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| October 6, 2011 Shelton Mason County Journal |  |
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i:
VOTE IN OUR
READER'S ELECTIONS
¢!
The Best in
Mason County 2011
Straw B
The Best of Mason County 2011
I found the best
Beer:
BBQ:
Chinese:
Asian:
Cocktail:
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Deserts:
Fish & Chips:
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Steak:
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The best place to buy
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Page A-2 - Shelton-Mason County Jou-rn-al -Thursday, October 6, 2011
MTA interviews 4 candidates
for new general manager
By NATALIE JOHNSON he is the
director
Four finalists in the Ma- of trans-
son Transit Authoritys portation
(MTA) search for a new operations
general manager took part for Michi-
in a public reception last gan-based
Wednesday at the Shelton M a s s
: Civic Center. ~ ' Transpor-
The MTA plans to pick tation Au-
a candidate soon to replace thority, to
current general manager interview
Dave O'Connell, who is re-
tiring.
Three of the candidates
work for transportation
organizations in Washing-
ton.
Ken Mehin is currently
the public transportation
manager for the City of Ya-
kima.
Mehin, who has 28
years of experience in pub-
lic transit, including in a
~general
manager
position
in Boise,
Idaho
and the
director
of plan-
ning and
statistics
Ken in a Den-
Mehin ver, Colo.,
transit
organiza-
tion, said he and his family
are eager to move to west-
ern Washington.
"Our goal is to go some-
place green - this is as
green as you can get," he
said.
Mehin said Mason Tran-
sit is a more rural system
and has a larger service
area than Yakima's transit
system.
. Steve Hamelin traveled
*from Flint, Mich., where
in Shel-
ton.
Hamelin said he would
apply his experience in a
large city's transit system
to Mason County's rural
system if selected for the
general manager position.
"I've been through all the
growing pains that this or-
ganization is going through."
he said. "If you're going to be
successful in this business
you have to get on a personal
level with people."
Chris Hager hails from
Austin, Texas, where he
works as the general man-
ager for Veolia Transporta-
tion and
the Capi-
:~:~ .....~'~ tal Met-
~ ropolitan
:~/: !:¢:~ Transpor-
Chris
Hager
tation Au-
thority.
Hager
said he
would
provide a
different
take.
"It's go-
ing to be hard to fill Dave's
shoes - it's his baby," Hag-
er said. "I'm not going to be
better than him, I'll be dif-
ferent."
Raising funds for MTA
should be a major priority
in the future, Hager said.
"Everything's going to
revolve around funding.
We need to come up with
more grant funding," he
said. "You have to start
thinking and treating it as
a private business."
Brad Patterson is now
the transit services manag-
er at Greeley-Evans Tran-
sit in Greeley, Colo., but he
started as a bus driver in
Fort Collins, Colo.
I f
:~.~ ...... .,% you re
:!i::~~ w a n t i n g
to hire a
transit di-
rector who
~:Ni~iIi~,~: r~:i:' is also an
. d v o c a t e
~ .... ': for tran-
~sit. that's
Brad what I'm
all about,"
Patterson he said.
T h e
other candidates also spoke
about the importance of
advocating for transit.
"If people knew how
much they could affec~ the
direction of transit ... they
don't know their power,"
Mehin said.
Hamelin and Patterson
talked about public trans-
portation as more than
just a way to get people
from point A to point B,
but to a better place in
their lives.
"The 'why' in public
transit is to improve peo-
ple's lives," Hamelin said.
Throughout the rest of
the week, the candidates
participated in activities
and interviews with mem-
bers of the MTA Board of
Directors. The transit au-
thority has yet to announce
its top pick.
Attendance trends up at
Hood Canal School District
"By KEVAN MOORE
Hood Canal School Dis-
trict Superintendent Tom
Churchill says that efforts
to improve student atten-
dance are paying off.
"We are off to a fantastic
start this year as our aver-
age daily attendance rate for
September 2011 was 94.69
percent," Churchill said.
"This is the highest school
wide attendance average we
have had since I have been
superintendent the past five
years."
The Hood Canal School
District Board of Directors
has set a goal of 95 percen~
average daily attendance for
the school as part of its Dis-
trict Improvement Plan.
Officials point out that
students who attend school
on a daily basis do better in
school than those who miss
school frequently.
"We had eight of our 15
homeroom classes meet or
exceed the 95-percent goal
in September." Churchill
noted.
Churchill congratulated
each of the classrooms that
met the goal and noted that
they will be awarded $100
by the school district to use
as the class decides.
To Encourage & Acknowledge
Excellence in Mason County
The Journal presents this straw ballot of our readers to determine
who or what you, our readers consider to be the
Best In Mason County 2011
This ballot will run in the Journal for the rest of September. Simply
read the Journal and write in your choices for the Best of Mason
County in the categories listed on this page. It is that simple, that
easy, and that fun. Then, in October, see who wins our elections
in an upcoming special section entitled
Best in Mason County 2011
ay also be mailed to P.O. Box 430 Shel:~on, WA
have to be in Mason County
live• or work in
Mason County.
J