— by Lin McNulty —
Orcas Island Board of Fire Commissioners, in a regularly-scheduled meeting on Tuesday, January 17, discussed the need to include Public Comment in their sessions.
Board Chair Wes Heinmiller says the Board would like to know, in advance, what the public might be commenting on or asking about in order to provide an accurate response. “It’s difficult for us to hear about something and have a ready answer” during a meeting, he said. “And we’re not required by law to hold a Public Comment period.”
No decision was reached as the Board takes the issue under further consideration.
The Commission also opted to take back the bookkeeping and accounting from the County, effective immediately. The duties had been moved to the County in mid-2016. This return of responsibility to OIFR will save the Fire District $12,000 – $17,000 per year.
It’s not Rocket Science! Other Commissions take cold questions from the Public! “We’re not required by Law to hold a Public Comment period” is disingenuous. This is a small island, not corporate America! S
You may be right!!! But, “it is” a small Island and in the past 40 years plus, most of the folks on the Commission have been able to handle “public comment”. Things come up at the meeting that should be answered. Your attitude hopefully will be remembered next time the Department needs money from the “PUBLIC”.
Take a page from the 4Hers. If they don’t have an answer to someone’s question, they learn to say, “I don’t know but I will find out and get back to you.” And then they do.
It’s not clear from this article how much it will cost to bring financial services back in-house. I hope this can be addressed in a future article.
Are you kidding me !! Moana has stated clearly that if you, as an elected representative of the community, can’t answer a question from a constituent, then you should, respectfully, offer to research the issue and respond at a later time. AND that response should be made public at your next meeting.
With regard to your comment that the State law does not require you to accept public comment at District meetings, that is a direct insult to all of us you pay the taxes that support the operations of OIFR. Your comments disrespect the many good citizens who have served us previously.
The intent of the WA State Open Public Meetings Act is to encourage open communications between elected officials and their constituents. That should govern every aspect of your service on the OIFR Board.
Full disclosure is important, and allowing public comment is full disclosure. The Commission is elected to serve and inform the residence of Orcas Island. I would also add the Fire Chief and his officers should be available for public questions/comments to answer what the Commissioners can not.
Why is Commissionner Heinmiller trying to silence the public. The District is supported by the taxpayers.
Please vote to increase commissioners to five so that the
public is better represented. What a shame to continue to have adversity that is totally unnecessary .
As I understand it, one commissioner suggested a revision to public comment policy while another disagreed, on-the-record, with the proposed changes…a third commissioner was not present.
The current article presents the proposed change as manifest plurality or consensus, which it is not. Orcas Issues is a valuable community resource and they nearly always get it right. In this case, a clarifying update is warranted.
The current three-person commission structure and open public meetings rules put the commissioners in a tough spot to prepare for ANY revision to policy or procedure. The February ballot allows a path for voters to change this structure to a five-person commission…let’s approve this change to help create a more effective commission for our community.