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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 29, 2016     Shelton Mason County Journal
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December 29, 2016
 
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Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016 -Shelton-Mason County Journal- Page A-23 NEWS BRIEFS PUD 3 receives Free recycling accolade for available for Christmas trees Mason County PUD 3 an- Residents of Mason County nounced in a media release will be offered free Christmas issued Tuesday that the tree recycling at two locations public utility had received its beginning in January. Trees 12th consecutive international can be recycled from 9 a.m. to recognition for the quality and 4 p.m. Monday through Sat- completeness of its financial urday at the Shelton Transfer reporting. Station, located at 5012 W. PUD 3 was honored with Eells Hill Road in Shelton, the Certificate of Excellence and at the Belfair Solid Waste in Financial Reporting for its Drop-off facility at 2001 NE 2015 Comprehensive Annual Sand Hill Road in Belfair Financial Report by the Inter- from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday national Government Finance through Saturday. Officers Association of the Residential utility custom- United States and Canada. ers of the City of Shelton can The Government Finance Of- place their trees at their regu- ricers Association is a nonprofit lar garbage pickup location on professional association that the week of Jan. 9 to Jan. 13. serves around 17,500 govern- Mason County Garbage ment financial professionals, and Recycling will pick up trees at its customers' regular pickup site. Trees must be cut into thirds and a. pickup fee of less than $5 will be assessed. Additional free tree recy- cling is being offered by North Mason Fiber (275-0228), McTurnal Landscaping (432- 0971) and Brady Trucking (426-0800). Trees left for recy- cling at these facilities must be free of decorations, tinsel and flocking, which would impede their ability to be recycled. Heritage grant The Mason County com- missioners and the Mason County Historic Preservation Commission announced in a news release issued Dec. 20 that applications for the winter 2016-17 Mason County vacant position on the Mason Heritage Grant cycle are be- County Civil Service Commis- ing accepted, sion, which exists to establish Guidelines can be found at a merit system of employment http://bit.ly/2hS3BBa, for county deputy sheriffs and Applications can be additional employees of the downloaded at http://bit, sheriffs office. ly/2hQWWFb and must be The civil service commis- hand delivered by Jan. 20 sioner position will hold a at 4:30 p.m. or mailed to the six-year term that expires Mason County Historic Pres- Dec. 31, 2022, and is open ervation Commission, 615 W. to U.S. citizens who are Alder St. in Shelton and post- residents of Mason County. marked by Jan. 20. The civil service commission For questions or more in- typically meets at 5 p.m. formation, call Michael Mac- the third Thursday of each Sems 427-9670, ext. 571. month at the county offices in Shelton. Civil Service Applications, being accept- ed until Jan. 6, are available at the county commission- ers' office, 411 N. Fifth St. in Shelton, by calling 427-9670, has opening ext. 419, or at www.co.mason. wa.us. The Board of Mason County Commissioners is ac- • Compiled by reporter Mi- cepting applications to fill a chael Heinbach continued from page A- 1 from the 35th Legislative District. "My grandfather arrived on a boat from Sweden in 1909 with $50 in his pocket and he made it to Potlatch and built himself up from there," Sheldon said. "And that's the kind of work ethic I see from the tremendous people who live here in Mason County. I think a lot of the new people who've moved here from urban areas appreciate the rural lifestyle and sense of community that's been built here through the years. And I'm very optimistic about the future of Mason County." As a county commissioner, Sheldon helped the county navigate the unpredictable economic land- scape that came as the recession hit in 2008, when the economic future of the county appeared dim. Though the county is seemingly inching its head above water as Sheldon leaves office, he pointed out how much of the county's resources are being drained by the ever- expanding role of criminal justice in Mason County. "The recession meant we had to lay off a lot of em- ployees," he said. "I think when I started (on the com- mission) the county had well over 400 employees and we got that down to about 315, but now we're increas- ing that number again. "But I think that some of the reason why we've in- creased our county staff is because the criminal jus- tice system has expanded dramatically. People think that's just the sheriffs office, but it's not. It's not just the county prosecutor, but it's indigent defense, our court system has three judges now when it only had two before and now we have probation, juvenile jus- tice and on and on into what might be considered the boutique courts." According to Sheldon, the services that fall under the blanket term "criminal justice" use about 70 per- cent of the county's dollars and about 95 percent of all defendants in criminal cases in Mason County are be- ing represented by the