The appointment of the Yelm City Council’s newest member doesn’t sit well with one member of the community.

Steve Klein — local blogger, employee of Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment, and past mayoral candidate when he ran against current Mayor Ron Harding in 2005 — criticized the appointment on his blog, alleging the mayor’s tie-breaking vote constituted a conflict of interest. Both the mayor and new councilor dispute the allegation.

Jennifer Littlefield was voted onto the council last week. She and local insurance agent Tad Stillwell had both been

nominated by members of the council.

Councilors JW Foster, Joe Baker and Bob Isom voted for Littlefield; Councilors Tracey Wood, Ken Garmann and Russ Hendrickson voted for Stillwell, resulting in a tie.

In the event of a tie, the mayor casts the deciding vote and Harding voted for Littlefield.

Klein argued on his blog Harding should have recused himself because his wife, Myrna Harding, works for Littlefield’s husband’s accounting firm.

Harding said his vote doesn’t violate state law and called Klein’s allegation a “ridiculous assertion.”

“He’s alleged conflict of interest with my decisions and ability to operate the city before and in his mind he asserts a conflict of interest if I have any association whatsoever with anybody that we’re dealing with,” Harding said. “In a city this size, I have an association with everybody we deal with.”

Harding said it’s purely coincidental his wife works for Littlefield’s husband’s company and he has no relationship with Littlefield or her husband outside of Littlefield’s volunteer work in the community.

“I barely know her husband, probably haven’t said 20 words to him in two years,” Harding said. “Now, if I worked for her, that would be maybe a conflict of interest, but there’s no rules or laws or anything, except for Steve Klein does not think that’s above board. That’s the only thing that even makes this a story.”

Harding emphasized the appointment was the council’s decision to make, not his.

“My vote came in play only because there was a tie vote,” he said. “I only had the opportunity to break the tie vote because there was one.”

Harding said the procedure to vote in the new councilor is standard operating procedure in city operations. He consulted with the city’s attorney prior to the meeting to ensure the council was following the correct process, he said. Every action the council took, including Harding casting the tie-breaking vote, was allowable, he said.

Harding praised Littlefield, saying she’s served the community for many years. She volunteers with local charitable groups such as the Lions Club and has served on the city’s planning commission, he said. Working on the planning commission has given her insight into current projects and policies the city is currently engaged in, he said.

“It was a natural choice, just because she can hit the ground running,” Harding said. “She’s very well known in the community and she brings a perspective … on the council, that of a mother and the leader of a family, that right now we don’t have on the council. So it’s good to have that additional perspective and point of view, and she’s shown a lot of interest in serving the community.”

Harding’s vote wasn’t a conflict of interest and the suggestion is that a woman can’t get on the city council unless her husband helps her, Littlefield said.

“You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone in this town who doesn’t in some way have a connection to his business,” she said of her husband. “Not even this town. Thurston County, honestly. He’s — and I don’t say this to brag — but he probably is the best CPA in Thurston County.”

Living in a small town, it would be difficult to find someone who doesn’t have a connection with someone on the council, she said.

“Three other people voted for me on the council,” she said. “I wish that the mayor hadn’t had to make a tie-breaking vote, but that’s the way it turned out and I don’t think anybody planned it that way. It just got to him last.”