DOUBLE DIPPING IN MASON COUNTY

IT CAN'T BE BOTH, CAN IT?

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Katherine Price    Mason County Progressive

The art of double-dipping is alive and well in Mason County.  The example is set at the top, and friends of the example-setter copy his style.

Tim Sheldon has perfected the art of double-dipping to such an extent that the voters of Mason County keep electing him to his two "public employee" jobs, no matter how poorly he does them, no matter how anti-citizen's interest he becomes.  Apparently in Mason County name-familiarity is what it takes to get elected and re-elected, and job performance is not considered when marking ones ballot because frankly, some of our citizens are less informed than others.
 
To the jobs Tim holds:  In one job, he occasionally attends meetings as a Commissioner on the Mason County Board of County Commissioners.  See prior post on this blog by Tom Davis for the number of meetings he has missed (September 20, 2012, "Tom's Tales for the Week").

In another job, Tim Sheldon is a State Senator, ostensibly representing the citizens of more than Mason County, but always representing the interests of those BUSINESSES who donate $800 to his senatorial campaign. See the link to the Public Disclosure Reports; it is eye opening how many out-of-state corporations donate $800 to his campaign.  (Posted on this blog by John Cox on October 18, 2012, "The Tim Sheldon Fan Club").

While Tim is busy representing industry, rather than the citizens who pay his salaries and benefits, one of Mason County's land owners has taken the double-dipping to heart.  In prior posts on this blog you have read about the Hunter Farms' "fishing camp", and how poorly the management of such camp has been, seen the overflowing honey pots and the overflowing dumpsters, but how many citizens know about the double-dipping going on at the camp?

Well fellow travelers, that access that Hunter charges a fee to you for, that access has already been paid for by John and Jane Doe Citizen.

In response to a public disclosure request to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW), I received a partial response to my request (more to come at the end of this month) that included some interesting emails in connection with the topic of the landowner charging a fee above the $3,000 fee taxpayers already give him. 

In an email from Mark Quinn of the WDFW, dated October 17, 2001 Re: Skokomish -- Hunter Farms, it reads: 

"I don't think we want to get into a situation where the landowner is charging a parking fee and performing general accounting the results of which would be used to pay or not pay for perceived public services depending on the revenue." 

"Perceived public services", the access paid for by the public already?  Indeed we might perceive, having paid for it once, that we are entitled to perceive it as a public service. 
 
Elyse Kane (WDFW) said on October 17, 2001: 

"As I understand it, the landowners wants to charge a fee.  This would mean he and WDFW would have no liability protection under the recreational immunity statutes.  I don't know if we can do that."

In the WDFW "Proposed New Land Use" document, at Limitations it says:

"Limitations are:  No fee site (to maintain immunity from injury and damage suits brought by the public)."

The copy of the Agreement for the Use of Land, Public Recreational Fishing, which copy was provided me by WDFW, and which is a marked up copy, perhaps not the final, paragraph 6 addresses Liability (which, of course, if it falls on the state is liability of John and Jane Doe Citizen), the agreement reads:

6. Liability:  Landowner and WDFW agree to assist each other in preserving and presenting a defense of limited liability under RCW 4.24.210 by allowing the public to use the premises for outdoor recreation without fee."

What is important about this is that immunity for liability is obtained by providing public access "without fee." 

Fast forward to 2012 and the article on this blog by Bill Allen (September 10, 2012, "Protectionism in Mason County").  The landowner is charging a fee to sport fishermen to park on the public access Jane and John Doe Citizen already paid for. The charging of such fee making both the WDFW and landowner no longer immune from liability. 

I don't much care if the family Hunter want to put themselves and their significant resources at risk, but I do care when the WDFW puts the state's limited resources at risk. Maybe the WDFW does not know the landowner is charging a fee?  Doubtful. 

So what do we, citizens of Mason County and the State of Washington, think about this local double-dipping?  Either it is a public access which we, the taxpayers have paid for, or it is a private hunting camp which operates each year without permits, environmental impact statements, or oversight by the Mason County Department of Health.

Tim Sheldon has set the standard for getting the most out of Mason County, and the Hunter family has simply followed his lead.  What would  happen if some Washington State taxpayers decided to push back hard on this with...I don't know...say a class-action lawsuit?

Every recreational fisher who has paid a fee to Hunter to park and fish on land that he or she has already leased via the WDFW, from the date of the first Agreement for Land Use through this season's fishing...what would that amount to?   A chunk of change to be sure! 

And who would the defendants be? 

• Hunter Farms for sure, for charging a fee to access land that has already been paid for by the taxpayer. 
• The State for knowingly allowing it happen?
• The County for failing to require event permits.
• Our County Health Department for ignoring the alarmed calls of citizens like Allen and Grout.
• All of the above.

There is enough blame to go around, but before people start accessing the public site for recreational fishing again, we need to know whether this is a private enterprise -- which would be subject to permitting and health department oversight, or public access -- where no fee is charged and all parties are immune from liability under RCW 4.24.210. 

I hope that Mr. Allen and Mr. Grout will continue to pursue this matter until we learn what the operation at Hunter Farms really is.  

I think it would be good to know if it is an "event", where the landowner charges a fee after obtaining an event permit, subject to Health Department oversight; or if it is public access paid for by taxpayers without any fee.

Normally I would say that it cannot be both, but then again...this is Mason County.

Links to previous posts mentioned in this article: 

http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/09/week-of-91712-meetings-in-review.html 

http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-tim-sheldon-fan-club.html 

http://masoncountyprogressive.blogspot.com/2012/09/protectionism-in-mason-county.html 

Graphic: istockphoto.com