Friday, December 27, 2013
WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM
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of notifying affected property owners. The policy officially goes into affect Jan. 1. The fire district prepared letters and information that was mailed to the roughly 400 households affected by the new policy. The packets had information about the new policy and a check list for engineers to use when inspecting structures. It also will include an explanation to homeowners about the policy. The district is now beginning to place the prier signage on those bridges that have been inspected.
New superintendents at Bremerton and CK districts This year, two local school districts got a makeover in the superintendent department. Central Kitsap School District welcomed Hazel Bauman as the new face for the district, and Bremerton schools brought on native Aaron Leavell. “My role is to improve teaching and learning,” said Bauman, who began her interim work with CKSD in early July. “Children come to school each day to learn and there is so much to learn. We have to make sure that we
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ers.” The leaflets that the workers passed out said “Our patients matter” and went on to note, “Right now, we are in contract negotiations with our employer, and wanted to let you know that it has been difficult to reach a compromise.” The main issues the workers cited on the leaflets are safe working shifts and not being forced to work 12-hour shifts, affordable health care and “the right to participate in our union.” At one point Thursday morning, Bremerton police received a call from Harrison Hospital security, said BPD Capt. Tom Wolfe.
present that in an engaging and exciting way so that they are turned on to learning.” Bauman came to the Central Kitsap district with nearly 40 years in education, the last 29 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where she was superintendent for the past five years. She replaced Greg Lynch, who took a superintendent position with the Olympic Educational Service District 114. Bauman recently told the school board she’ll stay on an additional year while the board searches for a permanent superintendent. She also is committed to helping the district find it’s next superintendent. Leavell replaced Lester “Flip” Herndon who announced with little notice he’d be leaving by Aug. 31, just in time for the new school year. “I’m looking forward to the upcoming year,” said Leavell at the time he took the job. “I’m elated. This is a very exciting time for me and the Bremerton School District.” Leavell first started his teaching career in 1997 in the Bremerton School District, and he was born and raised in Kitsap County.
City expands conference center on waterfront After substantial debate, the city council “What we did is we spoke to our city attorney’s office and just asked for them to give us some guidance about the best way to address the situation,” Wolfe said. “There can be some gray areas when it comes to public areas and private businesses and you have to tread kind of lightly.” Wolfe said that officers didn’t witness “any acts they felt were an issue at all. It was pretty low-key.” He said officers then spoke with “upper management” at Harrison. “The understanding was that as long as they didn’t block access to or from the hospital or aggressively approach people they were welcome to stay and hand out their pamphlets,” Wolfe said.
decided to forge ahead with a $1.1 million, 6,750-foot expansion of the Kitsap Conference Center at the Bremerton Harborside District. Using a $400,000 grant from the Kitsap Public Facilities District and borrowing $500,000 from its own Equipment Rental and Revolving Fund, the city negotiated a $15-per-square-foot lease with Kitsap Transit for third floor space that had sat vacant for ten years. Kitsap Transit also agreed to forego four years worth of rent in lieu of tenant improvements by the city. In addition, the agreed to contribute $200,000 worth of improvements for the project, most of which entails elevator improvements to the site. Supporters of the expansion said that conservative estimates show that the expanded conference center will bring in an additional $500,000 in revenue every year through larger and longer conferences.
Government shutdown hits Kitsap County hard The Oct. 1 to 17 shutdown of the federal government hit Kitsap County particularly hard. Approximately 3,500 workers at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility were furloughed, but the shutdowns affects were felt beyond the yard. At Naval Base Kitsap, 97 of 453 civilian employees were furloughed and at Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest, “137 employees will be receiving a furlough letter sometime today,” public affairs officer Leslie Yuenger said on the day of the shutdown. Congressman Derek Kilmer bemoaned the shutdown and announced he would give up his pay for the duration of the shutdown. “The fact that some WE HAVE T H E
Kevan Moore/Staff photo
A trio of runners were among more than 100 local residents who gathered at the Silverdale Waterfront Park to honor those who were injured and killed in the Boston bombings. in Congress would risk a shutdown in order to score political points demonstrates why Congress is currently held in lower regard than head lice,” Kilmer said. “I’m voluntarily giving up my own pay during this shutdown because I believe in leading by example. Unfortunately, many federal employees in our region unfortunately won’t have a say about losing theirs. They’ll be furloughed and lose pay through no fault of their own. These employees and the folks who depend on their work deserve better.”
School board candidate faced theft charge When Wendy Stevens announced her candidacy for the Bremerton school board, it was clear she had a lot of strong support. Despite disappearing from her home in the middle of the campaign, spending a weekend in jail and facing a first-degree theft charge, that support remained strong. Even though she ultimately lost the race to Ally Rotter, Stevens earned 3,092 votes, or 36.3 percent, compared
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to Rotter’s 5,318 votes, or 62.5 percent. In a probable cause statement, Bremerton police laid out 14 findings, alleging that Stevens forged several checks and stole $8,061.27 from the Naval Avenue Elementary PTA while serving as its president. Several of the checks appeared to have the signature of Stevens’ husband, Jason, but he denied signing them or having any knowledge of them. A friend of Stevens’ told investigators that Stevens estimated she had embezzled between $9,000 and $10,000 to make mortgage payments and buy things for her children. Police laid out 8,061.27 in documented thefts. Stevens, though, ultimately made a deal with prosecutors for deferred prosecution. As part of the deal, Stevens had to repay the money and will perform community service. Stevens also did not have to admit any guilt.
Bremerton mayor cruised to re-election In Nov e mb e r, Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent cruised to re-election to a second term this
year, earning 5,015 votes, or 66.3 percent of the total. That was nearly a two-to-one margin over her opponent, political newcomer Todd Best, who earned 2,496 votes, or 33 percent of the total. Lent described her win in an election night victory speech as a landslide, but acknowledged that she had been nervous ever since Best signed up as a candidate just 25 minutes before the filing deadline back in May. “Because I didn’t know why he registered,” Lent said. “But it forced me to be on my game and do even more representation. That’s where I’ve been all these last few months.” Lent thanked her supporters and promised bigger and better things to come in her second term. “With all the things we’ve done from day one, this is more than those numbers reflect,” she said of her win. “This means we’ve got a bright future and we’ve got exciting things that you will not believe are going to happen in the next four years.”
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