NEWS-TIMES WHIDBEY
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2011 | Vol. 120, No. 79 | WWW.WHIDBEYNEWSTIMES.COM | 75¢
Living: Murder of scarecrows flock to Coupeville. A11
Transit director protests audit ‘Phased’ project raises controversy By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Justin Burnett / Whidbey News-Times
Crystal Brazle, a veterinarian with Best Friends Veterinary Center in Oak Harbor, handles an injured peregrine falcon while Tami Barber (center), snaps a photo. Barber found the bird on Waterloo Road nearly two weeks ago. The bird was to be released Thursday, but its injuries were still too severe.
Speedy falcon’s flight test stalls By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
Even for the fastest animal on Earth, the road to recovery can sometimes take longer than expected. Veterinarians from Wildlife Care Clinic in Oak Harbor have been caring for an injured peregrine falcon for nearly two weeks and attempted to release it back into the wild Thursday afternoon. But at the moment of truth, when onlookers were expecting to watch it take off and soar over the horizon, the bird of prey made it clear it needs a little more R&R by refusing to take to the air. Although clinic vets were hoping for a different result, they were only too happy to oblige. Scooping up the falcon as it hopped around on the ground, the vets returned the bird to the rescue shelter in Oak Harbor for another seven days of recovery. “Maybe one more week and we’ll be back out to give it another try,” said Crystal Brazle, a veterinar-
Justin Burnett / Whidbey News-Times
A peregrine falcon, believed to be of the North Pacific Peales family, was injured recently near a home on Waterloo Road. The bird has been recovering at Wildlife Care Clinic in Oak Harbor for the past two weeks. ian with Best Friends Veterinary Center. The wildlife clinic is housed in the same building as the veterinary center but is an autonomous nonprofit dedicated to caring for sick, injured and abandoned wild-
life. Staff from the veterinary center donate their time to care for the injured animals brought in, which range from common rabbits to rare raptors like the peregrine. SEE FALCON, A4
Martha Rose is more than a little indignant about this year’s audit of Island Transit by the state Auditor’s Office. Rose, the executive director of the transit agency, said two findings by the auditor’s office are unfair and just plain wrong. She said Island Transit’s attorney, a statewide expert in transit-related law, agrees with her. She plans to take the unusual step of appealing the findings, even though the state auditor’s reports are strictly advisory and carry no repercussions. “We have an impeccable audit record,” Rose said. “We always welcome the auditors because we want to make sure we are doing everything right. Having an extra set of eyes makes sense. But when they issue findings and we don’t see any basis for them, we just don’t think it’s fair.” The Washington State Auditor’s Office released its 2010 financial and accountability audit reports on Island Transit this week. The accountability audit reported two findings, or areas of concern, regarding employees’ use of vehicles and the agency’s competitive bidding process. Rose said she considers a finding to be an “egregious error” or a sign of “wrongdoing,” and she said there’s no evidence of either. Mindy Chambers, a spokesperson for the state Auditor’s Office, said it can be a judgment call as to whether an auditor issues a finding or a less prominent “management letter.” She said the purpose of issuing a finding isn’t to punish or embarrass, but to help agencies do a better job of protecting public resources. She said the auditor’s office stands by the reports, but she didn’t want to argue point-bypoint with the director of the transit agency. Perhaps the most consequential of the two findings is that, according to the report, Island Transit “did not follow its own bid policies and does
not have policies related to approval and monitoring of change orders.” The report states that Island Transit spent $3.4 million on capital projects in 2010. The report claims that the transit agency purposely broke a project to build a Coupeville park-and-ride facility into phases in order to avoid going out for bid. The agency’s policy is that purchases of more than $100,000 require a formal bidding process, but the agency’s $434,000 project was split into five phases and was done with price quotes instead of bids. Rose, however, is adamant that the project wasn’t phased to avoid a bid process, but because it was the only logical choice to avoid dislocating transit parking. It was taking a long time to get the various permits for a park-and-ride lot from the town of Coupeville, so she decided to go ahead and do the phases of the project as the permits came in. “We had no other choice but to phase it,” she said, adding that she was constantly on the phone with the auditor’s office during the project to ensure she was doing things correctly. In addition, the auditor’s office found that the transit board inappropriately delegated its authority to the director by authorizing her to execute any and all documents related to development of a new transit center. As a result, Rose authorized an $859,000 change order on the design of the transit center without a vote of the board; it wasn’t required, she said, because she had prior approval and it was absolutely necessary because of the substantial growth in demand for the transit services since the plan was first created. While the auditor asserted that the board of a public transportation benefit area cannot delegate its authority, Rose said she’s asked the auditor’s office for the statute that says that; she hasn’t received SEE AUDIT, A4