Peninsular Thinking

The city of Port Orchard allows residents to have up to three dogs and up to three cats per household. Licensed kennels are excluded from the pet limit.

But what about the family who moves into town with more than the allowed number of dogs or cats? Or the family that inherits a pet from a family member who moves into a nursing home or dies?

For those folks, the city offers a “pet variance.” Up to now, getting a variance has been a simple matter of filling out a form to document “hardship.” The city council recently revising the ordinance to factor in the impact of extra pets on neighbors.

The original proposal, discussed at an April 16 work-study meeting, was to require written permission from neighbors on either side of the residence slated for bonus pets.

The council discussed the issue of barking dogs, the most obvious potential source of annoyance. The city’s nuisance ordinance prohibits, “frequent, repetitive or continuous noise made by any animal which unreasonably disturbs or interferes with peace comfort and repose of property owners or possessors …,” Licensed kennels, shelters, vet clinics, pet shops and service dogs are exempted.

Councilman John Clauson pointed out that the number of dogs is not always the issue, when it comes to noise.

“You got five dogs that are little quiet dogs that live in the house, and you never see ‘em, I don’t care if you have 10 of ‘em,” Clauson said. “But you could have one sitting in your backyard that howls all night long, and I’m going to be unhappy.”

City Clerk Brandy Rinearson said the city’s contract with the Kitsap Humane Society covers barking dogs and yowling cats. Animal control officers from KHS are contracted to enforce this part of the city’s nuisance ordinance.

Public Works Director Mark Dorsey said health and sanitation also were concerns in allowing people to have more than three of any type of pet.

According to Rinearson, three was a somewhat arbitrary number set by the council that established the pet variance ordinance in 1999. Some cities have different limits (up to five dogs in one town she knows of); others have no ordinance limiting the number of pets allowed.

The council, after some discussion, decided it would be adequate to simply notify neighbors on either side if someone applies for a pet variance. The notification would come before the variance is approved. Members of the public can comment on any city council agenda item at the start of each meeting.

“My heartburn was we were constantly granting these with no process, and so the neighbors didn’t know,” said Councilman Rob Putaansuu. “So for me it’s about notifying the neighbors. I think you notice the issue so they know this is coming before us, and if they’ve got heartburn with it, here’s an opportunity to come and testify.”

The council agreed to place the amended ordinance on an upcoming agenda for formal approval.

Another “process” gap in the city’s code is how to handle the occasional request from a business for after-hours music and other goings-on. Such a request came before the council in early April, when Amy Igloi of Amy’s on the Bay sought permission to play music on her deck after 11 p.m. (the city’s noise curfew).

The city’s nuisance ordinance prohibits a host of public disturbances between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., including the sound of machinery and power tools like lawn mowers, blowers, grinders, drills and power saws. The code bans loud vehicles and music from both inside and outside buildings, along with “yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing on or near the public streets” during those hours.

What’s missing, said City Attorney Greg Jacoby, is “a fair and reasonable process that’s applied consistently regardless of who makes the request.”

The city now issues special event permits, reviewed by staff and approved by the council. Jacoby said the council might choose to roll the music-after-hours requests in with special events.

Several people at the meeting raised the concern about “what if” authorized events became a magnet for complaints either because of mismanagement by the business owner or in spite of their best efforts and intentions.

Rinearson said then-Cmdr. Geoffrey Marti, now Port Orchard’s police chief, suggests that such events be allowed on a one-time basis only, not as recurring events.

Marti said his officers get many complaints about noise after 11 p.m., coming from both inside and outside Bay Street establishments.

Two city residents who were at the meeting testified to the remarkable ability of noise to carry up the hill from Bay Street.

“I hear the music all the time. It wakes me up,” said Bek Ashby, who is a member of the Port Orchard Bay Street Association, a business owners group.

The council was in a quandary as to how to proceed on the after-curfew music question. Rinearson offered to see how other cities handle the issue and get back to them at a future meeting.

