Mason County Budget Watch

ADAGE Support Imported

2010-08-16T17:50:00.001-07:00

This morning I sat in on the public hearing before the Port Commissioners. You know how I am about numbers. So here's my take on the meeting.

Of the 36 who spoke today at the Port public hearing, 16 spoke in favor of ADAGE. Of these 16 only four, as best I could tell, actually resided in Mason County. There were 12 people speaking who said they were from Olympia, Tukwilla, Puyallup, Pierce County, and Montesano. One who spoke tried to be cagey and not tell us that he's from Lewis County but we know he's not a resident of Mason County. The message from the 16 was basically about the jobs that ADAGE would be bringing to the area. None of them were speaking directly to the proposed lease as had been previously given as a condition of this public hearing. One speaker got Mason County mixed up with Kitsap County. That's what happens when support for a cause is imported.

Then there were 20 Mason County residents, mostly Port of Shelton voters, who cited specific language in the proposed contract and offered specific recommendations to make it more balanced, Basically the message to the Port Commissioners and their attorney was: "Hold up. You don't need to sell our souls to have ADAGE at the Port. How about some balance in this lease?"

Here's another impression that I will share with you. As I sat there waiting for the meeting to begin, I tried to make a bit of idle conversation with a man sitting to my left. Within seconds of beginning to talk to him, he told me to, "Shut up." By the way, he gave testimony and I now have his name. He's not from Mason County. This should help you really get a good impression of the fear, anger and open hostility coursing through this room.

What a bio-mess, Mason County.

Premeditated Permitting

2010-08-06T06:34:00.000-07:00

One day as I was out door belling I met an 86 year old woman who wanted to talk about smokestacks in Shelton. Here's what she shared with me. She said when she was younger Shelton smokestacks polluted the air. She stated with such passion that she didn't want to see Shelton go back to that period. Clean Shelton air was a precious gift in her opinion.

Our county and port commissioners say they are powerless and just can't do anything to stop ADAGE from coming to Mason County. They tell us they don't want to show a judgement for any one company out of fear of a lawsuit. We hear our elected officials telling us that their hands are tied and that we should trust the "process". The "process" will take care of us. We hear them tell us how they work so hard to learn more about this topic but that they must remain neutral.

What some of them aren't telling us is that bringing this large multinational corporation to Mason County was planned - for years. For example lifting the height restriction was planned to allow for this facility. As some of our elected officials celebrated this ordinance change, which I'm calling premeditated permitting, the citizens of Mason County were unaware of what this would ultimately mean to their lives.

Too bad the elderly woman that I mentioned above was not consulted, she could have told our elected officials what it was like to live in a town with smokestacks. Had we known what the impact would be, many citizens would have probably shown up for the public hearing to change the height restriction that will now allow ADAGE to build their facility.

The take away lesson for me is that citizens to the best of their ability must pay attention to what's happening with their government. My mom always told us, "Even the King had to check to make sure his horses were fed." This was the reason she used to give me when she'd inspect the dishes that I washed. Knowing that she might be coming to check made me a lot more careful when I did the dishes.

“pre-commercial thinning" as a source for biomass incinertion

2010-07-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

The posting below comes from Shawnie who has provided photos many times for this blog. She loves hiking in our forests. Thank you, Shawnie for your thoughtful contributions to the blog.

Many of us have been wondering where the wood for our three proposed biomass plants will come from. The numbers don’t seem to add up, there does not seem to be enough wood out there. I believe that the numbers do not add up because people are not counting our National Forest lands in their calculations. Now, I’m just stating this as an opinion based on what I have seen in the forest and I could be way off base, but I think that a lot of the wood will come from our National Forest. No, I don’t think they are going to clear cut in the National Forest; those days are over. I think they are going to thin every inch of the forest. The catch phrase for this is “pre-commercial thinning”, Tim Sheldon used the phrase in a recent commissioners meeting but he was talking about tree farms.

Pre commercial thinning is a part of the Olympic National Forest (ONF) plan to accelerate old growth characteristics within the remaining second growth forest. Here is a link about precommercial thinning in Olympic National Forest. From my perspective as a student of forest ecology, this does not make a lot of sense, but I can see how this would make great sense from a business perspective.

The forest service is cash strapped and has hundreds of miles of logging road to decommission. Decommissioning logging roads is expensive and clear cutting the forest to make money is not in line with the forest service current goals of conservation.

Pre-commercial thinning is a way for the forest service to log the land and make money and all in the name of "stewardship".

When they do a pre commercial thinning they take out the smallest trees and leave the biggest trees. The little trees they pull out don’t have a lot of commercial value. That is where biomass incineration comes in; these little trees are perfect for incineration.

The forest service can make contracts with logging companies to do the thinning and then the logging companies can sell the thinnings to the highest bidding biomass plant. Like I said, it‘s just an opinion but I think that is where a lot of the wood is going to come from.

Olympic National forest has been doing a lot of pre-commercial thinning lately and with the demand for biomass that the three proposed incinerator will bring in I think this practice of pre commercial thinning will accelerate and turn into a big money maker for the National Forest.

Here is a quote from a recent pre commercial thinning operation that took place near Shelton.

“The selected stands would be commercially thinned to enhance structural diversity and promote the development of old growth characteristics to achieve desired conditions identified by the Forest Plan. The 69 acres of commercial thinning would be selected from a combination of two stands; one stand is in the Pine Creek drainage and the other in the Lebar Creek drainage within the Skokomish watershed. The receipts from the commercial thinning of these stands would be used to fund decommissioning and conversion to trail of 0.6 miles of Road 2361000 and to pre-commercially thin 110 acres of overstocked conifer plantations within the Skokomish drainage."
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/nr/fp/Stewardship/sp_oly_pine_crk.doc

This is a picture I took of that very thinning operation in the Skokomish watershed. You can see the old growth stump left over from when Simpson clear cut the land under the 100 year sustained yeild and you can see a second growth stump that was created during the "thinning" that was done to pay for the pre-commercial thinning. You can also see the logging scars left on the remaining trees when the trees all around them were cut down and dragged out.

This next picture shows where the property line is between Simpson and the National Forest. The standing trees are in the National forest. That's a lot of wood and thinning it would create a lot of "biomass" to burn. Ignore the trees on the other side of the lake, some of them are in a protected wilderness area.

The property line near Lake Cushman. Simpson land is clear cut, the forest service land has trees. I bet logging companies salivate when they see all these trees that they can not have.

Another picture of the property line. The trees left standing are on Prospect Ridge. Prospect Ridge was clear cut by Simpson during the 100 year sustained yeild. Due to the new Forest Service conservation goals, these trees can not be clear cut again, but they can be "thinned" in the name of stewardship. There are hundreds of acres of land just like this in Olympic National Forest, maybe enough to supply a biomass plant or two.

Room full of "pesky citizens" at the Port of Shelton July 13th

2010-07-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

Standing room only at the Port of Shelton

citizens trying to stay cool by using the agenda as a fan

Who's Benefiting?

2010-07-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

It's great having trusted reporters getting to all of the meetings I can't make. My priority these days is meeting the voters. Thanks a bunch for the following posting, Ros.

I'm really impressed at how well the local elected officials are working so well together on preparing the infrastructure for Johns Prairie. They frequently and vehemently insist they are maintaining their neutrality on ADAGE while doing so. Great. We are cautioned not to discriminate against ADAGE by referring to ADAGE because it has not come up for a vote by the County Commissioners.

For quite sometime, the electeds have been busily adding water lines, expanding sewer capacity, changing zoning, changing height restrictions, noise restrictions, and who knows what else. A lot of the actual "work" seems to be done out of sight of the taxpayers but at the expense of the taxpayers. Community members are trying desperately to understand what is happening and believe me, it is a lot of work. It almost feels like something is being done TO us instead of being done FOR us. The electeds are so busy, they don't even have time to listen to the taxpayers. Worse yet, they tell us they don't have to because there are no specific rules that say they do. In all fairness, I must add that not all electeds are "going along" on this taxpayer swindle.

The taxpayers seem to think they need a voice in what the elected officials are doing on their behalf, with respect to the proposed ADAGE incinerator. The electeds tell us not to use the word "incinerator", but any smart person knows that you can't have ash without incinerating something. So, we pesky citizens will continue to use the word because ADAGE spokespersons say their ash will be trucked to eastern Washington. Probably a good idea they get their ash out of town.

At the July 13 Commissioners' Meeting, Tom Davis, who read an addendum he prepared for inclusion in real estate transactions regarding his "near incinerator" properties, was told by Commissioner Sheldon that he was speculating and that wasn't reasonable. I think ADAGE's permit application information is based on a computer model because the plant has never been built? Isn't that speculation? There is a lot of emotion surrounding something that may not even be real.

On that same date, the 216 meeting (read as Port of Shelton) was interesting as most of them have been since January 29. My guess is, meetings before that were interesting, we were just too busy with our lives to check in on them. Matt Matayoshi, Executive Director for the Economic Development Council of Mason County, decided to announce the Council's support for ADAGE. Matt said, "He/they will be working with ADAGE as we work through the SEPA process." It wasn't clear if he meant they, the Council and ADAGE, are now one, so they should be referred to as "we" or could he have meant the Council and County will be working the SEPA? He further stated there would be other entities stepping up in support.

So, another entity did. Steve Bloomfield stepped up and said he didn't live in the Port's District, but his business, Seattle Shellfish, is in the District. He claimed to be speaking for a silent majority (didn't say if they were in the District or out), who are influenced by the possibility of jobs, trucks running around, etc. He labels this invisible group as "We who work for a living." Suggesting those who are against ADAGE are just unemployed welfare recipients. He didn't actually say that, but the inference was there. Although he could have been suggesting we were all independently wealthy and just happened to have plenty of time to sit around and monitor how our money is being spent.

Anyway, Port Commissioner Jack Miles received stern looks of disapproval as he requested a new version of the Advisory Ballot, proposed by Al Brotche, be added to next Tuesday's agenda. Commissioner Hupp argued that the matter had already been voted on, to which Miles stated, "Not this one." See you all Tuesday.

Surprise Surprise

2010-07-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

The Mason County Board of Commissioners has decided once again to ignore the voice of the people.

They will not (yes I said NOT) hold a public forum on the potential health impacts of the biomass incinerator ADAGE proposes to build here in Mason County. According to a report by KMAS, Commissioner Ross Gallagher told 1030 KMAS News Thursday that the Commissioners decided the County's Health Officer will draft an information sheet on the proposal instead.

Why should we be given an opportunity to comment and ask questions? Here's what's at stake - our health, environment, community, and property values. This is a significant decision which will impact this county for decades to come.

By releasing an information paper, the commissioners won't be exposed to public feedback. The citizens of Mason County want to be heard on more than election day.

ADAGE: The Voters Are Talking

2010-07-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

Over the last month I've knocked on several hundred doors and stood in front of Wal-mart. This evening I want to report to you what I've heard and reiterate what my position is on ADAGE and the advisory ballot.

After speaking with hundreds of voters, I must report to you that I can count on one hand the number of people who think ADAGE is a good idea for Mason County. Of those I've visited with, every single one wants to see an advisory vote on the November ballot. The only five people I'm aware of who are not in favor of the advisory ballot are 5 of the 6 commissioners we elected to represent us, two on the Port Commission and three on the County Commission. The few people I found who favor ADAGE still thought it ought to be put to a vote of the people. What is wrong with this picture?

I do believe we need to attract new jobs to this county but based on my own research on ADAGE, I believe the costs far outweigh the benefits for the citizens of Mason County. I also feel there are some very real health concerns. For a county that ranks as one of the most unhealthy counties in Washington State, why would we want to bring more health risks into this community?

I continue to urge our elected officials to put the issue of ADAGE on the November ballot and then act based on the will of the people. I realize seeking, listening to, and then acting on the will of the people is a novel concept for some of the elected officials here in our county. But if our elected officials fail to represent us, then shame on us if we don't replace them when we have the chance.

No confidence in the Port of Shelton

2010-07-08T12:09:00.001-07:00

Tom Davis asks for a no confidence vote. Looks like some real civic engagement to me.

Citizens Being Ignored

2010-07-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

The July 6 Board of County Commissioners meeting was another exciting day of civic engagement during the open forum time.

Citizens spoke again this week on ADAGE and the advisory vote on the November ballot.

-Tom Davis said we're going to see a loss in property values with the construction of this biomass facility. He warned the lawsuits will come and again urged the advisory ballot.

-Fran Prescott spoke on air quality. Last winter (Oct 2008 through March 2009) in Shelton the State Department of Ecology have records that indicate our air quality is unhealthy to hazardous more than 50% of the time.

Meanwhile, ADAGE plans to burn another ton of wood per minute while our county commissioners are letting the "process" run it's course. Against the backdrop of the BP oil disaster where we've seen how the "process" failed us so completely, is it any wonder that the citizens of Mason County are saying, "hold up on that ADAGE incinerator"? Erin Brockovich (remember the movie?), where are you when we need you?

-John Cox brought to the commissioners' attention that the county building is public property and that they have ADAGE propaganda in the lobby. Why no opposing view to the ADAGE public relations team?

Yes, Mason County, corporate propaganda in the form of 4 inch by 6 inch cards - stacks of them sitting on a table in the lobby of a building funded by our property taxes. And in the window there's a sign that says citizens aren't allowed to have political signs in the county buildings. Nothing makes me angrier than unfairness and here's a perfect example. More on unfairness in an upcoming posting.

John then scratched his head asking, "why no advisory vote on the November ballot"? He admitted this was a rhetorical question. The three commissioners were silent.

That's a good question, John, why won't they put this on the November ballot? Lots of people are asking this everyday.

-Conley Watson reminded the commissioners that we just celebrated our 234th year of independence. Many have fought and died to keep this a free country where the people have the freedom to vote. Why no advisory ballot?

It's no secret to my readers - I'm running for county commissioner. Here's what I've been learning as I've knocked on more than 500 doors and stood in front of Wal-mart, the voters want to be heard on the ADAGE facility. Not a single voter that I've spoken to supports the commissioners' position which is: "I've been elected to make these decisions for you and the "process" will take care of you". The voters want to be heard, not ignored, and they know an advisory vote on the November ballot would give them a way to voice their position on this facility. People understand the "process" isn't going to take care of them as Ross Gallagher says that it will. They understand that bringing ADAGE to Mason County is a significant decision that will impact this county for years to come. The people want to be able to vote on this significant decision.

