The Bainbridge Island Police
Station on Winslow Way.
The city is considering third site option for a police
station.
The newest property being considered is nearly 9 acres of
undeveloped land “outside the Winslow core.”
City officials did not provide an address, general location or
cost estimation for the property.
The two other locations still being considered are a .75 acre
property on Madison Avenue, north of City Hall, and 1.89 acres
along New Brooklyn Road by the Bainbridge Island Fire Department
headquarters.
All three sites are large enough to accommodate police,
municipal court and the Emergency Operations Center.
The newest site option would leave room for expansion or
building other city facilities. The city also could sell part of
the property to reduce the overall project cost.
A “significant amount” of the land is buildable, although a
portion is unbuildable, said City Manager Doug Schulze.
The site near the fire station headquarters could require a
two-story building, resulting in a “loss of operational
efficiency.” The land also has a slight slope, requiring a
retaining wall.
The Madison Avenue property near City Hall does not have room
for expansion, and would require a two-story building. The property
is “marginally large enough for the police facility and required
parking.”
While the Madison Avenue property is the smallest, it is closest
to City Hall and would allow for a government campus.
Having a campus was one of the reasons city officials declined
to build a joint station with the fire department. Council members
also voiced concerns with being a tenant of the fire
department.
Keeping the police station close to City Hall also allows for
accountability, Schulze said.
“The citizens of the community have concerns about unnecessary
use of force and expect police officers to be skilled in tactful
communication, de-escalation, and crisis intervention,” according
to Schulze’s memorandum to the council.
The city plans to make a final site selection by the end of
June.
A screen shot of part of
Paulson’s blog that fires back against Councilman Steve Bonkowski’s
recent letter to the editor.
Althea Paulson, who filed a public records lawsuit with Bob
Fortner against Bainbridge Island in 2013, says
in a blog post that she and Fortner do not agree with
Councilman Steve Bonkowski’s version of the lawsuit in a
recent letter to the editor.
Paulson and Fortner’s lawsuit said Bonkowski, Councilman David
Ward and Councilwoman Debbi Lester violated city policy and the
state Public Records Act by using personal email accounts to
conduct city business and later withholding the documents.
In May, a Kitsap County Superior Court judge
ruled city officials didn’t perform an “adequate” search for
documents on Bonkowski’s and Ward’s personal computers.
Paulson and Fortner had requested documents regarding the city’s
utilities, Utility Advisory Committee and the performance of
employees.
Lester was dropped from the lawsuit as an individual at the
beginning of last year after she turned over requested documents.
She left the board at the end of her term in 2013.
Ward offered to resign as part of a $500,000 settlement from the
city to Paulson and Fortner in December 2014.
Bonkowski is still a council member and is up for reelection in
November.
In his letter to the editor, Bonkowski said he did not conduct
city business on his personal email account and turned over emails
in a timely manner.
“The Paulson/Fortner lawsuit has confused, disappointed, and
divided our community, and now is poised to extract over half a
million dollars from taxpayers,” he wrote. “I am pained to think
that I may carry any responsibility for these circumstances. I want
the community to know that I did not conduct city business from my
private email account, and I did turn over my emails to the city in
a timely manner for the public records request. What I did not do
is provide my personal computer hard drive as part of that public
records request.
“From the beginning of the records requests, and prior to the
lawsuit, the requesters demanded access to council members’ private
computer hard drives. Turning over one’s hard drive is not required
by state law, nor the Public Records Act; the City did not ask
council members to turn over personal computer hard drives.”
Paulson, Fortner and their attorney, Dan Mallove, disagree with
multiple points in Bonkowski’s letter.
“Neither Paulson nor Fortner ever made a demand for access to
anyone’s computer hard drive, before or after the filing of the
lawsuit. Their records requests asked only that the City produce
specified public records involving council members, ‘whether those
records are on their private email accounts or otherwise,’” the
blog post says.
The tugboat Pacific Knight
helps maneuver the state ferry Tacoma to the Bainbridge Island dock
after it lost power while making the 12:20 p.m. sailing from
Seattle to Bainbridge on July 29, 2014. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP
SUN
We are asking readers to rank the top Bainbridge Islander
stories from this past year in a
survey. The top 10 will be posted on this blog.
Bainbridge Island Fire Commissioners will likely determine at
their Oct. 9 meeting with other Emergency Fire Watch Guards
whether they will place a potential 20-year, $17 million facilities
bond measure for a possible election in February. The bond would
finance replacing the island’s two oldest fire stations and
remodeling its newest.
The commissioners made the decision at Thursday’s night meeting
after the Bainbridge Island City Council decided Tuesday at its
meeting that they needed additional community input regarding a new
police station that would possibly be co-located with the
municipal court.
