As commenters have noted, the
county was sued today (again). This time the issue is misuse of government funds ... permit fees specifically. In short, the suit alleges that the County has violated state law by misusing the monies collected for building permits by using them to subsidize general government. For example, building permit fees have been used to pay part of
Sam Gibboney's salary even though she has not been directly involved in reviewing or approving building plans. The suit alleges that the misuse and diversion of funds has amounted to as much as $1.2 million over the past three years (statute of limitations).
Reportedly, this same general issue has been brought up repeatedly by the Building Advisory Council to no avail. It also was the impetus for the recent whistleblower claim by Building Official John Geniuch.
CD&P seems to be generating a lot of lawsuits for the County these days. In addition to this lawsuit, there is the OPMA lawsuit and the Friends/CSA lawsuit regarding the CAO ... all related in one way or another to alleged CD&P mismanagement, overreach, and bungling (and not counting ongoing as-applied lawsuits related to specific parcels/permits).
Three current lawsuits ... and counting ...
Anyone know whether it is true that CDP has hired a consulting firm from out-of-state to do building permit plan review decisions?
ReplyDeleteEagle Eye/WC3 out of San Ramon, California. Friends of Kullers. They have a one-person office or something like that in Olalla. Some dude named Hoyt Jeter, also listed in San Jose's Building Division org chart. Looks like the Hoyt dude was President of Eagle Eye and couldn't make it on his own so he merged or hooked up with WC3. That's all we need is a bunch of California-based friends of Kullers charging silicon-valley prices and doing plan review remotely. Things are getting worse by the day under Mike T. and Sam. Drop ol' Hoyt a line and ask him how he got his no-bid contract hoytjeter@centurytel.net
ReplyDeleteI'm no legal expert but this looks pretty straight forward to me. Maybe there is something I am missing. The case law cited in the legal suit cites a previous court case that the RCW in question "is not ambiguous".
ReplyDeleteSounds like Geniuch brought this to everyone's attention and was shut down.
Sounds like the county machine was being too greedy and someone finally said enough.
Interesting to see this unfold.
If this is true, the county needs to be severely reformed and pared back. It is getting out of control.
This. Is. Theft.
Local government out of control. Finally the picked on kid is punching the bully back. Finally. It's the only way to stop them.
ReplyDeleteNow it appears we are being overcharged for the privellege of being over regulated.
Insanity at it's finest.
Just got done reading this lawsuit and the RCW is question.
ReplyDeleteIt makes sense that there are stops like this in place in the law. Otherwise, why not make building permits $20,000 each and use the extra money to pay for parks, schools and police.
Makes sense that you can't pay for planning either.
Seems pretty clear.
But then we always have the Randy factor.
This ought to be good. Either he will try to spin the county actions as somehow allowable (think "gatherings" not "meetings"). Maybe the permit fees charged were actually "understood indefinite loans" and not "fees".
Or, Randy might look at this and case law and realize that, once again, CDP planning staff are doing things to keep him busy.
Big question. Is Gaylord going to stand with the citizens that he represents and say enough is enough, or is he going to put some double speak legal BS spin on it and once again attempt to defend the indefensible?
Can someone explain how this keeps happening?
ReplyDeleteWhy is it so difficult for CD&P to not break the law?
Gibboney has gone rogue and is proving that she's an FOSJ tool.
Wonder what the council is going to say? Leadership anyone? Take control as promised in your campaign anyone? You can't expect boy wonder, lifetime planner Mike Thomas to really get it right can you?
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he already has a spin for this that somehow, pilfering from the building fund is OK. Maybe that's how it's done in Eunmclaw.
Where the rubber meets the road is for a judge, jury, or settlement team to decide.
Something tells me that this isn't frivolous.
CDP, once again, running amok.
Reminds me of the old Sears Automotive scandal 20 years ago when they were caught overcharging left and right for auto repairs.
Only difference is that Sears was a well respected institution. CDP is central planning madness now apparently stealing from we the people.
So the Ferguson PD is having their laundry aired out by the Feds, who have actually used Best Available Science along with good old discover of some choice departmental emails to uncover the city's practice of systematically shaking down black citizens with fines, fees, and what amounts to a debtor's prison all for the purpose of plumping up the budget. Now, I know San Juan County is not Ferguson, MO. Heaven's no. We got that diversity thingee here. Why we got all kinds of white folks in these islands. But what was just uncovered in Ferguson was nothing more than a sanctioned local mafia hoovering money from vulnerable people to pay for government services they weren't getting. We just have an entrenched local mafia basically doing the same thing, and looks like the hand was just caught in the cookie jar.
ReplyDeleteIt may become necessary and we should be prepared, to "dismantle" CDP. In Clallum County, for example, their charter provides that the Director of Community Development be an elected position. Think about that. I'm afraid that during the last charter commission debacle the voters prevented themselves from many any other changes for a number of years, don't know. But if Clallam County, a charter county, can require the Sam Gibboney's of the world to be voted into office and not appointed, we'd be well along to solving some problems around here.
ReplyDeleteMary Ellen Winborn is the current elected Director of Community Development in Clallum County.She was just elected, in November 2014 so her campaign website is still up: http://www.winborn4dcd.com/index.html
ReplyDelete""Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens could change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead
As an 18-year small business Owner/Architect and 22-year resident of Clallam County Washington, I am currently running for the position of Director of Community Development (DCD)
It is imperative that the person running the department, that will affect so many local families today and 20 years from today, be the right person. I maintain that I am that person.
Together we can make a positive difference…
…because I have spent 22 years on the other side of the DCD counter and understand the expectations of
* business owners and homeowners
* builders, developers and realtors
* design professionals
The planning commission/staff proposed new SMP (Shoreline Master Plan) is 188 pages long...+-...because there is much editing and adding.
DeleteWonder if the money for this incredible big bunch of regulation came from my building permit fees.
Just about half the "staff" in CD&P is in planning!
Well, a whole lot came from Ecology but then Gibboney's salary is half paid by building permits--because she's an expert in the code and in construction generally. That must be where she goes all the time she's not in the office--to construction monitoring.
DeleteWhile it would be nice to have an elected CDP director, it will take substantial effort to make that change. Probably a worthwhile pursuit.
ReplyDeleteI am curious how Gibboney is going to spin the allegations of misappropriation of building permit fees. How is she going to try to justify it to we the people?
My bet is that it will start off with the infamous saying "Well, it's complicated...".
This is the same woman who is on the record as going to review the industrial oil and coal shipping tanker design standards to make sure they meet her standards.
Fine line between an egomaniac and an idiot.
A bit of homework first though, I will consult the great and terrible Heron because I am lazy, during the last charter election here, did we swallow some kind of poison pill preventing any other charter initiatives going to a ballot vote until the next charter review committee meets again, after the seas have risen and the lands baked to a crisp? In other words, can we push a charter initiative to make the CDP director an elected position this year?
ReplyDeleteThere is also a pretty good chance we could elect a terrible building official.
ReplyDeleteI mean look at what we have been stuck with for a prosecutor. And if we cant seem to elect a councilman/woman who will stand up to that BS on behalf of the citizens. common! how can anyone hold out hope. Whe will someone stand up and say I am here to defend the citizens of this county from a tyrannical prosecutor and staff.
Seems there already has been at least one lawsuit in SJC involving RCW 82.02.020
ReplyDeletehttp://www.islandssounder.com/news/89465192.html?mobile=true
or
http://www.islandguardian.com/archives/00003171.html
Seems like a different section of the RCW, but same law. County lost. But of course choose to fight it.
San Juan County Prosecuting Attorney - Defending the Indefensible since 1994.
Can't someone offer Mary Ellen Winborn a guest house as a resident address? (Yes I know that a huge number of "guest houses" are not legal...every plane hanger has one with complete kitchen and why not, but you know it's the "double the density thing.")
DeleteIs there not a local person much like Winborn who can come up to bat?
Surely we can make opportunity and why not? Nothing else has worked so far.
I'm afraid that a new CDP director will likely be tasked with managing the decline and transitioning us into a park.
ReplyDeleteDevelopment will wane as the full effects of new CAO and SMP regs kick in to full effect. The current stability of construction activity is based solely on a flood of applicants prior to last year's CAO deadline.
You want the real tell? Guesthouse permits. It used to be a fiasco and the had a lottery system but now, this year 1 application. That speaks volumes to where we are headed.
This county cant even build a small over budget road on Orcas correctly. Yet we continue to allow them to "plan".
When will planning be done? Is there ever an end?
��
ReplyDeleteI read the stories posted by @6:36pm (yesterday) about O'day's case on 82.02.020.
ReplyDeleteThis seems pretty cut and dry.
Why didn't anyone see this coming sooner or why wasn't this issue raised earlier? It might have been helpful the past decade to cut the illegal planning subsidizes down. Might have blunted the CAO zealotry put forth by Hale.
Now, instead, we have a grossly mismanaged CDP department and one of the few rational, sane people (Geniuch) being placed on leaved or fired?
Great. 1 step forward, 2 steps back.
“I truly believe that everything that we do and everyone that we meet is put in our path for a purpose. There are no accidents; we're all teachers - if we're willing to pay attention to the lessons we learn, trust our positive instincts and not be afraid to take risks or wait for some miracle to come knocking at our door.”
ReplyDelete― Marla Gibbs
It is true, what we do with what we learn, or how we teach will make all of the difference.
ReplyDeleteFirst thoughts again There is a Golden Rule. If followed with Neverending patience and in force of numbers will lead to where we are wanting... never give up...never give in and mostly never sell out!
OKOKOK so how long has it been? not a chirp to the folks that matter about where they stand on any of these issues. Speaking of the Commissioners! Did they sign a contract dismissing there beliefs and or character or obligation to the public to represent us? Are they now property of SJC legal council? am I alone on this?
