Eatonville swears in new mayor council members

The first Eatonville Town Council meeting of 2022 saw the debut of new Mayor David Baublits and two new members of the council, Kyle Litzenberger and Peter Paul.

A few new year housekeeping items were taken care of at the Jan. 10 meeting, including the appointment of new committee members. Council members were appointed to various committees as follows:

Airport — Robert Thomas and Paul
Finance/Legislative — Bill Dunn and Litzenberger
Parks and Recreation — Thomas and Litzenberger
Public Safety — Emily McFadden and Dunn
Public Utilities — McFadden (stayed on) and Paul
Ad Hoc (Eatonville landfill cleanup) — Dunn (stayed on) and McFadden
Also, Baublits was selected to represent Eatonville on the Pierce County Regional Council, with Litzenberger as the alternate.

The council passed by a 4-1 vote a resolution rectifying a $1.8 million accounting error by adopting new terms for an interfund loan between the water fund and the electric fund.

“This would be like taking out a $20,000 loan, spending $10,000 of it, leaving $10,000 in your checking account and paying interest on that,” Dunn explained.

Utility rates will not be raised as part of the fixing of this financial mistake, McFadden assured Baublits.

The resolution approves a one-time $310,000 transfer from the water fund to the electric reserve fund, a one-time $290,000 transfer from the water capital fund to the electric reserve fund, and a one-time $47,000 transfer from the water reserve fund to the electric reserve fund. That leaves a revised repayment balance of almost $554,000.

The resolution calls for a repayment plan over a period of six years — beginning June 2022 and ending on or before December 2027 — comprised of semi-annual payments of more than $47,000 at an annual interest rate of 0.68 percent.

Thomas was the lone no vote, objecting to the interest payments.

The council passed by a 4-1 vote the first reading of an ordinance for a change to the town’s municipal code allowing detached accessory dwelling units based on a recommendation by the Planning Commission as part of a plan to expand affordable housing in single-family zones.

Thomas was the lone no vote.

“This is Eatonville’s Build Back Ghetto bill,” he said in predicting the effect of the legislation passed.