Electric Car Buying Made Easy

Above: Thad Curtz, center, organized a display of eight electric vehicle models, including his own Ford CMAX Energi plug-in hybrid, at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on April 14. His new nonprofit is called Electrify Thurston. 

Washington State Sales Tax Exemption for Electric Vehicles Ends May 31

By Janine Gates

Little Hollywood

https://janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

If you’re looking for a new vehicle and sick of paying high gas prices, maybe you’re thinking of purchasing an electric car. 

If you're nervous because you don’t know much about them, and don't know the difference between a Chevy Volt and a Chevy Bolt, you’re not alone.

The electric car industry, still recovering from the days of “Who Killed the Electric Car,” now has several options on the market and local help is now available without the pressure and stress of walking into a showroom. 

Electrify Thurston, a new local non-profit created by Thad Curtz and Paul Elwood of Olympia, is educating community members about electric vehicles and hopes to increase the relatively small number of them currently sold.

The group also promotes residential, workplace and multi-family charging infrastructure. Future work could include the promotion of charging infrastructure at transit centers and parking facilities.

Curtz, a retired professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, recently organized a display of eight locally owned battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids at the South Sound Climate Action Convention, held at the Lacey branch of South Puget Sound Community College on April 14.

The display showcased the new Nissan LEAF, a new Chevy Bolt, a Tesla Model S, a Chevy Volt, a Ford CMAX Energi, and a Fiat500e.

Convention goers had the opportunity to sit in the cars and speak with the actual owners, all of whom were thrilled about their experiences driving them. Owners liked the significantly lower costs of driving on electricity and their low greenhouse gas emissions. They also praised the cars’ quick acceleration and their low maintenance costs. The cars ranged in size from tiny to a full sized sedan.

Perhaps the most common worry potential consumers have about electric cars is the possibility of running out of juice.

Curtz says this is not a problem. 

“Roughly 80 percent of electric vehicle owners charge their cars at home overnight or at work, on a regular outlet or a 220 volt charger,” he says. “The plug-in hybrid models mean you can have the best of both worlds, using battery power for local trips supplemented by a gasoline-powered generator for longer trips.”

Lowering Thurston County Greenhouse Gas Emissions

For climate activist-minded consumers, electric vehicles are a no-brainer, and part of the answer to reducing Thurston County’s greenhouse gas emissions. 

“Unfortunately, they don't reduce emissions here as much as they would in Mason County or Seattle, where almost all the electricity comes from hydro,” warned Curtz. 

In late 2017, a greenhouse gas emissions analysis was conducted by the Clean Energy Transition and Stockholm Environmental Institute for the Thurston Regional Planning Council. The study suggested that Thurston County should work with other jurisdictions to advocate for the successful decarbonization of Washington’s electricity grid. 

Although Puget Sound Energy’s plan to begin pulling away from coal over the next eight years is a promising sign, for many, it is not soon enough.

“About 34 percent of PSE’s electricity currently comes from coal. People in Thurston County drive, on average, 9,000 miles each year. The most efficient current gasoline car, a Toyota Prius, has an Environmental Protection Agency rating of 52 mpg, and produces 4,189 pounds of CO2 a year on local power....

“A Jeep Wrangler, one of the least efficient passenger cars, has a rating of 18 mpg, and produces 11,280 pounds of CO2,” said Curtz, citing estimates from the vehicle cost calculator at the U.S. Department of Energy's Alternative Fuel Data Center website.

Curtz says that driving a Nissan LEAF on PSE power rather than a Honda Accord saves two metric tons of CO2 a year, and even driving a LEAF rather than a Prius saves nine metric tons over the life of the car. 

Prices for new battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles start at about $21,000, so if a new car is beyond your reach, the market for used electric vehicles which are returned to dealers after two and three year leases is booming.

There are many advantages and reasons to lease a car.

Above: Olympia city councilmember Clark Gilman shows off his Fiat 500e at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on Saturday.

Thurston County Electric Car Drivers 

As of January, 1,015 were registered in Thurston County, about 3.6 percent of those in the state. 

Curtz is aiming to improve this number by working with local auto dealers to get discount prices on specific makes and models. Successful group vehicle purchases have been negotiated with impressive discounts in Colorado and Utah in collaboration with local universities, hospitals and local jurisdictions.

At the end of last year, the City of Seattle negotiated with Nissan to offer city employees a group discount of $10,000 on the 2017 Nissan LEAF, which has a range of just over 100 miles on a single charge.

