Four employees have been laid off at the county Community Development and Planning Department since the beginning of the year. And it would appear that’s just the beginning, as county officials prepare this week to cut $1 million or more out of the 2009 budget in order to keep pace with a sluggish economy.
San Juan County Council budget committee chairman Richard Fralick is distributing a chart that shows the potential cost of delaying county budget cuts in human terms. The council is facing the task of balancing the 2009 budget in the face of a revenue shortfall of $1 million to $1.5 million, with only six months left in the fiscal year.
With the warmer weather finally here now is the time to get your house ready for next winter’s inclement weather. There are a couple of programs available to help low-income San Juan County homeowners with weatherization or make needed repairs to their homes.
After six months of negotiations, the San Juan County Council has signed a four-year contract with Local 49 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. The contract gives the represented employees a 1.25 percent cost of living increase, retroactive to January 2009, and another 1.25 percent increase effective July 1. The contract sets cost of living increases at 3 percent for the remaining three years of the contract.
When nine-year-old Kelly Payne heard that the arts program at Friday Harbor Elementary School was going to be cut, she didn’t waste any time. Within two days, she had written a letter explaining why the program should be saved, and got it signed by her classmates and Principal Gary Pflueger. She next organized a booth selling lemonade, cupcakes and cookies at the school carnival on May 31, and rallied her classmates to the tune of $123 and more than 40 signatures on a petition to save the arts.
The county’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee will sponsor regular, community forums on issues related to solid waste and its impact in the community. The committee, commonly known by its abbreviation SWAC, hopes to engage the community in a grass-roots participatory process as they work through agenda items like funding and long-term planning.
The dearth of candidates in any election is no more dire, and no more persistent, than on Stuart Island. Two of three members of the island’s cemetery district commission have moved off-island. The term of the commission’s senior member, David W. Ericksen, is poised to be automatically extended because no one, including him, filed as a candidate. He didn’t run for reelection after his last six-year term expired and, lacking candidates, his term has been automatically extended each year.
This will be an election season to remember: The first contested race for mayor of Friday Harbor since 1997. Contested races for Friday Harbor Town Council, Friday Harbor Port Commission, and San Juan Island Park and Recreation Commission.
The San Juan County Council took two state legislators to lunch Friday. School lunch.
Hung Woon “Harold” Ahn — father of Jenny Ahn Wangoe, father-in-law of Peter J. Wangoe Sr., and grandfather of Peter J. Wangoe II, all of San Juan Island — succumbed to extensive medical issues at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. He was 84. He was a summer “snowbird” for many years on San Juan Island.
San Juan County Health Officer Dr. Frank James has alerted the county’s health care providers that at least three individuals have reported to local hospitals with a life-threatening illness likely caused by the use of cocaine contaminated with a drug generally used to treat animals.
The Friday Harbor Town Council will set a public hearing within the next three weeks on a proposed ban on Styrofoam to-go containers and other polystyrene food service products within the town limits. The proposed ban was presented today by chief proponent Doris Estabrooks and Stephanie Buffum Field, director of Friends of the San Juans; they are members of the San Juan Anti-Litter Initiative. They will present the proposed ordinance June 8, 11:15 a.m., to the San Juan County Council.
Noel Monin was appointed to the Friday Harbor Town Council today, filling a vacancy caused by the resignation of Christopher Wolf. Monin must win the next election — Aug. 18 or Nov. 3, depending on number of candidates — in order to complete the term, which expires Dec. 31, 2011. Monin filed his declaration of candidacy today with the county elections office.
