North Kitsap Beat

Poulsbo Middle School math teacher Joe Power has been voted Evening Magazine’s teacher of the year in the Best of Western Washington Contest.

The show will be 7 p.m. Wednesday on King 5.

Power, an 19-year teaching veteran, left a note to his supporters on his school Web site:

Thank you for all of your support in the Best Teacher in Western Washington contest.  I WON!!  I could NOT have done it w/o all of you. 

The key to better ferry service to and from Kingston? Fewer runs. So goes the reasoning on the run that of late, has nearly always been running late.

Ferry officials will be on boats this week talking with commuters about revising the mid-week schedule to reduce the number of runs. The thought being that fewer runs will be easier to keep on schedule. It seems the options are a schedule with more, delayed, boats, or one that (theoretically) will be on time and reliable with fewer options.

What do you think about the changes?

What do baseball and complaining about traffic have in common? Both are American pastimes.

So if you’re feeling sentimental, you can get your fill of Americana on Wednesday night in Poulsbo.To be fair, I’m sure the city would much rather you bring measured, reasonable suggestions about its traffic study, not just “Cars drive too fast down my road!” complaints.

At 5 p.m. Wednesday the city council will hold an open house on the Traffic Demand Management study. Sounds exciting, huh?

In short, the city paid for study to figure out ways to improve traffic – primarily around downtown. (Please keep in mind that Highway 305 is a state route, and they’re the ones who have control over traffic measures there.)

The biggest proposals are lots of stop signs, and a one-way loop of downtown down Front and Third, both of which are now two-way streets.  I’ll post the short version of the traffic recommendations below the jump, but you can download the study summary HERE, or the full study HERE. (PDFs)

Read the rest of this entry »

Kingstonites brought their views directly to the school board Thursday night and the message was clear: We want to play our home varsity football games at home.

“Overwhelmingly, nobody wants to be here,” Kingston Athletic Boosters President Greg Wright told the board, citing the consensus from a recent meeting that I attended, and used to help write this story.

They’re lobbying for Saturday afternoon home games so they don’t need lights. (Which don’t exist there now.)

The issue stems from what some say is rumor, some say is fact, that the district was going to paint the stadium either neutral, or to reflect the colors of both North Kitsap and Kingston high schools.

Kingston parent and chamber director Jana Karmberger said most of the problems haven’t been with the kids, but the parents. Ultimately the issue could be resolved with a dose of parenting – from the school board.

“If you just lay out the rules, people will cooperate,” she said.

Later, sounding a bit parental, school board president Melanie Mohler laid out the board’s position by reading a statement. You can read the full text HERE. (PDF)

So, if everyone in Kingston wants to play home games in Kingston, they can have their way. But accommodations might be sparse.

“However, they do so with the understanding that no further plans will be made to enhance the District stadium to reflect multiple high school use AND there will be no additional funding from the Capital Projects budget for any “stadium” type item at Kingston High School. (i.e. no bleachers, no lights, no concession stand, no additional restrooms, etc.)”

It goes back to the 2001 bond that funded several school upgrades and the new high school. A stadium, or lights, were never in the plans for Kingston, and Mohler made clear it’s not the board’s intent to divert those dollars to Kingston stadium upgrades.

“There may be a time when a full stadium will be built for Kingston High School. But not with support from this Board and not with these Bond dollars. That’s for the voters to decide at a later date, perhaps within the upcoming levy or future bond. So, with that being said, let’s all redirect our focus to what we’re teaching our children and the academic success of ALL our students.”

(UPDATED)

Harrison Medical Center vice president of strategy and business development Tom Kruse confirmed that he received today a purchase and sale agreement for city property on 10th Avenue.

There are still a lot of details to workout, but the agreement could come back to the Poulsbo City Council early next month.

The city and Harrison have long been in discussions to locate a facility in Poulsbo, and in August the two unveiled the proposal for a 50,000 square foot medical center, primarily aimed at cancer care, on 10th Avenue land that had once been slated for a new Poulsbo City Hall.

I’m still waiting to hear from city officials to see if they’re willing to say the proposed selling price (again, the agreement is in the works so nothing’s inked yet.), but the land was purchased in 2005 for $2.1 million.

Both parties, one a government agency the other a non-profit, are bound in property sales to a “fair market value.”

“It’s not so fair that we love it a lot,” Kruse said. Both sides had the property appraised, and the proposed price falls within the overlap of fair market ranges that each agency had determined, he said.

