The hitch is, he’s got a way bigger budget than Bud Harris, Kitsap County’s director of information technology, who recently reaffirmed his message of caution on mixing social networking with government.

Bill Schrier, chief technology officer for the City of Seattle, on the other hand, openly embraces new media. Schrier, who writes the Chief Seattle Geek blog, in a recent entry discussed the concept of an “open city,” in which information is shared via the Internet, now accessible 24/7 via laptop and desktop computers, as well as Blackberries, iPhones, cell phones etc.

Schrier writes:

“The theme is consistent: city governments, by opening their information, their data, their engagement processes, can generate a wealth of new ideas and understandings which make them more efficient and effective, and more robust, exciting places, with improved quality of life.

The old model, used for 250 years or more, is for a City is to collect as much data as possible about problems, its responses, services it provides and the general city environment. Then the typical city hires analysts or consultants – experts, if you will – to pore over the data and discern patterns. These experts then make recommendations for policy, action or changes.”

Schrier writes of applications that allow for public discussion of ideas and ranking of concepts through a “public engagement portal.” His department uses a model, Ideas for Seattle, that allows for some limited input online from people, and he hopes to see that concept expanded. Other governments are working on similar programs.

Pursuing this technology will provide a better community process than what Schrier calls “death-by-PowerPoint presentations and long lines of people trooping up to the microphone to give their 2 minute NIMBY mini-speeches,” he said.

Fourteen departments within the city, including police and fire, have blogs, and the city uses Twitter to communicate in “almost real time” about traffic tie ups and such. There’s also, for example, an arts blog to reach a “targeted community.”

The blogs link together on a single page. The city’s policy on social networking assures uniformity in how social media are employed and makes sure its use actually meets constituents’ needs, Schrier said. Public comments on blogs is limited, however. If a department wants to allow comments, they have to be moderated and approved before they’re put up. People who want to make comments can fill out a form on the Web site.

In today’s story on kitsapsun.com, Harris said he’s not against social networking, but, given the county’s budget struggles and his department’s own full plate, he lacks the resources to develop policy and software to cover the county on both free speech and open records issues. In Kitsap County, the public already can comment via e-mail or sign up for listservs from given departments, said Harris.

In fairness to Harris and his department, Schrier is working with a much larger budget, $57 million, about 70 percent of Kitsap’s total 2010 budget, and he has 205 employees.

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The Port Orchard City Council on Tuesday will vote on an ordinance declaring substantial need to raise taxes up to one percent. In past years, the city has automatically been able to do so. But this year, an ordinance is necessary because of negative inflation and the fact Port Orchard’s population has increased beyond the threshold that triggers a vote in such a case.

Read the complete story here.

Also at the meeting, the council will issue proclamations recognizing November as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month and recognizing Deliah Rene Luke for spearheading the Paint the Town event in August.

I’ll be at the meeting. Comment here, or e-mail me with your questions for the council, chenry@kitsapsun.com.

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In today’s story on the likelihood that Kitsap County will close Horseshoe Lake and Wildcat Lake parks for the 2010 season as a cost-saving measure, South Kitsap Commissioner Charlotte Garrido raises the question of whether the county should charge admission fees to keep the parks open.

The two parks were targeted by parks officials because, unlike other large parks, they don’t have rental facilities that could generate revenue. They are remote and therefore more costly to maintain. And there’s been gang activity at Horseshoe.

Several people commented on the fee issue. One suggested $5 a carload. Another said they would be willing to pay $5 per person, $3 for students, with children and seniors free. Yet another person said any fee would be prohibitive. Another person said, if the county institutes fees, they should apply to all parks, not selectively to the two that don’t generate revenue.

I called Garrido this morning about whether and how hard she would pursue the possibility of fees. With the new parks director Jim Dunwiddie arriving on Monday, she said, she will wait to comment further. But “nothing is off the table,” Garrido said, and instituting fees would definitely be part of the discussion county commissioners will have with the parks department.

