County staff gives residents the run-down

By Meg Olson

A panel of county department heads brought answers to the Point at a community meeting last month, but they forgot their lion tamer. They left with all their fingers and toes thanks to the intervention of an audience member who had the moxie to demand politesse from her fellow citizens.

“In the last meeting we had a facilitator and that kind of kept things under control,” said Shannon Thomsen, interrupting a progressively more irate Paul Rae as he berated county roads engineer Joe Rutan for potholes in his neighborhood. “We need to be respectful of everybody.”

County executive Pete Kremen stepped in to defend his beleaguered bureaucrats. “I understand you may have pent up frustrations but we’re here tonight to try and be accessible,” he said. He was met with applause and thank you’s from speakers converted to accenting the positive in the county’s efforts to check off local concerns from a list developed at a meeting in April.

The July 21 meeting was the second in a series of planned meetings on the Point Kremen is touting as the means to keep the county and the community talking constructively.

Rutan had the longest list and also got the most applause for his announcement that his department was sending a request for a four-way stop at Mill and Johnson roads to county council. “The answer is yes,” he said. He also had a yes for those who asked for raised markers along Goodman and mowing of road edges and ditches to improve visibility. “We should spend most of August up here doing that,” he said
The rest of the questions about improving local roads were answered with “maybe” or “probably not.” Paved shoulders to improve safety and a left-turn lane on Tyee Drive at Johnson Road would need to wait for funding and, in the case of the latter, wait until the road is rebuilt. “It looks like we’ll have to do some construction to get that in there, which was surprising,” he said.

Asked why the reconstruction of upper Tyee Drive seemed to always be on the county’s six-year-transportation plan but never on the list of projects for the current year, Rutan said “there was never money for construction.” The funds from the extra one-percent gas tax collected in Point Roberts were used to pay for chipsealing gravel roads last year and upgrading some chipsealed to asphalt, he said. “Point Roberts does get its money back and we keep very good track of that,” he said.
Rutan also said they had gotten some conflicting messages from the

April meeting. “We struggled a bit with comments about street lighting and sidewalks,” he said. “There were also people saying don’t make Point Roberts a city.” Some areas would be better suited for sidewalks, such as the central commercial area and around the marina, while in other areas the county would try and address safety concerns by paving shoulders. “County roads are dangerous,” he acknowledged. “More dangerous than a state route or a freeway. We’ll work with the community to make the roads safer and make sure we’re not making an urban environment unnecessarily.”

Bob Martin, from the department of building services, told the community it had better get used to growth, along with the rest of the county. “Whatcom County has been officially discovered,” he said. “This place is under intense interest and scrutiny nationwide.” To address a growing local demand for permitting services Martin said the county was considering having someone on the Point at regular times for permit consultations.

Responding to requests for more programs for kids, county parks director Michael McFarlane said his department could help, but only with efforts the community gets off the ground first. The same need for community buy-in applied to getting Lily Point under the parks umbrella. “The real question will be finding a funding source,” he said. “We will continue to talk to the various trusts and groups that are out there.”

Michael Rosser, of the taxpayers’ association said the county needed to take some of the initiative and the community was ready to support their efforts. “We’re willing to step up to the pump but you need to get the ball rolling,” he said, suggesting voters might approve a levy, or local gas stations could institute a top-up program, like the one in county supermarkets to fund boys and girls clubs.

Both McFarlane and Rutan had questions to answer about Maple Beach and how the public could enjoy a public park with no public facilities. The answer from McFarlane’s department was that without the acquisition of upland properties county parks couldn’t build needed amenities such as restrooms and public parking lots. Rutan confirmed that people were allowed to park along public streets, despite “no parking” signs put up by property owners, “There is no force of law behind those signs,” he said.

With the exception of Rutan, McFarlane got the most ire from a very stern John Fisher, wondering why the parks department had sent the Friends of the Library a last minute letter telling them to get insurance or the July 16 town picnic couldn’t go ahead. “It was very heavy handed,” he said. McFarlane said that barring family reunions all groups using the park needed insurance for events, especially with food involved, which in this case was pie and watermelon. “Almost all groups we work with have insurance and the difficulty is with small groups,” he said. “We will work with the group.”

Kremen said another meeting was tentatively scheduled for January 2006, and that the community could comment specifically on parks issues during community meetings on the new comprehensive plan planned for September and October 2005. “We really do care about this part of the county,” he said.