Spokane Valley City Council reprimands Councilman Al Merkel, provides update on investigation into complaints against him during another dysfunctional meeting

The Spokane Valley City Council meeting on Tuesday once again devolved into disarray with Councilman Al Merkel’s behavior drawing the ire of other council members.

The meeting started with an update on the ongoing investigation into Merkel’s interactions with city staff.

It then moved to action items, where the council voted to reprimand Merkel for violating executive privilege amid raucous exchanges between council members, as well as a council member and attendees.

City Manager John Hohman began the meeting with a statement on the investigation proceedings to inform the public of some of the facts involved. It was the first meeting since news of the investigation was first reported by The Spokesman-Review on Friday.

Hohman told the council and those in attendance that the city received complaints about Merkel from city staff last week that warranted further investigation.

He said the complaints described “offensive, hostile or unwelcome interactions” between Merkel and City Hall employees.

Hohman added that by law, once an employer becomes aware of complaints of that nature, they are required to take steps to ensure any potential mistreatment does not continue.

“The employer has a legal duty to take reasonable steps necessary to protect the employees from future discrimination,” Hohman said. “This includes investigating the allegations and implementing protective measures where appropriate, which is what the city has currently undertaken.”

A neutral, outside law firm will be conducting the investigation into the complaints and determining their validity, he said.

It wouldn’t be the first time Merkel has faced such accusations. He is a defendant in a Spokane County Superior Court lawsuit that alleges he harassed, discriminated against and fostered a hostile work environment for a woman who worked for him during his time as acting chief executive officer of the Valley’s Sequoia Detox Centers in 2020.

Merkel has said he doesn’t know much about the lawsuit because he’s never been served as a defendant, and he declined to comment on any specifics.

Hohman told attendees his request last week that Merkel avoid City Hall except for council business, and avoid interacting with any staff members except for Hohman and Deputy City Manager Erik Lamb, was intended to protect the city and Merkel from potential litigation while also ensuring the complainants are protected from retaliation.

“These measures were not intended as any form of disciplinary measure, and I again stress that no determinations have been made regarding the complaints or underlying allegations against Council Member Merkel,” Hohman said. “Instead, these measures were taken to ensure a full and fair investigation without any further disruptions to the work environment.”

Merkel and the city could be found liable for retaliation even if the original complaints are determined not to be unlawful harassment or discrimination.

Merkel said he wouldn’t voluntarily avoid City Hall last week, but his attendance of the weekly city council meeting Tuesday was the first time he’s entered the building since Hohman’s request came.

Hohman did not ask the council to act on the issue, as he indicated he would in their email exchange, because he said Merkel appeared to be complying by working from home.

A raucous meeting following a reprimand

The meeting’s agenda was amended for the second time Tuesday, Hohman’s statement being the first last-minute addition, to include a motion to verbally reprimand Merkel for his activity on the social media platform Nextdoor.

Merkel was reprimanded for sharing incorrect information on what happened during an executive session during last week’s meeting.

An executive session is a closed-doors meeting in which local elected leaders discuss purchases, pending litigation, appointments to positions and charges or complaints against a public official or employee.

Merkel posted on the app after last week’s meeting that the council voted during executive session to purchase a piece of property that will be turned into affordable housing.

While the vote came after the executive session ended, which Merkel later corrected the post to include, the city council determined the attempt to share any information from executive session was deserving of a reprimand in a 5-2 vote.

Merkel and Councilman Ben Wick were the only dissenting votes.

The motion brought forward by Councilwoman Jessica Yaeger led to a testy exchange between her and Merkel, as well as testy exchanges between meeting attendees and a sitting councilman.

“I do not have confidence in Mr. Merkel that when something really big happens, and something actually happens where someone could be hurt by the information, that he will keep his mouth closed,” Yaeger said. “I cannot keep up with all the text messages I’m getting, ‘Did you see this post? Did you see that post?’ There are 300 a day that he posts. And he posted incorrectly, and he broke my trust in our executive session.”

Merkel said the initial post was just a typo and was corrected, so he did not view it as a violation of executive privilege.

Yaeger responded that in her opinion, Merkel simply sharing what he thinks happened during executive session was a violation. Councilman Rod Higgins agreed.

Merkel continued to ask questions about how his post violated the session, saying that only the information he shared about when the vote occurred was incorrect.

“As I keep saying, you can’t unsee or undo the damage that’s done,” Higgins said. “We’re talking about the ability to have confidence that somebody sitting in that session is not going to divulge what transpired. And obviously something like that happened.”

“If I follow this line of logic, if I accidentally typed into something, ‘During executive session, we purchased pink elephants,’ and I was completely incorrect, that would somehow be divulging something?” Merkel said. “I’m really confused by this.”

City Attorney Kelly Konkright interjected and confirmed that sharing one’s understanding of what occurred during an executive session would be a violation of executive privilege, and said Merkel’s example of “purchasing pink elephants” would be a misrepresentation of council actions.

Konkright added that Yaeger’s motions spoke to both of those issues, which were both present in Merkel’s post. Councilwoman Laura Padden chimed in to add that she too felt it was a violation.

“Whether or not we say correctly what happened or not, we shouldn’t be talking about executive session,” Padden said. “Especially in a public forum.”

Yaeger said the post did not follow proper procedure, to which Merkel requested she name what procedures in the council’s governance manual she was referring to.

“Playing stupid does not get you out of this, Mr. Merkel,” Yaeger said.

The comment was followed by an outcry from Merkel’s supporters in attendance, who came to the meeting wearing orange armbands or other orange clothing to show their support. Merkel’s campaign materials used orange heavily, and he can often be seen sporting an orange tie to meetings.

Merkel called for a point of order, saying Yaeger’s comment was offensive and violated the council’s ethics guidelines.

Mayor Pam Haley did not rule on the point of order. Instead, she alluded to ethics violations Merkel may have made himself.

“As per our ethics section, you’re not supposed to talk badly about other council members outside,” Haley said. “There’s a lot of things in our ethics that I don’t think we want to get into a tit for tat, Mr. Merkel.”

The council then turned to public comments on the reprimand, which featured a number of Merkel supporters upset by Yaeger’s comment. Several alluded to what they believe is a conspiracy among council members to attack Merkel.

Bob West, a former city of Spokane employee and the father of former Spokane Valley City Councilwoman Brandi Peetz, demanded an investigation be launched into the “disparaging remarks that we all just heard.”

“That’s right, Mr. Higgins, go ahead and laugh and smirk,” West told Higgins. “You’ve been doing it for many years.”

“I didn’t laugh,” Higgins responded. “I did smile. You always cause me to smile.”

West continued his comments, saying he believes the council has had a decorum issue for years. He called for a new governance manual to be issued before confronting Higgins one last time before his time was up.

“Shake your head again, Mr. Higgins,” West said, visibly upset. “What is your problem? You’ve had a problem for many years.”

“Thank you, I’ve been around for many years,” Higgins said as the timer ran out.