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Port Orchard public works officials on Wednesday will answer questions about a major, long-term capital project to replace degrading septic systems within McCormick Woods.

A meeting is set for 6 p.m., with a second meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 5, both at city hall, 216 Prospect Street.

The development’s 605 poorly functioning septic systems use hybrid technology. The “STEP” tanks — for septic tank effluent pumping systems — draw off liquid effluent to the city sewer line. Solids remain in the tank.

The STEP systems were approved for lots too small for regular septic systems by Kitsap County in the 1980s, when McCormick Woods was in the planning stages. Because of how the system works, decomposition of waste starts in the tank, causing strong hydrogen sulfide odors and corrosion at the pump station. Corrosion from the STEP systems threatens the integrity of sewer lines and equipment throughout the city, Public Works Director Mark Dorsey has said.

The city will swap out all “STEP” systems within the development over the next several years. Replacement of the septics has been on the city’s capital sewer projects plan since 2010 and will be paid for out of a sewer rate hike implemented that year.

The need to replace the STEP tanks has nothing to do with the city’s 2009 annexation of McCormick Woods. The city inherited maintenance of the STEP systems from Kitsap County in 1994, when a community drain field was replaced by a sewer line jointly owned by Port Orchard and what is now West Sound Utility District.

The STEP systems’ malfunction also had nothing to do with a sewer and water rate increase in 2009, shortly after the annexation. Before becoming part of the city, McCormick Woods was subject to a 50 percent surcharge on sewer and water services provided by the city. Once the annexation was complete, the surcharge went away, and the entire city — including McCormick Woods residents — had to absorb the loss of revenue.

For more information, contact public works at (360) 876-4991.

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The city of Port Orchard is checking its roughly 6,000 water meters for accuracy after settling a dispute with the company that runs McCormick Woods Golf Course.

The city recently agreed to waive $780.16 in water fees that the public works department failed to properly record in 2010 and 2011. The undercharges came to the attention of the city’s utility committee this summer, when golf course manager Shawn Cucciardi attended their August meeting to ask about his bill. For reasons not clear in the staff report, C&M Golf LLC was overcharged by about $60 for water used so far in 2012.

The under-billing errors originated after a fire at the golf course in 2009, a suspected arson that destroyed numerous vehicles and equipment at the cart barn. The golf course requested a “service meter upsizing” with the new meter drop, but the new meter was improperly calibrated on installation.

The city has three types of meters that all look alike, Public Works Director Mark Dorsey explained. Without checking the serial numbers, it is possible for the worker installing the meter to incorrectly calibrate the system, he said. The McCormick Woods meter read the correct amount of water being used, but the correct usage was not picked up by public works employees’ meter reading equipment.

The city undercharged the golf club by $840.52. The utility committee, in its recommendation, subtracted the overcharge of $60.39 to arrive at the $780.16 figure. Chairman Rob Putaansuu said he felt like it was a fair resolution. John Clauson, a committee member, agreed.

“This was an error on our part,” Clauson said. “It took a long time for us to discover this error. … It certainly is our fault. It is the right thing to do.”

Mayor Tim Matthes and Councilman Fred Chang weren’t so sure. Matthes said that the statute of limitations on incorrect bills is six years. “We have the responsibility to capture that,” he said, adding that waiving the fee could set an unwanted precedent.

City Attorney Greg Jacoby corrected the mayor, saying the city has the option to collect, which expires after six years. But the city is not obliged by law to collect the money.

Chang said the amount of water consumed (and its value) was a substantial hit to the utility. “We’re not just your average service oriented company,” he said.

Chang said at the least the city should establish a consistent policy if other under-billings are discovered during the city-wide meter check. (None have been discovered so far.) Other council members agreed on this point but over-rode Chang, who alone voted against waiving the 2010 and 2011 fees.

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The ribbon was cut on Port Orchard’s City Hall 13 years ago, but it’s not too late to buy one of the commemorative tiles or bricks on walkways outside the stately building perched above the Port Orchard Marina.

