Monday, May 31, 2010

ADAGE: MC Democrats Playing Word Games

I'm attaching below an article that John Komen wrote expressly for the Democratic Party Newsletter but the editorial board refused to publish until they have a pro ADAGE article to provide balance. I spoke with the Chair of the party, Andrew Graham, prior to posting tonight. I wanted to let him know that I was posting John's article. Andrew insists that ADAGE has a boiler not an incinerator. But Andrew, just like ADAGE leadership, cannot explain away the ash coming out of the process of burning the woody biomass.

John pulled the article from the Dems and sent it to Mason County Budget Watch, the only local blog dedicated to the "unvarnished truth". So here you go, Mason County. I present to you John's article that was meant for the Mason County Democrat Newsletter.



Mason County residents have come alive. The incinerator issue has roused our usually apathetic citizenry from their torpor. After years of dull acceptance, we've become a community of activists.
It has been a long time coming, and it is gratifying to say the least. Finally, we are hearing voices of protest and reading angry letters to the editor. And the letters! They have been filling two full pages in the usually listless opinion section of the dormant local weekly newspaper,
And they are well written and articulate, these voices of the people. The writers have done their homework. They ask pertinent and important questions, and they are calling to task their elected county officials.
The outside special interests who zeroed in on Mason County to build their 195-foot smokestack figured they could ignore the general population. They need only influence a dozen elected county officials, and they would be home free to go ahead with their incinerator plans. And they nearly pulled it off without a murmur from the public,
They didn't figure on Theresa Jacobson. Almost singlehandedly, Jacobson roused the populace to the danger this community faced. The smokestack, she cried, will endanger the health of everyone, especially those most vulnerable, our children and the elderly.
She is tireless, this lady from the Agate area. She summoned activists and called on scientists. And she got the ball rolling. Never, says Jacobson, had she witnessed such a dramatic turnaround in public activity. There have been rallies, forums, discussion groups, demonstrations, even chanting pickets outside the chambers of Mason County's elected officials.
Only two of those dozen officials harbored doubts about the incinerator project. Port Commissioner Jack Miles and PUD 3 Commissioner Bruce Jorgenson have refused to be stampeded into acquiescence.
Now the letter writers and forum questioners are venting their ire and concerns toward the other elected officials. And rightly so. Why, they ask, are their county commissioners, their port commissioners, their Shelton city commissioners and their PUD 3 commissioners refusing to listen to them?
"What can we do?" cried one recent letter to the editor. "When the game is hopelessly rigged," wrote John Cox of Shelton, "the only option is to stop the game." He calls on the citizens of Mason County to "write letters, make phone calls and join in the demonstrations."
Another letter writer, Linda Pittman of Shelton, recalled the attempt some 20 years ago to locate "a medical waste incinerator" in Mason County. It failed because of citizen protest.
"The fight will be more difficult this time," wrote Ms. Pittman.
She's right, of course. But the people this time are fighting back with an intensity and purpose seldom seen in this quiet rural county.
And directly ahead is the citizens' trump card--the 2010 elections. On the ballot will be two elected officials who have played key roles in support of the incinerator. Their fate will be decided by the incinerator issue--and a populace roused to action.

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John Komen is a retired journalist. He was an Obama delegate to the 2008 Washington Democrat Convention in Spokane and is a frequent contributor to the newsletter.

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Sunday, May 30, 2010

Ross Is In Trouble

Ross has been bugging everyone about his signs that are being stolen. That's the least of his trouble. Here's my view on how things look this Memorial Day weekend.

Let's not forget what body is the most powerful legislative authority in Mason County. That would be our Board of County Commissioners chaired this year by Commissioner Ross Gallagher. In this election year he is giving real material to those who have announced that they want his job. I'll just list a few of the more obvious recent reasons why we should be taking a serious look at those who would like to replace Ross.

1. Note the minutes of May 11 said nothing about the fact that Ross didn't allow Annette McGee to speak. See my blog posting (BOCC Meeting - May 11) for a more complete summary of the meeting where Ross refused to hear a former county commissioner to speak. Here's a link to the "official BOCC approved" minutes from that meeting: http://www.co.mason.wa.us/commissioners/Minutes_2010/2010-05-11.REG.pdf.

Why would the commissioners omit this from the minutes? Why would Ross, as chair of the board, go along with approving these minutes with this serious omission?

2. Let me answer that question. For the same reason the Board under his chairmanship needs to obfuscate the fact that Lynda and Tim are getting a 3 percent pay raise in 2011. The wording of this consent agenda item from the May 25 meeting was totally twisted to confuse us. Didn't work. We see right through what they are up to. Tim moved and Ross seconded to raise Lynda and Tim's salaries in 2011. Ross salary will stay the same at $76,083 in 2011. Why didn't Ross refuse to second?

What a deal for Lynda Ring Erickson. While she's off vacationing in Rome, she gets a pay raise but doesn't have to spend any political capital on the dirty deed.

Resolution 85-01 sets a salary increase of 3% per year for the commissioners. At this rate by 2020 we'll be paying them $102K each per year. See my blog posting "Staff Driven" from January 2010 for more on what we are getting for the salary we pay this our most powerful legislative authority.

Mason County, we need to demand a salary commission.

3. Only some resolutions in place are strictly adhered to as in the case of increasing their salaries. For the Accrued Leave Fund Resolution 62-03 set targets for funding what Lynda described as a fund to provide "a golden handshake" to county employees. It's not that golden for the taxpayers. April 2010 month end reports show the Accrued Leave Fund with a balance of $232K with an unfunded liability of $1.5M as of Dec 2008. Ross voted to adopt the 2010 budget knowing full well that this unfunded liability existed. I know this for sure because I and many others attempted to convince the BOCC to deal with this problem. Let's hope the upcoming sale of surplus property nets enough to fully fund the liability and that the commissioners deposit this in the Accrued Leave Fund.

4. And yet another reason Ross should be unelected is: We still don't have a union contract with the Sheriff's Deputies Guild and the one signed contract with the jail employees was a mess. The Board approved it without knowing what the budget impact would be. I couldn't make this stuff up.

5. Where does Ross stand on ADAGE coming to Mason County? Does anyone know? That's a question that many of us want to hear answered.

Stop looking for those signs, Ross. The signs aren't what's going to get you reelected.

Friday, May 28, 2010

ADAGE: KMAS Broadcast - More Questions Than Answers

I attended the live broadcast with about 200 other folks from the community. All Port Commissioners (Hupp, Miles, and Wallitner) were there as was County Commissioner Ross Gallagher. ADAGE leadership, management, public relations and paid consultants sat on a panel answering questions from the public. The KMAS team selected from the questions that we provided prior to start of the broadcast. We were allowed to provide additional questions as the meeting proceeded but none of my follow up questions were asked. My one major criticism of the process was that we could not ask follow-up questions. At times some of the more outspoken audience members would interject themselves to push for more complete answers but that was the exception.

A common theme that popped up over and over is the concern residents have about property values. After all this is the single largest investment that many of us hold. Just a 1% drop in property values in Mason County represents a $76 million loss to homeowners. We may not understand the engineers and the toxicologists but we sure have a handle on what it means to see our home values dropping in price because home buyers don't want to live near a facility that burns more than a ton of woody biomass every minute, 24/7.

I attended to get two major questions answered. First, I hoped they would explain how they came up with the $125 million during construction and $60 million annually once ADAGE is operational. I was disappointed. Who amongst us understands what "M Plan" modeling is? Not me and from my unscientific polling afterward - I wasn't alone. Tom Deponty's response didn't help me to understand whether there is really anything behind these numbers as advertised by ADAGE in the Shelton Mason Journal.

Secondly, I wanted to understand whether the slash needed to fuel the facility is really available in Mason County. I'm trying to narrow down whether Mason County is going to realize the increase in employment ADAGE has promised. Isn't that our ultimate goal to increase employment in this county?

