More than two dozen attendees filled Morton’s Bob Lyle Community Center on Monday, July 28, for both a public hearing and a Morton City Council meeting.
The public hearing was held to discuss resolutions on the council’s agenda pertaining to adopting fees for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and amendments to Morton’s public records disclosure ordinance. Following the half-hour public hearing in the council meeting, the council approved the new fees and amendments.
Also discussed during the meeting was the authorization for city staff to pursue grant funding for a feasibility study and formal planning effort looking into constructing a new small 55-plus affordable housing development on a portion of city-owned land at Gust Backstrom Park.
However, prior to its passage, the resolution was amended to expand the feasibility study to include looking for affordable housing for all residents, not just seniors, following discussion among the council and meeting attendees.
Additionally, former Morton City Clerk-Treasurer Tamara “Tammy” Clevenger’s sentencing has been postponed from July 7 to Oct. 16, as U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright wanted more time to ensure all investigation information was in following Clevenger’s May guilty plea to a federal wire fraud charge, as reported by The East Lewis County Journal.
Clevenger pleaded guilty to federal charges earlier this year after allegedly stealing close to $1 million from the city over a decade.
The Chronicle spoke to city staff after the meeting and discovered despite the guilty plea and upcoming sentencing, the city’s insurance agency continues refusing to reimburse the City of Morton for the full amount Clevenger embezzled.
FOIA request fees
Those looking to file FOIA requests with the City of Morton will now have to pay state-dictated fees for documents, body camera recordings or other information they may be seeking.
While attendees expressed concerns about lower income individuals in possible domestic violence situations not being able to afford some of the costs during the public hearing, Morton City Councilor Richard Vanderlip explained the rates were meant to deter those going on “fishing” expeditions by people rampantly filing FOIA requests for massive amounts of information and wasting a lot of staff time.
“There’s a whole industry surrounding it. ‘Let’s take and dump a (public records request) on Morton for like this huge amount of information,’ and if we screw up and don’t provide it then they can sue us,” Vanderlip said.
According to Morton City Clerk LuAnn Ward, these fishing FOIAs come from both locals and those who live far outside of Lewis County.
The new fee schedule is available on the city’s website. Some of the fees now imposed include $0.05 for every four digital files requested, $0.10 per gigabyte of information and $0.15 per page for physical copies of documents.
For police body camera footage, the Morton Police Department will charge $0.51 per minute of actual staff time incurred for reviewing and redacting body worn video.
Some discussion was held about possibly creating fee exceptions for residents or those under a certain income, but Morton City Attorney James Buzzard advised the council against amending the fees in that manner, as state law mandates fees must be applicable to everyone.
Despite city staff estimating the majority of FOIA requests would cost less than $5, Morton City Councilor Jason Sawyer was still concerned about low-income individuals not being able to afford records requests, and was the lone opposition vote on the resolution establishing the fee schedule.
For more information on how to file a FOIA with the City of Morton or Morton Police Department or to view the new fee schedule, visit the city’s website at https://visitmorton.com/city-hall/ and scroll down to the “Public Records Request” section.
Gust Backstrom Park development feasibility
With communities nationwide needing more affordable housing, including rural communities such as Morton, the council decided to seek grant funding for a feasibility study to look into building a small housing development at Gust Backstrom Park — specifically, on the narrow parcel of land directly east of the Bob Lyle Community Center south of the park’s RV loop.
The land is city owned and, currently, only being used to store piles of dirt.
Originally, the focus was to look into the feasibility of building affordable housing on the portion of the park’s land for those 55 and older in Morton who may no longer be able to afford where they’ve lived for decades in town.
During discussion, Sawyer asked if the city was paying for the feasibility study, and if the development would affect the park itself. According to Vanderlip, “it shouldn’t,” as the plan was to apply for grant funding for the study.
“We’re not wanting to change the park at all,” Morton Mayor Rick Mead added.
While nobody at the meeting expressed outright opposition to putting a housing development on the land, some in attendance stressed the need for affordable housing for everyone, not just seniors.
After more discussion with attendees and amongst the council, the council elected to amend the resolution removing the stipulation that the feasibility study focus only on affordable housing for those 55 and older, and instead look at possible affordable housing options for everyone.
Clevenger insurance claim update
With Clevenger’s sentencing postponed until October, The Chronicle spoke to Ward after Monday’s meeting to see if the city’s insurance agency — the Association of Washington Cities Risk Management Service Agency — was still attempting to deny the city’s claim to recover the money Clevenger embezzled after her guilty plea.
Clevenger pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge connected to her nine-year scheme to steal nearly $1 million from city coffers. While wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors recommended a three-year prison term as part of the plea deal.
The FBI and IRS worked with the Washington state Auditor’s Office on the criminal financial investigation.
Despite Clevenger’s guilty plea and upcoming sentencing, the Association of Washington Cities Risk Management Service Agency continues refusing to fulfill the city’s claim to be reimbursed for the full $937,548 embezzled, according to Ward. This past April, after city staff filed a claim with the Association of Washington Cities Risk Management Service Agency, the agency declared it was only going to pay out $21,000 to the City of Morton to fulfill the claim as previously reported by The Chronicle.
She added city staff are still pursuing additional outside legal counsel who focus on insurance law as recommended by Buzzard.
During her time as clerk-treasurer from 2012 to 2022, Clevenger stole $937,548, a 2024 audit conducted by the Office of the Washington State Auditor discovered. This included at least $311,727 of cash that citizens had brought in to pay for city services between November 2015 and December 2021, and at least $625,857 by writing city checks to herself and depositing them in her bank account starting in February 2013 and ending December 2021.
She also made unauthorized cash withdrawals with the City of Morton’s ATM card.
Clevenger is the second former City of Morton official to be charged within the last year for financial fraud committed during their employment in Morton.
Disgraced former Morton Police Chief Roger Morningstar was charged Dec. 18, 2024, in Lewis County Superior Court with two counts of second-degree identity theft and one count each of third-degree theft and abuse of office for allegedly using a city credit card to make unauthorized personal purchases between June 19, 2022, and June 10, 2023.
Morningstar has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He has also requested a trial by jury, which has been scheduled for Oct. 20, 2025, in Lewis County Superior Court.
Additionally, former Morton police officer Gregory J. Peterson has sued former Morton Mayor Dan Mortensen and the city itself, filing his tort claim in Lewis County Superior Court and receiving his “right to sue” letter from the U.S. Department of Justice on April 11, 2025 as previously Reported by The Chronicle.
Peterson claimed his termination from the Morton Police Department was in violation of the Washington Law Against Discrimination, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, his First Amendment rights and public policy. After being hired in Morton in 2022, Peterson claims he was fired for bringing up concerns related to the behavior of Morningstar.
Morningstar, who was hired as Morton’s police chief in 2016, resigned from the Morton Police Department in lieu of termination on June 2, 2023, after he failed a polygraph exam related to an internal investigation into complaints of sexual harassment, misused public funds and untruthful statements on his application to the department.
Before his resignation, he had been on administrative leave since the City of Morton opened its internal investigation on May 15, 2023.
The Washington state Criminal Justice Training Commission revoked Morningstar’s peace officer certification on Dec. 6, 2023, after he failed to request a hearing to defend against the allegations.
