A gathering of five Sumner City Council members caused a flurry of activity in late October, including a police report and an anonymous anchovy pizza delivery.

On Oct. 21, council members Steve Allsop, Curt Brown, Leroy Goff, Ed Hannus and Cindi Hochstatter and a half dozen others convened together at Councilmember Steve Allsop’s home to make fliers in support of Mayor Dave Enslow’s reelection.

“We were punching holes in letters, things like that,” Allsop said, adding that Enslow was not present. “We were not conducting official business. It was a personal matter.”

That’s enough to make it legal, said Tim Ford, open government ombudsman for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.

“A meeting is defined as a quorum where action takes place,” Ford said. “That can include deliberation, hearing testimony. If they all get in a car together and drive up to watch a baseball game and they don’t discuss any official business, that’s not (defined as) a meeting. There’s nothing wrong with meeting (for unofficial reasons.)”

Meeting in support of a campaign, Ford added, is not illegal either.

Resident Rae Ann Dugger was one of half a dozen people who saw the council members going into Allsop’s home. She remains concerned that a quorum of council members can gather for private reasons.

“It didn’t seem quite right that they were having a meeting,” said Dugger, who added that she had heard about the meeting and noticed several of the council members convening at the Allsop home when she was on a walk. “It just didn’t seem like a very nice thing to do.”

Dugger said she received a flier on her door a couple of days later, signed by all five present council members, asking her to vote for Enslow and taking a stance against his opponent, Councilmember Matt Richardson. Richardson and Councilmember Randy Hynek were the members that were absent from the gathering.

Richardson was also concerned and filed a police report about the meeting with the Sumner Police Department because he wanted the information documented. According to the police department, there was never an investigation and the case has been closed.

“Who’s to say (they) didn’t do city business?” asked Richardson, who is concerned that this could set a precedent for under-the-radar meetings. “(It) doesn’t square with what we’ve been told for many, many years at the city.”

Several residents brought up the issue at the Nov. 2 Sumner City Council meeting.

“We put our trust in the council and they have much power and influence,” resident Brent Reed said. “I don’t want to have to wonder what the council is doing when we are not invited.”

Adding to the evening, said Allsop, an anchovy pizza that was delivered to his home with a two-page letter, signed “CFMRFSM (Committee for Matt Richardson for Sumner Mayor) and the several hundreds of people who’ll be voting for Matt Richardson for Mayor.” Richardson said he did not write the letter or order the pizza.

“That was a letter put together by my committee,” Richardson said.

Before citing a Revised Code of Washington (RCW) about the disclosure of records, the letter reads “(We) know some very serious mistakes have been made ... Good luck with your next round of decision making.” The letter concludes, “Depending on how the next couple of nights go, the media may be notified that you ... have broken the Open Public Meetings Act.”

Allsop said he was confused upon receiving the letter in the pizza, but said both Sumner City Attorney Brett Vinson and former Sumner City Attorney Pat Bosmans, who is now the city attorney of Des Moines, assured him they were not in violation of the Open Public Meetings Act.

“There was no doubt in my mind that this (was legal),” Allsop said. “I don’t feel like we have anything to hide.”

Hynek, the only council member not directly involved with the incident, spoke up at the Nov. 2 meeting as well.

“After all this, I hope we can come together as a council,” he said. “We have a lot of important things (to do).”