Clash between Roach and Talbert leads to silent audio during public meeting

It started as a minor debate over rules and procedures, and ended with raised voices, followed by an order from new Pierce County Councilwoman Pam Roach to cut off microphones recording a public meeting.

The result: more than three minutes of silence broadcast on the public airwaves, the apparent loss of a section of the public record, and the odd spectacle of Roach, R-Sumner, speaking without sound. Tuesday evening, she said it was an unintended mistake, and didn’t realize her microphone was off.

Tuesday’s meeting of the council’s Economic Development and Infrastructure Committee, chaired by Roach, started normally enough. But at roughly the five-minute mark, Roach began to discuss her preferred method of running meetings and the rules of procedure set by the council.

A broadcast of the meeting, available at the council’s public website, shows what happened next.

Councilman Rick Talbert, D-Tacoma, weighs in, saying council members can discuss meeting rules at an upcoming study session.

“We have our rules,” he says, but Roach cuts him off.

“Well, Councilmember Talbert –”

“Ma’am, I have the floor. Will you let me speak?”

“No, I’m sorry, you don’t have the floor,” Roach replies.

“Actually, I do.”

“Well, I’m stopping you now.”

The broadcast shows the two talking over each other as Roach repeatedly bangs her gavel, saying, “I am the chair.”

The discussion continues for another few seconds, and Talbert says, “We’ve been operating fine without you.”

At that point, Roach speaks to an unnamed staffer.

“Would you turn the microphones off, whoever does that?” she says. “Just turn ’em off. Turn ’em all off.”

At that point in the recording, the audio drops for roughly 3.5 minutes. Roach continues to speak without sound. She frequently holds up a touch-screen device used by council members and committee chairs that turns audio on and off when individual members make comments.

At the 10-minute mark of the broadcast, the audio returns.

“Now did anybody hear that wonderful stuff I was saying?”

“No,” a voice says.

“All right, we’re gonna do it again,” Roach says, and holds up the touch-screen device.

“The Pierce County Council, because it cannot control itself with the chair, has gone to the expense of providing a screen like this so the chair can control who speaks and who doesn’t speak,” she says.

Reached Tuesday night, Roach said she didn’t know her microphone was cut off, and didn’t realize the broadcast went silent. She noted that once she was told her remarks hadn’t been recorded, she repeated them, in “a shorter version.”

“I didn’t know it was off,” she said. “I want them (the microphones) on. I want all the mikes on. I want open mikes. I want to get rid of that ridiculous box that sits there. Yesterday (Monday) they showed me how to work the buttons. I went away thinking I’m not gonna use them. In Olympia you don’t use them.”

Roach served in the state Senate for 26 years, where rules and procedures are slightly different than those used in Pierce County. She won her council seat in November. Tuesday’s meeting was her third since taking office, and the first that she has chaired.

“There’s a little bit of a learning curve here,” she said, adding that she has her eye on other local rules that she dislikes, including the three-minute time limit for individual citizen comments.

Council chairman Doug Richardson, R-Lakewood, said Tuesday that he didn’t believe Roach intended to cut off her own microphone, and blamed himself for not giving her clear information about local rules and technology in council chambers.

Talbert said Wednesday that Roach isn’t the first former state legislator to have issues with the transition from state to local government.

“It’s nothing new,” he said. “Every former legislator who gets elected comes in with similar ideas about how things are done. We all get comfortable with routines. I understand that.

“But the way she’s approached it is you folks are doing it wrong, and we’re gonna do it my way. I don’t want to make this personal. It’s not about me. I can live with somebody who is demanding or abusive even. But our staff can’t.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Clash between Roach and Talbert leads to silent audio during public meeting."