ReplyDeleteThe council will have an opinion when Randy tells them what it is.
ReplyDeleteThe last time the county was sued, the county council presented a very united voice of their opinion.
ReplyDelete"I can't recall".
That probably won't work this time.
If I were the council I'd start looking for a scapegoat. Fast.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
ReplyDeleteWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Change "King of Great Britain" to "management of San Juan County" and replace "these States" with "these islands" and you get a reasonable posture for our situation.
ReplyDeleteSlowly rights erode through regulation. Those affected most are the busiest and can least afford time off to participate. It is incumbent on everyone to be involved. If you can't give money or time, then write a letter or raise local issues with your social circles.
If we don't, now, muster resources with a definitive goal and singular focus and purpose of restoring local government to sanity and basic functions, it will grow unchecked, feeding on the tax dollars of us all.
There are no simple answers but participation to whatever degree possible is needed from everyone who hopes to continue to call this place home.
First rule of employment law:
ReplyDeleteWhen an employee files for Whistle Blower protection: DO NOT ALTER THE CONDITIONS OF THEIR EMPLOYMENT!
Whoever runs the Human Resources Department should be taken out back and beaten over this.
Enjoy all of our money when the county writes you a big check John!
I'm sure Gibboney and Gaylord will explain that not using the permit fees for salaries, etc was "inconvenient". That should put the issue to rest.
ReplyDeleteAnyone have process knowledge of what happens next in this suit? Does the county have to respond? If so, how much time so they have?
ReplyDelete1,300 potential plaintiffs in this case? That is almost 10% of the population of these islands. This ought to be a wake up call to the people of these islands.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same government that is always on the ballot seeking to raise taxes again and again. Usually with a sympathetic ballot title like "law and justice levy".
51 million dollars per year for a population of 15,000 just isn't enough? They had to fleece the building industry for a bit more to keep the hydra fed.
Out. Of. Control.
Didn't the City of Bellingham get used over this very same issue a while back?
ReplyDeleteIf memory serves me, they settled pretty quick because it was both blatant and cut and dry as to how the law reads.
I'm sure we can count on a multi year multi million dollar dog and pony show trying to put a spin on this thing.
And in the end, the county will likely not only have to pay back the permit holders, but will have spent countless dollars to do so.
My hunch is that this had been very thouroughly vetted before moving forward.
A person like Genuich isn't going to stake his reputation and career on some obscure 18th century Vermont commonwealth doctrine of taxation that he read about while drinking margaritas one night.
I'm going out on a limb here and predicting that the county is in the wrong.
It's not even a limb, honey! The county is an amputee. The counte are wrong. I think I wrote a little piece on that a bit back It takes a lotta money to come right out and take more money from your constituents, now they are growing, again God forbid enforcement and pictometry may be their only next option, no but wait what is that about inspections on rentals that'll help right! They can charge more money to have inspections on rentals promoting more enforcement and enhance the need for more building permits too. Next they will be paying bounty's for complaints. And since every posed violation has been declared nuisance, not according to the definition of nuisance but according to the prosecuter' definition of order and public good. Maybe the next step will be civil asset forfeiture
ReplyDeleteTell me there are no echoes of Ferguson here. Just go shake out the weak and vulnerable while demonizing them. Are we really that much different here? Look where the Sheriff Department was heading. I hope to God we nipped that one in the bud at least. Who we elect to local officers matters one hell of a lot.
ReplyDeleteFor a long time now the push has been on to rat out your neighbor. Since every property owner is in some violation. Yes you are, (In ten minutes I could tell you how you are...so don't dream you are a law abiding citizen. No one is.)
ReplyDeleteThis is the new County fund raiser. Fines! Big fines!
So go ahead and cut that tree about to fall on your tool shed Gerald, but please don't let the chain saw be heard on a weekend.
That's Right and don't think complaining to any councilmember will make a difference, cause Randy doesn't like it them to express an opinion.
ReplyDeletewhat's it take to replace a prosecutor with a defense attorney? Not In your Life, although the county should have to provide one if you cant afford to pay for your own.
By the time next election for PA rolls around, all of us that have been bitching on the Heron that he needs replacing, will have had enough time to attend law school, pass the bar, and establish as a candidate.
ReplyDeleteIt's is infinitely easier to have an existing attorney willing to run. The support would be there.
Just sayin'
Come on. Wake up. Randy just won another four years in last year's general (remember November 2014 a few months back??) running entirely unopposed. Local attorneys won't run against him, professional courtesy, fear of retribution or whatever. The two angles are 1) impeachment and 2) cut his budget or both. In the case of #1 I am unaware of a clear cause (yet) and in the case of #2 the Clowncil would have to do that when pigs fly.
ReplyDeleteAnd it so nice and easy not to have an opinion isn't it guys. In the old days when elected officials were expected and did gin up comments to soothe the rabble the truth sometimes leaked out.
ReplyDeleteQuestion Mr. Councilors: "Is the reason you don't fire Ms. Sam Gibboney, an at will employee, grossly in the wrong here, because you know she too will then turn around and bring suit.?
Well what's one more! You have 1,300 of us right now, plus a large number via CSA and plus the many donors in CAPR.
I'm sure any comments you gentlemen would like to make would get serious attention at all levels.
Maybe the PA will deal with this differently. He may have been unaware of the problem and might want to be, at some point, viewed as solution oriented.
ReplyDeleteA girl can hope can't she?
Maybe. Nothing so far, not even a sneer. And no nothing from the highly paid council people. Yes they do live and breathe from all that can be advertised as "meetings."
DeleteThese milquetoast sleepers, the timid, the spineless, the unassertive, the intimidated, have spoken, or not.
Hear me Dear Lord:
ReplyDeleteI'm a man. But I can change. If I have to. I guess.
The Man's Prayer as revealed unto Saint Red of Green
@11:34 yesterday made a profound statement that really summed um the view of most government. "It takes a lotta money to come right out and take more money from your constituents".
ReplyDeleteThat is a great summary of what's going on.
This local county gov has an appetite for dollars that can't be satisfied.
The insanity of having 4 school districts all complete with their separate administrations. Just one example.
Endless grants beget grants. Maybe it would have been cheaper for taxpayers to let Boss Zee consolidate his power and take over the whole grant machine. Probably would have ended up with less regulation and more glossy brochures.
Might have been worth it.
It is just another take on the old adage that it takes money to raise money. The county measures its own success in terms of dollars harvested not services delivered.
ReplyDeleteIf this illegal use of building and planning permit money was discovered, I wonder what an audit of grant funded programs would reveal.
ReplyDeleteCDP always seems to have a grant de jour that ends up with a new staff member and all the associated costs.
Public works too. Money to fix things that weren't broken. Has anyone been over to our dear little Orcas island lately? The "new" Mt. Baker Rd looks like an aged worn road. Someone messed up. More wasted tax money.
Time to audit the grant programs next.
Lots of "let's stick that onto this or that grant" going on in CDPD. With no regard for what the grant is for or requires. It's free money!! It's also a federal offense to misuse it. Talk about whistleblowing opportunities.
DeleteWhat can a citizen do to try to halt the growing empire of regulations and misuse of process that is continually propagated by SJC CDP and PAs office?
ReplyDeleteIs there enough underhanded stuff going on that we can drag the Attorney General investigation office in to it?
What do you do when the corruption and fleecing of the taxpayers has reached a breaking point.
Surely lawsuits are one of the tools we have left in our arsenal. Letters and press lobbying our electeds are a tool also, but that seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
Public participation can help. Anything to shine light on the activities of CDP and other departments will help raise and maintain public awareness.
It costs money to do this to have any meaningful, sustainable impact. Public education, lobbying, election campaigning are far cheaper than law suits. Unfortunately, there is this feeling around town that only lawsuits are worth paying for. Opinion letters are as ineffective as three minute public access during council sessions.
ReplyDelete@3:41
ReplyDeleteHow would you propose to conduct "public education, lobbying, election campaigning" to try to get the CDP to stop gouging permit holders for fees that are illegal?
The last "election campaigning" that we all did around here was EXPENSIVE in both money and time. The results, well, we got 2 of 3 candidates we wanted elected, but, now we are stuck with those 2 for 2 more years. Sadly they haven't lived up to even 1/2 of what we expected from them.
A lawsuit, on the other hand, is less than $300 to file.
I think the feeling around town is that people have tried lobbying, education and election campaigning and the results have been a failure, mostly. Lawsuits are the next approach.
It's not an either or decision. The other 3 were tried. Didn't work. Now have to either throw in the towel, or take it to the next level.
$300 to file and hundreds of thousands of dollars and several years later with no resolution. Do your homework. The campaign was cheap by comparison against the war chest mounted by the other side. The better of the candidates won as a result, can you possibly imagine how things would play out otherwise.
ReplyDeleteWell maybe, if you haven't sent in your tax check yet. We could include a caviot attachment, the funds included in numeration givin by the payment included are only delivered in consideration for representation. For representation and acknowledgment of this taxpayer. And by cashing the receiver acknowledges and agrees to be bound by representation to these people. that these funds will not represent the undermining of citizen rights, both constitutional rights and fair trade. These funds shall not represent empowerment to further take and deminish citizen rights and liberties or defence of a governing body that does that misdeed." This citizen has had enough. Now if that isnt possible this check thall be returned or it is a fraudulent act and punishable to the full extent of the law.
ReplyDeleteMy, My, seems some people at least are beginning to actually read their assessment and tax statement. Impressive!
ReplyDeleteNow vote NO on any and all tax initiatives. Yes there are those that have merit, still vote NO. Why? Because the legit tax increase (yes there are some) backers will get crazy with the ripper junkies and peace will not be had until they clear the decks.
We can't clear the decks, but they will or starve.
Part of the problem of voting against tax increases with the hopes of gov waste being blunted is that it is now predominantly the people making decisions at that level that are entrenched and part of the problem.