What do you think?
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Incumbent South Kitsap School District board member Naomi Polen, who was appointed to fill an unexpired term in 2008, has been edged out by former board member Chris Lemke. Polen has served on the board for 18 months. Lemke was among those who asked to be considered for the appointment.

Lemke had earned 60.24 percent of the vote in unofficial results Tuesday. Polen took 38.67 percent. A total of 11,403 votes had been counted.

On Wednesday, Polen said she was “disappointed.”
“I really enjoyed the time I was working with the board,” she said. “I was really looking forward to seeing some of the projects through.”

Specifically, Polen has been a strong advocate of policy governance, an operational model under which school board members would set out broad policies and goals, then give the superintendent wide authority to meet the goals.

The district is taking a year to draw up goals for policy governance with input from district staff and community members. Polen said she’ll stay involved in the monthly “Call to Action” meetings that are open to the public. She expressed confidence in Lemke’s ability to pick up the baton and keep the momentum going.

“Once Chris gets on board, I’m sure he’ll see the importance of it and get involved,” she said.

Lemke has said he sees advantages to policy governance and is comfortable with the concept as long as the board retains oversight of the superintendent through regular reviews.

Polen said the board will need to remain attentive to the “constant battle” of promoting community involvement on decisions and actions that affect the district.

She also plans to stay involved in the district’s “Whole Child” initiative to hook students and their families up with community resources outside the classroom. The district has a link to resources available through volunteers and other groups on its Web site. Aspects within the Whole Child program include mentoring — Polen mentors a seventh grader — food through Backpacks for Kids, medical needs and more.

“I’ll stay active,” Polen said. “I’ll just keep my ear close to what the board’s doing. I’m grateful for the time I had. Apparently God had a different plan for me.”

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Incumbent Fred Chang is beating challenger Amy Igloi-Matsuno, despite her heavy investment in the campaign. Igloi-Matsuno spent $18,662 to Chang’s $9,212, for a total of more than $27,000. I’d say it’s safe to say that’s a record for campaign spending in a Port Orchard council race. In unofficial results, Chang had 54.57 percent of votes counted to Igloi-Matsuno’s 45.10 percent.

Kitsap County Elections Manager Dolores Gilmore on Tuesday evening reported that 35.77 percent of votes in the City of Port Orchard have been counted so far. There are 5,082 registered voters in the city. The county auditor’s office is expecting a 50 percent turnout, Gilmore said.

In the race for city council position 2, incumbent Carolyn Powers, seeking a sixth term on the council, held a sliver of a lead over challenger Cindy Lucarelli.
Powers had 50.35 percent of the vote to Lucarelli’s 49.01 percent.
“I don’t think I have any choice but to wait and see what comes tomorrow,” said Powers, who has served on the council since 1988.
Lucarelli, who was defeated in 2007 in a race against veteran councilman John Clauson, was optimistic about the results.
“I’d like to have it the other way around but, hay, that’s pretty close, and there were a lot of ballots that were mailed in late. I’m hoping it gets turned around,” she said.

The auditor’s office will post revised counts daily at 5 p.m.
“By Friday, we should have the majority of the ballots to be counted,” Gilmore said.

