| Outside the Lines: Ferry Tales XXXV Ready To Restart An Open Letter to the Commissioner Elect Last week, Sharon Dillon, you were Mayor of the rapidly growing Skagit County city of Sedro Woolley. This week you are Commissioner Elect of the Skagit County Board of Commissioners. This state’s constitution dicates that any county without a charter will be ruled by three commissioners. You will now be one of the three. Please rule practically and wisely. The “good ole boy” network is alive and well in Skagit County. Time to crash the party. With 60% of the vote in your favor your campaign ended on a high note. Issues that you addressed in your campaign were obviously important to many Skagit County voters. These issues are definitely close to the heart of Guemes Island voters. 79% of Guemes citizens voted for you, in the hope that as a new Commissioner you will listen to, cooperate with, and encourage citizen participation in county government. This would be in addition to balancing the budget. Do you want Skagit County to run out of reserve funds during your watch? You have tackled tough issues on growth management as mayor, in spite of BOCC resistance. Your fortitude on this issue gained you many votes. Hopefully the haphazard approach to county issues will not be your style. There are 113,000 county residents counting on your strength to lead Skagit County in the direction the people want it to go. Guemes is one of many communities that want to participate in its county government. Last time I checked we were a democratic not autocratic form of government. We are counting on you to keep it that way. You are credited in the Skagit Valley Herald with saying you would give attention to the whole county. It is not county versus city but interdependent communities with competing interests at times. To weave these communities into a county cloth is a challenge. Are you up to it? I voted for you because I think you are. In March of 2005 LineTime.org sent a letter to the BOCC with a first and second implementation checklist for the Guemes Ferry. It has been 80 weeks without so much as an acknowledgement of that letter. In observance of Sharon Dillon’s election, her policy on process and community participation, LineTime is willing to restart its counter and give the BOCC another opportunity to respond to the concerns of this community. Commentary by MJ Andrak [11.14.6]
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