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Fire District 13 commissioners Chuck Hedlund and Arne Fohn will accept applications from people who would like to be appointed to fill a board vacancy until June 10. Then they will meet on Monday, June 16 to interview the candidates and, perhaps, make a selection for someone to fill the position vacated by Doug Avery in April. Last week Hedlund and Fohn agreed to let Chief Roy Horn and two of his designees help them choose the person who will essentially be one of his bosses. Although only the commissioners have a vote on the issue, Horn sugges...
The Skagit County Fire District 13 Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution last week that the “2014 Operating Budget be increased by $90,193.43 to $706,899.97.” However, it appears there was a math error — some employee costs were dropped from the tally given to the board — so the budget would actually be more than $741,000. A year ago, the district’s operating budget was $480,000 and the original budget the district adopted for this year was $637,000. In contrast, this year’s operating budget for District 11, the Mt. Erie De...
The rats are gone, but it turns out the mountain of refuse left at the site of the 115-year-old grain warehouse on La Conner’s south end waterfront was just the mess on the surface. Triton America, which is working to cure the horrendous eyesore that is the historic Moore-Clark property, found “a lot buried under there,” said Triton Chief Financial Officer and Controller Ron Halterman. The junk in the ground included busted concrete and old creosote poles and other hazardous materials, he said....
The administrators and com-missioners of Fire District 13 spent more than $12,000 traveling around the state to various trade gatherings last year. Receipts and reimbursement records obtained through public records requests show that Chief Roy Horn hit the road seven times — once for training and six times for various conventions and conferences. The district’s records show that of those six trade gatherings, then Commissioner Jim Grove and Commissioner Chuck Hedlund each attended three; Secretary Deborah McFarlane attended two; and forme...
Despite a sealed bid auction held last week, the former Palmer’s at the Lighthouse Restaurant on La Conner’s First Street has not sold. “We didn’t receive anything that was acceptable,” said Tim Reinertsen, senior vice president and partner with Realty Marketing Northwest, the company handling the auction. “We’ll continue to market the property and respond to inquires,” he said. Meanwhile, he said, La Conner resident Dick Nord of Windermere Realty’s commercial division in Mount Vernon is still the listing agent. Built in 1916, the buildin...
La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes plans a celebration at the new boardwalk next Wednesday. Everyone is invited to the new park next to the Pier 7 building on First Street for a dedication of the first phase of the boardwalk and the groundbreaking on the next phase. The event is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 28. Funding for the boardwalk has come from the state in two chunks — $750,000 for the portion completed last year, and a new grant of $1.6 million to finish it. When complete, people will be able to stroll along the waterfront from the Lim...
Fire District 13 Commissioners Chuck Hedlund and Arne Fohn are accepting applications from people willing to step up and fill a vacancy on the three-member board of commissioners. The deadline to submit an application is June 10. Then, at the commission’s June 26 meeting, Hedlund and Fohn are expected to vote on a replacement for commission member Doug Avery, who resigned last month. Should the commissioners fail to make an appointment after the position has been vacant for 90 days, which would be the end of July, the Skagit County Board of C...
At a special meeting held Friday, the Fire District 13 board of commissioners rehired secretary Deborah McFarlane. The vote by commissioners Chuck Hedlund and Arne Fohn was 2-0 to restore McFarlane to her post as the district’s secretary and public records officer. Presently, there is a vacancy on the three-person board since Doug Avery resigned effective last week. McFarlane, who quit her job in January, was hired back under terms of a “Settlement and Release Agreement” in which she essentially agrees not to sue the district, citing about...
The La Conner Chamber of Commerce has turned the annual Arts Alive! show back over to the Town of La Conner Arts Commission. To make sure the November show goes on, the commission needs help from people willing to work hard planning, organizing and putting on the event, said commission Chairman Kelly Wynn. In late 2006, the Arts Commission took over the responsibility for the invitational show and open show held at Maple Hall from artists Earlene Beckes and Chris Elliott, who had been organizing it on their own for seven years. When the Arts...
Doug Avery, a 30-year veteran volunteer firefighter with Fire District 13 resigned his elected position as a Commissioner effective April 30. Over the past three years, Avery has weathered battles with the commissioners and administrative staff in the district. In 2011, the former commission “fired” him from his volunteer position as a battalion chief for alleged insubordination. A few months later, he was elected to office, defeating and replacing one of the commissioners who “fired” him. Throughout 2011 and 2013, Avery was usually the odd...