ReplyDeleteI'd sure like to tell opalco where to stick it, I joined for f'g power, not to support a handful of folks that wanted more. And f government services, I moved here to get away from that
ReplyDeleteDo I live w you, or did I write this? I don't think so but my feelings exactly
DeleteIt seems OPALCO has become very cozy with the Conservation District. Remember when they gave CD $150,000. Anyone ever ask where that came from? For that kind of money, you could buy 30,000 LED lightbulbs. That is 3 or 4 per household, or probably do all the lights in 10-15 percent of the households in this county.
ReplyDeleteThat would be a good return on investment.
Why do I suspect that Boss Zee is using the money to study something with an eventual end of getting more grant money.
Good to keep an eye on Opalco and demand more transparency.
All correct, but wait. OPALCO is now whining their budget is running out of balance because us rate payers are not using enough power.
ReplyDeleteFirst it is a huge promo on saving power and then it's...ohhh gee wait a minute, you're using less so now we need higher billing rates.
If they want to try to balance their budget, stop giving out $150K grants to Ron Zee that produce nothing in return.
ReplyDeleteBut remember the only performance measure is amount of funds raised, not services performed.
ReplyDeleteLike Gypsy grifters
ReplyDeleteAt this point I'll take the Gypsy grafter. At least it is clear the motive is ripping you off.
ReplyDeleteAgain, the silence from our well paid elected staff is, well, beyond understanding.
What will it take to bring them to the surface, back to the public they
pledged themselves to?
Take their yearly wages to date, take them to the poor house or jail.
What will it be for sitting in meetings doing nothing, never an idea, never a proposal, never even a rewrite, never nothing!
Well the issue here is that we are distracted by all the other items that are brought up. This has devolved into an OPALCO issue. If we want to win these battles then we need to stay focused. Fight the CDP battle and win. Then move on to the next issue. We are being defeated by the axiom of divide and conquer. One battle at a time. CD&P and then go after the next target. If we keep getting distracted by all the issues they keep throwing at us then we will never reign in this overwhelming issue that we are responsible for. We control this system, through votes, popular communication, or outright rebellion. If we are divided, and don't fight these issues one at a time, we will loose.
ReplyDelete@9:46
ReplyDeleteCan you describe what victory on the CDP battle looks like?
I have my own vision.
1) repeal of CAO after OPMA victory.
2) return to previous CAO protections that worked just fine.
Authorize and budget for comp plan language clean up and one final "plan". Then remove from budgeting planning staff. Help the world subscribe to the notion that planning is finite, not eternal.
3) stop stealing from the building fund to pay for stuff.
4) eliminate most grant funded programs and reduce staff accordingly. Have council level review for all grant proposals. Turn some if them down. Just once.
5) remove non development and planing tasks from CDP director.
6) pare back the MRC and salmon grant scam. Guess what. They spend tons of money year in and year out and low and behold, the salmon runs vary cyclically year over year, without regard to the number of glossy brochures that are grant produced.
7) remove the current director and replace with an individual that is non grant funded, has credible experience in management, and doesn't try to lead through talking without actually saying anything.
What did I miss?
You forgot
ReplyDelete8) lobby council to lobby state lawmakers and include San Juan county in e GMA opt out. Politely tell Gaylord and Thomas to shove it up their ass. The intent of the law was to allow small counties EXACTLY LIKE OURS to opt out.
This is once in a generation or life time. We either make the case and pass legislation now or never. Gaylord and I've heard Hughes argue that we can't because of how we opted in.
Bullshit. 100% Bullshit.
Get the opinion if majority voters and move forward. If the opt out is denied by some GMA quasi judicial, or whomever, we can then make our case to a court.
Not like Randy can't pursue this through all legal avenues. For once, make it about something that benefits the constituency.
George Patton or any other general for that matter never advanced a campaign by focusing on one front only. That's a recipe for failure. If you don't have the resources to mount a multi-front campaign you will lose. That said read up on Art of War and Rules for Radicals and attack asymmetrically. Remember that a half dozen soldiers at night can make enough racket to freak out the enemy into thinking the hordes are upon them.
ReplyDeleteI think we should get 12:04 to run for council. Thinks clearly, and stays up late working. What a concept.
ReplyDeleteThis is all a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteCry and complain cry and complain but never do anything.
Yea yea so and so should run for office but how did that work for us last time.
Officially lost faith.
@8:25
ReplyDeleteFor some of us, never giving up is a phrase to live by.
Sorry your faith has been lost.
We are going to work with an unprecedented volume of effort to make the changes needed.
Watch. Ignore. Or help.
The state of the Union as well as our own County Government is pretty Yes Fucked UP! However, there are many many good people like yourself that are not at all willing to throw in that towel. There is much work to be done. I would suggest you get busy. It took a very long time for things to become this bad, it will take longer to make things better. I would suggest though some of us will be gone, we must take action on behalf of others and especially our children. We have so much going on, so much to stop or stand in front of. If you have not done so already get up off your ass and do whatever the hell you can, and stop complaining about what you are unwilling to take Down. It takes a community. Our Vision and Mission statement has been smeared/ lets take it back, one piece at a time.
ReplyDeleteAnd believe it or not, it now appears a pillar of the FOSJ temple is on a fall to the ground, shortly to have a nasty landing. (The primary job of the Director of CD&P in little old SJC is the building structure of international vessels?)
ReplyDeleteI'll say it too. It is faint hope, the head dogs will come to be exposed to the general public for all they have not cared about doing, but still never give up, never, ever.
Cryptic this one is.
ReplyDeleteMeans what, I don't know.
FOSJ needs to be audited, that's for sure.
Is this a new Heron story coming up?
I mean we all suspect that when Buffum barks, her yearling gibboney heels in an act of pure obedience. But does some have the dots connected yet?
And the Bark of the Buffum was heard throughout the Land.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ms. Henley, county auditor and ballot writer, and the IG for the very late notice of an invite to write a critique of the Island Rec ballot tax.
ReplyDeleteWhat is clear is some very wealthy folks build things, the sports fields suitable for a school population of 4,000 and a hospital suitable for a population of 250,000 and then drop these things in a tiny number of SJC taxpayers laps for care and feeding.
No one will ever use these fields. They and the parking lot suitable for downtown Seattle were a horrible mistake. (Wait a short time for the bills to start rolling in for real estate sales hospital.)
I know, with OPALCO's new very expensive launch into net services we can surely expect huge population growth, with lots and lots of kids, and maybe lots of sick geeks too. Well we certainly are ready, Aren't we?
Ah yes, Island Wreck. Give us your poor huddled masses right?
ReplyDeleteThey get a bill for 300k because the assessor has been screwing up BIGTIME.
Now we get a mailer saying raise taxes. There is zero money around.
It's island wreck, who could oppose that.
I have an idea. Just merge Island wreck with the building department. Then you can just charge building permit fees as much as you need to pay for island wreck. As long as you label them as a single "department" it should work just fine. Right? Anyone see a problem?
Speaking of problems, the whole island wreck/CDP fiasco serves to highlight an issue on my radar.
Couples or families who have multiple members in the employment of government.
We have seen issues in the past. Maybe the TH can do a story on that sometime.
Shireen and Ed Hale always float to the top of the list of those who were getting double time from the county.
Gibboney, head of CDP also has a husband who is high up in, you guessed it, island wreck. Also, the longtime building inspector, (you know, the contractor favorite guy ) has a wife that supervises a small county office.
I'm sure there are plenty of others.
Meaningful local government reform will be painful at first but what comes out the other side has the potential to be an efficient, well functioning local gov.
It just ain't gonna happen with any of the current powers that be and staff still at the helm.
They have proven and shown and utter unwillingness to do anything other than preserve self interests.
I agree, and it fries me Henley always seems unable to get anyone to write a ballot argument. Is it really so hard? Does anyone pick up a phone?
ReplyDeleteOr, do we have a self perpetuation system supported by all those on the County payroll.
You want more money, no problem!
We'll stick it on a ballot, the proponents will publish flyers and there will be little thought about it, and it will pass, and you and I will go to breakfast.
The TH, always on the lookout for something important in County government, might study fraternization and marriage double dippers. It could be quite revealing.
I had no idea there was an election coming up, much less a proposed tax levy, until the Island Rec formal begging request came.
ReplyDeleteThere is no money for high school sports.
There is no money for island rec.
There is no money to run the new ball fields that were so kindly “donated”.
Any idea why would people on Orcas and Lopez want to pay for ball fields on SJI?
More money. More money. More money.
Because every dollar you have paid
paycheck after paycheck
property tax bill after property tax bill
retail purchase after retail purchase
gas pump fill up after gas pump fill up
fishing license after fishing license
annual car tag after annual car tag
yearly business license renewal after renewal
building permit fee after building permit fee
"temporary levy lift" after "temporary levy lift"
real estate sale after real estate sale......
Just isn't enough.
Oh, but this time, it’s the children. Who wouldn’t want nice fun parks?
Shouldn’t the question be, “how did the tax assessment of Island Rec get so colossally screwed up”?
Sure is easy to blame the outgoing assessor. Why no mention of the current Auditor? Is she somehow simply blameless? Just keep doing what you are doing? Anyone else here think that the County Auditor, of all people, should have spotted a few things along the way, the past few years? Things like….. Oh, mid- 6 figure screw ups at a junior taxing districts? Or building permit fees being illegally siphoned off to the tune of millions? Or….(insert name of next serious county financial blunder).
Someone on the Heron posted a while back the notion of arranging to fold us into Skagit County. I didn’t give it much thought until now. We have glaring incompetence at every level. Might be worth considering at some point. The upper power circle of local government here has time and time again proven it’s self unworthy of our trust.
