||| FROM DENICE BROWN KULSETH for TOWN OF FRIDAY HARBOR |||
It is with reluctance that I respond to the County’s press release of March 7, 2024, regarding unauthorized uses of water at the fairgrounds. In general, I think it best to discuss difficult matters face-to-face with the people who can resolve the issue at hand.
But the County chose to issue a press release claiming that if the Town enforces its water regulations against the County, all good things at the fairgrounds will come to an end. This is not true, and I feel the need to correct the misleading statements made and the resulting misconceptions in the community.
This disagreement between the Town and the County is about water, and the Town’s responsibility to ensure we are adequately planning for the future. It’s not about how much Island Rec enriches our community. It’s not about how valuable 4-H is to our island kids. It’s about ensuring we have adequate water to not only serve our residents but to operate our grocery stores, our schools, the hospital, long-term care facilities, Linde Park, the library, and more. It’s about being able to share our water in emergency situations with residents outside the town, like the Hannah Heights neighborhood who found themselves with a contaminated well. It’s about being able to say “yes” to increased densities to support affordable housing. And it’s about the Town’s responsibility to say “no” to uses of water by out-of-town customers that are not absolutely essential.
Decades ago the Town agreed to provide water for the San Juan County Fair and remains committed to that agreement. Further, the Town assured the County we will provide water to the fairgrounds to support vaccine clinics or other needs that arise during a pandemic or other public health emergencies. The Town has not, however, authorized other uses of water at the fairgrounds.
We have been asking the County to comply with the Town’s water regulations for years with no success. Given their lack of cooperation, we reluctantly concluded that a Notice of Violation was our only option.
To resolve the issues surrounding the County’s unauthorized water uses at the fairgrounds, the Town offered the County three options. Each of these options allows for Island Rec programs, 4-H events, and other public events currently hosted at the fairgrounds to continue. The County has been unwilling to discuss these options with us, and has chosen instead to appeal their Notice of Violation to the Town Council.
The Town Council will hear the County’s appeal of the Notice of Violation issued for unauthorized uses of water at the fairgrounds on April 4, 2024. While the Town welcomes the public to attend or to view the meeting online, this is not a hearing where the Council takes public comment; it is a closed record appeal, meaning only evidence previously presented by the County in its appeal to the Town Administrator will be considered by the Town Council.
If you would like to read more about the Town’s communications with the County on this matter, including the three options the Town proposed to resolve it, please go to our Community Topics page.
Ensuring an adequate water supply for our residents and businesses is our responsibility and our priority.
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Ha, give us a break. Everyone knows this is just a bizarre personal tug of war between Town staff (including their off the rails Mayor) and a County Manager who doesn’t even work here anymore. This isn’t about water. There’s plenty of water, and the County has always paid for whatever it uses, just like any Town water user. This is small town petty politics at its very worst and unless someone at the Town comes to their senses, the Town is going to put the end to a whole host of vital community programs just to pick a battle with their annoying big brother. Taxpayers deserve better than these yahoos.
I listened to the F. H. town council meeting with what I would call the “off the rails” board members that were accusing Mayor Jackson of mayoral misconduct, and of writing what they inferred to as embarrassing, unprofessional, and provocative letters to the county council in regards to water usage at the fairgrounds, and by one of the staff members (County Mngr. Mike Thompson). As a followup to this I then asked the F. H. town council clerk for, and received copies of “all” the staff letters that were written over time in regards to the issue(s) at hand. These letters were very illuminating.
I came away thinking that not only did Mayor Jackson handle himself well during the verbal attack that was being made on his credibility as a leader during the 3/07 F. H. town council meeting, but I could also find no fault, no wrong-doing, or any unprofessionalism in the letters that he wrote to council (as was charged during the meeting). It appears that County Manager Mike Thompson had been operating a short-term vacation rental that was out of compliance with F.H.’s water usage laws for years, and the mayor was correct in calling him out for it, and also for questioning the county as to why this was being allowed to happen after being served notice. The responding letter that was written by Mike Thompson, via his attorney, to Mayor Jackson, was however, very unprofessional, with the charges cited within being borderline frivolous in nature, and was very threatening in tone.
We all have our favorites when it comes time to vote for a new council member, and we all have our way of showing our support. Most of us don’t hold a public trust position, and as such are not able to use our authority in an effort to influence voters during an election, and even if we did… most of us wouldn’t do so. This does indeed appear to be small town petty politics done in an effort to discredit and undermine the credibility of Mayor Jackson as he’s ramping up his campaign for the District 1 County Council position. In light of how this has transpired, it appears to me that some of the Fri. Har. Town Council board members may have held their seats for “many” years too long.
Yes, I agree, the taxpayers could do better.