WEEK OF 6/25/12 MEETINGS IN REVIEW

TOM'S TALES FOR THE WEEK

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Tom Davis Mason County Progressive

Monday, June 25, 2012

9:00 AM: Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Briefing

Salaries for elected officials are once again on the table. Commissioner Sheldon suggested that, perhaps, they should be tied to salaries of Superior Court Judges, proportionately, of course. Here’s what such a process would look like:

Let’s say the yearly salary of a County Commissioner is $76,500. And let’s say a Superior Court Judge makes $144,000. The current percentage of the Commissioner’s salary to that of the Judge is about 53%. And that percentage will be used to formulate future salaries. Naturally, the numbers and percentages will change for each elected official, but the formula remains the same.

Sounds good, but I’m not too crazy about the idea for the simple reason that I don’t think a half a bucket of rocks is worth the same as a pound of steak.

The Sheriff’s Office was next up on deck, reporting that a $40K contract with the Timberlakes community for policing services will likely extend to the entire Agate Peninsula. Also: Medical care of inmates has already eaten up 61% of the jail’s health care budget, despite a 25% discount for services offered by Mason General Hospital, so requests for supplemental appropriations are a certainty.

(NOTE: In the past, I suggested that suspected lawbreakers be made to undergo a complete physical before arresting them, and then weigh the severity of the offense against the cost of medical care. Well, so much for thinking "outside the box".)

Up next was Utilities and Waste Management: John Cunningham offered up a dark projection of possible rate hikes for users of the Belfair Sewer System, depending on growth patterns and the progress of Phase II. Fees for one Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU/155gal) could climb as high as $245 per month by 2026, and residential hookups to $17,000. Some grant money is on the table, but not for long, so the County better s—t or get off the pot. Anyway you slice it, it is likely long term debt will be in the $3.5M range.

And then came Washington State Parks: Larry Fairleigh and Steve Hahn went two on two with Commissioners Bloomfield and Sheldon (Commissioner Ring Erickson was on vacation). The topic was acquisition of lands for the proposed Fudge Point State Park, on Harstine Island. Commissioners treated the “Parkies” like vegans at a pig roast, and I think they got the hint. But just in case, Tim Sheldon encouraged a Harstine Island resident to jabberwocky about how “Islanders” don’t want no stinkin’ State Park.

6:00 PM: Belfair Candidates Forum

I don’t think my laptop has enough characters to report on some of the performances given by some of the candidates. So let’s just call it a dry run, and give a couple of these guys an opportunity to escape from Disneyland with a bit more pragmatism than Pinocchio.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

2:00 PM: Mason County Finance Committee Meeting:

Lisa Frazier, MC Treasurer and Theresia Ehrich, Chief Financial Officer, gave a rousing presentation of the County’s financial status.

Long story short: As of June 22, 2012, we (and by “we” I mean, not you) have a total of about $123.5M in cash and bond investments. As of May 31, 2012, “we” have about $8.6M in unencumbered cash. Sales tax revenue for the first 6 months is up about $3,000 from the same period last year, at about $37K. General fund revenues were said to be trailing expenditures by about $1.5M, but let’s wait a few months till the real numbers are in before jumping out any windows.

6:00 PM: Regular session of Board of County Commissioners (BOCC)

Commissioner Ring-Erickson was absent, leaving Commissioner Sheldon to keep her chair warm. Considering so few in attendance, we could just as well have skyped the proceedings and saved us all the gas money. Nothing worthy of reporting was on the agenda, which left the public comment period to provide the evening’s entertainment.

The usual big mouth got up to complain, again, about the lack of process in the recent solid waste contract with RDC/Allied Waste. Only this time there was a twist: Cutting through all the legal jargon, a group calling itself “Advocates for Responsible Government” filed a lawsuit against Mason County, alleging violations of the open meetings act and failure to comply with the competitive bidding process. Petitioners asked the court to set aside the County’s decision to award the solid waste hauling contract with Allied, or place an injunction on the exercise till the matter could be adjudicated. And then it was off to the Martini Bar…almost.

Another pesky citizen stood to complain about the Sheriff’s lack of response to a criminal act that his wife managed to solve, without benefit of local law enforcement.

The tale is long and winding, and best told in cryptic narrative form:

Man’s house is robbed; wife calls Sheriff; told “Too late, don’t wait, have a nice day.” Man’s wife discovers theft is by tenant, gives make, model of truck and license number to Sheriff’s office; told: “Thank’s, Hon, have fun, but still can’t make it out there.” Wife tracks down possessions in a pawnshop in Kitsap County, and has thief arrested up there; calls back to MC Sheriff to see if they can process thief; told: “Sorry Mum, no can come, we out of bucks down here.” Wife calls Sheriff’s Office to say she’s going to report this matter to County Commissioners; told: “Bet you a buck you’re out of luck, but you all come back now, hear?”

And you think I have to make this stuff up!

Later…