Seattle mayor seeks ethics review on snowstorm response

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels asked the city's ethics commission Friday to review whether city crews gave "preferential" treatment to West Seattle during December's snowstorms.

The request, made to the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission, followed a Seattle Times investigation into the reasons for the city's bungled response to clearing city streets. Among other things, the investigation found that city transportation crews spent an inordinate amount of time clearing sidewalks, landings and bus stops in West Seattle just before Christmas.

The mayor did not make himself available for comment Friday. But his spokesman, Alex Fryer, said Nickels was concerned about the impression that roads in the Admiral District got extra attention because the mayor and deputy mayor lived there.

"It may be that West Seattle was harder-hit than other neighborhoods," Fryer said, adding that transportation crews performed similar work on sidewalks in other neighborhoods.

A news release attributed to the mayor said there would be "discipline and consequences" for anyone who acted "improperly or unethically."

On Thursday, Fryer said the mayor would not make management changes at the department based on the Times report. He said Nickels was satisfied with the changes he ordered in the way the city will respond to future storms.

A series of seven weather fronts, carrying anywhere from a trace to several inches of snow, rolled over Seattle in two weeks in December. The heaviest snows fell from Dec. 17 to Dec. 26, paralyzing the city until warmer weather arrived.

Department records analyzed by The Times show that 10 employees spent 76 hours over two days hand-shoveling snow in West Seattle business districts before Christmas, a more intensive effort than was accorded other neighborhoods.

A plow driver, Sione Kongaika, also told The Times that the department's street-maintenance director, Paul Jackson Jr., was concerned the mayor couldn't get to work because downtown streets had not been cleared after the first major snowstorm.

Kongaika, who recently retired after 31 years with the city, recalled Jackson saying, "We have to get more plows downtown. The mayor can't get to the office."

Jackson said in an interview that he did not recall making such a statement and that he was concerned about all residents.

The ethics commission's Web site describes it as an independent committee of seven citizen volunteers. The mayor and the City Council each appoint three commissioners, and the commissioners select the seventh. All are confirmed by the City Council and serve three-year terms.

The commission's executive director, Wayne Barnett, said the commission has authority to investigate whether someone used their city position for noncity purposes. The group, he said, can initiate its own investigation, and make an inquiry broader than the issue the mayor requested be reviewed.

Also on Thursday, a majority of City Council members said they intended to revisit the city's snowstorm response and put the brakes on the mayor's proposal for change until they had a more complete picture of the city's performance.

Susan Kelleher: 206-464-2508 or skelleher@seattletimes.com