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Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023
SHELTON-MASON COUNTY
our n 4”
The Voice of Mason County Since 1886 —— Vol. 137, No.34
The City of Shelton’s proposed update to its wastewater facility includes
a six-year capital-improve-
ment plan for the plant totaling $11.2 million. The Shelton City Council
can pass the update at its
Sept. 5 meeting. Journal photo by Gordon Weeks
City wades into water plans
By’G’ord’cm Wee” ks ’ .
gordOI7@masoncount}.zcom
The City of Shelton is awash in
water matters.
At its Aug. 15 meeting, the
Shelton City Council gave pre-
liminary approval to a wastewa-
ter facility plan and a water plan.
The updated plans, required by
the state, can receive final ap—
proval at the council meeting at 6
pm. Sept. 5.
At that meeting, the coun-
cil will have public hearings on
adopting preposed water and -.
er rates. Information on the pro-
posed ordinances can be Viewed at
sheltonwa.gov/UtilityRates. Resi-
dents can comment at the hear-
ings or write comments to the city
clerk by emailing donna.nault@
sheltonwagov.
The city’s wastewater plan was
last updated in 2008 or 2009, said
Jay Harris, the city’s public works
director.
“It addresses the city’s needs
for wastewater collection, trans»
mission, treatment, reuse of
some and disposal for a 20-year
period,” he said.
The proposed document in—
cludes a six—year capital-improve—
ment plan for the wastewater
treatment plant capital improve-
ments totaling $11.2 million. The
see WATER, page 13
Chief: West Mason Fire needs help
at Massed;
matt@masoncounty.com
If you live in the West Mason Fire District, fire
chief Matt Welander wants to talk to you.
The district’s August EMS levy failed despite get-
ting a simple majority, with 436 votes or 54.5% of
the votes voting “yes,” but it needed 60% to pass. The
levy measure failed to get a majority with 423 “no”
votes for 53.07%. Welander said he was sad to see the
results of the election and wants some answers on
what he needs to do to get some help from residents.
“I’ve obviously not done a good enough job of ex-
plaining the realities of the position of the district,”
Welander told the Journal. “I don’t know how to help
people understand and the question is do they un-
derstand and not care or do they not understand and
I’m not doing a good job of selling it? That’s what it
comes down to. In Washington, you literally have the
ability to vote yourself out of fire protection. You can
vote in commissioners who don’t know anything, you
can vote in commissioners who will hire chiefs with
no certifications or experience. You can do all kinds
literally vote your fire service away and it’s not the
‘ fire service. We always say it’s a fire department but
the reality is and firefighters aren’t ever going to tell
fire trucks.”
of stuff. You can vote down every spending measure
to the point you can’t keep the doors open. You can
llllllllllllllllll 2
8 "53263 00111
you this, we’re all ambulance companies that own
West Mason Fire is going to run the EMS levy
again in November and ask for half of What they
were asking for in August. The levy would allow the
district to hire some emergency medical technicians,
staff the ambulance and bring in revenue with the
ambulance to make up some of the money and get
full crews, according to Welander.
Welander said 60% to 80% of calls are medical
calls. When an EMS levy can’t pass, hesaidthat is
tough and they are the only fire district in the county
without an EMS levy. The district was able to pass a
lid lift in 2016 and 2020.
According to data provided by Welander, West
Mason Fire covers 92 square miles and has respond—
ed to 496 calls this year through Aug. 9. Among Ma-
son County fire districts, West Mason had the fifth
most calls, and has a tax rate that is the lowest in
the county. The aggregate tax rate is 10th out of 1 1.
see WEST MASON, page 9
INSIDE lells WEEK
4&9
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SMALL TOWN PAPERS
92? W RAILROAD AVE
SHELTON WA 98584—3847
8- 13 8-72
Shelton
. schools
set budget
$2
‘ By Weeks
gordon@masoncountyz com
The Shelton School Board on Tuesday evening
passed a $78.3 million budget for the 2023-24
school year.
Instruction is the largest expense in the bud—
get at 57.50%, followed by instructional support
at 13.46%, central administration at 6.50%, main-
tenance and operations at 6.07%, the principal's
offices at 5.64%, pupil transportation at 4.52%,
food services at 2.80%, utilities and insurance at
2.25%, other services at 1.15% and public activi-
ties at 0.11%.
That translates to $45,058,755 for instruc-
tion, $10,548,702 for instructional support,
$5,095,732 for central administration, $4,421,817
for principal’s office, $2,194,632 for food services,
$3,538,436 'for pupil transportation, $4,754,424
see BUDGET, page 14
Permit ruling
anticipated
By Matt Baide
mati@masoncouniy.com
Mason County Hearing Examiner Phil Ol-
brechts once again heard public comment and
asked his own questions about the permit for Tay-
lor Shellfish’s proposed floating oyster bag farm
in Oakland Bay.
The public hearing continued Aug. 16 af—
ter a previous public hearing Aug. in the Ma-
son County commissioner chambers that drew a
standing-room-only crowd. It began with Taylor
Shellfish representative Erin Ewald asking Ol-
brechts for two weeks to provide written respons-
es to the public comment received about the pro-
posal, which was granted. Taylor Shellfish has
until Aug. 30 to reply to public comments received
about the project.
After Taylor’s response, the county will post
those responses by Aug. 31, and the public will
then have a chance to respond to Taylor’s respons-
es by Sept. 7. Taylor Shellfish will‘get a chance for
a final reply by Sept. 14. After that, Olbrechts has
10 business days to issue a decision.
“I think all total, it will be a three and a half
week process,” Olbrechts said during the hearing.
“If we close the hearing, to get all those comments
arranged and out of the way.”
Jesse DeNike, an attorney representing Tay—
lor Shellfish at the hearing, responded to some
of the public comments received on the project.
DeNike said over Zoom that they’ve heard several
see PERMIT, page .14
Shelton to renovate
Civic Center
ex 3 \,
Harstine Theatre Club
stages ’The Short Show ll’
Prep football, volleyball
and girls soccer schedules