Olympia city councilmember Clark Gilman purchased his two year old Fiat500e in November, a lease return, for $10,000.

A long-time avid bicyclist and bus commuter, Gilman at times needs a car to get between his jobs, meetings and activities. His electric vehicle, he laughed, is “one step up from a golf cart,” and goes 50 – 60 miles in winter between charges. As the weather improves, he anticipates that number to rise, and run between 80 – 90 miles. He charges it one or two nights a week and says he’s good to go.

“It’s been a blast,” said Gilman.

Above: The interior of Ingrid Gulden's 2012 Tesla Model S vehicle at the South Sound Climate Action Convention. 

Ingrid Gulden also invited the public to sit in her 2012 Tesla Model S vehicle. Sixty of the nearly 600 electric cars registered in Thurston County in 2016 were Teslas. 

“We love it and drive it to San Francisco four times a year,” she said. For long trips, Tesla provides support for finding chargers as part of its dashboard navigation software. Cold weather and winds affect the mileage, but a Tesla gets about 250 miles on a charge, she said.

So, if you’re in the market for an electric vehicle, now may be the time. 

New plug-in car purchases and leases are currently exempt from Washington's sales tax, but that will end next month. To avoid paying the sales tax, and save a couple of thousand dollars, you have to take delivery of the car by May 31.

The federal rebate, up to $7,500, depending upon battery size, will also phase out for each company after they sell 200,000 electric cars in the U.S. Curtz says General Motors and Tesla are the first companies expected to reach that point late this year.

Above: Thad Curtz leads a discussion about electric vehicle options before the group headed out to take a look at several on display at the South Sound Climate Action Convention in Lacey on April 14.

Editor's Note, April 21: Article was corrected shortly after it was originally posted to reflect that General Motors and Tesla will be the first companies expected to sell 200,000 electric cars in the U.S. later this year, not in 2019. 

Editor's Note, April 23: Article was reposted because it apparently did not get delivered via the RSS feed.

For more information, go to electrifythurston.org. Their website includes answers to frequently asked questions, provides up-to-date information about electric vehicles available from Western Washington auto dealers, online referrals to local dealers with electric vehicles, and can provide information on installing residential charging equipment.

Electrical Needs For a Marijuana Grow Operation

Above: Electrical lines at sunset in a northeast Olympia neighborhood off of Puget Street. 

By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

On Friday, August 21, Little Hollywood sat down with representatives of Puget Sound Energy to discuss the Olympia case involving a marijuana grow operation in an Olympia northeast neighborhood. PSE has been in contact with both customers involved in the dispute.

Puget Sound Energy is responsible for the utility connections to homes and businesses.

 

Amy Tousley, municipal liaison manager for Thurston County, and Bryan McConaughy, senior local government affairs representative, discussed what they knew about the case, answered questions, and explained their next steps.

Puget Sound Energy has told the City of Olympia that the repair work done on a line after three utility line fires was safe, and that PSE was continuing to monitor the condition of the line. PSE concluded that the line fire cause was due to the age of, or damage to, the line.

Tousley said she will give the Olympia city council an update on the situation at their September 1 meeting.

“Our business is having a safe system…and to work closely with cities and counties to see what we can do to help them,” said Tousley. 

Above: The transformer in question in a northeast Olympia neighborhood.

According to PSE, a PSE employee made a service call to Melinda Spencer’s house and her neighbor’s several months ago because Spencer’s neighbor asked if he could pay PSE to upgrade the transformer. The tenant indicated that he didn’t think the service line or transformer serving the home could support the equipment used in his marijuana grow operation.

That PSE employee reported seeing a large number of marijuana plants, much more than what would be considered as a collective grow. The tenant also said to the employee that he intended to expand his operation to a detached garage.

The tenant never followed through with paying to have a larger transformer installed, so the original transformer, which serves six homes on the street, is still in place. In addition, the service line, which is sized for residential electrical loads, continues to serve that property.

On August 15, a volt recording meter was installed on the Spencer’s house. It measures voltage and amperage. The levels were normal at the Spencer’s house, and well within what is called a “voltage swing,” determined to be 114 - 126 volts.

On Thursday, August 20, a volt meter was installed on the neighbor’s house in question. The results will be available next Wednesday, August 26. The volt meter is put on the transformer right on the live line to get the best data available to see if that transformer is overheating. The volt meter data will measure whether or not too much load is being pulled through the wire, and whether or not the wire is too small.

“The transformer is large enough but the wire may not be because of what may be pulled through,” said Tousley.

