BOCC Meeting - Mar 16

First things first, let's talk about attendance. We had a full quorum until Tim left at 9:38 am. As he was departing, he said that he had to be in Olympia for state business at 1000 am.

No journalist from the Shelton Mason Journal showed up. As usual Diedrick Allen (KMAS) was in attendance. These days the Mason County Daily News has become our most reliable media source for county coverage.

Here's a quick recap of the meeting today.

o Today the League of Women Voters Mason County was recognized by a proclamation read by Lynda. The League is celebrating its 90th birthday this year.

o The meeting was fairly routine except for two consent agenda items which were tabled until April 6 and one item that was removed.

o The first item tabled was the approval of a resolution to sign a contract with EnviroIssues for public relations services to support the Belfair Waste Water Treatment Facility. The consent agenda item made no mention of how much this contract would be. (Honestly, I couldn't make this stuff up. Who would want to know how much is being approved prior to voting on it?) When Tim learned that it was going to be $240K, he said that he couldn't support this without more information and background.

The vote was unanimous to table this until April 6 because there won't be another regular meeting until then.

Also the Director of Utilities, Emmett Dobey provided a budget to the commissioners and stated that he was going to be updating this on either a monthly or weekly basis.

I got a copy of the handout and I must say this is not filling the bill for me. The Belfair Waste Water Treatment Facility accounts for one third of the county's total 2010 budget. It's the middle of March and we still don't know what the budget is for this project.

Mason County, you and I need to know what is going on financially with this project. We need a straight forward simple accounting of this project. All of us are exposed to risk with this project whether we live in Belfair or some where else in the county.

o The second item tabled was the consent agenda item which would have given Public Works Emergency Management Service the authority to fill a vacant position. Lynda asked that this item be tabled until April 6 because she wants to hear more about their work plan and her concern that other departments have been required to downsize. She pointed out at yesterday's briefing that she recently became aware of a county in Kansas with only two employees running the county's emergency management program. Further she went on to underscore that in Kansas there are frequent storms that they must deal with so it can't be that Mason County has more emergencies and therefore needs more staff.

o The closure of two roads (Old Clifton Road and Old Boad Road) was removed from the agenda. Instead of closing the roads, the Belfair WWTF construction workers will be using flaggers to manage the traffic.

o No regular business meeting until April 6. The meeting is cancelled on Mar 23 and the Mar 30 meeting is at 6 pm in Belfair.

o Lynda mentioned during her calendar review that ADAGE had answered questions that she'd received. If you're interested in seeing this you can send me an email or contact the county offices to get the electrons on the questions that Mason County folks have asked about ADAGE.

o During the calendar time I noted the following meetings that you may be interested in attending.

Mar 17 4 pm - Department of Transportation community meeting on the Belfair Bypass.

Mar 22 - John's Creek Basin indepth discussion and how to respond to Department of Ecology on which of the three options Mason County prefers. See my notes from Mar 14 briefings for more detail.

Mar 30 6 pm - Commissioners meet in Belfair and plan to discuss the Belfair Bypass and the Belfair Waste Water Treatment Facility.