Judges Want Out of Process

2010-06-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

At Monday's briefing our three judges (Judges Sheldon, Meadows and Findlay) informed the commissioners that effective Jan 1, 2011 they will no longer manage the funding and attorneys for the indigent. They each explained that they believe there could be a perceived conflict of interest from attorneys, their clients and the public, as well.

Here's how I understand this process works at this time. When an individual is charged with a crime and cannot afford an attorney to represent him/her, then an attorney is contracted by the county to provide the representation. The judges manage the contract attorneys and the money that funds these attorneys.

Depending on how this process is fixed, it could add another $90K or so to the county's already tight budget. One way to fix the process would be for the county to contract with an attorney to manage the program as offered at the briefing on Monday. However this is fixed these three judges made a strong case that they need to be out of this business.

By the way, we may be hearing more about conflicts of interest and the appearance of fairness doctrine over the next year or so. The League of Women Voters of Mason County have announced a study of all county advisory committees and boards. Stay tuned for more as this study unfolds. I've only been involved with the League now for about two years and I'm absolutely impressed with their non-partisan and research based approach to a topic.

There's an Elephant in the Room

2010-06-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

For the last two weeks at the Monday briefings our county commissioners have been discussing the guidance for the 2011 budget.

As I mentioned last week, Tim wants to start out with a goal of $22.9M which is $.5M less than budgeted in 2010. Tim's reasoning is that union contracts still must be settled and they've got to figure out how to fund within a flat revenue stream. Lynda wants to do a zero based budget and scrutinize every expenditure thereby finding savings. Tim and Lynda reiterated their positions again yesterday at the briefings. Saying as little as possible, Ross appears to be going along with Lynda on this specific budget issue.

Here's what I see as a reality that must be dealt with head on in the Mason County 2011 budget development process.

Let me paint the picture. Currently for the County General Fund we spend 73% of our total funding for personnel salaries and benefits. But that's not enough for the current staffing of about 350 employees. There are three problems that I see which need some fix'n starting with the 2011 budget if we are to hold the line on critical services. These three problems are Accrued Leave Fund, retirement contributions, and union contract settlements.

As I've mentioned many times in this blog our BOCC has ignored the Accrued Leave Fund. There's a shortfall there of at least $1M. This fund pays for the unpaid leave days that eligible employees receive when they leave the county. Not only is it underfunded but in 2009 the BOCC actually borrowed from it and then forgave the loan. (Honest, I couldn't make this stuff up.)

Now comes the news that we have a "brewing pension problem" in Olympia which will be pushed down to the local jurisdictions. A recent Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington paper says that we can expect employer contribution rates for some employee pension plans to nearly triple over the next several years. This will most definitely put a strain on the Mason County budget. While it's true that we cannot dictate the contribution rates- in fact, the state will tell us what they are going to be. We must have a plan to absorb these rate increases not just in 2011 but for the following years as the rates continue to increase.

We know from BOCC proceedings that the Jail and Corrections Staff settlement will cost the county an additional $200K in 2011. This covers about 40 employees. There are another approximately 260 or so union employees still under negotiation. At this time of course, we don't know how much that will cost in additional salaries and benefits. But just going by what happened with the Jail and Corrections Staff, we can expect to see more than the modest $500K that Tim Sheldon has proposed to cover known or expected future liabilities.

The challenge for the county commissioners is to balance the budget while holding the line on critical services. The elephant in the room is absorbing 73% of the General Fund and that's not enough given current staffing levels and the realities that are looming ahead of us.

Glaring Omission & Non -responsiveness by BOCC Chair

2010-06-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

If a citizen takes the time to write to their elected officials about a concern, a reasonable person would say that the elected official should take the time to respond to the citizen's concern, especially in an election year. Below is what this blogger sent to the Board on June 7, 2010. Before the briefings today I asked Ross why he'd not responded to me by phone or letter. He said he gave his response in a public meeting last week. I sent a letter as a citizen but didn't deserve a call and have never heard what Ross as the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners has to say about my concern.

Readers, I'm wondering has the Board violated RCW 40.16?

Bottom line: this blogger wants to know why the minutes of the meeting May 11, 2010 don't reflect that Annette McGee wasn't recognized by Chairman Gallagher. Sanitizing minutes of a meeting is bad governance if not illegal. Ignoring citizens is bad politics.

191 SE Allen Road
Shelton, WA 98584
360-432-1195
June 7, 2010

Mason County Board of Commissioners
411 North 5th St
Shelton, WA 98584

SUBJECT: BOCC Proceedings May 11, 2010

Dear Commissioners:

Upon reviewing subject minutes I noticed a glaring omission. You did not include in the minutes the fact that Annette McGee asked to speak and was not allowed to speak. That entire incident was not included in your official minutes found on the Mason County website.

I'm not an attorney just a simple citizen but I think this Board is in violation of state law (RCW 40.16). I ask that you correct these minutes immediately and bring them before the public again for approval.

Sincerely,
Brenda Hirschi

Mason County Law Enforcement Breakfast

2010-06-25T23:53:00.000-07:00

Governor Gregoire spoke at the Law Enforcement Breakfast on June 25, 2010. Here are some of my rambling notes.

She said we've got lots of challenges with the economy just as was experienced during the Great Depression. What got us through those hard economic times was volunteerism and community outreach. And those acts of helping others will get us through these challenging times. There are some signs that our economy is improving. For example the Port of Seattle is booming with business. But she cautioned that the public sector recovery is flat and will be so for the next three to five years.

Regarding the state budget she said it's a "new day" and that we can't continue to take across the board reductions. We need to instead ask what are the core and critical services and fund those first. She says at the state level they will be asking eight questions to determine what is most important for the state to do.

Sounds like something that many governmental entities might be able to use to rethink and resize services and delivery systems.

Brenda's kickoff party

2010-06-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

Brenda and Annice

Mystery Solved

2010-06-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

I recently came across numbers from the Mason County Auditor's Office that you really need to know about. Hang in here with me because the blog format is not really the best for this. So if I lose you here's the bottom line up front. For the years 2006, 2007 and 2008 this Board of County Commissioners spent nearly $3 million more than they brought in.

2006 this Board spent $901,073 more than they collected in revenue. 2007 was $581,817 in deficit spending. But get this - in 2008 they had a whopping $1,294,758 in expenditures greater than revenue collected.

Mason County, that's why the Treasurer since April 2007 has been trying to rein the spending in. That's why the county needed a loan last year for $2 million to make sure the bills could be paid. That's why the county now has a $2 million line of credit.

Mystery solved. The Board of County Commissioners has spent more than Mason County collected during this most recent four year period. I don't know about you, but for Dean and me that's never worked for us. Doesn't look like it's worked for the county either.

The fun never stops at the port!

2010-06-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

In fact, it will continue tomorrow. Even though the Port Commissioners decided not to discuss the ADAGE Advisory Ballot until tomorrow, June 23, it was discussed rather extensively at the workshop today. There were 40-50 people in attendance and emotions were high as usual. Commissioner Hupp said they were considering a survey instead of a ballot. When asked where the idea of a survey came from, nobody seemed to know. As if it came out of thin air (ADAGE?).

The Executive Director, John Dodson, said he no longer has a financial interest in Duke Energy, but DID NOT respond to whether he has/had a financial interest in any other affiliate of ADAGE. Commissioner Hupp stated he has full confidence in the Executive Director. With respect to the water rights on Johns Prairie, it was stated that if the Port is forced to draw down to their actual water rights, every business will be put out of business. They will try to negotiate the requirements. The Executive Director reported that a little more than $9,600 has been spent on ADAGE and $18,000 has been received from ADAGE since the Port began working with ADAGE, which seems to be, oh, 45 days before the Access (or Use, I didn't catch which) Agreement was signed in November of 2009. The bundles stacked on Port property are there to see how moisture is handled during the winter and how high to stack the bundles to determine the concrete space that will be required. I asked if anyone had seen any drawings of this $250 million project. Dodson said he had seen conceptual drawings, but nothing final. It would seem there would be quite a bit of planning for such a large project.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting confused about what is really going on. I do, however, appreciate that the Port allows public exchange with them, regardless of the level of actual information exchange. One thing I do know, though, is that the people want an advisory vote. Even though their minds aren't made up, the Commissioners say they will decide tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

Port of Shelton June 22

2010-06-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

Standing room only crowd.

Here it comes!

2010-06-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

As predicted, Utilities & Waste Management are already in trouble. They casually asked the MC Commissioners for a $2.5 million loan, which would be added to the consent agenda for the July 6 meeting. They proposed to repay their $800,000 interfund loan due this year and pay for contaminated soil issues on the Belfair Wastewater project. When the County Treasurer called this "huge", she was corrected by Lynda Ring Erickson, but Current Expense would be liable for this loan. It was not brought up how much remains in the contingency fund for this project. I think they said the money would be made up with ratepayer hookups. It raises eyebrows because this same office would "manage" the money for the Potlatch Bubble, Hoodsport and Skokomish Tribe wastewater treatment plants. Are we in over our heads? Maybe we should consider more heads for utilities. Should the County even be in the utilities business?

I've got my Brenda signs, do you?

2010-06-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

My movement sensitive camera took these pictures. I asked for these signs to be delivered and was eagerly awaiting them. I asked them to put the signs over my fence if I was not home and the gate was locked. Catching the delivery on film made it even more fun!

David scoping out the gate situation

It's locked so I guess we can put them over the fence

Here comes Dean with my long awaited signs

Over the fence they go, thanks Dean!

Yay for team work!

Ha ha, I see the camera!

Off to deliver more signs to all the other people who want them

Briefings - June 21

2010-06-22T06:31:00.000-07:00

I attended the budget strategy planning portion of the county commissioner briefings. In a nutshell here's what they discussed.

1. The 2011 budget target for Current Expense or the General Fund will not be greater than 2010 funded level of $23.4 million.

2. Lynda wants to divide up the CE or GF into two budgets: regional services versus local services. More on this I'm sure as it wasn't really discussed yesterday just mentioned in passing.

3. Lynda wants develop the 2011 budget using a zero based budgeting approach. Not sure her fellow board members gave an informed level of support to ZBB. In other words - not sure they really understood. I do think the department heads and elected officials got what this would mean to them- ZBB could be translated by them as the ultimate in micro management.

We might want to check with former President Jimmy Carter on what he thinks of this approach to budget development. Just a thought. Whatever, I only hope the county comes up with a standard format prior to launching into this drill. If they don't have a procedure prior to taking off down the ZBB trail, all I can say is ---oh my gosh, they'll be wishing they had.

4. Ross wanted to hire a facilitator to help with the budget workshops for the public. Lynda and Tim both agreed that was his job as chair of the board.

5. Tim pushed for a cushion in 2011 budget to take care of union contract increases.

That's when I remembered how many members of the League of Women Voters last fall made that same request during the 2010 budget development process. For just about a year now, the League members have spearheaded the notion that the county didn't have union contract increases among other liabilities funded in the 2010 budget. What would you expect from the League's suffragette tradition? Susan B Anthony and her friends taught us that we don't need to be liked - we just need to work hard to make this country better for everyone. That same spirit lives on in Mason County.

Come to the League of Women Voters public forum on the county budget tonight at PUD3 auditorium at 7 pm. Hope to see you there.

PUD 3 Tuesday Meeting Canceled this Week

2010-06-21T14:06:00.000-07:00

No PUD 3 Meeting this week. The Mason County PUD No.3 Board of Commissioners has canceled its regular 10 AM business meeting this tuesday. The PUD 3 Commissioners will meet next week at their regular time.

Meetings to Consider Attending - Week of June 21

2010-06-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

Here are some meetings that I know of or have heard about. If you have others to share please post a comment or send me an email and I'll update the posting.

1. Mason County commissioners will hold briefings Monday, June 21, beginning at 830 am. This week I see they are going to be discussing the 2011 Preliminary Budget.

2. Oakland Bay Clean Water District Board of Supervisors will brief the county commissioners at 230 pm Tuesday, 230 pm in the commissioners chambers.

3. Mason County Board of Health will meet at 330 pm Tuesday in the commissioners chambers.

4. The county commissioners will meet this week on Tuesday, June 22 at 6 pm. Will there be more citizens calling for an advisory ballot on ADAGE?

5. The Port of Shelton commissioners will meet at 2 pm on Tuesday, June 22 for a work session. Will there be more discussion of an advisory ballot issue on ADAGE?

6. PUD 3 commissioners will meet at 10 am on Tuesday, June 22 in the PUD 3 Auditorium.

7. The League of Women Voters Mason County will provide an update on their study of the county budget. This public forum will be held at the PUD 3 auditorium at 7 PM, Tuesday June 22. The study group worked on these questions: where does the money come from? where does it go? what are the issues? Come out to learn more about the county budget.

8. This meeting is not confirmed. I'm told the Port of Shelton commissioners will meet again on Wednesday, June 23, at 3 pm to make a decision on seeking public opinion feedback on the ADAGE issue. I heard of this meeting from an unofficial source. Cannot confirm this meeting or it's purpose on the Port website.

Lot's of meetings to attend this week. Hope to see you at these meetings or around town.

ADAGE: Advisory Ballot Issue

2010-06-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

I urge the County Commissioners to put ADAGE on the ballot. Ask the voters for an up or down vote.

Comparing ADAGE to a car wash at Taylor Town is just silly. Bringing ADAGE to Mason County is a significant event. A car wash at Taylor Town doesn't carry the same level of risk that ADAGE does. While I don't think minor decisions should go before the voter, there are too many citizens who"ve said they have concerns.

I'm sticking with my two basic questions: Why is ADAGE good for Mason County? What are the risks and costs associated with this decision? Each of us as voters should be allowed the chance to tell our County Commissioners whether we agree or disagree with bringing ADAGE to Mason County.

What I'm learning as I talk to people, whether they agree or disagree with the ADAGE construction, nearly everyone wants to see this decision on the November ballot. People on both sides want an advisory ballot on ADAGE. At less than $1100 it's an inexpensive way to get a sensing of the public.

What could be wrong with asking the citizens where they stand on this issue?

BOCC Meeting - June 15

2010-06-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

What a meeting yesterday. All three commissioners were at the meeting. Both KMAS and the Shelton Mason Journal provided media coverage. Not only was there no parking when I arrived, there was no seat in the commissioners' chambers. I sat outside in the lobby with several other citizens as we watched on television. It was very difficult to hear especially when Commissioner Lynda Ring Erickson spoke. Here's what I heard and understood.

