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BOTHELL—On July 16, the City of Bothell entered a Letter of Intent with the Bothell United Methodist Church (BUMC) to gift the church, at no cost, a city-owned plot of land worth $6 million to be used for affordable housing and a community space. But conflict-of-interest concerns have since been raised involving one of BUMC’s lead pastors seeing as she made sizable financial contributions to the Mayor and City Council members who voted in favor of that decision. 

In 2023, around the time that the city of Bothell began negotiating a Letter of Intent with Bothell United Methodist, Kristin Joyner, Pastor of Community Engagement at BUMC, contributed $1,000 to Bothell City Councilwoman Amanda Dodd’s campaign, $1,200 to Bothell City Councilman Carston Curd, and $1,000 to Bothell Mayor Mason Earl Thomas. All three voted in favor of entering a Letter of Intent during Council’s Regular Meeting on Tuesday, July 16.

The Washington Public Disclosure Commission confirmed with the Lynnwood Times that $1,200 is the maximum contribution a political candidate can receive by an individual per election as of 2023. It used to be $1,000 before the laws changed.

Joyner also contributed to Bothell Councilwoman Jenne Alderks’ campaign and Councilman Rami Al-Kabraback in 2021, but her contributions were far less at $100. Both of these council members voted in favor of the LOI in July. Joyner also contributed $500 to Bothell Mayor Thomas’ campaign in 2019.

Pastor Kristin Joyner informed the Lynnwood Times that the timing of her contribution simply lined up with the timing of the elections and that the reason her contribution amount leaped from $100 to over $1,000 was simply because her finances allowed for it.

Bothell City Council members Jenne Alderks and Amanda Dodd are Board members of the North Urban Human Services Alliance of which Bothell United Methodist is a partner. Joyner sent out an email to NUHS staff leading up into the July 16 meeting urging them to speak in favor of the LOI for the city to gift the church the property and to “bring friends” or “someone you know” to also voice their support.

Joyner did not contribute to Council members Jeanne Zornes nor Benjamin Mahnkey, the two who voted against entering the LOI with the church during the July 16 meeting.

During that meeting Councilwoman Zornes said the gifting of the lot is a “generous give” especially considering the City had another offer for $10 million, money that could have gone to the City’s General Fund. Councilman Mahnkey also made the point that the City could have used the proceeds from selling the property for a “second [affordable housing] project.”

“The, about, fifty thousand people who live in Bothell own that property, not the seven here on the dais,” said Councilwoman Zornes. “The community need to step in and say yes, we want to do this and buy in…as a city we have not invited the people in to have that conversation with us. Most of the conversations have been behind closed doors.”

Zornes continued that BUMC has acted entitled to the property and has not expressed a shred of gratitude thus far. Another concern, she noted, is that “the community has not had the chance to weigh in.”

On multiple occasions, the Lynnwood Times reached out to Mayor Thomas and the council members who received financial contributions from Joyner, asking if the contributions influenced their decision to vote in favor of gifting the property at no cost to the church, or if they had plans of being transparent with the public concerning these contributions, but as of the publication of this article, our multiple requests have gone unanswered.

Joyner informed the Lynnwood Times that the contributions made to the campaigns of these individuals were by her as a person, and in no way connected to the church as an institution.

According to Indeed, a Bothell United Methodist Church working in Washington State makes around $87,000 a year on average.

“I contributed to the candidates that I thought were leading the city in the right direction,” Joyner told the Lynnwood Times. “The church is a 501(c) 3 who is not allowed, nor would they ever donate to political candidates. It’s illegal and it would risk their tax status. There’s no reason why they would do that.”

Bothell United Methodist Church received a cash grant of $30,687 from Maryland-based Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) to be used for affordable housing in 2022. It was one of 382 organizations that year to received grants and/or assistance from Enterprise.

According to its website, Enterprise “is the only national nonprofit that does it all – solutions, capital and community development.” It is “one of the largest nonprofit owners and developers of affordable homes in the Mid-Atlantic and is the sixth largest nonprofit affordable housing provider in the U.S.”

On its 2022 IRS Form 990, where the $30,687 contribution to BUMC was reported, Enterprise reported total net assets of slightly over $826 million. Its CEO, Priscilla Almodovar received $2.27 million in total compensation, IRS documents show, and its interim CEO at that time received $650,157 in compensation from related organizations to Enterprise.

In the 2022 filing, Enterprise states that it performs lobbying activities—internally and paid externally—”to support legislation associated with affordable housing and related funding” and “visits to Capitol Hill are conducted periodically to meet with legislators and their staff regarding these federal programs and issues.”

BUMC did not show up in the IRS’ Tax-Exempt Organization Search as a tax-exempt organization but according to the IRS’ law concerning churches and religious organizations, it doesn’t have to be.

“Churches that meet the requirements of IRS Section 501(c)(3) are automatically considered tax-exempt and are not required to apply for and obtain recognition of tax-exempt status from the IRS,” the law reads.

However, regarding the cash grant from Enterprise Community Partners, the law states that churches and organizations are required to file 990-T forms if they generate gross income of $1,000 or more from an unrelated business. As of September 4, BUMC has not filed any forms with the IRS.

Joyner further clarified that the church has no financial gain by the project and even sold land in order to put almost $1.5 million of its own money into it so that the community could have affordable living and a safe gathering space.

“This is not a gift to BUMC this is an investment in housing and community space for the whole community,” said Pastor Joyner.

BUMC sent out an RFP early in the process and sided with BRIDGE Housing as its partner who will be conducting the designing and actual building of the facility. The community space alone, which will be located on the ground floor of the facility, is projected to cost around $3 to $4 million dollars of which BUMC is putting in $1.4 of its own money. BRIDGE Housing, who will be handling the funding for the project, will likely have to secure grants and other funding options to cover the rest.

The city had the property appraised in 2022, when the fair market value was estimated at approximately $6 million, Kate Langsforf, Communications Officer for the City of Bothell informed the Lynnwood Times.

Despite its value, the council’s decision to gift the property to the church at no cost is considered to be the City’s financial contribution to the affordable housing project. While technically the City and BUMC will have 90 days (October 14) from the execution of the LOI to negotiate a purchase and sale contract for the property, the provision that the land be conveyed at no cost is expected to remain in effect. Within those 90 days the LOI can also be terminated.

Author: Kienan Briscoe