WEEK OF 10/22/12 MEETINGS IN REVIEW

TOM'S TALES FOR THE WEEK

Submitted to Shelton Blog by Tom Davis    Mason County Progressive

Monday, October 22, 2012   

1:30 PM: Board of County Commissioners 2013 Budget Workshop     

The District Court needs a new computer program, estimated at $30-$50K. The alternative is to subscribe to a web based system at $40 per month per user, of which there are 13. Commissioners gave a tentative nod to the web based option.

Public Works also needs a computer program upgrade, estimated at $21,000. Dave Loser, ER&R Manager, says the County should hire an I.T. guru if it wants to keep their relic of a system chugging along. Estimated cost for the I.T. guy is $100,000 per year. This one also got the thumbs up.

And now a little tale from the big dogs at Mason County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO):

It seems no one at the Sheriff’s Office can mount a standalone argument, which explains why it took four of their top dogs (and one low ranking kitten) to present their budget requests. Here’s what the dogs of domestic war are asking be added to their bare bones budget.

1. 80K for Dogs (told you); Narc. Investigation; Search & Rescue; Honor Guard
2. 94K to hire a Records Clerk and an Evidence Custodian
3. 60K to fund the Reserve Academy
4. 90K for salary raises for the Sheriff, Undersheriff; Chief Civil Deputy; Chief Criminal Deputy; Chief Inspector Deputy; Jail Superintendent
5. 458K to hire four new Deputies (includes  $66K for 1 year/3 payments for new vehicles)
6. 13K to bump two Sergeants up to Lieutenants (maybe even three )
7. 250K to build an offsite Evidence Facility

TOTAL: $1,045,000. Factor in budgeted expenditures for Sheriff’s Office, Courthouse Security and Traffic Police and the GRAND TOTAL comes to $11,576,000. Of course there’s always more money to be squeezed from the public through “private contracts", but you won’t find those numbers here because homey don’t like extortion under any conditions, no matter how well-intentioned the objective or under what authority it takes place.            

Tuesday, October 23, 2012 

6:00 PM: Regular session of Board of County Commissioners

There were two red hot items on the agenda and neither turned out well.

Item 8.9 Approval to withdraw from the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement with the Hood Canal Coordinating Council (HCCC) pursuant to General Provisions 5.1 of said agreement. Written notice will be sent to the HCCC giving a three month notice of the intent to withdraw.

Simply put, HCCC is dedicated to protecting the environment in and around Hood Canal. Board members include representatives from the three canal adjacent counties, Jefferson, Kitsap and Mason, and two Tribal Nations, Skokomish and S’Klallama. Let it be known that Bloomfield and Sheldon made no secret of their dissatisfaction with HCCC’s “Fee in Lieu of Mediation” program, but that is not the focus of my concern; it is the manner in which commissioners chose to withdraw from the agreement that continues to cast Mason County in so poor a light.   

Here’s what happened:  

At the Oct.15th budget workshop meeting, Sheldon suggested the County walk away from HCCC because their dues were too high ($2,500/yr.). Everyone knew that was not the reason, but, with Sheldon, the stated reason given for an action is seldom the real one. I left thinking that no decision had been made, but that same day all three commissioners signed off on a budget adjustment to remove the expenditure of HCCC dues.  How that budgeting decision was reached before the issue was even placed on the agenda for a vote speaks volumes about how Mason County is governed.    

I contacted HCCC and let them know they were about to go under the bus and should consider attending the meeting on Oct. 23rd. As a result, Scott Brewer, Executive Director of HCCC, and Dave Herrea representing the Skokomish Tribe gave testimony aimed at delaying the decision till all parties had a chance to work things out.   

This is probably a good time to tell you that Sheldon, Ring-Erickson and Bloomfield are all listed on the HCCC website as board members, and Sheldon and Ring-Erickson have both served that council in chair capacity. And yet, not one Mason County Commissioner bothered to inform HCCC of their intention to withdraw from the agreement.    

At the meeting, the curtain came up on three sour-faced commissioners now forced to assuage, massage and mangle the truth to make it look as if they had not already decided to walk away from the agreement. And if there were any lingering doubts, they vanished with the unanimous decision to start the clock ticking on the withdrawal process.

Item 8.13 Tabled from October 16th. Approval of the resolution establishing the salaries of the Commissioners and the Assessor, Auditor, Clerk, Coroner, Treasurer and Sheriff. This resolution would attach these salaries to the Superior Court Judge's salary that is set by Washington Citizens' Commission on Salaries for Elected Officials. The resolution also includes a 3% cap and reduces the salaries of Commissioner Districts No. 1 and 2 to the 2008 level. Commissioner District 3 salary cannot be amended until the new term begins, January 1, 2015.

Sounds pretty clear, right? Well, the above might have been on the agenda, but the resolution the commissioners passed looked nothing like it, and they didn’t even bother to roll out the smoke and mirrors. This new mechanism allows the commissioners to keep their exorbitant salaries at the 2012 level of $78,367 ($96,650, if you count personal benefits), and give them an automatic 1% pay increase that starts in 2014 and ends when hell freezes over. This time, however, they took the other elected officials along for the ride, but that still leaves 70-80 non-represented County employees standing on the shore as their bosses sail off into pay increases with no sunset clause.

Of course, we all knew it would happen; certainly I did when Bloomfield told me to “Be patient.”  That’s always the death knell. Worse, it’s not like he didn’t know he was going to present this miserable piece of legislation; it was purposely left off the agenda. 

The vote went down 2 to 1, with Ring-Erickson being the sole “nay” vote. And even though I have a high tolerance for political bull-shit, I had to leave the chambers for some cool night air and a long hot shower.

Later…