And if you wonder what our esteemed council members are spending their time doing, just check out Kevin Ranker’s facebook page. At least two of them are posing for 3-way selfies with the ole’ rankster. Classy.
All of you anons bitching and moaning about Island Rec but no one wants to step up to the task of writing the argument? Give me a break. What a bunch of lazy curmudgeons!
ReplyDelete@4:17
ReplyDeleteHow do you know one of us hasn't?
Given the very recent notification of this even being on the ballot, it might take a day or two.
Forgive us for being deliberate.
Criticism of those who complain may be justified, BUT take a breath; was any substantial effort made, or is any ever made, to round up ballot arguments? "Substantial" meaning a couple of phone calls like:
ReplyDeleteHi Janice, this is Milene Henley, sorry I missed you, but I really need a ballot argument and I know you are a respected and excellent writer. Help! Get me off the hook here, I'll get you better than two weeks to come up with a ballot argument, hey, you can write both sides if you want.
Janice, I'm on bended knee here! I promise a pint of ice cream of your choice!
Please call me back."
Sooo difficult isn't it.
Island rec tax levy?
ReplyDeleteCouples/partners who both nurse on the county teat?
Seems like we are distracting ourselves from the issue raised here.
The county government is willfully stealing money from the citizens in order to feed its endless appetite for our money.
And a complete lack of any leadership on the issue.
Let's not lose sight.
Agree that we must not lose sight of the nefarious actions of our local government. The debate and discussion here on the Heron serves to illustrate the point that it isn't one single problem, it is a multi faceted problem.
ReplyDeleteWe have clearly identified the root of the problem. Our government has shown time and time again that it has grown to serve its operators first and foremost. Second to that is service of those connected. The promise or offer of services to citizens is really only the compulsory minimum necessary to distract from the utter fleecing of taxpayers and self enrichment of the powers that be.
The solutions to these problems require extraordinary commitment and selfless service combined with personal sacrifice.
The purveyors of this reform will be sharply contrasted from the government bureaucrats we seek to remove from power in that our motives are not personal gain, rather a true belief in reasonable and functional government.
The rewards reaped from current actions maybe years or even a generation away.
None of that makes the cause any less just or righteous.
The net benefit is rather humble and intangible. We seek an absence of overreach and a cessation of theft through continually increasing taxation.
Thank you! So true, every last bit of it. We need to join up!
ReplyDeleteWe would all be much better off with about one half of the budget this county sucks from the hard work of our neighbors. Maybe it's time for a volunteer council. And a manager not otherwise tied to the American planning associations idea that the state has a clue to what is good for us. Especially the idea that the government is not the people we serve
ReplyDeleteAnd in loosely related news, our very own Washington State Auditor was the subject of a DOJ raid, federal subpoenas, and IRS investigation.
ReplyDeletehttp://koin.com/ap/washington-state-auditors-home-searched-by-federal-agents/
This is the head of the office that is supposed to investigate claims of local government malfeasance.
Great.
Mine as well just let Gibboney self audit the CDP and publish an article saying "Nope. All good here."
Many thanks to the IG and the Heron, we were marching smartly along there for a short time. Anyone got an up-date from Powers?
ReplyDeleteUpdate?
ReplyDeleteSure.
Like the previous poster said, the very person in charge of investigating government impropriety turns out to be a dirt bag scam artist just like the FOSJ, the clowncil, superfly, and the fat chick in charge of CD&P.
Update:
ReplyDeleteThe local builder's association is hosting a luncheon on Friday to discuss the case, the law, etc. I believe Mr. Power will be speaking.
Should be interesting and give some new insights.
My understanding is that the County needs to file a response and it will has some sort of time deadline. Probably find out what that is on Friday.
Might be a Heron fan or 2 in the audience.
@8:41 - I have to take exception to one of your statements, I feel that it is really out of line.
ReplyDeleteYou say "...the fat chick in charge of CDP....".
Could you please refrain from saying things like that? There is ample evidence to support the fact that no one is really "in charge" of CDP. For you to characterize analogously a train conductor drinking whiskey while throttling a train towards a cliff at top speed as "in charge" is certainly inaccurate at least.
I hear rumors that the County fired Genuich? Anyone confirm?
ReplyDeleteAnd that Gibboney is going to put inspector Fred in charge of building?
Should we wear black arm bands on Friday?
Wow, bummer if they got rid of John. He was really helpful. I had a lot of good interactions with him and he was always fair and reasonable.
ReplyDeleteAnd thus was he doomed to Fall From Grace. Let his punishments be a warning to others as the Fat Lady Sings.
ReplyDeleteIt just seems it has to be this way in SJC. The CDP needs competent help. John Genuich is such a person. He knows the nonsense County "rules" and deals with them daily.
ReplyDeleteSo, of course in SJC when people like this complain about an imbalance of funding, and they do it a few times and don't get even the slightest interest then such a person finally gets pissed off, well sure do gotta get rid of that guy.
So now we have cut back on competent help. The exact opposite of what was needed.
More power to you Ms. Gibboney, you won this round and likely will grab even more building permit money with fewer employees and a bigger permit backload, certainly you have all the excuses up on the chalk board or in your middle desk drawer.
Should I tell you your journey here in SJC will end. Very few of the manipulative self promoting types have lasted long here. Mostly there is something unexpected that gets em, but is really is too bad we have to have all these lawsuits to nail you twits.
Clearly the best option is to screen these people out instead of hiring them but it's beyond that. Now we are stuck with a truly incompetent micromanager who seems only capable of spouting buzzwords, saying ummmmm a lot, and trying to convince everyone of her smarts.
ReplyDeleteRumor is that a number of people are trying to bail from the sinking CDP ship.
I wonder if gibboney can see the writing on the wall yet?
She is in for a heck of a surprise from what I hear, and I'm not talking about some employment related lawsuit. Nope. More trouble brewing that should give everyone pause and question the wisdom of having her in place.
Tick tock.
Given her ignorance based arrogance, I bet she thinks she is doing a great job and that nothing can stop her.
Wrong. Coming soon.
Quick review of CDP history finds agenda driven, incompetent, micromanagers have left us with short tenures, messy litigation, and a disheveled department. Basically a revolving door of mayhem.
ReplyDeleteWe got the French guy for a while. Probably the longest serving director in history. He came from a building background. Did a pretty good job. Gave us stability. Kept the suits to a minimum. If only he had reigned in the Hale-CAO fiasco, it would have been A-OK.
Then we have another building guy, Genuuch, shows competence, reason, common sense, hard work ethic. And they get rid of him?
How much of this is truly government incompetence and how much is agenda driven deliberate action?
AND 1:25am, how much is driven by outside / inside influences we know nothing about? My guess; lots. Couple of calls, a couple of "you go girl" hits on the back and the public gets two more lawsuits to pay for. Wonderful. Even Randy must get bored with this shit.
ReplyDeleteCall a halt! Stop the stupid and the incompetent and haul them in before they do damage. Watch and review the procedures that might cause problems and manage them before they sink to the lawsuit level.
Basic, basic stuff.
Nice move by Bob Jarman and Stephens today.
ReplyDeleteThey couldn't handle being asked tough questions and ran away from the meeting being held today to discuss how CD&P have been ripping us off to pay for FOSJ tool planners and left some office gal to take the heat.
Very courageous Bob, we knew Jaimie hid behind skirts but expected more from you.
And they shamefully left, but not without spouting a few cliches.
ReplyDeleteA question asked by several or point made was that we have heard the same promises about CDP time and time again.
In my almost 3 decades here, I have to say that the CDP with Rene and John was the best we have seen.
Now we get another barrage of bullshit from Gibboney, Thomas and the council about "lean models", "fast tracks", "one stop shopping".
Why won't any of them just answer the obvious question, would levels of service be remarkably better if the 1 million plus dollars pilfered from the building fund, over the last 3 years, was spent on extra plans examiners and permit processors?
Instead, we get tweedle dumb telling us that the new contract plans examiner says plan review would somehow be magically and exponentially faster if people used bigger paper? Seriously. Unreal. That tells us two things. One, this contractor is an idiot and two, ole Jarman is completely clueless for even entertaining such talk as serious and reasonable.
CDP has always been the train with square wheels. In spite of that, it has stayed on the tracks. Now, under the failed leadership of Gibboney and above her, planner extraordinaire Thomas, it's close to coming off the tracks. And who can stop it? Jarman? Stephens? What a joke.
CDP needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Not repaired or remodeled.
Now I get it why Guunich got fed up. Constantly working countless extra hours to keep it going best he could, asking for more staff and telling them that the permit money should be for building only, only to be told that there is no money.
He was lied to. We were lied to. The county management has trouble telling the truth, especially when it involves money.
Am I the only one who is regretting electing Jarman?
ReplyDeleteSure it was primarily to unseat Lovel and to that end, mission accomplished. Is it too much to hope that any sort of leadership would be forthcoming?
I can't tell if Bob's bumbling country bumpkin routine is an act or reality.
I hope he isn't dulisonal about seeking a second term. He won in an off year election, by thinnest of margins, only after a massive coordinated grassroots effort.
Not going to happen again.
Now the question is who is more disappointing, Rick or Bob.
In my opinion, Bob's "bumbling" is genuine. I will actively work against him for a second term. I see no leadership, nor vision.
DeleteThe "good-ol-boy" schtick is downright embarrassing.
There are 19 employment slots within CD&P. Have Bob & Rick or even Jamie actually looked at how this huge employment expense is being productive. I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteTake a look for yourself. There are 4 administrative slots. (Three admin assists and one mgr.) 5 planner positions + a Planning Mgr/Deputy Director...guess that's for when the Director, (Ms. Gibboney) goes to meetings or lunch, or vacation or something like that, but still this person (Kuller) is slotted as a planning manager, so then you have a total of 6 personnel in planning.
