Island Guardian

Friday, January 27th

County Can Add Members To Board Of Health

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(JoAnn Campbell, Dr. Thomas Locke & John Manning at CC)

Under the old "Road Commissioner" form of government in Washington, County Commissioners also sat as the County Board of Health -never mind that they may be untrained and inexperienced in such matters- but under the Charter form of government the County Council may now reach out to the community of experts -retired or still active- that reside in San Juan County, and appoint one or more to sit with them on the new Board of Health.

Dr. Thomas Locke is the Chair of the Washington State Board of Health, and the Health Officer for both Clallam and Jefferson Counties, and at the request of John Manning, The Director of SJC Health & Community Services, he and Manning came before the Council and suggested that now that the Charter allows them to do so, our local Board of Health may wish to appoint additional people to the Board. Dr. Locke gave a short history of the expansion of the Boards in Clallam & Jefferson, and reviewed the aspects of state law that dictate that the majority of the members must be elected officials, but that additional members can be appointed.

Councilman Ranker suggested a new Board be comprised of four members from the County Council, one from Town of Friday Harbor, and one member at large; perhaps from Orcas or Lopez.

Chairman Lichter also supported the concept as an opportunity for the Board to have special talents, but suggested the Board wait for the return of fellow Councilman Myhr to make a final decision.

Dr. Locke pointed out that the Board can both create, and un-create a Board, so the Council can modify the structure at anytime.

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Thursday, January 26th

County Fire Marshal Job Handed Back To CD&PD

ig_Bill_McLaughlin-1 (18k image) (Chief McLaughlin presenting proposal last December to BOCC)

SJI Fire District 3 Chief Bill McLaughlin has announced the Fire District will no longer perform the duties of the County Fire Marshal. At the end of last year, Chief McLaughlin appeared before the Board of County Commissioners Previous Story to ask them to move on adopting new codes and user fees to support the role of the Fire Marshals position to include fire code inspections beyond what the County has performed in the past.

As an example of the need for such inspections, and fees to pay for them, the Chief reminded the Board of an apartment fire in Friday Harbor, that had spread from one attic area to another, due to a lack of proper fire walls in the attics, and had there been a program in place that did inspections -some of them yearly- the probable impacts of the fire may have been much less.

While Commissioner Myhr expressed concerns of what hardships an expanded inspection program -and new fees to support it- might create for the public, he agreed the County should take a look at it. A draft ordinance has now been presented, and a public hearing has been scheduled, Previous Story but there has no staff report on what the impacts of the ordinance might be for the public; or if there has been a report, The Guardian is not aware of it.

In the meantime, a contract that had appointed San Juan Fire District 3 Fire Chief Bill McLaughlin as the Fire Marshal for SJ County came to an end on December 31. And according to a press release by Fire District Three, "negotiations between the County and the Fire District to continue the contract have ended….Under the terms of the agreement, the County was required to set the adoption of the International Fire Code as part of the San Juan County Code for public hearing by October 31. Failure to adopt the IFC and user fees to support the position left the position unfunded as of January 1, 2006. The County is required to provide the services under state law (RCW 48.48 and RCW 19.27)".

As a result of the lack of action by the County to renew the contract, San Juan Fire District 3 has stated they will now "refer all fire code plans reviews and inspections back to the County Department of Community Development and Planning."

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Wednesday, January 25th

PC Still Unimpressed With Proposed ADU Ord

No Decisions Reached, Work On Ord To Continue

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(Planning Commissioners Williams, Warren, Pratt, Chair Agosta & Kaill -Thomas & Adams not shown- ready for workshop)

The second workshop on the proposed draft ordinance by the former BOCC that was sent to the PC (Planning Commission) for their review and comment, was held on Friday the 20th of January. The first hearing (Previous Story) did not bode well for the ordinance the former BOCC and the Friends of the San Juans had drafted in lieu of awaiting the Court of Appeals decision on the basic question of can, or cannot, the County allow freestanding accessory dwelling units on property that does not have the underlying density requirement for two freestanding homes.