If an upgrade is needed and if the wire needs to be changed out, then it is the customer’s responsibility. If the customer is a renter and the renter leaves, the property owner would bear that cost.

“Our lineman was taken to a detached garage and was told there might be an expansion into that structure. Whether or not that has already occurred, they have already disclosed their intention, and that would very much require more electricity,” said Tousley. 

“PSE is taking action on this. We are doing the monitoring and testing to make sure we provide ourselves the best information so we can find out what the next step is, otherwise, we’re just going to be making a lot of speculation based on what we think might be occurring….This is an issue we’ll be seeing more of throughout our region. It’s probably something we need to put together a team and say, ok, this is going to be happening…how are we going to address this? Do we encourage cities to add some code component, or request that they do, or defer to the cities and say it’s the cities’ responsibility? We need to figure that out….” said McConaughy.

Tousley said that the repair work that was done after the line fires may look a little like undone shoestrings, but its appearance is a standard method of splicing and repairing of the line.

Marijuana operations aren’t the only type of business that may draw more electricity. Beauty shops, automotive shops, small internet service providers, and radio stations are other examples commonly seen within a residential area. PSE has different customer classifications based on usage, but it is up the city to determine if a business is taking place within a home.

Asked how often PSE is responding to cases similar to this one, Tousley said it is happening more and more because they are wondering more often why their equipment is giving way.

“We’re becoming very familiar with this on the industrial side of the pot growing operations. Because they have to go through proper permitting to become an actual facility, we are usually brought into the loop earlier because some of these larger operations are 200,000 square feet, like the one in Lacey. There’s going to be a need for a couple megawatts of power. We actually have a special person inside PSE that works with these official businesses to help them through the process and make sure the load in our system is prepared to handle that...,said McConaughy.

As for the non-industrial side of the operation, McConaughy said, “We’re having to address a whole new scenario…(it’s) new case law, a brand new legal arena.” 

Above: Of course, fire was the first source of light, as the Olympic Mountain Family Fire Dancers demonstrated Sunday night at the Love our Local Fest event in Olympia's northeast neighborhood.

For more information about this case, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search engine.

Olympia Dispute over Marijuana Operation Raises Questions

Above: Medical Marijuana

By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Questions are being raised in a community issue involving medical marijuana, code and law enforcement, he-said-she-said neighbor disputes, and three utility line fires that involve Puget Sound Energy. Throw in a breakdown in communication and you have a messy situation.

Little Hollywood has learned that the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force did what is called a “knock and talk” at a marijuana operation in an Olympia northeast neighborhood on July 7. 

The unannounced visit to the home was in response to a neighbor complaint by Melinda Spencer, who alleges that her neighbor is operating a commercial marijuana grow operation.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday with narcotics task force captain Dave Johnson and the detective who actually visited the home, both said that the tenants were cooperative and invited law enforcement inside. The tenants showed the proper paperwork for a collective grow. Captain Johnson said that the residents gave the detectives a tour of the entire property and it was found to be in compliance with current medical marijuana law.

Captain Johnson said that in the last three years since the passage of state legislation, they have dealt with a lot of complaints about grow operations.

“The law is going to change next July, and it’s going to get cleaned up a little bit, but until then, it’s a Catch-22 law, and not easy to deal with,” said Johnson.

Collective grows are not required to register with the state or local authorities, so police have no idea how many are in operation, and neighbors and concerned neighbors wonder where to turn to for information and assistance.

Utility Line Fires and Communication Timeline

The information about the narcotic task force’s “knock and talk” was never provided to Melinda Spencer, who complained about her neighbor’s operation at Tuesday night’s Olympia city council meeting in public testimony.

City manager Steve Hall mentioned it during council comments and regretted the lack of communication with Spencer.

Spencer said that she believes that three recent utility line fires, one occurring as recently as July 30 near her home, were caused by the grow operation in her northeast neighborhood. She says that her neighbor in question has repeatedly and openly referred to his operation as a wholesale grow for sale to medical dispensaries.

Spencer began communicating her concerns with the city and other authorities in the third week of June, before the fires.

In a June 29 email, the date of the first utility line fire, Chris Grabowski, lead city code enforcement officer, told Spencer and her husband that their concern had been forwarded to the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, saying this was not a city zoning or code enforcement issue, but a law enforcement issue.

That same day, a sergeant at the Olympia Police Department said that the task force will make contact with the residents when time permits and determine if there are any law violations. Spencer responded to Grabowski, and thanked him for getting her concern pointed in the right direction. 

Another utility line fire occurred in early July.