Here's what I've discovered in my research. Green Diamond owns 64 percent of all the designated forest land in Mason County. All the other landowners have far fewer acres of forest land. Compare the 176,428 acres for Green Diamond to another large owner, Douglas Fir, with 4,342 acres followed by many more with even fewer acres.

My question was not addressed during the broadcast so I decided to ask one of the ADAGE representatives, Brian Anderson. He told me that in Belgium, for example, they were amazed at how much woody biomass they could get from small forest landholdings. With all the subsidies the federal and state governments are providing to sellers of woody biomass, I wouldn't be surprised at how many of the small designated forest landowners will be hopping on the gravy train to contract with ADAGE. Here's what I'm wondering today: will Green Diamond have enough slash from their 176,428 acres to support both ADAGE and the Simpson facilities?

But I wasn't the only one who didn't get my questions answered - neither did Paul Stamets, local businessman and owner of Funghi Perfecti. His very thoughtful questions were provided to KMAS prior to the broadcast. I know. I delivered Paul's questions myself.

Keep pushing for answers, Mason County. This is a big deal and well worth the effort it takes to understand what the costs and benefits are.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

ADAGE: KMAS Broadcast

If you can't make it to the Mason County Public Works Building this evening (May 27, 6 to 8 pm), then you may want to listen to KMAS 1030am on your radio dial. Also you can check out the webcast at www.kmas.com.

Just based on what I heard last night at the Little Creek Casino, I believe there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered.

I hope to be able to get in the room. I understand the room's capacity is only about 170 people. KMAS chose the Public Works Building because they'll get a clearer broadcast in this facility. You may want to come early to get a seat.

ADAGE: NPR Story

Here's the web address for this week's NPR segment covering our local scene.

Wood-Powered Biomass Plants Have Critics Barking
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127121363

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

ADAGE: Common Sense from Local Businessman

At Tuesday's Port of Shelton commissioners' workshop, I asked Jay Hupp whether the threat of Mason County
losing Funghi Perfecti influences his decision to lease property to the ADAGE operation. He said it's one of many factors that he's weighing.

Here's a portion of an email from Paul Stamets, owner of Funghi Perfecti. He helped me to understand why he must relocate his business if ADAGE comes to the Port of Shelton. Paul gave me permission to share this information with you.



Yet another concern I have is the clogging of our HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters. We have 4 laboratories here, pushing air through .12 micron filters with a 99.999% efficiency. The microparticulate load of incoming air will increase dramatically, meaning we will have to replace these expensive filters much more often. (Who is going to pay for these ? Me ?) Without knowing how much increase in particulates from Adage, hard to predict but IF they installed these same filters on their smokestack, this would eliminate the source of the problem. However, they would likely have to change their filters daily, if not hourly. The HEPA filters remove particulates, but not those below ultrafine ones ~ .1 um, and do not remove gases.

We are looking for new warehouses to rent now. If ADAGE is being offered all these economic incentives, what am I being offered ? Nothing, but an increase in operational expenses, a much more difficult marketing issue, and likely decreased land values.



If ADAGE is bad for mushrooms, can it possibly be good for our children?

ADAGE: Little Creek Casino Meeting

ADAGE brought Dr Laura Green, a toxicologist to the Casino this evening to answer questions. This was supposed to be an intimate setting of hand picked members of the community prior to tomorrow's KMAS interview which is being held at the Public Works building on Highway 101 (6 to 7 pm). I finagled myself an invite into this small group to hear the ADAGE paid expert answer questions. I'm thinking maybe I wasn't the only one who all but crashed the party judging from the very direct questions.

I'm sure ADAGE didn't expect to have questions coming from an environmental research scientist, a local businessman who grows mushrooms, an emergency room nurse with expertise and training in respiratory disease, a woman whose brother died from exposure to asbestos, or an artist who has seen first hand the toxic effect of wood ash in her work. Dr Green must have been wondering where these professionals came from with their knowledge and expertise.

Let's make note of the number of elected officials who attended this evening's little soiree. (I'm trying to use more French words in anticipation of AREVA of France showing up in Mason County.) State Representative Kathy Haigh, County Commissioner Ross Gallagher, and Port Commissioner Wallitner attended as elected officials. As you'll recall from a previous posting this week both Kathy and Ross were at the Citizen's Forum on Monday night. Ross and Kathy, thanks for making the effort to learn more about ADAGE before any final decisions are made.

Jim Gaston assured us that the 24 permanent jobs would be more than minimum wage jobs. When pressed to tell us what kind of job openings the plant would require, he said they needed a plant operator, engineers, and technicians. More about this I expect at tomorrow's KMAS interview.

Hope to see you there. But if you can't be there, I understand it will be aired live on KMAS.

Politically Correct?

Now this may seem really trivial but I need to check this out with you, Mason County.

At yesterday's Port of Shelton meeting Commissioner Wallitner referred to me as "young lady". I corrected him by telling him that I'm not really that young. I then quite graciously gave him permission to call me Brenda - a name that I've been answering to for almost 60 years.

I can recall a time in my life that I felt flattered to be referred to as a young lady. But that was back in 1960 when my grandfather wanted me to fetch him a glass of water.

While I'm sure Commissioner Wallitner didn't mean to sound patronizing and I took no offense from his remark, I had to stop myself from thinking that perhaps I should run for that glass of water now - not later.

Mason County, am I being overly sensitive or am I out of touch with this area?

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

ADAGE: Project Timeline

More information from ADAGE appears to be leaking out. And I'm starting to think that just like slow cookers are great for dinner on a busy day, slowing down the ADAGE approval process is a great idea for the health of our community.

The source of the timeline below is ADAGE, Mason Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) representative Jim Gaston as mentioned by Port Commissioner Jack Miles at the public meeting last night (May 24 - see previous posting for more on the meeting). What's missing in this timeline is the requirement that they begin construction by Dec 31, 2010 to receive $75 million in federal stimulus money. Start of construction could be nothing more than a ribbon cutting ceremony just before we begin our 2010 New Year's eve festivities.



Project Timeline

Milestones:

SEPA/Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance - Sept 2010
ORCAA Issues Notice of construction - Oct 2010
Power Purchase Agreement in Place - Oct 2010
BPA Interconnect Agreement - Nov 2010
Financing Package Closed / Final Notice to Proceed* - Feb 2011
Start of Construction - Feb 2011
Mechanical Completion - Nov 2012
Guaranteed Substantial Completion - May 2013

*ADAGE would like to understand the UTC process better (footnote on chart)


UTC stands for Utility and Transportation Commission. According to the UTC webpage, their mission is to "protect consumers by ensuring that utility and transportation services are fairly priced, available, reliable and safe."

Perhaps you'll agree with me that all we've got to do is slow this timeline down and ADAGE will go away. Loss of that $75 million grant from federal stimulus money will certainly change their interest in locating here in Mason County.

Slow is good.

ADAGE: Citizen's Informational Forum May 24

Last night about 350 to 375 people gathered in the Shelton Civic Center to learn more about woody biomass incineration and ADAGE. Elected officials included State Representative Kathy Haigh, County Commissioner Ross Gallagher and Port of Shelton Commissioner Jack Miles. Linda Thomson sat in for State Representative Fred Finn.

It wasn't just the home team in attendance though. Kristine Reeves from Senator Patty Murray's office and Veronica Marohn from Governor Gregoire's office made note of the audience's overwhelming response when asked if they were against ADAGE coming to Mason County. Conley Watson, a local resident, asked the question that brought out a clear "no thank you" to this latest half-baked economic development idea that would bring a multinational firm to our county. An "economic development idea" that will work only if the taxpayer provides hefty incentives and sweeteners to the firm for at best 20 or so minimum wage jobs.

