Brief S ummary of Highlkights from May 25th Council Meeting: (Sultan Council Agenda (in Word, Acrobat) - A presentation was made by Rick Cisar (assisted by Barclays North's Donnie Belk) on the petition to annex 60-acres-plus (Van Wyngarten LLC/Barclays North) adjacent to and bordering the Pleasantview community at the southwest corner of 132nd and Sultan Basin Road. One resident (who would be forced to be included in this annexation if it occurs) stated she only received a one-week notice of the petition/meeting; another adjoining property owner stated she received no notice at all. Cisar said no legal notice was required for the adjoining property owner. (Of interest: The fiscal impact stated on the Action Agenda Explanation Sheet is "staff time," and mentions that the applicant has paid the $1,100 applicaiton fee. We wonder how staff time is calculated and charged against that $1,100 fee, and how any credit or debit is expensed against it.)

A presentation by the City's insurer (Paul Harrison, Canfield & Associates) was a refresher course for new council members, perhaps, and was -- perhaps coincidentally or not -- a timely reminder to the City regarding liability-susceptible decisions: A little girl from Willow Run bravely shared with the council and assembly her story: She was bitten by a dog known to be dangerous. Unfortunately, police were unable to respond due to a simultanteous situation involving a serious and violent beating assault situation. Sgt. Shelton reported perp had been apprehended; our thanks to Mayor Tolson for correcting our previous erroneous statement posted early yesterday morning.). Another "no-brainer" liability issue is the condition that will exist just below the crest of the steep slopes of the Sultan Basin Road hill, where the Timber Ridge northern (upper) driveway is located only 150 feet from its crest. (We received John Galt's decision yesterday which contains his unwise conclusion that there will be no problem with this situation. We hope not. We HATE being "right" after the fact, when it comes to this sort of Casandra warning.) This plat layout should mever has been accepted by the City. We will be posting the audio for this meeting a lot quicker than the previous meeting.

"There he goes again...." - Councilman Jim Flower added Wagley Creek as a Discussion Agenda item. Below is his statement, and a small portion of the council discussion that ensued:

TRANSCRIPTION OF SOME OF FLOWER'S COMMENTS: "Wagley Creek is not a creek. It was originally put there by commercial interests in 1806. I have documentation to that effect. I have an 1883 survey report and an 1883 topographic map that shows it not going any farther east than the Basin Road. I have a 1917 U.S. Geological Survey map tha shows it in its present location. I also have History of Sultan book which verbally speaks about the way the DITCH was built in 1906 using pick axes. What I'm getting at is I belive that this has become increasingly a financial burden on the city, in that the Army COrps of Engineers has designated this DITCH a salmon-bearing creek. And I would like the city to consider a resolution that would petition the Amry Corps of Engineers to take that back. What we're talking about here is 29 acres of property in our Scenic Industrial Park that's used as buffer zone for this glorified creek. And it is valuable property that could be a financial boon to us. And as a businessman, I see the value of the elusiveness of the property owners to develop that as they should, and as a practical nature, I guess at this point I'd like to call a DITCH a DITCH. And I think that we can at least make an effort to approach the Army Corps of Engineers to revisit this issue, becuase possibly they did not have that information when this determination was made; possibly they have erred. And bringing this documentation to light, I believe we should try. And I'd like to hear from the council some of their thoughts." Kristin Blair put everything into perspective, with her question: "Regardless of how it was created, is there salmon activity currently in Wagley Creek? Documented?" And Councilman Flower (in an honest, but alarmingly-uninformed manner, responded: "I can't answer that." (Mayor Tolson then commented, "Yes. There is.")