After a short laundry list from staff as to some of the questions that were raised by the public and the Planning Commissioners at the last hearing, the workshop was opened up for public comment, followed by the PC discussion:

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Tuesday, January 24th

Pro Tem Is On The Job

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(David Goldsmith Meets With County Council & Auditor)

The County Administrator is on the job. Well, at least the temporary one -the pro tem- is, while the search continues to find an administrator that is willing to take on San Juan County government on a full time basis.

Pro tem Goldsmith sat down with Council Chair Lichter, member Ranker (Councilman Myhr is on vacation), council staff, and Auditor Stephens on Monday morning to go over some of the details and protocols of his new job; and the ramification of the diminishing of the Council's responsibilities.

Councilman Ranker told Goldsmith he would like to have the County Administrator's primary staff person selected, and up to speed, prior to the hiring of the permanent Administrator. But Chairman Lichter suggested it would be best to let the current county staff and Goldsmith work out the details and timing of staffing. Another area of uncertainty for the new government now that the district lines have changed as a result of moving from three to six elected positions for the Council, is the ongoing issues of appointed boards. According to Ranker half of the appointed committees are now vacant.(Correction Ranker has informed us that half of the committees are not vacant (only 14 are) & that he was only stating the obvious that half of the Council is vacant -Our mistake)

County Auditor Stephens went over the signing of contracts with the Council, outlining the rules that will control the limits department heads will have on the contract amounts they may authorize, and who will have to approve the amounts. It was clear that the process of transition is ongoing, and is not expected to be complete until the full time Administrator is hired; in part because the Pro Tem Administrator simply does not have the same powers and responsibilities that the County Administrator will possess.

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Monday, January 23rd

New Codes, Permit Fees & Penalties Proposed

Criminal & Civil Penalties for Violations of Codes

The CC (County Council) will hold a public hearing on a proposal to adopt the International Building Codes and to also increase across the board the cost of obtaining building and land use permits, so that the fees will "better reflect the cost of services". And while there at it, they also propose to allow local Fire District 3 to "impose fees sufficient to pay the cost of inspections, administration, and enforcement…and. permits local fire districts to assume responsibility for administering Fire Codes".

In short, the proposal increases all fees associated with land and building development, and the grants of new authority to the Fire District to collect fees to perform inspections and follow-up inspections, and includes a new section that proposes fines (up to $1,000.00 a day) and jail time (up to 90 days) for violating any provision of the codes.

The hearing will begin at 1:30 p.m., Tuesday February 7, at the Council Hearing Room, in the Court House, with the Council receiving Staff and public input on the ordinance that will adopt the new Codes, which include: the 2003 International Building, Residential, Mechanical, Fuel Gas, Fire, Plumbing, Wa Energy, Wa Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality, Wa Manufactured Home Installation Requirements; Wa Factory Built Housing and Commercial Structures Installation Requirements; Wa Historic Building Code; Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings, and also adopt State required amendments and additions to these codes, along with administration procedures and violation penalties.

The new Fee Schedules hearing will begin at 2:30 to take comment on and adopt a the new increased fee schedule for services provided by the Community Development and Planning Dept. (CD&P) and Fire District 3.

The Proposed new Schedule of the increase in fees can be viewed by clicking on this link, NEW_FEES.doc (104k file), but a few examples will quickly give the reader a sense of the changes being proposed:

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Thursday, January 19th

Council to Hire Professionals to Find Administrator

After several weeks of advertising on their own, the County Council has accepted the advice of Human Resources Director Becky Rusnak to retain a professional company to aid in the on-going search for a County Administrator. Rusnak told the Council that it may be worth the money if it will help the County locate the right person for the job. Rusnak suggested they use Waldron & Company, the same firm that the County has used in the past, explaining they are primarily in the business of working with counties, and therefore have excellent contacts.

Councilman Myhr inquired what the cost of the service would be, and Rusnak said that the contract for services would be a one-time cost of 25% of the base salary of the applicant, plus some additional administrative and office costs.

