July 8 Town Council meeting
--by Dixie A. Walter
    Local citizen Bruce Lachney addressed the council regarding parks funding and Eatonville's place on the county's priority list for such funding. "A couple of weeks ago I spoke to you about the possibility of acquiring Real Estate Excise Tax (REET) money. To be honest I did not expect it to come through quite this quickly.
    "The county has elected to take twenty five percent of REET money and spend it on parks. The money is there now. It was a great, big hurdle to actually be placed on the priority list. The next big hurdle will be when it actually goes to the county council."
    Lachney continued, "That's when we want to have people there. We want a reasonable plan and we want to be completely organized so that we push this through as a unified group. We also want to communicate with our elected officials prior to that point, so we don't go in guessing what is going to happen.
    Eatonville is number six on a priority list of eight. In a document from the county under the REET spending program of Proposed Parks and Recreation, the town could receive, "$150,000 for a skate park in Eatonville providing at least a 1-to-1 match from partners in the Eatonville community."
    "That's a lot of money and we did good," Lachney informed the council. "We have to come up with $150,000 and one of your questions would probably be 'can that be like kind items?' My assumption is yes and I will clarify that with the county executive."
    He continued, "Meaning if we want to purchase property, if we want to put in town utilities, if we want to put in roads, surface water management, and sewers does that all go toward our $150,000?"
    "Why a skate park?" Lachney asked. "We can have a park with a skate park as part of it, is what I view. But those are still clarification items." He said he would communicate to the council when the parks issue will be on the county council agenda."
    Adding, "Amendments will probably be made to this list. I guarantee you that as soon as you get funds every county council member who has a particular project in their district will want to spend some of the money. So the list will probably evolve a little bit. We have to make sure it doesn't evolve too much away from what we want to do."
    Lachney concluded by telling the council, "We need to get ahead of the power curve on our planning, that's a big deal."
    Local businesswoman Audrey Thompson attended the meeting to express appreciation for the town's help during the Fourth of July celebrations. "On behalf of the parade committee and our fireworks show, we say thank you to the Eatonville Police Department, the fire department and the girls in the office. I think we had a very successful two days."
    Mayor Harold Parnell replied, "I think we should thank you! I was surprised to see how many people were lined up, three deep all the way downtown for the parade." This statement brought well-deserved applause for the parade and fireworks committee.
    A question about the Vision Plan was answered by Shaub, "The town and the chamber of commerce spent a good deal of money on this, and I think we should be reviewing it periodically. I think we should be addressing what the outcome of that plan dictated. And we should be working hard to see that those things come about." Schaub also warned, "The council needs to read the plan before we start working on the next budget process, so we can be putting aside money. Because if we don't start setting money aside for suggestions people make we're not doing our jobs."
    Van Eaton gave the public works report for the month of June. "We estimate it would take four men four hours to move the temporary skateboard park. At the end of June there appeared to be less vandalism and litter at the park."
    Matching grant funds for Smallwood Park are being compiled. Thirty-five permits were issued for June and 50 building inspections took place. Underground electric wiring was upgraded, "power and light folks" put up 30 flags and two banners and the town put in the foundation and raised the Matheny Sculpt.
    Van Eaton said, "Mr. Matheny did the work for the plumbing for the air and we have yet to purchase the air compressor [to blow the old mill whistle] which will cost approximately $3,000. We have the funding."
    On a much more serious subject Van Eaton stated, "The resource recovery well was completed on May 31. We received the consultant's report. We did not find any deep water, and that's what we wanted to find, in adequate quantities. We have yet to test for shallow water and bedrock at 65 feet."
    Council member Jarrett questioned the progress of the planning commission regarding the Comprehensive Plan. "The state mandated the plan be reviewed and they have given us a two-year extension. From what I can see they never even started it, so what were they doing for the last two years?"
    She asked, "Isn't Mr. Kask supposed to be facilitating the rewrite of the comp. plan. Was it ever started? It sounds like it should have been started two years ago. I see he gets paid $10,000 a year."
    Van Eaton replied, "What you say has merit." He added, "I believe he's been compensated for work done."
    Jarrett again noted, "They've had two years to start rewriting and from what I can see they haven't started rewriting."
    It was pointed out that the commission has reviewed the book and presently they are going through chapters one through four.
    Mayor Parnell then thanked council member Ray Harper for helping set up the Matheny sculpt and for his welding expertise on the piece.
    Eatonville Police Chief Jim Lewis gave an account of his department. "Finally we are getting citizens to start calling us when they see people acting suspiciously, which gives us a chance to get out there and stop some of these people and hopefully prevent some of these things going on in town."
    Chief Lewis also explained, "We bought 60 helmets and gave helmets to kids who were skateboarding but didn't have them. We also wrote a letter to the parents explaining we had given the kids a helmet and what would happen if we should catch them without one again." Lewis added, "If you will notice now there's virtually no kids in this whole town under the age of 16 without a helmet."
    He introduced new police officer Steve Watton who spoke briefly, "Thanks for the warm welcome I've received so far. I hope I get to meet all of you and get to know you better. It's just kind of a dream come true to be wearing this uniform and to be here. It's great to be here and I'll do my best to protect and serve the community."
    A short discussion followed on the subject of water witches. Some council members appear ready to try the services of a water witch to locate much needed water for the town as nobody else is having any luck doing so. Unfortunately the most reliable witches are either dead or too ill to take on the project.
    Mayor Parnell showed a Certificate for Achievement from the Fred Oldfield Western Heritage Center awarding the mayor for being the "2002 Chili Cook-Off Runner Up." Parnell noted the mayor of Puyallup Kathy Turner won the contest. However, he joked, "I think she cheated a little bit and I told her I'd be looking into it."
    He also thanked Deputy Town Clerk Chrystal McGlone, his wife, Jackie, and Town Clerk Loffelmacher for "helping us make chili."
    The next town council meeting is July 22. The study session begins at 6 p.m. and the regular meeting starts at 7 p.m. Council meetings are held at the Eatonville Community Center.

Contact your elected county representatives:
District 1 - Jan Shabro, 253.798.3635 - eddress - jshabro@co.pierce.wa.us
District 3 - Kevin Wimsett, 253.798.6626 - eddress - kwimset@co.pierce.wa.us

"He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist."
~St. Francis of Assisi