Each summer, in fact, there is a short window of opportunity to engrave bricks and tiles not already spoken for. If this were Arizona instead of Western Washington, we could buy bricks and tiles all year ‘round.

The answer to this riddle is temperature. According to city clerk Brandy Rinearson, in charge of peddling the memorials, temperatures that reach or exceed 80 degrees for at least a portion of each day are required to warm the bricks, or the materials will be too brittle and will crack during engraving.

The 6”-by-6” tiles in the plaza in front of the main entrance on Prospect Street each allow for a three-line message, with up to 15 characters or spaces in each line. The tiles cost $50 each. The 3.5”-by-7” bricks, on the lower level outside the police department, allow for 18 characters or spaces and cost $35 each.

There are 608 tiles total, with 152 yet unmarked, and a total of 672 bricks, with 320 up for grabs.

The city doesn’t make any money on the sale of bricks and tiles. The fees cover the cost of the engraving, which is done by the Kenadar Corporation of Tacoma. Kenadar requires a minimum of 10 bricks and or tiles per visit. The city last year sold about a dozen.

“In years prior to that, they didn’t really market it very well,” Rinearson said. “Last year, we really went for it and told everybody and anybody.”

Many of the bricks and tiles already engraved are predictable odes to and by city leaders, civic groups and business people. The family of former City Councilman Bob Geiger, who operated a pharmacy downtown for decades, is well represented, for example, as are the Vlists, longtime owners of a car dealership on Bay Street.

Since the purchase of the commemorative bricks and tiles was open to the public, however, many others represent ordinary citizens who otherwise might have faded into oblivion.

“Doris Lind-Perrine, World’s Best Mom.”

The Gauvin family writes, “London, Paris, Rome, Port Orchard.”

And if we’ve forgotten “Millie S. Cohen, Humanitarian, a Visionary,” we should not have.

The city also dedicated a time capsule at the opening of the new city hall on Sept. 11, 1999. Longtime councilman John Clauson recalls its contents as news articles of the time, a copy of the opening ceremony program, a list of then-council members and staff, the Fathoms O’ Fun court and other community information … oh, and a couple hundred dollars in bills of various denominations, to document the new bills that had recently been put into circulation.

The time capsule contains a video of the last council meeting in the old city hall and the first meeting in the new city hall. It also holds entries from a contest the city held seeking essays on “Why I Like Living in Port Orchard.”

“We were just trying to get a snapshot of what the community was at the time,” Clauson said.

How has Port Orchard changed since 1999? It’s bigger by about nearly 3,000 souls and about 10 square miles, what with annexations. Oh, and gas is a whole lot more expensive, Clauson notes. Otherwise, he says, the city retains that “small, hometown feel” that’s been its hallmark lo these many decades.

The time capsule, installed under the main entrance flagpole, will be opened in 2049, on the “new” city hall’s 50^th anniversary.

Oh, and in case anyone is thinking of pilfering the cash in the capsule, know that items are secured in several sealed plastic pipes that are installed in a box under a brass plaque … one level up from the police department.

The Port Orchard Masonic Lodge also installed a “cornerstone” time capsule on the Prospect Street side of city hall, to be opened in 2099, 100 years from the grand opening. The Masonic ceremony was held Aug. 21, 1999.

The new city hall was commissioned after a seismic survey showed the old city hall would not withstand an earthquake. The old building has long since been demolished.

Construction on the three-story, 28,370-square-foot building began on March 3, 1998. City hall was open for business May 22, 1999.

City officials at the time expressed pride that they would be able to pay off the $6.3 million building out of the city’s regular revenue and did not have to ask taxpayers for additional financing.