And then you have the "Coordinators." There are 3 of those, two involved in wet stuff, and one as a "Lead Entity Coordinator" whatever the F that is. (The position is open is you take a fancy to it.)
So if I add right, San Juan County has 14 employment slots in CD&P that have little to do with getting anything done, although it is true several people are involved in processing the cash generated by the county population that likes to build things, and there are those managers, managing something.
And we do have 1 Code Enforcement Officer (I don't think that's a sworn officer, but maybe). I don't think this person easily fits in the building area or the management area or the planning area, so add this slot to the count if you like for a total of 15 slots.
So that leaves 4 slots doing the building permitting, building inspections, and all that.
Director Gibboney says it currently takes 7 to 8 weeks to process a "Fast Track" permit (that's like a garage of work shop) and 11 to 12 weeks to process a "regular" permit, like for a new house.
Of course I happen to know this is total hogwash, because there is always some additional demands like a archaeology study or now all this Critical Area stuff and nonsense.
And, with John G gone the permitting process delay will get worse.
So, Bob, Rick, & Jamie, is it not finally time to look at the balance of employment slots in CD&P and DO SOMETHING!
And don't just rearrange the deck chairs on this Titanic.
Wish his wife had run instead of him. She would have been easier to elect and probably have done a much better job.
ReplyDelete@6:34
ReplyDeleteReally?
You mean Susan "My kids want to buy property in the valley so we better get rid of the pot farm" Jarman....?
The county would be getting sued, just for different stuff.
Birds of a feather....
When you have to write a detailed letter to the local papers explaining how your wife's desires and actions have no bearing on your position as a county commissioner, and then go on to blather about how there is no conflict of interest, well....
ReplyDeletethere might be a problem.
Typically, the person with the conflict of interest doesn't get to determine if one exists or not.
Or so I heard.
Please tell me that Bob isn't running again. Does he think he is doing well?
His accomplishment list is beginning to rival that of Rick Hughes and Ed Hale, for being generally void of anything meaningful.
Jarman did at least one thing so far, he canceled some Gibboney generated crony-gift-contract to Lovel Pratt.
ReplyDeleteSaved the County $5,000 and put a halt to that non-sense.
Bravo Bob.
But yeah, I'm drawing a blank for anything beyond that.
So they fire the building official for what? and Gibboney can hand out $5k to political friends with no qualifications, and that is ok?
Ummm. Ok. Nothing to see here.
Should we start a lawsuit tally? By eras of councils?
ReplyDeleteI am thinking the last group of goofballs got us the most so far, but heck, Bob, Rick and Jamie are only half way done, so they have time to catch up.
I pray they don't, for our wallet's sake.
The CAO was the crown jewel of creating litigation, but incompetence and arrogance might lead to more.
Pray. For. Us.
I just took a look at the number of ordinances passed by year.
2009 - 47
2010 - 35
2011 - 30
2012 - 31
2013 - 25
2014 - 23
2015 - 2 *thru 1st Q
Well, in some respects, it's good when incompetent leaders don't do anything. It tends to be less destructive.
Why would we look at the volume of "legislation" as a metric?
Oh yeah, because these guys are know as "legislators".
They should be passing stuff. Even all the repair and fixing to the county structure and systems can be done my legislation.
Passing legislation doesn't necessarily equate to new rules. It could be fixing old broken county systems.
Get to work guys.
You are being paid a lot of money to do this job.
We will find other people who will do it in 2 years.
Looks like winter is officially over.
ReplyDeleteThe Herons are Back! Migrating to the monument of an island we have here.
Lots on deck.
Ongoing county CDP woes.
Opalco election coming up.
Tax increase to fix county assessor and auditor screw ups.
And that's just local.
And we haven't heard from the FOSJ for a while. Are they now trespassing and gobbling grants in silence?
Almost worriesome.
What do you mean we haven't heard from the FOSJ in a while?
ReplyDeleteThey are front and center of all this.
Gibboney is closely linked to te FOSJ.
Remember Buffum's grant application that placed Gibboney as a technical advisor?
Getting rid of Geunuich because he contradicts the narrative?
Gibboney galavanting around playing oil spill queen, which just happens to be cause de jour for FOSJ and the grant machine?
Gibboney being "invited" and accepting a private meeting (recently) at the FOSJ office to discuss shoreline regulations?
Oh make no mistake. FOSJ is quite active, they just know that their brand is more toxic than drift card paint. The levers are still being pulled by them. The grants will keep flowing.
Expect a new glossy mailer soon. Or actually, in the new image, matte, on recycled paper, fair trade, carbon neutral stuff.
When will the council wise up and start cutting these tentacles off and restore us to small, limited, rational, non agenda driven government?
Probably not til we get some new council members. 2016.
I still don't understand. Cut off the money. Is Congress friendly to shoveling green pork out the door? Have you noticed how the state will toss Ecology goons under the bus in a New York minute if the state senate gets on their case? Is there no way to create a county budget ordinance by initiative that prevents the County from "matching" these poisoned grants with general fund cashola? I say look at the budget and think outside the box on how to shut the faucet off. Of course that would mean s campaign fought on multiple fronts and it will take money to shut off the money.
ReplyDeleteI think it is easier and costs less to be an arm chair general whining on the Heron second guessing Bob Jarman.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing to second guess about Jarman. He hasn't done anything.
ReplyDeleteBob, is that you?
ReplyDeleteThe defining thing for Jarman is the record. He has none. As to the wife; love her or hate her, at least there is something, some movement, some activism. Bob = blank space.
ReplyDeleteBob has always asked for help. Did you really want some slick assed preening narcissistic ideologue? So help the dude out. Basically there is a values match there.
ReplyDelete"Bob has always asked for help"?
ReplyDelete"Help the dude out"?
Seriously?
Bob, there is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get the county to opt out of GMA planning structure. Thomas, Hughes, Ranker, Gaylord, they are all bullshitting you that it doesn't apply to us. The law was written to apply to exactly counties like us. Take the lead, bring this forward.
Bob, we have a severely incompetent, agenda driven, micromanager running CDP in to the ground, with an entirely toxic environment of her creation. She is routinely absent working on non-department related things. She has been shown to use her personal email for "consulting" work of her former business. She has had key personnel removed that don't agree with her narrative.
Bob, the oil spill hysteria is the latest eco-crowd cause to funnel massive amounts of grant money to local enviro groups. Please stop taking the bait set out by the FOSJ and others and do some real research. There are countless entities tasked with oil spill response. If you want to do something, put the money towards actual equipment and response personnel moored at Roche and on Orcas. The answer lies with physical response equipment, not studies, feasibility grant awards, and the other non-sense coming from FOSJ, Gibboney, and others.
Bob, legal marijuana was approved overwhelmingly. If you are going to propose a moratorium or enact land use law changes, please do so when the new laws are passed, rather than waiting almost 2 years and reacting to the vocal opposition of a tiny minority (including your wife).
Bob, Mike Thomas may be the yes man that you appreciate, but take a look at his track record of being a planner from a big city and just consider for half a second, that he might not have been the best choice or fit for a rural county.
Bob, please articulate some sort of vision for the county, for our community, and how that vision is supported by legislative action. Please. Anything.
Bob, when meeting at public luncheons to discuss issues with CDP and permit processing, please don't spout the same tire clichés and buzzwords we have heard for almost 3 decades. Please have some real world solutions to make the necessary changes. If you need help, like the previous poster suggests, ditch Gibboney and Kuller. Make the planning staff give you a proposal for a 2 - 4 year "plan" that will forever take care of "planning" in the county. This should be a one-time event with an end in site. Planning, at some point, should be finished, not a perpetual machine grinding away at the lives of citizens.
Bob, please get involved in issues before they turn in to litigation. If you have things come up that blind side you, take a look at why this happened? What senior management is telling you might not always be the truth, it is what benefits them most. Or what is not being told to you, more importantly.
Bob, take some time to listen to the boots on the ground, working folks of the departments instead of having everything filtered through a department head, then further filtered through Mike Thomas. You aren't getting an accurate picture.
Bob, please take a look at the practices of Human Resources and the HR manager. She is responsible for a long losing streak of wrongful termination cases, based on her actions. Please note that even the PA's office chastised the county personnel manual as being "out of date" since it was last updated in 1991. That is 24 years ago. If you are the HR manager, in between losing wrongful termination cases, you should be making time to update the manual. That is inexcusable. Ask her what she has done to diffuse the most recent employment situation involving the building official, or maybe take an objective look and see if her actions in fact exacerbated the situation and have pushed it towards litigation rather than resolution.
That should be a good start.
Hope that helps to "help the dude out".
Why is everyone focusing on Jarman here?
ReplyDeleteRead the lawsuit that is the subject of this post.
CDP.
CDP overcharged fees.
Jarman is actually on the record saying that he knows fees should only cover program costs.
This issue was brought to Gibboney's attention by the building official.
From all records and accounts I have read so far, he brought this issue up numerous times and was told to pipe down.
Now, Gibboney is at the helm in the first ever class action lawsuit against the county.
The problem here is Gibboney and her lack of leadership at CDP. Or, worse than lack of leadership is a complete failure of leadership. If only it was only lacking.
Jarman's test now becomes how does he handle this mess that Gibboney has created.
Does she get promoted? transferred? fired? demoted? status quo?
Every day that passes is another opportunity for Gibboney to do something more foolish and put the county further at risk.
If Jarman and the Council can't see the massive liability that Gibboney is, then we have serious problems.
Agreed. The council needs to cowboy up here. Roll up the sleeves and do some of the heavy lifting.
ReplyDeleteThey should not take everything from Thomas for granted. They need to do some of their own homework.
Start with CDP or Public Works and clean house.
Painful? Yes.
Long term public benefit to the taxpayers should be the theme.
A complete cleaning of mid level county management is what is needed.
Dethrone some of the fiefdoms that have been created and put some of the competent workers in charge.