1. A local businessman, whose name I didn't catch, gave an impassioned plea to the BOCC to not close the Skateboard Park pointing out that they'd save only $7500. By closing the Skateboard Park the county could actually see unintended consequences such as increased crime. He asked the county to work with the Shelton Mason Chamber of Commerce to gather donations to keep the park open. Lynda asked the Director of Parks to consult with him about what other options exist

2. Craig Watson presented for the record a recent report with scientific information from the American Heart Association (AHA). He read a portion of this report into the record. The AHA conclusion is that particulate matter is linked to cardiovascular disease. ADAGE will emit 380,000 tons of particulate matter. Craig highlighted that 96 tons of the particulate matter is very small particulate matter which is most serious for our health.

3. Al Brotche asked each of the commissioners where they stood on putting ADAGE before the people in the November election as an advisory ballot issue. He said incorrect information has been put out on what an advisory ballot would cost. For the Port it would be less than $600 not the $7500 to $10,000 reported last week. For the county it would cost less than $1100. Al was respectful, well-prepared, articulate and definitely had their attention. In two years I've never seen our county commissioners more prepared for a question coming before them. They must have had a heads up that this was coming. Al asked each one of them, "Can you support an advisory ballot?" Here's what I caught.

Lynda - she wants to see language that would set a particulate matter level and then would restrict all activities above a certain level. Then she said something about drawing a parallel to the Marlboro Man. I'm hoping you readers can help with the Marlboro Man. That didn't make sense to me. As I said the audio was very poor. I did hear her very clearly state that she took an oath to uphold the laws of the state and county and that's what she plans to do.

Ross - there's nothing to discuss because there is no permit application right now. He's conferred with the Prosecutor and doesn't want to risk a law suit for the county. For example if someone wanted build a car wash at Taylor Town then would we want him to stop that? Some are saying he's not exercising leadership but he can't take a stand until the permit application has been received. His hands are tied right now.

Tim - there's a lot of misinformation out there by people who are opposed to ADAGE. It's not an incinerator. It's a bio powered energy plant. The county didn't take an advisory ballot for Walmart or Manke Gravel Pit. No need for an advisory ballot on ADAGE. He will not support a public vote on bringing ADAGE to Mason County. The basic problem here is there is a lack of good information. We need an educated discussion. He repeated there will be no public vote on this issue.

(Mason County, I can't help myself, I must editorialize a bit here. To Tim I must say - I told you so. I have repeatedly encouraged a dialogue between the commissioners and the public. An ADAGE forum doesn't count. We don't want to hear just their public relations folks telling us "don't worry be happy".)

Lynda - then came back to Al tasking him with providing a list of everything exceeding the ADAGE level of output. She'd like to see this list. (Since when did our commissioners start tasking the citizens? Is that okay, Mason County?)

Al just ignored her and went on to say that he was disappointed with them that there would be no advisory ballot.

4. Richard Curtis stood to support the advisory ballot.

5. Bob Stone stood in opposition to bringing ADAGE to Mason County.

6. Annette McGee urged them to hold an advisory ballot. She advised Ross that he'd better listen to the people.

More citizens wanted to speak but Ross wouldn't let them because he said the 15 minutes for public comment was up. The commissioners time is so precious that our elected officials can't go over the 15 minutes allotted. What's up with that?

Sorry to not get this posted in a more timely manner but I was in Belfair all day with the League of Women Voters Mason County. The League held a public forum last night to give an update on the Study of the Mason County Budget. I didn't get in until 930 pm and was exhausted.

Linda, Ross and Tim listen to parts of a report on particulate matter from the American Heart Association

Mason County Auditor Al Brotche asks for an advisory vote on ADAGE in front of a standing room only crowd

AHA report goes into the minutes

Annette McGee speaks at county commissioner meeting

Photographs (c) Shawnie Whelan

Great pictures, Shawnie.

BOCC Briefings - June 14

2010-06-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick run down on what I heard and understood today. I was only there for the first hour. All three commissioners attended. As usual there was no media coverage.

1. Financial Services (Theresia Ehrich) briefed the May budget execution. She assured the commissioners that the county is on track as it stands with what is budgeted. But there are no extra funds though and there's nothing to fund bargaining unit contract settlements or any unplanned expenditures.

One very interesting highlight is that the county had more expenditures than revenues 2006 through 2008. Here's how it tracks 2006 this BOCC spent $901K more than they brought in for revenue. 2007 they spent $582K over what came in to the county in revenue. 2008 they had a whopping $1,295K of expenditures greater than our revenues. Mason County, I think we are getting closer to determining what happened to that ending fund balance or cash reserve. In 2009 the BOCC turned around the trend of spending more than realized for revenue. Last year, 2009, we actually had a surplus of $434K.

2. The commissioners will meet Jun 21 at 830 am to discuss 2011 budget strategies. The Auditor's office needs this prior to asking the departments and elected officials to submit their budget estimates. There was quite a list that Ross went through today stating whether he was in favor of or not. He spoke very softly so I really couldn't hear what he was saying. Only the commissioners and Diane Zoren had the list that Ross was reading from. Lynda said she needs to discuss with the other members before she decides what her stand will be on the issues Ross was reading off that I couldn't understand.

3. Open forum for citizens was brought up by Ross. He said that Terra Dittmer and Laura Lewis had been really good about not speaking up - they just sit and listen. But others like Annette McGee has been very outspoken at the open forum. And now that this blogger (Brenda Hirschi for County Commissioner District 3) has entered the race, things are going to get bad during the open forum. He said he wanted the other commissioners to consider moving the open forum to the end of the meeting. I must assume this would be done in hopes that people would leave rather than staying to speak. So much for listening to the people. Discourage them and then they'll go away. Oh, those pesky citizens.

Hats off to Lynda for stating that just because someone files for office, that doesn't mean he or she gives up their First Amendment rights. She said the BOCC is the county's business meeting and it must hold a certain decorum. She suggested they speak with Gary Burleson (outgoing prosecutor) about a policy statement about providing guidance to the Board on what can or cannot be done.

Tim then said the BOCC cannot restrict people from speaking at the meetings. He thinks that any time someone says, "I'm confused" or "I'm a simple citizen" that is coming close to being a campaign issue. He had a bit of advice for all of the candidates (Terra was in the audience) and that was don't attend their meetings rather go out and knock on doors of the voters. Tim went further to say that some commissions actually allow comments by the public at the beginning and end of the meeting. There's an idea worth looking into.

4. The Sheriff told the commissioners that he needs an additional $70K to fund the Jail and Detention bargaining unit settlement. The Sheriff's budget will be able to absorb $25K of the $95K additional cost not planned in 2009.

Meetings to Consider Attending - Week of June 14

2010-06-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

Here's what I know of. Perhaps you will comment and let us know if I missed any important meeting.

1. County Commissioner briefings at 9 am this morning, June 14. Updates from Theresia in the Auditor's office and the Sheriff also are on the agenda.

2. Board of County Commissioner meeting 9 am, June 15. Who will speak during the Open Forum time? These meetings are priceless but cost nothing. In other words citizens get in for free. Why more people don't attend is a mystery to me.

3. PUD 3 Commissioners meet at 10 am, June 15 in the perfectly fine PUD 3 conference room. Here's an interesting meeting to consider attending. Given that the PUD 3 rate payers will be owing $71M at the end of Linda Gott's term if she has her way I'm surprised the room isn't full of interested rate payers who want to understand more about this. I'm told they will be talking about the water line tomorrow.

4. Port of Shelton Commissioners meet at 2 pm, June 15 at the Port of Shelton Admin Building. Haven't seen the agenda but the citizen input has been interesting for the last few meetings. And Jay Hupp has been allowing public input not once but twice on the agenda! I think that calls for a "shout out" for Jay Hupp's leadership skill and the whole Port commission for that matter. But who knows what those "pesky citizens" will be saying on Tuesday?

5. Lodging Tax Advisory Committee meets at 2 pm, June 15 in the county commissioner chambers. Their agenda indicates they'll be discussing the Mason Area Fair funding. Unfortunately there's nothing on the agenda to talk about the Harmony Hill pending grant. My regular readers know where I stand on this and I won't bore you any further.

Yes, this is a disturbing conflict in scheduling for this blogger with both the Port and LTAC meeting at the same time. Are there any cub reporters who can work with no health benefits and no salary either? Mason County Budget Watch is in serious need of an assistant to help us keep up with these two important meetings both occurring at the same time.

Mason County, come out to these meetings. Get involved if you can and let your elected officials know where you stand. I don't care whether you and I agree on an issue or not. I encourage you to come out. Your garden cannot have more weeds than mine.

Precious Shellfish

2010-06-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

I've recently been thinking what has changed for our neck of the woods in light of the BP oil spill on the Gulf Coast. The first thing that comes to mind is that our commercial shellfish market practically overnight became more precious. I'm not an economist and this isn't rocket science but the potential demand for our shellfish goes up every day BP's untapped oil well spills into the water and spreads further. It's truly sad and a shame but the supply of shellfish coming from the Gulf Coast will be reduced for some time.

Here in Mason County we're having our own little "oil spills" everyday as pollution seeps into our waterways. These little "oil spills" aren't making a big splash in the national media but it all adds up. I believe that if we work together we can control the pollution and that we need to step up to the challenge.

Let's redouble our efforts to protect this portion of our economy and our environment.

Yes, It's True

2010-06-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

I've just filed for County Commissioner District 3. I wanted to be the first to tell you. Stay tuned - more to come.

Mason County Budget Factoid

2010-06-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

I was curious how the recent newspaper advertising for National Public Works Week was paid for. I thought surely our tax dollars weren't used to pay for an advertisement of group photos of the Mason County Public Works Department employees.

So I put in a public disclosure request.

I'm sad to report, Mason County, your property tax dollars were used to pay for this advertisement. They used County Roads money. While $315 may seem trivial in the whole scheme of things, it's representative of how our money can be misspent and the cavalier attitude they have with our money. A frugal money manager would have done a news release and saved that money.

Could there be other efficiencies found within our county government? I'm betting there is.

Still following the money in Mason County.

Port of Shelton Meeting - June 8

2010-06-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

I arrived about five minutes late for the meeting and here's what I walked into: Jack and Jay having at it over minutes of meetings. Don't know what that was about but, my goodness, there was a fierce conversation between those two. For those of you who were there perhaps you can fill us all in with your comments. I have a hunch this was more discussion about process.

The Mason Area Fair was very delicately introduced. Jay asked John Dobson to share where things stood on the fair and stated that by asking him to do so Jay was in no way micromanaging the Port Manager. Here's the deal on the fair in a nutshell. John and Rachel Hansen are going to be the executive directors of the fair. They haven't got their paperwork in order but John expects they will very soon as in within the next month. The question this blogger has upon reflection is whether this Hansen Enterprise is a profit or a non profit organization? Maybe someone else who attended today can answer this.

The Port of Shelton will contribute to the Fair along with others in the community many of which are "well heeled" according to John. While no dollar amount was approved by the Port today, I heard the number $20K tossed out by John who told Tom that if he gave him three years, the Port would get their investment back. So I'm doing a little math in my mind. The Fairground is only available through 2013. How's this going to work? We'll need to keep and eye on this one, right?

The issue of an advisory ballot regarding ADAGE came up. Jay thought this should be coming from the county not the port. John Dobson agreed to do some research to see what the deadline is for getting an advisory item on the ballot and what the costs are. Jay reaffirmed that he is neutral on ADAGE and hasn't made up his mind. Tom said he has the same position.

I learned today that all public disclosure requests go to their attorney for his approval or guidance. Skip Hauser says there have been only two in the last two years and he didn't even bill the port for them. He should get special recognition for being the first attorney ever not to bill for touching a piece of paper or answering the phone. I personally have never before had the good fortune of knowing an attorney who did something for free. By the way, apparently every request for info coming from Jack goes through the attorney. I didn't hear the attorney say this was pro bono work though.

During the public comment period, folks asked where are the minutes for the month of May? Shouldn't they be online? John Dobson is going to look into that. Jay says that may not be the most important thing the Port is doing. That's not what the State Auditor thought the last time they checked the Port out thus a finding.

How does the public get questions answered at Port meetings? Jay said he's loosened up the timing for public comments after seeking and following the advice of two superior court judges and former county commissioners. The pesky citizens in attendance today were quite positive in their comments expressing their appreciation for Jay's efforts to this end.

How are the commissioners going to deal with this issue of conflict of interest charge against John Dobson? Jay says they are still waiting on the complaint from Jack. The public needs to know one way or the other what the deal is. This message was loud and clear today from the pesky citizens who didn't have anything else to do this afternoon.

Another Tuesday shot, Mason County. Thanks for visiting my blog. Have a great week.

Port of Shelton Special Meeting: The Day After

2010-06-08T13:02:00.000-07:00

Mason County, this posting is my own personal "unvarnished truth". I woke up this morning thinking about yesterday's meeting and felt that I need to share with you where I stand today on the most recent Port of Shelton fiasco.

While I do believe Jack Miles is being marginalized by the Port Manager and, to an extent, the rest of the board, I also think Jack needs to get with the program. His excuses of why he's not picked up briefing material prior to the work sessions and official meetings is getting old with me. While I encourage him to continue listening to the pesky citizens, I think he'd be an even stronger advocate for the people if he were to pick up his briefing material, come to the meetings prepared and never walk out of an executive session. I'm not saying that he should just go along with an illegal executive session. Certainly he should document and report on illegalities when they arise but he does need to be there to hear what's going on.

I've just shared these thoughts with Jack.

To stop ADAGE from coming to the Port of Shelton and Mason County will require level headed thinking from the pesky citizens. I don't want to forget what the real objective is. My objective is to see Mason County become an even better place for all of us to live and that includes children and people with respiratory disease.

BOCC Meeting - June 8

2010-06-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

All three commissioners were at the meeting today. Here's a quick recap.

During open forum time here's a sampling of what the pesky citizens wanted to discuss.

1. This blogger contrasted the salary of the lowest paid deputy in January 2007 compared to Ross Gallagher's salary when he first came into office. Today that deputy's salary remains unchanged while Ross has seen an increase in his salary due to Resolution 85-01. (See Monty Cobb's explanation in previous blog for more info on this.) The failure of leadership on this board is glaring from two perspectives: that they have not revoked Resolution 85-01 and that it's been 41 months with no contract for the Deputies Guild.

