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A culvert replacement on Deegan Road in Shelton Valley is one. of several
ro‘ad co
coUrtesy Shelton-Mason Chamber of Commerce
Trask talks about state of Mason County
By Kirk Boxle'rtner
kbox/eitner@masoncounty. com
Sharon Trask, District 3 commis-
sioner and board chair of the Mason
County commission, summed up the
“State of the County” on Sept. 3, fol-
lowing the “State of the City” presen—
tation by Shelton city officials.
Trask opened with the county’s fi-
nancial outlook, noting the increased
staffing in the county’s district court,
juvenile court services, sheriffs office,
office of public defense, public works
and information technology offices to
help meet the demands of state and
federal mandates as they apply to
county government.
Trask also touted the county’s abil-
ity to adopt a-balanced budget with-
out the use of its ending fund bal-
ance, while also meeting its reserve
requirements and fully funding its
rainy day fund for the second year in
a'row. ~ '
Trask also noted the county avoid-
ed layoffs or reductions in service in
2019 or 2020.
Given the financial effects of CO-
VID-19, it helps that the county. has
more than $5 million in grant fund-
ing to draw from, including the De-
partment of Commerce’s Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
Act for $3.821 million to support per-
‘ sonal protective equipment, building
upgrades, touchless scanners, eco-
nomic community support, disinfect-
ing and teleworking.
The Department of Commerce’s
CARES Act Community Develop-
ment Block Grant Coronavirus—1
funds, when coupled with public ser-
vices funding, accounts for another
$725,000, which can be turned into
forgivable loans and distributed to
individuals and businesses suffering
from COVID financial disruptions.
Trask praised county health per-
sonnel for the hours they’ve spent
on contact tracing. The county’s
COVID-related expenses added up
to $1,558,101.59 at the end of the
month.
Trask said the county commis-
sioners received a preliminary bud-
get Sept. 1 and will spend October
in work sessions with the county’s
departments regarding that prelimi-
nary budget.
The county is stressing “smart in-
vestments” with an eye toward the
future, in addition to protecting its
reserves, Trash said, to guard against
layoffs in the event of another down-
turn. It’s also considering public/pri-
vate partnerships to discover efficien-
cies and cost savings.
Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020 Shelton-Mason County Journal Page A-15
STATE OF THE COMMUNITY
Although the county’s permitting
was closed to the public for 30 days
in April, Trask said cOunty permit--
ting was using that time to catch up,
and once it reopened, it did so with an
additional planner and front counter
help'to handle the increase in [permit
applications. > .
Residential permits are up from
109 in 2019 to 163 in 2020, while' all
permit types are up from 223 in 2019
to 286 in 2020. ' .
Trask credited SmartGov online
permitting for environmental health
with allowing evening and‘weekend
submissions, and lauded the county’s
food safety program for continuing to
help restaurants and other business-
es meet their COVID requirements.
Trask added that CARES Act
funding has been allowed to provide
further. assistance to Crossroads,
Turning Pointe Survivor Advocacy
Center, Community Lifeline and oth-
ers, all while'nurses work seven days
a week to comply with contact tracing
requirements.
Trask credited new leadership at
the county’s public works department
with improving efficiency, cost-effec-
tiveness, internal teamwork and ex-
ternal partnerships, while working to
improve how the department engages
the community on.the planning and
npstruction projects in the county approaching conclusion. Photo
execution of its projects.
Among those projects are the $22
million Skokomish River Ecosystem
Restoration, with the accompanying
$8 mill-ion Skokomish Valley Road, as
well as the Belfair seWer extension,
which most recently had a Commerce
loan of up to $8 million executed on
its behalf to increase the number of
equivalent resident units.
The Rustlewood Wastewater
Treatment Plant won a 2019 Out-
standing Performance Award from
the Department of Ecology, and
achieved full compliance with waste-
water treatment requirements, while
the Deegan Culvert project used Fish
Barrier Removal Board funding.
Trask reported the county’s district
' court is adding two larger courtrooms
to comply with COVID distancing
requirements, while the county sher-
' ifl’s office anticipates adding body
_. and dashboard cameras in the future.
In spite of the problems posed by
the pandemic, Trask closed on an op-
timistic note, pointing out that Ma-
son County’s Emergency Operations
Command not only made partners
of first responders, emergency man-
agement, hospitals, schools and city
officials, but it also allowed them to
establish and test-drive procedures
for future emergencies.
Helping Kids Learn to Read is One of .
the Best Gifts You Can Give Them!
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