Commemorative tile and brick applications can be found online at www.cityofportorchard.us, or call the city clerk at (360) 876-4407

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A repaving project on Sedgwick Road hit a glitch earlier this week, when crews from the paving company contracted by the city of Port Orchard found areas of wetland upon tearing off the old roadway.
That’s no surprise said Public Works Director Mark Dorsey, who noted the road was put laid over a marshy area long before rules of the Shoreline Management Act would have made it hard if not impossible to do so.
The goal of state shoreline laws is to have “no net loss” of functioning wetlands and shorelines. Development in and around some wetlands is allowed depending on how they score on a system the state uses to rate functionality, like how well they absorb water and filter pollutants. Development allowed on or near wetlands these days must be offset or mitigated by the builder’s enhancement of other wetland areas.
As it is, Sedgwick is grandfathered in, with no mitigation required. Crews filled in squishy areas on the roadway, then put down a layer of asphalt. More asphalt is needed, but first they need to see if the issue with wet areas is solved.
The road, which has been closed all week, will be open on schedule Saturday, but crews will be looking for the new asphalt to “proof” or set up. If it breaks apart and settles as cars drive over it, more fill work will have to be done, Dorsey said.
The city council on Tuesday authorized an additional expenditure of up to $50,000 for the required fix. The original cost of the job was estimated at $191,605. The extra money is available in the city’s street fund.

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In researching a story on Port Orchard’s water quality, I was introduced to the state Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water’s database on all systems in the state.

As you’ll read in the story, despite periodic episodes of discolored water in the Tremont Street – Pottery Avenue area, Port Orchard hasn’t had a report that raises any red flags with the state since 2004. That was for coliform bacteria, which a state DOH official explained to me is an “indicator” of possible contamination, calling for follow-up testing. In this case the follow up tests were within normal limits, said Bonnie Waybright of the Office of Drinking Water.

You’ll see a number of tests showing coliform bacteria through the years dating back to 1985, which is the extent of the online data. There are a couple episodes of e coli, including one as recently as 2002. Again, Waybright said, follow up tests showed no contamination with e coli.

My story explains the basics of water testing protocol and precautions taken for various types of contaminants, so I won’t repeat it here.

Linda Waring, DOH spokeswoman, gives the following tips on using the database.

“Port Orchard’s Water System ID is 68900. If you enter this number and leave the other boxes blank, it will pull up their monitoring history. You can also search by name. The tabs you’ll need are labeled “Samples” and “Exceedances.” Samples will give you all of their water quality results. Exceedances will show any samples that exceeded acceptable limits. If you click the sample number next to each test, the link will show you the exact results and the name of the lab that did the test.”

Waring says, “Discolored water is not an unusual complaint. Color and sediment are aesthetic concerns that do not pose a health risk.”

Here’s a link to a fact sheet that discusses color, taste and odor problems in drinking water.

The city’s proposed water rate hike is unrelated to the problems with well 9, which affect a relatively small geographic area and number of homes, said Public Works Director Mark Dorsey.

Contact the city’s public works department at (360) 876-4991 or (360) 876-2722.

Here’s a copy of the state’s certification of the water system.
POh2oOK

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Discussion of a proposed water rate hike in Port Orchard continued last week (Aug. 9) with a public hearing and sometimes testy testimony.

The council was to have continued discussion of the water rate increase at its Tuesday (today/Aug. 16) study session. But Public Works Director Mark Dorsey said that the deluge of public comment led the city’s utility committee to take a step back and recommend deferral of a vote on the rate hike until September.

Among those who commented on Aug. 9, city council meeting regular Gerry Harmon spoke on her proposal to charge by the gallon instead of the city’s current method of charging a base rate and adding a per gallon consumption charge above 5,000 gallons.

The city has 7 rate tiers. Each tier adds a higher consumption charge per gallon for the amount of water used above the tier threshold. That charge is added to base rate plus the maximum charge for the previous tier.

City officials say the utility must charge a base rate (currently $22.50 per month), because of the cost just to have the system up and running (no pun intended). In other words, it costs the city $22.50 to deliver even one gallon of water.

Harmon’s calculations were hypothetical, as if the city were to impose the rate increase. The city, in its response to Harmon, used current rates and its most recently audited data back to 2009. Treasurer Allan Martin said the city by law must deal in absolute numbers, not hypotheticals when making projections.

