10 19 2004 Beck(360) 458-3835 (360) 458-3144 FAX www.ci.yelm.wa.us City of Yelm Community Development Department 105 Yelm Avenue West P.O. Box 479 Yelm, WA 98597 October 19, 2004 Bettye Johnson P.O.
Box 97 Rainier, WA 98576 Dear Bettye: Mayor Rivas forwarded your letter dated October 14, 2004, to me for response. I believe that the Mayor asked me to answer the questions raised in
your letter in capacity as Community Development Director rather than responding personally for the many of the same reasons of fairness that I address below. Specifically, I understand
that it may be frustrating to you that the issue of a specific land use application is not yet before City Council. However, if an appeal is filed, the Council will ultimately decide
the application and it is fairness, not secrecy, that precludes them from discussing the matter outside the permit process. The permit process is designed to ensure that all parties
have an opportunity to evaluate, discuss, and comment on any specific proposal. I explained this process????? at the Council meeting and Cindy Texiera of the Nisqually Valley News
has accurately summarized the process in her recent articles. All information that ultimately is considered by the Council has to come from that process, otherwise the process is not
fair to either side. Mayor Rivas is protecting the rights of all parties by not discussing this matter until it is properly before the City Council. Notes from pre-submission meetings
are public record and I have asked our Office Assistant to mail you a copy of them after the meeting. In addition, if Center Investments chooses to continue with the application process
after the pre-submission meeting, it is my plan to post all documents relating to the project on the City’s web site, which can be found at www.ci.yelm.wa.us. In addition, you are always
able to view and obtain copies of any project file that the Community Development Department maintains. City staff strives to keep the web site up to date, but minutes are not posted
until they are approved by the Council. The ‘missing’ minutes were approved by Council last Wednesday and were forwarded to me on Thursday. I will try to have them posted before the
weekend.
October 19, 2004 Page 2 of 2 The $500,000.00 in the water reserve fund mentioned at the Council meeting by Stephanie Ray (identified as fund 401 in the standard state accounting system,
BARS) is not a 401k account and was obtained through the issuance of revenue bonds and from water usage charges to City water customers. The water fund is a ‘enterprise’ fund in that
it must be self-supporting with no income from general revenue sources such as the B & O taxes. I am sure that Stephanie would be happy to provide the background information on this
funds budget status if you are interested. Finally, I have spent over 16 years in local government service with four different jurisdictions. In that time, I have never encountered anything
but a commitment to transparency of Government by elected officials and employees. In the case of Yelm, this is a commitment that is found throughout the organization and starts with
Mayor Rivas and Shelly Badger, the City Administrator. A Washington Court of Appeals recently stated in one of it’s land use decisions that: These are difficult times for property owners,
community groups and municipalities, the triumvirate involved in every major land use issue. The manner in which one uses -or does not use -land is debated endlessly and has become a
volatile emotional issue for all concerned. Peace may not be at hand, but the courts, and agencies charged with applying land use and environmental regulations have a responsibility
to be even-handed and balance the many competing concerns. Overlake Fund v. Shorelines Board, 90 Wn. App. 746, 750, 954 P.2d 304 (1998) The Community Development Department, myself,
and the entire City of Yelm is committed to the even-handed administration of land use. Sincerely, Grant Beck, Director Department of Community Development