Kitsap County Commissioner Steve Bauer opened the session by saying, “As you know from reading paper, finances are an issue for our county and all local governments. This is a tough time for everybody. We’ve been through four rounds of cuts. We trimmed the 2008 budget in the fall of 2007 and had another round of cuts in mid 2008. We cut the budget and used reserve funds in order to balance for 2009, and in the first quarter had to trim another $3 million because of the drop in tax revenues.

“I think it’s a challenging time, and one of the things interesting to me is that the county is really dealing with two issues. One masks the other. There is the recession that we all are in, and before that the county had a problem with the 1 percent property tax limitation. It’s this limitation that is really an underlying cancer in the county budget. It has forced us to cut $1 million each year from our budget. This is an issue we have to discuss a lot more with the public. It’s not just a ‘county’ problem, it’s a problem for us all.”

Bauer said that while Kitsap County has managed to protect public safety services so far, it could get more difficult to do so as revenue sources continue to shrink and the cost of things continues to rise.

He said there will be more impacts on the parks system and that “we have to discuss what choices we want to make and how much we want to pay to maintain these resources.”

Bauer noted that unlike cities, counties are created and mandated by the state. He said the reason counties were created was so the state had a mechanism for delivering services at a local level. “We have to provide certain things by law that the state doesn’t pay us for.”

He said, “I think that with the best of intentions the Parks Department has been cycling through cuts they think they need to make in light of the continuing drop in revenues. There are going to be cuts in that area, and we will no longer have business as usual.”

Bauer said that “on the good side,” the county is starting a shoreline management update. “I think it will be the most thoughtful and most proactive storm water regulations in the state.”

He mentioned that the Carpenter Creek project is still on the county’s project list, but that it is slow going because each time certain tasks and requirements are completed something else comes up that must be dealt with. “It seems a bit like Charlie Brown and the football. Every time he tries to kick it, Lucy pulls it away.” He assured KCAC members and the public that the county is committed to seeing the project through, however.

The following exchanges are in question-and-answer format. Q designates the question asked by an audience member or KCAC representative.

Question: Will the county be closing any parks because of budget troubles?

Bauer: Maybe. One of the problems is that we have a whole bunch of parks in the county, some are big and some are little ones. It often is inefficient to maintain the smaller ones. We need to work harder with the park’s neighbors, residents like yourself, to maintain them ad keep them open. We will have to make some choices about what we can afford to do.

Q: Why don’t we have sidewalks on West Kingston Road? All the schools — elementary, middle school and high school — are in that area, and that road is very unsafe for all the children that walk to and from school.

Bauer: I think that is a very good question. I think you should come back before this group (KCAC) and discuss how you can find grants that will help pay for that. Bauer then noted that Suquamish Elementary School was awarded a Safe Walk to School grant to help install sidewalks in the area.

At this point several KCAC members said that, in fact, sidewalks along West Kingston Road have been part of the Kingston Sub-Area Plan for years. The community has tried several times over the years to invoke the Safe Walk to School program to get the county’s attention and financial backing in this matter, but “nothing ever gets done.” Bauer said that installing sidewalks on West Kingston Road, especially in light of so many students using the street for pedestrian purposes, is probably a good idea and should be considered. He said his District 1 Liaison, Rebecca Pirtle, would help the community get more information on this program and investigate the application process for West Kingston Road.

Q: I heard that a blue ribbon panel has recommended the county fairgrounds — which consume the lion’s share of the parks budget — become an independent entity so that more money can be shared throughout the county‘s other, smaller parks. Is that true, and what do you think of that idea?

Bauer: It makes sense. I’ve been pushing the parks department to follow up on possibly using the fairgrounds as more of a business entity. That fair is the coolest thing in this county. We really want to keep that going, so I worry about how we maintain and keep all those buildings over the long term if it were to split off. A consultant has started working on this very topic this week. I’m eager to see the recommendations of how to make it maximize income and be self-sustaining.

Q: What kind of maintenance attention can we expect on parks in Kingston and the highway property?

Bauer: First, let me say that the Public Works Department is not responsible for the highway property; it is only responsible for county roads. In terms of parks, I really don’t know how to answer to that. We’re trying to be clear on how to maintain things, what standards we will have, and what the costs are. I haven’t gotten the whole picture yet, just bits and pieces. Frankly, I don’t think we’re doing a good job of taking care of the [Kingston] community center building. We need to decide if we are going to stay in the local parks business or focus on regional parks. There is a big case to be made that as all the areas grow, we are going to get out of the local parks and concentrate on a regional system.

There is a crisp line, for example, around East Bremerton and Poulsbo. We’d have to look at a different standard for parks in Kingston and Suquamish because, let’s face it, they aren’t going to be cities soon. In those cases, we have taken on more responsibility. I wish we had a crisper answer. That’s a discussion we are looking forward to.

Q: I understand there are going to be no sani-cans at Kingston parks, including Arness Park, this summer for budget reasons. I am really concerned about that. Arness Park gets a lot of use on the Fourth of July and all summer long. It’s not a place where, unfortunately, one can run to a gas station for convenience. If a kid has to go, it’s the beach or no place. But not only is it a convenience issue, it is a water quality issue.

Bauer: “We talked about that this afternoon, and I have to take full responsibility here. When the parks department made their cuts, I had a lot of information coming at me, and some I didn‘t take the time to questions some things — such as a line that says take sani-cans out of seven parks. There are two pieces to this cutback that they propose. One is taking sani-cans out of smaller parks and the other is to take the trashcans out and no longer collect the garbage.

“We talked specifically about Kingston in our meeting today, and I am hopeful that we will see a sani-can there [in Arness Park]. There will not be trash pick up more than once a month, when they mow. That’s a compromise that made sense to me.”

At this point there was more discussion about toilet facilities at Arness Park and the skateboard park. In particular a vault toilet, purchased for the skateboard park several years ago but never installed, was mentioned as a possible solution to the lack of facilities at Arness. However, both Commissioner Bauer and several audience members said that installing the toilet would cost in the neighborhood of $27,000 — more than the toilet is worth — and that there would still be the issue of maintenance.

Q: What is your vision for county in general, not considering the budget crunch /?

Bauer: “Right now we’re dealing with the Rural Wooded Incentive Program, which would allow for greater density in rural areas in return for keeping a portion of land for open space. There has been a moratorium on that program, but it is expiring. I’m not a big fan of that program because it allows growth in rural areas where it doesn’t belong and because it increases the cost of services and creates urban densities in rural area; that causes problems. I think it’s important to protect the natural environment and concentrate growth in urban areas. We now know that we don’t have the money to build the infrastructure to provide for urban-type growth in rural areas. My vision is that we have really strong vibrant cities, annex strong areas, and preserve the qualities of places like Kingston.”

Q: Say we are in a long recession and we are people who want parks. As you cut staff, goods, etc., do you think we could find a way to keep a grip on our Village Green Arness, and skateboard parks by having a liaison with the county to manage volunteers. Do you ever talk about stuff like that?

Bauer: “There are three parts to this answer. One, as you know, I’m a big believer in community building and volunteer stuff. It gets everyone owning the result, builds community and increases support for projects like the Village Green. And I think that as we go out to find funding good to point to volunteers.

“Point two is that we talk a lot about stewardship and what that means. We had a long discussion with the Parks Department this morning about stewardship. I think you are suggesting an expanded version of what we are.

“The third part of this is that we’ve got unions and we’ve got contracts with them, and there are requirements of those contracts that make it difficult to replace people with volunteers

“I think you’ve given us something to think about and perhaps there are opportunities out there to do what you are talking about.”