Dr Greg Helms provided scientific information in a way that all of us could understand. His ability to translate truly dense scientific material was fantastic. Even more impressive was Greg's skill at providing the health risks associated with locating a biomass incinerator in our midst. Dr Sammons, a Massachusetts pediatrician had been slated to speak but couldn't make it. With about a 24 hour notice Greg took on both the health and environmental perspectives and was able to explain to us why bringing ADAGE to Mason County is a really bad idea. Greg is my kind of expert - one who can translate complex material into something that I can relate to. Kudos to Greg Helms! We are so lucky to count you and Linda as fellow Mason County residents.

Port Commissioner Jack Miles added a flourish of drama (as if any was needed) as he shared with the audience that he'd just recently received copies of signed agreements between ADAGE and the Port of Shelton. I believe he said these agreements were for a feasibility study and access to Port property and had been signed by Port Manager John Dobson as far back as August 2009. But more importantly, at the next business meeting (June 1) he'll push to get the other two Port Commissioners to end all efforts to negotiate a lease agreement with ADAGE. Do check back for a blog posting next week as there may be standing room only at the Port meeting that day. I'll make every effort to be there. I'm betting the Port's attorney is going to be needed at least for the interpretation of Robert's Rules of Order.

Theresa Jacobson serving as the meeting's moderator allowed members of the audience to share their thoughts and questions. Of special note to me is the young boy scout, Kevin Majors, who asked the audience to please keep the air clean for the children. Nor will I be forgetting anytime soon the comment made by the owner of Funghi Perfecti, Paul Stamets, who explained that if ADAGE comes to Mason County, he will take his business and 35 jobs elsewhere.

Mason County, sounded to me like the real message was summed up by these two members of the audience: a child and a business man. It's real simple - ADAGE is a bad idea because the costs outweigh the benefits.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

County Commissioners Not Listening

Today I'm going to provide an example of how our county commissioners haven't listened to their citizens. If they don't listen to us on the small issues, the big issues are for sure a lost cause.

(See my blog posting "Level Playing Field for Tourism Dollars" and other "LTAC" label postings for more background.)

On Feb 23, 2010 I presented signed petitions from 102 citizens asking the BOCC to fund Harmony Hill's request for 2010 lodging tax dollars. I gave them some time to act on the petitions waiting till the May 4 BOCC meeting to I ask when they were going to approve the funding of Harmony Hill. At that time I was told that Ross, as chair, would call the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee to get their opinion on funding Harmony Hill. Then on May 10 at the commissioners' briefings I asked Ross when Harmony Hill would be funded. To this Ross said the LTAC had considered the request from Harmony Hill twice and had twice refused to fund it. His hands are tied, or so he says.

Mason County, 102 citizens petitioned the county commissioners and were ignored over the advice of the two executive directors of the Chambers of Commerce and four other representatives. I've made a clear case several times before the BOCC that the LTAC didn't consistently apply their stated criteria in their recommendations for which projects would receive funding. If this committee had applied the same criteria to all projects, Harmony Hill would have been funded just as all the other projects were. Harmony Hill was the only application for a grant from the Hotel Motel Tax not funded in 2010.

This blatant unfairness makes me angry and I'm having trouble letting this go. I recognize this is a small dollar issue but there are bigger decisions coming up.

Take for example the BOCC has formed a Storm Water Task Force to "craft financial options" to fund a storm water district in the county. This 30 member task force consists of five or six members who don't live in Mason County. When I raised concerns about members of the task force from Thurston and Lewis County making recommendations on Mason County tax policy, I was told that the BOCC is the ultimate decision authority and they will carefully consider what the task force recommends.

Based on what we've seen from the Harmony Hill LTAC recommendation, we can't count on this BOCC to overrule what the Stormwater Task Force recommends.

But the real point is this - they aren't listening to us. It's as if we don't count. Let's show our elected officials that we will be heard. Mason County, remember to register and vote in upcoming elections. Regardless of whether you and I agree on the issues, I encourage you to vote this year. Let our voices be heard through our ballots.

Meetings to Consider Attending - Week of May 24

Next week there are several meetings that you may want to consider attending.

1. Tomorrow afternoon (May 24, 2 pm) the City of Shelton Mayor and Commissioners will hold their regular weekly business meeting.

See my blog posting on last week's meeting. At the meeting this week someone might want to ask about the cost of the city providing water to ADAGE out at John's Prairie.

Recall last week that Commissioner Pawnell responded to the question: "Will this negatively impact the city's water table? No the city has plenty of water available." As we have followed the money we now understand that the City of Shelton is applying for a LOAN from the Dept. Health Drinking Water Revolving Fund to bring the Shelton Springs water source back on-line and add it to the City's water supply. The project will include design, permitting and construction of a disinfection facility for the Springs as well as improvement to the transmission main.

So in order to have "plenty of water available" the City of Shelton is currently applying for over $2.37 MILLION ($2,373,500). This would be a 30-year LOAN at 1% interest! This is yet another cost for the taxpayers in new infrastructure support required to meet ADAGE needs.

2. Tomorrow evening (May 24, 7 - 9 pm) at the Shelton Civic Center Dr Greg Helms, a research scientist will provide information on the environmental risks associated with allowing ADAGE to operate in Mason County. I will share with attendees what I have learned to my simple questions: why is ADAGE good for Mason County and what are the costs and risks?

3. If you live on Harstine Island on Tuesday evening (May 25, 7 - 9 pm) at Harstine Island Community Hall, Dr Helms will again share scientific information and Craig Watson will provide what he's learned about the financial and economic aspects of the project.

4. If you aren't going to the presentation on Harstine Island, then by all means, come out to the Board of County Commissioners meeting (May 25, 6 pm) to see for yourself how absolutely out of touch our commissioners are as they vote to increase the salaries for Lynda and Tim.

If you read the proposed consent agenda item up for their vote, you might be mislead. It's got a real positive spin. "Approval of the resolution suspending the 3% increase, as previously established by Resolution 85-01, for the 3rd District County Commissioner (Ross) in 2011. This results in all three Commissioners being paid the same salary in 2011 at $76,083 annually." What they aren't saying in this agenda item is that Tim and Lynda will get a salary increase. You'll want to see first hand as your commissioners tell you that they must raise their salaries - it's a Constitutional requirement. Even as the Sheriff's Deputies who provide for our public safety have not had a contract or a pay raise in more than three years.

Shame has no limits with our county legislative authority.

5. KMAS is hosting a public meeting with ADAGE on May 27, 6 - 8 pm at the Mason County Public Works Building. I've been told that attendees will provide their questions on 3 by 5 cards and then KMAS will ask them of the ADAGE representatives.

Hope to see you around the county this week as we continue to "follow the money"!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Port of Shelton - Air Cleared

Today my husband and I met with Port of Shelton Commissioner Jay Hupp for nearly two hours. At the end of our discussion I can say that, while Jay and I may not agree on everything, I do have a more complete understanding of how the Port originated and several issues surrounding the Port.

One thing that I believe Jay and I do agree on is that neither one of us was pleased with Tuesday's meeting. Our conversation today substantiates what I have been saying all along - all the public wants and expects is open and frank discussions with our elected officials.

Dean and I appreciate Jay making the effort to meet with us and for leaving us feeling like we had actually been heard.

Jay, thanks for listening.

Examples of Fixing Problems at the Zipcode Level

Last week I wrote about how problems get fixed at the local level. Today I want to give you some concrete examples of what I'm talking about. At the county commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Bob Simmons told us about upcoming opportunities to make a difference in our communities.

