G.R.I.T.

Governmental Responsibility, Integrity and Truth

Re: Public Opinion Survey On Future Development in Sultan

Dear Mayor Rowe, Councilmembers and Other Interested Parties:

It has been our plan for the last month or so to make an offer to the City that we believe would resolve many questions facing our community, but have found it difficult to find the time. However, after last week’s presentation by Mr. Kenton Coy and Mr. Ed Boucher, it is clear that our offer of volunteer help cannot be put off any longer.

We are all aware of the serious "labor pains" being experienced as Sultan tries to give birth to a new future. G.R.I.T.’s position is that the City is forging ahead with development, regardless of the desires of the community. We believe we may have a solution, albeit, a partial one -- and perhaps a naïve one considering complexities of the issues -- to resolve some of these questions by asking a simple question: Do the residents of Sultan wish to continue developing at such a break-neck pace? And how much development does Sultan wish to have?

We are offering the community – free of charge – our expertise and the facilities we have available at our disposal, to perform a canvassing of the community via an opinion questionnaire. We are suggesting that if the City will pay for the postage and our out-of-pocket costs (paper, proportionate copier drum and toner use, etc.), we will provide everything else necessary to perform the task of canvassing the community for their opinion.

We suggest a simple survey that could be understood easily by almost anyone, which will focus on one or two simple questions (we have attached a suggestion). This survey should be agreed upon jointly by both the City and G.R.I.T. Once responses have been received, we will also volunteer our services in collating the responses, if the City feels comfortable with that; otherwise, we could work jointly with City staff. While we understand that the City sent out a survey last year to residents, there were only 375 responses, and the cover letter sent with it did not state any clear purpose or reason for it, giving residents little motivation to reply. We would propose a small committee be formed to work out the details and implement this without delay.

We believe this to be an urgent matter. How can we forge a common future designed to meet taxpayers’ needs in an environment of constant conflict? We strongly believe that unless we determine how most of Sultan’s citizens feel about the level at which development is occurring here in Sultan, the conflict will escalate. G.R.I.T. is prepared to work actively to achieve a cooperative result.

We are offering another carrot to the City: If the results of this survey reflect a strong pro-development desire among the people of Sultan, we will "close up shop" and go away.

Sincerely,

Ray Kistenmacher Loretta Storm

On a scale of 1 to 10, indicate your desire by placing a perpendicular slash along the line below to show what you would like for Sultan in the future.

[note: in the original letter, a line with numbers from 1 to 10 is shown. It did not translate well to our webpage. Sorry!]

Indicate with a numeral #1 through #5, your preference for the types of businesses you’d like to see within the commercial area along the north and south sides of Route 2 east of Sultan Basin Road. We request that you give all five preferences. This will ensure a more accurate result when tabulating all the responses. Thank you.)

Professional Office Buildings #______

Retail/Shopping #______

Hotel/Motel Facilities #______

Factories and Industrial Facilities #______

Recreational/Tourist Facilities #______