To accomplish this, the City Council will have a public comment
period about the range of options regarding a new police
station at its 7 p.m. Oct. 7 study session in the Council
Chamber.
The city of Bainbridge Island is looking at various options,
including a new stand-alone police facility in Winslow, either to
the north or south near City Hall, as well as a combined police and
fire facility located at the site of the current Bainbridge Island
Fire Department (BIFD) Station 21.
A June report by an architect firm stated building a new
combined police-fire facility would cost $2.3 million less at $15.3
million than the $17.6 million combined total it would take to
build separate fire and police facilities.
A June phone poll indicated the support for a joint Bainbridge
fire/police station was overwhelming with 87 percent of island
residents out of 200 favoring a design for a new main fire station
on Madison Avenue that included a new city police station.
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Seattle architect firm
Mackenzie delivered a report analyzing the feasibility of the
preferred options on public safety and court facilities being
considered by the City Council. This report is available on the
city of Bainbridge Island website at: www.bainbridgewa.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/3987.
Additional information and background about this project can be
found on the project page on the City’s website: www.bainbridgewa.gov/528/Police-Facility-Planning.
Tristan Baurick/Kitsap Sun
The Chickamauga pictured in February at its dryland home in Port
Townsend.
***This story has been updated to include cost of the
disposal, towing and other expenses, condition of the boat and the
court date for the ship’s owner, 8:30 a.m. April 17.
The historic tugboat Chickamauga is no more.
Likely doomed by its poor condition and the prohibitive costs
needed to restore it, neither individuals nor organizations could
be found to rescue the troubled tug from being scrapped after it
was towed 38 miles from Bainbridge Island’s Eagle Harbor to a Port
Townsend marina Jan. 31.
America’s first full diesel-powered tugboat when it was built in
1915, the Chickamauga was disposed of the week of March 24 in Port
Townsend, said Toni Weyman Droscher, the communications manager for
the Aquatics Program of the Washington State Department of Natural
Resources. The contract for disposal was for $20,000, plus tax,
said Melissa Ferris, the director of the state’s Derelict Vessel
Removal Program.
Daily pumping, checking on the vessel, towing, escort through
the haul-out process, decontamination of the boom, etc. was
$25,435.35, Ferris said. Haul-out and storage at the Port of Port
Townsend was $2,674.80, she added.
DNR took control of the derelict boat Jan. 16 under the state’s
Derelict Vessels Act, which gives it the authority to take custody
of a vessel when an owner allows it to become derelict or
abandoned. Absent Chickamauga owner Anthony R. Smith did this when
he failed to pay moorage and utility fees for nearly a year to
Eagle Harbor Marina, totaling $8,560.30.
In addition to what he owes the marina and in legal fees, Smith
also owes the Coast Guard for its expenses in responding to the
Chickamauga’s October sinking, which total $140,000, and the
Department of Ecology’s expenses for coordinating the spill cleanup
with the Coast Guard, which total $2,000.
Smith was charged Jan. 15 with three criminal counts from the
state attorney general’s office. His trial is set to begin in June
23 in Kitsap County Superior Court.
The Chickamauga sank Oct. 2, leaked about 400 gallons of
petroleum and 10 gallons of lube oil in the waters of Eagle Harbor
and was lifted by a crane Oct. 10.
“The 70-foot hull (of the Chickamauga) was deconstructed with an
excavator,” Droscher said. “All recyclable items were separated.
Debris was placed in a 30-yard container and handled by the local
waste contractor, DM Disposal.”
The boat’s helm and throttle controls were saved and delivered
by DNR to the Foss Waterway Seaport Museum in Tacoma this week to
be restored and eventually put on display. The historical
significance of the boat that Smith purchased for $1,000 in 2009
was important to retain for Joseph Govednik, the museum’s curator
of collections and volunteer manager.
“It is important to preserve this, and all historic vessels, as
they are subjected to less than ideal conditions being exposed to
the elements of nature,” Govednik said. “Ultimately, all wood boats
turn to dust, it’s a matter of time, so it is very important to
preserve, protect and maintain these boats.
“I hope this can be a lesson and reminder, that these vessels
require constant care and monitoring,” Govednik added. “Although
the vessel is lost, we are very fortunate to take possession of the
throttle controls and helm.”
Govednik said the museum doesn’t have immediate plans to display
the Chickamauga artifacts, but hopes to use them in a future
exhibition on tugboats to support stories of the region’s working
waterfront past.