Based on their response to my comments today, I'm thinking shame may not work with the members of this Board. Lynda was upset that I had used the masculine pronoun to refer to the deputies. Also she pointed out that Ross donated his raise to other worthwhile causes. That's what we all do right even when we don't get a pay raise we help each other out and don't expect any recognition?

2. Elaine Adam pointed out the BOCC has spent over $90K for attorneys to negotiate with the Deputies Guild. I think that's an outdated number. As I recall it was around $90K last summer or early fall. It's got to be higher now.

3. Karen Randall spoke on behalf of Mason County 4H soliciting support from the BOCC and the LTAC to provide $36K (I think) for the Mason Fair this summer.

4. Ken VanBuskirk announced that on June 19 at 2 PM there will be a ceremony to recognize a recently fallen soldier. I believe the place is North Mason Library for presentation of the Golden Star Banner to recognize Staff Sergeant Joseph M. Cain. (If I have this wrong, let me know.)

5. Annette McGee said she'd been reading the Washington state constitution and that she wanted to remind the BOCC that they are the county's administrators and legislators. Accordingly, they are responsible for negotiating union contracts and for adopting the budget. The buck stops with them.

6. Janice Vocke spoke against bringing ADAGE to Mason County. Janice asked the BOCC to think twice before they approve this facility.

Tim then began grilling Janice questioning what she had said. I overheard someone in the audience say, " Since when is it okay to put citizens on the spot during the open forum time?" Good question is what I'm thinking. It looked bad for someone who not only wants to be a county commissioner but also a state senator.

After the open public forum and on an upbeat note, Bob Simmons talked about the rain garden the WSU Extension folks have put in to prevent storm water run off. Way to go, Bob.

The commissioners went into executive session to discuss the AFSCME contract. Don't know what the outcome was of that meeting. Please add a comment if you do know what happened.

There you have it, Mason County.

Port of Shelton Special Meeting to Quiet Jack Miles

2010-06-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Chairman Jay Hupp said the special meeting was called to handle an urgent issue. The urgent issue was to shut Jack Miles up. The pesky citizens weren't allowed to speak because this was a special meeting of such an urgent nature.

Readers, I hope you will feel free to add your comments to help us all understand this meeting from a legal perspective. But I just can't go there. Here's what this simple minded blogger noted at this special meeting.

First of all, what's up with the nameplates? Why are Commissioners Miles and Wallitner's names in lower case but JAY HUPP is all in caps? I know this is neither here nor there and perhaps off topic or not. But today for the first time my eyes just keyed into this. What's going on there? The caps lock must have gotten stuck when they made Jay's name plate. On the other hand, I own chickens therefore I understand pecking order. I also have done a little time in the Pentagon and could write pages on bureaucratic power structures and mechanisms used to project power.

Back to the special meeting. The urgent need today to hush Jack up was a result of last week's meeting when he shared with the public that John Dobson may have conflicts of interest regarding the Port and other business interests. Did Jay, Tom and the attorney (Skip) miss the substantive issue at hand requiring some action and explanation? That seems one heck of a lot more urgent to this blogger. Instead of dealing with the real issue in the minds of the public, Jay and Tom instead reaffirmed the authority they've given their Port Manager - in addition to hushing Jack up.

Does John Dobson have a conflict of interest? We pesky citizens have a right to know.

Pictures from the Special Port Meeting

2010-06-07T16:00:00.000-07:00

p
Jay Hupp hands the letter to Jack Miles

Jack Miles with the letter

Jay Hupp and Jack Miles

TM Wallitner

Citizens at the end of the meeting

Photos (c) 2010 by Shawnie Whelan

Commissioner Briefings - June 7

2010-06-07T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick recap of what I caught at this morning.

Only Tim and Ross attended. Terra Dittmer, the Republican candidate running for District 3 Commissioner had a representative sitting in for her today. In the last three or four weeks she or her rep have attended both the briefings on Mondays and the Board meetings on Tuesdays.

1. The creation of a Shelton Cemetery District will be on the November ballot. The district will be within the boundaries of the Shelton, Pioneer, Southside, and Grapeview School Districts. In November the voters will approve or disapprove the district and, assuming the district is approved, the voters will also elect three commissioners to establish the Shelton Cemetery District Board. Then at the next special election (Feb or Mar 2011), the voters will approve the levy to fund this new district.

The first question this "home owning-blogger" is going to be asking is, why the Shelton Cemetery isn't being privatized? Don't we have enough of these boards running amok all over the county?

2. The LTAC will meet on June 15, time still to be announced. (I'll bet you are surprised that I want to know what time this meeting will occur.) Mason Fair has submitted a $36K grant request for the LTAC to review. Diane Zoren briefed Tim and Ross that a "generator" has volunteered to serve on the LTAC. Regarding Harmony Hill, Tim continues to strictly go by the LTAC recommendation to not fund the SummerFest. I'm starting to think there's something personal going on here. The LTAC nor the Board can fall back on their published criteria as justification for not funding Harmony Hill.

I asked Tim would he similarly be rubber stamping what the Storm Water Advisory Task Force recommends to pay for the new storm water district currently in the works? He asked that I not twist his words.

Mason County, nearly 25% of this advisory group don't even live in this county. And if you think I'm ticked off because Harmony Hill wasn't funded by the LTAC this year, wait until the property owners in this county see what "fiscal scheme" this storm water advisory group "crafts".

3. The Sheriff will be regularly briefing the Commissioners on the fourth Monday of the month.

4. The public hearing on the rezoning request from Peninsula Top Soil will be continued at tomorrow's Board of County Commissioners meeting. The public comment portion was closed at the May 11 public hearing leaving only the decision by the Board. Today it sounded to me like the Board will approve the rezoning with some conditions.

Ken VanBuskirk apparently was the only "pesky citizen" questioning this rezone. Ken, Ross asked whether you had provided any additional communication. Allen said no that he'd not heard from you. I'm going to assume that silence does not mean agreement on your part, right?

5. Mason County Forest Products has 15 outstanding permits that need to be closed out prior to the sale of this business being finalized. They'd like to see these completed in the next 30 days. Tim said we need to get the workers rehired and running this business.

That's it, Mason County. Thanks for visiting my blog. We had 1163 hits last week. Thank you, thank you!!!

Monty Cobb Explains Commissioners' Salary

2010-06-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Mason County, the comment below is so important that it would be a shame to leave it buried in the previous blog posting (Did They or Didn't They?). Some readers might miss it. So as not to risk this occurring, below is a very clear explanation. Thanks to Monty for taking the time to explain this in language that we can understand.

Brenda,
The State Constitution Art XI, Sec 8 precludes increases (EXCEPT as authorized in Art XXX Sec 1) or decreases in county official's salaries during their term of office or after their election.

Art XXX, Sec 1 allows for mid-term increases in salaries of county officials IF THEY DO NOT FIX THEIR OWN COMPENSATION--which excludes county commissioners since they set their compensation.

In the case of officials who set their own salary, these two provisions have been consistently interpreted to say that if the increase is established prior to the term starting, that is constitutionally acceptable. So, I think it was Res 85-01 which set a regular 3% annual increase for the commissioners. (I'm not 100% sure of the Res. numbers since I don't have the documents here at home--I know you find that surprising!)

There was another salary adjustment made by resolution which is visible in the salary change 2004-2005 which would have been at the turn of office terms for Districts 1 and 2. This resulted in all three positions being paid the same until 2009. Prior to the start of the 2009-2012 term, the BOCC suspended the 3% increase authorized in Res. 85-01 for Districts 1 and 2--the two positions starting a new term. The BOCC could not suspend the 3% increase for District 3 because that position was mid-term (1/2007-12/2010)

So this year, with District 3 at the change of terms, the BOCC rebalanced the salaries by a one year suspending of the 3% annual increase authorized in Res 85-01 for District 3 only.

In a much shorter explanation: District 1 and 2 did not GIVE themselves a raise this year BUT they GOT a 3% raise because of Res 85-01. On the other hand, the BOCC could not have prevented District 1 and 2 from getting the 3% because of Res 85-01 and ART XI sec 8 because it would have reduced a predetermined salary.

and you are correct: at the 3% a year clip, the 2020 salary will be about $102,250.

For District 3 Ross Gallagher who's up for reelection, let's be sure to ask him what he's done to change Resolution 85-01. For Lynda and Tim let's shame them everywhere we see them - grocery store, restaurant, Democratic party functions (yes, they both are), Post Office, etc..... You get my drift? Shame on you, Tim and Lynda. Ross, you need to do some real quick work to make us believe that you work for us.

Meanwhile, the Sheriff's Deputies have not had a pay raise or a contract in 41 months while the commissioners have been "forced" to see their salaries increase. Mason County, are you as outraged as I am?

Commissioners - Let's Fix This Problem

2010-06-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

This idea is picking up speed. I hear more and more people thinking this is the way to go.

As Tim Sheldon proposed a few weeks ago at a briefing, Mason County needs five county commissioners to properly cover the county.

To this let's add a full time county administrator and make the five commissioners volunteer positions. For the privilege of being the most powerful local legislative authority, one would think a properly motivated citizen would be willing to volunteer to be county commissioner.

What do you think, Mason County?

Have a great weekend.

Meetings to Consider Attending - Week of June 7

2010-06-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

1. Monday, June 7 the County Commissioners meet at 9 am for their weekly briefings.

This could be an exciting series of briefings on Monday morning. Lynda will be back from her vacation, I think. Perhaps she will share with us her "secret plan" to fund the Deputies Guild.

I'm going out on a limb here with a prediction that the county won't settle with the Deputies Guild until late in 2010 thereby pushing this cost into 2011. The "secret" plan is perhaps a levy shift from the county roads to the general fund.

2. Monday at 10 am the Port of Shelton will hold a special meeting.

Will Jack Miles be censored or sanctioned? And what will that look like?

3. Tuesday at 9 am the Board of County Commissioners will meet.

Will any additional information be forthcoming on ADAGE?

What will the impact of the AFSCME contract settlement be on the county budget?

Have they hired someone to fill the Human Resources position?

4. Tuesday at 10 am the PUD 3 commissioners will meet.

5. Tuesday at 2pm the Port of Shelton holds a workshop.

Did They or Didn't They?

2010-06-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Did Tim and Ross approve an increase in salary in 2011 for Tim and Lynda? Tim and Ross say they didn't but I know two other people who follow county business closely left the May 25 BOCC meeting believing that Tim and Ross had approved the salary increase for Tim and Lynda.

I know what you're probably thinking - she's stuck on the commissioners' salary increase just like she got stuck on Harmony Hill not being funded by the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. You could be right. By the way, the LTAC still hasn't met to reconsider Harmony Hill in spite of 102 citizens asking the BOCC to give Harmony Hill a grant from the Hotel Motel Tax Fund
as the BOCC has done for other equally worthy events . But the commissioners have weighed the opinion of 102 citizens against the LTAC's five members and have decided to go with whatever the LTAC recommends. (Another reason why Ross is in trouble. Five votes or 102 votes??? hmmmm)

Back to the pay raise, I got a copy of the recently signed resolution which I'm including below so that all of us are on the same sheet of music. My objective is to help folks understand not to confuse everyone.

RESOLUTION NO. 42-10
A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE 2011 MASON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' SALARIES

WHEREAS, the Board suspended salary increases for Elected Officials for the year 2009 with exception to the 3rd District County Commissioner due to the Washington State Constitution precluding any change mid-term for County Commissioner positions. This resulted in the 3rd District Commissioner being paid 3% more than Districts 1 and 2 Commissioners.

WHEREAS, in 2010, all three County Commissioners received a salary increase of 3% as established by Resolution 85-01. No adjustment could be made to equalize the salaries due to the Constitution precluding any change mid-term for County Commissioner positions.

WHEREAS, in 2011 the 3rd District County Commissioner will start a new term and it is the desire of the Commissioners to have all three Commissioners paid the same salary.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED to suspend the 3% increase for the 3rd District County Commissioner.

Approved this 25th day of May 2010.

Signed by Ross Gallagher and Tim Sheldon with Lynda Ring Erickson absent.

Mason County, what does this resolution mean? I clearly get that District 3's (Ross' position) salary is frozen. But will Lynda and Tim get a 3% increase in salary in 2011? We may just have to wait to see what happens in the 2011 budget development process.

In the meantime, let's ask Monty Cobb (current deputy prosecutor) who is running for County Prosecutor where he comes down on the commissioners' annual pay raise, the Washington State Constitution and Mason County Resolution 85-01. Monty signed off on the above resolution. Maybe he can explain all of this to us before we get our ballots.

Shenanigans like this make the public even more cynical and further erode trust in public institutions.

Port of Shelton Special Meeting - June 7

2010-06-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

The Port of Shelton will hold a special meeting June 7 at 10 am. Agenda topic for action/discussion is "commissioner/staff interaction".

Do you think this has anything to do with Jack calling for John Dobson's resignation yesterday?

Port of Shelton Meeting - June 1 Executive Session

2010-06-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Apparently the drama yesterday continued on into the executive sessions. I received a call from Jack Miles today at noon telling me that he walked out of the executive session yesterday. I recall that just before they went into executive session, Jack asked whether he was the subject of the closed door meeting. The attorney for the Port, Skip Hauser, assured him that he wasn't because they were going to be discussing a public employee personnel issue. Lo and behold, when they got the pesky citizens out of the room it turns out that John Dobson wanted to talk about Jack Miles or so Jack tells me today. Jack says that he told them their executive session was illegal and he refused to be a part of it.

That's what I heard from Jack today. Stay tuned. The drama is unending.

Port of Shelton Meeting - June 1

2010-06-01T22:57:00.000-07:00

First the county and then PUD 3. I saved the best for last. Port of Shelton could have sold tickets to their meeting today. I'm just giving you the highlights because it was a really lengthy meeting and I'm getting tired.

Jack Miles started off by moving to stop all negotiations and communications between the Port and ADAGE effective immediately. You probably won't be surprised to hear that this failed 2 to 1 with Jack being the single vote in favor. Jay Hupp did go so far as to say that he'd never seen an issue that so fired up the community as ADAGE has. Nevertheless, he says has a responsibility to bring business to the port - in fact that's really where his heart is. Tom Wallitner admits he's still evaluating ADAGE.