Spencer continued to do research and contacted Puget Sound Energy. She also wrote the city attorney on July 8, specifically detailing her concerns and to ask if the operation has the proper permits. Spencer says she never got a response from the city attorney.

A third utility line fire occurred July 30.

Spencer and several other neighbors co-wrote a letter on August 1 to the property owner informing him that they have authorized their insurance agents to pursue damages against him if any activities occurring at his property harm persons or property in the vicinity. She sent copies to several city officials, including the fire chief, the police chief, and city attorney.

Spencer wrote an email to Olympia city council on August 13. She says she did not receive a response from any councilmembers. That same day, she contacted Puget Sound Energy to provide details about the grow operation so it could better evaluate if those activities contributed to the service line fires.

On Tuesday, August 18, Spencer felt compelled to speak publicly about the situation.

Communication from Code Enforcement

On Wednesday, the day after she spoke at city council, Chris Grabowski, the city’s lead code enforcement officer, sent Spencer an email providing details about the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force visit, but did not provide her the date. That information was provided to her by Little Hollywood.

Grabowski said in the email that detectives counted 50 plants on site.

 

“At the time of the inspection, that was slightly above the maximum 45 allowed, but under the new laws now in effect, the amount has gone up to 60 plants.  (The detective) told me that the grow was a legal one, and that (the task force) had no plans to go back and re-inspect as there was no indication of any illegal activity,” wrote Grabowski.

In an interview, Spencer says she appreciated the email, but it came a little too late.

“No one ever closed the loop with us,” Spencer said.

“This really is such a gray area and I feel pretty whipped and overexposed by this whole situation. I did get some staff to focus on this issue and follow up with me -- with prodding. I asked a lot of questions that were never definitively answered…but what makes me bitter is the big lapse by whoever should have let us know that the task force had done its job and made its conclusions. My emails after the inspection on July 7 should have reminded someone at city hall that crucial information had never been sent to me....” said Spencer to Little Hollywood late this week.

Spencer says she would have preferred to not have spoken publicly, nor ask for media attention, but felt she had no choice. Spencer still has concerns regarding the electrical safety of her home, and other homes on her street.

The Other Side of the Story

Little Hollywood has spoken several times with the resident at the address in question to get his side of this story.

The resident, who does not want to be named, says he is a medical marijuana user. He says he is a retired engineer on Social Security and disability. He says he has had brain surgery and uses the medicine to prevent seizures. He says he has been very up front with his neighbors about his collective garden, and gets along well with many of them. He is upset with his neighbor, Melinda Spencer, who he feels has been harassing him. He says the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force has come to his home twice and he has showed them the proper paperwork.  He admits he put about 50 plants outside during a recent heatwave. The air conditioning runs fulltime because he says marijuana is a fickle plant and needs to stay at a cool temperature. He says his crop is grown organically and he does not use chemicals. He did some work on the home for the owners late last year and says they are aware of his collective garden. He says the house used to be the worst looking one on the block.

“.…I’ve only been doing this since November. This is an expensive thing to do if you’re going to do it right. I’ve got nothing to hide. There’s no 100 plants. This hurts…it’s life changing stuff….” he said.

He currently has an option to buy the home, but now feels like he needs to break his contract and leave the neighborhood. He says he has retained an attorney.

The tenant says he knows of at least seven grow operations within four blocks of his house.

Collective and Cooperative Marijuana Garden Law

A collective grow is not a business, since the intent of the marijuana grow, under current Washington State law, is for the members of the collective to pool their resources to grow medicinal plants for their own consumption. 

According to the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB), a “collective garden” means qualifying patients share the responsibility for acquiring and supplying the resources required to produce and process cannabis for medical use such as, for example, a location for a collective garden; equipment, supplies, and labor necessary to plant, grow, and harvest cannabis; cannabis plants, seeds, and cuttings; and equipment, supplies, and labor necessary for proper construction, plumbing, wiring, and ventilation of a garden of cannabis plants.

Starting on July 1, 2016, collective gardens will be eliminated, but will allow for the creation of medical marijuana “cooperatives” that may be formed by up to four qualifying patients or designated providers.

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee signed new legislation in July that will make marijuana laws more restrictive. The new law repeals RCW 69.51A.140, which granted cities and counties the authority to adopt and enforce requirements related to medical marijuana, including zoning.

