Scratch the surface of any long term problem in Mason County and you’ll find a past action (or inaction) by the Board of County Commissioners that either created the condition or made it worse than it needed to be.
Op/Ed by Tom Davis: Ethics in the era of COVID-19
With few exceptions, the most important part of any public meeting is the public comment segment. On any issue, County Commissioners have unlimited time to opine from their bully pulpit, but the public is limited to only 3 minutes per person, 15 minutes total. In practice, however, there is no time limit on public comments and the commissioners know this, so why the pretense?
COVID-19 Op/Ed by Anonymous Belfair Resident
I don’t believe we are doing the public any justice by withholding a general area in a county which covid-19 positive cases have been identified. I believe other communities have benefited by dodging or frequenting a little less areas where cases have been Identified. It may have some affect on business or at least maybe people will practice a little better covid-19 hygiene practices knowing that the virus has hit closer to home in their community thus maybe saving hospitalizations or lives. Identify the area in the county not the the names of the infected.
Anonymous, Belfair
Op/Ed by Tom Davis: WAKE UP AND SMELL THE LAWSUITS MASON COUNTY
I attended the regularly scheduled meeting of the BOCC today to try and stop our commissioners from giving away $30,000 to a private citizen who filed a lawsuit against the county that included the following allegation: “On April 10, 2019 Plaintiff made a request for public records from Defendant for which the Defendant intentionally and in bad faith, denied said records in an effort to conceal from Plaintiff records of significant importance relating to a proposed gravel mine application on Hood Canal.”
NM Chamber Board Votes to Support Fire Bond
The North Mason Chamber of Commerce Board has voted to support the North Mason Regional Fire Authority’s bond for an Emergency Management Campus in North Mason. The Fire Authority is asking voters to approved a 25-year, $10 Million Bond to acquire land adjacent to the old headquarters station and construct a new Headquarters Station.
Here is the Chamber Board’s statement:
Op/Ed by Ken VanBuskirk: NM Emergency Management Campus Bond
I am not against the concept of a “campus” just the location. For that reason I went to Mason County Commissioners last March and asked them to conduct a feasibility study before signing a “non binding” letter of intent to utilize the existing fire station. It will be costly to retrofit the existing stormwater system on the property and there are unanswered questions regarding what are “essential” public facilities. Anyone that has been stuck in our daily gridlock realizes that our traffic infrastructure needs to be fixed before we build another “campus”!
Op/Ed from WIAA: Biggest Challenge Facing High School Sports: Parents & Adult Fans
Inappropriate adult behavior at high school athletic events in Washington has reached epidemic proportion.
When more than 2,000 high school athletic directors were asked in a recent national survey what they like least about their job, 62.3% said it was “dealing with aggressive parents and adult fans.”