Jack moved to have all recordings of port meetings maintained for up to two years using the Americans with Disabilities Act as partial justification. Tom put his foot in his mouth by saying that he'd personally read the minutes to anyone who couldn't see to read but that he wants all audio recordings destroyed when the minutes of a meeting are approved. (honest he said this - I can't make this stuff up) Things got real interesting when a member of the audience pointed out that the commissioners might want to maintain these recordings just to protect themselves from being charged with a felony for having improperly approved minutes of a meeting. How do you spell felony? The port's attorney had his work cut out for him today. He advised on way more than Robert's Rules of Order quite by chance having in his hands the RCW and past attorney general rulings on audio recordings and minutes meetings. I thought he might have forgotten that part about felony.

Here's a sampling of public comment.

Austen Farr spoke directly to Tom asking him why he wasn't working to learn more about ADAGE and it's impact on the community as Jack Miles had done? Tom called him a "young fellow" causing me to have a flash back on last week's meeting when I was referred to as "young lady" by Tom. I think he fumbled the answer but I was in the middle of a flash back so you may want to get the commissioner's response from another source.

Tom Davis expressed concern about property values depreciating if ADAGE comes to the county. As a property investor and former property appraiser he explained that when an area has a "stigma" the devaluation of properties is extreme - like 30 to 35 percent could be expected. (Yikes! is what ran through my head as I calculated what that means to Dean and me.) Tom says he'll dump all of his property upon the approval of ADAGE construction.

Should ADAGE be allowed to come to the port, Carol Hepburn said that she and her husband will be selling three business properties: Shelton Dance Studio, an organic fruit farm and a small engine repair company. (To this I'm thinking, who will repair our lawnmower?)

Della Rogers made the case that just because something is zoned as heavy industrial, that doesn't mean only heavy industrial must be accommodated. If the land was zoned agricultural, you wouldn't necessarily want to bring in a stinky hog farm, would you?

There were many more who made public comments but I think you get the drift from this sampling.

At this point, the floor pretty much went to Jack Miles as he moved away from the commissioners' table to stand at the podium where the pesky citizens normally stand to plea and argue their case. You heard me right - Jack totally aligned himself with the little people asking for John Dobson's resignation. He gave a bunch of reasons and I wrote as fast as I could but I think I missed some of it. I believe he said that John had investments with AREVA and that his job application had been destroyed so Jack couldn't go back to check to see if John had disclosed this prior to being hired. He said that John had been insubordinate and dismissive and that John worked for Jack who was after all a commissioner. After asking for John's resignation, Jack received wild applause from the audience.

Then we were kicked out of the room while the commissioners and their attorney went into executive session.

There you have it, Mason County. If I missed something important, be sure to add a comment to the blog posting. I don't want to leave out any of the "unvarnished truth".

Thanks for reading my blog. Last week the blog had 1077 hits. Wow! You keep me motivated and attending these meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

PUD 3 Meeting - June 1

2010-06-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

Commissioner Linda Gott and Tom Farmer voted today to increase the overall debt status of the PUD 3 rate payers to the tune of $71 million. Here's how it stacks up: $36 million for the building at John's Prairie, $10.7 million for other capital improvements, $7 million for reserves, $.6 million for issuance fees, $11 million to refinance what we already owe but at a lower interest rate, and another $5.7 million for contingency (Belfair road widening). Our indebtedness today without the support of Commissioner Bruce Jorgenson. In 2012 our annual payment will be $2.8 million rising to $4.5 million by 2040.

Al Brotche asked them to consider an advisory ballot prior to approving the call for bids on the $45 million facility at John's Prairie. As the former Mason County Auditor, Al even offered to help them get the issue on the ballot. But no, Linda and Tom were not going to be swayed with such a small thing as asking what the citizens think about increasing our debt in such an impoverished county.

At today's Board of County Commissioner meeting none other than Tim Sheldon announced that in the US the timber industry had been hit harder by the Great Recession than had the auto industry. Our PUD 3 bills will be going up to cover the cost of an ego trip taken by two PUD 3 commissioners. These bills will arrive before some rate payers recover from the current economic downturn.

When we see Linda and Tom around town, let's be sure to ask them why they refused to allow us to approve or disapprove the increased indebtedness they've placed upon our families. They could easily have allowed us to vote on the John's Prairie Operations Center but chose not to.

Remember what the State Auditor told us when he came to speak to the League of Women Voters Mason County, use shame on the elected officials right up to election day. Shame may not work but our votes will send the ultimate message.

BOCC Meeting - June 1

2010-06-01T16:36:00.000-07:00

Lynda is still on vacation. You never know what to expect when you attend the BOCC meetings. Today was no exception.

1. The county commissioners 2011 pay raise came up right off the bat during the open forum for citizens. Tim said commissioners received no pay raise at the BOCC meeting last week. I wasn't the only one who thought they'd raised the pay of Lynda and Tim in 2011, so did the Clerk of the Board. The Mason County Commission Agenda Action Sheet for the May 25, 2010 meeting shows as "Approved" for the following:

8.1 Approval of the resolution suspending the 3% increase, as previously established by Resolution 85-01, for the 3rd District County Commissioner in 2011. This results in all three Commissioners being paid the same salary in 2011.

As you'll recall in 2010 Ross receives a salary of $76,083 while Tim and Lynda $73,867. The only way all three commissioners could receive the same salary is for Tim and Lynda's salary to be raised to Ross' salary.

What are we to conclude about this? I'm concluding that shaming elected officials is a most effective tool. I'm ready to accept that their 2011 salaries will stay constant. That's what we spent 45 minutes arguing for last week. Honestly, I can't make this stuff up.

2. Annette McGee got some interesting answers to her questions today.

Ross says recordings of all BOCC meetings and briefings will be kept forever.

Regarding ADAGE, the lead agency for the approval process is the county according to Tim. Ross mumbled something about the SERPA process within the county which I think he meant as SEPA. Then Annette asked Tim and Ross about tax credits that ADAGE would be receiving. Tim said "I don't know" over and over - as in seven times. But Annette doesn't give up easily so she just kept asking questions about the federal and state sweeteners and got the big "I don't know" answer from one and a big shrug from another.

3. Ross did offer at one point that Mason County Public Health would be holding a health education forum on ADAGE in July. This brought Theresa Jacobson right out of her seat and up to the microphone. She said that Mason County Public Health has been negligent of health concerns and she knows this first hand. Apparently Theresa had been trying to get help from the county on an issue of health and safety in her neighborhood. It took her years to get a response from Public Health. Further she went on to say that when Dr Sammons (a Massachusetts pediatrician who is a medical expert on the health risks associated with woody biomass facilities) tried to speak at the April 27 Board of Public Health meeting, he was ignored by two commissioners and yelled at by another. Then Theresa asked why would we trust Public Health to look out for the interests of this county?

There you have it. I left early because the PUD 3 meeting started at 10 am. I couldn't miss that. Not when you are counting on this blog for the "unvarnished truth". The day only got better.

ADAGE: MC Democrats Playing Word Games

2010-05-31T21:04:00.000-07:00

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.

- - - - - - - -
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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Ross Is In Trouble

2010-05-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

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.

ADAGE: KMAS Broadcast - More Questions Than Answers

2010-05-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

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.

ADAGE: KMAS Broadcast

2010-05-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

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

ADAGE: Common Sense from Local Businessman

2010-05-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-05-26T09:32:00.000-07:00

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?

ADAGE: Project Timeline

2010-05-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-25T02:54:00.000-07:00

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.

County Commissioners Not Listening

2010-05-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

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"!

Port of Shelton - Air Cleared

2010-05-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

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

Port of Shelton - Part 2

2010-05-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Port of Shelton

2010-05-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Briefings - May 17

2010-05-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Fix the Problems at the Zip Code Level

2010-05-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

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!

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

2010-05-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Belfair Water District Craziness

2010-05-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

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.

BOCC Meeting - May 11

2010-05-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

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.

Briefings - May 10

2010-05-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

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.

Do We Need the Port of Shelton?

2010-05-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

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.

ADAGE: Reading Recommendation

2010-05-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

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.

ADAGE: Cougs not Kooks

2010-05-05T05:48:00.000-07:00

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.

BOCC Meetings - May 4

2010-05-04T13:02:00.001-07:00

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.

Briefings - May 3

2010-05-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

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.

ADAGE: Meetings This Week & Simple Questions

2010-05-02T07:57:00.001-07:00

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

ADAGE: Response to President LWV Issues

2010-04-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Below is a statement from Tom DePonty of ADAGE in response to the
issues presented to him by Sandra Herndon, LWV President. Some of these
issues have been raised by individuals inclined in favor and some by
those opposed to the incinerator. Some of ADAGE responses are helpful
while many raise further questions and/or lack specific detail.
ADAGE indicates they have agreed to a public forum sponsored by
KMAS (tentative date of Thursday, May 27). Please use this information
to help prepare questions for ADAGE.
These issues should also be addressed by our elected officials,
before they lend support to a project of such major significance. For
those officials who have already voiced support, it is incumbent upon
them to show us in a public forum that they have done their homework and
to explain to us how they have resolved these matters.
We need thorough and complete answers since we who live and work
here in the county--and our children--will bear the consequences of
their actions, on our health and our economy.

April 30, 2010

Subject: Information prepared by ADAGE in regards to inquiry from the League of Women
Voters regarding specific aspects of the ADAGE Mason County biomass project. The issues
raised by the League of Women Voters are in bold, with the ADAGE information below.

1. Effects on the air quality, particulates, etc.

• The ADAGE biomass facility will provide an alternative forest management option
that will reduce the need for the permitted forest management practice of slash pile
burning and allow for the recovery of the energy potential of forest residue left to
decay in the forest.
• ADAGE is employing advanced emission control technology that will produce some
of the lowest emission rates of any biomass project in the U.S. This includes specific
technology to control for:
o Particulate matter - a fabric filter baghouse
o Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) – Selective Catalytic Reduction System
o Chloride Emissions – Dry Sorbent Injection System
• The project will meet all state and federal air quality standards, which are designed to
protect public health, specifically the most vulnerable populations (children, the
elderly, and asthmatics).
• ADAGE submitted its air resource permit application to the state regulator, the
Olympic Region Clean Air Agency (ORCAA), on April 1.
o There will be a 30 day public comment period starting in approximately
early June
o Followed by a public hearing likely in early July
• The ADAGE project must demonstrate that is meets all federal and state air quality
standards as validated by ORCAA or a permit will not be issued.
o The ADAGE air permit application and review process is available on the
ORCAA website.
• The plant is equipped with a continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) that
assures the plant operates within the permit limits.
o The CEMS data will be provided to the state regulators on a regular basis to
ensure the plant operates within its limits.

2. Adequacy of water and sewer capacity as well as water supply

• During peak usage the City of Shelton delivers 7500 gallons per minute (gpm) of
water. ADAGE’s peak usage would roughly be only 1% of the total water use for the
City of Shelton.
• ADAGE will utilize technology designed to eliminate steam system cooling water
usage (the major use of water in power production facilities). According to the
Electric Power Research Institute a typical cooling tower system for a 55 MW facility
would require a water withdrawal of 550gpm and 480gpm would be lost to
evaporation (www.mydocs.epri.com/docs/public/000000000001006786.pdf).
• The ADAGE facility will not withdraw any water for steam cooling system purposes.
The facility will use approximately 35 to 50 gpm of which 25 to 45 gpm will be
returned to the City of Shelton’s treatment system for recovery.
• The maximum water use would be 60 to 80 gallons per minute during unusual
circumstances.
o For comparative purposes, a hose bibb (a garden faucet) is equivalent to
about 5 to 7 gpm.
o On average the ADAGE facility is equal to 126 to 180 typical family homes
(according to the EPA the typical family home uses 400 gallons of water per
day - http://epa.gov/watersense/pubs/supply.html)
• The water will be supplied by the city of Shelton – according to city officials, Shelton
has sufficient water supply to support the plant along with long-term expansion and
growth.
o The City of Shelton is extending a 16 inch water main to the John’s Prairie
area.
o This water line will have a capacity of 1500 gpm
o This capability will support long term growth in the John’s Prairie area as
well as meet the water needs for the ADAGE plant which will connect
directly into the new water line.
• ADAGE will make payments to the City of Shelton to cover its fare share of the
capital cost of the new water line.

3. Disposition of wastewater and pollution concerns

• On average the City of Shelton’s main wastewater treatment plant treats over 1000
gallons per minute, so the ADAGE facility on average would be roughly 3.5% of the
total water treated on average.
• The non-contaminated wastewater from the ADAGE facility will be in the range of
25 to 40 gallons per minute, will be discharged to an enclosed tank and then be
directed to the Shelton wastewater treatment plant via the sewer system.
o There will be no discharge into the rivers, lakes or Oakland Bay
o The wastewater will meet the city wastewater discharge specs including
temperature
o According to city officials, Shelton has sufficient wastewater capacity to
accommodate the facility
o New sewer line connections would be paid for by ADAGE
• ADAGE will mitigate stormwater runoff that may occur by installing holding basins.
A DOE-approved stormwater management plan is a necessary condition for both
construction and operation of projects in Washington State.

4. Ash residue, composition, use, and disposal

• The facility will produce non-hazardous wood ash similar to what can be found in a
typical household fireplace.
• There will be an average of 3 - 4 truckloads per day.
• ADAGE is exploring beneficial uses for the ash.
o Ash from clean wood biomass facilities has been used in other locations as a
soil enhancement and/or in road construction materials like cement.
• In the event that these alternative uses are not available, ADAGE will deliver the
material to the licensed Roosevelt Landfill in Klickitat County

5. Effects on traffic flow and road infrastructure

• There will be an average of 100 delivery/supply trucks per day, primarily for biomass
deliveries – Monday-Friday – an average of 6 trucks per hour between 7 am and 10
pm.
• ADAGE is currently performing a traffic study to determine the best method for
feedstock and supply delivery to the facility, while minimizing local traffic impact on
supply routes and major intersections.
• According to Mason County roads staff, the major supply road to the plant (John’s
Prairie Road) is heavy-duty, year-round winter road.

6. Actual permanent employment for the county residents, including level of
opportunities

• As early as the end of 2010 ADAGE could begin hiring local employees for the
construction of the facility for a ramp up to over 400 construction jobs.
• Over 125 direct jobs will be created in plant operations and feedstock supply
o 24 full time jobs in facility operations – These will be the plant managers
and operators.
o Over 100 jobs in the woods harvesting, processing and delivering the
feedstock for the facility – These will be jobs in the logging industry.
• In addition the project will provide create 75 jobs in the local community supporting
the operation of the plant and the employees – This will include businesses like
restaurants, service stations, and retail shops.
• It is in the best interest of ADAGE to hire local employees as much as possible.
ADAGE intends to work with local contractors and training organizations to support
the project.

