Re: What does future hold for Hyack?, The Record, Oct. 25.
Just when you thought that our long civic nightmare was over, the pot gets stirred once again. Let's review events just to put straight any misconceptions that might be propagated by the above article.
* Councillor Puchmayr's "the sky is falling" reference to the Nov. 1 deadline for grant applications is disingenuous at worst and puzzling at best given that president Gavin Palmer was present at the city council meeting where he was prepared to make a presentation on that matter.
By the mayor's motion, and approved by all but Betty McIntosh, council removed Hyack from the agenda without even consulting its executive.
They then added Bart Slotman to the agenda, contesting the way Hyack was running festivals, who had seen his particular Uptown Festival subsidized by Hyack. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
* Mayor Wright, who refused to hear the Hyack presentation then turns around and castigates Hyack for some alleged mistreatment of a "parliamentarian" originally hired to chair the special general meeting. In a prudent fiscal move, Hyack replaced the $4,000 to be paid to the parliamentarian, pushed by the resigned board members, with local prominent lawyer Terry Hewitt who agreed to chair the meeting for free.
* Five board members resigned from Hyack at noon the day the special general meeting was to take place, indicating that they didn't see that their "palace coup" would be sustained by the 75 per cent of the membership required.
* The board met, accepted their resignations, appointed four replacement board members, of impeccable reputation and long-standing civic involvement and cancelled the special general meeting, informing all members, including the writer.
* The 25 folks who showed up went ahead with the agenda, cancelled by the board's vote, without the knowledge of the board or the members who respected the board decision to cancel the meeting.
* In all of this, the Hyack executive has gone ahead with its commitments and even kept their word by showing up at Issaquah with the generous help of the membership contributions and Key West Ford who stepped up to the plate with a vote of confidence and substantial funds in order to keep the city's reputation from suffering.
Surely, the city council can now hear the presentation from Hyack, which it postponed by its own motion, or is there another hidden agenda afoot here?
E.C. "Ted" Eddy, Hyack member and volunteer