public defender, which places a large financial burden on the county. The finalized 2017 Mason County budget doesn't leave wiggle room for the county to increase its full- time staff, but Sheldon hopes the commission might find ways to use new technology to help cap the money spent on payroll. - "The 2016 budget, which I voted against adopting in the form that exists today, added 14 new people," Sheldon said. "And I think in order to curtail expens- es, we need to do more with less people. We have to be creative and use the technology available to us in order to do that. I think we should put a lid on hiring and reduce our workforce by attrition." When asked to choose among his greatest success- es, Sheldon pointed to helping the county recover from the 2005 blizzard that left the county's infrastructure in dire need of repairs. "It's tough to single out just one thing I'm most proud of," he said. "But for example, in 2005 we had a very big storm, but we finally finished replacing the Hunter Creek bridge, the Tahuya River bridge, we re- built the Skookum Creek Bridge in Kamilche, a new bridge in Grapeview and we built a new public works building. Quite a few of those things we accomplished I see as very positive for a rural county like ours." When it comes to failures, Sheldon directed his focus on the Belfair sewer system, which has been a thorn in the side of county commissioners since the recession hit. As the economy fell into the recession, the anticipated growth in Belfair that the wastewa- ter system was designed to support never reached ex- pectations. The county is still trying to figure out how best to move forward on the next phase of the project while attempting to unburden itself from its financial pitfalls. "We in the county had to build a system for the com- mercial area in Belfair and it obviously became more expensive than anticipated because of contractor dif- ficulties and some pollution discovered in the pathway of the sewer line," said Sheldon, who hopes the new commission will look at contracting Belfair's Urban Growth Area. "I worked real hard in the Legislature to get the county $1.5 million to help pay for it. But I'm disappointed in the commission for forging ahead with it, while in my opinion, without listening carefully to the citizens it impacts." While holding his seat at the county level, often- times Sheldon cast the lone dissenigv~ vote of the three county commissioners against proposed amend- ments to county laws, building codes, the Shoreline Master Program and resolutions to apply for grants, 360-275-2868 800-773-3227 row in continued from page A-1 • Anonymous, $100 • John and Margaret $25 Ozga, $100 • In memory of Den- • Carl and Carol nis Norwood and Grand-Hauge, $100 ma McKinney, $100 • Shelton Lions • Earl and the gang Club, $80 at 40 et 8, $60 • James and Marga- • Juan and Sally ret Penney,$100 Jones, $500 • Brad and Linda • Ernest and Marjo- Owen, $250 lyn Conrad, $1,000 • Ann Mcgee, $200 • In memory of Tim- -• Anonymous, $100 my and Faith, $100 • Anonymous, $500 • Miles and Roxanne • Michael Connolly Silverthorn, $200 and Neill Fishman, • 3% Club, $197 $100 • Albert Walp, $50 • Howard and Nancy Bauer, $100 • Paul Battan, $200 • Herbert Rand III, $200 • Gary and Patricia Michael, $100 • MBC Senior Social Group, $200 • In memory of Solveig and Richard Jo- hansson, $500 • In memory'of Ma- rie Heiser, $100 • On behalf of Rod Michaels and Ben Hen- nings, $100 • Bill LaMont, $100 response in citing the need for the public to have more opportuni- ties to weigh in on the matters. Sheldon is proud of his record of standing for additional input of the constitu- ents he served. "As I look back I realize we don't allow as much for citizen input these days, and that public input is not considered as important as it was before," he said. "It's the government's responsibility to seek out public in- put and to give the public notice in order to keep them involved in the decisions that are affecting them. We need to do better about keeping the public informed about when and how they are able to give their opin- ions on a matter." Through the last 12 years, Sheldon's detractors have criticized him for serving in the state Legislature and the county commission at the same time. Sheldon will remain in the state Senate, a position he's held since 1997, following six years as member of the state House of Representatives. But for those who thought doing both jobs at the same time was counterproductive, Sheldon has a quick response. "I'm very proud of my record of public service," he said. "I've been a court commissioner, a PUD commis- sioner, a state representative, a three-term county commissioner and 20 years as a state senator. I'm looking forward to having just one role, but I think because of the unique geographical situation Mason County is in, being beth a county commissioner and a state senator has helped me serve the public better than anyone who didn't have the proximity and access to Olympia." When asked if he had any advice for incoming coun- ty commissioner Kevin Shutty, who was scheduled to be sworn in Wednesday evening al~r winning the District 2 seat in November's election, Sheldon kept it simple. "Be your own person and never forget who sent you to that county seat," he said. 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