If all goes well, the center could be fully functional within two years, Kruse said. It’s possible a first phase could be operating within a year.

Ultimately the focus is to bring cancer care services closer to people in Jefferson, Kitsap and Clallam counties. When patients undergo radiation and chemotherapy treatments in Seattle, they’re drained. And met with a long drive and ferry commute home.

“That’s just not the right environment,” Kruse said.

Mayor Kathryn Quade was pretty tight-lipped about the purchase and sale agreement because it’s still in the negotiations phase. Councilman Ed Stern suggested the return could be in the neighborhood of $500,000 above what the city bought the land for.

Looks like we’ll probably find out Nov. 5.

Stern also said he’s pulling his support of the continuing with the city hall project right now. The news today from the credit markets sealed his resolve in the decision, he said.

He’s confident in the city’s financing package, but feels the city should “zip up” the foundation work now and wait out the storm until credit markets free up.The project is planned in phases, so the foundation work now is separate from the actual building that may come later.

Instead of issueing the additional $9.5 million in bonds, they’ll set aside money in reserves as if they were paying the debt service on the bonds.

I ran a scenario past Quade to see if the analogy fit: (It’s not perfect, but similar.) I want to buy a new car, but need to save. So I figure how much my payments would be, and set aside the amount each month as if I’d purchased it. The city’s doing the same thing.

Did I mention there’s MORE news about the city hall? Steve Gardner wrote it yesterday in a story about layoffs at the housing authority, but the mayor said today that indeed, the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority won’t continue to manage the project after the foundation work is complete.

Why? Quade said there were many factors, but the bottom line is that if the city doesn’t move forward with the city hall project because of the bond markets, it doesn’t make sense to have a contract for project management services when the project is on hold.

UPDATE: Here’s the PowerPoint presentation on the pool. (Note: I converted it to a PDF so more of you could read it, and because my blog software wouldn’t accept the PPT file.)

A budget presentation Thursday night showed the folks trying to keep the North Kitsap Community Pool afloat are doing well on the revenue side.

And they’ve asked the district to commit to keeping the pool open through August 31 – instead of the current conditional deadline of December 31.

In the name of fairness to give opponents a chance to speak, Dan Delaney urged the board to wait before voting on such a proposal. (It appears Delaney, and the other board members aside from Ed Strickland, support letting the pool people continue the efforts to keep it going.)

It could come during a Nov. 4 meeting, so you’ll have to pry yourself away from the cable news chanel of your choice. (In case you live in a cave, that’s Election Day.)

Jan Harrison, of the Citizens Pool Advisory Committee, said revenue projections through December are conservatively estimated at $20,000 more than budgeted.

They’ve installed the pool blanket that came courtesy of a city of Poulsbo donation, and apparently the boiler pooped out the first night it was on. When they came back the next day, the temp had remained constant. At least at first blush, that means it’s working.

A lot of what the folks are doing is running the pool more like a business. (Surprise, surprise.). The meeting is still ongoing, but I’ll have more if I can get a digital copy of the PowerPoint. It was pretty informative.

State and local officials this morning met to discuss the planned closure of Highway 305 next summer. Initial plans call for a July closure, but local officials asked the state to consider running the closure in concurrence with the Hood Canal bridge closure in May-June becuse traffic will be down. For commuters, it’ll be tough whenever it happens.
The closure is to replace culverts on two creeks that cross the highway at the south end of Poulsbo. Detour routes would go along Lemolo Shore Drive, and on the other side, Totten, Widme and Lincoln Roads.

I feel like I’ve been writing too many blog entires like this, but I promise, I still work at the Sun.

I’ve been a bit glacial updating the blog, but I’ve been really busy plugging away on an elections video project.

With the help of reporters Steve Gardner and Chris Henry, and fellow videographer Lenna Himmelstein, I’ve been shooting, editing, posting, living, breathing and eating video interviews with most of the candidates for local office. Just a few more to go…

To see them, GO HERE.

Also, GO HERE for our full elections guide, which includes blog posts, stories, candidate questionaires, and yes, the videos.

Poulsbo’s City Hall Project Team sent out a press release today clarifying its position on the city’s space needs and financial program. I’ve pasted the full text below.

If you want to get information on the project, an open house is Wednesday at city hall from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Looks like my story on last Monday’s council workshop on the project spurred today’s release. As background, Councilwomen Linda Berry-Maraist and Becky Erickson have criticized the size and cost of the project.

