Well, I'm happy to be able to report that there is at least one thing the county is able to be thrifty with, the heat.  My office is freezing.  I'm not sure maybe it's just that the programming is wrong because both buildings tend to be very warm in the morning but by noon, only penguins could be comfortable.  No worries, we"ll get by.

I certainly do not understand anyone being shocked that I would vote against signing something that I had not had the chance to read and digest.  Some were however, seemingly surprised when I asked for a number of contracts to be removed from the consent agenda and requested more time to review them.  With that time not available, I voted against the other 2 commissioners, knowing full well that they would decide the fate of the contracts.  I figured they could handle it and in fact, they better get used to it. 

The contracts are paid for out of the voter approved Mental Health Sales tax.  I will be establishing a manner to audit the performance of those types of programs.  I still believe that the voters would be against that sales tax in this current economy and would really like to see a sunset provision put on it.  I believe that would be helpful for local businesses also.

 I contend that Wednesday's workshop with the department heads are unnecessarily time consuming.  I was struck by a comment I heard stating something to the effect of, "doing the county's business." My understanding is that I am there to do the "people's business."  My assessment is that the department heads, even those I disagree with, are following the direction and agenda of the majority control of the board.  I feel there needs to be more time spent focusing on achieving the needs of the people and less on micro-managing the departments. 

As some of you may know by now, my first week ended with another headline in the News-Times.  Apparently we have a mole in the compound, because the press was notified a full 2 days before we had received the certified letter.  Under the direction of the planning director Bob Pederson, the enforcement department completely disregarded the fact that there is an open lawsuit disputing the allegations of critical areas on our property.  They malicously assessed us the maximum allowable penalty now totaling $37,000 and climbing, (this could happen to any of us). 

I digress to say that in Olympia, we were taught that in the State of Washington, county governments were established to protect the land owners rights of ownership from well financed militias intent on taking the land by force.  Now we have evolved to the county government being the force behind the taking of private land. 

Perhaps now you better understand the position we were forced to take in continuing the lawsuit.  As an elected official, I have the duty to protect and maintain all of our individual rights, (including my own).  In this case that means bringing forth the facts that the county officials had acted outside of the local, state and federal laws on more than one occasion.  We are not trying to crucify any individuals, only to shine the light on the "county mentality" and re-establish the Constitutional path for the government.