Both parties showed that indeed the price per gallon goes down the more water that’s used. Harmon’s calculations show the price per gallon leveling out at about 144,000 gallons. The city’s price per gallon leveled out after 133,000 gallons and increased slightly at 150,001+ gallons before leveling out again.

City officials, including Martin, met with Harmon before the public hearing to show their calculations and conclusions in response to Harmon’s question, “Wouldn’t it be more fair to charge a straight per gallon on cost?”

Harmon contends that the current system rewards high volume users, but there is no incentive for people like herself, who actively conserve water.

Of high volume users, she said, “Even though they have a higher water bill, they’re getting their water for less per gallon than the other people. To me it says use it right up to your limit.”

The propose rate hike does offer a discount to people who use less than 3,000 gallons per month. But there is no conservation incentive throughout the 7 tiers.

Martin, in a memo to Harmon and the city’s utility committee, outlines three possible methods for promoting conservation:
-> An increasing block rate, with the users in the first block charged at one rate, the users in the second block charged more and so on
-> High use surcharges, essentially a punishment for higher than average water use
-> Seasonal rates, in which prices rise and fall according to water demand and weather conditions

But Martin said any city must be careful with conservation incentive programs. Generally, the higher volume users have more ways and more leeway to conserve water, while residential users’ needs — based on number of people in the household and other relatively fixed factors — don’t have a lot of wiggle room. Conservation programs actually could have the unintended consequence of placing more of the burden on residential users, Martin said.

Utilities, like water, sewer and stormwater, by law must be run as separate funds from the city’s (or county’s) general fund, and they must be self-sustaining. Revenue from the utility must support delivery of the service without subsidy. So the city is limited in how much it can alter rates without running in the red, Martin said. The city’s water service has been running in the red, utility committee members say, and the purpose of the rate hike is to get back in the black.

The city has a rate formula designed so that each group of users (residential, commercial, city, other government, churches and irrigation) bears its proportionate share of the cost to run the whole utility. The percentages fluctuate a few points either way, from year to year, Martin said, but generally the formula works out.

In 2010, residential users, who as a group consumed just more than 67 percent of the water, paid nearly 69.5 per cent of the total cost. In 2009, however, the group used nearly 69.6 percent of the water and paid just more than 59 percent of the total revenue to the water fund.

In 2010, commercial users consumed 19.72 percent of the water and paid 18.82 percent of the revenue; in 2009, they consumed 18.90 and paid 21.07.

Harmon said she was frustrated that it took this long to get the city to actually run the numbers, and she doesn’t buy the thing about the hypotheticals. She’d like to see the city’s calculations using figures proposed by the utility committee.

Those figures could change, and if the committee’s move back-to-the drawing board is any indication, they are likely to do so.

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PORT ORCHARD — That One Place, 1386 SE Lund Ave., was featured Friday on Candy & Potter’s Hole in the Wall Tour. The KMPS country radio hosts held their morning show at the restaurant, which was chosen from listener nominations, according to restaurant owner Craig Kenady. Breakfast was on KMPS for their first 94 people, and Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola was there to represent his fair city and help raise funds for South Kitsap Helpline.

Coppola was featured earlier this week on a radio spot with Candy & Potter. Potter mangled his name, as many non-locals do, by calling him Mayor Coppola, as in Francis Ford etc.

Coppola staunchly upheld the city’s honor, when Potter asked about what he understood to be a standing rivalry between South Kitsap and North Kitsap.

Coppola: “Nah, but there is one, Port Orchard versus Bremerton, or like we call it, Bummerton. We like to think we win, you know?

Me: Ah, Grasshopper, I have trained you well.

Candy: Right, at the end of the day, Port Orchard would be the one left standing?

Coppola: That’s what we think.

Coppola politely declined Candy’s invitation to do an on-air imitation of a seagull, Port Orchard’s mascot and subject of its wacky annual seagull calling contest, set this year for May 29 on the waterfront.