Here’s the context the project team feels is important:

New Poulsbo City Hall: Space, Scope & Financing Plan

Poulsbo, WA – On Monday night, October 13, the Poulsbo City Council hosted a retreat to discuss the New City Hall Project with city staff, project managers and the project architects. Many items were discussed, including the space needs of the building, size and scope of the project, and financing plan needed to move forward. On Tuesday, October 14, the Kitsap Sun published an article recapping the evening’s events and conversations. For clarification, the City Hall Project Team offers the following comments and extends an invitation to attend a New City Hall Project Open House on Wednesday, October 22 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm in Council Chambers.

Size:
The size of the proposed new City Hall is based on an extensive, detailed analysis of space requirements for staff work space, supporting space (customer service counters, work rooms, storage, security, lobby, etc.) and building circulation (halls, stairs, restrooms, mechanical and electrical spaces), as well as parking to meet the City code requirements.  This space needs program was developed by the previous Mayor, Department Heads, BLRB Architects and the City Hall Project Team for the proposed 10th Avenue site. This was subsequently reviewed by Lewis Architects, in conjunction with a detailed re-scrub by the current Mayor, Department Heads, Project Team and Project Manager, and reconfirmed at 30,000 square feet.  Last summer, the project was paused to allow Lewis Architects and the Project Team to consider an overall 10% cut in size.  This quick study was reviewed by the Project Team, as well as presented to Council members.  It was the conclusion of the Project Team and supported subsequently by the City Council, that the 10% cut would result in building a new 50 year building with no expansion space, and would not result in any significant savings. The expansion space is the cheapest part of the building, but likely the most expensive to build later. At the conclusion of Monday’s retreat, the Mayor, five Council members, five Department Heads, the Project Manager and Architect supported the proposed 30,000 square foot size of the building.

Scope:
The scope or quality of the new City Hall is based on comparables to the proposed 10th Avenue site, as well as site visits to numerous City Halls and similar buildings, including the Burlington, Woodinville, and Gig Harbor City Halls, the Kitsap County Administration Building and the Norm Dicks Government Center.  Based on these visits and the professional input from both BLRB Architects and Lewis Architects, the scope or quality of the proposed new City Hall is considered reasonable and comparable to other City Halls, not excessive.  One extra cost included in the proposed new City Hall is for the atrium, which is the signature feature of the building, establishing the sense of the government center.  Most of the space in the atrium contains the lobby space on all floors and stairs on the top two levels, therefore, the extra space and volume of the atrium is minimal.

Financial Program:
Due to strong financial policies and a sophisticated Capital Improvement Plan, the City has received a two step upgrade to an AA rating for the intended bond issue. At this time, the project team is not recommending proceeding with financing the new City Hall until the national financial situation stabilizes.  The financial program includes bonding for $9.5 million, however, the bond will not be solicited until the availability and interest rates are reasonable.  The financial program also includes the sale of three properties, the 10th Avenue site, Klingel property and the current City Hall site.  The City Council has established a consensus that the sale of the 10th Avenue site must be secure before soliciting for bonds, and that there needs to be a reasonable expectation that the existing City Hall site will be marketable in the near future after being vacated.  The Finance Director has committed that any recommendation to proceed with bonds will be based on conservative projections of tax revenues and the ability to make bond payments.  In light of the recent changes in the economy, the construction market is much more competitive which may result in a contract price lower than the current estimate. After many years of funding other projects ahead of this project, the City Council has agreed that it is now time to proceed with the new City Hall project.

Respectfully submitted,
City Hall Project Team

Some people aren’t happy that I wrote about several of the North Kitsap School Board meeting at a pub after regular board meetings.

It’s true, public officials have the right to gather socially without going through the formal notification process (like they do before regular meetings or retreats where they discuss business.)

But the legal footing depends on the necessity that they never discuss anything that might factor into their decisions. The law is written broadly.

If I were here to persecute, I could have focused only on “what if” situations. But I gave board members an opportunity to explain the situation, talked with experts to explain how the law works, and analyzed their voting pattern for a few months. It doesn’t show any voting blocs.

As an elected official, you don’t give up your right to socialize. But you do forfeit some of your privacy. (Open meetings, nearly every record is public, etc. Even e-mails about agency business from home accounts are public documents that you or I have the right to see in most cases.)

The board members were clear, it’s just social time at Tizley’s.

Board member Tom Anderson pointed out that they were out in the open at the restaurant, and weren’t in a “smoke-filled back room.” True.

So it shouldn’t be a problem that folks know they’re there after the meetings, right?

Here’s a little more reading for legal context.