7. Financial cost to county through “sweetheart” tax deals

• ADAGE has not made any agreements with the County or other municipality on tax
payments. ADAGE will pay its fare share of taxes to the applicable taxing authorities
and is researching the level of payments required.

8. Affordable electricity made available for the county

• ADAGE is currently marketing the power output of the project and would welcome
interest from local customers.

Break in the Action

2010-04-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

Even bloggers need a break sometimes. I've been on the East Coast for the last few days away from the internet. But I'll be back April 28 and ready to get back in the game.

I do hope that any of you who attend the Port of Shelton or county meetings will share with me what happens today, April 27. The Port meets at 2 pm at 21 Sanderson Way. The county has a couple of public meetings: the Board of Health at 300 pm and then the Board of County Commissioners meet at 6 pm.

Then tomorrow Wednesday there's the joint meeting of the port, city, county and PUD 3 at 10 am in the PUD3 auditorium.

Please, do let me know how these meetings go. I do want to know whether there is any discussion by any citizen or elected official of ADAGE at any of these meetings.

ADAGE: Open Letter from President LWV Mason County

2010-04-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

I've received permission to post the below open letter from Sandra Herndon, President, League of Women Voters Mason County. Why wouldn't our elected officials be seeking out answers to our questions and sharing what they know with the public? This is especially true for those elected officials who've made up their minds about bringing ADAGE to Mason County.

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN April 22, 2010

Here is a partial list of concerns about the ADAGE incinerator project voiced by residents of Mason County (from those inclined toward the project as well as from those inclined against):

*effects on the air quality, particulates, etc.
*adequacy of water and sewer capacity as well as water supply
*disposition of wastewater and pollution concerns
*ash residue, composition, use, and disposal
*effects on traffic flow and road infrastructure
*actual permanent employment for the county residents, including level of opportunities
*financial cost to county through "sweetheart" tax deals
*affordable electricity made available for the county.

Citizens of Mason County are well-educated and well-informed. They seek specific, detailed, factual information, not generalities or public relations pieces, in order to determine if this project is in the county’s best interests. The fundamental question is this: Given the fragile ecosystem and the employment needs in this area, how does this project improve the existing situation compared with any actual and potential damage?

Sandra L. Herndon, President
League of Women Voters of Mason County

ADAGE: April 20 News

2010-04-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

What a day, Mason County! I attended three interesting meetings that I'd like to share with you. This may be a lengthy post. I'll say sorry up front.

1. Board of County Commissioners Meeting: Tim and Lynda thought this meeting was going to be a short one with just a few items on the consent agenda and no public hearings. The citizens of Mason County had other plans. People I've never seen in the commissioners' chambers showed up today to speak out.

A young mother spoke of how she has two small boys that she wants to protect from toxins. She reminded us of the toxic waste disposed of by ITT Rayonier.
A former submariner who now works for the hospital spoke out on what it's like to watch patients with respiratory disease suffer.
A marine biologist spoke on her expertise and commitment to cleaning up Hood Canal. She very bravely told the commissioners that some voters within the county are exploring efforts to recall the commissioners.
A long time citizen of the county who is usually quiet spoke with the best questions. She asked for a public hearing on ADAGE. To which the commissioners gave their pat answers: too soon because no application for permit has been received from ADAGE, any questions you want answered Lynda Ring Erickson will forward to ADAGE, go talk to the Port of Shelton, keep on seeking out answers from ADAGE etc etc. "Pass the buck" responses from our elected officials aren't working for me.
Tim Sheldon did not deny the recent quote in the Mason County Daily News that he was "an unabashed 100% supporter of ADAGE". Nor could he tell us why he is now behind the construction of an incinerator in Mason County. He was reminded by this blogger that he is a leader and that we expect him to hold public sessions for the citizens to have their questions answered prior to any decisions being made.
Lynda Ring Erickson either lied today, has a very poor memory or has been slighted as county commissioner. She claims to only recently have become aware of what ADAGE is about. On Jan 29 I know she was present at the joint city, county, PUD3, port meeting with ADAGE and their slick power point slides. (I worked at the Pentagon - home of slick power point slides. I know slick power point slides.) At this meeting ADAGE (Lee Torrence) offered to brief individually these twelve commissioners. I can only presume the reason for the individual briefings was being done to avoid the Open Meetings Act. (I understand that following the meeting she hired an attorney to represent her in this process. Real life in Mason County sometimes is better than fiction.)
Tim Sheldon says there have been "no under the table meetings". Everything has been upfront. But we did learn that ADAGE had spoken at a Rotary meeting per Tim. Interesting. Hadn't heard that before.

2. League of Women Voters Mason County Meeting: Following the county commissioners' meeting State Auditor Brian Sonntag spoke on his role in government and what conflicts of interest are all about. One of the questions we had for him today was when are public hearings required? Here's what I got from his answer. While there may not be a legal requirement for public hearings, why wouldn't an elected official want to hear from the public? Challenge the elected officials sensibility and, if necessary, shaming an elected official is an effective short term solution. The long term solution is to let your vote be the final word. He went on to say that public trust is very fragile and that public officials create public trust through open public meetings and open public records. This was a timely topic for Mason County, don't you agree?

3. Port of Shelton Commissioners Meeting: Here's what I learned at this meeting.

The Port hired Paul Roberts, a consultant, to help them with planning and they offered his services to Mason County as they work the SEPA for ADAGE.
The Port looks for businesses that they consider are a "good fit". There are no criteria that they use to make this determination. It's a "subjective decision" per Jay Hupp. Talk about bureaucratic mumbo jumbo.
ADAGE may give funds to this area to help pay for roads, sewer, and water line per Jay. Operative word here is "may".
The Port engaged in a feasibility study agreement with ADAGE some time back. Started off at 120 days and then they added 90 days two more times. If I got this right, the Port and ADAGE have been doing this feasibility study now for nearly one year.
John Dobson, said that working with ADAGE reminds him of when he used to sell cars.
The ball fields are in fact about 1400 feet from where the Port thinks ADAGE will build.
ADAGE won't be using John's Prairie/SR3 intersection because nothing would be coming from the north eastern part of the county. Expectation now is that they will use rail primarily.
Commissioner Wallitner is excited and impressed with ADAGE. Wholeheartedly stated that he's "in favor".
Commissioner Miles wants to hear from the public and needs more information.

If today had been a ball game and I was the scorekeeper, the citizens would be ahead of the elected officials. Mason County, keep the pressure on. Shaming is our best strategy at this time.

Briefings - Apr 19

2010-04-19T17:07:00.001-07:00

Here's a quick update on what came from today's briefings. Ross was absent today.

ADAGE: No mention of this until three citizens sitting in the peanut gallery insisted on talking about it. Tim told us that we really need to focus on the Port of Shelton commissioners not the county. After the meeting Tim promised to provide an information paper to the public on the process for ADAGE application for construction of their facility. By the way, Port of Shelton commissioners meet on Tuesdays at 2 pm at 21 West Sanderson Way, Shelton.
John's Prairie/State Route 3 Intersection: Public Works briefed that Department of Transportation is holding a meeting with businesses in that area on April 28. I asked were private citizens also invited to this discussion and was told it's a DOT meeting and they would make that call as to who is included. I haven't had time to call and pester DOT to find out the time and place for this meeting.

That's all for today.

ADAGE: Open Forum Time

2010-04-19T06:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow at 9 am the Board of County Commissioners will hold their regularly scheduled weekly public meeting. Near the beginning of the meetings they allow the public to speak for five minutes or so for a total of 15 minutes. The Board holds these public meetings Tuesdays 9 am except for the fourth Tuesday of the month meeting which is at 6 pm.

Having attended these meetings now for more than a year, I must say that for the most part people don't speak out.

Lets face it most people don't have the time or inclination to attend these weekly meetings.

But here's my point. I've never heard a citizen speak about ADAGE during the open public forum time before the county commissioners. Nary a word.

Will tomorrow's Board of County Commissioner meeting at 9 am in the Commissioners' Chambers be different?

ADAGE: Fatal Flaw in Plans?

2010-04-18T07:58:00.000-07:00

Here are my key questions regarding the proposed construction of ADAGE:

what will happen to our air quality both from the incinerator and the increased truck traffic?
where will the funds for road improvements and maintenance come from and will they identified and available prior to operation of the incinerator?
what is the water supply source within the city now that the water line is being paid for by PUD3 rate payers?
how is the 100 degree (F) waste water being disposed of and what will that do to our marine environment?
do we have a sustainable supply of woody bio mass in a 50 mile radius to feed this 24/7 operation?
will the energy produced be at a low enough cost that others will want to purchase?

Tim Sheldon says he is an "unabashed, 100 per cent supporter of it (ADAGE) and what the company wants to do locally." (Mason County Daily News, "The Green File: Local Legislators Report on Current Session", April 9, 2010)

Are there fatal flaws to the courting of ADAGE that our elected officials have apparently engaged in?

If this plan is solid and there are no fatal flaws, then why wouldn't they hold a meeting in a public setting to answer our questions?

Amazing that the Chair of the Mason County Board of County Commissioners (Ross Gallagher) isn't holding a public meeting. Isn't he up for reelection this year?

ADAGE: Road Improvement Funding

2010-04-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

For background see my January 13, 2010 blog posting, "Connecting the Dots".

At the legislative planning meeting (Jan 6, 2010) Norm Dicks and Patty Murray's staff representatives were clear that federal road money to connect State Route 3 (at John's Prairie Road) and Highway 101 would be difficult to get funded. The city estimated $20 million for Wallace Kneeland improvements while the county's estimate to get SR3/John's Prairie Road intersection fixed was estimated at $18 million. State legislators Tim Sheldon and Fred Finn were at this meeting also but did not give hope that the state will fund these essential road improvements.

So where is this bundle of money coming from to fix these roads prior to ADAGE construction being approved? Or will our elected officials simply add additional diesel heavy trucks to the hazardous conditions that already exist?

BOCC Meeting - April 13

2010-04-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

All three commissioners were in attendance. Just one issue to cover this week from the Board meeting.

Accrued Leave Fund: Our county commissioners are treating this fund the same way the Federal government balances its budget: pushing what's owed to the future. I refer to this as the "Scarlett O'Hara approach" to public policy.

On yesterday's agenda the commissioners approved the revision of the county personnel policy by discontinuing the payment of unused sick leave for employees who are going off the rolls. This policy change will not apply to current employees but will apply to non-union employees hired after April 13. At this time non-union employees account for less than 25% of total county staffing. The cows are out of the barn and our commissioners are swatting at flies by just revising the county's personnel policy.

Lynda Ring Erickson did not want to allow my questions about how the BOCC is ignoring Mason County Resolution 70-04 which established a target schedule for fully funding this liability which for Dec 31, 2009 came to $3.3M of which $2.3M is for Current Expense or General Fund employees. Since Dec 2008 this unfunded liability has increased by $800K. We're heading in the wrong direction.

The target schedule which the commissioners continue to ignore requires 2010 Accrued Leave Fund to be funded at 75% of what we owed employees at the end of 2008. Instead of the mere $355K provided by the commissioners in the 2010 budget, the target schedule would have this account funded at $1.2M. Quite a difference there.

At the end of March with one fourth of the year lapsed, we'd already spent more than one third of the money set aside for 2010. It appears that just looking at this on a straight line basis, the $355K amount budgeted will not be enough to cover money owed to terminated employees for this year.

It's not hard to figure out why Lynda Ring Erickson didn't want to talk about this problem yesterday. That's what Scarlett O'Hara would have done also.

ADAGE: ORCAA Meeting April 13

2010-04-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

The second ORCAA meeting (April 13) went well with Gordon Lance answering the questions of 20 to 25 citizens for about an hour and a half. I'll list what I learned and then I encourage others who were there to chime in with their comments.

The process provided in my April 5 blog post ("ORCAA Process for ADAGE Permit") tracks well with what Gordon described yesterday.
He added a bit more info on two levels to the appeal process. Appeals to the ORCAA decision following the public hearing will be before the Pollution Control Hearing Board (PCHB). This board's ruling could then be appealed in Thurston County Superior Court.
In the case of faulty application of the laws or faulty data, the federal Environmental Protection Agency will provide the final review. To appeal to EPA you'll need a lawyer and you must be a stakeholder who has spoken out at the ORCAA public hearing.
Only those who are on record at the ORCAA public hearing stating that they have a problem with the construction of this facility will be allowed to appeal a decision in favor of the ADAGE construction.
Because ADAGE submitted it's application first, the Simpson bio mass burning facility could be denied simply because ADAGE will have already tipped the air quality nearer to an unsafe level.
ORCAA (Gordon Lance) will issue his decision. Assuming the ORCAA decision is okay with the ADAGE construction, ORCAA must wait for the Mason County SEPA process approval before issuing the ORCAA permit to ADAGE.
ORCAA will only be looking at the emissions from trucks inside the ADAGE fence only. Those diesel trucks driving down Railroad Avenue or Highway 3 will not be factored into the possible degradation of our air quality. However, emissions from these diesel trucks should be included in the SEPA.

That's what I caught. Please add your comments to the blog, if you were there. For that matter, I welcome comments and corrections from everyone.

Thanks for reading my blog.

ADAGE: ORCAA Meetings

2010-04-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (April 12) a small group visited ORCAA (Olympic Regional Clean Air Agency). I was not there but would love to hear what happened. Can anyone post as a comment or send me an email so that all of us can hear about this meeting? I understand Lynda Ring Erickson is an ORCAA board member and that she sat in on yesterday's meeting which included 12 private citizens.

Also heads up. There is another meeting with ORCAA again today (April 13) at 2PM with Gordon Lance. Today's visit will include a physician from Massachusetts, Dr Sammons who has expertise on respiratory disease and particulate matter. I understand the setting is relaxed and a great opportunity for all of us to learn more about the proposed ADAGE incinerator.

I urge everyone to refer to the ADAGE facility as an incinerator. The ADAGE President (Reed Wills) hates that noun or title. He likes to refer to their facility as a "boiler". But let's all stay focused on what's going to be happening in Mason County. ADAGE will be burning 600,000 tons of woody biomass.

