Profligate spending evident in county offices

To the Editor:

At the last of the 2013 Citizens' Police Academy sessions, our prosecuting attorney, Mr. Dan Bigelow, presented a superb seminar in which he reminded attendees of the citizenry's right and responsibility to monitor the activities of elected officials. As the current chairman of the board of commissioners, Mr. Blair Brady, has repeatedly barred inquiries from this voter, and has retracted statements he made on the purpose of approved expenditures exceeding $400,000, I wonder whether he is cognizant of this role of the electorate.

At the April 16 commissioners' meeting, Ms. Tammy Peterson, the newly-elected treasurer, asked for software costing in excess of $23,000 to "process the county's investments or bond funds" as the current New World program (bought when? for how much?) cannot do so. The after-purchase maintenance fee is approximately $4,000 per annum after the first year and additional software ($7,000-plus annual maintenance fee) is needed to process bond holdings. This correspondent inquired, prior to the commissioners' vote on this issue, on the size of the investments to be monitored. Two subsequent inquiries on the investment amount received the identical response, i.e. "check with the treasurer", suggesting that neither Mr. Brady nor the other commissioners knew the answer before approving the software purchase. According to Ms. Peterson, whom I consulted after the commissioners' meeting, the investments placed with, and monitored by Washington state, amount to $19 million. Apparently, the software is deemed necessary to determine what portions of the investments are attributable to different departments.

At the May 7, 2013 commissioners' meeting, Ms. Peterson asked that a position identified as "deputy treasurer II" be changed from part-time to full-time because "…The work load in the Treasurer's office has increased with new programming and increase in technology…", suggesting that implementation of new software-supported procedures requires more time. This appears to be counter-intuitive - is not the purchase of this new software targeted at easing (rather than increasing) the workload? The request for the additional expenditure of approximately $12,000 was approved by all three commissioners at their meeting May 7.

I have discussed the profligate spending of our tax dollars with other Wahkiakum county residents. However, besides fears about a potential backlash, there appears to be a lack of ideas on how to tackle this issue. Fear of repercussions for speaking out is the medium on which dictatorships grow and prosper. Borrowing from Edmund Burke, may I remind our county's complacent citizenry that in order for the nonchalant spending of our tax money to continue, all that is needed is for people to do nothing.

I invite concerned voters to contact me by phone (360-795-3025) or e-mail (upetralia@yahoo.com) and no, I am not interested in running for the post of commissioner!

Ursula A. Petralia

Skamokawa