Letters to the editor for April 9

RFA flier does not measure up

I am deeply troubled by the flier recently sent by the city of Olympia (and the city of Tumwater) regarding the Regional Fire Authority ballot measure Proposition No 1. As an Olympia resident, I rely on my city to be a trustworthy source of information about issues affecting residents, including ballot measures. However, the recent flier has violated my sense of trust.

While the RFA flier claims to be “for Information only: not intended to support or oppose the ballot proposition,” it is clearly intended to promote the RFA proposal. A balanced informational flier about the proposed RFA would evenly address its pros and cons. This flier only presents the point of view of the proposition’s proponents. It fails, for example, to mention that the RFA will impose a new, historically large increase in fees associated with property tax bills for citizens in Tumwater and Olympia and will not fund a single new firefighter, fire engine, or fire station in its seven-year Strategic Plan.

I have no objection to proponents or opponents of the RFA ballot measure using private funding to influence voters to support their point of view. However, the four-fold full-color fliers in question cost $22,242 to print and mail, and we taxpayers in Olympia and Tumwater will shoulder this cost. As a citizen who believes in transparency and good governance, this really rubs me the wrong way.

Lisa Ornstein, Olympia

RFA design fatally flawed

Regionalization is a good concept, but the current design for the Regional Fire Authority for Olympia and Tumwater is fatally flawed.

Regionalization of governmental functions makes sense if carefully designed to achieve enhanced functionality and economies of scale, and when there is clear accountability to the public for both performance and cost. Unfortunately the current design for the RFA misses the mark for each of these criteria.

What is being presented to us for our approval is like a luxury automobile built without concern for cost, performance, safety standards, fuel economy standards or any accountability to the buyer.

I believe this proposal should be defeated and that we should go back to the drawing board and design something that specifically focuses on performance standards, cost effectiveness and clear accountability to the public. I believe the city of Lacey should be brought into this redesign process as well.

Al Ewing, Olympia

Support funding to protect legacy forests

The Legislature is currently discussing a significant allocation of money from the state’s Natural Climate Solutions Account to protect older Washington forests. The Thurston County Board of County Commissioners has been actively working on this issue for over a year, and we urge the Legislature to approve this proposed program.

Thurston County has less than 3,000 acres of unprotected “legacy forests” left in Capitol State Forest, a portion of the 77,000 acres of unprotected legacy forest statewide. These older, carbon-dense forests, many close to 100 years old, are critical to our county’s goals of climate mitigation, forest health and resilience, biodiversity, and recreation. Evolving climate research shows that forest conservation and ecological management are some of the world’s most effective natural climate solutions.

In Thurston County, the Department of Natural Resources has cut down three stands of older trees in the last six months, and 12 more cuts of legacy forest are slated to occur by 2026. The Board’s efforts to oppose these cuts and slow down the harvest schedule while a solution is explored have been largely unsuccessful.

For this reason, we welcome the proposal to dedicate funding generated by the Climate Commitment Act towards purchase of younger, replacement forestland to exchange for our state’s older forests. We support the request for $80 million for this biennium, the amount that — if dedicated solely to protection of legacy forest — would allow for purchase of all the legacy forest acres scheduled for harvest in the next two years.

Carolina Mejia, Tye Menser and Gary Edwards, Thurston County Commissioners