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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 5, 2023     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 5, 2023
 
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Page 38 - Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023 Port of Grapeview agrees to sales tax funding By Kirk Boxleitner A kbox/eitnei@masoncounnzcom The Port of Grapeview completed a hectic agenda of new business Dec. 20 as port commissioners agreed to a memorandum of understanding with Mason County for rural county 0.09 sales tax funding in 2023. Port Commissioner Jean Farmer said the money has been available for applications “for a while,” but the Bel- fair sewer had precluded that money from being available to the port. Under the memo, the port will re- ceive a $20,000 grant it can use to pay for maintenance of its facilities. The port must submit a budget for that maintenance list to the county. Port Manager Amanda Montgom- ery said the port must pay its bills before it can be reimbursed by the county. “We have to front the money,” Montgomery said. “I submit the pa- perwork. We pay the bill. They review (the bill), then they reimburse us for continued from page The connections of the roundabouts will allow new local roads to be built by Ma- son County, but adding the roundabouts means more time is needed for design and envi- ronmental compliance. “We fully understand some will be disappointed by this news,” the blog post reads. “Please know that building a new state route is a methodi- cal process with many require- ments that need to be met. The addition of two round— abouts requires work that will extend the process. Although these new improvements rep- , resent a later-than-expected timeline, the good news is the Move Ahead Washington and Connecting Washington fund- ing coming from the state Legislature ensures the lion’s share of this project, includ- ing some new improvements, is funded.” , .The main elements of the project - including the 6-mile, two lane alternate route par- allel to state Route 3 .known as the freight corridor -— are still planned, according to the blog post. The road is expected to open in 2028 with the new plans. A roundabout will con- nect state Route 3 and South- west Lake Flora Road in Kit- sap County on the north end of’ the project and two round- abouts near North Mason High School will connect with state Route 3 at the south end. “The new highway will al— low travelers to have a quick- er ride through Belfair. There are few intersections, Iwhich shortens travel time and re- duces slowing or stopping traf- fic,” according to the blog post. “This is a complex project with p it. Any (funding) that’s unused by the last day of the year is lost.” “We’ll make sure to use it all,” Farmer said, laughing. “I’m sure that won’t be a problem.” Farmer went on to note that, for reasons she did not know, the Port of Grapeview is not a member of the Eco- nomic Development Council of Mason County, “but we should be.” Farmer said she’s asked the Ma- son County EDC’S executive director to give the port a rotating position on the EDC’s board, starting in 2024, be— cause the EDC had already voted on its board members for 2023. Farmer proposed the port start a basic membership in the EDC for $250 starting in January. Commission- ers Art Whitson and Mike Blaisdell agreed. Volunteer Bob Pastore reported the recommendations of the port’s Strate— gic Planning Advisory Committee for “ launch and parking fees in 2023. Pastore said the committee re- viewed 75 area ports and their fees. The committee recommended to the commissioners that they retain all their existing fees, except for reducing kayak fees from $10 to $5 apiece. Commissioners agreed they ‘were, in Farmer’s words, “good with that.” Montgomery raised concerns. “When we did the budget, you bud- geted the kiosk income based on a rate increase,” Montgomery said. “You asked that I increase the kiosk rev- enue to reflect an increase in the an- nual pass and/or parking. If you’re opt- ing not to do that, obviously, it’s fine, but it will not reflect the increased funds that you requested I add to the budget.” Pastore said projected and actu- al budgets often differ. Montgomery added, “As the person who manages the money and the kiosk, I would be remiss in my duties if I did not remind the board that they opted to discuss raising the fees, and all, I’m doing is reminding them.” Blaisdell responded by recalling that Montgomery had earlier reported ' many moving parts. We know We’re thankful for your pa— regular users of SR 3 through tience as we work to bring this Belfair are hoping for relief project to life.” from the daily congestion. For email updates about the year-to-date kiosk gross revenue as $12,592.23, whereas for the 2023 budget, Montgomery had forecast an anticipated kiosk revenue of $12,000., “So we actually took in more this year than we budgeted,” Blaisdell said. “So I would expect that we should at least get what we did (this past) year, which was $12,500, which would still be over what you budgeted.” Farmer concurred with Blaisdell, adding, “If we can explain to the public why we don’t meet, or why we exceed, our budget, (because the public) is who we answer to, then I think we’re good.” Farmer further noted, “If we really need to, we can do a budget adjust- ment to a line-item.” Blaisdell noted the many other ports the SPAC researched, and con- cluded that “a lot of work went into that, so if those are the results that came back, I’m inclined to accept their recommendation.” . Whitson made' the commissioners’ approval of the‘SPAC’s recommenda— tions unanimous. Bypass: Construction begins 2026, completion by 2028 * The intersection of state Route 300 and state Route 3 in Belfair. Hera/d file photo by Justin Johnson the-SR 3 freight corridor and other WSDOT projects, sign up for email updates at ti- nyurl.com/y4ttjpxx. L torequest $500,000 for Allyn’s pilings ; continued from page 37 Cocci followed up J acksoh’s point about recruit- . ing support from others by'calling for a letter of sup- port for a pier project, endorsed by various commu- nity organizations, “and we need to get that into our delegation as soon as possible.” While Cocci volunteered to draw up the letter, she explained she would rely on port officials to en- list the formal support of such organizations and ob- tain their logos in the process. When Jackson suggested contacting other ports with.” was $2 to $3 million. Cocci intends to request $500,000 to conduct plan— . ning for the Port of Allyn’s pilings to be replaced, that have conducted recent pier replacements, Cop- pola noted he’s contacted the Port of Anacortes to, further refine “what would be a number to start Coppola was mayor of Port 'Orchard during its apprommately $700,000 pier replacement roughly a decade ago, but he and Cocci agreed the Port of Anacortes was more comparable to the Port of Al- lyn, and she estimated Anacortes’ pier replacement tion Office. and floated the option of the port commissioners supplementing those funds by applying for a bien— nial grant from the state Recreation and Conserva- “I think that is more than enough for us to ask for this session,” Cocci said. “It might not happen this session, but we’re going to try our hardest. “Showing our legislators that We’re making movement on our other capital budget awards always shows them that we’re getting some- project.” thing done, andwe want to move on to‘ the next