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.