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HomeMy WebLinkAboutM102708 District No.1 Commissioner: Phil Johnson District No.2 Commissioner: David W. Sullivan District No.3 Commissioner: John Austin County Administrator: Philip Morley Clerk of the Board: Lorna Delaney MINUTES Week of October 27, 2008 Chairman Phil Johnson called the meeting to order at the appointed time in the presence of Commissioner David Sullivan and Commissioner John Austin. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: The following comments were made by citizens: several residents expressed their opinions about the public hearing that the State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) held last week in Quilcene on the proposed Dabob Natural Area Preserve (NAP); a local attorney informed the Board that he has submitted a proposal to the County Administrator regarding indigent defense conflict cases; a person stated his opinion about the current economic crisis; several Port Ludlow residents requested that the Board accept the Planning Commission's recommendation to deny the Comprehensive Plan amendment on the Iron Mountain Quarry Mineral Resource Land (MRL) overlay; a property owner stated that in his opinion the Solid Waste Ordinance regarding junk vehicles is vague and open to interpretation; a citizen stated that he thinks that the projected cost of replacement computers in the proposed 2009 Budget seems inflated; the owner of Security Services Northwest requested that County representatives sit down and talk over the issues that are limiting his current business operations; and a person mentioned that in his opinion the County should go out to bid for all services before the Board signs contracts with vendors. APPROVAL AND ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT AGENDA: Commissioner Austin moved to approve the items on the Consent Agenda. Commissioner Sullivan seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. 1. HEARING NOTICE re: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Application; 2009 Public Service Grant and Close Out ofthe 2008 Public Service Grant; Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP); Hearing Scheduled for Monday, November 10,2008 at 10:30 a.m. in the Commissioners' Chambers 2. RESOLUTION NO. 68-08 re: Intent to Vacate a Portion of County Road Right of Way (Garden Club Road No. 585809) 3. AGREEMENT re: Individual Employment; Jefferson County Public Health; Concerned Citizens of Forks 4. AGREEMENT re: Facilitation and Project Management Services for Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 17 Planning Unit; Jefferson County Public Health; Cascadia Consulting Group 5. AGREEMENT re: Feasibility of Establishing a Coastal Marine Resources Committee; Jefferson County Public Health; Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife Page 1 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of October 27,2008 6. Advisory Board Resignation; Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board; Joan Linderoth 7. Payment of Jefferson County Vouchers/Warrants Dated October 16,2008 Totaling $6,851.33 and Dated October 20,2008 Totaling $601,401.06 8. Payment of Jefferson County Payroll Warrants Dated October 20, 2008 Totaling $94,751.22 and $17,720.31 and Dated October 21,2008 Totaling $643.12 and $110.43 COMMISSIONERS BRIEFING SESSION: The following items were discussed. Commissioner Austin reported: · Several people suggested new ideas to increase bus service and cut costs at the Transit Retreat. · The County's Incident Management Team participated in a statewide simulated tsunami drill last week at the Alternate Emergency Operations Center in Port Townsend. · The Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) Strait Action Area Committee is recommending that funding be made available for the Jefferson County Clean Water District. Commissioner Sullivan reported: · The recommendations from the various PSP Action Area Committees are due on November 6. · He attended the Port Townsend/Keystone Ferry Advisory meeting and they are still working on the Hood Canal Bridge closure mitigation. The maintenance on the Pierce County ferry that is currently operating on the run has been extended to December 31. Pierce County has been asked to request an additional extension of 5 days so the ferry can run through the New Year's holiday weekend. · He attended the DNR's public hearing on the Dabob Natural Area Preserve and he thinks that the residents within the boundary are in favor ofthe NAP. Chairman Johnson reported: · The NAP involves an easement at the County's Broadspit Park and he is concerned about the conditions for use. He plans to do further research. · The City plans to have representatives at the Parks and Recreation "community" meetings on a 20 year plan. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Commissioner Sullivan moved to approve the minutes of October 6, 2008 as presented. