WEEK OF 10/1/12 MEETINGS IN REVIEW

TOM'S TALES FOR THE WEEK

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Tom Davis    Mason County Progressive     
There’s a lot of ground to cover this week so let’s get to it:

Monday. October 1, 2012

9:00 AM Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Briefing
 
Nine items were on the agenda, including three Executive Sessions and one Closed Session:
 
Executive Session - RCW 42.30.110 (1)(g) - Personnel
Executive Session - RCW 42.30.110 (1)(i) Potential Litigation
Executive Session - RCW 42.30.110 (1)(b) Real Estate
Closed Session - RCW 42.30.140 (4) Labor Discussion

That left five items. Here’s the two that grabbed me:

Diane Zoren of Central Operations brought up the issue of Commissioner salaries, and you could almost hear the puckering of three behinds slamming shut. Those in attendance were made to endure another round of how Commissioners donate some of their hard earned pennies to charity or give it back to the General Fund, and then walk barefoot through the snow to do the public’s work.

Long, long, story short: Tim wants to tie the salaries of incoming Commissioners to that of a Superior Court Judge, which is just another way of keeping their salaries egregiously high and out of local control. As for the resolution presented by Mason County Democrats requiring the Commissioners to roll back their salaries to the 2008 level, it hit the circle file so hard it was still spinning when I left the room. There’s more to this sad tale, but let’s wait till they work up the nerve to throw this piece of convoluted thinking on the agenda.

Tom Moore and John Cunningham from Utilities and Waste Management had a sad tale of their own: If the County rejects the $4.98M grant from the Dept. of Ecology to fund construction of Phase ll of the Belfair Sewer Project, there’s no way to pay for Phase l except with rate hikes for existing customers. OMG, who would have thought? Well, how about the 20 or so people who spoke up at the public hearings a year ago --  it’s exactly what they said might happen.

Here’s the thing: When the County went to war over a couple of thousand dollars difference in the purchase price of a piece of dirt they needed for a pump station, people said “Don’t do it.” But did the County listen? Yep, $575,000 later.  And when the County said we need to put a sewage treatment plant up in the Belfair UGA, and the people said, okay, but just a small one, did the County listen? Yep, to the tune of a $48M temple to poop which they can’t pay for. Revisionism, I cannot wait to hear how your pot doth boil over.

6:00 PM: City of Shelton Commission Meeting 

Most of the meeting was about money; budget this, budget that, but that’s no fun -- let’s talk about fireworks, or more specifically, no fireworks: 

Ordinance No. 1809-0912 – Second Reading - An Ordinance of the City of Shelton, Washington Amending Chapter 8.64 of the Shelton Municipal Code Relating to the Regulation of Fireworks.

Two people testified in favor of “safe and sane” fireworks, saying they’re not at all like the A-bombs you get on the reservation. Besides, what kind of a country do we live in when a man can’t even blow off his own finger without big government butting in? Then there’s the economics of fireworks: all the grandmothers and schoolmarms just trying to make ends meet by selling explosives to children in parking lots all across this great city of ours (at least that’s the way I hear "stupid" inside my head). 

The Commissioners waited until the talking stopped and then unanimously approved amendments to the existing ordinance, effective one year from this day, as follows:

8.64.020 Sale, Possession and Use of Fireworks:

A. No fireworks shall be sold or offered for sale within
the City of Shelton.

B. No person shall ignite, discharge, use or explode any
fireworks within the City except as authorized in this chapter.

C. No person shall ignite, discharge, use, or explode any
"safe and sane" fireworks or ignitable "trick and novelty
devices", as that term is defined in WAC 212-70-030.
within the City except as authorized in this chapter.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012
 
9:00 AM: Regular session of Board of County Commissioners

Not too much on the agenda, and public comment was limited to an elderly gentlemen who scolded Commissioners for trying to award a no bid contract to Allied Waste, albeit a little late to the party. What was more interesting was Commissioner Sheldon’s response. He said lawyers were looking into whether the competitive bidding process applied to solid waste hauling contracts, indicating the County may appeal, rather than comply with the Superior Court ruling. That remark rang true for me, as I have long ago pegged Tim as someone who thinks little of wasting public money to indulge his ego.

John Gunter, chair of the Belfair Citizens Advisory Committee told Commissioners the committee was unanimous in their recommendation to reject a $4.98M grant from the Dept. of Ecology, effectively ending the project, at least in its current configuration.
We’ll see…
 
Let’s see, what else happened? Oh, yeah, Diane Zoren, head honcho of Central Operations got a $361 a month raise, making her the highest paid Mason County employee whose last name starts with the letter Z. 

2:00 PM: Port of Shelton Commission Meeting

Money was all the talk at the Port, too, as the Budget Hearing drew a record number of public comments: none. I liken the Port’s budget process to that of my wife going “window shopping” with a handful of credit cards: you know it’s not going to end well, but what can you say?
 
Commissioner Jay Hupp had a three page list of questions he wanted to ask, but Taylor and Wallitner were both in a hell-fire hurry to approve the budget. For a while they went back and forth, with attorney Skip Houser clearly on the side of the other two Commissioners. In a rare moment of truth, Director Dobson looked across the table at Hupp, and told Hupp that it was he (Dobson) who had the expertise in this matter. The message was clear: back off, there’s a new old gang in town and they’re not afraid to draw blood. 

Final score: Yeas 2; Nays 1 -- The budget was approved without addressing one of Hupp’s concerns.  

Build a Frankenstein, live with a Frankenstein.    

Later…