In July we continued to wait for the County and the RCO to sign a contract regarding use of the $1 million authorized by the legislature for planning, acquisition and development of the ODT-Eaglemount trail.  While waiting, among other things I interviewed the candidates for BOCC District 1  about their views on the ODT-Eaglemount trail section.  I also continued to work on trail scouting, mapping and planning to -- hopefully -- jump start the consultant's route-planning process.  (I'll provide some additional mapping information in a later post.)  

Funding

On July 7^th I emailed Eric Kuzma at JeffCo Public Works and Darrell Jennings at the Recreation and Conservation Office, asking if there was anything I could do to help get the planning consultant engaged and moving ahead.  I repeated my concern that if the County did not engage a consultant soon, we would lose the prime summer months for evaluating trail routes, and would lose momentum on the ODT project itself.  On July 12^th, Darrell responded that he and Eric had nearly wrapped things up, and that he would do his best to get a document prepared, routed and approved later that week or the next.  In a subsequent conversation, Eric said he and Darrell had nearly wrapped up the Discovery Bay planning, and that they would turn to the newly-authorized $1 million once they had finalized funding for the Discovery Bay section of the trail.  Eric doubted that the contract and consultant engagement for the ODT-Eaglemount project would be completed soon.  He also questioned the urgency of getting a consultant on the ground during the summer months. 

On July 27^th, Jeff and I followed up by contacting Darrell Jennings by phone.  He told us that he and Eric Kuzma had agreed to a form of contract for the Discovery Bay section of the ODT, subject only to review and approval by (I think) "Fish and Wildlife" attorneys.  As I understood it, once that approval has been secured, the Discovery Bay contract was expected to be signed by the RCO and the County and the RCO funds would be available to the County to proceed with the Discovery Bay project.  I asked specifically whether all of the “match” issues for this funding had been resolved.  Darrell confirmed that the “match” issues had been resolved, and that the resolution did not require use of any of the $1million in legislative funding that Rep. Tharinger had secured for the Eaglemount section.

Jeff asked Darrell whether, to his knowledge, the County’s administration of the contract (the Discovery Bay construction project itself) would be so taxing on County staff that it might interfere with the County’s ability to work on the Eaglemount project.  Darrell said that he didn’t really know and we could talk with Eric about that.          

Regarding the ODT-Eaglemount section, Darrell said that on July 25^th he had sent a form of contract to Eric.  Darrell said that the draft contract was for a four or five year period, and provided for expenditure of up to $100,000 for “planning” of the Eaglemount section.  As I understood Darrell, once the planning has been done the contract could be revised or supplemented in some way to cover land acquisition and development of the trail, in accordance with the legislation and the plan.  

I asked Darrell whether there was any risk that any of the $1million authorized by the legislature might be lost by the passage of time if the full amount was not expended in this biennium — that is, by the end of 2016. Darrell said that perhaps there was some risk that the legislature might not reauthorize the funding, but he thought that was unlikely given the RCO’s past experience.  I don’t understand exactly how the appropriation/authorization/expenditure process works, so I can’t assess the nature of extent of the risk.  

I told Darrell that Jeff Selby, Jeni Little and I were scheduled to discuss the ODT on KPTZ radio on July 29th and asked him whether it was OK to discuss what he had told us.  He said it was fine to discuss what he had told us about the contracts. 

I asked Darrell whether the form of contract was available for our review.  He said he thought it might already be available online at the RCO website, and, if not, he saw no problem in providing it to us.  I couldn’t find it online so I asked Darrell to send me a copy, which he did on July 29^th..  He explained that he had not yet had any feedback from Eric, and that Eric could request modifications, but if not, this would be the agreement between the two agencies.  Here’s a copy of page 1 of the draft contract, which contains the key substantive provisions: 

  

Candidate Interviews

On July 13th, the four candidates for County Commissioner District 1 (from which Phil Johnson is retiring) appeared at  a League of Women Voters Candidate Forum in Port Townsend.  The candidates were Tim Thomas, owner of Bernt Ericsen Excavating Inc.; Kate Dean, manager of the North Olympic Peninsula Resource Conservation and Development Council, a nonprofit council of governments that oversees regional community and economic development projects; Jeff Gallant, owner of Jeff Gallant Construction; and Cynthia Koan, Chair of the Jefferson County Planning Commission.  
  

During the public presentation, no one — including me — asked the candidates for their views about the ODT-Eaglemount trail.  Only Kate Dean mentioned it during the public presentations.  In responding to a question about transit services, she said that  a “huge priority” for her was to "connect the Larry Scott Memorial Trail to the ODT,” because bicycling is “very important.”   

I had submitted a written question about the candidates’ ODT views, but it was not asked.  I was not recognized when I raised my hand, and time ran out.  So after the presentations I approached each candidate individually and asked their views.  Here’s a summary of what they said:

• Tim Thomas said that he thought a trail connection  from the LSMT to the head of the Bay was a great idea, and he would support it.  Based on his response, I felt that he would appreciate additional information about the trail connection and its potential benefits and costs, so I told him I would send him an email about it.  He enthusiastically said he was looking forward to receiving it.

• Kate Dean reiterated that the trail connection was very important to her, and said that she would like more detail about what was being proposed and planned.  I told her that the trail would potentially be quite expensive, but much of that cost could potentially be covered by grant funding.  She said she knew a lot about grant funding, had worked on raising money with multiple governmental agencies, and could be very effective in that regard in getting the trail done.  She also said that she knew the commissioners, and many government employees and officials, which could help with the project. She was enthusiastic about getting an email and materials from me so that she could become even more knowledgeable about the ODT-E connection.

• Jeff Gallant really didn’t know anything about the trail project.  He asked me where it would start and where it would go.  He was unclear about what it would be for and why it was needed.   I told him that it would help get cyclists and walkers off of SR20, which he thought would be a very good thing.  When I told him it would be an expensive project, he expressed the need to be cautious and to make sure this was the best way to spend limited County funds.  He said he would appreciate receiving information from me so that he could be prepared to discuss the proposed project at a future candidate forum  -- if he makes it through the primary.

• Cynthia Koan said that she thought development and construction of the trail was a “no brainier.”  She said that their were many obvious benefits of the trail, that she would try to assure that it was included in the new comprehensive plan that the Planning Commission was working on.  (I had previously discussed this with her at a Planning Commission meeting, and after a Jefferson County Commissioner’s meeting, which she recalled.)  She said that I ought to discuss the project with the Patricia Charmas, the new Jefferson County DCD director.  She approached this as if it was very likely that the trail should eventually be developed.

To make sure they are all fully aware of the importance of the project and the need to vigorously pursue it if elected, I will send the candidates that made it through the primary (Thomas and Dean) a copy of my white paper and executive summary regarding the trail, which I am in the process of updating.