Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 - Mason County Journal - Page A-3
City's first poverty move might be more streetlights
LIGHTS BACK ON:
Commission looks
to enact task force
recommendations
By GORDON WEEKS
gordon@masoncounty, com
Re-illuminating downtown Shelton
streetlights that were extinguished a
few years ago to save money, and add-
ing streetlights to dark alleys to im-
prove safety, might be among the first
poverty task force recommendations
enacted.
The Shelton City Commission on
Monday took tentative steps toward
addressing three of the six key rec-
ommendations from the 23 recom-
mendations made by the city's nine-
member poverty task force. The task
force was formed in July to propose
mitigations to ease the effects of
poverty on Shelton residents and
businesses.
At Monday's meeting, Steve Goins,
the city's director of community and
economic development, told commis-
sioners that city staff is awaiting di-
rection on implementing some of the
recommendations. The plans would
include who would implement the rec-
ommendation, how and the cost, he
said.
During a public hearing on the rec-
ommendations, Shelton resident Mar-
ilyn Vogler urged the city to quickly
move on the recommendation to es-
tablish a poverty committee. Poverty
is such a major problem in Shelton
that it "demands" to be the sole con-
cern of a group, she said.
The commissioners need to realize
"you can't fix poverty," Vogler said.
But the commission can provide lead-
ership in easing poverty by engaging
with organizations, working with oth-
er public agencies and continuing to
stay informed, she said.
Shelton resident Toby Kevin said
the city is doing an "admirable" job of
tackling poverty issues, but acknowl-
edged "there's some frustration build-
ing" by residents who want to see it
take action on the task force's recom-
mendation.
Kevin said he supports establish-
ing the poverty committee, but said
he would "hate to see it as an obsta-
cle before any action takes place."
He urged the commission to adopt
one or two of the easier recommen-
dations, such as re-illuminating the
Shelton is considering adding streetlights in dark downtown Shelton alleys,
were shut off to save money. Those are among the recommendations by the
Journal photo by Gordon Weeks
and re-illuminating streetlights that
city's poverty task force.
"We're moving on these things• I agree the
lights need to be turned on•"
Mike Olsen, Shelton city commissioner
streetlights.
Commissioners Tracy Moore and
Mike Olsen both pointed out that
the city is already implementing
some of the recommendations.
The third recommendation advis-
es the city to join with local organi-
zations and provide support to bring
youth-related activities to Shelton.
The city is working with Mason
Transit Authority on its downtown
transfer station, "so it's frustrating
to hear that people are frustrated
with us for not doing anything," he
said.
Olsen added, "We're moving on
these things. I agree the lights need
to be turned on." Olsen said he also
favors forming a poverty committee.
Mayor Gary Cronce said he would
be happy to entertain motions from
the two commissioners to move for-
ward on the recommendations. He
also said he would entertain a mo-
tion to write a letter to Mason Coun-
ty expressing support for the efforts
by Youth Empowerment Strategies
(YES) to use the old St. Edward's rec-
tory as a center for serving youth at
risk.
That was the second recommenda-
tion by the commission's staff. Goins
said his staff will draft such a letter
for the commission to address.
When the discussion turned to
streetlights, Goins said he will need a
recommendation on how many street-
lights are involved before he can esti-
mate the cost.
The city is saving about $15,000
a year by keeping those streetlights
off, City Administrator Dave O'Leary
said.
Olsen suggested the downtown
merchants pay for lights in the down-
town alleys, since they are the ones
who would benefit from them.
As for establishing a permanent
city poverty committee, the hard cost
might be minimal, but will require
staff time that will take away from
other efforts, O'Leary said.
During the last public comment
period at Monday's meeting, Shel-
ton resident Tom Davis suggested
a city staffer volunteer to work
with the poverty committee free of
charge.
"When the city says it can't afford
the time, that's a lousy excuse ... I
urge someone from the city to step up
and say, 'I will do it, and I will do it on
my own time,'" Davis said.
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