INSIDE
Read our special Class of 2015 Grad section inside this paper
Summer sailing is now
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Mud Bay happenings
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Author talks on Lopez
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VOLUME 38, NUMBER 22 • JUNE 2, 2015
Take It or Leave It – but be a part of it By Gretchen Wing Special to the Weekly
Volunteers for the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District – a.k.a. the Dump – are due some extra celebration at their annual gathering this week. At the Washington State Recyclers Association convention in Spokane on May 18, Lopez Dump was awarded Nonprofit Recycler of the Year. Those already proud of this community institution should prepare to feel prouder. And thanks to the results of their thrice-monthly weighing of intake items, Take It Or Leave It volunteers might feel proudest of all. From September 2014 to April 2015, TIOLI volunteers processed an average of 1,400 pounds per three-hour Dump day. That’s just under 500 pounds an hour, and that’s off-season. When Dump hours switch to the extended 11-4 summer schedule, June 21-Sept. 21, and Lopez’s population swells, those numbers will swell too. Processing “leave it” items is a challenging but rewarding job, Outreach and
Education Coordinator Nikyta Palmisani explains. Besides sorting useful items into categories and dated piles, volunteers often send people with obsolete e-waste, certain plastics and appliances, and clothing over to the recycling area. “We’re trying to be that first point where people can divert what would traditionally go into the waste stream.” When Palmisani and Facility Manager David Zapalac received the award on behalf of the Lopez community, including TIOLI visionaries and long-standing volunteers Neil Hanson and Ona Blue, “We were the talk of the WSRA. People were amazed at how many things we do with such a streamlined operation in such a small space.” The main benefits of TIOLI are obvious: free sorting of old stuff, free acquisition of “new” stuff and avoidance of garbage fees. “It’s a gift to the community, by the community,” says Palmisani. Less obvious but no less important is the opportunity for education. “Working at TIOLI helps folks see the amount of consumption, and it
changes their behavior,” Palmisani says. In her “Three R’s” outreach, TIOLI makes the difficult concepts of “Reduce” and “Re-use” click with school kids, who then educate their parents to go beyond “Recycle.” Then there’s community spirit, which TIOLI seems to embody more than ever these days. What other transfer station has artwork, and a dump fairy? She’s the winged doll suspended from the ceiling, Palmisani explains. “The dump fairy is the one where you say, ‘Oh, I really need a spatula today; I really need a pair of boots my size … and then the dump fairy flies around the island, finding people who aren’t using these items, and she whispers to them, ‘Today’s the day to take that pair of boots and that spatula to the Dump!’” When the person in need is magically united with the needed object, Palmisani says, “We lower the Dump Fairy and take a picture of the person with the object. It happens so often.” TIOLI’s impact ripples beyond the Lopez community. Immediately after the Spokane award, the Sustainability Director for
Microsoft came to Lopez to learn about adapting its model to her corporation. An Amazon.com employee is reportedly running an “Amazon TIOLI” from the same inspiration. More stories of the dump’s mainland impact can be viewed on the Lopez Island Dump Facebook page, and at lopezsolidwaste.org. With 3,388 on-site volunteer hours in 2014 – not including thousands more by the board, SWAP, and other volunteers – the entire Dump (recycling and TIOLI) depends upon community involvement. At TIOLI, Palmisani emphasizes, “Each individual contribution creates this system: volunteering especially, and leaving stuff. But we need people to take stuff, otherwise we have storage issues.” This volunteersdonators-reusers cycle, like the familiar triangle-of-arrows “Recycle” icon, relies on individuals. Without a constant infusion of new volunteers, TIOLI cannot sustain itself. So don’t be surprised if you hear that dump fairy whisper in your ear, “Come on down to the Dump today and volunteer!”
Quarterly review of county finances By F. Milene Henley County Auditor
On a recent sunny afternoon, I saw a cart of purple and yellow flowers sitting next to the red, white and blue ballot drop box on the green lawn in front of the brick-red courthouse. The scene struck me, and for a moment I was seeing a place I see every day in a way I had never seen it before. Looking at the every-day
familiar with a fresh eye can be a challenge. So each quarter, when I sit down to report on the county’s financials, I try to start with a set of questions, and I look for answers. For the first quarter of 2015, I asked myself: What’s our cash position, compared to budget and to previous years? How’s our revenue doing, compared to budget and to previous years? How about spending? Most importantly, are there problem areas we
Lopez Island Family Resource Center’s
7th Annual Literary Fundraiser Event with author Peter Mountford
Lopez Island Fire & EMS want to thank our graduating 2015 student volunteers Rande Gruenwald Edwin Kramer Justin Merrifield Bree Swanson For their time and dedication to serve the Lopez Community
Friday, June 26th 6:30PM at the LCCA
need to watch? For the first quarter of 2015, after years of recession reporting, I can truly say that the county, as a whole, has recovered to prerecession levels of cash. Of course general fund expenditures have gone up almost 30 percent since 2007, but at least we’re close to being back on par. There has also been a shift in the nature of the county’s cash holdings over that period. There is less money being held in general funds and more being held in reserves: lodging tax reser ves, rainy day reserves, capital reserves, etc. These savings ensure that the county will never again be hit as hard as we were by the recent downturn. The revenue picture is more mixed. It’s still early, but sales taxes are on track to have another strong year, probably beating budget by 5 percent or more. Real estate excise taxes (REET) are having a spectacular year, dwarfing their already amazing performance last year. REET revenues go into the Land Bank and
capital improvement funds. Another special revenue, camping fees collected by parks, is also up – a small revenue source, but another positive sign of economic activity. On the other hand, permitting revenues are falling about 10 percent short of budget. The fee income tells only half the story, of course. Permit applications (a precursor to permit revenue) are climbing steadily; if that trend continues, permit revenue may catch up with permit activity. Oddly – given the level of real estate activity – recording surcharges are also having a sluggish year, a phenomenon that affects primarily our affordable housing programs. In total, though, revenues so far this year look good, relative both to budget and to prior years. Spending is also in line with budget. The few deviations (such as high expenditures on information technology) are easily explained (in the case of IT, by expenditures planned for 2014 being pushed into SEE FINANCES, PAGE 6