Real leaders can do the jobs of the subordinates. Real leaders work hand in hand with their staff and earn respect. Real leaders don't issue dictates and decrees. Real leaders don't go before council and say "ummmm" every other word. Real leaders take control and responsibility for their arena.
We need real leadership.
The changes that are needed won't be easy. They will be painful. But they are necessary.
There ain't no crying in planning.
"Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike." Alexander Pope
ReplyDelete"The real problem causing a jam with permitting is the CAO's"
ReplyDelete-Bob Jarman
I'm stuck on who we get for new leadership.
ReplyDeleteIn the political world those who climb the ladder start off at the school board level. Can we get a Brent Snow level candidate, I doubt it. People like this do it for their kids and are not trying to become a US Rep or Senator like KR obviously is.
Next up; the Friday Harbor Council. I don't live in FH and I know nothing about these people, except that they do seem to work things out to the benefit of the people who live there. (I'm sure there are those who would disagree).
Still, these people have experience here and fully understand the crap that calls itself government at the County level.
It can happen. Witness, the huge success of the Ron Krebs campaign for Sherriff. (And, this guy really does seem to be a good person for the job.)
I have noted several times in unimportant conversation that this guy Farhad Ghatan seems to be well liked. (He is a FH Town Councilman.) Maybe there are others on the Friday Harbor Town Bench that could be encouraged to come to the plate.
Now is the time. Don't us wait until FOSJ waltzes in another County Council of their choosing.
I'm thinking we can win with a young family working person too. I'm sick of these do nothing old farts. Yes, you Bob.
Oh great,
ReplyDeleteApparently the life coaching poetry writers are now bleating on the TH.
Have any of you FOSJ tools ever had a real job?
Little snot noses with wortless degrees in "planning" or "environmental studies" or worse yet shameless self promoting hacks like Gibboney and every other worthless FOSJ leftist.
You are elitist destroyers, you build nothing, create nothing, you onlu destroy and leech and infect.
Our little community has had enough, go back to your new age wannabe utopias in California, Port Townsend, or wherever else you screwed up.
Got some new slogans I wanted to try out....
ReplyDelete"Bob Jarman -- Analog ideas in a digital world"
"Sam Gibboney -- I don't get it, but pay me anyway"
"Mike Thomas -- Why did I agree to this"
"Rick Hughes -- Well, as long as everyone thinks I'm cool, it's all good".
"Randy Gaylord - Oh Crap, what this time".
"Jamie Stephens - Say what you want, I was unopposed".
Mike Thomas: the "why" he agreed to this is being paid 6 figures. Remember how the County Charter people said he'd get only $75,000 because all he had to do was manage while the Council, now paid $75,000 apiece, governed and did policy? Guess what--they do nothing. He does what he wants, and takes home a hole lot of $$$ for it way; more than $75,000--more like $150,000, including those great County benefits.
DeleteBob Jarman - "Who am I and why am I here?"
ReplyDeleteRick Hughes - "All I need is some tastey bud and I'm fine.
Jaimie Stephens - "Mmmph! mmmph!"
Sam Gibboney - "I came, I saw, I ate...alot"
Mike Thomas - "Huh?"
To paraphrase Ralph Nader.....
ReplyDeleteSam Gibboney - Incompetent at any speed.
Well, they got rid of the head of public works, what, 8 months ago. No replacement as of yet. Ole' Mikey Superfly filled in as interim head of the department.
ReplyDeleteWhy not try that at CDP.
It wouldn't be hard to replace Gibboney. Just don't fill the spot. About the same amount of work would get done.
Mikey could run all 3 departments, you know, justify that 140k a year he is getting.
Seriously, what does Sam Gibboney do on a day to day basis?
Go to meetings about oil spills?
Go down to Port Townsend with Jamie to discuss expanding grant programs so more money can flow in to the department?
When will Rick and Bob realize that they need to cut a good portion of the grant money coming in to the county.
The carrot to stick ratio just doesn't make sense.
Unless you are a planner.
Then, of course, well, it fits the narrative just fine.
Of course stupidity can be compounded by further stupidity.
For example, getting rid of Sam would be trying to reduce stupidity.
Replacing her with, say, Linda Kuller, would be taking two steps backwards.
If Gibboney stays around long enough, what are the odds that she just blatantly hires Buffum or Kyle Loring to be the Building Official?
Doesn't the county Prosecuting Attorney's office have to respond to this lawsuit soon?
ReplyDeleteAny idea when?
I saw the legislative agenda for today had executive session to discuss current or pending litigation.
OPMA Supreme court case is already in the pipeline, waiting, so probably not about that.
Anyone have a current tally of how many active lawsuits there are against the county?
Wasn't a former council clerk suing for wrongful termination? Curious if that got resolved.
Guess I need to some more homework.
Why don't they just let Gibboney prepare the legal defense of this lawsuit?
ReplyDeleteShe is, after all, the all-knowing expert in everything.
Just ask her, she will tell you how smart she is. Seriously, try having a conversation with this woman or listening to her at public access time and you will get at least a handful of either name dropping type statements, or portions of why she is so damned qualified at (insert name of whatever here).
Its really just sad.
There is probably some simple planning related explanation why this lawsuit is non-sense.
You know, after all, who would be a better authority on this? 3 trial court judges, an appellate court judge, the Washington State Auditor (former one, not the one under federal investigation), the State Legislators who wrote this bill, the next generation of Legislators that commissioned a study to make sure that select counties were in compliance with the law, all of whom are in agreement???????
Or.........
Wonderwoman Gibboney and the bumbling council?
I’m sure Randy knows how this will eventually end, he just needs to convince the dolts at the helm what the best course of action is. Good luck with that.
Any efforts at trying to convince egotistical, narcissist, micro-managing, uber-planner types of anything related to grounded, case history based reality is on par with broken pencils….simply pointless.
Why can't we just be LEFT. ALONE.
ReplyDeleteIf you want leftist rules and uber regulation MOVE. BACK. TO. CALIFORNIA.
@10:43
ReplyDeleteIt's just like the scorpion anacedote. Trying to cross the river, promising not to sting the frog but then doing it anyway. "Because I'm a scorpion".
Same thing. Planning. I don't know what Kool-aid they serve at planning schools but it leads to a very self centered, power and money hungry, narcissism.
I guess I need to walk around with a bullhorn and shout at these planners "WHAT PART OF 'ITS NOT YOUR MONEY' DONT YOU UNDERSTAND".
Gibboney and Kuller are as bad as it gets. Epitomising all the bad qualities of planners. Thomas is in fact worse. He is an enabler.
With the stroke of his mighty pen, he willingly co-signs their bullshit.
The council isn't blameless either. They have the power to stop this nonsense but instead choose to ignore the will of the voters.
Interesting idea about leaving employment slots vacant and seeing if it means anything. For instance; does it matter that the "Lead
ReplyDeleteAgency Coordinator" employment slot in CD&P is vacant. Does it matter; does any reasonable person give a shit?
Good question: "What does Sam Gibboney do, anyway?" Rene came out to the desk at CD&P a lot of the time, and I know John filled in for in the field work of building inspections and did plan check.
If Gibboney is not able to work in plan check, building inspection or even planning, what IS she doing. Is this now a vacant employment slot where a paycheck gets cashed.
OH, yeah, for a split second, I forgot about causing a multi-million dollar class action suit, along with whatever John G files.
Perhaps this is the new measure of money well spent.
My copy of "The Idiot's Guide to Class Action Lawsuits" just arrived today from Amazon!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to read it. Some interesting chapter titles.
Chapter 4 "Municipal Corporations and moron legislatures."
Chapter 7 "Examples of Slam Dunk Suits: a case study of Washington State Permit fee laws".
Chapter 14 "Prevention of lawsuits: fire your planning department staff"
Should be a good read.
The End Of The World
ReplyDeleteQuite unexpectedly, as Vasserot
The armless ambidextrian was lighting
A match between his great and second toe,
And Ralph the lion was engaged in biting
The neck of Madame Sossman while the drum
Pointed, and Teeny was about to cough
In waltz-time swinging Jocko by the thumb
Quite unexpectedly the top blew off:
And there, there overhead, there, there hung over
Those thousands of white faces, those dazed eyes,
There in the starless dark, the poise, the hover,
There with vast wings across the cancelled skies,
There in the sudden blackness the black pall
Of nothing, nothing, nothing — nothing at all.
Archibald MacLeish
Please refrain from citations of non sensical gibberish lest Gibboney the Hutt (not to be confused with Lovell the Hutt her sister-cousin) become jealous of you usurping the gibberish domain of untalented government leeches who use it to befuddle clowncil, life coaches, and palm readers.
ReplyDeleteOk ok been there, that's about the best description of SJC govmint I have heard all week.
ReplyDeleteWait,
ReplyDeleteAre you suggesting mere gibberish is befuddling Rickey and not the Scope and Seven?
Princess Ricky isn't befuddled. He is just lazy. Happens when you drink too much.
ReplyDeleteHe is no idiot though. Jarman, well, he is an idiot.
Jamie, on the other hand, is the smartest and most motivated of the bunch. He is just, how do you say it, ideologically challenged.
BTW, scope and seven for a drink is so 2014, come on, it's just good ole beer or cooking sherry for the princess.
I always took Rick to be more of an Old Spice through cotton ball kinda guy myself, happens when you run out of ganja.
ReplyDeleteBob, well Bob is an idiot.
Jaimie being the smartest is like being the tallest midget in the circus.
Great, thanks to @3:21 posting the county will now probably be exposed to another lawsuit.
ReplyDeleteThis time Gibboney can sue for gibberish copyright infringement.
Careful spouting gibberish folks, it may be protected.
"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave." -- Patrick Henry
ReplyDelete1 Samuel 17:49-50 KJV
ReplyDelete[49] And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. [50] So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. …
Faith and courage are what is needed to dismantle the monstrosity of a local government that has grown and grown.
