Commission Briefs

Grants rejected for two area ballfields

Mason County commissioners approved withdrawing from two Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grant requests for Union and Sandhill Park multipurpose field and to not accept the Youth Athletic Facilities program grant request at the April 25 meeting.

According to the information packet, county parks and trails applied for a Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office grant May 1, 2022, to assist with adding a synthetic ball field to Sandhill Park. Two separate grants were applied for, including the YAF grant for $350,000 and the WWRP grant for $500,000. The county was selected for the YAF grant and the deadline to accept is May 9.

To build a Sandhill Park all-purpose field, the estimated cost to Mason

County was $4,803,000 and the Union Park renovation estimate is $1,849,000 for a total cost of $6,652,000.

"The reason why is when we went after the grant request, we went after a lot more money. They were able to allow us a small amount but when you're talking about a project they would give you $350,000 on when the project is $4.75 million, we can't afford to do the rest of it," Commissioner Randy Neatherlin said during the meeting. "With that, although they were kind enough to give us a little bit to maybe help in design, they didn't even actually do it for design, they did it for construction and we couldn't accept that unless we were able to do the rest of it. The county is not prepared to be able to do it for that and the other one is a large request also, but it doesn't have it down there, they're both very large requests that the county cannot afford to purchase and pay for those parks at this time."

Commissioner Sharon Trask said the county wants to be cautious moving forward as "we go into harder times, we want to make sure that we're not overextending what we have the choice too."

Fiber upgrade for county campus

County commissioners approved the fiber upgrade bid from Hood Canal Communications at the April 25 meeting.

According to the information packet, information technology opened the bidding for the fiber optic upgrade in January and closed bidding in March. The county received two bids, one from HCC for $304,017.19 and the other from SEFNCO for $121,374.68.

It was determined by staff the county only received one responsive bid that met the specifications. Proposals are evaluated on criteria that includes a strategy for completing the work.

SEFNCO's scope of work and map was determined to be inadequate.

According to the packet, SEFNCO's bid didn't appear to reflect the total scope of services. There was no cost in SEFNCO's bid for pole replacement even though their path is predominantly overhead and the county is aware that PUD 3 will require some poles to be replaced and the total splicing costs are not clear.

The bid was approved for HCC, even though it wasn't the low bid.

Satsop Cloquallum Road culvert project

Mason County commissioners approved the Satsop Cloquallum Road Culvert Replacement project at milepost 5.20 to advertise, set bid dates and times and award the contract.

According to the information packet, Public Works will work on a maintenance project on Satsop Cloquallum Road that will require county forces to remove a 30-inch diameter culvert that is failing at mile post 5.20. It will be replaced with 16.9 feet by 10.8 feet rise aluminum structural arch pipe to meet the state Department of Fish and Wildlife's replacement requirements. Public Works requested authorization to procure the culvert and close the road from Aug. 21 to 25 to complete the project.

Planning commission member appointed

Brad Carlberg was appointed to the Planning Advisory Commission by Mason County commissioners.

According to the information packet, the commission is a seven-member citizen board appointed to advise the county commissioners on policy related to the comprehensive plan and land use issues. The commission considers and makes recommendations on issues such as amendments to the comprehensive plan, shoreline master program and land use regulation.

Carlberg has 39 years of engineering experience and is a licensed professional control systems engineer.

Money allocated for sheriff cameras

American Rescue Plan Act money of $14,211 was used for the installation of Mason County Sheriff's Office vehicle cameras to include the purchase of vehicle and body cameras after approval by county commissioners.

According to the information packet, county commissioners approved up to $40,000 of ARPA money for MCSO installation of in-car vehicle cameras for the years 2021 through 2024 through commissioner action on Nov. 23, 2021. There is $14,211 of the $40,000 remaining and a revision was requested to the original action agenda item to include the purchase of in-car cameras and body cameras.

Courthouse elevator getting repaired

County commissioners approved a repair work order from TK Elevator Corporation for the courthouse elevator.

According to the information packet, during the mandatory five-year testing of the courthouse elevator, it was discovered the elevator needed repairs and has been shut down for the past few months.

The estimated contract cost is $161,133.72.

County supports public lands group

The county has approved support of the National Center for Public Lands Counties at the Tuesday meeting.

According to the information packet, the National Association of Counties and the Western Interstate Region Board of Directors proposed the creation of a National Center for Public Lands Counties to look toward the future of public land. The creation of the center will give "public lands counties an opportunity to demonstrate how prosperous public lands counties create a prosperous America."

The organization will identify and create research projects, collect and create data and information, and at times provide detailed, individual research and written county profiles focused on the benefit, opportunities and impact of public land.

The Washington State Association of Counties has a goal to generate $635,000 to support the creation of the future operatons center from 38 of 39 counties in the state that receive payment in lieu of taxes and secure rural schools funding from the federal government. The request to the county is $7,957, which is the equivalent of 1% of Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Funds received in 2022 and 2023. The money will come from the general fund.

Money reallocated

Mason County commissioners decided to reallocate and combine the remaining American Rescue Plan Act money awarded to the Mason County treasurer for real property tax and personal property tax.

According to the information packet, commissioners approved the treasurer's use of ARPA money to prevent foreclosure on real property tax and personal property tax in 2021. The approved ARPA money is $125,000 for individual households and $75,000 for small businesses. The treasurer has stated that the small business delinquent property taxes are complete and the remaining money should be moved into the individual household's section.

The remaining amount of money to be allocated is $49,932 for a total of $66,952 to help prevent foreclosure to individual households.