Belfair sewer decision delayed again

Matt Baide | Mar 03, 20220

Mason County commissioners resumed a public hearing Tuesday about the Belfair sewer, and once again, decided to continue the public hearing to allow more time for county staff to gather information.

After the first public hearing Jan. 31, which lasted more than four hours, the commissioners voted 2-1 to continue the public hearing at 6 p.m. April 5. Commissioners Kevin Shutty and Sharon Trask voted again to continue the public hearing in April, with commissioner Randy Neatherlin opposed.

The public hearing Tuesday lasted two hours, with Mason County Administrator Mark Neary suggesting at the beginning to continue the hearing in at least 30 days to allow staff more time to gather information.

“We obviously don’t have enough information tonight for the board to make a decision on this project so we’re going to have to continue this hearing because we have not received confirmation back from Department of Commerce,” Neary said. “The Legislature has accepted the scope change so the actual change from what (Public Works Director) Loretta (Swanson) described was in the original plan to what’s in our current plan. So I don’t feel like we’re in a position tonight where we recommend the board take action to move forward on that.”

Neary said the county went to the Department of Commerce to make an administrative change to the loan from a revenue bond to a general obligation bond. A revenue bond is payable based on fees charged to individuals within the utility district, whereas a general obligation bond can be paid for in different ways.

“I reviewed some footage of the board’s discussion … It was clear to me that the board had actually not wanted it to be a revenue bond. They wanted it to be a general obligation bond,” Neary said. “So the first thing that we asked the Department of Commerce to do would be change the special terms and conditions for loan security from what was originally listed as a revenue bond to a general obligation debt.”

The general obligation debt would be financed through 0.09 rural sales tax money and the second quarter percent of the real estate excise tax.

Swanson and Deputy Director of Utilities and Waste Management Richard Dickinson said the county sewer code needs to be updated. Current sewer code states that if a property line is within 200 feet of the nearest sewer hookup, the property must hook into the sewer system.

“I started looking at the code more in-depth and we need to update it,” Dickinson said. “There are certain things — Harstine Island is not part of it anymore. There’s a lot of code cleanup and so I’m going to attempt to merge all of our sewer codes into one sewer code and with my methodology ... the most restrictive is what I’ll write in there. Of course, I’ll bring all of this to you. I’m sure I’m going to be taking this back to you on a number of briefings.”

After public questions and comment, the commissioners deliberated and Neatherlin said there needs to be a comprehensive plan on what is going to happen with the Belfair sewer system and have it brought to the public again.

“We keep doing this and finding out new information or make new

changes each month,” Neatherlin said. “It shows that it’s not baked right. It’s still not correct. We still don’t have the right numbers. We’re still working daily to get something new. So with that, I want to make clear that I am actually in favor of the sewer going up there. I’m just not in favor of us paying for it to do it.”

Commissioner Trask said the commissioners have a lot to think about and a lot to study before the next public hearing in April.

“We have mandates from the state that we have to extend or provide utilities and infrastructure within an urban growth area,” Trask said. “I don’t want us to lose track of that at all. We’re still needing information from commerce. We’ve got the ARPA funds; we need to look at those. We also have potential funding from the Legislature. I want to make sure we have everything in a row so the next commissioners, maybe it’s not me, it may not be any of us further down the road, that has to make this next decision.”

Commissioner Shutty said he understands this is a big decision for the county. He said the sewer is a frustrating topic to not be able to solve this in the past decade.

“It’s a complex issue. We’re dealing with markets and we’re dealing with parts of our planning and development codes that need to be revised and really looking at the debt from a 30,000-foot level and saying how do we manage this? How do we make this work for the county? How do we make this work for Belfair?” Shutty said. “Putting our county on solid footing going forward. I think that is the approach staff has taken and they’ve done a tremendous job at really hammering down on this and figuring it out. I appreciate all the effort that staff has put into this over the next month.”

Check out next week’s Shelton-Mason County Journal for more information on Tuesday’s public hearing.