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| January 19, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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JOURNALEDITORIAL
The Shelton Mason County
Chamber of Commerce is
set to host its 90th An-
niversary and Annual Awards
Gala at the Little Creek Casino
on Friday night.
The event will feature the an-
nouncement of the chamber's
Business of the Year, Citizen
of the Year and Volunteer of
the Year awards. The evening
will also include a State of the
Chamber address and an instal-
lation ceremony for the 2012
Board of Trustees.
We have no idea who will win
in each of the awards catego-
ries, but we'd like to take a mo-
ment to congratulate all of the
nominees. Each and every one of
them is deserving of recognition
for the tremendous contributions
that they make to the chamber
and, more importantly, the com-
s should be
munity.
Citizen of the Year nomi-
nees include Forrest Cooper
of Cooper Studios, Stephanie
Fyfe of Steph's Espresso, Ra-
chel Hansen of the Mason Area
Fair, Kim Klint of Mason Mat-
ters, Dave O'Connell of the
Mason Transit Authority, Tom
Simmons of the Daisy Pot and
Cheryl Stewart of Our Commu-
nity Credit Union.
Volunteer of the Year nomi-
nees include Allison Wagner
of Falcon Financial Inc., Patti
Tupper of Tupper Floor Cover-
ings and Interiors and Rick Vet
barendse of the Alderbrook Golf
and Yacht Club.
Business of the Year nomi-
nees include Awnaroll Painting,
the Alderbrook Golf and Yacht
Club, Bakala State Farm, Coo-
per Studios, Newman Chiropra¢
tic Center, Shelton Life, Shelton
Chiropractic Center and Wind-
ermere Real Estate.
Each of the nominees in all
three categories are deserving
candidates. And while there
will be "winners" on Friday
night, there will certainly be no
losers. All of the candidates de-
serve a hearty "thank you" for
all that they do. Good luck to
them all!
LETTERSTOTHEEDITOR
How many
finance
managers
are needed?
Editor, the Journal
Commissioner Sheldon
has said in recent public
department head and Com-
mission meetings that the
Commissioners need "their
own" finance and budget
director to analyze the opera-
tions of the county. This is
astonishing, considering that
the very same position was
disestablished several years
ago by current commissioners
Sheldon and Ring Erickson.
"Board of Commissioners
Proceedings June 23, 2009
10.1 Cmmr. Gallagher
made a motion to reorganize
the County administrative
positions to combine the
Central Operations Director
position with the Budget and
Finance Director position.
The motion died due to
lack of a second.
Cmmr. Ring Erickson
clarified that the Central
Operations Director position
was abolished last week and
part of the reorganization is
to abolish the Budget and Fi-
nance Director position.
Cmmr. Ring Erickson/Gal-
lagher moved and seconded
to eliminate the Budget and
Finance Director position ef-
fective July 1, 2009. Motion
carried unanimously. RE-
aye; S-aye; G-aye.
Cmmr. Ring Erickson
noted that this is part of a
broader reorganization to
merge some administrative
duties to make the County
more efficient and avoid du-
plication. The Board will be
looking at how much admin-
istration they need to best
serve the public.
Cmmr. Sheldon mentioned
that this is also a cost saving
measure."
Two and one-half years
later, Commissioner Sheldon
believes that the reports of
the Treasurer's and Auditor's
staffs need to be completely
reviewed and analyzed by
another independent staff
member reporting directly to
the three commissioners. I
believe that each of the coun-
ty staff members, whether
elected or hired, is performing
their duties in the best inter-
ests of the county taxpayers
and that no employee owes or
pays allegiance to any elected
official. Another set of eyes
on the commissioners' staff
payroll won't fiX what Com-
missioner Sheldon's problem
might be.
Sheldon has contended in
recent weekly staff meetings
and commission meetings
that he hadn't been briefed
on issues with which he
now disagrees, specifically
2012 Sheriffs Office cur-
rent expense and traffic unit
funding, and Utilities Depart-
ment failure to budget or
pay the 2011 indirect service
charges. Both SheriffCasey
Salisbury and the county's
Chief Finance Officer have
documented briefings on
these subjects. Both Sheriff
Salisbury and the county's
chief finance officer have pro-
vided Commissioner Sheldon
with documented briefings on
these subjects. Too busy to do
the work, Commissioner?
Incidentally, it seems the
failure of the commission-
ers to read what they were
signing might be the reason
that the missing employee
union contracts not posted
on the Mason County web
site are being disputed by the
commissioners at the Public
Employees Resolution Board
in Olympia at this time. It
would better serve the citi-
zens of Mason County if com-
missioners spent more time
at their desks reading docu-
ments provided for their re-
view and signatures instead
of pursuing additional public
positions.
In answer to the original
question, the county cur-
rently has three full-time
non-union finance managers
on staff, two of which are in
departments that report di-
rectly to the commissioners
(Public Works and Health
Departments) and one in the
Sheriffs Office. The county
would be better served if
these managers were directed
by the electeds, including
|1' 5 LITTL TO H TO
DO THg iGHT THIdG
the commissioners, to work
together with the Chief Fi-
nance Manager, Theresia
Ehrich, to mmdmize purchas-
ing, cash flow opportunities
and other basic finance proce-
dures within the county gov-
ernment. It has worked for
the budgeting process for the
past three years with great
success.