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. HEARING re: Budget Appropriations/Extensions: Chairman Johnson opened the public hearing. County Administrator Philip Morley reviewed the details of the budget requests for appropriations and extensions ofthe 2008 Budget for the third quarter of the year. He noted that these items were not anticipated when the budget was adopted in 2007. Page 2 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of October 27,2008 Commissioner Sullivan had a question about whether some of the expenses from Superior Court could come from the Trial Court Improvement Fund. The County Administrator stated that the question was brought up before the meeting and the Clerk of the Board is currently doing the research on it. Auditor Donna Eldridge stated that she is present to support the County Administrator and commended him on the explanation he gave the public. Chairman Johnson opened the public testimony portion of the hearing. He asked that speakers limit their comments to 3 minutes. Tom Thiersch, Jefferson County, stated that he has concerns about the $6,000 for public relations in the County Administrator budget. He realized that this was done by the former Administrator but doesn't think that it is appropriate. He also has a concern about the Public Works and County Parks Improvement request for $15,600 for professional services. He attended the meeting when the Board was briefed about the Parks and Recreation "community" meetings and it was his understanding that the money was already set aside in the current budget. The County Administrator noted that this is an expenditure that was not previously anticipated because the original plan was to use volunteer facilitators. Chairman Johnson mentioned that if the City and County work together there may be grant funding available. Joe D' Amico, Jefferson County, stated that he is on the County's Small Works Roster for security and video surveillance equipment and he does not recall receiving a call for bid on the Superior Court video project. He asked if it was put out for bid and if the company who did the work came in on budget? Chairman Johnson noted that this was an emergency project approved by the Commissioners. Joe D' Amico answered that he rarely gets any notification from the Small Works Roster and the County may want to utilize it more often to save money. Jim Hagan, Cape George, commented that he appreciated the County Administrator's review of the requests. It was not clear in the newspaper whether this was a hearing on the 2008 budget or the proposed 2009 budget. He asked if the second hearing for the 2009 budget has been scheduled? Assessor Jack Westerman also mentioned he read the newspaper and questioned whether this hearing was on the 2009 budget. Mike Belenski, stated that he also appreciated the County Administrator's review and explanation to the public. He was also confused about whether this was a hearing for the 2009 budget. Hearing no further comments for or against the 2008 Budget extensions and appropriations, the Chair closed the public hearing. Page 3 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of October 27,2008 There was a discussion about the Trial Court Improvement Fund. The Auditor suggested options for transferring the money from that fund if it could be used for the project. County Administrator Philip Morley recommended that the Board approve the resolution as presented and any adjustments could be made at a later date. Commissioner Sullivan moved to approve RESOLUTION NO. 69-08 ordering the third quarter budget appropriations/extensions for various County funds. Commissioner Austin seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. HEARING re: Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 20 Watershed Management Plan: Chairman Johnson opened the public hearing. Tami Pokorny, Environmental Health Specialist II, explained that Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 20 covers approximately 1,000 square miles in Clallam County and the westend of Jefferson County. A large portion of this area is undeveloped and the local communities rely on commercial fishing, forestry, and tourism as their main economic sources. She noted that the State Watershed Management Act was adopted in 1998 and focuses on addressing water quantity, water quality, fish habitat, and instream flow. The WRIA 20 Planning Unit, made up of representatives from the City of Forks, Clallam County, the Hoh Tribe, Jefferson County, the Makah Tribe, the Quileute Tribe, the State Department of Ecology, and several stakeholders, began working on the plan in 2001. It was approved in August, 2008. The process requires that both Clallam County and Jefferson County hold a hearing to take public testimony on the plan. Clallam County is the lead agency. They held their hearing on September 23, 2008. The Chair opened the public testimony portion of the hearing. He asked that people limit their comments to 3 minutes. Chris Hempelman, State Department of Ecology, noted that she is pleased to see the WRIA 20 Plan completed. It took a lot of hard work and commitment on the part ofthe Planning Unit. The Watershed Planning Act was designed to maximize local control of water resources. The plan addresses all the critical elements in the Act and goes on to address some of the issues that are very important to the residents in WRIA 20 such as potential out-of-basin transfer of water and ecologic sustainability. It also refers to economic sustainablity, addressing forest practices and keeping forestry on the land. The plan provides the State with guidance when they do instream flow setting. There is a lot of opportunity in WRIA 20 because it is one of the few areas in the State where development and growth haven't gotten ahead of the water resources and the