ISLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS - MINUTES OF MEETING
REGULAR SESSION
- JANUARY 3, 2000
The Board of Island
County Commissioners (including Diking Improvement District #4) met in Regular
Session on January 3, 2000, at 9:30 a.m.,
Island County Courthouse Annex, Hearing Room, Coupeville, Wa., with Wm. L. McDowell,. Chairman, William F. Thorn, Member and Mike Shelton,
Member, present.
VOUCHERS AND PAYMENT OF BILLS
The following
vouchers/warrants were approved for payment by unanimous motion of the
Board:
Year 2000
Voucher/ War. #:
65843-65866……………$162,428.53
Year 1999
Voucher/War. #:
65685-65841……………$ 68,017.28
Hiring
Requests & Personnel Actions
By unanimous motion,
the Board approved two personnel action
authorizations:
142/99 Engineering Tech
III/Critical New Position 1/3/00
Areas/BMP monitoring #2225.02
145/99 Corrections Officer #4015.02 Replacement 4/4/00
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN WSU AND ISLAND
COUNTY TO REFLECT
CURRENT AMOUNT OF FUNDS
BUDGETED FOR THE YEAR 2000
The Board, by
unanimous motion, approved Appendix
“A”, annual modification to the Memorandum of Agreement between Island
County and Washington State University,
to reflect Island County’s share for
the year 2000.
COMMENTS AND CLARIFICATION WITH REGARD TO ORDINANCE
#C-154-99 ADOPTED DECEMBER 20, 1999 - ADDITIONAL 2%
HOTEL/MOTEL EXCISE TAX
Chairman McDowell
recalled that the County passed an
ordinance on December 20, 1999, Ordinance C-154-99, establishing and levying an
additional 2% special excise tax on
lodging for tourism promotion. Part of
the ordinance stipulated that the two cities and the town needed to pass the
tax in 1999.
Concerning adoption
and implementation of the additional
2% excise tax effective December 31, 1999, Commissioner Shelton moved
that the Board acknowledge that the cities of Oak Harbor and Langley, and the
town of Coupeville, have passed 2% additional
Hotel/Motel tax in 1999 on the following dates:
Oak Harbor November 3, 1999
Langley December 15, 1999
Coupeville November 22, 1999
Commissioner Thorn
seconded the motion.
Under discussion,
Commissioner Thorn pointed out that Langley’s adoption was an additional 1%, for a total of 2%.
Motion, as made and seconded, carried unanimously.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES CONTRACT BETWEEN ISLAND COUNTY AND
REID MIDDLETON, INC., FOR LIBBEY BEACH SHORE PROTECTION
Lee McFarland,
Assistant Director, GSA, requested the Board’s approval on Professional Services Contract
#RM-PARK-99-0098, with Reid Middleton, Inc., for final design and permitting
for Libbey Beach Shore Protection, in the amount of $58,000. He confirmed that the contract had been reviewed by the Deputy Prosecutor and Risk
Manager.
By unanimous motion, the Board approved Professional
Service Agreement #RM-PARK-99-0098 with Reid Middleton, Inc. as presented.
CONTRACT BETWEEN ISLAND COUNTY AND WYNDHAM DESIGN
REGARDING WILKINSON ROAD CLOSURE
The Board approved, by
unanimous motion, a Contact with Wyndham Design, Inc., Renton, for the
Wilkinson Road Closure project, under CRP 99-01, in the amount of $27,686.75, per bid awarded 12/20/99.
Public Input. The Public input portion of the
meeting opened at 10:00 a.m., with approximately 7 people in attendance,
identified as representing various veterans organizations.
Al
Siebecke, Concrete, Wa., a member of the Disabled
American Veterans of Oak Harbor, VFW and the Fleet Reserve, advised there were
seven nationally charted veterans
organizations within in Island
County: 2 – VFW; 2- American Legion; 1- Fleet Reserve;
1-Disabled American Veterans; and 1-American Ex-Prisoner of War .
Mr. Siebecke
believed WAC 73.08.010 clearly spelled
out that the responsibility for the
Veteran’s Relief Fund and voucher
rested with the commanders of
the veteran’s service organizations.