Mary Jean Hrbacek
Shelton
FD 3 needs
support of
community
Editor, the Journal
The community of Grape-
view has a new majority on
the District 3 Fire Depart-
ment Commission following
the last election. Many in the
community are looking for-
word to a kinder, gentler rap-
port with the new commis-
sion. Through election and
appointment, the community
had found itself with a three-
member fire commission that
had tunnel vision. That is,
they could only see what was
good for the fire department
but they could not see and
balance that with what was
good for the community. The
voters retaliated by voting
down an EMS levy and fol-
lowed that by replacing two
of the three commissioners
at the last election. These
actions by the voters should
be seen as a shot across the
bow by the hold over com-
missioner and the fire chief.
Hopefully the new commis-
sion will recognize that the
community needs the fire de-
partment and the fire depart-
ment needs the support of the
community and will conduct
themselves accordingly.
Stan Walster
Grapeview
The Occupy
movement
has goals
Editor, the Journal
There are demonstra-
tions being planned for Jan.
20 at federal courthouses in
the United States. You may
wonder about the goals of the
occupy movement or whether
it will do any good. The oc-
cupy protests are worldwide
and all are protesting the fact
that 1 percent of the popula-
tion controls so much wealth
and that the 1 percent have
received that wealth at the
expense of society. We are
the rest of society. We are
the 99 percent. And the oc-
cupy movement wants to be
here until we have entered
a worldwide dialogue about
transparency and account-
Shelton-Mason County l~
................. ...... , .......... ...... ....... =,
Shelton-Mason
County
Journal
is
a
member
of
USPS 492-800 Washington Newspaper Publishers' Association.
Kari Sleight, publisher
Jesse Mullen, general mgr.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Shelton-Mason
County Journal, P.O. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly by Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc.
at 227 West Cota Street, Shelton, Washington
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone (360) 426-4412 ,www.masoncounty.com
Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, Washington
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Owned and published by
Shelton-Mason County Journal, Inc
ability in the financia
tem.
More than 20 pero
the U.S. population n
trols 84 percent of the
The richest 400 famil:
the United States hm
same net worth as th~
50 percent of the enti:
tion. The occupy mov,
does not begrudge po
having money, it is oi
the people at the top q
financial system use 1
money to control the :
ture and to manipula
system so that the 99
of people are forced h
erty situations.
What is happenin~
now is that people ar,
their homes or being
from decent living we
and new jobs availah
many thousand per y
er from what they ha
making. Or, you haw
pete with 700 other
over a janitor job just
ends meet. People c~
jobs and are being fol
swallow their pride a
cept help from food k
or go into homelessn,
"The Grapes of Wrat]
details the great depl
and the homeless ca1
needed to be set up tq
with the extreme dec
the economy.
Shelton is a great
nity and is far from t
York Stock Exchang~
it affects us all here.
all of you know peopl
have been affected b
Advertising:
Dave Pierik, advertising rr
Harvey Morris, ad represe
Newsroom:
Kevan Moore, managing editor Front office:
Aria Shephard, North Mason, Donna Kinnaird, bookkeel
Margot Brand, circulation
environment, reporter Cricket Carter, mailroom
sys- recent events. Wisconsin has
had to fight for keeping union
~nt of rights; the corporate interest
)w con- thought they could just take
wealth, it away with buying politi-
es in clans. The people stood up
e the and were heard.
~, bottom Most of our politicians
• e ha- answer to whoever pays
;ment them the most money to get
,ple elected. We hear much about
]y when the top i percent not want-
,f the ing to be taxed because then
heir they won't have the money
egisla- to create jobs. Have we seen
the them do that yet with all the
percent billions of dollars they have?
.to pov- I suspect they are so fhr re-
moved from us working folk;
; right it is only a game to them at
; losing this point. The tax cuts that
.aid off have been put into effect for
ge jobs the i percent have caused the
e are major portion of our economic
ear low- decline.
/1 been Listen to Martin Lu-
to corn- ther King; his words are as
eople meaningful today as they
to make were then. "This struggle for
mot find economic justice and goveru-
ced to ment control will be won by
ad ac- the people." This is what the
tchens occupy movement is about, it
,ss. Read is about you, it is about me,
l," it it is about keeping democ-
ession racy in this country and not
~ps that letting it be run by corpora-
, deal tions.
fine of Please attend an Oc-
cupy protest if you can, get
:ommu- involved, it not only means
he New your future but all of our chil-
and yet dren's futures.
suspect
who Bill Fitzpatrick
' the Lake Limerick
Composing room:
anager William Adams, graphics
ntatwe Koleen Wood, classifieds/legals
Becky Corr, typing
)er Pressroom:
Page A-4- Shelton-Mason County Journal- Thursday, January 19, 2012
Natalie Johnson, reporter
Emily Hanson, sports reporter supervisor
Adam Rudnick, copy editor
Kelly Riordan, production manager
Travis Miller press operator
Ill I I