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| June 21, 2012 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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Tents
Continued from page A-1
the International Fire Code.
Dixon opened the farm stand in Shelton in
early June 2011. Since then, he and city offi:
cials have failed to reach a permanent agree-
ment on how and when action must be taken
in order to come into compliance.
Nine days ago, Mayo sent a letter to Dixon
indicating that Dixon had been given enough
chances over the past 13 months to comply
with the city's position.
"The City of Shelton has made numerous
attempts to provide a process that would re-
sult in bringing your business site into e0de
compliance, to no avail," Mayo's letter read.
Mayo ordered the temporary structures
removed within 10 days of the letter or "your
business license will be revoked and you will
be required to close until the code violation
has been removed."
Nearly three dozen people attended Mon-
day's City Commission meeting. The major-
ity seemed to support Dixon and small busi-
ness owners in general.
"It's been really frustrating," Dixon said of
the permitting process. "It's just a farm stand
It doesn't seem like it should be that big of a
deal."
Dixon said he operates two other stands,
with tents, in Olympia and Aberdeen and
neither jurisdiction has offered him any neg-
ative feedback on the two sites.
Dixon said that his understanding of the
regulations permitted each of the temporary
structures to be up to 400 square feet. Each of
his two tents are 200 square feet, Dixon said.
In addition, Dixon said he believed the law
allowed the tents to be erected for up to 180
days each year.
"I don't believe we've broken any rules,"
Dixon said:
Mayor Gary Cronce and Commissioner
Dawn Pannell both addressed Dixon and the
audience before allowing the public to weigh
in on the issue. Commissioner Mike Olsen
was not in attendance.
Cronce drew applause when he said he is
"in favor" of Jay's Farm Stand.
When the applause stopped, however,
Cronce added, "but that's the easy part.
Sometimes, it is complicated."
Cronce said the city is trying to be busi-
ness-friendly and that "nobody wants to be
an enemy to anybody."
Pannell said she is a farm-stand customer
but "what I don't appreciate is somebody who
doesn't follow the rules."
"You knew the rules a year ago," Pan,nell
said of the time Dixon applied for the original
permit, which indicated a long-term plan to
place a metal structure -- and not tents -- at
the location.
"A year ago, you told me you were going to
Journal photo by Kevin Spradlin
Tori Willis, of Shelton, shops on Tuesdsay during her lunch break under
the tent at Jay's Farm Stand. The market, located along Olympic
Highway North, is the subject of a controvervisal code enforcement
effort by the city.
have a metal building within a month," Pan-
nell said. "It's been a year."
Before allowing public comment, Cronce
made a motion to delay any action by the city
for 45 days.
The move didn't sit well with several peo-
ple who attended the meeting. There was
a general consensus by those seated in the
audience that the public should have been
heard from prior to any action being taken.
Even so, many residents, business owners
and professionals refuted the city's claims of
the tents being against code.
"I don't see any danger in the canopies
whatsoever," said Jack Patterson.
Patterson said the two structures were
"well-anchored" and easy for seniors and dis-
abled people to navigate.
Melissa Cuzick, of Union, said larger
stores such as Walmart and Fred Meyer had
similar tent-like structures that had been in
place for quite some time:
Cuzick said the one at Walmart was used
by employees to smoke under.
"I'm not sure how that's not a fire hazard
but oranges are," Cuzick said. "It looks like
you're picking on small businesses instead of
the megastores."
Some members of the audience spoke and
suggested that perhaps the regulations fol-
lowed by the city need to be amended.
It's an approach supported by Tom Davis,
of Shelton.
Davis said he supported small business
owners in Shelton but also supported the city
and the standards enforced by city officials.
If you want change, Davis said, waiting 13
months into the permitting process to ask for
it is inappropriate.
"I really don't think that's the way to do
it," Davis said, who asked Dixon to "do every-
thing in your power to comply with the stan-
dards."
Shelton resident John Smith accused city
officials of misinterpreting existing law -- an
action that resulted in a letter "threatening a
perfectly legitimate business."
Aider the meeting, both Cronce and City
Administrator Dave O'Leary dismissed the
notion that commissioners had usurped their
own inspector's work over the past 13 months.
Cronce said he was following legal advice
obtained before Monday's public meeting.
O'Leary, meanwhile, acknowledged that
while the temporary structures might rep-
resent a "low risk," they also are flammable,
he said, and "the consequences are extremely
high."
"We're simply trying to do the right thing,"
O'Leary said.
Cronce indicated that Dixon, with the 45-
day extension, was satisfied with the city's
position.
That's not entirely true. On Tuesday, Dix-
on said he felt city officials had "backed me
into a corner."
"I couldn't not take" the extension, Dixon
said.
Response '
Continued from page A-1
to respond to those requests will
find themselves behind," he said.
"What we have is a very high de-
mand for services."
Barrett said a recent string of vi-
olence -- including six deaths ruled
homicide during the last three
months -- has cost the department
more than $16,000 in overtime.
While the sheriffs office is tasked
to investigate all felonies, he said,
"crimes against people will always
be high on that list."
While the sheriffs office has ar-
gued that it needs more funding and
more officers to cope with increas-
ing demand for services, Bloomfield
said he takes issue with that, say-
ing the sheriffs office's budget "is
more now than ever in history."
However, Barrett said that isn't
exactly true.
The sheriffs office's projected
2012 year-end budget is about
$9.02 million, less than its year-end
budget in 2007 of $9.1 million. Be-
tween those two years the year-end
budget hit a low of $7.9 million in
2010. The office cut nine employees
in 2009.
Barrett said many Of the increas-
es in the sheriffs budget in recent
years are accounted for by funding
for specific programs and cost of la-
bor increases for its employees.
During a Monday briefing ses-
sion, Mason County commissioners
Bloomfield and Lynda Ring Erick-
son discussed the possibility of the
county commission taking over the
management of the Mason County
Jail to ease any burden on the sher-
iffs office, which currently manages
the jail.
Ring Erickson said the commis-
sion did not have any concrete plans
to pursue the issue.
"It was just a suggestion," she
said. "We were trying to be open."
While Ring Erickson said the
county does not plan to move for-
ward with the idea, Barrett said it
startled jail employees.
"We've unnecessarily put some
people in a state of concern," he
said.
The sheriffs office is pursuing
grants and alternative funding
sources to supplement its budget in
future years, Barrett said.
"There's no cheap way of doing
law enforcement," he said.
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