Commission Briefs

Community Lifeline cold weather shelter approved

Mason County commissioners approved a Community Lifeline request for funding a 24/7 cold weather shelter for 35 people from December to May at the Dec. 6 meeting.

According to the information packet, Community Lifeline has been working with Public Health staff on the request for additional money to provide the shelter resources to open 24/7 to house up to 35 people. The request will help fund six existing employees and add two additional staff to cover nights. The original request was for November to May, but was revised to December to May.

The amount requested is $54,789.84. The City of Shelton is providing $20,000 and the remaining $34,789.84 is funded by the county with remaining American Rescue Plan Act money.

Commissioner Randy Neatherlin said he is not a fan of the request, “But I’m not going to stand in its way.”

“I would hope that before we give them any other money, we have certain provisions put in place that we talk about with the city,” Neatherlin said. “That, for example, if they’re unruly or if there’s any issues, there’s certain things that bring about being excluded from the facility along with giving them pamphlets showing them how to get to the other counties with that free transit that we now provide leaving the counties to get there for further services if they can’t be less than unruly here. I also think that we should be paying the same as what the city is putting in for it. It’s a city issue, which is $20,000 but with that being said, I understand everyone is trying to do the best they can to make things work.”

Road levy increased by 11.83%

County commissioners increased the 2023 Road Property Tax Levy by 11.83% and set the levy at $11,481,344.58 at the Dec. 6 meeting.

According to the information packet, it includes a diversion of the road levy of $1,080,000. County commissioners must certify to the county assessor the amount of taxes levied upon the property in the county. The dollar amount increase over the actual levy amount from the previous year is $1,213,656.76, according to the resolution. The increase is exclusive of additional revenue resulting from new construction, improvements to property, newly constructed wind turbines, solar, biomass and geothermal facilities for any increase in value of state assessed property, any annexations that occurred and refunds made. The district will collect an additional $131,917.56 of revenue from new construction, $8,965.30 from refunds levied by the treasurer and $1,739.19 from state assessed utilities.

Commissioner Randy Neatherlin said he wanted to make clear to the public this is not a true tax increase, it’s a shifting “from one pocket and moving it over to another pocket.”

“We’re actually not doing a 1% increase that we are allowed to do for our regular increases, this is just a shifting of where it’s going, basically,” Neatherlin said during the meeting. “That tax is going back to the roads where it was originally at before we shifted it out to use it for road patrol in the Sheriff’s department. They’re still getting it, we’re just doing it now out of the general fund. So again, for the general public, this is not a tax increase, even though it sounds like it when you’re reading it, not in any way, it’s just a shifting of where the money is.”

No one spoke during public comment. Commissioner Kevin Shutty commended the work of county staff.

“The working relationship with the Assessor’s Office has continued to get better over my time here as a commissioner and just appreciate how well our departments work together in order to get the people’s business done and so just very grateful,” Shutty said during the meeting.

Heritage Grant applications accepted

Mason County commissioners and the Historic Preservation Commission are accepting applications for the 2023 Mason County Heritage Grant cycle.

According to a news release, the Heritage Grant program assists projects that promote the public’s access to county history.

The program is funded through document recording fees collected by the auditor. The allocation of the fees for projects “promote historical preservation or historical programs, which may include preservation of historic documents” authorized under RCW 36.22.170. Revenues accrue to a dedicated fund and may not be used for any purpose other than stipulated in the statue.

Grants in amounts up to $5,000 can be awarded to qualified organizations for professional development, public education, small capital projects, collections management, heritage investigations and historic preservation. Guidelines for organizations considering applying for the grant are online. Applications must be received by Jan 20. Questions can be directed to Michael MacSems at 360-427-9670 ext. 571.

County upgrading fiber optics

Mason County commissioners approved Information Technology to advertise a request for bids for performing construction of a downtown campus fiber optic upgrade project at the Dec. 6 meeting.

According to the information packet, the fiber optic cabling are for downtown county buildings 1-4, 6, 8 and 9, courthouse, juvenile detention center and Sheriff’s Office. Fiber connections will be terminated at county Building 10. The scoop of services include fiber network installation, routine cable maintenance and services at off-times in case of emergency.

The timeline for bids for the project is to be determined.

Group to audit county phone bills

Spyglass Group has signed an agreement with County Administrator Mark Neary to audit the county’s landline and cellphone bills.

According to the information packet, finance and information technology attended a presentation by Spyglass Group regarding auditing the county’s landline and cellphone bills in order to assure the county is getting the best deal possible. Spyglass does this at no cost upfront and takes a percentage of any savings that it uncovers and the county chooses to implement. The item was approved by the IT Steering Committee.