Eatonville council considers hiring public works director/planner

Eatonville looks to be on its way to getting its own public works director/planner.

At least that seems to be the way things are trending, based on a presentation by Daniel Adams of the Eatonville Planning Commission at the April 12 regular meeting of the Town Council.

According to a review, summation and recommendations related to the town’s Planning Department, Eatonville is well positioned to pay for its own in-house public works director/planner, as opposed to paying an outside company for said services.

“The current Town of Eatonville administration is doing a great job of managing the town’s budget and expenses. They have managed to generate a surplus of $2,345,030 over the last four years,” according to a report Adams used in his presentation. “Obviously, the town has funds available on a yearly basis to support any full-time planning personnel that may be hired without negatively impacting any other services the town is providing to the town residents.”

According to the document, over the last four years, Eatonville has paid Tacoma-based land surveyor Larsen and Associates nearly $244,000.

“As you can see, we are already spending significant dollars for planner services that are resulting in less than efficient, as well as frustrating, experiences for town citizens/investors,” the report concludes. “A full time Public Works Director/Planner will be more than justified due to the greatly improved level of service that will be available for town residents.”

Councilmember Robert Thomas seemed to speak for the council as a whole when he noted, “I think the key mindset here is that we can’t afford not to have our own planner on staff. We need somebody available, responsive and that is personally invested in the well-being and future of our town.”

In other business, the council approved the Planning Commission’s April 19 meeting agenda.

• The council discussed and passed two motions to apply for reimbursement of Lodging Tax Advisory Funds for the Daffodil Float Committee and the Eatonville Chamber of Commerce related to July 4 festivities.

• The council granted Daniel Adams a request for a waiver of frontage improvements of a single-family residence on the east side of Luscombe Drive North, which bisects his property, based on it being an unreasonable hardship. The $125 fee was waived as well.

• The council passed a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign an agreement with local consulting company Compensation Connection to perform a compensation study on the current wage scale of town employees.

• Finally, the council passed a resolution amending the town’s municipal code regarding drug paraphernalia. In short, the word “knowingly” was added to read as follows: “It is unlawful for any person to knowingly possess drug paraphernalia, as defined in RCW 69.50.102, as now or hereafter amended and adopted by reference. Possession of drug paraphernalia with knowledge is a civil infraction under EMC 1.12.020, and penalties for violating this Chapter shall be assessed as outlined in EMC 1.12.030.”