Ross Gallagher told me on Saturday that this facility will be able to burn all our Christmas trees there. Just think of this Christmas Tree City will be burning it's Christmas trees so that we can produce electricity for California. Does this make sense?

Yes, for your elected officials - it makes sense. In this same conversation with Ross he practically was walking on clouds when he shared with me that ADAGE will produce $20M dollars in sales tax. But what Ross didn't say was the lion's share of the $20M will go to help the State of Washington balance the books at that level. Check me on this - 6.5% of $250M goes to the state which comes to $16M on my calculator. Then the governor and the state legislators can decide how that will be spent.

That should help all of us understand why our State Senator Tim Sheldon, who often appears as our County Commissioner, now says he's 100% behind ADAGE.

Pesky citizens are not necessarily disrespectful or rude when we ask questions. In fact, I believe it is my job to ask questions and attempt to be informed. I want to understand what the costs and benefits are as the decision is made to allow the ADAGE incinerator to burn adjacent to the MCRA ball fields.

Hope to hear from all of you soon.

Briefings - Apr 12

2010-04-12T16:59:00.000-07:00

Tim was absent today for the briefings.

ADAGE was never mentioned in more than two hours of briefings. Amazing that Community Development, Utilities, Public Health, and Public Works were all briefing Ross and Lynda at some point but ADAGE never came up. Go figure.
Mark your calendars. A joint meeting of Port, City, PUD3 and the County will be held on Apr 28 at 10 am. Maybe ADAGE will come up at this meeting.
The budget was briefed by the Auditor's office. Lynda stated that budget was sound except for outstanding union contract negotiations. Ross says Tim is going to be proven wrong - the glass is in fact half full. To which Lynda added there will be no double dip recession as predicted by (my words follow) the absent commissioner who has a degree in economics.
Public Works (Charlie Butros) briefed that he and his fellow department heads are recommending the county phase in the implications of marine recovery area as defined by state law. Instead Mason County will identify marine "sensitive" areas which will be less restrictive giving the county greater flexibility. And then out of the blue, Ross asked the key question: does this meet state muster? To which Charlie Butros replied: yes the state understands. Say what, Charlie?
Utilities (Emmett Dobey) told the commissioners that there has been some hysteria in Belfair regarding dirty water disposition by the BWWTF contractor. The public unnecessarily got Department of Ecology involved. Names of these citizens were called out at this briefing today in response to the request of the commissioners. I won't repeat the pesky citizens' names here. But if your ears are ever burning on Monday mornings, it could be someone is talking about you especially if you have spoken up about something that you think is wrong. Go you, pesky citizens!
Emmett deserves a direct quote in my blog posting today. Belfair Waste Water Treatment Facility construction is "on budget". We'll be keeping an eye on this for you, Mason County.
The Landfill/Transfer Station has seen an increase in revenue somewhere around $20K Emmett reported with a note of optimism. Ross then says: so can we increase the hours the facilities are open? To which Emmett replies: don't recommend increasing the hours and we may want to cut hours even further. That optimistic note sure wore off quickly.

That's all Mason County. You gotta love it.

BOCC Meeting - April 6

2010-04-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

With all the ADAGE coverage, I failed to recap last week's public board meeting. All three commissioners were there for the entire meeting.

Belfair Waste Water Treatment Facility: The BOCC approved the contract with EnviroIssues to provide "Side Sewer Communications Coordination and Construction Outreach Support" at a cost of $221K. The cost per contract hour comes to $93.52. Not bad wages in a county with such high unemployment. The budget line continues to be "clear as mud", a phrase that you'll find used frequently as we discuss whatever is happening in the county commissioner chambers. Tom Moore couldn't answer what was remaining of the contingency funds set aside for a $40M dollar construction effort fraught with uncertainty and risks in every step of this project. Kudos to Tim for having read the contract and for sharing with the public what deliverables are included in this contract. But when are our commissioners going to get it? With more than a quarter of the year lapsed, we do not have a complete budget description of what one third of the county's 2010 budget is being spent on. Here is a fact - not even one full page of the 2010 budget document is devoted to the BWWTF while over 160 pages are spent on the balance of the revenue and expenditures. This does not make sense to me.

Storm Water Management Advisory Task Force: The BOCC approved this 28 member task force that includes five members who do not live in this county but will provide such essential expertise that they must be voting members of the task force. This task force will help to "craft financial options to fund storm water improvement activities". First of all when was the last time 28 people were able to get anything done in a timely manner? Secondly since when is it okay for someone who lives in Thurston County to come to Mason County and help us figure out how we want to be taxed? I was not surprised that all three commissioners felt this was honky dory. Am I a minority voice on this? Mason County, I think we may all want to keep an eye on this before we see it appear on our property tax statements. Then it may be too late.

Corrections and Support Staff Bargaining Unit (IAM&AW Local Lodge W38): The BOCC approved the agreement between the county and this bargaining unit. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Monty Cobb couldn't tell us what the budget impact was exactly but he could tell us that for this 42 member unit the increase is somewhere between 1% and 6.5% and that for every one percent increase it will cost the county an extra $15K in 2010. The way I figure it's somewhere between $15K and $97.5K. Clear as mud, right? One bargaining unit down and 11 more to go. The big one is the Deputies Guild. Be watching here for more on this.

KMAS sent a letter to the county protesting the use of the Shelton Mason Journal as the official newspaper for county official notices. This agenda action was tabled for further review.

BOCC approved changing the HR/Budget Director position back to HR duties only. They couldn't tell us what budget duties are being omitted but could tell us that they'll contract out this work. Nor could they tell us how much they are saving. Clear as mud, right?

Public Works announced that the county's annual chip seal contract was awarded. The County Roads account saved $20K because the awarded contract was less than the engineer's estimate. Another reason why a levy shift from Roads to Current Expense/General Fund are in order for 2011. And this is as clear as fresh spring water.

Hope to hear from you soon.

ADAGE: Public Input in a Public Setting

2010-04-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

In yesterday's blog posting I brought up many questions about the proposed construction of the ADAGE facility.

Today I ask where are the county, city, port and PUD3 elected officials on taking public input in a public setting?

Other than the meeting on January 29 (see my blog posting Jan 31 "Knock Three Times") there hasn't been an opportunity for the public in public to ask questions. Let's face it at that meeting Ross Gallagher allowed only three questions and absolutely no public comment. That really did not count.

And those questions, that Lynda Ring Erickson shipped off for the ADAGE public affairs apparatus to answer, don't count either.

The ADAGE open house meetings on April 7 don't count as official public meetings either. We need a meeting where questions and answers can be heard by all so that we can begin to have a common understanding.

Meanwhile our local elected officials have been courting this company for months but cannot tell us what the public process will be as they decide whether to approve the construction of this facility.

I for one am incredulous that our elected officials aren't holding public meetings to allow folks to ask their questions or express their concerns whether for or against this project.

ADAGE: More Questions Than Answers

2010-04-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I attended the two ADAGE sponsored meetings and the meeting of the Concerned Citizens of Mason County (CCMC), a group opposed to this new facility. The first ADAGE sponsored meeting was quite well attended but the evening meeting was less so. I estimate that between 65 to 70 attended the CCMC meeting. Media coverage, so far as I could see, was limited to KMAS covering only the evening meeting held by ADAGE. Fred Finn and Tim Sheldon were at the ADAGE meetings.

Here's what I understand after all those hours of asking questions and listening.

1. Air Quality: This appeared to be the big issue for most folks. I heard people say they don't think it's going to be a problem and I heard others who were quite concerned. Next week CCMC plans as a group to visit Olympic Regional Clean Air Agency (ORCAA) to voice their concerns. More than a ton of woody bio mass will be burned every minute 24 hours per day and about 100 heavy trucks will bring fuel into this facility seven days a week. Do we want to have the MCRA ball fields up there adjacent to this facility? Not sure it makes sense to have a sports field adjacent to this facility.

2. Water Use and Capacity: I was told the ADAGE facility will use 80 gallons per minute. At the Jan 29 joint meeting of the city, county, port, and PUD3 this issue of water capacity came up. Here's an excerpt from my Jan 31 blog posting about this meeting. "...Dave O'Leary said the City has water rights but doesn't know whether the capacity is there or not...." Prior to the approval of ADAGE construction we need to have straight answers on where this water is coming from and what this means to the county's water table outside John's Prairie Basin. How does this water usage compare to other operations in the area? Are we near the tipping point on water levels for the county?

3. Waste Water: Those 80 gallons of water per minute end up as 20 to 30 gallons per minute of waste water at 140 degrees temperature. ADAGE will cool this to 100 degrees and then it will go into the City of Shelton sewer system. Will this waste water be damaging to our shellfish industry? Who's paying for the sewer lines from John's Prairie Industrial Park to the City sewer system?

4. Traffic: When I interviewed Reed Will, President of ADAGE Mason LLC, he was not aware of the road issue specifically the hazardous SR3/John's Prairie intersection. He agreed to see first hand the roads in and out of the proposed site. What's the plan at the state and county levels regarding the need for improved roads for truck traffic that will bring 600,000 tons of bio mass into this facility and then carry out the ash? And what about the maintenance of these roads? How many heavy trucks are on our roads now and how does this compare to the traffic that we already realize?

5. Tax Revenue & Cost to Taxpayer: I asked Mr Will how much taxes and permit fees they anticipate paying the county, city, port, and PUD3. He said that he'd get back to me on this. His company's fact sheet says they will generate $2 to $3 Million the first year. Now we need to understand better how this breaks down. Is it one time permit fees or what? Which municipality gets what? When the city, port and PUD3 made their water agreement did the city agree to taxing ADAGE at a lesser rate? How much is ADAGE getting from the federal government to build this facility and what are their deadlines? What will be the real cost to the tax payer. Do the benefits to the tax payer out weigh the costs?

6. Employment Opportunities: ADAGE claims in their fact sheet that during 2.5 years of construction we will see more than 750 jobs and post construction will be about 200 jobs: 24 are direct full time jobs operating the plant and about 100 are the truck drivers who'll bring in the woody bio mass. Can a third party verify these estimates? I understand there is a similar facility in Lockerbie, Scotland. What has been this community's experience? How many jobs have they seen?

7. Forest Degradation: What is the impact to our forests when we remove the slash? Are nutrients lost? Will ADAGE begin burning trees (round wood) if there isn't enough woody bio mass in a 50 mile radius of the facility?

8. Cost of Electricity: Some have noted that the projected cost of power would be too high for a local utility. I believe this is the whole point of building this facility.

That pretty much sums up what I understand. I have more questions than answers and look forward to receiving your comments on what you understand. Sorry this is so long. My husband says you definitely won't read this one.

ADAGE Approval Process Fragmented in Mason County

2010-04-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

The way the county is going about this approval process is leaving me feeling less than secure that our elected officials are looking out for our best interest. (See my blog "Staff Driven" dated Dec 19, 2009 for more on how Mason County really works.)

On April 6 I asked the Department of County Development (DCD) what the county process will be and what I heard is that it is going to be quite fragmented. DCD Planning will take the SEPA (State Environmental Protection Act) application. DCD Building will get a piece of it to issue permits for building construction. Public Works or County Roads will consider traffic and transportation issues.

And get this: the county commissioners have no rulings or public hearings. The one county public meeting that must be held is before the Hearing Examiner.

As of April 6 around 1030 am DCD Planning had not received the SEPA application. That's at the county level.

But at the regional level the focus will be less diffused. Accordingly, the ORCAA review is the best place for us to learn more about whether ADAGE will cause a degradation to our air quality. On April 5 on this blog I posted what I learned about the issue of air pollution and the involvement of ORCAA.

There are more questions than just about air quality that need to be answered. Do we have the water supply capacity to support this operation? A question for the city since the water will be supplied via the PUD 3 financed water line going out to the Port. What happens to the waste water - where will it go? Will the waste water harm shellfish production in Oakland Bay? What about the woods - will the removal of slash damage the forests in the long run? Where does the ash go after the woody bio mass is burned? If there isn't enough slash will ADAGE resort to burning trees? If there isn't enough woody bio mass then will we then allow this facility to burn garbage?

I'm really concerned that we are going to be guinea pigs because this will be the first plant of its kind built by this multinational firm. ADAGE is a joint effort by Duke Energy and AREVA, a French firm that is mainly involved in nuclear facilities.

Now is the time for us to be involved and learn all that we can. It's going to take some real attention from all of us to protect the environment and the economy.

I plan to attend meetings today, April 7 and will ask questions and post answers. Please check back for more on this.

ORCAA Process for ADAGE Permit

2010-04-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

After speaking with the Olympia Regional Clean Air Agency (ORCAA), here is what I understand the process will be.

o ORCAA received ADAGE application on April 1, 2010

o ORCAA will review the application and submitted data. That will take about 30 to 45 days. At the end of this period ORCAA will provide their findings.

o Public notice of the application will be advertised in the Olympian and Shelton Mason County Journal.

o The public will have a 30 day comment period to view the application and the data.

o After the 30 day period a public hearing will be held. The public will be able to submit comments on the application and ORCAA findings. Look for this to happen around the end of June or first of July 2010.

o After the public hearing is held and ORCAA has made a decision, the public can then appeal the findings.

I hope this helps with understanding what is happening regarding concerns of air degradation and the possible construction of the ADAGE facility.

I've heard that this facility will burn one ton of woody bio mass per minute. If this is true then we want strong verifiable proof that our air is not going to be polluted.

Commissioner Briefings - April 5

2010-04-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick summary of the briefings. All three commissioners attended but no media. One other private citizen and I attended.

o First topic of discussion was the upcoming ADAGE meetings on Wednesday and that an opposition group (Concerned Citizens of Mason County) would be holding their meeting at 2PM in the Civic Center. This was a real concern because staff thought that Congressman Dicks planned to be at the Civic Center at 2PM.

Picture this - Norm Dicks walks into a room of "real people" who are concerned about the environmental impact of a multinational firm on the residents of a county currently with a health report card that's nearly the worst of all the counties in the state. Can't let that happen. Let's get Norm's schedule fixed so that he doesn't risk running into "real people".

o On April 15, at 1130 am the City of Shelton will hold a state of the port, city and county at Alderbrook. This might be an interesting one to attend.

o The county commissioners unsuccessfully advertised for a revenue generator for the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. Now they may have to be more aggressive in their quest to find someone.