During the next few weeks there are a range of activities set up around Hood Canal, called “Do Some Good for the Hood”. Here are some descriptions of upcoming projects:

Twanoh State Park Volunteer Day help cleanup and beautify Twanoh State Park. Join us as we plant trees, pickup trash on the beach and throughout the park, and install brand new pet waste stations. There will be a free shellfish snack at noon, but bring a lunch and some gardening gloves if you have them! Other snacks along with coffee will be provided. Call and let us know if you plan on making it!
Saturday, May 22nd, 10 AM – 2 PM
Location: Twanoh State Park, 12190 E Highway 106, Union
Sponsored by Washington State Parks and WSU Mason County Extension
For more information: Nora Moloney, (360)427-9670 ext 686, nmoloney@wsu.edu

Belfair State Park Volunteer Day
Help cleanup and beautify Belfair State Park. Join us as we pickup trash on the beach
and throughout the park, install brand new pet waste stations, and do some restoration work. Bring your friends, a lunch and some gardening gloves if you have them! Snacks along with coffee will be provided. Call and let us know if you plan on making it!
Sunday, May 23rd, 10 AM – 2 PM
Location: Belfair State Park, 410 Northeast Beck Road, Belfair
Sponsored by Washington State Parks and WSU Mason County Extension
For more information: Nora Moloney, (360)427-9670 ext 686, nmoloney@wsu.edu

Crab Larvae Collection Training, Sat May 29th at 10am, Hoodsport Marina
This kick-off training will get volunteers ready to participate in an important study, researching the decline of the Dungeness crab. Harvest has fallen from 698,000 pounds in 2005, to just 168,000 pounds in 2008 in Hood Canal. People living near a beach or dock are ideally located to conduct this research (once a week). Team up with other Hood Canal residents to share the effort. Call 360.801.0958 or email stexeira@hccc.wa.gov to register for this informative and exciting training! To get more information on the study go to http://megalops.org/


Lastly, our youth and the WSU Mason County 4-H program are in need of sponsorships -
4-H is highly regarded as a leading source for quality youth activities that promote positive growth and development---you or your business can be a part of it!
Please contact the Mason County 4-H at (360) 427-9670 ext.680 for further information on how you can become a community sponsor! Or go to www.mason4h.org to donate directly. This year’s annual auction/dinner fundraiser the “Fresh Bite Beach Nite” will be held on Sept 2nd at Panhandle 4H Camp. Please consider donating an auction item and/or coming out to the event. Tickets will be available soon. Thanks

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Port of Shelton - Part 2

I want to make sure you see this comment from Anonymous today regarding the Port commissioner's meeting yesterday. The comment below added information from the meeting that I'd not included. Here's what Anonymous said:



My husband & I were also at the meeting yesterday. For years we've been reading about conflict among our Port Commissioners, & this meeting was a chance for us to witness the unbelievable arrogance of Jay Hupp. He introducted their corporate attorney & asked him to explain the preliminary steps required for a lease agreement with ADAGE. In our opinion, the attorney's comments & answers to questions from the public were very ambiguous. When the public comment period began, Carol presented two questions concerning a possible conflict of interest between Port officials & ADAGE; she respectfully requested that her questions & their answers be made part of the public record. Mr. Hupp told Carol she needed to submit her questions in writing, & she immediately handed them to a staff member at the table. Why weren't her questions answered during the meeting? During the commissioner comment period, Jack Miles asked Jim Gaston several questions about the ADAGE project, & public comments/questions were interjected without objection by the board. However, when Brenda attempted to ask a question, Mr. Hupp interrupted her & said the public comment period was over. She stated her indignation & left the meeting. Mr. Miles asked someone to go get her so they could reopen the public comment period. Mr. Hupp directed angry words at Mr. Miles about deviating from the meeting agenda, & their attorney stepped in to clarify their use of Robert's Rules of Order. We left feeling extremely disappointed with the lack of professionalism among the Port Commissioners.



I welcome your comments. Your identity is protected if you post anonymously.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Port of Shelton

I had quite the day on Tuesday -what with the County Commissioners in the morning and then the Port in the afternoon. Readers, the Port commissioners are arrogantly out of control. (They need an "Annette McGee" reality check. See early posting today "BOCC - May 18".)

Jay Hupp cut me off in the middle of questioning Jim Gaston an ADAGE employee. I got up and walked out of the meeting. Then just as I walked in my front door Gaston called to say that he felt really bad that I'd been cut off.

I told him what my question was. I pay $.0614 per kilowatt hour to PUD3 today. How much would ADAGE power cost?

He said it's secret competitive info.

Then I went back with I've heard - they will be allowed to charge up to 3 times the going rate.

He said yes that's right and there's really nothing a citizen can do about this because this is what our state and federal government wants to see happen.

To that I'm thinking horsefeathers. We're not that powerless. Are we going to put up with this outrageous conspiratorial fleecing of us as tax payers?

BOCC Meeting - May 18

Just Ross and Tim at the meeting since Lynda's on vacation through June 7.

Open public forum time on the agenda has gotten really interesting. Ross was probably thinking today that he should never have shut Annette McGee down last week. In fact he gave her a whole round of ammunition that she used on him today.

Ross called on Annette first but she said that she'd wait her turn until other citizens had an opportunity to speak because she knows what it's like to be cut off. Recall she was not allowed to speak last week by Ross. What a mistake, Ross.

Lewis Caponi has become quite the regular speaker sharing with us his views on the Arizona state immigration policy. I wonder if he is aware that our commissioners don't set immigration policy for Mason County. Lewis, if you need some budget issues to get outraged about, do drop this blogger a line. I can set you up because I must prioritize what I will be outraged about on a weekly basis. I welcome your support.

Todd Fredson made the case that ADAGE will be cutting down twice the amount of board feet once considered a sustainable practice. Tim of course disagreed with him and missed Todd's point. But I sure wasn't surprised by Tim's response.

I asked the "dreaded questions" about conflicts of interest and personal gain involving the commissioners, family, friends and staff as related to biomass power production. Ross appeared to be responding sincerely that he really needed to check to make sure that he didn't have an issue with Simpson being part of his 401k. Tim said that if he thinks he has a conflict he'll let us know before he casts a vote. I'll have more to say on the whole issue of the costs and benefits of ADAGE, Mason LLC in an upcoming blog. Please check back later in the week.

Annette came back to the podium to really blast Ross. She said that as a former commissioner she would never have denied a citizen the opportunity to speak and that a limit of fifteen minutes per meeting for citizen comment was insufficient. When she served as county commissioner, meetings could last up to two days if the public wanted to speak to the commissioners. And Annette said she never wanted to cut the public off because she needed to hear what they had to say. Boy, what a novel concept - listen to the voters.

Then Annette went on to take exception to Lynda's comment last week when she said, "We've gotten rid of the Fairgrounds. Now we may have to eliminate the Parks, WSU Extension and Probation Services in order to pay the increased union contract costs."

None of these potential cuts would have been necessary had the commissioners made responsible decisions with our money 2006 through 2008. If the Jail union contract is an indicator, then the amount the county will be paying above the adopted budget will be somewhere well above $1 million.

Both Annette and the Undersheriff Jim Barrett underscored that Lynda is attempting to drive a wedge between the Sheriff's department and the other elected officials and department heads. Who ultimately loses in this type of blame game atmosphere? We the citizens are the big losers. As Annette said, "Stop taking it out on us." Sometimes the commissioners appear to be punishing us - the citizens and taxpayers for whom they work and to whom they are answerable.

I'll continue tomorrow on this. Today I'm exhausted.

ADAGE: City Responses to Questions

At the city's commission meeting last night Laura Lewis and Kathryn Price asked the Mayor and Commissioners direct questions. Here's how it went.

Regarding conflicts of interest and any personal gain or interest they might have in ADAGE or any of it's affiliates, each answered no.


To the question of where the city will get the water to supply ADAGE and others located off John's Prairie, the answer from Commissioner Dawn Pawnell was that it would come from city water sources.

Will this negatively impact the city's water table? No the city has plenty of water available.

All of this was captured on the record.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Briefings - May 17

Here's what I noted today that might be of interest. By the way, the Journal had a real live reporter there for some of the briefings.

1. Commissioner's 2011 Salary Increase. Yes you read this correctly - they plan to increase the salary for Lynda and Tim. This should be a consent agenda item next week - May 25. There is a bit of a rush to get this voted on before Ross files his candidacy for reelection. "I guess this is what we have to do", Tim said with such resignation.

