Response to Mayor Nickels' Letter of March 3rd

March 4, 2003

The Honorable Greg Nickels

Mayor

City of Seattle

Municipal Building

Seattle, WA 98104

Dear Mayor Nickels:

Thank you for your letter of March 3, 2003, commenting on our review of City Light and our recommendation that the City Council should decline to reconfirm Gary Zarker in the position of its Superintendent.

We respectfully differ with the conclusions you draw from the materials attached to your letter. Our extensive comments and presentations were, of course, based on careful reading of press accounts of the utility from early 2002, the report of the Blue-Ribbon Committee you appointed, the report from Vantage Consulting, and the information made available to us over more than a year by City Light. Neither that background nor our recent published statements are adequately summarized by the surprisingly brief paraphrases contained in your letter.

Nonetheless, we welcome the publication of this additional information comparing staff expertise among utilities and recent financial results from City Light operations. It is also useful for interested observers to have an opportunity to revisit the City Council's discussions of 1999 as reflected in a staff memo from that period. We expect the members of the Council can add this new information to that which has been made available to them since the publication of the Vantage Report at the end of October 2002. We would, of course, have considered the additional information carefully had it been available to us prior to the development of our recommendation.

The Council must, of course, judge for themselves whether the financial and risk-assessment information they have been provided from time to time has been adequate to permit informed discussion and clear decisions.

We look forward to continued discussion with you and other city officials about this and other issues of importance to the future of our community.

With best wishes,

Putnam Barber

Chair