I have an idea. Why don't they just drop one of the revenue spenders? That way they can stay in compliance with the RCW which requires the spenders and generators to be equal. And to ensure greater diversity they could have more than just one at large member. There I go applying logic again.

o Department of Ecology postponed their meeting tomorrow (April 6) with the commissioners to discuss the John's Prairie Water Basin. They need more time to study the Squaxin Island appeal submitted to the Governor.

Ross said he delivered the county's letter to DOE and they didn't like it. Then he said that we must move on a moratorium. As you know sometimes it's a little difficult to understand what Ross really means. When pressed what he meant with the pronoun "we", Ross closed down and let Lynda and Tim run with the ball.

Here's my take away. Tim wants to do nothing and let the governor or DOE tell us what to do. Lynda wants to find out what the city has in mind so far as providing water within the Urban Growth Area. She offered that with the city's water line going in this summer then there will be relief to the John's Prairie water shortage. The city water will go to ADAGE and the MCRA sports fields. That should lessen the shortfall.

Port of Shelton Commissioner Jay Hupp was at this portion of the briefings. He said the Port is having "difficult conversations" with Department of Ecology over the issue of water. (Recall the Port's water agreement expired on Jan 1, 2010.) The Port is using 42 acre feet of water per year but have approval of only 1.25 acre feet. He went on to say that he has an unanswered capacity question with the City of Shelton. The capacity of water the City can bring to Port property via the PUD 3 funded water line "hasn't been nailed down" per Jay.

Also Jay indicated that ADAGE has a 90 acre lease of Port property. And that's when the point about capacity came into the discussion. (Is there or isn't there enough water capacity for ADAGE?) The City is working on their Comprehensive Water Plan according to Jay.

o May 4 there will be a public hearing on revisions to the Noise Control ordinance. Something going on here so far as an impending race track. Watch for more on this one.

o Public Works announced today that they will be paving a portion of their yard. Just having gravel in the public works yard is a safety hazard according to the County Road Engineer, Bob Thuring. No indication as to how much this will cost.

Here is another example of why Mason County Roads has such a high percent of admin costs compared to other counties. Hmmmm..... I'm thinking Road Levy Shift for 2011.

o The Stormwater Management Advisory Task Force as proposed for approval on the Consent Agenda (April 6) will have a whopping 28 members. Five of these proposed members do not live in Mason County. This committee "will assist in crafting financial options to fund stormwater improvement activities".

I have trouble with people from Olympia and Chehalis "crafting financial options to fund" anything that a Mason County taxpayer then has to pay for through the taxation system. These non Mason County members certainly could serve as advisors to the larger group but shouldn't be the ones who "crafting financial options". Besides that when was a group of 28 ever effective in getting anything accomplished in an efficient manner?

o Belfair Waste Water Facility has "significant change orders pending" per Tom Moore. No surprise there.

That's what I caught today.

Biomess in Mason County? Part 2

2010-04-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

Today's topic is ADAGE. But first some background. (See my Feb 4 blog for Part 1)

For those of you who I've never met you are not aware that I have a funny accent. I come by this accent honestly. I grew up in the coal fields of West Virginia. My father, grandfathers and their fathers all worked in the coal mines.

The property that my family rented sat between two coal mines with a little stream running down behind the house. My brother and I couldn't play in this stream because the water was so toxic from chemical run off. The air was filthy with coal dust.

My father and grandfathers didn't believe they had options on where they lived or what they did for a living. Subsequently, their lives were shortened because of their work. As a child I experienced what it means when jobs are scarce. I also know what it's like to watch someone die from respiratory disease. Poverty kept us immobilized and left my family with few options.

Why am I sharing this personal information with you? I'm concerned here in Mason County that we are heading down the path that will ruin our environment - all for a few minimum wage jobs. Mason County will get a few jobs and the corporate leaders of Duke Energy and AREVA, a French firm, will walk away with the profits.

Having grown up in poverty, I know all too well what a difference a steady income makes in our lives. But I also know that we must carefully weigh the trade offs facing us.

We need more information about this facility and what it means to our environment. We must demand that our county commissioners tell us what the process is for the approval of the construction of this facility. At the state level we need to speak up and say that before ADAGE is approved we want to know what the impact will be to the air we breathe. I've been told that approval by ORCAA (clean air regulatory agency) is currently slated to be routine with no public hearing planned. The reason being that no citizens have complained.

I will attend the ADAGE meetings on Wednesday, April 7 but these meetings cannot take the place of public meetings held by elected officials.

More to follow on this.

ADAGE Meetings - April 7, 2010

2010-04-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

I've included below an email from ADAGE. I thought you might want to attend one or more of these meetings. At this time I plan to attend.

A question I have for our commissioners is: will this "comfortable atmosphere" take the place of a formal public hearing? So I called Commissioner Sheldon this morning to ask him whether there will be a public hearing on the construction of this facility. He said that he wasn't sure what the process will be. I asked him to let us know what the process is. I think we need to know.

So below is the invite I received.

Dear Ms. Hirschi,

ADAGE and John Deere would like to invite you to attend an Open House on Wednesday, April 7 in Shelton to provide interested community members with information about the proposed Mason County biomass power facility we announced last month. The meetings will be open to the public and two meeting times are planned to provide the opportunity for all interested people to attend:

Noon Open House
Date: Wednesday, April 7
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Location: City of Shelton Civic Center Banquet Room
525 West Cota
Shelton, WA 98584

Evening Open House
Date: Wednesday, April 7
Time: 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location: Mason County Fire District 11 Meeting Room
130 E Island Lake Rd
Shelton, WA 98584

The meetings will follow an informal, open house format designed to provide a comfortable atmosphere for community members to meet representatives from John Deere and ADAGE, ask questions and gather information about the proposed biomass power plant.

Project Background
On February 4, ADAGE and John Deere announced a new alliance to bring technology and innovation to the feedstock supply for sustainable woody biomass projects beginning with ADAGE’s proposed 55 megawatt facility in Shelton, WA. Wood debris will be collected, bundled and transported from regional logging operations to the ADAGE biomass power facility where it will be converted to renewable energy. The project will bring together state-of-the-art biomass power technology and innovative forest harvest equipment, positioning Washington as a leader in this new biopower industry.

Building a vibrant biomass business means new jobs, healthier forests and renewable energy for Washington. The proposed 55 megawatt Mason County plant design will incorporate advanced environmental controls to minimize air emissions and water use and will provide enough power for more than 40,000 homes. The $250 million initial investment will create more than 400 direct jobs during construction and more than 100 direct jobs during permanent operation. The proposed location for the project is the John’s Prairie Industrial Park at the Port of Shelton.

We hope you can join us on April 7 and please don't hesitate to pass this invitation along to your friends and colleagues that may be interested in the project.

Please RSVP to me at tom.deponty@areva.com or 301.841.2468 and feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Regards,

Tom DePonty

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Tom DePonty
Director, Public Affairs
ADAGE
7475 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1100
Bethesda, MD 20814
301.841.2468 - phone
301.841.2480 - fax
tom.deponty@areva.com

Visit us on the web: www.adagebiopower.com

Bad Management or Bad Luck

2010-03-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

Recently through a public disclosure request, I received information on Mason County's record of tapping into the Washington Counties Risk Pool. I thought you might be interested in this also.

But first what is the Risk Pool? Mason County joins with 27 other Washington counties in an insurance pool tapping into it as required to cover lawsuits and accidents. Over the last seven years our premiums have gone from $492K to $579K an 18% increase.

I found it interesting that for Mason County the deductible is $10K but many other counties in the pool have a much higher deductible - $100K to $500K. I don't know about you but in our family we have a very high deductible for our car insurance which lowers our annual premiums and, I think, makes us more careful drivers. For sure it keeps us from calling the insurance company when we have a chip in the windshield.

Why would the county need such a low deductible? But there I go thinking that the county should be treating our tax dollars as if they are limited.

Then I did a little more digging and found that in Mason County, given our current record for managing risk, it's probably a good economic decision to have a very low deductible. We had a whopping 226 cases paid out and closed during this seven year period.

Some of the cases were big dollars. In 2004 the risk pool closed a claim that totaled $1,407K (yes that could also be stated as $1.4 million). Another one came to $348K and $251K. You get the picture? Over the period I requested, Jan 2004 through February 2010, the Washington Counties Risk Pool closed claims totaling $3.5M for Mason County. We paid premiums which were less at $3.1M. Not a bad deal for Mason County. But a bad deal for others in the pool because it's making their rates increase.

Why aren't the other counties trying to get Mason County ejected from their pool? Mason County is a bad risk in a risk pool or so it appears to this taxpaying citizen who votes.

So I ask you does Mason County have bad management or bad luck?

No BOCC Meetings - Mar 22 & 23

2010-03-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

I want to thank all of you for reading my blog and to remind you that our county commissioners haven't been meeting this week.

On Monday I had intended to go to the "indepth conversation" on John's Creek Basin that was supposed to happen on Monday from 10 am to noon. Then I learned this meeting was compressed to a 15 minute conversation with two commissioners calling in. Since it takes more than 15 minutes to drive into the county offices, I decided that it was a waste of my time.

I hope you've been enjoying this spring weather. I sure have.

Stay tuned though. Rumor has it that we're getting closer to settling the contracts with 12 out of 13 bargaining units. How much will this cost the county? Who knows but nothing has been set aside to pay this looming bill which some estimate to be around $1M.

BOCC Meeting - Mar 16

2010-03-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

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.

Commissioner Briefings - March 15

2010-03-15T15:10:00.000-07:00

I'm revising my opinion about the commissioners being absent two weeks in March. After this mornings briefings I'm beginning to think that maybe we only need them to meet every other week. They got a lot done in a short time.

Shelton Mason Journal (Kevan Moore) covered the briefings today.

I'm beginning to see an inverse relationship between the appearance of the sun and my blogging. You probably have less time to read also. Nevertheless, here's a quick run down.

o Department of Ecology briefed the commissioners on the options for implementing the directive from DOE on exempt well limitations in John's Creek. There are three paths they can take: an agreed order that Mason County helps to shape, a unilateral order from DOE, or a letter from the Director of Ecology. The letter from the Director of Ecology was what the county received back in 2008 and basically ignored. So the thinking is that now there needs to be something a little stronger. Under all three of these options there are significant implications for new commercial or industrial exempt well use in the Johns Creek Basin. The county commissioners were asked to provide their responses to which of three options they'd prefer by the end of March 2010.

o Accrued Leave Fund was brought up by Tim when the Auditor's office (Theresia) was doing her brief. He tried to get this on the agenda for future discussion but neither Ross or Lynda would agree. Theresia said there's enough money in this account for 2010 and 2011. This is an unfunded liability for the county. How much? We really don't know at this point. Ross and Lynda agreed that when they hire the new HR director, this person will be asked to come up with a solution. I'm not holding my breath. This could be a big bill for future funding and it could tick off a lot of county employees.

o The Belfair meeting with the BOCC will be held on March 30 and the two topics for discussion will be the bypass and the sewer.

o Mason Conservation District will be asked to brief the commissioners soon on the $5 each property owner has paid and is paying. The money is being held by the Treasurer awaiting a decision by the state supreme court. Question that Tim had is where do we stand on this money? The Treasurer will be asked to attend with MCD.

o Building permits are down 30 to 35 percent from 2008 but revenues for Jan and Feb have been sufficient to cover expenditures.

o The Port and the County are haggling a bit over who has jurisdiction regarding the SEPA for ADAGE. The Prosecutor's Office believes the county calls the shots.

o The issue of filling a vacancy in Emergency Management came up today and will be on the agenda tomorrow. Both Ross and Lynda agreed with the plan to fill this position with an individual from DCD. Tim said that he would hold his decision until the BOCC meets to vote on it.

o Road projects are being postponed because gas tax is coming in lower than anticipated. Apparently this is a real issue. Cars have become more energy efficient. So the County Rural Arterial Board has less tax revenue to fund projects. Four road projects have slipped. Bear Creek Dewatto II will be funded in 2012 versus 2011. Cloquallum Road slipped from 2013 to 2015. North Island Drive moved from 2014 to 2015.

o The Finance Committee will meet on March 29 at 11 am. No indication of what will be discussed at today's briefing.

o No Board of County Commissioners meeting on March 23.

There you have it.

No BOCC Meetings - Mar 8 & 9

2010-03-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

For the record there were no briefings on Mar 8 and no public meeting Mar 9.

Having just recently reviewed the county's February month-end reports, I thought now might be a good time to look at how we're doing financially in the county.

o As of February month-end we haven't had to borrow money to keep the General Fund solvent. This is the fund that runs the day to day business in the county and has been critically low on cash to cover monthly bills. So critically low that the BOCC set up a $2M line of credit in case the Treasurer didn't have enough cash on hand to pay bills. This is good news.

o Expenditures at the end of February for the General Fund are nearly 3 per cent below a straight line average. Nearly three quarters of this fund in 2010 is tagged as wages and benefits. One would expect expenditures closer to the straight line average even with just two months lapsed in the year. Could there be some flex in the General Fund budget overall? This would definitely be good news.

o Community Development revenues appear to be realistic thus far in 2010. Tim pushed hard last year to get this department's staff sized appropriately for what they are realizing in revenues. It appears this department now is right sized. Still more good news.

o The Accrued Leave Fund is a concern though. 2006 through 2009 this fund had a balance of $1M to $500K. In 2010 we have $247K. This account may be critically underfunded and just as BOCC took $186K from this account in 2009 to pay the MACECOM shortfall, we could see the reverse happening in 2010. The General Fund may need to be tapped to cover shortfalls in the Accrued Leave Fund. That wouldn't be good news.

o The Unemployment Fund had a balance over $300K in 2006 through 2009. As of February 2010 the balance in this fund is $33K. Hopefully the county won't need to downsize staff further. Perhaps $33K is enough to get through 2010 but history doesn't support this small balance.

o We still have 12 out of 13 bargaining units with no contract. How much will it cost us to settle these contracts? Granted no public official may know for sure what it is but, on the other hand, nothing was set aside in the 2010 budget to cover this unfunded bill which is looming over our heads.

o Another account to watch is the Belfair Waste Water Treatment Facility. This project alone accounts for one third of the county's total 2010 budget. The amount of budget detail provided by the county is scant at best. Having worked in the Pentagon reviewing way too many budgets from real clever program managers I've seen this behavior before and I do believe there's something amiss here. When program managers or officials become defensive when asked questions about their budget, it's often an indicator that there's a problem somewhere. When they refuse to provide details on their budget to a concerned citizen (that would be me), it makes one even more suspicious. What's up with the funding of this project?