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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
July 14, 2011     Shelton Mason County Journal
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July 14, 2011
 
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Whistleblower complaint turned away By NATALIE JOHNSON After reviewing an independent investigation into a whistleblower complaint against Port of Shelton Executive Director John Dobson, the Mason County Prosecutor's Of- rice has declined to further investi- gate the matter. "Based on everything we got, there's no ,further action for this office to "take," said Mason Count Chief Deputy Prosecutor Timothy Whitehead. On April 29, former port em- ployee Theresa Rebo sent the pros- ecutor's office a whistleblower com- plaint accusing Dobson of attempt- ing to gi public funds to Northwest Event Organizers, the organization rUnning the Mason Area Fair. Earlier, on April 10, Rebo sent the complaint to the Port of Shelton Commission, which ai'eer consult- ing with attorney Charles "Skip" Houser, retained Seattle consult- ing firm the Seabold Group, which conducted an investigation which concluded that no wrongdoing had taken place. The port commission accepted the investigation on May 31. Whitehead said that the 0nly reason the prosecutor's office looked into the matter is because the port does not have policy for responding to whistleblower complaints. "When the port doesn't have poli- cies or procedure to follow up on a whistleblower complaint, the RCW (Revised Code of Washington) says it comes to the prosecutor," White- head said. Rebo was fired from the port on Monday, June 20. Dobson and the port commission said at that time that the firing was not related to the whistleblower complaint. Oyster Continued from page A-1 record is that Guinness no longer will carry a ten minute record for clams for health issues," Gagnon said. But health issues, at least those caused by a massive over- indulgence of raw shellfish, were not on Gagnon's mind as he slurped his way to success at the Alderbrook Resort on July 1. However, Gagnon had his own health issues that were rapidly falling behind him that sunny Friday evening at the AI- derbrook. About one year ago, Gagnon was diagnosed with bladder cancer. "Anybody can get cancer. The c-word's not like it was ten, 20 years ago, you got the c-word and it's like 'oh, you're going to die," he said "Early detection's the key...I got it early and I had chemo for a while and then I did what they call a scope." Gagnon, a tennis coach at Shelton High School, active bowler, softball player and com- petitor in the senior Olympics, is now cancer free, and can get back to doing what he loves full time - starting his 38th year of teaching, and competing in vir- tually everything. "I still continued playing soR- ball through my treatments," he said. "I'm 63 years old but I feel like I'm 43. Age is just a state of mind." Gagnon approached the oys- ter eating competition much like he would any sporting event - he researched the best way to pre- pare for the arduous, five-min- ute slurpathon ahead of him. "Right off the bat you're thinking, 'okay, how do I pre- pare," he said. "Whatever you do in life, you want to prepare yourself, you want to give it 100 percent, that's just who I am." ARer some internet search- ing, Gagnon discovered that one of the many secrets of competi- tive eating is not to fast, so he set to work eating several small meals a day and drinking lots of water. "I listened to Rocky - it's one of my favorite movies actually," he said. Gagnon knew how to prepare in advance, but he was unsure of how to prepare the morning before the contest; which was at seven in the evening. "So I did a couple things, but I can't tell you that because that's my secret, I have to come back next year and defend my title," he said. Gagnon plans to win next year's oyster eating contest on July 3 at the Alderbrook, and live up to his father's famous shellfish-eating example. Sewer Continued from page A-1 to pay more based on the number of ERUs they are assigned. Belfair Maytag Laundry had been tentatively allocated 22 ERUs, which means that it would cost the business $66,000 to connect and more than $2,000 per month in sewer rates. "Unfortunately, we would be forced to close it," said the laun- dry service's owner Jack Johnson. "rm close to a lot of businesses in the community, and they're re- ally struggling. It just seems like the sewer really could be kind of a knock-out punch for a lot of these small businesses." Under one of the county's pro- jected population growth models, connections costs for new devel- opments would rise to $14,500 in 2013 and escalate to $20,600 in 2025, per ERU -- meaning a new business similar to Belfair Maytag Laundry would then face more than $300,000 