"A background in television news was perfect training for a sewer commissioner, says Christopher Kit Spier.Either way, it's all about moving s(tuff), he says.After 26 years as a commissioner of Kitsap County Sewer District 7, Spier is hanging up his shovel. He has recently moved out of the Fort Ward district's boundaries to a smaller Yeomalt-area home, and is no longer eligible to serve.The island's longest-tenured elected official - and one of its principal resident curmudgeons - can truly say he was in on a major project from the beginning.The Fort Ward sewer treatment plant was built from scratch (and somewhat at gunpoint) during Spier's years of service. The magnitude of the district's task was not apparent when Spier took on the job.After graduating from the University of Washington, Spier spent several years managing theaters on the UW campus and in Tacoma, then joined the 1953 version of a high-tech startup - television news - when he want to work as a producer for KING television in Seattle.We had two people in the newsroom then. I can't count the number they have now. But I don't think the news is any better, he said.Spier moved to an NBC network-owned station in Los Angeles for a number of years, then started his own television station in Santa Rosa, California. That station failed financially, and the Spiers moved back to the northwest in 1974.Although Spier had spent some summers on Bainbridge growing up, he moved here because of his interest in military history.I had heard about an old building at Fort Ward. I was in Bremerton and Silverdale, so on my way back to Seattle, I detoured to the island to see it.The building was the former base headquarters, which was later converted to the commander's residence. When Spier first laid eyes on it, the building had been abandoned for 15 years, and was almost hidden behind the weeds.But I could see it was well built, Spier said.He made an offer on the building, the government accepted, and the family had a new home.Spier left a temporary job selling advertising for a television station, and began working fulltime to restore the building.I worked side by side every day with my 10-year-old son, he said. It would be nice if every parent could do that - it builds bonds.Shortly after finishing the renovation and moving in, a neighbor said he was moving out. The neighbor asked if Spier would fill an unexpired term on the local sewer commission. Spier agreed to help.The district was formed to maintain the military sewer system, Spier said. It had 32 connections then, and a $1,500 annual budget.But it was also under a legal gun. The system, which was probably illegal when it was built, Spier said, was discharging untreated sewage into Rich Passage. The new federal Clean Water Act mandated cleanup.Court battles ensued. Ultimately, the district and state Department of Ecology agreed on what needed to be done. The district secured state grants and loans to cover the $3.5 million cost, and a treatment plant got built.The accomplishment had some unfortunate side effects. Years previously, Fort Ward had been subdivided into hundreds of tiny lots, which were effectively unbuildable because they wouldn't accommodate septic systems. But the sewer system made them viable, turning remote Fort Ward into one of the island's most densely populated areas.It also gave sewer systems what Spier thinks is a bum rap- the reputation for promoting dense development.Sewer districts are not legally involved in land use, he said. Sloppy planning and unenforced land use regulations breed development.Back behind the cameraFor the last few years, Spier has busied himself as the cameraman for Bainbridge Island Broadcasting, which films meetings of the city council for televising on local channel 6.I usually have to watch the tapes while getting them ready for television, he said. So I'm the only person on earth who has ever sat through council meetings twice.Spier hasn't always remained a passive observer. At the most recent meeting, the city council was discussing the plan for south-end sewer service, which would use the district's treatment plant, despite the fact that the city and district do not yet have an agreement.Nobody was conscious of the fact that the city didn't have anything to sell, Spier said. I had to get up and remind them.The district's senior holdover commissioner, Sarah Lee, says that the district and city have nearly finalized an agreement for extending service to Lynwood Center, but are still discussing agreements for other areas. The talking points, she said, involve such things as the order in which service is to be extended, and the thorny issue of whether sewer availability will be used to seek higher-density zoning.We know that Emerald Heights has a sewer emergency, she said. But it's a long run from Emerald Heights to Lynwood Center, where a pumping station will be located. Will the areas in between see arguments for up-zoning?Lee praised Spier's years of service - all unpaid - as an act of dedication to the community.He is the last really of the hands-on commissioners, Lee said. I have never had to put on the hip boots and deal hands on with a broken pipe.Spier believes that public service is an obligation of citizens in a democracy.I've always felt that those of us in the United States ought to pay a little bit back, he said. If we want a democratic government, we have to do more than run out to the voting booth every four years.Not only should people serve, he said, but they should stick with it for a long period of time.I'm totally against term limits, he said. You need people who have been around long enough to know what has gone on in the past. "

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