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By Chris Henry
chenry@kitsapsun
SOUTH KITSAP
Heading into playoff season with a 9-0 record, the South Kitsap Wolves football team would seem to have nothing standing in their way. But Coach D.J. Sigurdson says the grass field at Joe Knowles Stadium, looking these days like a mud bath, is selling the players and other South Kitsap athletes short.
South Kitsap is one of fewer than a dozen 4A schools in the state that hasn’t already converted to turf fields. Sigurdson says it’s time.
Coaches raised concerns about shortcomings of the field and other district athletic facilities during recent contract negotiations, said Ron Ness, president of the South Kitsap Coaches Association.
“Safety is an issue and making sure we can provide adequate resources for our athletes and the community,” said Ness.
With cuts to South Kitsap School District’s budget this year totaling $6.8 million, no one who uses the fields expects the district will ask voters to approve a capital facilities bond in the near future. So a facilities task force, made up of coaches, maintenance staff and community members, has taken matters into its own hands. They are seeking outside funding for a turf field and more.
At a meeting Monday, the group came up with a lengthy wish list, including upgrades to tracks and ball fields at the junior high and elementary schools, improvements and renovations to the pool, installed in the 1970s, scoreboards, lighting, public restrooms and storage.
The group agreed that district facilities should be made available for community use whenever possible.
Installation of a turf field at the high school would cost an estimated $1.7 million. The turf would need to be replaced in 10 to 12 years, but with infrastructure in place, the replacement cost would be about half the original price, said Brad Martin of Martin Victory Products of Kent, a turf manufacturer’s representative.
The high cost of installing a turf field would be offset in the long run by lower maintenance costs, said Kathleen Simpson of Fields Today, Fit Tomorrow. Her nonprofit group is coordinating with area sports clubs, local governments and other groups on the installation of turf fields throughout the county.
The annual maintenance cost on the grass field at the high school is $23,000. A turf field costs about $5,000 per year to maintain.
Turf fields present revenue opportunities, Simpson said. Her low-use estimate for one field would be about $57,000 in income for the district per year.
Fields Today, Fit Tomorrow had a hand in the recently opened fields at Battle Point Park on Bainbridge Island. The Bainbridge fields were built despite opposition from a group called Plastic Fields ForNever whose members link artificial turf to lead poisoning, cancer, skin burns and injuries.
Sigurdson said he hadn’t heard of environmental or disease hazards of turf fields. Injuries were a problem in the early days of the technology, but substrate, made of ground up tires, provides a more natural playing surface, he said.

The facilities task force will meet monthly. The public is welcome. The next meeting is 6 p.m. Dec. 7. For information, contact South Kitsap High School Athletic Director Ed Santos at (360) 874-5736 or santosjr@skitsap.wednet.edu.

Take the poll on the blog homepage: Does South Kitsap need a turf field?

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Tomorrow evening, we’ll know the outcome of the race for Port Orchard City Council Position 6 between incumbent Fred Chang and challenger Amy Igloi-Matsuno. I’d like to address a comment posted during the campaign on a letter to the editor.

As I wrote in my coverage of the race, Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola has been clear he admires Igloi-Matsuno’s business savvy and community involvement. But he has not officially endorsed her, as he has incumbent Carolyn Powers in her race against Cindy Lucarelli for Position 2. That has raised public speculation about the possibility of Coppola’s providing behind-the-scenes support to Igloi-Matsuno’s campaign.

Kkurly, in a comment on an Oct. 8 letter to the editor, questioned Igloi-Matsuno’s use of Coppola’s Wet Apple Media for graphic work related to her campaign, suggesting it would be a gift. Kkurley said, “Let’s ask Amy to do this before the election….pay her bill to Wet Apple printing.” In fact, a filing submitted Oct. 27 to the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission shows she has. The statement of revenue and expenditures from Igloi-Matsuno’s campaign treasurer Jennifer Christine shows the bill for $5,075 was paid Oct. 16. Services were for “graphic design for all printed materials and Web site design.”

For the record, Christine is a Wet Apple employee who also volunteered for Coppola’s campaign in 2008. She said she does not make filings on company time.

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Many of you know that I live in McCormick Woods, but you may not know the reason we moved here is for Halloween. The streets are wide,the houses close together and the neighbors (usually) generous, making it a great place to trick-or-treat. And I’m not telling you what hundreds of families in South Kitsap don’t already know.

We came to McCormick Woods many a Halloween before moving here in 2002. But I was especially excited to make great costumes for the kids our first year in the neighborhood. (Cue ominous music here.)

Now, I’m no good with a sewing machine, but I do have an active imagination. The martian costume I made out of a cardboard box, worn on the head, had holes for the eyes and pipe cleaners for antenae. Who needs Walmart? I’ve got the recycle bin.

Then there was the eyeball costume I made out of a plastic garbage bag filled with crumpled newspaper. I drew veins and lashes on the plastic with a felt-tip pen. The costume, inflicted on … uh, worn by my youngest, was effective, but he rustled loudly as he walked.