in connection costs alone in two years. :: ..... :" Other scenarios proj slower growth in Belfair, and therefore lower connection costs for new de- velopers (the lowest at $6,000 to connect per ERU), yet those models project rates as high as $183 per month per ERU for sewer service. "If you're simply using computer models, yes, that could happen," said Emmett Dobey, the county's director of utilities and waste man- agement. "But it all depends on how fast Belfair would grow and how many customers you can get ... you get bigger numbers because it takes longer to build out, and $30,000 in the future is not $30,000 today, so those are inflated dollars." The county estimates that the to- tal number of customers served dur- ing Phase I will be about 400, while a group of Belfair business owners and developers place that figure closer to 240, spreading the proj- ect's $48 million cost over a smaller amount of customers. "They've spent, spent, spent and they forget that there's only 200 people to hook into the system," said Brian Petersen of Petersen Chiropractic who, along with John- son and other business owners and developers, has hired a lawyer to investigate the issue further. "It's unbelievable. The [county] commis- sioners have completely lost sight of the project." There's a big difference between what the Belfair developers think are the total number of customers and what the county thinks are the total number of customers, Dobey said. "Both of them have significance, but it depends on how much water you use and that gives you an av- erage to determine the number of ERUs based on the number of cus- tomers," he said. "But everybody will be charged at least one ERU." The county had been estimating one ERU at a value of about 150 gallons per day, which many busi- n.ess owners felt was skewed too low allowing the county to charge for more ERUs per business. At Tuesday night's meeting, Belfair Wastewater consultant Gordon Wilson presented an even lower figure -- 135 gallons per day. It wasn't until Monday of this week that the county had been able to access accurate water us- age data from the Belfair Water District, Dobey said. "We had repeatedly asked for accurate water data from the Bel- fair Water District," Dobey said. "We said from the very beginning that we needed better water data to make these decisions and we're just now getting that better water data." The last-minute data yielded better-quality estimates, said Wil- son at the sewer meeting. "It feels more equitable, at least to me," he said. Wilson also suggested the coun- ty commissioners look into extra charges for strength of flow, ca- pacity rental (whereby someone would be charged if their sewer usage rises) and irrigation. During public comment, busi- ness and home owners alike ex- pressed their displeasure with the sewer costs that many said would put them out of business and force them or their loved ones into mas- sive debt. "we poured our life savings into this business," said David Callan, owner of the new Casper's Pizza and Barbecue in Belfair. "I put my whole life's savings into this busi- ness, into Belfair ... Not only will this project put us out of business, this project will take my house from me." Representatives from large businesses like QFC to smaller or- ganizations like the Belfair Com- munity Baptist Church, as well as realtors, low-income housing pro- viders and parents whose children attend daycares that are threat- ened by the project, spoke of how the sewers' costs could damage the economic landscape of Belfair and prevent future growth. "There are a lot of'ifs' here, but I do think the issue of stymieing development and the sticker shock of that is important," Wilson said. "Because we want to encourage growth as soon as possible." Others pointed out that the sewers' close to $50 million in projected costs at this point more than double the $25-million figure that prior consultants had pegged the costs at back in 2007. The soils at the site of the wastewater treatment plant did not accurately fit the design of the original facilities plan, Dobey said. Some commentators at Tuesday's meeting suggested spreading the project's debt over the entire Belfair Urban Growth Area base instead of just the Phase I customers. Others suggested Mason County should shoulder more of the cost respon- sibility and utilize phased-in con- nection costs and a tax assessment from all of Belfair and perhaps Ma- son County to fund the project. The North Mason Chamber of Commerce plans to formulate an opinion this week, before the county commissioners hold a hearing next Tuesday to determine the interim sewer rates. The public hearing on the rates is set for 9:30 a.m. next Tuesday at the commission Chambers in Shelton. Your h'festfle... Shelton-Mason County Journal -Thursday, July 14, 2011 - Page A-7