LYNNWOOD—In following up with some City of Lynnwood staff members’, and former staff members’, concerns over the city’s lack of transparency related to executive leadership position appointments, the Lynnwood Times requested to see all applications of those applying, and interviewing, for the vacant Parks Director position left when former Director Lynn Sordel’s retired; however, all records were fulfilled completely redacted.
The redacted information included names of applicants, interview notes taken by city employees, including tallied scores, and all associated documents therein.
The City informed the Lynnwood Times that it was completely within their right to redact this information, pursuant of state law RCW 42.56.250—relating to employment and licensing—which exempts certain employment information from public inspection including, but limited to, applicants names, resumes, personal information such as mailing addresses and social security numbers, and employment history.
There is, however, a subsection (i.iv) of the law that states the exemption does not apply to members of the press via a public records request, pursuant with RCW 5.68.010. This subsection, on the other hand, seems to only apply to existing employees rather than those applying for a city position, although the city attorney and Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) were unable to verify this before the publication of this article.
When reaching out to the City of Lynnwood for clarification, Nathan MacDonald, Manager of Communications and Public Affairs for the City of Lynnwood, stated that the request for tallied scores and applications falls under the section of RCW 42.56.260 which states: “All applications for public employment other than for vacancies in elective office, including the names of applicants, resumes, and other related materials submitted with respect to an applicant; and test questions, scoring keys, and other examination data used to administer a license, employment, or academic examination.”
“Our external legal team reviews and approves all exceptions and redactions in a public record. This effort protects the rights and expectation of confidentiality for our future and current employees while remaining transparent to our public and media partners,” said MacDonald.
The Lynnwood Times reached out to Lynnwood City Council President George Hurst to weigh in his thoughts on the city’s redactions who explained he believes the city does this to protect the applicants’ identities who may already be employed by another city and prefer not to have their current employer know they’re interviewing for a new position.
“I think that’s their justification for doing it, it was just odd that in this process we should have received a binder that Thursday before the meeting with candidates applications and resumes. When they didn’t do that, and we were told that Julie Moore and the Mayor decided not to go through with the process, it was just odd – it was on the agenda,” said Hurst. “That was the disappointing part. If you’re not going to go through with what you’re saying, and have it approved on the agenda, then tell us Friday so we could amend the agenda. That’s the lack of transparency, to find out 30 minutes before the meeting when we were supposed to have these three interviews, that that’s all changed. It’s just frustrating.”
By not releasing applications and interview documents to the media, and by extension the public, it does pose the question how the public can be assured that the city of Lynnwood follows an equal and fair hiring process.
MacDonald informed the Lynnwood Times that, “All of our staff are committed to a fair and equitable application process, regardless of the position and regardless of whether a PRR is redacted.”
The Lynnwood City Council was supposed to hold a three-hour Executive Session on March 18 to interview candidates for the open Parks and Recreation Director, as designated in its published agenda, but those interviews never occurred. Neither Sarah Olson nor Joel Faber, who were both applying for the position, were ever interviewed.
On Tuesday, March 12, before the interview process was supposed to occur the city staff was told not to bring any agenda items forward to allow three hours in an Executive Session for interviewing. That Thursday, Council President George Hurst and Mayor Frizzell reviewed the agenda for Friday’s meeting. Council President Hurst noted that the normal process for interviewing candidates typically involves council receiving a binder which includes the applications of the three candidates—so that council members can formulate questions to be reviewed by Human Resources—but council members did not receive any binder. Council President Hurst was told by the Mayor’s Office that the binders would be coming; but they never did, he said.
On Monday, March 18, Mayor Frizzell sent out an email stating some “issues have come up with the Executive Session” and called for a Council Leadership meeting at 5:30 p.m. At that meeting, the mayor said she decided not to move forward with candidate Olson and that she has appointed Faber as Interim. This was 30 minutes before the council meeting was scheduled to begin.
When council asked why this decision was brought up 30-minute before the meeting, the Mayor replied that she had made this decision a week ago but didn’t want to put a damper on Sordel’s retirement week, Council President Hurst informed the Lynnwood Times.
Lynnwood Parks & Recreation Director, Lynn Sordel, announced his retirement in November of 2023. At that time, he made it clear to council that he would deliver a comprehensive succession plan to be submitted to Mayor Christine Frizzell. But now the retired Lynnwood Parks & Recreation Director feels “disappointed” with Mayor Frizzell for neither following through on that plan, nor following its number one proposal regarding who would succeed as director in his place.
Sordel sat down with Mayor Frizzell in the middle of November to go over a drafted succession plan, that included a recommendation for who should fill his shoes as Director, as well as a proposed organizational chart which encompassed some suggested changes to the Department’s organizational structure. Each of these changes could be accomplished within the plan and with minimal impact to the city’s budget, he told the Lynnwood Times.
During that meeting with Frizzell, Sordel’ s number one-listed priority was to transition Sarah Olson, Parks & Recreation Deputy Director, to fill in his role as Director.
“I felt very strongly about this because Sarah had been my Deputy for over a decade, had gone back to school got her Master’s. I had given her opportunities to grow in her job, take on more responsibility, she took over our capital programs, she took over the healthy communities,” Sordel told the Lynnwood Times. “Sarah was, to me, someone that was ready for the job, had been working with the community, was received very well by the council, by the community, and had earned the opportunity to take my job.”
In lieu of Sordel’s recommendation, Mayor Frizzell transitioned Parks Superintendent Joel Faber into the role of interim Director while keeping Sarah Olson in her role as Deputy Director. Faber was promoted to Recreation Superintendent by Sordel 14 years earlier.
“It’s hard to quantify Lynn’s legacy and immense impact on our community as our director. His dedication and passion for our Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts department can be seen and felt across our city. I am honored and excited to serve our community members and our employees in this interim capacity,” Lynnwood Parks and Rec Interim Director Joel Faber told the Lynnwood Times in an emailed statement.
Before Sordel submitted his report to Mayor Frizzell, he reviewed it with staff in the Lynnwood Parks & Rec Department for their support, including Superintendent Eric Peterson and, now interim Director, Joel Faber. Sordel knew Faber was going to apply for the open Director position, which he encouraged while still recommending Olson for the position over him.
During Monday’s Business Meeting on March 25, Lynnwood City Council President Hurst, along with Council Vice President Altamirano-Crosby and Councilman Patrick Decker, agreed to considering a revision to Chapter 2.06 of the Lynnwood Municipal Code that governs the city council confirmation process for appointed officials and employees.