After the briefings were completed I asked why not reduce Ross' salary instead of increasing Tim's and Lynda's since their stated concern is that all commissioner's salaries must be standardized. To which Ross replied, "it's a constitutional mandate."

Here's an excerpt from the resolution that should be on the agenda next week:

Now therefore be it resolved to suspend the 3% increase in 2011 for the 3d District County Commissioner (Ross), which results in all three commissioners being paid the same salary in 2011 - $76,083 and each year thereafter, the Commissioners' salaries shall be increased 3% as previously established by Resolution 85-01.


2. Paying for Union Settlements. Right after discussing their salary increase one would think the generosity might extend to the Sheriff's office. Not quite. The Sheriff spelled out that when county accepted the Stimulus grant last year (over $600K), the Board clearly agreed that by accepting this money they would find a way to fund employees and not just lay them off when the dollars dried up. In other words if the Board makes the Sheriff absorb the 2010 salary increases of $95K then he might be forced to lay off one corrections officer who is being paid by grant dollars.

Ultimately the Sheriff's office and the Board made an agreement but didn't go so far as to kiss and make up. The Sheriff can wait a few months for the $95K supplemental with a revisit in July and September. The Board liked the idea of pushing this can down the road.

Lynda asked Ross to break the news to Parks that they may see budget reductions to cover union settlements. The Sheriff took exception to the way this funding decision has been framed. He said the Board is driving a wedge between departments and elected officials with some of their comments.

Here's the take away on this: the big problem isn't 2010. How will the county fund the Jail/Corrections Staff contract settlement which is over $200K in 2011?

There was a good bit of discussion today about going with a levy shift of county roads dollars to the general fund/current expense. Appeared that both Tim and Lynda were inclined to approve a levy shift for 2011.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Fix the Problems at the Zip Code Level

I don't know about you but I feel like our elected officials are out of touch with us and that public policy at all levels (federal, state, county, city, port, water board commissioner) is off track heading in the wrong direction.

As I watch the images off the shore on the Gulf Coast my heart breaks. I'm alarmed about the speed our federal budget deficit is increasing. Wall Street and the financial industry's sense of entitlement and control makes me mad. I could go on listing problems and issues that concern me but it's too depressing. And that's not my point for this posting.

Today at the zip code level, I feel like you and I are really quite a force to be dealt with. Here are a couple of reasons why I make this very optimistic statement in the midst of all these problems.

This morning I received a comment from a reader on my posting "Belfair Water Board Craziness" . Here's what the reader said: "Maybe a Citizens group whose mission is to have PUD # 1 take over the system. I hear alot of talk about this option but no action. No time is better than now!" That's right no time is better than now. Anonymous, go for it! It's your water system - not the elected officials.

My second example is this movement of citizens in opposition to ADAGE. Amazing! Who knew that so many citizens making up a diverse leaderless group could speak out so forcefully and articulately against these multinational corporate giants. Politicians also may have underestimated these citizens. Our elected officials have been unwilling to discuss the costs and benefits of bringing this operation to Mason County. Big public relations mistake in my estimation.

I can't do anything about the federal deficit but at the zip code level (98584) I just won't give up on making Mason County better. Anyway I'm retired so I'm not going away.

Have a great Friday!

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Water Water Everywhere But Not a Drop.....

When I tell my relatives back East that clean water is a finite resource even in Western Washington, I can see the look of disbelief in their eyes. After all what's all that blue on the map around that part of the state I'm living in?

But according to the Squaxin Island Tribe, the amount of water we're withdrawing from the John's Creek Basin is a problem - the streams in this basin are drying up and the salmon cannot return to spawn.

The Tribe petitioned twice to get some action from the state and county. Just last week the Governor denied the Tribe's second petition regarding the John's Creek Basin. In the petition the Tribe asked the Department of Ecology and Mason County to limit exempt wells to domestic in-home use only.

In addition to her denial, the Governor directed Ecology to do the following:

1. Ensure the Port of Shelton complies with its existing water rights.
2. Secure funding for the groundwater study with basin governments (I assume this is the port, city and county) if the Environmental Protection Agency grant is unsuccessful. Ecology has applied for this grant.
3. Inform the public about the flow-related problems in Johns Creek, how current uses are likely reducing stream flows and that future exempt well uses may add to the problem and could be curtailed.
4. Develop and implement a strategy to protect Johns Creek flows. Specifically directed to reopen communications with the county on implementing stream flow protection measures.
5. Meet with the Tribe to inform Ecology’s instream flow rulemaking priorities.

Ecology is probably only sweating the first one. There's the challenge: getting the Port of Shelton to shut down that non-permitted well that's drawing 40 plus acre feet of water each year. The Port has a permitted well that gives them around 1.5 acre feet of water per year. I've heard from a reliable and knowledgeable source there's a water leak somewhere on Port property that no one can find. To this I'm thinking it's time to get that 'devining' rod out. Or maybe the Port could find an intuitive to find that leak. Hey, I'm just a simple person - not a water leak detective.

Let's keep an eye on this one. What will the Port do to live with it's existing water rights? What will the county do to help Department of Ecology make the Governor's directives a reality? How will Sam Sevier and the Mason County Water Conservancy Board help the Governor with her plan to make nice about water in the John's Creek Basin? And where, oh where will the City of Shelton get water to send up to the PUD 3 Palace, MCRA ball fields and ADAGE incinerator?

With all of the water issues in this county, I may have to rename this blog Mason County Water Watch.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Belfair Water District Craziness

There is such craziness going on in Mason County. Check out the below email conversations and then further below are the very sane comments that Ken VanBuskirk (private citizen and customer) wasn't allowed to make prior to the room being cleared by the Mason County Sheriff's Office. I checked there isn't even a full moon to help explain this craziness in Mason County.

From: John Phillips
To: Ken and Peggy
Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 11:13 PM
Subject: Re: Belfair Water district meeting 5-11-10

Dear Ken: I have copy of your public comment. We will have the same incorporated into the minutes. Durning last two meetings, "The Mike Pope Posse" has disrupted the meeetings by hooting, scoffing, cross-talk and side-bar conversations. For the first time ever, The Board of Commissioners had to recess and let them vent in the parking lot. I attend many meetings and have never witnessed such uncivil behavior. I have asked Pope to get his followers under control, but thinks all this is cute. The two state agencies that oversee our operation (DOH amd DOE) give BWD high grades. Its the same with the State Auditor. Our local mission is provide our customers good water - at a good rate- always with good service. We do a good job at our local mission. Your non-stop negative and divisive remarks only encourage Mr. Pope's followers. Ken, consider transferring your zeal to FD2 who added an Ass't Chief to the rolls at a cost of 100K a year without any public comment. And they purchased an expensive new fire truck. Tell me Ken how much public comment and advertising was present to alert citizens for this huge purchase. Perhaps you, Mr. Pope and his posse ought to go to other agencies where the game is bigger. Chair John P

--- On Tue, 5/11/10, Ken and Peggy wrote:

From: Ken and Peggy
Subject: Belfair Water district meeting 5-11-10
To: "John Phillips"
Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 3:41 PM

John I would like to register a formal complaint with you as chairman of the Belfair water district board. I followed proper protocol and asked the water district office staff both verbally and by email a week ago to be placed on today's agenda. (see below) I further made arrangements to have someone provide child care while I came to the meeting.
During the public comment section of today's meeting I raised my hand to speak. I am extremely disappointed that you failed to recognize me and I had to leave when you had a police officer clear the room. I planned to give the attached document to you and your fellow commissioners and read into the public record. Please consider my comments.
Thank you
Ken VanBuskirk


From: Ken and Peggy
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 12:50 PM
To: bwdoffice; bwdoffice@hctc.com
Subject: Time on May 11th agenda

hi Jen thanks for the info on rates. Per our telephone conversation I would like to be on the agenda May 11 under the topic of ratepayer concerns and the SR-3 widening project. Thank you



