By Gary Iversen (who else?)

Less than 48 hours after the 3-vote approval of a 22 cent Library lid lift, the Library Board met and discussed which of the following (note: only one of the following is true):

a) purchasing a Kindle for every resident, and “mothballing” the building

b) arming Library staff, and allowing them to Taze people who bring back over-due books

c) ground-breaking plans for building a new Library that will be approximately double the size of the new Fire Station

d) starting the process of hiring a new Library Director

Thursday, Sept. 2 (corrected, NOT Sept. 10), 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Ocean Shores Library: Readers Input Group (RIG) meeting on the Street LID. The Mayor, Public Works Director and City Council members have been invited (no word on if any of them will be there). A chance to ask questions about the process, and give your input on how the newspaper should cover this.

In a nutshell, “What do people need to know? What are people confused about?”

Booing and hissing  and catcalls in a church? Only in the 289 . .  . Tuesday night’s citizens meeting on the Street LID was Standing Room Only, with more than 100 people packed into the Shores Fellowship Church (the church provided the space, but was not involved in the meeting, which was hosted by the group L.O.S.T). Outbursts of anger and disgust were aimed at the City, not the citizen-presenters, as many were upset about their brand-new Street LID assessments (“bills”), and came to voice their opinions. Two council members (Gordon Broadbent and John Lynn) attended, as spectators. No city staff was present. Three citizens led the meeting: Don Williams gave a brief history of the four-year LID process, Kaye Bennett pointed out some “red flags” in the final report by Seattle consultants Macaulay, and Al Lizakowski demanded a public meeting, in which Macaulay would explain its methods and answer questions.

Final vote: 1,069 “Approve” to 1,066 “Reject.” (One more “Reject” vote since last week’s count.) In 2011 and 2012, there will be a .22 cent lid lift/levy for the Ocean Shores Library.

(If the Shoo Fits Where It Dept.: The County’s “Election Results” web site has, since the initial count a few weeks ago, listed under “Levy to Support Ocean Shores Public Library” the words “Approve” and “Rejecte.”)

Just received my “proposed assessment” in the mailbox. (Counter-proposal: “Why don’t you take this LID, and . . . . reduce it?”)

And just received this email, from a baffled reader: 
“I guess I’m confused. How did the city wide LID come into being in the first place? Was it voted on? If so, by whom? I’m asking because what keeps other cities from forming a city wide LID? They all have bad streets and are short of money. Can you imagine the cost if Seattle were to pass one?”

O.K., folks, please form a single-file, in answering his questions.

Al Carter called Monday’s public hearing “the first of many meetings on this topic.” No decisions were made, other than to continue to study the boundaries, and take more comments at public hearings, the next at the County Commissioner’s meeting on Sept. 13. “The real fun will be when we go out to Ocean Shores for hearings,” Carter added.

The Daily World story, which is excerpted in this week’s North Coast News:

By Steven Friederich
The Daily World
The voters in Ocean Shores might be the only ones who get to vote on — and ultimately be taxed on — a proposed North Beach Hospital District because of a mistake in the way a legal petition was written and submitted to the county.
The issue will be on the February ballot.
Ballot proponents wanted a potential hospital district to encompass the boundaries of the North Beach School District. However, the boundaries of the school district criss-cross along voting precincts and run afoul of the rules to establish hospital districts. State law requires that the boundaries must be set along the boundaries of voting precincts, Deputy Prosecutor Jim Baker told the county commissioners and the general public on Monday during a public hearing.
As a result, Baker told the commissioners that the county needed to trim the boundaries.

County Commissioner’s Agenda, meeting Monday at 2 p.m. in Montesano:
HEARINGS:
1. Petition for Public Hospital District Formation – North Beach