Meetings to Consider Attending - Week of June 21

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.

Port of Shelton Special Meeting to Quiet Jack Miles

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

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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

Port of Shelton Special Meeting - June 7

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

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

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?

Do We Need the Port of Shelton?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Break in the Action

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: April 20 News

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

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: Public Input in a Public Setting

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

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.

Commissioner Briefings - April 5

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.