Under further questioning by Myhr as to what happens if "We, the County, find someone on our own; do we still have to pay the money to the company"? Rusnak said that if that should occur, the County would only be billed for the hours the company had spent up to that date. She also explained that Waldron guarantees their placement will stay on the job for at least 2 years, or they will do a new search for a replacement, without a charge to the County

Rusnak said the Council should expect the search to take up to 90 days to complete, but it could be less if the right person is found earlier

Councilman Ranker said it that "this appointment (the County Administrator) and the Hearing Examiner, are the two most important appointments this Council will make"

The Council agreed to authorize an appropriation of $35,000.00 to retain Waldron & Company

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Tuesday, January 10th

Taking The Oath To Uphold The Charter

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The elected officials of San Juan County take the oath of office. Only Randy Gaylord, County Prosecuting Attorney, will remain a partisan office. All the other officials are now non-partisan. After the swearing in, the two new County Council members conducted interviews for the Pro-Tem Administrator position. See story below.
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County Council May Appoint Pro-Tem Today

The three former members of the BOCC met on Monday as members of the new CC (County Council), and after the swearing in ceremony, they interviewed two candidates for the newly created position of Pro-Tem Administrator. Much to the relief of many of the former Freeholders who where in attendance, both of the candidates were experienced professionals with a long history of administration experience; and both had, at one point in their careers, been involved with the administration of the Growth Management Act.

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(Richard Thompson intervewed by County Council, with former Freeholders observing)

Richard Thompson was the first to be interviewed, and while the Council was clearly impressed with his experience and contacts at the state level (Administration of DSHS, Chief of Staff for Governor Gardner, Budget Director under Governor Locke,) and also seemed to be pleased with his experience in local government (Interim City Manager of Puyallup, City Manger of Snohomish, and a host of other positions), it became clear near the end of the interview there were some concerns about how much time he would be able to give to the job. Mr. Thompson is a busy man who teaches budget classes at UW; has a contract with the Seahawks, and is also working with the French family's proposal to build a NASCAR track in Washington. It may not have helped his case when he informed the Council that he has been successful in administrating from afar, citing a recent example of using a satellite phone to conduct business while on a two month trip aboard his boat in Alaska.

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(David Goldsmith takes his turn)

Not to be outdone by Thompson, the second candidate was David Goldsmith, who also had some time conflicts, but said within two or three weeks he would be able to dedicate a minimum of four days a week to the job, but under questioning from Council member Ranker pointed out that he would put in the hours necessary to accomplish the job. Like Mr. Thompson, Goldsmith had also retired only to find he is now swamped with work. He currently works for the Washington Counties Risk Pool (the same insurance group SJC is a member of), but in his past life had experience with the GMA, and 30 years of experience at various levels of administration within both state and local government.

The Council has scheduled an excutive session meeting for Tuesday, and it is expected they will make a decision to hire one of the candidates; or appoint an interim-interim Pro-Tem until they find someone, other than one of the two candidates before them, to fill the position

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Friday, January 6th

First Meeting of County Council: Mon, Jan 9

They may have a new name, but for at least the first official meeting of our new CC (get used to seeing "CC", for it stands for County Council), it may appear that nothing has changed. But once the "new" Council members -Lichter, Myhr and Ranker- join the rest of the County Elected Officials in a swearing in ceremony at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, (including a statement to uphold the SJC Charter), they will then take the first step toward a new form of government. Their first action will to secure a new bond for the government, and then the new Council will elect a new Chair and Vice Chair.

Once the administrative matters are out of the way, the first real sign that things are going to be different will begin when the Council's first official action will be to hold two interviews with Candidates for the County Administrator Pro-Tempore position.

The Charter states the position is open to "any qualified person other than a sitting member of the Legislative Body". According to SJC Prosecuting Attorney Randy Gaylord, the Pro Tem position "could have other duties in the County, and could be a department head, a department manager, or a citizen who is qualified"". As can be imagined, there has been much speculation as to who this person may be. The only County employee with past experience is the newly hired head of the CD&PD (Community Development & Planning Department), who has served elsewhere as a County Manager. There are at least two reasons why he may not be interested in the position: his past experience of working for a Board that was not supportive of a County Administrator-Manager concept was not a good one; and more importantly, his department is still running with a backlog of permits to be processed, so his abilities are needed where he is.

The Pro Tem will not have the full powers of the County Administrator, so there has been speculation by Court House watchers that the old BOCC members, who are now the new Council, may not be in any hurry to hire the County Administrator, who will, under the Charter take away most of their power. The Charter gives the Council until May 5, 2006 as the date that the appointment of the Administrator "should" be complete. One cannot fail to note that the word is "should", and not "shall".

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