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NEWS ARTICLES

"Area legislators set goals" - Rep. Kirk Pearson is at the forefront of an effort to toughen sex offender laws. If you would like to contact the legislators named in this article -- or any House or Senate member, click here for info.

OTHER "STUFF"

DISCUSSION, OPINION & MESSAGE FORUM

G.R.I.T.'s 2002 RECORDING WARS
(When the City tried to stop G.R.I.T. from recording public meetings, with the help of the Boucher Clan, then-Mayor C. H. Rowe, and others..)

FOOD BANK: Put a pre-addressed food bank envelope in your "bills to pay" folder and send a check monthly: $5, $10, whatever you can spare!
For more info, click here.

Previously-posted Information this subject: UPDATE: 12/7/05 Seattle Times article on this subject. The County Council will be seriously considering Alternative 3, which is the high population scenario, without proper public noticing and despite the county's out-of-control growth. It will also consider and approve/reject this council's proposed FCC ordinance, which both the City of Sultan and the U. S. 2 Safety Coalition have both rejected, via formal resolutions. (It certainly appears that not only the county council, but Co. Exec Reardon have already made up their minds that the county should grow as fast and as large as it possibly can. We're reminded of Cinderella's Ugly Stepsisters' words of wisdom as they greedily tried to force-fit their too-big feet into the too-tiny slipper: "I'll just MAKE it fit!" )

It has taken us a little while, but in order to refresh everyone's memory about the $300,000 in city interfund loan balances (which is a main source of the Auditor's concerns), here is a transcription (and audio) of two excerpts from that Nov. 10th workshop (in Word, pdf), as well as an excerpt from the Auditor's exit review report to the council on Feb. 25, 2004. and here is the Auditor's financial report given that evening, in which the interfund loans were addressed.

And while we're on the subject of the 2006 budget, here is the handout of information distributed at the Nov. 10th and Nov. 16th workshops. There is a 6:00 PM Hearing this evening on the city's proposed budget for 2006.

• 11/2: Notice of Decision on the Huber 1st Street property (in Word, Acrobat)
• 10/31: Vodnick's "Brickyard" Notice of Application, a 23-single family unit PUD on 4.77 acres at the top of the Sultan Basin hill, bordering the south boundary of Eagle Ridge. (This legal notice was not sent to us as required -- as a party of record -- and was not yet posted on the City's website as of the morning of 11/1/05.)
• BLA #05-004 York-Davies Boundary Line Adjustment just south of York's recently-completed Rosewood Estates community on 124th St. SE (The city did not send us this legal, but they did post it on their website.) PARCEL MAP of the properties involved. We present this map with a caution that the source was the Assessor's online SCOPI site, for which they essentially disavow any legal warranty as to its accuracy.
• Barmon Lumber's Determination of Non-significance for his 12,000 s.f. building (The City did not send us this legal, either, but they did post it on their website.)

Related to above article:

• Unfortunately, the issue of ethics concerning Green's and Dalmasso's actions as PC members has now become a moot point: Tom Green has transferred ownership of his property to Barclays for development of 114 homes (L43-1 Greens, L.L.C.), and Dalmasso is running for council against a completely unknown candidate without a chance of winning because of Dalmasso's name recognition.
• LEGAL NOTICE for Wed., Oct. 19th Hearing on the above-referenced Tom Green property(ies) before Sultan Hearing Examiner John Galt (in Word, Acrobat), appealing a City administrative decision.

What is wrong with this picture? The City has clearly taken a wring-their-hands-wailing-"We did not know this development was coming"-position on the issue of planning for sewer capacity. Well, what did the council and mayor think would happen as they recommended, then approved, a steady parade of developer-friendly codes over the past two to three years, along with a Comprehensive Plan carrying an explosively-bloated UGA area? Pul-eeze! At least give voters and taxpayers credit for more brains than that. When you actively engage in attracting, courting, encouraging and soliciting developers to build here, what is the result? Ignorance is not bliss, it is expensive -- to the taxpayers of Sultan in direct-pay-taxes for needed infrastructure, and to all taxpayers across the county, state and country in the form of the grants required to sustain Sultan's addiction to low-hanging funds from temporary permit fees from long-term development.

Bottom line: How could a sewer plan be approved in November, 2004 for one development scenario (lower growth), then only two months later in January, 2005 during the City Council Retreat, see the City Administrator/City Planner present a slide show advising the council of 1,000-plus homes in the next few years, and not realize there was a problem with the sewer capacity until August, 2005? The answer, my friends, is, at a minimum, misfeasance. Although Mayor Tolson has been doing his best (and succeeding, to some extent) to make up for many years of serious mistakes and purposeful overisghts by previous mayors and councils, he has allowed to go unchecked a serious problem within the city staff that needs to be corrected immediately before more long-term financial damage is done. (WE WILL POST DOCUMENTS SHORTLY ON THE STATUS OF THE SEWER TREATMENT PLANT CURRENT CAPACITY.)