He was given to understand that in Island County, some of the members of
the Veterans Committee are not veterans.
The DAV wrote two letters to the Commissioners in the last two months
raising questions on the Veterans Funds, but have yet to receive an
answer. He expressed concern about the
lack of levies for the Veterans Fund, only one levy in three years.
He has served on
the Skagit County Veterans Advisory Council and is familiar with how the system works. As of November, Skagit County served 800
people. The veterans population of Skagit County is 11,500, and in Island
County, 9,500 [based on latest census
data from Washington Department of
Veterans Affairs]. He did not believe
the veterans were being served in Island County. Island County is so restrictive that the fund is not being used
and the veterans are not being served, and the County should be tied into a
social network to serve veterans.
He understood it had never been the purpose of this Board to deny
veterans rights under the Act and appreciated the help the Board had
provided, and acknowledged it was up to
the veterans organizations to be aware of this matter. The problem he believes is that the system established in Island County does not meet
the needs of veterans.
Mr. Siebecke is in the process of conducting a
meeting of the seven veterans organizations
in order to discuss and come up
with proposed policies and procedures
for administering the fund and a veterans committee responsive to the
commanders of the veterans organizations.
Again, he stressed that the administration and committee should be
responsible to the national service organizations; input from posts and
chapters reflected in the committee overseeing the fund.
James E. Burrell,
Oak Harbor, past Commander, VFW Post 7392, was very appreciative of the work
the commission has done and how responsible they are. He suggested that what was needed was to improve the relationship and perhaps get
more veteran input into the decision-making process, with the possibility of
creating a social worker position involved with contacts in the community to
get the information out that this fund
is available to those who need it. At
the monthly Post meeting tonight, he will discuss interaction with the Opportunity Council and ask the
service officer attend the up-coming
staff session with the Board.
Gordon Hines,
Oak Harbor, Jr. Vice Commander, DAV Chapter 47, Oak Harbor, pointed out that under R.C.W. 73.08.010, composition of the veterans committee administering the
Fund is to be comprised of members appointed
by Commanders of the seven
veterans service organizations, subject
to approval by the County Commissioners.
In effect, the County Commissioners establish the levy and the Veterans
Committee administers the fund.
Bert Erwin, DAV Chapter 47, Oak Harbor, handles the veterans relief claims on behalf of the chapter and felt
that the fund could be used better than
at present. Criteria for use of the
fund needs to be changed and should be discussed at the up-coming staff
session to expand the fund and the use
of the fund.
Once a proposal has
been prepared, Chairman McDowell
invited Mr. Siebecke to contact his office to schedule a date and
time for presentation and round-table discussion during one of the regularly
scheduled staff sessions, a first or third Wednesday. He hoped that all service officers would attend.
Mr. Siebecke agreed,
and noted his intent would be to have representatives from the seven veterans
agencies, and have a consensus of
opinion .
HEARING SCHEDULED: ORDINANCE #C-01-00 [PLG-001-00] TECHNICAL
AMENDMENTS TO ISLAND COUNTY ZONING ATLAS
As presented by Phil
Bakke, Planning Director, the Board by unanimous motion, scheduled a Public
Hearing on January 24, 2000 at 2:45 p.m., to consider scheduled to
consider Ordinance #C-01-00
[PLG-001-00] concerning technical amendments to the Island County Zoning
Atlas, Map #277, 472, 793, 347 and
138.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
The
Board met in Executive Session at 1:30 p.m., as allowed under R.C.W. 42.30.110
(1) (i) to discuss with special legal counsel litigation, or potential
litigation. The Chairman anticipated
that the meeting would last approximately 45 minutes and did not think an
announcement would be made in open public session on completion.
There being no further business to come
before the Board at this time,
meeting adjourned 2:15 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled
for January 10, 2000 at 9:30 a.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
ISLAND COUNTY, WASHINGTON
______________________________
Wm.
L. McDowell, Chairman
_______________________________
William
F. Thorn, Member
_____________________________
Mike
Shelton, Member
ATTEST:
___________________________
Margaret
Rosenkranz, Clerk of the Board