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.
8 Responses
And Zornes changed her vote from yes in 2021 to no in 2024 after taking money from private developers and realtors. A bribe would have changed the vote, no? You’re missing the real story.
Let me get this straight… a pastor, who supports affordable housing, supports a bunch of candidates who also support affordable housing? Maybe it’s because they share the same goals. Those candidates and those church folks have been trying to get Bothell to build affordable housing for years…. back when this project was just an idea, and back when none of the current progressive council members were actually in office. It’s to their credit that these folks have worked so hard to build what they promised their congregation and constituents. Are there valid questions about this project? Sure. But not about this pastor and this council’s dedication and sincerity. May heaven bless them and bring them success.
If it’s not clear, I agree with BothellMan above.
To be fair to Councilmember Zornes, though, this project has evolved so much (out of necessity), that whatever she voted for back in 2021 might not be quite what’s on the table in 2024.
Government it says it all . I bet you more money has changed hands in Bothell. Have you seen all the apartments going up will zero parks or area for tax payers. I think Bothell government has been on the take for a long time.
The $6 million figure is not a robust figure. Using Zillow comps the value of the Lot P South and the bond interest paid by the city for the purchase pegs thus “gift” at about $16 million in 2024 dollars.
Interesting. Any money received under the table? Investigate
The letter of intent needs to be terminated before the Oct 18th deadline.
Instead of getting $10 million from a developer to have for the city’s general fund we are giving away the land for free to a church who is partnering with for-profit companies who still do not have the money, and the land will sit undeveloped for years to come.
I didn’t know the city of Bothell was swimming in cash. More people are moving into the city, and we don’t think we need the money to scale out our infrastructure and services?
Follow the money to find what I think is a scandal. Bothell residents are getting fleeced. The church is hiding something. They’re getting “donations” from builders. A pastor increases her personal donations to city candidates. Oh and one of the city council members removed their work with a church from their LinkedIn account. Coincidence? I wonder if LinkedIn can recover older versions of people’s profiles.
Seattle area poverty level is 80,000. BUMC employees will move into the low income housing that the city just gave to BUMC since their average salary hovers around the poverty range
What happens in two years when City of Bothell has a financial shortfall and has to let people go. Why doesn’t the City Manager do something to protect the City’s financial interest.
Is this even legal. Defrauding Bothell residents