The story of David and Goliath always reminds me of the battle we are in here.
All David had to face was a giant warrior from the Phillistine Army.
ReplyDeleteImagine if the Phillistines had a planning department and a lead planner named Gibboney Goliath. A giant beuracrat spewer of nonsense and gibberish.
David might not have fared so well.
The thought of Gibboney Goliath spewing is sickening, thanks for that mental image.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's time for a fresh Heron post?
ReplyDeleteI'm dangerously close to publishing a new spoof song.
(•_•)
ReplyDelete<) )╯DO THE
/ \
\(•_•)
( (> CDP
/ \
(•_•)
<) )> SHAKE
/ \
Let's please stop offending gibbons. They are an intelligent and sociable species.
ReplyDeleteNo one knew why a young successful doctor, even someone who was so forgiving in his financial outlook as to be a general practitioner, would want to be here in the islands; still, he got a job at a local clinic.
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting in this guy's office and I'm waiting. Routine blood; but I notice his computer is on and I'm getting bored. Guilty; I got, with just a few key strokes, into his personal files.
I'll not name, names here; patient confidentiality should be respected even by a low life like me. But, I did hit the print button and get nineteen pages spit out which I quickly stuffed in my backside.
Later, in reading, I found the good doctor, who had been in practice here for just a few years, had stumbled upon something interesting. During his first year of practice, nine women had asked him to verify a pregnancy. Scanned communication in this file pointed out that several women had used the readily available pregnancy test from Friday Harbor Drug, but still wanted to be completely sure and therefore came to him.
These women wanted to have babies, and had been unable to become pregnant. Two, had even written glowing letters thanking the doctor for his pregnancy positive verdict.
The second year, women requesting his pregnancy verification assistance jumped to 26. Again, there were thank you notes.
The third year the number ballooned to 54, and the doctor wrote a short medical journal comment about women getting knocked in the San Juan Islands. His theory came to a choice between the couples being relaxed or bored or both. He had even gone to the trouble to ask the women where they were bedding or bedded. His analysis showed all islands equally productive. And, he did point out in his spread sheet that in fact, over the three years he had not one negative result. Each one of the women, who came to him, was in fact pregnant!
It seemed Asian women were particularly tuned in and turned on with the results a little hot sex could get you in the San Juan Islands. He noted in the third year, in a comment section, some women had traveled great distances.
Word was getting out.
And, our doctor was shifting to a panic mode. Knowing what could happen with an internet claim among wanting women, he was beginning to fear an overwhelming demand not only on his services, but also on the Islands infrastructure in general.
He wondered; what if thousand of women arrived in the Islands with hubby in tow, expecting to get expecting?
That was the end of the nineteen pages.
My blood was fine; maybe next year.
In the grocery store checkout line; I did overhear two women speaking softly about our now departed MD. One said, the last she had seen him was in the ferry line. She commented he had a personalized license that said: "PROVEN."
I know readers of the TH will treat this note with the proper discretion.
Submitted April 1st.
All right then! In answer to the many inquiries as to the quick demise of the incredibly wonderful whorehouse on Henry Island, I wish, of course, that I had firsthand knowledge, however, I was able to piece the following together.
With the huge earning and tips in the first month, many newcomers wanted a berth and it seems one young start-up did not meet the standards of the brothel team. She, being pissed at not making the cut, somehow managed to ID a high roller and contacted his "lovely" wife, who was immediately interested in settlement value; his.
All good things must end and small advice; be careful, boys and girls, where you use the plastic.
If you worry about the estate manager, don't. He ended up working on an island a bit South of Honolulu for a man named Ellison.
Couple of questions to ponder:
ReplyDelete1) does the universe have boundaries or does it extend infinitely?
2) if your wife has an affair, cheats on you, and you run off to Shaw island to take a teaching job, how long does it take, if ever, to forgive?
Just some thought provoking stuff I saw on a blog
Great questions, here is what I have to offer.
ReplyDeleteFirst, talking about cheating or affairs is actually quite analogous to the original post. Both of them are about a breach of trust. Whether it is the county breaching the taxpayer's trust, or a spouse breaching another spouse's trust, it's just wrong.
If your significant other has an affair, doesn't matter if it is with the cable guy, the neighbor, or some Israeli diplomat, bottom line, like the permit fee payers of SJC, someone gets screwed.
Cheating is wrong. The county needs to be accountable for their actions.
And the first question, about the universe, i would say if there are planners and grant money involved, it goes on to infinity.
Now we are seeing comparisons between a CDP rooted lawsuit over fleecing permit holders and spouses cheating with Israeli diplomats?
ReplyDeleteI can see the nexus and elements of commonality but I think a better one is a comparison to theft or shoplifting.
Stealing.
Somehow our country, state and county has legalized taxation but the rules have been written to place limits on it.
In this case, the county appears to have gone way beyond all the limits.
Theft. Plain and simple.
If you or I did this, we would be charged with a crime.
Oy vey.
Betrayal.
ReplyDeleteNothing worse, no amount of "I'm sorry" restores trust.
Without trust you cannot lead.
When you betray, when you back stab, when you do not honor commitment you destroy any and all opportunity to lead.
Leaders do not betray.
There is one thing worse than betrayal and worse than breaking the trust of someone or a group of people.
ReplyDeleteThat is covering it up or lying about it once it is discovered.
When you do something wrong, when it becomes known, fess up, show that you have some dignity and try to make it right.
Far too often, especially in the people that are our government workers, at all levels, the lies just get compounded and cover up ensues.
That's why trust of government is at an all time low.
We have "leaders" who have no moral compasses, who only seek to benefit and enrich themselves, with no regards for the citizens they serve.
Yes, betrayal is bad, but the cover up is far worse.
It's really just sad that our so called "leaders" think that the rules don't apply to them.
ReplyDeleteWhat will it take to install true, ethical leaders in our local government?
ReplyDeleteWe need leaders who won't violate the public trust. Leaders who put the community before self.
We don't need leaders who have historic moral failings, pure self motivations, and a willingness to cover up their transgressions and those of their cohorts.
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34
ReplyDeleteSo the county has been sued.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens next?
Anyone heard a peep from the council?
Some good ole aw shucks wisdom from Bob?
This sums up county government better than just about anything in recent memory.....
ReplyDeleteFrom the SJIslander blog.......
"After more than 14 years of planning, construction will start Monday April 13 on the long-awaited realignment of Cattle Point Road..."
and as for Orcas Island, the county spends 40 k of OUR money planning road improvements at Nordstrom Rd/McNallie Ln
DeleteThen asks permission of the land owner. Right! NOT!
Well sorry folks we missed "one little thing"
Didn't we all know that that would happen? Didn't we have the Mount Baker Road experience (what do you mean there's a wetland there?) to guide us about PW incompetence?
DeleteFirst, as to the universe. Stephen Hawking likes the "M" theory (the "M" means nothing, it is just an ID) . Very, very briefly, time is not existing at "the beginning" and because each universe creation happens so suddenly it can barely be measured, and is completely random, then we must contemplate an infinite number of universes very likely all different from ours if we ever figure out the laws that operate ours. Kinda makes killing people over minor religious differences ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteSecond. We will not resolve anything of issue until we put thinking people in charge. People you can reason with. People who care. The huge mistake Gordy made was he assumed if we offered enough money we would get good people. In his defense, voters thought he was right. He was not right!
Good motivated people will work like crazy for nothing. We have all seen it. Many, many boards and commission members get paid nothing.
Unlikely, but good pay may mean you will get someone who cares and will work hard, AND needs a paycheck. So far that has not happened.
An accepted opinion is that people who are smart and work hard are successful and therefor hard to come by, read expensive.
So how do we get real talent, or will we continue to hire more lazy people or idiots who cost via litigation much more than their tiny contribution of service to the public that pays them.
Certainly the universe, or our universe, works in a more reasonable way than SJC.
Sounds like from that, the problem may lie with the HR department.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone ever pulled background on this Pamela Morais woman?
I think she was a clerk at an auto parts store way back when and somehow got into the county job.
Now we have see her, or more like not seen her, as she quietly rules over the county workers.
Bad hire after bad hire. Pay raises for most management with the single largest one going to her significant other, ole glue horse Manning.
The union workers, the real boots on the ground are held in fear of misstep by the power she wields over their jobs. That is where the power and control are derived.
They are forced to work under an archaic rule book that predates the internet. While that alone is a substantial dereliction of her duties, it serves her well to always have the excuse at hand that "well, that's outdated so you do as I say".
She then goes on to make the case that the rules don't apply to management.
It's an us vs. them mentality that has been created by her highness Moreass.
Despised by the union.
Despised by the sheriffs guild.
Beloved by Thomas.
In her tenure, we have witness massive, staggering payouts for wrongful termination. Add to that the cost of litigation and it's tremendous.
All while not evening being able to complete what would appear to be requisite job duty, have a personnel manual that doesn't date back to the first Bush administration.
The council must be mesmerized in executive session by this woman. Ask any county workers that have crossed paths with her. The epitome of a bossy bully. Makes up rules that suit her ends.
You want answers on how to hire better people, take a look at the person responsible for hiring. Start there.
There seems to be a pattern of hiring more vulnerable folks. Easier to control.
Council needs to take a hard look at this woman. Who does her job performance review? What metrics are used?
When you cumulatively have cost the county more in litigation than the CAOs, there might be a problem.
Wake up council. Do something
A street sweeper is now being used to go along the road side by guard rails and whack the grass along the edge of the pavement. Maybe you have seen this. Us cyclists have. This is roadsides where the County boom mower used to go easily by.
ReplyDeleteI believe any mechanic will tell you that this is not the intended purpose of a street sweeper. In addition, I think they would tell you the operation of this big machine has a much higher cost than that of a weed eater or brush hog.
