September 29, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal | ![]() |
©
Shelton Mason County Journal. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 1 (1 of 20 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
September 29, 2011 |
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader ![]() |
Thursday, September 29, 2011
County interviews top 8 for commission seat
Journal photo by Natalie Johnson
Candidate Jim Sims commended the county
commission for perservering through tough
budget years during his interview on Monday.
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Potential candidates for the open Ma-
son County Commission position went
through a second round of interviews
during a special county commission
meeting Monday.
County Commissioners Tim Sheldon
and Lynda Ring Erickson spent about
15 minutes interviewing eight Candi-
dates: Steve Bloomfield, Jim Sims, Curt
Bennett, Marlene Taylor, John Price,
Randy Churchill, Annette McGee and
Terri Jeffreys, all of whom had been
narrowed down from 16 potential appli-
cants through an interview process last
week.
The second round of interviews could
have taken place in an executive ses-
sion, but in a statement last week and
during the meeting Monday, Sheldon
said he preferred to have the inteviews
in public.
"I'm not willing to go into executive
session," he said. "If everything is done
in the public ... there are no concerns
about backroom deals."
Unlike the last set of interviews, all of
the candidates were not asked the same
questions. Sheldon and Ring Erickson
asked many of them, however, how to
increase revenue for the county.
"As a lay person, as a citizen of the
county, you don't understand how much
money is involved or where the money
goes unless you read through it line
by line," said Steve Bloomfield, a local
shellfish grower. 'le way you increase
revenue is to put people back to work-
we need jobs and we need opporttmities
.,, grassroots creation of jobs is a way to
fill that need."
Bennett, a Mason County Fire Dis-
trict 4 Commissioner, said taxes might
be the only way to increase revenue.
"Recognizing that you guys have
pared the budget really slim, I believe
there is going to be some further taxa-
tion in the future," he said. "I don't think
there's any way around it."
Taylor, a former Port of Shelton Com-
missioner, said more should be cut from
the budget.
"I think that it's really a tough one be-
cause I think maybe some cuts will have
to be made," she said. "There isn't a lot
of fluff left to cut."
Others simply marveled at the coun-
ty's ability to deal with the recession.
"I'm not envious of your staff direc-
tors that had to cut what they hoped
would be services to the public," Sims
said. "Four years of a zero growth bud-
get - that's pretty impressive."
Former Mason County Commission-
er Annette McGee said the commission
should work to increase tourism.
See Interview on page A-7
City,
Vista
battle
over
II
perm,ts
13).. By NATALIE JOHNSON
Since July, Vista On-
cology, a private oncology
clinic with two locations in
Olympia, has been trying to
secure building permits to
remodel office space in Shel-
ton, for its upcoming third
location.
Since then, said Eric
Zhang, administrator for
Vista Oncology, the clinic
has been embroiled in a
lengthy and frustrating bat-
tle to get those permits.
In response to public
concern over the permit
process, the city gave a pre-
sentation during the regular
commission meeting Mon-
day afternoon to tell its side
of the story.
"I know you're very pas-
sionate about this and some
of you are going through
the fight of your life," said
Kelly Mayo, from the city's
department of community
development.
Mayo said because the
clinic is for oncology and
will have "85 different
chemicals" on premises, the
permit needs to come under
increased scrutiny.
"One of the things we're
looking for is a qualification
of how many chemicals will
be on site," Mayo said. "This
would be the top producer
of hazardous chemicals in
Shelton."
According to Mayo, Vista
Oncology has yet to supply
him with quantities of the
chemicals at the clinic and
hasn't adequately addressed
fire and safety issues.
According to the city, the
holdups have originated
with the oncology clinic.
"The ball's in the appli-
cant's court," City Admin-
istrator Dave O'Leary said.
"The total time the ball has
been in our court is 21 days."
O'Leary said the city
has spent a total of 45 days
waiting for responses from
See Vista on page A-8
IIIIU! !I!!iI!!!U!I! II
8 • 2
Oysters are prepared during the 2010 OysterFest. This year's event begins on Friday, Oct. 1.
Journal file onoos
Skookum Rotary gears up for OysterFest 30
By NATALIE JOHNSON
In just a couple of days bivalve enthusiasts
will cluster at the Port of Shelton Fairgrounds
for the 30th time, to enjoy music, food and
drink vendors and of course, oysters at Skoo-
kum Rotary's OysterFest.
OysterFest, or more orrectly, the West
Coast Oyster Shucking Championship and
Washington State Seafood Festival, will cel-
ebrate the milestone with a new opening cer-
emony this year, said Skookum Rotary Mem-
ber and OysterFest Administrative Chairman
Jerry Obendorf.
"We're having an opening ceremony at 11
a.m [Saturday]," he said. "It'll be brief- it's to
recognize some of the long-time supporters."
Peter Becker, the man who posed for the
iconic 1982 Jane Diaz illustration of the ",Oys-
ter Man," will be at the event, Obendorf said.
This year the part of OysterFest most ex-
citing to Skookum Rotary members isn't an
event at all - it's parking.
"One of the biggest things we hope to have
is a new traffic plan in an effort to relieve pres-
sure off of Highway 101," Obendorf said.
Every year, OysterFest traffic backs up
Highway 101 for miles in both directions at
the only entrance to the fairgrounds. Skoo-
kum Rotary members have long sought a solu-
tion to improve the traffic situation. Last year,
busses shuttled people from a parking lot at
Shelton High School to the fairgrounds, but it
still had to use the Hwy. 101 entrance.
This year, rotary members worked with the
Port of Shelton and the Mason Transit Au-
thority to come up with a way to get people to
the fairground without using the entrance on
Hwy. 101.
This year festival goers will be able to catch
a bus at the Shelton Yacht Club, the Shelton
Civic Center and the Shelton High School
parking lots to get to OysterFest. However
the busses will enter Hwy. 101 north of the
fairgrounds, then exit off the highway to the
Sanderson Field Business Park at Port of
Shelton.
The disused rtmway behind the Port of
See OysterFest on page A-7
A woman grills oysters during last
year's OysterFest.
Citizens raise air concerns at ORCAA hearing
By NATALIE JOHNSON
Representatives from the Olym-
pic Region Clean Air Agency (OR-
CAA) met with members of the
public Tuesday evening to discuss
a renewal of Simpson Lumber's
Air Operating Permit (AOP).
The permit, under Title 5 of
the Federal Clean Air Act, allows
Shelton's lumber mill on Oakland
Bay to operate while releasing
an enforceable level of pollutants
into the air, said ORCAA engineer
Mark Goodin.
"The whole purpose of this pro-
cess is to achieve continuous com-
phance, he said/ ....... .. -. .......
ORCAA scheduled the public
hearing in response to concerns
from the public, but Geodin said
this permit has very little in com-
mon with the much-disputed per-
m its for the abandoned Adage Bio-
mass project.
"It's a very different permit than
. the subject of preous hegs in
Shelton - namely Adage," Goodin
said. "This is not a new facility,
this is a renewal of their five-year
operating permit."
However, many of the same citi-
zens who turned out to protest Ad-
age commented against renewing
See Air on page A-8