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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
June 18, 2009     Shelton Mason County Journal
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June 18, 2009
 
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Chamber board opposes proposed Emergency ordinance developed in intergovernmental agreement Continued from page A-1 ing on the matter after hear- ing public concern over the five-page document, which was created by a private consultant with the help of both city and county staff. Local realtors opposed the agreement without the inclusion of the UGA advi- sory committee and better definitions and some form of timeline. There was no outreach or work- shops to engage the stakeholders to par- ticipate, said Matt Matayoshi, execu- tive director of the Economic Develop- ment Council of Ma- son County. Last week the Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce Board of Trust- ees also came out against the proposed intergovern- mental agreement. They point to confused wording in need of clarification and cautioned the agreement, as written, could interfere with retaining local businesses, expanding employment and possibly drive existing em- ployers elsewhere. "In our opinion, while this may be a great idea, the agreement itself has serious flaws," wrote the board in a letter to this paper. During the city's hearing Ione Vrable said she thought the proposed agreement, in some ways, is a good idea because she has property in the county on Northcliff Road that would benefit. She did express some hesi- tations, though. "Sylvan Heights has no intention in connecting to city water or sewer," she said. '~ou have more than you can handle with the city sewer right now." "It's too open-ended to give the citizen any certainty to what they need to do or what the cost will be." Vrable was also con- cerned about who would or would not have to hook up to city services and vague ter- minology in the agreement that could give way to "law- suits and politics." "It's too open-ended to give the citizen any certain- ty to what they need to do or what the cost will be," she said. Lastly, ~Vrable asked about wha~ constitutes a failing septic system and who would be forced to hook up to city sewer or water. Steve Goins, Shelton's di- rector of community devel- opment and public works, said that under the agree- ment existing development within 300 feet of the city would not be required to connect and the agreement only applies to new develop- ment or failing systems. He also said that owners could opt into the system and that any failing systems would be identified by the depart- ment of health. "The point is that this isn't trying to create new ground as to what's failing or not," Goins said. Dave Mariano said he had several concerns with the proposal. "In a nutshell, I'm not for it at all," he said. "It makes more regulation at a time when we could use less regulation and more help in creating growth." Mariano also mentioned "a (local) project that had trouble with impact fees and last I hear they're leaving?' and that more regulations and bureaucracy make de- velopment projects less fea- sible. He also said that the agreement could "cement" no growth and mentioned developers having to sign waivers of protest to avoid annexation. "We'll very quickly have annexation without a vote," he added. Cobb says mental health pOney could close the budget g Continued from page A-1 tion saying that $763,000 was needed to gap the cur- rent shortfall. Last week that shortfall was said to be $789,000 and the week before the number was announced as $756,000. More than an hour passed Tuesday before the com- missioners were advised that the county had origi- nally advertised the short- fall as $756,000 and that they could vote only on $756,000, or less, in reductions to the $26-mil- lion current ex- pense budget re- gardless of the actual shortfall. Sheldon later described Siegler's final draft proposal as "confus- ing." Additionally, Shel- don said he did not know anything about another $215,304 in "available rev- enue" listed in Siegler's presentation or where it came from. Siegler wrote that the money was available as a result of "budget adjust- ments and cuts previously approved by the Board of Mason County Commis- sioners." Her proposed bud- get remedy rests upon both the mental health money and yet-to-be publicly dis- cussed $215,304 Siegler says she found. How the board will balance the budget next week remains unclear. Commissioners have for weeks been after the men- tal health money, which they describe as "general government funds" - a conclusion reached on le- gal advice from Deputy Prosecutor Monty Cobb. Cobb Tuesday said his con- clusion was based on his initial research and that '7 want to see how all the numbers add up." Judge Sheldon's legal opin- ion may have "some accu- racy to it." "I didn't have the specif- ic breakdown of the funds," Cobb said. Commissioner Tim Shel- don said that 29 special funds, similar to the men- tal health fund, are on the books and being scrutinized for any usable money. There are at least nine accounts that have no reso- lution guiding the use of monies, Sheldon said. The only known docu- ment guiding the use of the mental health funds was written by Siegler in February 1997. At the time Siegler wrote that the mon- ey's only "proper use" was for mental health services. Last week Siegler said the difference between now and then was legal advice; both the state's attorney and Cobb said it was OI~ "It's a broader question of state law," Commission- er Lynda Ring Erickson said before asking to pause the discussion to allow time for Cobb and Siegler to come up with solid numbers. Upon return, Cobb said the men- tal health money was indeed general government fund- ing and the board could assign it to close the budget gap. There are no use restrictions in the fund resolution that created the fund, Cobb said. The discussion ended when commissioner Ross Gallagher offered a motion to move the mental health money into the general fund as planned. Ring Erickson stopped the process, saying more time was needed and the board should have the "leisure" of talking more about the action. "I want to see how all the numbers add up," Ring Er- ickson said. ROOF ""ROUBLE? Up to Sl,000 Value--FREE/ A-1 Roofing is now offering a special reroofing bonus, your choice with any section or complete roof system 1,500 sq. ft. or greater: • Solar tube installation • Skylight installation • Ridge line venting energy upgrade • Rot replacement up to 100 sq. ft. * Gutters up to 150 lineal ft. • Algae resistant shingle upgrade • Shed reroof up to 100 sq. ft. ~A~~~=~~~ CALL TODAY FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT I'ooflnlLI ANOSAW . Local • 24-hour emergency Serving Western Washington for 36years ~ service :" 360-432-0296~*0%FinancingOAC ~:::~',~ Lic.