SOUNDER THE ISLANDS’
Indian Island annual report this week
Serving Orcas, Lopez and San Juan County
WEDNESDAY, November 16, 2011 n VOL. 44, NO. 46 n 75¢
Remember, remember the fifth of November
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Orcas fire department searches for new chief Budget for 2012 approved by commissioners by MEREDITH M. GRIFFITH Staff reporter
contributed photo
A handful of islanders wearing Guy Fawkes masks demonstrated in the streets of Eastsound on Nov. 5. The street performers were seen greeting passing cars, walking around town, visiting the library, Orcas Homegrown, Island Market and Enzos. The masks have also been adopted as a trademark symbol of the hacker group Anonymous as well as a symbol of Occupy Wall Street.
Orcas Fire will soon be searching for a new fire chief to replace Mike Harris, who is moving on. Board member Barbara Bedell will chair the search and selection committee, hand-picked by the Orcas fire board during executive session. “The committee is charged with evaluating applicants and recommending [three] of them to the board for its consideration,” said commissioner Jim Coffin. The board will make the final selection. The committee will be made up of six yet-to-be-named members to include one paid department staff member, two unpaid volunteers and two members of the public at large. Names will be announced on Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. Bedell said the chief search will “probably be limited to the West Coast.” A contingent of roughly 20 islanders attended the last board meeting on Nov. 8 – most to
express their wish that the board hire Orcas resident and Auburn fire battalion chief Kevin O’Brien as the new Orcas fire chief. Kevin McCoy read a letter composed by Kari and Jim Schuh, with their son Cameron, all Orcas Fire volunteers (see Letters, page 5). They asked the board to dispense with “the wasteful option of a long drawn out nationwide chief search.” The Schuhs said some ex-volunteers have told them they would recommit to the fire department if O’Brien was chief. The board declined to dispense with its process, which Coffin said is the same procedure used to hire Harris. “In fairness to that candidate, we need to go through a vetting process and qualify that candidate,” Coffin said. “What we need is the best person for the position … If our local candidate is the best, he’ll be it.” Coffin estimates the search process will take about two months.
2012 fire budget Also at its Nov. 8 meeting, the
Solid waste parcel fee rejected; land bank REET and school levy pass Charter review, port, sewer and water, school board and parks and rec positions filled by SOUNDER & JOURNAL STAFF
Solid waste parcel fee rejected Voters have rejected a parcel fee that would have funded solid waste operations for the next 15 years. As of Monday, Nov. 14, 5,154 or 68.02 percent of voters had rejected the measure, while 2,423 or 31.98 percent voted yes. If it had passed, solid waste service would have remained at current levels. Instead, San Juan County will enact “Plan B” and cease to operate local transfer stations. The county’s designated commercial solid waste hauler, San Juan Sanitation, will continue to offer curbside pickup regulated by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. The company has said it can serve all of the county’s residences, but some
may need to place their cans at the end of certain roads instead of at their homes. San Juan Sanitation has said it is likely curbside pickup costs would go down at least 15 percent due to economies of scale provided by higher volume. The transfer stations would be made available to private entities to run for profit on a free market basis, with rates not regulated by the WUTC. Under the socalled Plan B, it would become legal for county residents to haul their waste outside the county. The county would continue to charge a 10 percent excise tax on solid waste transactions, and would use that money to pay off its debt. San Juan Sanitation has also said that recy-
2011 ELECTION
cling rates would be roughly 70 percent of garbage costs, and could be even lower if the county passed an ordinance requiring curbside recycling pickup for homes using curbside trash pickup. The county has not released a date of when “Plan B” will go into effect.
Land bank REET squeaks by When all the votes are tallied, Proposition 1, which sought renewal of the 1 percent real estate excise tax that for 20 years has fueled the land bank’s ambitions, will have passed by earning roughly 53 percent of total ballots cast in the Nov. 8 election. With about 30 ballots still
SEE ELECTIONS, PAGE 6
SEE FIRE DEPT, PAGE 8
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