SL mayor declines to resign; several measures put on hold

SOAP LAKE — Citing  concerns over Mayor Peter Sharp’s administration and personal conduct, a Soap Lake city councilman on Wednesday called upon Sharp to resign from office.

Reading from a prepared statement, councilman Andrew Arnold said his concerns stemmed from “unresolved ethics complaints” and “inconsistent and inaccurate statements to council, the public, and the media” that he attributed to Sharp.

Together, the alleged faults — which Arnold did not publicly specify — have harmed staff morale and public confidence. “For these reasons, I believe it is in the best interest of the city for the mayor to resign from office,” he said.

Arnold’s comments were met with applause by some audience members who sat through the two-hour council session.

Three of Arnold’s fellow council members — John Carlson, Kayleen Bryson and Susan Carson, who participated by phone — had no public response.

But another council member, Judith Gorman, said simply, “I trust the mayor and the city attorney,” referring to attorney Julie Norton of Wenatchee.

Sharp’s response was brief: he did not indicate an intention to resign, and instead encouraged council members and the public to contact him with any issues or concerns.

To “work out the demons,” said Sharp.

Currently, Soap Lake is in the process of a periodic state audit. The city’s last audit came in spring 2023, when multiple findings over fiscal status, accountability, and federal programs compliance were issued by state auditors.

That was before Sharp took office as a council member in January 2024, then was appointed mayor that August following the resignation of Allen DuPuy. Sharp has since pledged open, transparent government and financial stability for the community.

But Arnold alluded to issues of contracts being executed without council authorization, questions regarding financial oversight, delays in hiring key personnel, and potential violations of collective bargaining agreements.

During this past November general election, Sharp was elected to a two-year unexpired term that began this January. In the election, he narrowly outpolled a write-in candidate — former council member Karen Woodhouse, whose name was not listed on the ballot — by a 20-vote margin, 206-186.

During Wednesday night’s meeting, the council, mayor, and attorney discussed but did not advance several agenda items.

The stalled measures included:

—   A draft resolution to establish a tourism development committee was tabled. As proposed, the measure calls for the mayor to appoint a committee of volunteers, subject to council confirmation. Up to two members could be city council members. They would serve two-year terms and be tasked with responsibility to review use of tourism-related funds for special events and to promote economic development within the city.

Soap Lake once had a Lodging Tax Advisory Committee that annually accepted requests from qualified applicants for so-called “hotel/motel” funds derived from a state tax on local lodging facilities.

The tax revenue can be allocated for events and promotions which attract visitors for overnight stays in the community — that is, “putting heads in beds.” Recommendations by the committee for allocations must be approved by the city council and, by law, recipients must provide documentation on how the money was spent.

That provision still remains in Soap Lake’s city code, said Norton.

Sharp felt it would “be great” to establish such a committee because it could expand community representation. Gorman agreed that tourism promotion is a priority, but she did not think a city of Soap Lake’s size needed a committee and indicated that funding requests could instead come directly to the city council. Bryson, Carlson, and Carson did not object to a committee, but felt the proposal needed more review. Sharp suggested a future workshop session for more discussion.

Nels Borg, representing the Soap Lake Chamber of Commerce, noted there are upcoming community events and festivals in 2026 interested in promotional funding. Borg encouraged quick action on the part of the city to address that need.

—   A draft ordinance regarding classification and treatment of department heads failed on a 2-3 vote. It was supported by Gorman and Carlson, but Arnold, Bryson and Carson dissented.

Currently, the council has authority to confirm department head appointments by the mayor and that would continue. But the proposed ordinance calls for removing a chapter of city code that also gives the council authority to approve terminations of department heads.

Instead, all department heads — including police chief – would “serve at the pleasure of the mayor,” who could remove, suspend, or demote them with or without cause unless they had a specific employment contract or agreement. Various state laws say a mayor is responsible for daily administration of city staff and council members generally cannot give direct orders to staff.

The draft also included a mayoral recommendation to change the city’s title of public works superintendent to public works director and make that position a department head. And it would reorganize the position of city clerk/treasurer or finance director to city administrator/treasurer.

Soap Lake is currently advertising for the latter position.

Norton said the draft ordinance clarifies “who the department heads are.” She and Sharp said the council defined and adopted those positions in 2024. Carlson asked if the city clerk’s position would still have union protection. Bryson and Carson said they wanted to see the job descriptions, and Carson also asked about a job description for the proposed position of city planner/building official.

Norton said there are “some things we may need to work on,” but they could be added later. Sharp told the council, “You need to approve this to do what you want ….”

The motion did not advance.

—   Action on a city planner position was tabled.

Sharp said there was consideration of contracting for planning and building review services.

But  Arnold and Carson said a council majority had already agreed to seek an in-house employee to handle such work plus code enforcement matters. “We need (a person) in the office, not a contractor,” said Carson.

Carlson said he favored retaining a contract planner rather than hiring an in-house employee. Earlier in the evening, local architect Alex Kovach made a pitch to the council about doing the work. Kovach previously served as Soap Lake mayor until resigning in 2022 to become the city’s contract planner. That contract was subsequently cancelled by Sharp when he became mayor.

Sharp said four other candidates had expressed interest in providing services to the city, but only one, SAFEbuilt, could “take care of everything.”

Carlson endorsed adding Kovach to the pool of bidders, saying he could potentially save the city thousands of dollars in costs while restoring trust with local contractors and developers.