The year we moved into McCormick Woods, I decided said youngest son should be a mummy. My material of choice … toilet paper.

My son is 14 now and trying to make a good impression on his junior high friends. He gave me permission to relate this story if I made it clear he was an innocent bystander in the whole affair and had nothing to do with it other than a mad desire for candy.

So I wrapped him in the toilet paper head to toe. It took three rolls. For added effect, I drizzled him with red food coloring. Ta-da! I put Martha Stewart to shame.

Off went said youngest son among the prim hedgerows and manicured lawns of McWoods looking for all the world, I realized in horror, like a … well, lets just say it was far from tasteful.

Too late, and anyway, at 7 he was oblivious to anything but rushing to ring the next doorbell. Then it began to rain. My son continued his quest, leaving wads of gory toilet paper in his wake.

The moral of this story is: next year, use two-ply.

Oh, wait, he’s too old to trick-or-treat. I need more victims … uh, grandchildren.

Happy Halloween. Stop by and visit me if you dare!

Chris Henry, South Kitsap reporter and costume maker extraordinaire

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Sales tax revenue, even with annexations, will remain flat in 2010, city treasurer estimates.
By Chris Henry
chenry@kitsapsun.com
PORT ORCHARD
Annexations to the City of Port Orchard in 2009 have added more than 2,000 residents to the city’s population and pushed its total assessed valuation above $1 billion.
The city council will need to consider the effects of annexation in planning its 2010 budget, treasurer Allan Martin said Tuesday at a public hearing on the budget.
The shrinking economy plus the increase in population from the McCormick Woods annexation mean the council would have to approve an ordinance showing “substantial need” to achieve the 1 percent increase in property taxes it has automatically been eligible to take in the past.
Before the annexation, the city’s population was 8,420. Now, it’s 10,836.
Cities with fewer than 10,000 people can collect up to one hundred one percent of the previous year’s amount, plus new construction.
Cities with more than 10,000 people are subject to the lesser of two limits: one hundred one percent of the previous year’s collection or one hundred percent plus inflation. Thanks to the recession, inflation declined over the past 12 months by .848 percent. That means, without an ordinance, the city in 2010 could collect 99.2 percent of the $1,633,307 in property taxes it collected in 2009. With an ordinance, it could take in up to an additional $16,333. The one percent increase in 2009 totaled $15,437.
Martin estimates the one percent increase for 2010 would cost the average property owner less than a penny per $1,000 of assessed property value.
At the hearing, City Councilman Fred Chang asked if the ordinance could be crafted so that the city’s property tax revenue would remain flat for 2010. The answer, said City Attorney Greg Jacoby, is yes.
With annexations, including McCormick Woods and the Fred Meyer complex on Bethel Road, the assessed value of the city rose from $833 million in 2009 to $1.167 billion.
Although income from property and sales taxes will increase with annexation, Port Orchard must share that revenue with the county. Under a 2000 interlocal agreement between Kitsap County and local cities, transfer of revenue is to take place in stages over a three-year period, with annexing cities receiving 25 percent of revenue the first year, 50 percent the second and 75 percent third year, before receiving the entire amount the fourth year and beyond.
The city is also facing a sharp drop in sales tax revenue, despite commercial annexations on Bethel Avenue. Revenue is down 11 percent year-to-date. Martin predicts sales tax revenue will remain flat in 2010.
Port Orchard resident Wayne Patterson, who spoke at the hearing, said the city council should refrain from taking any property tax increase. Property owners have had to live with the financial constraints of a shrinking economy, and the city should do the same, he said.
A report on the city 2010 revenue can be found on the city’s Web site, or portrochard2010revenueest.

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Ah, fall in the Northwest. Today, we’re experiencing what we in the business refer to as a “gullywasher.” If you are having flooding, post here, e-mail me at chenry@kitsapsun.com or call (360) 792-9219. Be sure to include mention of the general area and your contact info. Thanks.

Chris Henry, reporter

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