Bainbridge finds more opponents than supporters for new police station
Published 12:48 pm Monday, August 10, 2015
The city of Bainbridge Island’s proposal for a new $15 million public safety building won’t make it onto the November ballot without a fight: Six residents have volunteered to help write the voter’s guide statement that will ask voters to reject the bond measure.
The city council is expected to appoint members to two committees this week that will write the “vote yes” and “vote no” messages for the voter’s guide.
But while five people have stepped up to make the public pitch for the project, more volunteers have asked to be put on the committee that will write the statement urging voters to put the kibosh on the new police/municipal court building.
The council will pick a maximum of three members for each committee at the council’s meeting Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Islanders who have asked to be on the “pro” statement committee are:
• Varon B. Mullis, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former owner of Old Mill MicroComputing;
• Barry Peters, a former Bainbridge councilman and currently the manager of Bainbridge Community Broadcasting;
• Paul Privateer, founder of STS Interfaces.com in Seattle;
• Art Verharen, a former Pierce County Superior Court judge; and
• Ann Warman, a semi-retired marketing consultant.
Islanders who have asked to be on the “con” statement committee are:
• John Muenster, an attorney;
• Jane Allan, a retiree who was a senior planner for the city and was also the director of the senior center on Bainbridge;
• Doug Rauh, a retired data processing manager;
• Gerald Stevenson, a retired strategic planner and project manager for IBM; and
• Leif Utne, vice president of business development for Warecorp and a longtime journalist, entrepreneur and community activist.
Warman has also volunteered so serve on the “con” committee.
The council will choose volunteers to write the voter’s guide statements at its meeting this week. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11 at city hall.
The council voted last month to put a 20-year, $15 million bond measure on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot.
In June, the city decided the new facility — which would replace the aging police station on Winslow Way and relocate municipal court from Rolling Bay to downtown — should be built on land just north of city hall.
This November will mark the third time this year that voters have been asked to approve bonds for infrastructure improvements on the island.
In February, both the Bainbridge Island Fire Department and the Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park & Recreation District asked voters to say yes to bond measures.
Voters agreed to a $5.9 million bond measure to buy the Sakai property, nearly 23 acres of land along Madison Avenue, to create a central park for Bainbridge Island. Voters also approved a $16 million bond measure to finance new and improved fire stations on the island.
While volunteers could not be found to write a “con” statement against the fire department’s bond measure, the park bond measure saw organized opposition and critics also penned a voter’s guide message that asked voters to shoot down the new park proposal.
The park bonds measure passed, however, with a 69.6 percent “yes” vote. The fire department bond measure sailed to passage with 63.5 percent of all ballots cast.
The city’s bond measure in November will also need a supermajority vote of 60 percent to pass.
