October 12 - 18, 2017
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Blaine City Council Medicare open enrollment Blaine cross country team candidate Q&As, page 6 begins this month, page 8 preps for postseason, page 15
Electronic sign proposed for senior center
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Birch Bay State Park visitors give new playground a whirl
B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e
(See Sign, page 2)
s Last month, Birch Bay State Park got a new playground. On October 7, Friends of Birch Bay State Park hosted a grand opening and more than 50 people stopped by to celebrate, said vice president Linda Kiens. “We were absolutely thrilled,” she said. Several donors came forward to help finance the project including, Blaine Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2, Friends of Birch Bay State Park, the Washington State Parks Foundation, the Washington State Park System and BP.
School district looks at future infrastructure needs By Oliver Lazenby Though its still in the middle of $45 million in construction projects, the Blaine school board is ready to consider what facilities projects to take on next. At an October 5 special meeting, the school board asked superintendent Ron Spanjer to establish a committee to review facility needs that are too expensive to tackle with money from the district’s general fund. Spanjer didn’t want to speculate on what the committee might come up
with, but said possibilities include painting and reroofing school gyms, improving the high school stadium and acquiring property in Birch Bay for future school buildings. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there were seven or eight key needs that come up in that discussion,” Spanjer said. “There may be smaller scale pieces that come into consideration – parking lot resurfacing could be an example of that.” Any contingency money left over from the current bond will likely go toward improvements to the stadium grandstands,
Get to know general election candidates at upcoming forums B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e Just days remain before general election ballots arrive in mailboxes across the county. Two forums will answer voters lingering questions including one in Birch Bay at 7 p.m. on Thursday, October 12 at Birch Bay Bible Community Church, 4460 Bay Road and another in Blaine at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 17 at the Blaine Senior Center, 763 G Street. The Birch Bay forum will feature Whatcom County Council at-large candidates Barry Buchanan and Mary Kay Robinson,
Photo by Linda Kiens
Port of Bellingham candidates Dan Robbins, Ken Bell, Barry Wenger and a representative of Michael Shepard, Blaine school district candidate Laura McKinney and fire district 21 candidates Rich Bosman and Larry McPhail. The Whatcom County Jail facilities and use tax and the Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 property tax levy will also be discussed. The audience will have the chance to submit written questions to candidates. The Blaine forum will feature Blaine City Council candidates Charles Hawkins,
Justin Ledesma, Rachel Hrutfiord, H. Paul Greenough, Eric Davidson, Harry Robinson and Alicia Rule and Blaine school district candidate Laura McKinney. Each candidate will have three minutes to make a campaign statement. The Northern Light publisher Pat Grubb will moderate a question and answer period. The public may submit written questions in advance until 3 p.m. October 17; please email editor@ thenorthernlight.com. Questions will also be accepted from the floor. Ballots will be mailed to all Whatcom County voters on Wednesday, October 18.
which – before bids for the project came in almost 20 percent over budget – the district planned to replace with bond money. The facilities committee will meet three times between late October and late November, and provide the board with a summary of overall needs and their costs by mid-December. Those interested in being on the 8-10 member committee should contact the district office. Spanjer wants to make sure the committee is varied and represents the school district’s service areas and interest groups.
Letters . . . . . . . . . 4 Classifieds . . . . . 12 Coming Up . . . . . 14 Police . . . . . . . . . 14 Tides . . . . . . . . . . 14 Sports . . . . . . . . . 15
INSIDE
Blaine City Council tabled discussion about an electronic sign for the H Street community center after listening to residents’ concerns about the potential price, use and safety impacts of the project during a public hearing on October 9. The proposed 9-12 foot electronic video display sign would be located at the Blaine community and senior center on H Street. Since the sign is electronic, approval is required from the Blaine City Council, which extended the public hearing to the next regular meeting on Monday, October 23. At that time, they can vote on whether to approve the project. The sign would display event information and community service messages. In August, the city council approved a midyear budget adjustment, which allocated $20,000 for the sign, per the request of the city manager’s office. A sign that could be manually adjusted, for example, would cost about $7,000, said Blaine community and development tourism coordinator Debbie Harger. During the public hearing, a handful of residents came forward to express concern, including Alicia Rule, a candidate for Blaine City Council. “The sign is necessary because we need to be an inclusive community,” she said. “I think we could do it in a s A preliminary design less expensive of the electronic sign and more attracproposed for H Street. tive way.” Others questioned the necessity of an electronic sign as well as its potential to distract drivers. Blaine city councilmember Meg Olson stated the proposal was unclear and requested more detail from city staff about the intended use for the sign. Councilmember Paul Greenough expressed similar con-
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