Carolyn reported before the close of the town meeting that she's been appointed as Sultan's Economic Development Council's liaison to assist in Sultan's marketing efforts.

The 10-9-02 meeting was attended by approximately 30 people, the city doing little to advertise the event, as usual. The prime topics of discussion were: the mayor's and council members' visions for Sultan, impact fees, economic development, honesty in government, preferential treatment, and, of course, the need for full public participation at every level.

Few council members had a clue about their vision for Sultan (I did an online editorial on the subject, if you're interested). Impact fees were hotly contested by Mr. Ed Boucher, loudly proclaiming his opinion to whomever would listen. Councilman Boucher wisely disagreed with his dad on impact fees, having direct experience with problems caused by inadequate funding, Commissioner Dalmasso stated fees are too high as it is and each time they are increased, it increases the price of a new house. I congratulated the Monroe Council for holding the line on their action of last year by maintaining a 25% developer discount rather than the "normal" 50% (at which point Mayor Rowe became animated, stating, "I didn't know impact fees could be discounted," and I swear I saw a cartoon light bulb blink on above his head).

We also found out that Mayor Rowe does not respond to his own email, but assigns that task to his daughter, and that he does not shop at Barmon Hardware/lumber but at Ed's, the downtown hardware store.

Councilman Porter came up with an idea of some merit that a coalition of Sultan businesses be formed to help train and educate young folks to learn a trade.

John Dick was eloquent when entreating the council and mayor to ensure that proper, effective and full notice is given of all city committee meetings, public meetings, hearings and general informational meetings (at which point Editor Coy yelled from the back of the room that this information was always published in his paper, which it is not). Mr. Dick also urged full disclosure of the four-page letter of conditions that Mayor Rowe signed (apparently) but did not write (apparently) that was sent to Chief Walser "ordering" him back to work. It is our understanding that John has also requested from each council member the reasons why they would consider changing the city's official legal paper from the Everett Herald to Mr. Coy's Sky Valley Weekly News.

Dusty was quite a chatter-box and unusually animated. At one point when assessing the performance and attributes of some of his fellow council members, he poked fun at Jeff Everett's gift for seeming to have the exact code or RCW at his fingertips whenever a tricky legal question arises during a hot debate. Dusty called it a "buzz-killer," making it sound like it was a bad thing. At the end of the meeting, Dusty said that the divisiveness must end, an idea whose time has come. Unfortunately, that will never occur until those in power place the voice of the common man on the same level as those who have their economic development wallets open. At the close of the meeting Councilman Boucher said, "I am willing at this point to forgive and forget those people who have attempted to stain my own name and those who have attacked my family." What a strange non sequitur for him to make as a public figure whose family has aggressively attacked past candidates for council as well as those currently on the council, and has written many articles for the SVWN chastising fellow council members, and does so on a regular basis. It's a puzzlement. Makes my head hurt trying to figure out where he's coming from.

Comparative retail sales revenue figures were quoted in a recent council meeting that boasted Granite Falls revenue to be far in excess of Sultan's. The source of the data was a draft report performed by ECI (Evergreen Crescent Initiative), paid for by private interests, according to Planning Commissioner Bart Dalmasso, and it is Not Yet Ready For Prime Time distribution. I requested that he reveal his source and data for that information, as did a Sultan council member, but it's all very hush-hush. Denied the expensive facts and figures from that report, I did a bit of snooping online at DOR (Dept. of Revenue) and OFM (Office of Financial Mgt.) and put together my own little comparison. But despite Mr. Dalmasso's and Mr. Coy's protestations that the gravel-heavy orientation of G.F. does not play into the admittedly-substantial difference between the two cities' revenue, if you take a look at the itsy bitsy study I did (which is posted on the website), performed using free data, I wholeheartedly contest the position they have taken.

Silly thought. But there's an interesting editorial on my website from the Motley Fool that is, at the least, thought provoking.

We have published a clean-up order from DOE about extremely hazardous material in Hoco flats. We also have a brief update on Councilman Porter's EPA hazardous waste problem.

Marysville, which is kind of like Sultan's Sister City because they both share the same legal team (Keithley, Weed, Graafstra and Benson) as its city attorney, sent a survey to its residents to find out their concerns. 84% of the respondents said the population was growing way too fast and 74% said traffic was their most pressing problem. Gee, I wonder if the population growth and the traffic congestion could be linked? Ya think?

Okay, here's the skinny on impact fees. Or at least, part of it. The county sets impact fees for developers. Then they chop 50% right off the top. And then, of course, in order to be "equitable," cities also follow the "standard" discount guideline, one ostensible justification for which is that cities have been sued by developers calling it an "unfair" practice (boo-hoo). But whatever is NOT paid by the developers will -- and I can't stress this enough -- WILL -- be paid by taxpayers later on; taxpayers who have already paid for their kids' schooling, taxpayers who are home-schooling their children; taxpayers who are paying tuition so their kids can go to private school; and taxpayers who have never been married, aren't currently married, nor will ever be married.

But the courageous council of Monroe actually decided to hold the discount at 25% (instead of 50%). Kudos.

But getting back to the City of Monroe… Although most Sultanites are not yet aware, there are approximately 600 single family homes in Monroe's development "pipeline" expected within the next three years. To those living east of Monroe it means at least another 600 peak-hour cars on Rt. 2 and 6,000 additional vehicular trips per day, making traffic even more excruciating than it is now. The state used to help out by paying over 50% in matching funds but now that number is below 30%. Even the portion the state kicks in is now taxpayer money. Growth NEVER pays for itself and ALWAYS costs existing residents.

Back to schools in Monroe… I have heard that the schools' Capital Facilities plan states they will need $43 million over the next six-year period, all of it growth-driven. But the city's current impact fees (sometimes referred to as mitigation fees) will only bring in about $2 million over that period. Taxes will have to make up the remainder.

A recent nationwide sprawl report offered the Issaquah School district as an example of the Growth Gap between the true cost of educating children and what's paid by new homebuyers. Issaquah found that providing education cost $18,600 for each new S.F. house. However, the impact fees paid by developers (and generally passed onto the home buyer) ranged from a piddly $1,100 to $6,140.

Yep. Mr. Coy has suddenly become pro-business -- especially downtown Main Street business -- and in the last issue he printed ads that looked suspiciously like they didn't belong in his paper. So I called Judy Perkins of that great store, the Touch of Class, and asked her about it. She told me that she neither requested that ad, nor wishes to have one of her ads appear in Mr. Coy's paper. But I wonder why the sudden keen interest in Main Street? Probably doesn't have anything to do with trying to win back lost advertisers or currying favor with the city for business, I guess.

Good news for the mayor, and few others, is that Jennifer Bates has taken a job with a Klamath Falls daily, leaving coverage of Sultan by the Monroe Monitor & Valley News temporarily disadvantaged. We believe it to be a true and significant loss. Jennifer worked hard to get the facts right, despite what Mayor Rowe and other Sultan politicos might wish to believe.

Another loss is Cathy Logg from The Herald due to a personnel realignment. Cathy is the writer who provided such detailed and in-depth reporting during the Chief Walser debacle. She has been replaced by Diana Hefley. We have not yet spoken to Miss Hefley and she's only written two articles about Sultan thus far (both softball issues, one on Sultan's noise ordinance and one on the town meeting wherein she stated we've all buried the hatchet in an unspecified location), so it's far too early to gain insight into Ms. Hefley's ability to address the hard core issues facing Sultan. Time will certainly answer that question.

That's it for now.

Loretta Storm

360-793-6683