Déjà Vu Lite

After taking the oath of office on Monday, January 12, I hit the ground running. That morning, my colleagues, Commission Chairman Fred Tilman and Commissioner Rick Yzaguirre, had welcomed me aboard with a meeting to bring me up to speed on things that had changed since I previously held this position. We also designated a Commission liaison for many of our internal departments and divvied up responsibility for many of the external committee assignments.

I will serve as the Board’s liaison to EMS (the County’s Ambulance District) and Weed and Pest, as well as serve on outside Boards including the Air Quality Board, the Downtown Policy Advisory Committee, the Emergency Management Council, the Misdemeanor Probation Committee, the Region IV Mental Health Board, and together with Commissioner Yzaguirre on the Valley Regional Transit Board. My colleagues and I all serve together on the COMPASS (Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho) Board, as well.

There are periodic meetings with other groups, such as the Ada County Highway District Commission, various Mayors and City Councils, the Fair Board, and the Planning and Zoning Commission. In addition, there are meetings with various configurations of groups within the Idaho Association of Counties such as District III, Commissioners and Clerks, and the Justice and Public Safety and Shared Employees Committees. I’m leaving things out, but I think you get the picture. This position involves a lot of meetings!

This past week, I also had the pleasure of touring many of our EMS stations with Director Troy Hagen, the Ada County Jail with Sheriff Gary Raney, and the County’s Weed and Pest Facility in Meridian with Director Brian Wilbur.

Although the Ada County Courthouse and many of the faces in it are familiar, it’s a lot different being there this time around. I am glad to be back.

It's a Stinky Problem

The biggest “uh-oh” issue of my first couple of weeks on the job is the fact that the County’s Solid Waste hauling contract – essentially the granting of a monopoly by County government for what is now a mandatory service in unincorporated Ada County – will expire shortly. BFI/Allied Waste/Republic (they’ve changed hands several times, but it’s still the same company) has had the contract since 1994.

I was the citizen member on the County’s Solid Waste Contract Advisory Committee when BFI was first chosen. I was a Commissioner in 2002, when the contract was extended. The company has done a good job serving the people of Ada County, but a 14-year run as the sole source provider for a mandatory service is long enough. It’s time to put the contract out for another bid.

So what’s the problem? According to the Landfill Director and the trash hauler’s representatives, if we do put the contract out for bid, they say that rates will increase more than they will if we simply extend the contract for another ten years. To me, this sounds like extortion: give it to us, or we’ll jack up your prices.

It is counter-intuitive to believe that rates will increase if we put a contract out for a bid. It’s also not what I learned in Economics 101 in college. The flip side is the reality that there aren’t a lot of trash haulers in this area -- so competition could be limited. There is SSC in Meridian and J & M out in Kuna. There are other large trash haulers in the country, but they do not already have yards established here, from which to run their operations; a factor that could drive up their cost of doing business.

My approach to this situation: I am trying to find out from other trash haulers how much interest there is in bidding on the contract to service unincorporated Ada County. One of the country's larger publicly traded trash haulers that operates in the Pacific Northwest, Waste Connections, has expressed interest in bidding on the Ada County contract.

In my new position, there are no guarantees. We simply have to make the best decisions we can based on what we know at the time, hope we’ve done the best we can for taxpayers, and move on. If you have any thoughts on whether to extend BFI/Allied Waste/Republic’s contract for another ten years, or whether to re-bid the contract anew, please do not hesitate to let my colleagues and me know. You can reach me via the link here on my blog, by my county e-mail at sharonu@adaweb.net, by letter to the Board of Ada County Commissioners, 200 W. Front Street, Boise, ID, 83702, or by telephone call to (208) 287-7001. Your input is always valued. Thank you.

Off and Running!

Thank you for your support in the November election. I am truly honored to again have the opportunity to serve the people of Ada County.

Because we had a large corps of volunteers helping with the campaign, and the county covers a lot of territory, it is possible that there are one or two stray campaign signs that have not yet been picked up. If you know of any such signs from my campaign, please let me know ASAP so that I can get them picked up immediately.

A cornerstone of my political beliefs is to have open, accessible and transparent government. In keeping with that philosophy, I am starting this blog. I will periodically post updates about Ada County issues of interest and look forward to hearing from you, as well.

You can reach me by telephone at (208) 362-0843 at home or by e-mail at sharonu@cableone.net. Once I take office on January 12, you can also reach me at (208) 287-7001 (direct dial in my office) or by e-mail at sharonu@adaweb.net. Please remember that messages sent to this public adaweb address will be a public record, reviewable by everyone.

Having served in this same position in 2001 and 2002, I have been asked numerous times what I plan to do differently this time around. The last time around, I spent a lot of time trying to explain issues to the media, in an effort to get information out to the public. The technology of communication is now so advanced that it is possible to communicate directly with you.

Members of the media, and of course the public, are always welcome to attend open meetings of the Ada County Commission. That is where my colleagues and I will debate and discuss the pressing issues of the day. However, I have found that trying to communicate with the public through members of the media, more often than not, only leads to misinterpretation, misrepresentation, sensationalism and “spin” – to serve the needs of the particular media outlet, rather than to meet the needs of the public.

By communicating directly with you, I am able to increase the chances of you receiving accurate and comprehensive information. I plan to do so through this blog, articles I write and submit to various local newspapers and live media interviews as well as with periodic Town Hall Meetings, held out in the community. You are also always welcome to respond to my posts here on this blog as well as to call or e-mail me to speak with me directly.

Hope to hear from you soon!