The labor cost would seem to be even higher because there are two men in the truck, one seems to be needed to operate the new looking and expensive looking County dump truck to service the street sweeper.
The County got some kind of grant to install these new guardrails with no thought to how much yearly maintenance was involved, much like the "Fields" park and rec wants taxpayer money to now maintain.
You can build it, but can you own it, or does it own you.
My suggestion is that these guard rails be all pulled out, this is rural America after-all, and when the price of steel is up we sell em.
Better for you and me, and I think even for a car headed for a soft landing rather than a guardrail.
Poor decision making has consequences. We are rural, let us make rural decisions not urban ones.
Why did we let the outgoing council have a say in hiring a new county manager?
ReplyDeleteWe had plenty of applicants from rural areas but instead are stuck with uber planner from King County.
Urbanization is what we will get, at every level, inspire of the wishes of the citizens.
Happy Easter to the Heron readers. Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful island weather.
ReplyDeleteSpring has sprung,
ReplyDeleteThe grass has rizz,
I wonder where the Heron is?
I'm one of those who believe the posts on this site have merit, and I believe most Heron readers would agree. Here before, are 160 posts, not just entertaining, but thoughtful and in many cases well researched. Look back; there is some impressive stuff here.
ReplyDelete160 posts, not chopped liver, by any measure, and if those in government choose to believe these comments don't matter, I think they do so at their peril.
I only wish their peril could be something a whole lot worse than the standard termination cover-up and big bucks separation.
This whole termination deal needs to come into the daylight. This "personnel matter" hide out with well paid legal council is a big looser for the public paying the bills.
Let us terminate the incompetent with haste and no excuses.
Terminate the incompetent?
ReplyDeleteSo basically do away with county government.
Sounds good.
Terminate the incompetent...
ReplyDeleteInclude Jarman with this in the next election!
Jarman is delusional if he thinks he wins a second term.
ReplyDeleteA lot of us that worked hard to get him elected would vote for Lovel instead.
Bob is a failure. Period.
That would be a No. I worked hard to unseat Pratt-Fall. Jarman is OK, he is probably a bit unwell, remember he has a heart condition. Lovell is simply heartless by comparison. I don't think Bob would want to run for a second term and my sense is that health issues would be a factor. Bob will work with you if you work with him. Go talk to him in his office. Take two friends. Lay it on the line. Ask for a simple first step on your issue and if he is with your position he will take the first step. He will also tell you how to work the other two, he usually knows their position. I would not vote for Pratt or anyone she or the corrupt arrogant Machine she is a part of if my life depended on it. Nor should you. Bob is one of the good guys and I am God Damned tired of hearing otherwise.
ReplyDeleteYou like Jarman, then you can have him. You're not the only one to work hard to unseat Pratt-Fall only to have Jarman support all things MRC, including all the spill craziness. He supported the levy lift too. John G. is gone but Sam G. is still there. Jarman cancelled a Pratt contract and kept Pratt out of government.
DeleteHe knows how to work the other two? Sure he does. Really worked out, hasn't it. He's got them wrapped around his finger.
I'm as goddam tired of hearing you whine about Bob's talents as you are of complaints about him. Lay it on the line. Here's the line. You, Bob, have done nothing to dismantle the machine. NOTHING. And it's too late at this point to do anything to make up for it. You've done nothing to get us out of the GMA -- deadline coming up at the end of the year. You're lost Bob. That's the line. You have no idea what to do or who to do it to. You have to be told what to do by "supporters" who sit in your office two-by-two because you have no internal compass about what to do on your own, except to stop Pratt from getting involved. No big picture. Hell. Not even a little picture. No picture at all. You've got no goddam vision of where you want to go. If the machine isn't wearing a Pratt disguise, you can't see it.
Here's the goddam line Mr. Jarman supporter. Your man is part of the goddam machine if he can't even recognize it. Your man, Mr. Goddam Jarman supporter, couldn't hit the machine in the ass with a fiddle at five feet. Mr. Goddam Jarman supporter, your man is all we've got, and it's a goddam shame.
Not one, not a single goddam one of us on our side has the balls or the smarts of even the half-wits on the other side. How I wish we had someone as tough and as smart as Stephanie B. How I wish we had someone as blindly one-sided as that Gamble guy on the PC.
That's the goddam line, and Bob ain't cut out for it. It's not a goddam health issue. Bob in his prime wasn't half the man Stephanie Buffum is.
And you, Mr. Goddam Jarman supporter, you're as soft as all the rest of us. You'd ride a mediocre Mr. Do-Nothing into the sunset and feel satisfied about it.
I'm sick of losing and sick of losers. Our side is full of losers and the people who support them.
I don't think I can speak slow enough to effectively to Bob.
ReplyDeleteMike Thomas ' wife....more to that story!!
DeleteReplied to wrong post ....this is super funny. Thanks for the good laugh needed one today
DeleteHere's what I know.
ReplyDeleteSince BJ and Rick have been elected Ron Zee still runs the CD and funnels ill gotten grant funds to the FOSJ.
Sam Gibboney the adultress FOSJ tool is having secret meetings over at the FOSJ HQ (yes Jezebel you were seen coming and going)
The MRC continues to justify it's bullshit existence.
And last but not least, the CAO remains in full effect with BJ and Rick's blessing.
So godamn that.
Here it is now Tuesday and thank you so much Mr and Ms Monday Morning Quarterback, Armchair General and the Second Guess Chorus of Woe. Complete slackers of their own civic duty. Look through the Trojan Heron threads for so many solid organizing ideas on how to really push back. Yet you simpering wimps want to sit out the game on the sidelines, bitch at every political compromise made with no concept of how to set future favors from the other elected yahoos to vote properly on more important issues. I don't come here to bury Bob or Rick, or to praise them. We all new it will take YEARS to dismantle this Machine because they took YEARS burrowing into the system while you fools were out to lunch. Jarman certainly does not have his colleagues twisted around his fingers, but he can probably tell you what their positions are and how to approach them on the issue that is important to you. In the midst of your whining and kvetching you seem to have forgotten that little no-no rule about council critters calling each other up at night or otherwise meeting outside of the council session boundaries. Are you completely clueless as to why there is a Supreme Court case from San Juan County about open meeting law violations? If on the one had you would express outrage about council members deal making behind the scenes then you better be godamn prepared to roll up your sleeves and get organized ... as Ron Zee bloody well knows how to do. It really is up to well informed citizens to move this council by organizing to move them and their individual positions to the outcomes we'd rather see. But I can see you would rather sit on your hands and whine, offer no solution. If it ever comes to real boots on the ground, that would not be you.
ReplyDeleteBitch at every political compromise? You mean I don't praise every political cave-in and mistake it for progress. Too many to list AGAIN. If it ever comes to real boots on the ground? My boots have been on the ground, and I don't want to waste my time with you or Jarman ever again. Victory for you isn't the same as victory for me. I don't want to "talk" to council people. I want things to change. I'll keep whining and kvetching about reality while you enjoy your imaginary world of victory.
DeleteGood luck with Jarman. He's all yours.
I wonder how anything will change if you refuse to engage elected officials who pass laws that affect you? What consensual hallucination or shared reality do you subscribe to that empowers you to imagine change with no particular effort on your own part? Maybe you could sell some T-shirts and coffee mugs down by the docks or something.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how anything will change if we have elected officials who can't understand what they're being told or why they were elected. Jarman has been talked to ad nauseum, and he still doesn't get it. Jarman didn't run to change anything. He ran to fill his bucket list, and it shows. Check. He did it. Now leave.
DeleteYou can keep talking to him. You're obviously doing a great job. You also have a lot more time on your hands than I do. I'm too busy trying to make a living. Glad you got friends in high places who listen so well.
You're right. Nothing is going to change around here. You are the ones talking to the great ones, and the rest of us are too busy selling mugs to make ends meet. I realize it's all my own damn fault because nothing is ever Jarman's fault. He's a great guy who will do anything for me.
I am so damn lucky that you and him are around to look after my goddam interests.
Waste of time. All of you. A waste of my very valuable time. Hallucination my ass. I put time in, and it goes nowhere. Zero return on my f'ing investment.
Wait--Gibboney is an adultress? That's almost as humorous as her being a (1) solid waste expert (2) planning expert (3) shipping expert (4) building code expert).
ReplyDeleteHow did she get hired again?
Is the rumor that Mike Thomas is looking around just a belated April Fool Day joke or for real? I think he should take the team: Morias, Gobboney, the Engineer . . . what a package! And they work so well together already.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere, there is a poor, saddened, broken Israeli diplomat having a tough time getting over the mountain of regret and shame he incurred after a senseless affair that could have only been fueled by drinking close to an entire case of manischewitz wine (the Hebrew version of Maddog 20/20).
ReplyDeletePoor fella.
Now they fired the hearing examiner because he rejected too many bad planning decisions? Oh goody. Take away ALL hope of a fair shake for the property owner.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with timely permit review is lack of staff not the CAO. Wetland rules have been in effect for a long time and there is no excuse for what has happened as of late. It is my understanding a Sammamish couple building in Bob's neighborhood complained to him and then Mike Thomas sends his wife out to declare an area clearly wetlands non wetlands ......and Gibboney signed off on this. Corrupt! John is ridiculed for sticking up for more staff but they can violate laws in such a manner that warrants they all be let go including Gaylord.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know of a "local wetland expert named 'JT'"?
ReplyDeleteAsking for a friend.
Thanks.
Mike Thomas' wife.
DeleteJanet Thomas. Not an expert if she is taking part of waiving code requirements for her husband. They waived code requirement for Chris and Jenise Hughes at 310 treeline drive, Portland Fair. They are from Sammamish and think they are above the law. All under the direction of Bob Jarman.
DeleteJanet Thomas.
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