In addition to the throttle controls and helm, the silohette of
the shell and ship’s log were likely some of the few original
things remaining on the Chickamauga by the time the state took
possession of the vessel. In fact, DNR had its marine archeologist
and others inspect the ship and found the engines weren’t the
original ones and that because there had been “so much retrofitting
and renovation that it was really a shadow of its original self,”
Droscher said.
“The engines were 671s, which were designed specifically for the
landing craft for Normandy in World War II and they don’t have any
historical value since they were stamped out (for mass
production),” Eagle Harbor Marina Harbormaster Doug Crow said.
“They weren’t maintaining it for historical value, their interest
was in keeping the boat moving and working with it. There was very
little to that boat that had significant value and they got the two
items that were easily retrievable and it would’ve given them
something to put in the museum and write about its history.”
The demise of the Chickamauga was taken hard by well-known
Poulsbo watercolor artists Michael and Sarah Yaeger, who preserved
the boat by painting it for their 2015 calendar. The couple were
holding out hope the boat would be saved.
“We are both angry!” Michael said. “This boat was on the
Historic Register and is the first diesel powered tug in the USA –
surely this DNR group could’ve tried harder in the saving of her.
This whole saga smacks of ‘raw raw expediency’ over our cultural
responsibility for our heritage.
“The DNR bylaws should be looked at for any violation that may
have occurred in this sordid mess,” Michael continued. “What’s next
– the demolition of the Arthur Foss and the Virginia V? The
Chickamauga played a more crucial – or at least equal – role in our
maritime history.”
Contributed photo/DNR
The helm and throttle controls are now all that remain of the
Chickamauga after it was dismantled recently.
Contributed photo
Sara L. McCulloch worked for 13 years at the King County
Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Seattle before being appointed
Bainbridge Island’s Municipal Court judge in November.
This is the fourth of nine entries about
reporter Ethan Fowler’s participation in the Bainbridge Island
Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academy.
Despite being on the job only three months, Sara L. McCulloch
came across knowledgeable, confident and friendly when Bainbridge
Island’s Municipal Court judge spent more than an hour talking
about her job to Citizens’ Police Academy participants March
18.
McCulloch worked for 13 years at the King County Prosecuting
Attorney’s Office in Seattle before she was appointed to the
part-time position for a four-year term in November. She sees about
20-35 cases on the Mondays and Tuesdays the court is in
session.
McCulloch described the court as a “People’s Court” because of
the variety of misdemeanor criminal cases brought before her.
Driving under the influence, assault, domestic violence offenses,
hit and run, malicious mischief, theft, trespass, reckless driving
and use of drug paraphernalia are some of the criminal charges
under the Municipal Court’s jurisdiction. The court also provides
anti-harassment and sexual assault protection orders, as well as
search and arrest warrants.
Despite the wide range of cases handled, court administrator
Telma Hauth – who recently celebrated her 20th year in
that position – said the Municipal Court constitutes only 1 percent
of the city’s budget.
“Factually speaking, most of the people that come in here …
aren’t a person of means,” McCulloch said. “A fair share of the
people are in the 20s or 30s, but we see people of all ages here
still trying to find their way.”
She said the Municipal Court largely has a “focus on
rehabilitation,” where with a felony at the Superior Court level
the “focus is incarceration.” McCulloch said her court provides a
lot of treatment opportunities and options for people who
frequently appear before her.
When I asked about why some court cases can drag on for years
and cost millions, she said working as a prosecutor helped her to
“really see the value of the process.”
“It’s about fairness and doing the right thing and making sure
people are being treated right,” said McCulloch, who also performs
weddings for a fee. “You can’t just say you want quicker justice.
These people have constitutional rights and it does take time for
justice.”
McCulloch also distributed handouts about Washington’s court
system and a sample of the mountain of paperwork involved in a DUI
conviction to Citizens’ Police Academy participants. She later
donned her black court robe to present a mock DUI hearing with
academy participants portraying attorneys and the driver, while
court security officer Guy Roche and Hauth played themselves.
Roche then talked about his job and role with the court. He said
that “things usually calm down” when people see him. He said that
the lower level offenders who wear ankle bracelets for home
monitoring are “really quite compliant.”
Barbara Chandler-Young, a client advocate for the YWCA of Kitsap
County in its domestic violence program, spoke after Roche. She
said that protection orders “really work” for some people and for
others they don’t.
“I don’t take issuing orders lightly,” McCulloch said. “People
who have more to lose … tend to be more responsive.”
After the meeting ended, McCulloch asked me to please remind
drivers to always have four things up-to-date in their car or on
them when they drive: a valid driver’s license, signed
registration, proof of insurance and license tabs.
“All of this is a citation that could cost you a lot of money,”
McCulloch said if an officer pulls you over and you’re missing one
of those items.