Had Ken been allowed to speak, here's what he wanted to say:

For the record, Ken VanBuskirk, 61 NE Davis Farm Road.
I believe you all received an email I wrote to you regarding the bypass proviso group. I recommended that the funding for the DOT widening project be shifted to the construction of the bypass. The DOT was unwilling to further develop this recommendation for our legislators. I’m here today to ask you to consider sending a letter to our elected 35th district Representatives and Senator informing them about the potential financial impact that the DOT widening project places on the 518 BWD ratepayers and ask them for their intervention and assistance in this matter. I would be glad to provide information to help your manager draft a letter or resolution for your approval.
I also sent you an e-mail regarding your recent change of meeting times and the rate and water efficiency hearings. Were these meeting dates and times discussed in an open public meeting? If not, why weren’t they? The newsletter is a great tool! In my e-mail I suggested you tell the ratepayers about the rate hearing in the newsletter, why didn’t you?
Now is not the appropriate time to ask for a rate increase to the users. Perhaps a small capital facilities charge. But don’t focus on the ratepayers.
I encourage you to put your personal differences aside and help resolve some of the issues still lingering and festering in the community. Complete the meter study, approve the Romance Hill annexation, and tell the ratepayers about the wetland restoration and who is paying for it. Consider what sort of a legacy you are leaving for our community. Your manager thinks I’m mixing governing with community politics. That is what our democracy is all about, that is why you were elected, to represent us. I believe strongly that local leadership is the best form of representative government but this community disruption has gone on too long. If you can’t make a good faith commitment to your constituents to resolve your differences, then perhaps it’s time to approach PUD 1 about taking over BWD.
Respectfully,

Ken VanBuskirk


When a police officer is called to clear a water board meeting, I think it's time for another "Get Real in Mason County Award" or maybe we should consider the "Are You Kidding? Award". Nevertheless, shame on Commissioner John Phillips for denying Ken Van Buskirk an opportunity to speak.

Yes, move the Belfair Water District to PUD 1. Give the customers and the rest of Mason County a break. We can't handle so much drama in meeting after meeting.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

BOCC Meeting - May 11

All three commissioners were there for the entire meeting.

1. During the public comment period today there was entirely too much drama - even for me!

- Nancy McMahon attempted to ask the commissioners whether they stood to benefit financially in any way from ADAGE coming to Mason County. Tim Sheldon asked the Chair (Ross) to reign things in stating that this was not an interactive time. So Nancy then told them the questions that she would have asked had she been allowed to: did they stand to gain financially from ADAGE and had they received campaign donations of any kind from ADAGE or it's affiliates? Then she sat down.

- I was appalled at Tim's "over the top" reaction to Nancy's questions and told him so during this same public comment time. I've been going to these meetings for nearly two years and the public comment time frequently is an interactive dialogue between citizens and the commissioners. Later in the meeting he apologized to Nancy and said that he was feeling overwhelmed by all of the ADAGE opposition.

- While I had the floor I asked the BOCC to schedule a Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) meeting so they could get Harmony Hill funded. They claim that no "revenue generator" in the community wants to sit on the LTAC. This may or may not be true. Apparently Terry Oliver who lives in Union and owns a lodging facility has applied to sit on the LTAC. Ross told me later that he will look into this. Meanwhile I made the case today for more at-large members to help bring some diversity to the LTAC.

- Officer Michael Sargent spoke about the commissioners' plan to force the Sheriff to absorb the settlement costs resulting from the agreement with the jail and corrections staff bargaining unit. He told them they made the decision to accept the contract and that now the BOCC should provide the money to cover this unbudgeted salary increase. He went on to give them a hard time for declaring the 2010 budget a balanced budget when they knew the labor contracts were under negotiation and that they had to be funded. Ross responded to the officer by saying, "Maybe there will be a supplement to fund the additional labor costs as negotiated or maybe not". Then he reminded him that the real problem is 2011. That's when the increase of over $200k for this small 40 member bargaining unit will be more than double what we're seeing in 2010. Lynda appeared to be threatening to eliminate WSU Extension and Parks in order to fund the Deputies Guild contract increases. (Recall that we've been told the Deputies Guild could be as high as $1M.) Nothing like pitting one department/elected official against another.

-I failed to mention in yesterday's briefing notes that Lynda announced she's been working with the Auditor's Office and has a secret plan on how to fund all of the contracts still to be negotiated. Made me think of Richard Nixon when he told us that he had a plan to end the Vietnam War. Gosh, I hope she really does have a plan. Can't wait for the plan to be released to the public. Lynda, don't make us wait for you to return from your vacation.

- It's worth noting here that one citizen who made an effort to be recognized during the public comment period was ignored by the BOCC for about 10 minutes. Former County Commissioner Annette McGee (the first female Mason County Commissioner) came to the podium after raising her hand but the three commissioners kept their eyes glued on the papers in front of them. Annette just stood there and waited. Ross refused to recognize her or allow her to speak. In the time he spent being so stubborn about not allowing her to speak, she could have had her say and left Ross looking like a well mannered public official. Oh no, we had to watch as he sat as chair of the Mason County legislative authority wielding his power. The thing about power is that it can be taken away just as it was given - on the ballot by voters. By ignoring Annette and then refusing to let her speak, Ross made a huge mistake today in my estimation.


2. Two consent agenda items were tabled.

-The American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) agreement was tabled until June 8 because the BOCC still doesn't know how much this is going to cost. Ross can't vote on this agreement because his wife is a member of AFSCME and Lynda is going to be on vacation from May 18 through June 7. Tim asked that all AFSCME employees, supervisors and elected officials write back to him with their opinion on the proposed settlement. Can anyone help me spell "potential unfair labor practice"? Tim also asked the Auditor's Office to provide an analysis of what the proposed agreement will cost the county.

- The appointment of Gary Yando to the Stormwater Management Task Force was also tabled because neither the Public Works staff nor the BOCC could say whether he'd indicated a conflict of interest on his volunteer application. This item was tabled until May 18.

3. The public hearing for Peninsula Topsoil LLC to rezone about 70 acres of land from Rural Residential 20 to Rural Residential 10 had no decision today. The public comment period was closed and the commissioners will reconvene this public hearing for a decision only on June 8. The Prosecutor's office was not there today to answer some legal questions the BOCC had.

4. As usual at the end of the meeting, the commissioners reviewed their calendars for the past week and told us what they had planned for this week. During his calendar review Tim mentioned that he'd met with DNR last Friday. I asked him what that was about and he responded that he was getting a burn permit to burn slash on his property. Later I thought what a waste to burn slash right about now when there's all of this concern that ADAGE might not be able to secure enough slash to keep their incinerator running that 24/7 cycle. What a waste that Tim is burning his slash rather than waiting for ADAGE to be up and running. But then maybe Tim has accepted that ADAGE won't really be coming to Mason County.

That's all, Mason County.

Thanks so much for reading my blog. Drop a comment - I love hearing from you.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Briefings - May 10

Here's what I heard and understood at today's briefings. Meeting went from 830 am until noon with all three commissioners in attendance.

1. Union Contracts. For background see my April 6 and May 3 postings on the contract settlement with the jail and corrections facility staff.

Today the Sheriff and the Undersheriff met with the commissioners to discuss how this obligation is going to be funded in 2010. Recall that we're talking salary increases of $95K in 2010 and over $200K in 2011 - that's for just 40 or so union employees. We learned today that some of these employees have not had a salary adjustment in about nine years resulting in a need to increase salaries up to 16 percent but on average the increase was 5.6 percent. The bombshell in my estimation was learning that because it's taken so long to negotiate this agreement, the county and union employees will start all over negotiating a new contract next month - June 2010.

