Several Roy-area residents called for Mayor Kimber Ivy and Councilor William “Bill” Starks to resign, Monday, Aug. 12, during the Roy City Council meeting. Citizens accused the city government of being “dysfunctional” and “hostile,” while others denounced Starks’ alleged “Nazi salute” during the July 8 meeting.
Residents also accused the council and mayor of lying, pettiness and lack of positive progress on ongoing police and crime issues in the city during a 50-minute public comment session in which eight people spoke.
Calls for Starks’ resignation came after he concluded the contentious July 8 meeting with a gesture that Ivy and citizens later described as a “Nazi salute” when voting to adjourn. Immediately after the gesture, Ivy told Starks, “I’m just clarifying, sir, I don’t think that was very appropriate.”
“I think it was appropriate, totally,” Starks replied.
Ivy then released a statement condemning Starks’ action, calling it a “divisive symbolic action” and writing that “performing a Nazi salute alienates our community members and shows a complete and utter lack of respect for our democracy and its order and rules.” Ivy’s full statement is included in the July 25 edition of the Nisqually Valley News.
During the Aug. 12 meeting, Roy resident B. Jay Blaustein began his address to the council with a rhetorical question for Starks.
“How dare you? That was not just a raising of a hand,” Blaustein said. “I’m a 100% disabled veteran who indeed took an oath from which I have never been released to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America from all enemies, foreign and domestic. While I absolutely believe in and defend freedom of speech and freedom of religion, what you did at the last council meeting, utilizing a Nazi salute, was completely inappropriate.”
Blaustein shared with the council that Starks’ actions were “political in nature and not religious,” citing the Nazi salute representing the Nazi regime that murdered approximately 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. He added that he is Jewish and that he was “extremely offended” at Starks’ actions.
“If that’s how you wish to think, that’s fine, but not in a public forum where you’re supposed to represent the views of the people who elected you,” Blaustein said. “In my opinion, you should resign for your behavior, and if you refuse, then I believe you should go through a recall or at a minimum, a vote of confidence for your behavior. You certainly do not represent me, my feelings, my views or those of my family.”
Shannon Foster and Alexandria Hall also called for Starks’ resignation. Foster claimed that Starks used the gesture in a “distasteful” manner and that his actions do not represent those of Roy citizens. Hall cited Starks “doubling down on its appropriateness,” therefore calling his actions “inappropriate and disrespectful.”
William Orton addressed what he called a “dysfunctional government” in Roy and accused Ivy of “continued misguided utilization of the media to exploit or resolve grievances, whether personal or professional.” He added that, as a result, Roy is “within the spotlight of negative press.”
“It capitalizes on sensational headlines that reflect poorly on the individual speaking them and the reputation of the community,” Orton said. “Just because you can do or say something doesn’t mean that you should. Can a response be as bad or worse as the original act? Did we publicly perceive the response of a respected man in the community as a Nazi salute, then recklessly in the press, without inquiry before we spoke, proceed to paint him with the broad brush of hatefulness and evil? What does that say about us in our community?”
Laura Vanderveen directed her comments toward the council as a whole as well and claimed that council members “waste time reading their packets when they should be prepared and ready to be a part of the council meetings.” She also reiterated her previous concerns to the council regarding crime in Roy, including “stolen trucks in the middle of broad daylight.”
“Members of the council make outlandish gestures that we once again make the news for, and it’s not because we are winning awards,” Vanderveen said. “Our council members seem to think taking out the aggressions on our mayor is how they are properly going to serve the community.”
Vanderveen called out the eldest three members of the council — Bill Starks, Yvonne Starks, and Jim Rotondo — for their “pettiness” and said, “I’ve never seen grown adults be more childish than the three eldest members of this council.
“You’re not solving issues. You’re making issues when you should be adding history to our city,” she continued. “We still have water issues. We still have crime issues that are beyond measure. Police are nowhere to be found, not even Pierce County. I’m sick of this crap.”
While Ivy’s efforts received praise from Hall, others criticized her for what they called a lack of transparency. Resident Patty Haver called for Ivy’s resignation, and Cindy Byrd accused Ivy of hiding former City Clerk-Treasurer Michael Malek’s hourly contract from the council as he was paid to help the acting city clerk-treasurer.
“To the mayor, if you’re so transparent and inform the council of everything, why were they not informed that you had awarded a contract for hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars to the previous city treasurer that had just resigned as a disgruntled employee under adverse conditions?” Byrd said. “You just decided to secretly do this on your own and kept it hidden from the council for almost six weeks. If it was such an emergency, you could have done it for two weeks and informed the council at the June meeting two weeks after the fact, but you decided not to. That must give a new definition to the word ‘transparency’ known only to yourself.”
Haver accused Ivy of publicly “chastising” council members who do not agree with issues brought up by the mayor and “indoctrinating” citizens in attendance with issues that the mayor allegedly has with council members.
“Those are issues that should be dealt with so that the council members have the chance to speak to those claims and issues and should not be brought to the public when they have not been proven,” Haver said. “That is total disrespect for members who give their time and energy for those positions. It seems that you, mayor, are trying to recruit support by claiming issues in public that have not been validated as occurring.”
Haver added that the response to Starks’ gesture “should never have escalated like it did” and that the matter should have been dealt with more professionally.
“The impact and resulting effects have been detrimental to the city, the community and the council itself. It has been successful in creating a hostile environment within the community, and not to mention the effects it has had on the council member and his family,” Haver said.
She suggested that Ivy is guilty of “intolerance of council members, intimidation of council members not agreeing with you, and a general disrespect for the valid questions that the council has brought forth during council meetings over and over again.” Haver repeated claims from council members that Ivy does not provide information on agenda items ahead of meetings and that the council should have more control of the hiring of city employees.
“I have heard the members state that they have not had information presented in a timely manner at all by which to make decisions based on that information. That is why we have council members to oversee the actions and decisions being made for the city,” Haver said. “Based on this information and this behavior by you, mayor, who is quick to find fault with others, perhaps it’s your resignation that is necessary.”
Ivy and Starks did not respond to citizens during the meeting. Starks was given an opportunity to comment after the meeting but declined.
