letter to mayor butler with newsletter

7/18/2019 Letter to Mayor Butler With Newsletter

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July 29, 2015

Dear Mayor Butler:

You may be aware that I have recently made several public information requests of the

City of Issaquah regarding the Senior Center under the management of Courtney Jaren.

Today I met with a group of citizens who were targeted by Courtney Jaren in the six-pageSenior Center Newsletter dated June 30, 2015, which she wrote and mailed to approx 700 Senior

Center members. You can read the outrageous libelous allegations this woman made for

yourself in the attached copy, if you are not already aware of this egregious publication whichhas the appearance of being distributed under the auspices and approval of city leaders (see the

clever format of last page).

In addition, Courtney Jaren has placed a large 2x3 foot poster at each entrance to the

Senior Center listing the names of people who called the city to complain about the SeniorCenter. Who calls the mayor's office to file a complaint may be public information, but it is

being used to intimidate those members with inquiring minds. And for those members who do

not have inquiring minds, against a backdrop of Jaren's June 30th newsletter, these two postersserve to engender a fear that the Senior Center is under attack and could be closed due to theactions of the small group of complainers. Of course, Courtney Jaren is the assumed sole

defender of the Senior Center.

This atmosphere of fear is further reinforced by cartoon-type posters Courtney Jaren put

up on the walls of the Center asking members to sign indicating their alignment with her against"the small group, including the two who were received trespass orders, who continuously

complain about the Senior Center." The president of the Board has made public comments of a

similar nature before opening activities at the Senior Center.

Photos were taken of the cartoon-type posters; and they appear to me to be the creation of

a desperate person on the verge of mental incapacity making her unfit to act as ExecutiveDirector of the City's Senior Center. See photos at end of this letter about the "Evil Invigilator"

and the "Tell Me It's Not True" campaign.

This situation has gotten out of hand; and I see that the City of Issaquah as the only entitywhich can reasonably reign in the current Board of Directors and its at will employee, the

Executive Director, Courtney Jaren.

With that being said, I have some ideas to share with you.

Starfish Law

PLLC

Inez PETERSEN, J.D., WSBA #46213 UBI 603323989

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3306 Lake Wash Blvd North Unit #1, Renton, WA 98056-1978FAX 888-253-1074; Telno 425-255-5543; [email protected]

http://StarFishLaw.com



Suggestion #1: I suggest that your Police Chief write letters to the trespassed board

members officially reinstating their right to use the Senior Center and their right to participate on

the Board of Directors. Jaren used the trespass notice as a way of removing board members whoasked questions she didn't want to answer. These persons were never lawfully removed

according to the manner set forth in the Bylaws; and I believe the trespass notices should be

withdrawn immediately. Her wording in the June 30th newsletter leads readers to believe thatshe was only acting on orders from the Police Department. I'm sure nothing could be further

from the truth.

Suggestion #2: Do you believe that when the right to use the Senior Center is pending

withdrawal for any reason that there should be a reasonable procedure for "notice andopportunity to be heard" before a neutral body (not board members) as a means to interject

fairness into the official withdrawal of a citizen's right to use the Senior Center? I would even go

so far as to say that Jaren's misuse of trespass notices has Constitutional implications since most

citizens look at the Senior Center as an extension of city amenities just like the parks.

Suggestion #3: The fact that the Board saw nothing wrong with Jaren's June 30th

newsletter and likewise saw nothing wrong with the posters she has placed in the Senior Center

shows their total inability to serve as board members. They cannot meet the standard of care

imposed upon them by state law via RCW 24.03.127. They have deferred their duties in allrespects, leaving the members at the mercy of a tyrannical Executive Director. How else can one

explain the current situation at the Senior Center?

Instead of the Board managing Courtney Jaren, she controls them to the detriment of the

Center itself and all its members, and especially to the detriment of the persons she has chosen totarget. She stated on the third page of her June 30th newsletter that "Much harm has come to the

Issaquah Senior Center from a very small group of people." I'd say much harm has come to the

Issaquah Senior Center from one person--Courtney Jaren.

The Board of Directors and its one at will employee, Courtney Jaren, should be removed

immediately. But how to do that? I have an idea about that too.

Suggestion #4: The City should withdraw funding to the current nonprofit corporation

operating the Senior Center and cancel their lease. That will eliminate an ineffective board of

directors and it will dispense with the at will Executive Director hired by the Board. The Citycan, in short order, kill two birds with one stone.

The lease can be cancelled under Paragraphs 3 and 4 regarding unlawful activities (libel

per se in the form of the June 30th newsletter) and Jaren's rental of the Senior Center to a church.

Suggestion #5: To preclude current problems from being replayed in the future, wouldthe City consider placing the Senior Center under the direct supervision of one its departments

and run by a commission where oversight is also under city control? The need for this

restructuring is fairly urgent based on the many unfounded allegations made by Jaren in her June

30th newsletter. Go through that newsletter and highlight them page by page. It is a sickscenario.

It is also rumored that the current Board, under Jaren's direction, is rewriting the Bylaws.

These Board members are not capable of following the current Bylaws, so it is highly doubtful

that they possess the skills to write new and better Bylaws.



Jaren has also been busy writing "side policies" which cause observers to wonder, for

example, if elder abuse is rampant at the Senior Center. DSHS has an elder abuse hotline and I

imagine they have their own posters. DSHS doesn't need Courtney Jaren setting herself up as theonly focal point for issues of elder abuse in Issaquah and misportraying the number of incidents

of elder abuse to justify statements she made in the June 30th newsletter.

In her June 30th newsletter, she indicated on the fourth page, "When a group of seniors bully a vulnerable senior to death, there is a duty to report." She should be fired immediately onthe basis of that one false statement alone. But for the Board being under her control, I believe

that this would have been "a done deal." Just imagine the mental state of an executive director

who would make such a statement and then publish it to 700 vulnerable adults. If anyone isguilty of elder abuse, it is Courtney Jaren.

Suggestion #6: While the private citizens who are members of the Senior Center do not

have the financial means to pay for an audit of the nonprofit which runs the Senior Center, the

City of Issaquah could easily conduct one as the major provider of grant money to the NPO. I believe the city may find anomalies with regard to handling of money and the Executive Director

"could be fighting tooth and nail" to hide such anomalies. This might explain her desperate loss

of reason regarding anyone who questions her leadership or inquires about the financial matters

relating to the Senior Center.

Suggestion #7: The City is also in a position to determine if Courtney Jaren is using her

position to influence how citizens vote.

In closing:

I sat for four hours today listening to citizens telling me stories about Courtney Jaren. We

would be ready to adjourn, and then someone would remember something else. I can tell you itwasn't a pretty story.

And if it is to have a happy ending, the City of Issaquah must take charge . . . and do it as

soon as possible.

I am a graduate of IHS, class of 1963. I do have a vested interest in the city of Issaquah. I

am not merely the attorney to the wronged. I too have a sense of justice that begs for action.

There is one sentence on Page 5 of Jaren's June 30th newsletter that is 100% fitting: "No person who institutes lies, fabricates issues, engages in harassment, threatens or steals, should

now or ever be endorsed in any leadership positions in the City of Issaquah, or for that matter, be

authorized to retain a current position." There is your mandate to get rid of Courtney Jaren outof her very own mouth.

Respectfully yours,

Inez Petersen, J.D.

WSBA #46213

Enclosure: Jaren's June 30th Newsletter

letter to mayor butler with newsletter

Documents