Monthly Archives: January 2014

City Council moving toward switching meetings to Tuesdays

By Ethan Fowler

Special to the Kitsap Sun

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – The seven members of Bainbridge’s City Council
unanimously moved in a direction to change its weekly meeting date
from Wednesdays to Tuesdays at its all-day retreat held at the
Bainbridge Island Museum of Art Jan. 24.

New council member Val Tollefson first broached the idea of changing
the day the Council meets at the Jan. 15 meeting. He cited the change
would allow more time for city staff to do Council work since there’d
be more days to work before weekends and that council members would be
able to read agendas on weekends.

At the retreat, Council member David Ward said he thought the current
day of Wednesday was “horrible” due to the challenges it causes when
he needs to book flights around it due to his work.

Mayor Anne Blair said before the day the Council meets could change,
it would have to be formalized through a vote at an upcoming meeting
because the date is set by an ordinance. Prior to meeting on
Wednesdays starting in 2002, the Council met on Thursdays from
1991-2001, on Mondays from 1965 to 1991 and on Tuesdays from 1947 to
1965, City Clerk Roz Lassoff said.

In addition to changing when the Council meets, the Council also
talked about possibly moving the location of its work sessions to
various centers around the island and conducting those meetings at
tables instead of their elevated Council seats. This would promote a
“more free flow” and exchange of ideas, Council member Roger Townsend said.

The Council also discussed the projects it wanted to complete by the
end of 2014 with moderator Patrick Ibarra, who traveled from
Glendale, Ariz. Looking at the priorities through lenses of “must,”
“need” and “nice,” the Council’s projects included:

—  Shoreline Management Program

—  Biennium budget

—  Comprehensive Plan (land use)

—  Completing all the road projects

—  Transportation Master Plan draft

—  Waterfront Park plan completed and agreed upon

—  Telecommunications ordinance passed with relationships with
companies to improve the island’s cell phone service

—  Agriculture ordinance, possibly to include marijuana and trees

—  Plans to address city workforce demographics

“This is a lot of work,” Ibarra told the Council at the conclusion of
the eight-hour meeting. “You’re setting yourself up for a big year.”

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Bainbridge police blotter, Jan. 29

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The following items were taken from Bainbridge police reports by
reporter Ethan Fowler. For more blotter, visit bainbridgeislander.com
and click on Bainbridge blog link on the right side of the screen.

Jan. 26
Identity theft: A 58-year-old man living on the 2000 block of
Soundview Drive believed a man had opened some loans under his name.

Driving while license suspended: A 21-year-old man living on 800 block
of High School Road was stopped for expired license tags on Highway
305 and south of Madison Avenue. The man, who said he was driving to
take his 41-year-old girlfriend to work, didn’t have any
identification on him when he was stopped. When an officer checked his
file, the man’s driver’s license was suspended in the third degree for
unpaid tickets.

Driving while license suspended: A 47-year-old woman was stopped for
driving while her license was suspended in the third degree. The woman
told the officer she didn’t know her license was suspended.

Open door/suspicious incident: An open door was discovered at
Bainbridge High School at 2 a.m. The door, which was propped open and
had its handle missing, was located on the south side next to a
storage room. The storage room had windows and a cash
register was in plain view. An attempt was made to open the storage door.

Jan. 22
Identity theft: A 33-year-old man living on the 500 block of Homestead
Lane filed an identity theft complaint after someone obtained his
personal identification without his permission.

Animal at large: A 60-year-old man, who lives on the 900 block of
Mandus Olson Road, had a collision with three black dogs while he was
riding his bike near Coyote Farm Lane. Two of the dogs went for the
man’s bicycle and the youngest ran under the bike causing the man to
ride his bike into a ditch. Two of the dogs were owned by a
54-year-old man on the 7000 block of Coyote Farm Lane, and the other
by a 50-year-old man living on the same street. The incident was
reported to Kitsap Animal Control. Other cyclists and cars have also
been chased by the dogs in the past.

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Derelict tugboat to be towed Friday from Eagle Harbor

The historic tugboat Chickamauga will be towed out of Eagle Harbor Marina at 6 a.m. Friday. Photo / Ethan Fowler
The historic tugboat Chickamauga will be towed out of Eagle Harbor Marina at 6 a.m. Friday.
Photo / Ethan Fowler

By Ethan Fowler

Special to the Kitsap Sun

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – The derelict historic tugboat Chickamauga is set to be towed out of Eagle Harbor Marina at 6 a.m. Friday, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources announced Thursday afternoon.

The abandoned tug, which sank in the harbor Oct. 2, leaked oil and diesel fuel, and was raised by a crane Oct. 10, will be towed to Boat Haven Marina in Port Townsend.

DNR took custody of the tugboat — the country’s first full diesel-powered tugboat when it was built in 1915 — on Jan. 16 after the owner didn’t to remove the vessel from Eagle Harbor Marina. The state attorney general’s office also filed three criminal charges against the owner on Jan. 15.

“Hooray! We’ll probably have cheerleaders with pompoms to wave it goodbye,” said Doug Crow, harbormaster of Eagle Harbor Marina, of the news the tugboat would be towed away Friday. “It’s a major step in our history. Now I wish the (state) attorney general lots of luck prosecuting the owner for abandonment, pollution and stealing moorage from the marina.”

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