{"id":2399623,"date":"2025-02-06T09:15:57","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T14:15:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/spokane-valley-to-councilmember-merkel-see-you-in-court-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-02-06T09:18:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T14:18:26","slug":"spokane-valley-to-councilmember-merkel-see-you-in-court-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/spokane-valley-to-councilmember-merkel-see-you-in-court-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Spokane Valley to Councilmember Merkel: See you in court &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fspokane-valley-to-councilmember-merkel-see-you-in-court-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2399623&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The\u200d Spokane Valley City Council has initiated a lawsuit\u200c against Councilmember Al Merkel following ongoing disputes and investigations\u200d aimed at compelling him to comply with the Washington State Public Records Act. \u200bThis decision was\u2063 prompted by more than 60 public\u2062 records requests that the city claims cannot be\u200b fully\u200b addressed due to\u2063 Merkel&#8217;s\u200b alleged noncompliance with \u2063document sharing\u2063 related to his\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-department-shuns-term-abraham-accords\/\" title=\"State Department Shuns Term \u2018Abraham Accords\u2019\">official communications<\/a>. The \u2063legal action could cost the city between $50,000 to\u2063 $250,000,which taxpayers might \u2062ultimately bear. Councilmember Jessica Yaeger \u2063expressed concerns over possible undisclosed misconduct by Merkel,\u2062 emphasizing the\u200d council&#8217;s obligation to safeguard public \u2064funds from \u200clegal\u2063 liabilities. Merkel insists his actions aim to preserve transparency and claims that the city is \u2063trying to silence him.\u200c The council\u200c censured him in December after \u2064finding that his posts on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-this-average-american-is-voting-for-donald-trump\/\" title=\"Why This Average American Is Voting for Donald Trump\">social media<\/a> platform Nextdoor were \u2063likely public records \u200band subject to disclosure.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Spokane Valley to Councilmember Merkel: See you in court<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1979240\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square)&nbsp;&ndash; After months of contention, debate and investigations, the Spokane Valley City Council agreed to sue Councilmember Al Merkel on Tuesday to force him to comply with state law.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The decision follows more than 60 public records requests related to Merkel, which the Valley claims they can&rsquo;t fully respond to due to his alleged noncompliance. During council commentary, Merkel&rsquo;s peers on the dais called on his supporters to cut a check to cover any misconduct.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While City Attorney Kelly Konkright estimated the lawsuit against Merkel could cost between $50,000 and $100,000, Councilmember Jessica Yaeger speculated it might reach $250,000.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t even uncovered the half of what could be found if we&rsquo;re sued,&rdquo; Yaeger said. &ldquo;This man is a criminal &hellip; if he could be walked out of here in handcuffs, that&rsquo;d be great.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>According to a&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokanevalleywa.gov\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=501\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">news release<\/a><\/strong>, the council raised the suit to &ldquo;compel Merkel to comply with the Washington State Public Records Act and the Council&rsquo;s&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_3b0b8a70-00dc-11ef-9e4b-cb1a89accfc5.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Governance Manual<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;in his&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_12c2d496-aff7-11ee-909f-73e8b18147ce.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">use<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;of social media, cell phones, emails and other records that constitute public records.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The council&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_3b0b8a70-00dc-11ef-9e4b-cb1a89accfc5.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">censured<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;Merkel in December after a hearing examiner supported&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_37092b96-6af2-11ef-85d7-0ffd55126b83.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">findings<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;that his posts on the social media platform Nextdoor were &ldquo;more likely than not&rdquo; public records. While Merkel claims he uses it for&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_5f940512-d9c5-11ef-8932-a7bc4bec149f.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">campaigning<\/a><\/strong>, the city says his noncompliance puts them at risk.<\/p>\n<p>The council can post on social media, but the PRA and local law require accounts discussing official city business to archive what&rsquo;s considered a public record. Following the censure, Merkel said he would comply with using a page freezer, but Nextdoor closed his city account soon after.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have a duty to protect our taxpayers,&rdquo; City Manager John Hohman said Tuesday, &ldquo;because the city will be held accountable for his actions or inactions for complying with state law.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Merkel said Nextdoor closed what was considered a duplicate account, so he provided the city with his personal one to ensure they have access to the records. City Attorney Kelly Konkright confirmed this on Tuesday, but added clarity with a timeline regarding Merkel&rsquo;s public records that he said&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/view.officeapps.live.com\/op\/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fspokanevalleywa.gov%2FDocumentCenter%2FView%2F3343%2FTimeline-as-of-Feb-4-2025%3Futm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Dgovdelivery&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>shows<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;Merkel isn&rsquo;t following through.<\/p>\n<p>While Merkel handed over his password, signing in <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">requires multi-factor authentication<\/a>, so he would still have to approve each login. Even once he does, Konkright said it doesn&rsquo;t provide all the required information, including comments on other people&rsquo;s profiles and deleted posts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Merkel provided some of that information, but Konkright argued that its content didn&rsquo;t fulfill the requests. He said this lawsuit was the last step to protect the city from litigation, which the city&rsquo;s insurance would not cover. Taxpayers would have to foot the bill if someone sued.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to agenda documents, the city spent over&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/spokanevalley.granicus.com\/MetaViewer.php?view_id=3&amp;clip_id=1490&amp;meta_id=95347\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$235,000<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;last year addressing Merkel&rsquo;s actions and investigations. Though his peers disagree, he claims they&rsquo;re trying to silence him.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This was never about Nextdoor &mdash; it&rsquo;s about shutting me up. I gave them everything they asked for, but they keep moving the goalposts,&rdquo; Merkel wrote in a press release. &ldquo;Now, they&rsquo;re bringing in an insurance guy to say my criticisms are a &ldquo;risk.&rdquo; You know what&rsquo;s risky? A government that fears accountability.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1979240\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1979240\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spokane Valley to Councilmember Merkel: We&#8217;re suing you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2399624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24014160623172-1-1-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[49924,32417,36854,41855,32076],"class_list":["post-2399623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-councilmember-merkel","tag-court-case","tag-local-news","tag-spokane-valley","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24014160623172-1-1-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2399623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2399623"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2399623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2399627,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2399623\/revisions\/2399627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2399624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2399623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2399623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2399623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}