• Editor’s note: This stuff coming from city hall management is another sad tale for lack of oversight and leadership from the top, Mayor Foster, who gives his State of the City talk tomorrow (May 14) to the Yelm Chamber luncheon forum.
• The State of the City: A Transparency Crisis!
• The “buck” stops on the Mayor’s desk, yes his desk, for the city’s issues! Where are the city’s Financial Director and the Director of Public Works? The Yelm City Council is also complicit if they do not question on-the-record what led to this and how the city can mitigate such a sting for Yelm businesses.
• The public has a right to know A. how the mistake was found, and B. what the actual process is the city has implemented (and if not, why not) to catch something like this.

As has become more persistent, the audio of the Yelm City Council Study Session on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, was not working. However, this line item buried in the Minutes of the meeting stood out: ”
“There has been an error on the sewer utility billing for commercial accounts. There will be a letter going out to commercial accounts explaining the problem.”

I inquired what this was all about and was informed Yelm businesses will soon get a shock of a punch in the stomach, as they will be receiving a sewer bill for 6 months of the sewer consumption rate in one lump sum with an apology insert. This affected about 80 Yelm businesses Not good enough!

This city had been previously labeled as “business non-friendly,” and certainly that nickname will rise to the surface again as Yelm’s business customers get this news in their bills. The Yelm City Council must address this publicly at their meeting tomorrow evening!