At the regular meeting of the Sumner City Council, Matt Richardson submitted to the record a decision by Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag, which he said exonerates him of misusing city equipment.

The allegation stemmed from Richardson’s communication with someone regarding personal matters over city e-mail. A complaint was filed by Chris Clifford, who spoke during several city council meetings against Richardson, called the State Auditor’s Office and mentioned the supposed misuse of city e-mail.

When the auditor’s office completed the investigation into the complaint, a letter sent to Clifford and Richardson with the result and this is the letter Richardson submitted for the record.

While Richardson spoke, Mayor Dave Enslow interjected.

“Mr. Richardson, it would be really nice to have this last meeting without a personal attack,” Enslow said.

Richardson criticized comments made by Councilmember Steve Allsop, who spoke to the Courier-Herald for an article in the Nov. 16 edition in which he said Richardson made himself irrelevant.

Allsop pointed out at the meeting Richardson’s claim the auditor found he did not misuse city e-mail is not entirely correct and said the auditor determined Sumner’s ethics code is not clear enough to rule Richardson misused the e-mail.

“We found that Council Member Richardson has used his City e-mail for business and personal uses,” the letter states.

Sumner’s ethics code does not allow personal use of city-owned property, but does allow occasional personal use of network resources.

“Since the City’s written code and procedures are contradictory regarding personal use of technology resources, we are unable to conclude whether the Council Member’s use violates City policies, the letter stated.

The auditor’s office found an allegation of Richardson influencing zoning or sale of land had no evidence supporting it.

Richardson derided the council for the way it conducted meetings in which he says personal attacks occurred.

“It’s really been a disgusting display,” he said.