Interesting item on Channel 4 last night. More details needed, but it reports that the Sherwood City Council had passed a resolution expressing disappointment in Mayor Virginia Hillman for misleading them on a report they’d commissioned about imposing a development impact fee to generate money for roads and parks.
The Street Committee, along with Parks and Recreation, had suggested a study to analyze impact fees for Sherwood roads and parks.
The Council approved in May and expected the study to be complete within about four months.
According to the council, the mayor had told them in November she had not seen the report, nor was she aware of any of its factual information.
But according to department heads, the mayor had met with them about the study twice, which arrived at the city in September.
UPDATE: I’ve spoken with the mayor. She disputes the council’s characterization and explains some of the politics at work in a statement on the jump. She adds, however, that she hopes the Council won’t go forward with impact fees, because it would be “just one more notch” that other cities would use in competing against Sherwood. She says Sherwood doesn’t have the potential for dramatic territorial expansion that some cities have and thus has less need for such a fee to build collector roads, though it might have been useful 15 or 16 years ago. “I don’t have anything to be ashamed of,” she said. “I am not a liar. People do make mistakes.”
Here’s a copy of the study, provided by the mayor.
