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11/26/2007: "County Told: Define The Problem!"

(Council Subcommittee meets on Orcas to receive input on funding stormwater

The County Council/s Sub-Committee held their second, and last, public meeting on Orcas, and unlike their first meeting held on Veteran’s Day, the attendance was better, but the message from the public was a drawn out echo of the first meeting, namely, “define the problem”.

The general public joined invited members of the past storm water committee to give input, and the council sub committee members Gene Knapp, Rich Peterson and Howard Rosenfeld received an earful from the members that, coming from a wide spectrum of viewpoints, was telling in its consistence in content.

The need to fully define a problem, and then determine the funding need, was repeatedly stressed by those in attendance Near the end of the meeting, Councilman Knapp repeated asked “how do we find out what the problem is? He said “it is going to take someone smarter than me to define this problem”, at which point former stormwater advisory member Brent Snow said “if it’s a big problem to figure out what the problem is, maybe there is no problem”.

Subcommittee Chairman Peterson said the committee has received “an enormous amount of information” and suggested that the next step was for the committee to sit down with the staff and “figure out a game plan”, and then on 27th of November at 10:15 a.m., present a report to the full council for discussion. The meeting on the 27th will not be a workshop or a public hearing, but as is the case with all Council meetings, the public is welcome, and is encouraged to attend.