The Commissioners insisted the Sheriff must absorb the increase of $95K. The Sheriff and Undersheriff made the case that in the past a supplemental budget increase has been provided to offset the increase the Commissioners negotiated. The Commissioners, who rarely agree with each other in such an open and fervent manner, stood firm on the position that the county doesn't have the extra revenue to cover the increased salaries.

Lynda in the midst of this pretty tough discussion about how this pay roll increase was going to be funded says, "Move the jail from the Sheriff and place it under the Commissioners." In other words if the Sheriff can't figure out how to manage the jail within his current budget then the Commissioners will take the jail on. At this point Tim just about came out of his seat saying, "I don't want responsibility for the jail and I want to go on record stating this."

Next Monday the Sheriff and the Board are going to pick this same conversation right up again. So check back next week for more on this.

For future reference purposes, I heard Tim state during all of this heated discussion that he is willing to consider a levy shift for 2011. Let's all remember this as we go into the budget development process this fall.

2. Commissioners Salary. Assuming I understood this correctly, the commissioners are planning to increase by 3% the salaries for District 1 and 2 (Lynda and Tim). Rationale for the increase is to bring all commissioners salaries to the same level. Ross is currently being paid ($76,083.60) while Lynda and Tim are at $73,867.32. I honestly couldn't believe my ears that a salary increase was even being discussed given the anti-incumbent feelings sweeping the country. After further reflection I'm wondering why not just decrease District 3 salary? That would be another way to standardize the salaries.

3. Increase BOCC from Three to Five. Tim proposed increasing the commission to a five member board. He would take the total salaries for the three commissioners divide it by five. By doing this there would not be an increase in cost of payroll and we'd have two extra commissioners. He made the case that his district is the largest of the three and that it's "U" shaped with a fjord in the middle. The other two commissioners don't have the same geographic challenges, Tim opined. Lynda appeared to be open to the idea of redrawing the three districts but not necessarily going to a five member board. To bring about either change (five districts or redrawing the district lines) there would need to be a petition of 20% of the voters from each district. With enough signatures from voters, the change in districts could be placed on the ballot.

4. Increase Coroner Salary for 2011. Lynda also made the case for increasing the Coroner's salary. The Assessor, Auditor, Treasurer, etc make $68,130 while the Coroner is paid $51,192. Lynda doesn't think this is fair and asked the staff to do a survey of other counties to determine what other coroners in the state are making.

3. School Impact Fees. Community Development brought this up today asking the commissioners what they wanted to do. Both Tim and Lynda turned to Ross and each separately said to him,"Ross, what do you want to do?" Barbara Adkins will let the Planning Advisory Committee know that just because the school supervisors want to increase impact fees, the county commissioners are not required to hold public hearings or even consider the proposal. I'm thinking this is a dead issue.

There you have it, Mason County. Talk to you again soon and thanks for visiting my blog.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Do We Need the Port of Shelton?

As I was weeding my garden today, I got to thinking why do we have a Port of Shelton? It can't be because of all the air traffic coming into Sanderson International Airport or all of that ship traffic coming into Oakland Bay. Is the Port involved in business that really should be done by a private citizen?

So why is each property owner within the Port of Shelton paying a portion of their 2010 property tax bill to support the Port operations? (On a home valued at around $200K this comes to $53.97.) All of these tax collections added up to $615K in 2008. (The more current budgets, 2009 and 2010 are not posted on the Port of Shelton website, unfortunately. Port Administrator John Dobson, if you're reading this, please get that fixed. You never know when a citizen may want to look this info up on a Sunday afternoon.)

Here's what the website says the Port is about:

The Port of Shelton is an excellent location for your business.

With competitive lease rates, central access and the quality of life in one of the most beautiful natural areas in the Pacific Northwest, the Port of Shelton is more than just a great base to base your business.
Our helpful and knowledgeable staff are available to assist you, call now for available properties and lease options.


I'm thinking if our elected officials, particularly the county commissioners, are pro-business, maybe they should seriously consider privatizing the Port of Shelton. Let's really get out of the way of free enterprise.

There's a win-win: private industry is allowed to profit and those property owners in the Port of Shelton get a reduced property tax bill.

What do you think? Should the Port of Shelton be privatized or eliminated? Our county commissioners hold the authority to make this a ballot issue.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

ADAGE: Reading Recommendation

I was tipped by a friend who told me to check this site out: http://blogs.info-engineering-svc.com/larye/?p=165

A Shelton resident, Larye Parkins wrote this excellent article, "The Elephant in the Room". Larye is a systems and software engineer who helped me understand the ADAGE technology from a new direction. Not surprisingly I have more questions.

Like what will ADAGE be burning in addition to slash? I recall on January 29 ADAGE representative, Lee Torrence mentioned that there would be an additional source of fuel to keep the temperature high and steady. Have I missed it? Has the "additional source" been identified? Is it trees they'll burn? Isn't that wasteful?

Then what about the waste disposal of ash and other secondary waste? In his article Larye mentions "concentrated tannins" that may be released into the ground water system. How will this impact our water quality?

There are so many unanswered questions that our elected officials should be addressing. Perhaps they are but I suspect it's behind closed doors with ADAGE in the room. I continue to call for a public dialogue on the proposed incinerator. As I said in my blog postings in January, all stakeholders are represented at the table except for the public. Our elected officials appear to have misplaced the public in "public service".

My thanks to Larye for taking the time to write this excellent article.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

ADAGE: Cougs not Kooks

When Tim Sheldon referred to the "fringe element" opposed to ADAGE as "kooks", some are thinking we misunderstood him. He was saying 'Cougs' - as in "Go, Cougs". Could we have misunderstood Tim? Did he think Duff graduated from WSU and was calling him a 'coug'?

The funny thing about words is that each of us may find different meaning in the same word. Take for example, women of a seasoned age and originating from other than Washington State might take exception to being referred to as a "coug" because that's short hand for cougar. Do not call us a cougar. Thems fightin words! We'd rather be called kooks than cougs.

But here's my point for this posting today. Let's all dispense with name calling and begin to have civil conversations with each other especially when we disagree. You and I should set an example for our children and our elected officials.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

BOCC Meetings - May 4

My goodness, it's grand to see Mason County showing up at the BOCC meetings. It used to be that I could arrive minutes before the meeting and find lots of open parking - not the case today. People, lots of people, were there to make their case against ADAGE inside the commissioners chambers and in front of the building. Plus a crowd showed up both for and against changes to the Noise Control Ordinance.

The ADAGE proposed construction is getting attention far and wide. National Public Radio (NPR) showed up today as protesters picketed in front of the county building. I know he was there for ADAGE because he left when the public hearing on noise started.

Diedrick Allen from KMAS was in attendance but then he can always be counted on. On the other hand, the Shelton Mason Journal has been absent at the county meetings since Greg Skinner left the newspaper. Too bad since this is our only local newspaper.

1. Here's a sampling of the ADAGE comments made during the open forum time.
- Annie Flynn asked the Board to look at the quantity of available slash and to take into consideration the amount of risk the county will assume versus the risk that ADAGE will see. She was extremely articulate in making her case as were many others speaking at the meeting today.
-Sandra Herndon said she's not a kook nor is she part of the fringe element and made a solid case to the commissioners that as our leaders they have a moral duty to study the ADAGE proposal and share their rationale with the public prior to any final decision.
- June Sims Willepp told the commissioners that she is concerned about children playing ball in fields that are contiguous to what she referred to as a "big burn barrel". What an image!

2. In the public hearing on amending the Noise Control County Ordinance, our number one race car driver and Chair of the Board Ross Gallagher was called on early in the hearing to excuse himself from the vote because of the appearance of unfairness. Later Tim told him it was okay for him to vote on this decision because he couldn't see any conflict for Ross regarding race tracks or noise control.

The most articulate and perhaps the only speaker against changing the code, Wendy Matthews made a well stated case against the elimination of that one small word "existing" from the county code.