# A1-RO-O1*111PR ~ * Senior discount ~ secrecy to stem rush of applicants Continued from page A-1 the state's Open Public Meetings Act, adding that the executive sessions fell under "possible legal ac- tion" status because a simple online search of the word "moratorium" would reveal page after page deal- ing with lawsuits over mor- atoriums. "The only way to do it is if you don't tell anybody you're going to do it, essen- tially," Haggard told the commissioners. City Administrator Dave O'Leary later said that the ramifications of the mora- torium, which he and city staff have been working on for "several months now," necessitates secrecy. "There aren't very many circumstances under which you can prepare something in secret, as we've done with this ordi- nance," O'Leary said. "We don't like to do that and we're pretty open. On the oth- er hand, if you tell the world, 'We're about to put in a moratorium,' you get a rush to the counter. Every- body then wants to come in and get their sewer connection before you say you can have no more con- nections." O'Leary also emphasized that a public hearing on the ordinance, which is dic- tated by state law, will be held at the commissioners' evening meeting on July 20. The moratorium has been set up to last one year, but can be revisited by the commissioners at any time to shorten or lengthen it. During this week's meet- ing, though, O'Leary told the commissioners that there wasn't really a choice when it came to enacting the moratorium. A January 28 adminis- trative order by the Wash- ington State Department of Ecology noted that in a two-year period, from No- vember 2006 to December of 2008, the city reported 36 violations of its National Pollution Elimination Dis- charge Permit. At the time, ecology or- dered the city to submit designs for a new plant and to secure financing within a two-year period of the order. The design work is now complete and the city is waiting for word out of Washington, D.C., on fed- eral stimulus funds. Officials now say that they hope to have improve- ments to the treatment plant completed by June 2012. During the meeting, Commissioner Dawn Pan- nell spoke about protecting the environment, especial- ly when it comes to Oak- land Bay, which is home to one of the nation's leading shellfish industries. "The (staff) report is ab- solutely correct," she said Monday night. "A number of folks made the comment that this is about the en- "There aren't very many circumstances under which you can prepare something in secret, as we've done with this ordinance." vironment. We can't re- sponsibly put ourselves in the position of polluting a valuable resource we have here." Pannell said she first "heard the moratorium word eight years ago" and noted that the city now has a design and funding for improving the sewer sys- tem. "We just can't get around the fact that we have 30-year-old plant," she said. "We don't want to be on the news like Bain- bridge Island was or other communities have been where they're spilling raw sewage. I would hate to see Shelton on the news for that reason." Commissioner Mike By- rne said the moratorium was necessary to cover the city's legal, safety and envi- ronmental risks. "Moratoriums are very difficult legislation and I take it very seriously," By- rne said. "None of us want to be here, but we are and we're going to be proactive, as we have been in past years and will be the com- ing few years." The moratorium does grant some exceptions for connecting to the sewer, in- cluding a small number of applicants that have filed fully complete applications with the city for building permits, preliminary plat or short plat approval. That group represents a total of 18.6 equivalent residential units (ERU) out of a total of 40 ERU that will still be available. '~/ou have people who have made investments by way of land-use applica- tions or building applica- tions and a sewer connec- tion," O'Leary said. "Is it really right to tell those people who have a reason to believe they can develop, is it right to tell them they can't connect? On the question of who's in and who's out, our judgment was it's fair to those people who have land-use appli- cations." In addition, the ordi- nance notes that some "building permits for alter- ations to existing commer- cial or residential struc- tures or accessory uses or new commercial or residen- tial structures which will not increase the impact on the Plant as determined after an eValuation of the facts and circumstances by the Public Works Director," could be approved. Also up for approval are applicants who put up pri- vate funding of public sew- er infrastructure without increasing impact on the plant, some on-site systems and some connections to the city, s satellite plant at the applicant's expense. "A part of this morato- rium could be a lot of rede- velopment of derelict prop- erties and that could be a very nice side effect," City Attorney Haggard noted during the meeting. This week's classifieds start on D-3. The crossword is on D-2. " Nor U.S. ,Oi fishing . ~~ Skokomish Nation, WA 98584 supplies! " "wm~ At the intersection of Hwy. 101 & Hwy. 106 Skokomish Indian Tribal minutes north of Shelton on the Skokomish Indian Reservation Enterprises (S.I.T.E.) Located next to the Lucky Dog Casino * 427-9099 Camel Bud & S1699 18 pk. 16 Island Blendz Cigars S12sg COFFEE: Sm~!! 79¢, Med 89¢, Lg 99¢ Red Bull 3 Chicken Strips &8JoJo Reg. $3.25 Winston Marlbo _ SUR6EON 6ENERAPS WAI~IN6: Cigarette Smoke Contains Carbon Monoxide. 89 $ 39 Sl Eachor2/3 Premis Carton Busch fight Busch sl19 18 pk. !. ;~ 16 oz. ca~s~ Thursday, June 18, 2009 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Page A-7