“Oh, I don’t do the seagull call,” Coppola said. “I get to judge them. I don’t do them. You know, I have a grandson that does it, and it’d be a conflict of interest for me to do anything else, you know?”

Candy (laughing): And now, we’ve met Lary the politician.

Me: Honey, you have NO idea!

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What would you like to see happen with the city of Port Orchard’s parks?

There’s been some discussion of the city taking over the county’s Veteran’s Memorial Park, which is popular with soccer teams. The park already is within city limits, and the county is having budget problems. What do you think of this idea?

What else would you like to see done to improve city parks?

How would you rate city parks overall?

What is your favorite city park? Why?

The city of Port Orchard is is looking for citizens’ input on it parks. The city is updating its comprehensive parks plan and is seeking city residents willing to volunteer on a parks planning subcommittee.

A meeting of the subcommittee is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at city hall. Other meetings are set for April 20, May 18 and June 18, according to the city’s website.

The city has grown and expanded through annexation over the past several years, nearly doubling its population and acreage. The parks plan needs to be updated to reflect and respond to that growth.

The subcommittee will be made up of Port Orchard residents, planning commission members and elected officials. A draft City Parks Plan must be submitted to the Port Orchard Planning Commission and City Council by December.

A city parks survey will be available in March on city’s website at http://www.cityofportorchard.us/city-parks-plan. Citizens’ comments will be incorporated into the parks planning process. Those who wish can be included in an “interested parties” list.

Comments and suggestions can be sent to City of Port Orchard, 216 Prospect Street, Port Orchard, WA 98366, or e-mailed to Planning@cityofportorchard.us.

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On Tuesday, the Port Orchard City Council formally approved a resolution naming the roundabout at Bethel Road and Mile Hill Drive after the late “Great Dane” Niels Nielsen, a long-time member of Rotary clubs in Bremerton and Port Orchard.

Nielsen, born March 24, 1932, in Kalundborg, Denmark, died Dec. 2 of a heart attack while cruising the Rhine River in Germany with his wife Margie. The couple have lived in South Kitsap for many years.

The Port Orchard Rotary installed and maintains landscaping on the roundabout, which includes flowers, shrubs and a flowing fountain. Kristy Ewing, representing the organization, said the tribute would be fitting because of all Nielsen did both locally and abroad on behalf of Rotary International.

“He was the consummate Rotarian,” she said. “He was a humanitarian who exemplified the Rotary motto of service above self.”

As I found out covering his memorial on Jan. 1, he also was a colorful and exuberant character who pretty much broke the mold.

“There’s no way to describe Niels,” Ewing said.

As a Rotary ambassador, he traveled to scores of cities in all continents but Antarctica. He helped found new branches of the service organization and promoted humanitarian projects, for which he was honored by the Rotary Club of Port Orchard with its first ever Lifetime Achievement Award..

During the 1990s in Russia, he helped fledgling Rotarians embrace their new-found freedoms. He later traveled to Vietnam more than eight times to help establish orphanages and programs for children injured by land mines, through Rotary’s Kids First initiative.

On one of Nielsen’s trips to Vietnam, in a remote area, the group was offered blood from a snake freshly killed at the table. While most of the party choked back gags, Nielsen happily added the proffered liquid to his beer and offered up many a toast to his awestruck hosts.

When it came to securing speakers for Rotary meetings, Nielsen was known for pushing the envelope. His guests over the years included a nightclub owner with alleged Mafia ties and a former prostitute, who founded the Seattle organization COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) seeking to decriminalize prostitution.

Several members of the city council who knew Nielsen, agreed that honoring him by naming the roundabout after him was an appropriate gesture the city could make.

“He was great guy, very energetic,” said Councilwoman Carolyn Powers. “It seemed like he was always laughing and smiling but serious about Rotary and his business.”

Even Councilman Jerry Childs, who doesn’t believe city property should be named after people, said he’d bend the rules in recognition of Nielsen’s reputation and the Rotary club’s dedication to maintaining the roundabout. “I’m really pleased with what the Rotary’s done,” he said.

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