King Conservation District Mission Statement: UPDATED, 6/09, Opinion: Did you know? The City of Redmond received several hundreds of thousands of dollars from the King Conservation District last year? The funds will go towards restoration and flood mitigation of Bear Creek when SR520 is widened.
Every year, every citizen in King County pays $10 per parcel of property to fund the "King Conservation District". This county tax brings in over $6 million dollars per year to pay for Salmon Recovery meetings, staff, watershed monitoring, and education. The money is also used for restoration projects, habitat conservation acquisitions, farm plans and numerous other conservation projects.
The District is overseen by five* Board of Supervisors - two are appointed* and three elected. This election that has gone unnoticed for years and decided by a few hundred votes most years. Most polling places are limited to King County libraries so it is a relatively unknown event. Perhaps, the RedmondLibrary Blog would comment or post a story about the election?
On March 19 the King Conservation District held elections. Almost 3000 people voted - four times the previous record. Many conservation groups were backing Mark Sollitto but he was disqualified for improperly filing his application. Mark still received 1199 write in votes. Preston Drew, Vice President of Citizens Alliance for Property Rights, a resident of Fall City received 1357 votes and is the new Supervisor. Just prior to the election, the Board appointed David Irons, an Associate Supervisor, to a vacated seat. Max Prinson, a strong Conservationist, is an Associate Supervisor as of this posting.
The Property Rights folks are now in a very strong position within the Conservation District. I have heard that the Property Rights majority is organizing to take on the foundations of environmental regulations and "Best Available Science" after winning the court case on the CAO clearing restrictions.
There will be another seat open next Spring. (Read "Comment" below for full disclosure). Let's keep improving the turn-out. Come out and vote in 2010. The past Board has been very supportive of Redmond for salmon recovery, flood mitigation, and Bear Creek restoration. Let's hope the new King County Conservation District Board of Supervisors will spend our tax dollars just as wisely.
--This story was contributed in large part by a Woodinville environmentalist.
In response to my email to the District -
ReplyDeleteFROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE KING CONSERVATION DISTRICT, Jeff Possinger.
Dear Mr. Yoder:
Thank you for forwarding this post to my attention. I am glad that more people are taking interest in our district. We are celebrating our 60th year of service.
I do want to point out a couple of inaccuracies in the post, and hope that you can correct them.
First, there are 5 board members, each with three year terms, three are elected at large from the district, and two are appointed, but the two that are appointed are not appointed by the board, they are appointed by the Washington State Conservation Commission (WSCC), whose commissioners are appointed by the Governor.
Second, Mr. Irons was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Matt Livengood, who resigned because of personal commitments at the end of December. Both Mr. Irons and Mr. Prinzen were Associate Supervisors at the time of Mr. Iron’s appointment, Mr. Prinzen is still an Associate Supervisor.
Finally, the name of the organization is the “King Conservation District”; there is no “county” in our name.
If you could correct that misunderstanding, I think it would be a valuable thing for your readers.
Our meetings are open to the public, and I encourage you to get more involved there, or in our conservation programs; our volunteer coordinator is Adam Jackson adam.jackson@kingcd.org; I look forward to seeing you at a meeting or even in the future.
Best regards,
Jeffrey Possinger
Executive Director
King Conservation District
1107 SW Grady Way, Ste 130
Renton, WA 98057
jeffrey.possinger@kingcd.org
425-282-1900 (District)
425-282-1935 (Direct)