The final Skagit County Board of Commissioner’s hearing regarding the proposed new Ferry Fare Revenue Target Methodology was held July 27, 2023. Much to the surprise of those in attendance, Ferry Captain Rachel Rowe brought up some last-minute changes to the posted July 17 Draft Resolution that essentially disenfranchised the Guemes Island Ferry Committee (GIFC) from its historical role in representing the island ridership.
Rowe stated, “We believe (the changes) encapsulated the comments that we have received since they posted the resolution online.” Rowe also mentioned the changes reflected the “general theme of those comments.” Rowe, as well as Public Works director Grace Kane, repeated multiple times the changes were as a result of comments received since the Resolution was posted on July 17th. However, after reviewing the hundreds of public comments that were posted on the Guemes Island Ferry County website, I could find only two letters received by the County during the time period between July 17th and July 27th: one written by myself, the other from Sandy McKean. If other comments were received during this period by the County, they were not included on the County website. Also, out of the hundreds of letters that were received by the County before July 17th, I could only find two letters in addition to Mr. McKean’s, both from the same author, that commented negatively about the Guemes Island Ferry Committee.
Mr. McKean’s email of July 21, 2023 requested that two paragraphs be changed to remove the Guemes Island Ferry Committee as the primary contact for ferry related issues: “The 2 paragraphs I am concerned about both mention the Guemes Island Ferry Committee (GIFC) as if it were the primary contact for all property owners on Guemes Island for ferry related issues. Unfortunately the GIFC only represents about 1/3 of all property owners on the island.”
Mr. McKean cites the GIFC meeting on 12/12/21, which proposed changes to the Ferry Committee by-laws, the goal as he states was “. . . to remove this outdated historical ‘registered voters only’ restriction so that ALL property owners on Guemes Island could be represented by the GIFC.” This resolution as he notes failed to achieve the 2/3 majority necessary to pass. Mr. McKean then states: “Therefore, less than two years ago, GIFC reaffirmed that they only wanted to represent approximately 1/3 of Guemes Island property owners.” Notice that he says that only GIFC “reaffirmed”, actually it was the 77 people of Guemes Island who voted at that December meeting to retain the mail-out ballot to registered island voters as the best method to elect the 5 members of the Guemes Island Ferry Committee.
When instituted in March, 2003 as a result of a comprehensive study of the Guemes Island Ferry by Berk & Associates and Richard Kiesser, the mail-out ballot was a concept ahead of its time. And in order to have positions on the ferry committee open to all residents of Skagit County, the committee included in their by-laws that anyone 18 years or older with a valid Washington State driver’s license could run for a position on the ferry committee. This ensured that even island property owners outside of Skagit County were eligible to run.
Non-resident property owners never avail themselves of the opportunity to seek committee membership. Further, anyone including non-resident property owners could voice their concerns to a ferry committee member and/or attend the then quarterly ferry committee public meetings. Nor were these non-resident property owners prevented from going directly to ferry management or the County Commissioners. So the campaign to change the ferry committee by-laws was based on the specious argument that non-resident property owners were effectively excluded from participation in matters relevant to the Guemes Island ferry because they could not vote for its ferry committee members.
In the most recent elections, the mailout ballot returns exceeded voting count for the methodologies of other island organizations that require in-person voting at the Community Center.
The mail-out ballot returns more votes:
In 2022: 719 ballots mailed, 330 returned 46% compared to 241 GICCA ballots cast.
In 2019: 642 ballots mailed, 354 returned 55% compared to 154 GICCA ballots cast.
Nevertheless, Mr. McKean states in his July 2, 2023 email:
“Given that the GIFC represents a minority of the property owners on the island, it is not appropriate to single out that organization as if the GIFC speaks for all Guemes Island Skagit County property tax payers.”
Mr. McKean then proposed rewriting two of the Whereas statements in the Ferry Fares Resolution presented on July 27, 2023. In one, the County had written:
“. . . the Board desires for Public Works Department staff to continue to reasonably communicate and provide timely financial information to the advisory Guemes Island Ferry Committee, and solicit recommendations therefrom;”
Mr. McKean changed this to:
“. . . the Board desires for Public Works Department staff to continue to reasonably communicate and provide timely financial information to Guemes Island property owners and to various citizen groups on the island (such as the Guemes Island Ferry Committee),. . .”
In the second Whereas that Mr. McKean targets, the following changes were made:
From: “. . . that Public Works Department staff shall make reasonable efforts to continue to communicate with and obtain advice and recommendations from the Guemes Island Ferry Committee concerning matters related to the operation of the Guemes Island Ferry. . .”
To “. . . Public Works Department staff shall make reasonable efforts to continue to communicate with and obtain advice and recommendations from the property owners on Guemes Island concerning matters related to the operation of the Guemes Island Ferry, . . .”
What is most concerning is that the County Public Works staff chose these changes to incorporate, verbatim, into the proposed Resolution. These changes were not revealed to the public before the meeting on July 27th. One islander, physically present at the meeting, asked if the Guemes Island Ferry Committee could at least come first in the listings of groups to be notified. Her request was denied by Commissioner Lisa Janicki. The Board of County Commissioners adopted the new Resolution unanimously, incorporating Mr. McKean’s exact wording changes. The Resolution is now codified as #R20230152.
The fact is that the County eradicated, without adequate opportunity for public review and comment, the recognition of the ferry committee and the long-standing precedent of its role in representing the island ridership. County Public Works staff, in accepting the changes of one individual who discredited the Guemes Island Ferry Committee, disenfranchised the voters on Guemes Island who cast ballots for ferry committee members over the years via the mail-in ballot.
– Steve Orsini