But the overwhelming number of speakers stood in support of the change and some of them made a good case for bringing a race track to Mason County. Interesting that out of town speakers (I counted five) in support of a race track in Mason County were never once referred to as kooks by Commissioner Sheldon. Commissioner Ring Erickson pointed out repeatedly that today's hearing was not about bringing a race track to Mason County.

As I sat watching this first of four public hearings today I thought of that line in the movie, "Hump, what hump?" The noise control ordinance change, which all three commissioners voted in support of, had absolutely nothing to do with an upcoming race track. Yeah right, I thought dubiously. Please keep in mind I'm just a simple minded blogger who hasn't even formed an opinion on whether a race track is a good idea. But I will admit, I do get exercised when the process seems slanted in favor of one group over another and I really hate to be treated like I recently fell off the turnip truck.

The rest of the meeting was fairly mundane.

But here's a little tidbit I picked up from last week's BOCC meeting. The county has three department heads who live outside the county and the Director of Public Works and Facilities take county vehicles home. This was provided in response to former county commissioner Annette McGee's question.

There you have it, Mason County. Hope to see you around and please drop a comment. I love to hear from you.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Briefings - May 3

Here's a quick run down on what happened at the county commissioners' briefings. All three commissioners were in attendance. There was no media coverage.

1. Union Contracts. Recall on April 6 the commissioners voted to approve the settlement of the contract with the jail and corrections facility staff. At that time I asked what the 2010 budget impact would be. I got a vague answer from Monty Cobb (who just happens to be an attorney working in the Prosecutor's Office and, oh by the way, is running for Prosecutor this election coming up). He said that there was no specific dollar amount at that time. He expected a 1% to 6.5% increase and for each percent we could expect to see a $15K increase in salaries. He surmised somewhere around $65K after the salary survey had been completed.

Well today the Auditor came in to break the news on what the real deal is. In 2010 it's going to cost the county an additional $95K in salaries and benefits but for 2011 it will be over $200K plus an expected increase in pension costs. This is for 42 employees. The county still must settle with the other unions - another 300 or so employees.

Today the commissioners decided to send a memo to the Sheriff telling him to absorb the salary and benefit increases which the commissioners had approved.

This is almost like a kabuki dance.

The real problem rests squarely in the commissioners' laps. I asked were they surprised at how much of an increase they'd approved for this one bargaining unit and both Lynda and Tim said they were surprised. I didn't ask Ross because he's admitted he signs stuff without reading. He's on record the fall of 2009 stating that he signed without reading the settlement to the Unfair Labor Practice with the Deputies. Honestly, if you gave the Board a ham sandwich on some days I believe they'd sign it.

2. Noise Control. Tomorrow there's a public hearing to revise the Mason County Code, Title 9, Section 9.36. Barbara Adkins advised the commissioners that tomorrow the folks opposed to a race track coming to Mason County would likely show up. She went on to say that this could be a challenge for the Board and that they should emphasize to the public that the purpose for revising this code was merely to allow the county to have more "flexibility".

3. School Impact Fees. The Planning Advisory Commission (PAC) asked the Board to schedule more public meetings on the topic of impact fees as proposed by several local school superintendents. Lynda said, "We delegate to the PAC. They don't delegate to the Board." So there, PAC, go deal with it. The Board wants to see an up or down vote by the PAC. But why would the PAC do that when both Tim and Ross say it's a dead issue? There will be no public meetings or public hearings on impact fees. I'll bet the supervisors are surprised since they thought both Lynda and Ross were going to support the impact fees. Ross could afford to support this initiative when he was running unopposed. New day in Mason County for Ross Gallagher - some one else is after his job.

4. Storm Water Task Force. I'll bet you thought 29 people was a large enough committee to study storm water but you and I would have thought wrong. Today the commissioners deliberated bringing another member aboard, Gary Yando. Gary, if you're reading this you might want to listen to the tape of today's briefings prior to joining up. I didn't get the impression you'd be welcome. One who shall remain nameless has a problem with your management style while two commissioners have "reservations" about bringing you in to the taskforce. Egads. Enough said.

5. Sale of Surplus Property and Accrued Leave Fund. On tomorrow's BOCC agenda we find that the county is holding a public hearing to declare 28 parcels as surplus which should bring in to the county coffers over $1M. After paying off any delinquent property tax obligations and reimbursing the Road Fund for their expenses, the remaining dollars will be placed in the Accrued Leave Fund per county Resolution 70.04. Public Works came to the commissioners today to make sure they wanted to put this money into the Accrued Leave Fund or did they want to change the resolution so the dollars could go elsewhere? Tim says we have to put it into the Accrued Leave Fund because there's this one retired budget analyst who has expressed continued concern about this unfunded liability. Thanks a bunch, Tim.

Why aren't there more of us tearing into these meetings? If for nothing more than the entertainment value, they are worth the price of admission.

That's all, Mason County.

Belfair Sewer

Here's the outrage of the day. On the County Commissioners agenda tomorrow I find this item:

8.3 Approval to adopt a resolution authorizing the Chair to sign Amendment #1 to the contract with Engineering Services Associates (ESA) to provide additional technical assistance and comprehensive mapping services for the construction of side sewers for the Belfair wastewater conveyance system. The amendment cost is $193,420 bringing the total contract amount to $296,285.


What an increase this will make to the contract and with no effort to see if there is another firm who could do this for less? ESA is "in like Flynn" on this contract. Starts out with a contract at $103 thousand and with tomorrow's approval of the Board of County Commissioners will get a $193 thousand increase with no competition.

And here's the best part. This is part of the county's justification for ESA's expanded contract, "Most property owners lack the technical skills to make the conversion from their on-site systems to the sewer collection lines we are developing."

Belfair Property Owners, I have great faith in your reading comprehension. I'm thinking the county officials are using this justification to throw more money at ESA. That's what the real deal is.

After all it's grant money - not really Mason County money. Wrong answer - this is exactly how we got in this predicament that our federal and state budgets are out of control.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

ADAGE: Meetings This Week & Simple Questions

Today the Olympian has a front page article on ADAGE coming to Mason County. After reading the article in the Olympian I thought all of this scientific information about air pollution simply left me feeling overwhelmed and thinking that I should have paid closer attention in those chemistry classes in high school and college.

But then I happened upon an article in today's edition of the New York Times titled "It's Complicated: Making Sense of Complexity" by David Segal. The nugget I discovered in this article is that we find ourselves so in awe of the complexity in situations (just like ADAGE coming to Mason County) that we "pull away from the duty to ask simple questions". Questions like: Why is ADAGE good for the citizens of Mason County? And what are the risks involved?

As a friend pointed out to me yesterday why haven't we heard that our elected officials are preparing a cost benefit analysis on the proposed construction? I sure couldn't answer that question. I went back to him with my own question. Why, in the name of heaven, would Port of Shelton Commissioner Jay Hupp say it's a "subjective decision" whether to bring ADAGE to the port or not?

So, Mason County, we must ask the simple questions of our elected officials. And we must ask the simple questions over and over until we get our questions answered in a manner we can comprehend. Let's not let anyone dazzle us with their scientific background or fancy complex words and terms. Why is ADAGE good for us? What are the risks?

The following meetings will occur this week and each one is a great opportunity for "real folks" like you and me to ask the simple questions. Each of these meetings allows the public to speak to elected officials.

May 3 City of Shelton Commission Meeting 6 pm at the Shelton Civic Center 525 W Cota Street

May 4 County Commission Meeting 9 am in the Commissioners Chambers 411 N Fifth Street

May 4 PUD3 Commission Meeting 10 am in the PUD3 Auditorium 307 W Cota Street

May 4 Port of Shelton Commission Meeting 2 pm at 21 Sanderson Way

May 4 Joint Thurston/Mason County Board of Health Meeting 330 pm Thurston County Commission Chambers, 2000 Lakeridge Drive SW Olympia 98502