TOM'S TALES FOR THE WEEK
Submitted to Shelton Blog by Tom Davis Mason County Progressive
Well, here we are; another week gone by and I’m still not living in Paris. But I did attend the BOCC briefing, the regular Tuesday meeting, the Port of Shelton meeting, and something in Olympia sponsored by the DNR, billed as the “Marbled Murrelet Conservation Strategy”. Sadly, after sitting through three presentations, two of which were aimed at saving our forests for timber revenues, I left with the feeling that the little bird had about as much of a future as a field mouse in a Python tank.
But first things first --
Monday, April 30, 2012
9:00 AM: Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Briefing
Apparently, no one told Loretta Swanson, Storm Water Program Manager for Mason County Health, that it was unwise to include a lot of technical data in her progress report: it is not often you get to see three County Commissioners rear up and paw the air, but that’s exactly what happened at Monday’s briefing. Everything in the report went under the bus: the timing, statistical information, even the format. After the briefing, Ms. Swanson was seen limping back to her office, a little bit older and a lot wiser for having tried to treat the public as adults.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
9:00 AM: Regular session of Board of County Commissioners (BOCC)
Hooray, hooray, the first of May, all the Commissioners were present today.
Public Comment Period: Katherine Price, advocate for human people, rose to enlighten the Commission of the difference between a living person and a corporation. Expressions ranged from confused to a little bit sleepy. But then such shocking information needs time to percolate.
There were no “big deals” on the 11 item action agenda, and no public hearings scheduled -- I could almost feel the warmth of sun on my face. Then up popped the dreaded “Other Business" category, Item No. 10, and all hope of an early release vanished.
Item 10.1: Selection of finalists for the following positions -- Public Defense Administrator, Utilities & Waste Management Director, and Public Works Director. Now you could almost hear the ponies banging against the starting gates.
First up to be filled was the position of Director, Public Works Administrator. Thirteen applicants quickly became six when seven of them showed up without shoes. That number was pared to three through a complicated process known as "rock, paper, scissors". The final selection had something to do with a live chicken and a ball of twine. In the end, two Commissioners finally agreed on a Mason County resident known as Susan somebody (I didn’t get her last name. Also, the process by which the applicants were eliminated was not made public, so I am left to my own imagination and an entire page to fill).
Two more positions, Director of Utilities and Waste Management, and Director of Public Works were also up for grabs. Before any of that could happen, the Commission decided to merge the two positions, leaving some to wonder if Mason County hadn’t wasted about 3M dollars in salaries and benefits over the past 30 years. And so it came to be that interim Director Brian Matthews became the new permanent Director of Public Works, Utilities and Waste Management. (Note: as of the date of this post, only the offer of employment had been extended; the terms have yet to be negotiated.)
2:00 PM: Port of Shelton Commission Meeting
A few weeks ago the Port asked the public to weigh in on their updated forestry policy. They received only two, but quite similar, suggestions from two very different sources; both advised against harvesting timber on Port property until such time as the site was needed to accommodate a tenant. As expected, this recommendation was ignored … I think.
Here’s an ever so slightly embellished sampling of a statement by Director John Dobson that he made at this week’s meeting: When we harvest the 100 acres of timber…if we harvest…not saying we will…but if we did…sometime…maybe soon…maybe not at all…yet…but, if we did….we will definitely replant…well…let me rephrase…at least that is our plan…I mean, if we don’t have a tenant by then….twenty, thirty years from now…who knows…hey, isn’t that my pen?
By the time Mr. Dobson finished speaking, I didn’t know whether to object or call an ambulance.
On other fronts, the Port was presented with a USDA grant in the amount of 40K to pay for engineering the water line extension (the Port will have to cough up another 40K in matching funds). How is it that those always so critical of government largess seem to be first in line at the public trough? Commissioner Hupp is fond of saying that Ports are a “different animal”. Apparently that difference extends only up till the sound of the dinner bell.
For the past two years, I’ve attended pretty much every Port meeting that was open to the public. When management wasn’t busy chasing Jack Miles around the flagpole, they were blaming the public, the County, the City, an employee, or a developer for something or other. Given the Port’s penchant for excuses and a recent history of unwise investments, is management not deserving of the reputation that it is steeped in public disenfranchisement and policy failure?
Later…
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