Rules regarding marijuana cooperatives state that they cannot be located within one mile of marijuana retailers; the location must be registered with the WSLCB; they must be located in a domicile of one of the participants; are limited to one cooperative per tax parcel; and may grow up to the total number of plants authorized for each patient, a maximum of 60 plants. Qualifying patients or designated providers may only participate in one cooperative, and are subject to inspection by the WSLCB and law enforcement. The WSLCB may adopt rules relating to security and traceability requirements for cooperatives.

Above: The northeast Olympia neighborhood rocked tonight at the Love our Local Fest on Bethel and San Francisco Avenue. DBST played funkadelic rock.

For more information about this case, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com and type key words into the search engine.

Code Enforcement Leaves Olympia Resident Frustrated

Above: Melinda Spencer arrived early at tonight's Olympia city council meeting to give public comment about an alleged commercial marijuana grow operation in her northeast neighborhood. Spencer believes that three recent utility line fires near her home were caused by the operation. 

By Janine Unsoeld

www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com

Code enforcement for residents of the City of Olympia is an issue fraught with emotions. Law abiding citizens turn to the City of Olympia for help and information regarding sidewalks blocked with vegetation, abandoned or dilapidated houses used by the homeless, abandoned vehicles, busy drug houses operating in established neighborhoods, and nuisance dogs.

Commercial businesses like the Grande Terrace on Capitol Lake, a wedding and event venue on Deschutes Parkway, also test neighbor's nerves, when they are blatantly allowed to skirt the law, operating in a residential neighborhood and violating the terms of temporary use permits, as well as known federal and state law and city ordinances.

With the help of a concerned group of neighborhood volunteers between 2010 and 2014, the city did pass a repeat violator ordinance and developed an action plan to improve code enforcement but a functional online system that would allow citizens to track the status of code enforcement complaints has yet to be implemented.

Not surprisingly, a 2014 opinion survey of Olympia’s city government services by Elway Research published last November indicates that code enforcement is lagging.

Out of thousands contacted, the poll surveyed 952 residents drawn from a list of residential utility customers provided by the city.  Survey respondents were asked about the quality of life in Olympia and their assessment of city government programs and services.

Performance lagged behind expectations for six services: neighborhood planning, permits and code enforcement, sidewalks, land use, street maintenance and police patrols.

Neighbor Concerned About Alleged Marijuana Grow Operation

Tonight, northeast neighborhood resident Melinda Spencer addressed the Olympia city council about an alleged unpermitted, commercial marijuana growing operation. The home is 200 feet from Roosevelt Elementary School.

Earlier this month, Spencer reached out to Little Hollywood for assistance and granted an interview to explain her plight.

Spencer said that she believes this operation has caused three fires on the power line outside her home since June 29, causing a transformer fire, lit the lawn on fire, and closed the street. She is concerned about the electrical safety of her home, and other homes in her neighborhood, as well as other issues.

In her comments to city council tonight, Spencer said, “Because this business continues to operate unchecked, we are bracing for the next power surge and fire. The city better hope that the melted service line doesn't fall on a school bus, Intercity Transit bus, U.S. Postal Service mail carrier, or anyone else who lives or travels on our street. We need city staff to investigate this situation and take the appropriate actions. And I shouldn't have to lobby City Council to get our staff to do their job.” 

Spencer mentioned that a group of volunteers worked for four years with city staff from 2010 until 2014 to develop workable solutions, but which city managers have largely ignored.

“You should be very concerned about the lack of accountability that has been allowed to take root among our city staff. Volunteers work for years to cultivate strong neighborhoods, but city staff demolish those gains when they ignore clear code violations and allow unsafe and illegal commercial operations to flourish in our communities,” said Spencer. 

 

“I’m sure the individual code enforcement officers took their positions with the city with every intention of doing a good job for the citizens of Olympia. But something is broken at top levels of city management, and this breakdown has cultivated a culture of inaction among key city staff. Olympia will never grow into its potential if residents' efforts to build strong neighborhoods are obliterated by the lack of accountability among management at City Hall,” she said.

Little Progress and the Run-Around

In her interview with Little Hollywood, Melinda Spencer said she works fulltime and researching city codes has been exhausting.

“This is not what I do for living, and I might have missed something, but I want to know what universe I am in that it takes all this work to get city staff to help us with this situation. I’ve lived here 18 years and I’ve never needed code enforcement. Now that I do, I need them to help me,” said Spencer.

Spencer brought her concern to the attention of the city code enforcement staff in June. She also informed Puget Sound Energy (PSE). As her research increased, so did her email communications to the city. Most recently, on August 13, she informed the city council of her concerns, and received no reply. 

