Do I understand it correctly (Scott Wilson’s April 1st letter to Leader, “Keep legal ad dollars local”) that our Jefferson County Commissioners recently voted to take a $30,000 yearly public-notice contract away from the Leader and Jefferson County, and give it to the Peninsula Daily News of Clallam County? And that Greg Brotherton and David Sullivan voted for this against Kate Dean?
Hey, you guys, this is not a Jefferson County citizen-friendly or commerce-friendly vote! In fact, as a result of your ill-pondered decision, if my family wants to stay informed of important public notices for Jefferson County—and of course we MUST—we now need to purchase a Clallam County DAILY paper that we don’t need and only rarely read!
Guess what guys–we can’t afford it! Either the money or the time!
We demand this decision be reversed, and that you two listen to a lot more public input before making the next one! Bad decisions like this one, made by only two people but affecting thousands of citizens—negatively impacting local businesses and jobs and making it more difficult and expensive for people to stay informed—point out the urgent need for reform of our antiquated county government.
At a bare minimum we need five county commissioners’ brains at work on our issues. In addition, democracy demands we have direct citizen access to placing initiatives on the ballot through petition–removing the necessity of endlessly, painfully and often fruitlessly attempting to convince entrenched bureaucrats of the pressing need for a citizen ballot vote on important county issues.
Bite the bullet and reverse this pennywise and pound foolish decision penalizing an esteemed local business and employment, and at the same time making it more difficult for citizens to stay informed.
Alea Waters
Port Townsend