It may be more anecdotally than scientifically proven, but La Conner residents stand by the theory that sunny days and blooming tulips are the direct cause of swarming tourists. Last weekend a swarm descended upon the town. And they were hungry. Local restaurants were running out of things like onion rings. But good for us, the visitors were happy, too. And for business owners, who had just slogged through a slow and dreary winter, the tourist dollars were back. “It was a good weekend, and w...
The 115-year-old grain warehouse at the waterfront end of Caledonia Street, known locally as the “Moore Clark building,” has been a disintegrating eyesore for decades. Ron Halterman, chief finan-cial officer and controller of Triton America, says that’s about to change. Triton, which owns Pioneer Point Marina to the south of the historic building, bought the Moore-Clark building and the three-acre parcel it sits on from La Conner Associates two years ago. At the time, the company was pulling the...
The Skagit County Fire District 13 Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to accept a mutually agreed settlement to end a lawsuit filed by this newspaper over violations of the state’s open government laws. In the $24,500 settlement, the district does not admit liability concerning the newspaper’s allegations that its office staff withheld public records and that commissioners held illegal meetings last year. After a closed session with the district’s lawyers and insurance risk manager, the commission signed an agreement to provide compl...
For the past several years, the Town of La Conner’s Public Works Department has spent a week each spring hauling yard waste for residents. “It was just a way to help people do a spring cleanup,” said Public Works Director Brian Lease. But what started out as a way to help folks who couldn’t haul their branches on their own has turned into a major week-long project, costing the town thousands of dollars. “Over the years, some people started stockpiling their yard waste throughout the year and then expect the town to come and get it,” Leas...
Construction will resume on the roundabout at Conway’s tricky five-point intersection on May 1, said Dan Berentson, Skagit County’s interim Public Works director. The county doesn’t want to have roadwork snarling traffic during the Tulip Festival, Berentson said. For La Conner residents, Conway’s intersection of Fir Island Road and Pioneer Highway is part of the regular route to Seattle or to Stanwood. At the stop sign on Fir Island Road and the highway, motorists turn left to go to Interstate 5 toward Seattle and right to go to Stanwoo...
La Conner Weekly News has filed a lawsuit against Fire District 13, accusing the district of repeatedly violating open government laws. Filed Thursday, March 6 in Skagit County Superior Court, the lawsuit seeks relief for actions by the fire district staff that this newspaper alleges were attempts to thwart its coverage by withholding public documents, delaying release of documents and possibly destroying documents after the newspaper asked for them. Further, the lawsuit alleges that fire district commissioners held closed session meetings on...
All of La Conner’s elementary school students and most of the middle school kids will come back from winter break to new classrooms on Monday. This week, the entire school staff has been working to move the kindergarten through fifth grade classes across Sixth Street to what has been the middle school. Meanwhile, the middle school’s grades six and seven classes are moving across the street to the district administration building, where the eighth-grade classes have been housed all year. The rel...
In order to replace an ageing water main and keep La Conner’s clean, fresh tap water flowing, the Town Council has been asked to hike residents’ utility bills. The biggest increase will be in the water portion of the town bills, which also include charges for sewer and storm drain services. According to town Engineer Evan Henke, the water bill should go up 10 percent this year and by another 5 percent in each of the next two years to pay for necessary repairs and maintenance. Meanwhile, the town’s sewer bill has an automatic increase, accor...
On what appeared to be a unanimous vote, the four La Conner Town Councilmen on Tuesday appointed Marylee Chamberlain to fill the vacancy on their five-member panel. Troy Allen, who was elected in November, did not take office in January because he moved out of town for a job inOregon. Chamberlain has been a member of the town’s Planning Commission for four years, a volunteer position that has given her knowledge of town codes, land use and development issues, she said. The Planning Commission is...
People in town were pretty excited to see a “pending” banner over the real estate sign on the side of the old Palmer’s Restaurant building on La Conner’s waterfront. The 7,300-square-foot building went back to the bank in 2010 and, except for a small art gallery in front, has been sitting vacant ever since. But the building, which was listed at $449,000, fell out of escrow last week, according to listing agent Dick Nord of Windermere Real Estate. The potential buyer was set to open a new restaurant and had funding all set up with the bank but b...
The 2,932 registered voters in Fire District 13 have a choice that could change the tone and dynamics of their fire protection agency’s governing board. Election years in Fire District 13 are notoriously volatile, and this election has been no exception as appointed incumbent Jim Grove of Anacortes faces a challenge by La Conner farmer Arne Fohn. The gloves came off last summer, when Grove sent a letter to the Swinomish Tribal Senate taking issue with the number of signs supporting Fohn on reservation land. The newest sign saga concerns the one...
