HomeMy WebLinkAbout030626 Feedback on Community Center RFP and AccountabilityALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them.
Commissioners:
I wanted to reach out and thank you for hearing the Chamber’s application to manage the community centers this week. While I do not agree with your conclusion, I respect that you heard
our arguments before making your decision. Before the experience fades too far into memory, I also wanted to share a few perspectives and some feedback.
The first point I suggest is reframing the county’s approach to an RFP. When constructed thoughtfully and given adequate time, RFPs can be a useful way to gather outside perspective.
Our county offers significant potential to organizations with a wide range of skills. RFPs that lack detail, fail to define how success will be measured, and are issued on rushed timelines
discourage curiosity and serious participation.
At a time when the county’s and the Board’s ambitions far outpace our financial capacity, we need to encourage more creative thinking and broader participation, not less. That requires
more proactive review and greater thoughtfulness than this RFP reflected.
The second theme is best framed as a question: what role will the Board play in addressing the leadership vacuums that exist in our area? Numerous local organizations have been rocked
by serious scandal: the PDA’s insolvency, the disintegration of the former Chamber of Commerce, and even the PUD’s lack of adequate fiscal oversight when it was formed. A clear through-line
in many of these failures is a lack of accountability and meaningful supervision. OlyCAP has openly admitted to disregarding its prior agreement by dissolving boards at the first sign
of disagreement and failing to provide meaningful transparency into its finances or operational performance.
The county plays an outsized role in these matters as a primary source of funding, both directly and as a co-sponsor of grants. As you enter closed-door negotiations with OlyCAP, I urge
you to set standards and establish reporting mechanisms that ensure it does not disregard its contractual obligations again. Advisory boards cannot be optional. They cannot be stacked
with relatives and family members or stripped of meaningful influence. The county must seek their input alongside OlyCAP to ensure both parties are acting responsibly.
As I mentioned to Heather after our discussion Monday, I am a firm believer that remarkable things can be accomplished with clarity of purpose and persistence. These efforts need not
be expensive, but they do require the attention to detail that was missing from this recent RFP. That can change, but it will require strong leadership.
Thank you for your service.
Robert Gash
Brinnon, WA