kritzer that he would not be able to attend the special meeting on February 13th. Kritzer insisted on having the special meeting.
• As Council President, Kritzer broke the Redmond City Council’s long-standing “three touches policy,” which means all significant decisions should be discussed in at least three separately scheduled meetings, and rushed the council vote at the special session on February 13th.
• Kritzer was the one who made the motion to authorize the land transfer on the night of February 13th, yet when pressed, she could not answer which law permits transferring public land to a private entity upon asked.
• Kritzer misled the public at the special meeting on February 13th, when she posed the question on Operational Agreement and public input.
  • Below is the exchange:
    • Council President Vanessa Kritzer’s asked, “The operational agreement that will govern, kind of, how the facility actually is managed, that will come back to the Council?”
    • Director Carol Helland answered, “yes that will come back to the Council …it does not require a public hearing  but it will be presented to you for final approval.”
    • Kritzer then asked, “and the public will be able to give their input into that?”
    • Helland answered, “as comments, item from the audience.”
  • However, according to the Redmond Zoning Code 21.57.010, the Operational Agreement does not need the council’s approval. Kritzer was one of the councilmembers who approved the zoning code. Kritzer intentionally posed the questions and mislead the public into believing that the council remains to have oversight over the Plymouth project and the public has opportunity to give input. Neither is true.
• Kritzer repeatedly said at the special meeting on February 13 that there would be robust public engagement. Yet, there will be no opportunity for the public to have a say.
  • There have not been any public hearings, and there will not be any public hearings.
  • The council will not hold any future discussions related to the Plymouth Housing project because, after the council authorized the land transfer, the council has no remaining businesses in the project. Any public comments related to the project will not have any impact on how the project is carried out.
  • The so called Community Advisory Group (CAG) is formed after the building is up, the Operational Agreement is signed. CAG has not power in deciding who lives there, their behaviors, and their conducts. Director Carol Helland, who brought this project to Redmond, holds all the approval power.
• Kritzer gave inaccurate information at the special meeting on February 13th about the disability requirement for the Plymouth building in Redmond. Director Helland provided inaccurate information. Both Helland and the council have privately admitted that disability is not a requirement. However, despite repeated requests, Kritzer failed to instruct the city staff to rectify the inaccurate information on the city’s FAQ page.
• Despite repeated asks, Kritzer, acting as the Ombus person, and Council President, refused to answer who will have the approval authority on:
  • Operational Agreement
  • Program Rules and/or Code of Conduct
  • Safety and Security Plan
  • Community Relations Plan
  • Parking management plan
• Kenmore City Council asked a wide range of questions from Plymouth Housing, such as “compliance, tenant screening, Plymouth’s application process”, Redmond City Council asked none of these. The site is half a mile away from Redmond Elementary School. The council did not invite the police and fire departments to discuss public safety at the special meeting either. As Council President, Kritzer clearly violated councilmembers’ “Duty of Care. Avoid any behaviors or omissions that could reasonably be foreseen to cause harm to others or the interests of the City.”
• Kritzer insisted on giving Planning Director Carol Helland the blank check to freely spend the city’s $10 million Affordable Housing Fund and rejected the request to impose council supervision on her spending of that fund. 

Vanessa Kritzer failed to comply with the Washington Constitution, failed her duty of care as a councilmember, and failed her fiduciary duty to the City of Redmond. She is unfit to lead the Redmond City Council.

Kritzer ran unopposed in 2023 and won by 8,350 votes. And 4,200 signatures by registered voters will be sufficient to qualify a petition to recall her.

If you think that, at bare minimum, Vanessa Kritzer should resign from the position of Council President or be removed., please sign the petition. This is NOT a legal recall petition. This is just a petition from the people to the Redmond City Council for the removal of Vanessa Kritzer from the position of Council President.

Please sign and forward, please help us reach the goal of 4,200 signatures.