fish stock is not endangered. The plan is a delicate balancing act in many ways but it is a good foundation for future planning and management of water resources. She thanked Tami Pokorny for the work she has done to make the plan a success. John Richmond, Jefferson County, stated that he worked as a citizen stakeholder on the Planning Unit for about 3 ~ years. He thinks it was a difficult process because there was a lack of knowledge about all the resources on the westend such as farming which wasn't included in the first drafts of the plan. Farming is a very important economic issue that has finally been recognized in the plan. It took a lot of hard work by everyone who managed to stay with the process. A lot of the locals bought into the process, but it took so long that many of them dropped out. He thinks that the plan is a fairly good skeleton. However, it will take Page 4 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of October 27,2008 a lot more work to produce something that will be reasonable and useful because it has to benefit both the residents and the fish. There is approximately 140-160 inches of rainfall per year in the area and both people and fish should be able to live there. Ed Bowen, Clallam County, stated that he was also a citizen stakeholder and has invested a lot oftime in the process over several years. He said that he gave similar testimony at the Clallam County hearing. There are 2 issues that will come before the Commissioners in the future. Jurisdiction and the unique situation on the westend is one issue. There are a lot of federal lands and there are people that live there on fee simple property. In the Ozette basin, the plan infringes on that jurisdiction and there is a question about whether it applies there even though it has the verbage to apply. This will also weigh in with the Oil City properties and even more as the boundaries ofthe Olympic National Park are extended into the Hoh Valley. His other comment is about why citizen stakeholders have left the table as the process continued. There were a lot of citizen volunteers in the beginning but the initiating governments got into arguments. As a result, all the volunteer efforts have been taken out of the plan except Appendix C and the public comment. There are a lot of flaws in the current plan because many volunteer comments were identified but are not part of the plan. This has been left over for the implementing body to address. Watershed plans are supposed to be created and handed over to the government to implement. Unfortunately, the WRIA 20 Plan isn't that way. Things will have to be cleaned up during the implementation phase that didn't get addressed or weren't handled adequately during the planning phase. Page 16 ofthe plan lists the jurisdictional issues. Page 33, Section 3.1.3.3, addresses citizen participation. Mike Belenski, Jefferson County, commented on the enforcement ofthe 3 minute public comment limit. He complimented staff on the appearance of transparency of the WRIA 20 process. He asked if any of the Commissioners met individually with staff on this issue? Commissioner Sullivan answered that he contributed often over the past 3 years in the open public process on WRIA 20 as a representative of Jefferson County on the Planning Unit. Hearing no further testimony, Chairman Johnson closed the public hearing. The Board thanked all the participants and staff who worked on the plan. The Board concurred with the WRIA 20 plan. The Clallam County Commissioners and the Jefferson County Commissioners are also required to hold a joint public hearing on the approved plan. The joint hearing is scheduled for November 5, 2008 at I p.m. in Forks at the Department of Natural Resources Olympic Region Office. At that time the Commissioners from both counties will vote on the final plan. The Board met in Executive Session from 11 :00 to Noon with the County Administrator, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, Community Development Director, Planning Manager, and Associate Planner regarding actual litigation, an exemption as outlined in the Open Public Meetings Act RCW 42.30.110 (1 )(i). Page 5 Commissioners Meeting Minutes: Week of October 27,2008 COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR'S BRIEFING SESSION: The following items were discussed. · Projection of returned ballots for the general election. · Allowed uses for the Trial Court Improvement Fund. · Proposed Court Clerk's Office relocation. · Tentative schedule for the IrondalelPort Hadlock Sewer System Design Contract. · City participation in Parks and Recreation forums and the 20 year plan. · Issues regarding the public swimming pool at Mountain View School. · New Jeffcom IT Department. · Duties and responsibilities of the vacant Central Services Director position. · 2009 Budget analysis and schedule. · Mineral extraction tax. · Proposal for indigent defense conflict cases. · Possibility of Peninsula Development Association (PDA) dues in 2009. NOTICE OF ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Austin moved to adjourn the meeting at 3:38 p.m. to the next regularly scheduled meeting. Commissioner Sullivan seconded the motion which carried by a unanimous vote. JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ~~)emc Lorna Delaney, CMC Clerk of the Board '/ prnu~. David W. Sullivan, Member L)Vl n"" A Jo1"UStin,~~ Page 6