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| Arne Lind Appointed Ronald Wastewater Coommissioner |
Arne Lind, the long-time Ronald Wastewater Commissioner who was defeated in the last election by former school board member and Shoreline City council member Robert Ransom, was appointed to the board last week.
The Ronald Board is in conflict with the City of Shoreline over an agreement signed in 2002 which negotiated a 15 year time frame for the wastewater utility to transition from the District to the City. The agreement was signed by Commissioner Arthur Wadekamper, who is still on the wastewater board.
The Ronald District now wants to remain independent and is lobbying the public and exploring possible legal grounds, such as requiring a public vote.
The original three board members, Brian T. Carroll, Arthur Wadekamper, and Arne Lind, are in favor of an independent wastewater district. Robert "Bob" Ransom, who defeated Arne Lind in an election, was openly in favor of continuing the agreed-upon City assumption.
Recently, the Ronald Board voted to expand from three to five members. There was an open public process to solicit and review candidates. Out of 21 applicants, the pool was winnowed to five, and Arne Lind was chosen. The appointment vote was two in favor with one abstention.
According to a press release from Ronald Wastewater:
"A majority of commissioners believed that Mr. Lind’s experience and understanding of the District would allow him to hit the ground running as a commissioner without needing to master a steep learning curve. The majority also appreciated Mr. Lind’s strong commitment to the public’s right to vote on which entity will provide sewer service in the future."
Next, the four commissioners will choose the fifth commissioner at a special meeting.
"There will be a special meeting on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. at the District office, 17505 Linden Ave N. At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Lind will be sworn in as a commissioner and will then join the Board to select another applicant to fill the five member board. The two newly appointed commissioners will flip a coin to determine who will fill Position 4 (serving until the next District election in 2013) and who will fill Position 5 (serving until the next District election after that in 2015)."
Two commissioners of the Ronald Sewer District, Arthur Wadekamper and Brian T. Carroll, by appointing a commissioner that was rejected by the voters of shoreline is telling the good citizens of shoreline that they don’t have a voice in their government. If these two commissioners have found a way to circumvent the will of the people, than the citizens of Shoreline need to find a way to recall these two commissioners.
ReplyDeleteHooray for Mr. Lind! I was so sorry to see him go!
ReplyDeleteThe experience and wisdom Mr. Lind brings to our board is irreplaceable!
As to Anonymous, July 30, 2012 9:04 PM
Shoreline Area News said:
"Final results certified Tuesday, Nov. 29, from the Nov. 8 general election show Ransom with 6,975 votes in the Shoreline portion of the District to 6,621 for Lind, with 61 write-in votes and 4,370 blank ballots. Ransom got one vote in the tiny Snohomish County part of the District, with four blank ballots."
To me- it is super that both Mr. Ransom and Mr. Lind have ended up on the board!
Only 2% (354 votes) separated Mr. Lind (37%) and Mr. Ransom (39%).
Circumventing the will of the people would be supplanting Mr. Ransom with Mr. Lind.
Clearly, that is not the case here!
Hooray for Mr. Lind!
I trust he will continue to work hard on our behalf!
The will of the people was to kick Bob Ransom off the Shoreline City Council for violating the Open Public Meeting Act.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Bob Ransom in his campaign flyer promised to unify the Point Wells Sewer District with Ronald Wastewater - but there is no Point Wells Sewer District. Point Wells is part of the Olympic View Water and Wastewater District. Voters were too lazy to go find out that was a campaign lie.