Sumner’s City Council had already approved former police chief John Galle as the city’s administrator July 9, but  the discussion was far from over come the July 16 meeting.

Following a public comment session in which city resident Kathleen Schafeman decried what she described as a hiring process without open vetting, Councillors Nancy Dumas and Randy Hynek initiated a vote as to whether to re-open discussion on Galle’s appointment. Both had voted against his appointment a week prior.

The vote eventually failed after two attempts on the floor.

“We had this discussion last week and voted 5-2 to make the contract,” Mayor David Enslow said immediately before the vote whether to discuss the contract. “I don’t understand why this is coming up unless the council wants to pull the contract, which I’m not even sure it can do.

“Changing it now after there has been a vote on it seems strange to me. Seems like the people trying to do it are sore losers.”

“I am in shock,” Schafeman said at public comment, shortly after describing two people she believed more qualified than Galle. “I am in shock that you did not consider the best efforts for the city of Sumner.

“I think the time for making complaints to this council is over. Obviously there is a dictatorial attitude here.”

Enslow took a moment to respond to the comments.

“I think I made a very, very good decision and I feel very fortunate that John Galle was willing to do this,” Enslow said. “I hear a lot about  how bad this town is, and I look around this town and I see a town that is performing very well in every respect.”

“This is a motion to discuss, and it has nothing to do with me personally being a sore loser,” Dumas said, responding to Enslow’s pre-vote comment. “My initial concern is, a special meeting was called last Monday evening at 6 p.m. and began in executive session…”

City Attorney Bret Vinson interrupted—seemingly at a loss for words himself—to remind the council that if the motion on the floor was to discuss the matter of John Galle’s new job, discussion shouldn’t occur before the vote to allow it.

That vote failed.

“The mayor said that the city advertised we would have an emergency meeting,” Councilman Hynek said in council reports. “At that meeting, there was a vote to move the voting from what was essentially a private meeting with a bare minimum of pre-notice, and that vote, so that we could be televised so the citizens of Sumner would be aware of your government… that vote was voted no (by every councillor other than Dumas and myself). They are supporting limiting your access to information.

“Mayor, you complained about people throwing stones. If you weren’t holding secret meetings, no one would be upset.”

Hynek said, as much as he respected Galle, he was a newcomer who was going to be paid the same compensation as a decades-experienced predecessor.

As discussion shifted to heated accusations of Galle’s part in charging Hynek for vandalism, a recess was called.

Dumas said, after the council reconvened, that what Sumner had lost in its selection process was assurance that they had made the best choice.

“At the end of the day, it may have been John,” she said. “But we don’t know that, because we didn’t open it up.”