As a Burien resident with concerns that our city council members are taking us to a place of financial despair with their annexation plans, I felt it important to verify that our council members are acting completely without bias.

In particular, Burien council member Kathleen Keene is also a Commissioner of Water District 20, a water district serving areas in both the City of Burien and the proposed annexation area.

Her term at WD 20 expires in 2009. Without question, the business affairs of Water District 20 will be materially impacted by any annexation decision.

Therefore, on April 24, I asked the Burien city manager, the city attorney and councilmember Keene to respond to this concern:

If Commissioner Keene serves Water District 20 and the City of Burien, what steps has she taken or is she taking as to the current North Highline annexation issues to avoid violating the Appearance of Fairness Doctrine?

As stated in a relevant court decision, "(T)he Appearance of Fairness Doctrine is a rule of law that requires government decision-makers to conduct quasi-judicial hearings and make quasi-judicial decisions in a way that is both fair in appearance and in fact. The doctrine has been applied primarily to quasi-judicial land use decisions, and its purpose is to bolster public confidence in the fairness of such decisions by the elimination of actual bias, prejudice, improper influence or favoritism, but also in the curbing of conditions which, by their very existence, tend to create suspicion, generate misinterpretation, and cast a pall of partiality, impropriety, conflict of interest or prejudgment over the proceedings to which they relate."

It would seem Ms. Keene's interest in WD 20 may lead to a degree of partiality and conflict of interest requiring her to disqualify herself from any discussions or voting concerning the proposed annexation.

As a dual public servant, I expect she will be eager to address these concerns that are probably shared by my fellow citizens of Burien.

John Rizzardi

Burien