TOM'S TALES FOR THE WEEK
Submitted to Shelton Blog by Tom Davis Mason County Progressive
Monday, June 4, 2012
2:00 PM: Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Briefing
Eleven people applied to serve on the Belfair Citizen’s Advisory Committee, though three were rejected for being “potentially disruptive to the process", whatever that means. I don’t know why our Commissioners feel it necessary to cull from the herd before the cattle drive even begins, but I suspect it has more to do with assuring the outcome than any fears of “disruption".
The rest of the meeting was all money-ball: Tom Moore, captain of the Belfair Sewer System, walked away with an $11,000/Yr. raise; Sheriff Casey tried to use the high number of recent homicides to loosen up the County purse strings; and Prosecutor Mike Dorcy took it all home by revealing that the County may be on the hook, not only for the cost of prosecuting six murder cases, but defending them, as well.
6:00 PM: City of Shelton Commissioner’s Meeting
The City received a plaque from the Washington Chapter of the American Public Works Association, for best environmental improvements in the $25-75M range.
John Tarrant, Mike Byrne and Dick Taylor were honored for getting the new sewer system off the draft board and into the toilet, where it belongs. Congrats, also, to Commissioner Pannell, and all those who got down with the sewer project, but came up smelling like a rose. Good work.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
9:00 AM: Regular session of Board of County Commissioners (BOCC)
Item 8.13: Approval of the 2012 Addendum to the Contract for Solid Waste Export Services (long haul and disposal) between Mason County and Regional Disposal Company/Allied Waste, extending said contract through August 26, 2020, and providing additional considerations to the parties to the contract and authorizing execution of said 2012 Addendum by the Mason County Board of Commissioners.
Here’s what happened:
A couple months back, Tim Sheldon asked representatives from some companies that specialize in solid waste disposal to submit bids for privatizing the County’s solid waste program. For various reasons, the idea was put on the back burner and focus turned to the long-haul contract. But when the County tried to extend the existing contract for eight years without allowing competitive bids, the waste really hit the fan.
Some very large, very unhappy long-haulers took to the podium to object. But when it comes to slinging waste, no one does it better than a skilled politician, and Commissioner Tim Sheldon sent each of them back to their seat looking like a whipped puppy.
For some very well stated reasons, Commissioners chose to continue the relationship with Allied Waste, but that’s not the point. The point is the County needs to either abide by the competitive bidding process, or let it go by the wayside- consistency being the key.
The Yin and the Yang happened when Bloomfield declined to second Sheldon’s motion to approve extending the existing contract for eight years. But when Sheldon turned up the heat, Bloomfield folded like a lawn chair, and the deed was done.
Item 9.4: Public hearing to consider declaring certain real property as surplus property.
Thirteen parcels came to the County via a land exchange, tax, title, or uneconomic remnant of road project.
I used the phrase “giving away the farm” when asking Commissioners to revisit the County surplus land policy. (Some readers of this blog may remember the post of March 28th, in which the County sold off five contiguous lots at less than 25% of their assessed value.)
Commissioner Sheldon emphatically denied the existence of any County land give-aways, calling my accusations “unfounded". Good thing he didn’t ask for documented proof. Good thing for him, that is.
2:00 PM: Port of Shelton Commission Meeting
I’m going to stop here and go see if prices at the Martini Bar have gone up.
It’s not that things are bad at the Port, exactly the opposite, but it’s best to let new information ferment a few days. We’ll pick it up again next week.
Later…
Link to previous related post:
http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/03/week-of-31912-shelton-politics.html
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