In an email to Spencer on August 7, the city's code enforcement manager, Todd Cunningham, said that the service line from the pole to the home is regulated by PSE – the city has no jurisdiction over this part of the electrical system. He referred the situation to Chris Grabowski, the city’s lead code enforcement officer in charge of complaints for the Eastside.

On August 11, Grabowski referred Spencer to Jeff Payne at PSE, who informed Grabowski that PSE was looking into the line failure but they had not made a determination yet on the cause of the fire. According to Spencer, PSE has had to repair the service line to the property three times since late June.

Grabowski also told Spencer that her issue was not a code enforcement issue, but a law enforcement issue. Grabowski forwarded her concern to the Olympia police, who then forwarded it to the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force.

The business is not listed as licensed on a list of marijuana license applicants by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (WSLCB). The WSLCB does not issue licenses for locations that are personal residences.

The residence is a small home on a 0.17 acre residential lot owned by Michael Saulino of Ocean Shores, according to Thurston County Assessor’s Office information.

Attempts by neighbors to reach Saulino in early August were unsuccessful. The homeowners sent Saulino a certified letter, but have seen no changes at the home.

“The pot-growing operation continues as usual and it does not look like the tenants are being evicted. We continue to be concerned about fires resulting from these activities,” said Spencer.

Spencer showed Little Hollywood two photos that show how the service line to that property was taped and clamped after the most recent power surge and line fire on July 30.

According to Spencer, a PSE employee who was at her home to determine if her power supply has been affected by the surges said that the fixes to the melted service wire may not appear to be safe, especially if the pot-growing equipment continues to draw extraordinary amounts of energy.

Spencer’s husband, Keith, and PSE staff were given tours by the tenants of the marijuana operation inside the home as well as two attached and detached garages, and confirmed that air conditioners have been running around the clock since they moved into the rental home in January.

In response to Little Hollywood's question about odors, Spencer said, “Yes, there are uncontrolled odors, and the pesticide and fertilizer use goes down into our water system, but the pot operation isn’t even the issue for me. It’s an unpermitted commercial operation that is exceeding the capacity of the system in a residential area….The city is on the hook for this,” said Spencer, as she concluded our interview.

City Response 

As is customary at city council meetings, council members listen to all speakers at public comment time and at their discretion, choose to respond to specific speakers and issues.

In response to Spencer’s comments, Olympia city manager Steve Hall said that city staff has been very responsive to Spencer’s concerns, and detailed the city communications with PSE and staff, information that was already known to Spencer. Hall said PSE has assured the city that the power lines are safe.

Hall also said that he just received information that he had not shared with Spencer.

Hall said that city staff contacted the Thurston County Narcotics Task Force, who investigated and determined that the location is a collective garden operation, which would be allowed under state law, and as such, would not be regulated by the city, nor is a business license required. 

Councilmember Nathaniel Jones commented that he remains concerned about the city’s role in the situation and was concerned about the three recent fires within a short period of time.

“It seems to me we have some responsibility to follow up with PSE in our role….to ensure there are no remaining concerns about fire risk or electrical failure.” He thanked staff for what has been done but said the report did not give him confidence on continuing risk.

Councilmember Jeannine Roe also thanked Spencer for coming, and said she sensed that the city needed the improve communications with constituents.

As the council turned to other business, speakers left the council chambers en masse. Hall quickly gave Spencer his business card as she left.

Outside city hall, Spencer was incensed with Hall’s comments.

“….I was last in contact with the city on Thursday and I never heard anything else after that…. He could have had the courtesy to call or email me…To undercut what I said in public! That’s mean! I’ve waited the last three business days for communication from the city because I’ve been giving them the benefit of the doubt. All along I’ve been thinking, ‘prove me wrong!’ You just don’t do that!”

Spencer complimented the councilmembers who expressed concern about the issue.

“It is not a collective grow operation. They have several hundred plants in there. The city is trying to tie it up in a tiny little bow because code enforcement minimized the problem,” said Spencer.

Above: City of Olympia's Strategic Communications Director Kellie Purce Braseth, who began her new position with the city on July 13, checks the public comment sign-in sheets at 6:50 p.m. City council meetings usually start at 7:00 p.m. At the beginning of the meeting, Braseth takes the sheets to the mayor, who usually calls speakers up to the podium in the order in which they signed up.

Tonight, ten speakers spoke on issues related to code enforcement, public support for the city's possible purchase of 75 acres off Kaiser Road as open park space, support for a $15 minimum wage, support for the the city's possible purchase of LBA Woods, and Black nationalism.