The Pierce County Council voted today to send some advice to County Executive Pat McCarthy regarding next year's budget – don't cut sheriff's deputies, don't spend any more from the savings account, keep the polls open, don't reduce county lobbying efforts and keep fee increases at inflation or less.

This isn't the usual line-item-by-line item resolution. The council decided that given the troubled budget times, it should allow the executive flexibility in dealing with changing economics. The county has already altered its current spending plan twice, voting on March 31 and June 16 to close seperate $8 million funding gaps.

“We recognize that the executive’s budget staff will need flexibility in how they address the challenges of next year, since economic conditions could rapidly change,” Council Chairman Roger Bush said in a prepared statement. “What doesn’t change is our Charter-mandated duty to appropriate revenue and adopt a budget that delivers the core services that our county’s taxpayers expect.”

McCarthy will send her budget to the council by September 22 and the council will likely adopt a final budget before Thanksgiving.

A copy of the resolution can be found here.

OK. Actually, it will be a "Thanks for Working for Nothin' BBQ," a way for Gov. Chris Gregoire to show her appreciation for the work done by her own Economic Stimulus Czar, Dick Thompson, whose six-figure salary ($000,000) really didn't show the proper degree of thanks for his volunteerism.

(Dick told me today he has retired once again -- this time from volunteerism -- and has turned over his duties to someone in the Guv's budget office.)

Washington state got about $6-$10 billion out of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus package -- that is, if you count all the money for the Bonneville Power Administration and Hanford. (State government will get about $4 billion in K-12, Medicaid and transpo funding over the next two years.)

Anyway, Thompson, former Seattle deputy-mayor-chamber-president-Boeing-guy Bob Watt and Craig Cole will be feted by the Guv on July 28. (Craig Cole is a UW Regent and Bellingham businessman.)

All three of them helped out the Guv in some manner. Watt helped the governor find and screen some agency (cabinet) directors. And Cole worked on some economic roundtables.

Anyway, we're now in the second round of scrambling for federal stimulus funds, the round in which we must compete with other states and actually apply for grants, etc.

Did anyone else notice the reference to state Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, in Monday's story by Kits (aka, Kathleen) Merryman about the retirement of "Lua" Pritchard as executive director of the Korean Women's Association?

Darneille will be filling in for the next few months as interim director while a head-hunting firm finds a permanent executive director to take over from Pritchard, who was at the helm for 13 years.

Darneille said for the past three "interims" (that's the time between legislative sessions), she's been working for Liz Heath at the The Nonprofit Center, for which her 27th Legislative District constituents are very grateful.

The interim director gig is just her most recent. But Darneille lives in the nonprofit sector. She was at the Pierce County Aids Foundation for several years.

Oh, btw, the Nonprofit Center will be 10 years old on July 29. Check out their Web site.

City Club of Tacoma is hosting an event for the 7 candidates for Port of Tacoma Commission, and the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County will moderate the event.

It will run from 12:15 to 1:15 a week from Wednesday at the Landmark Convention Center in Tacoma.

Tacoma, WA – July 7, 2009 - The Port of Tacoma is experiencing a decrease in container cargo and serious budget shortfalls which have led to layoffs; a controversial solution which has heightened discussion about the management of this South Puget Sound economic engine. The Port Commission sets Port policy and direction, approves all major expenditures, and appoints the executive leadership of the Port.

The seven candidates running for three positions on the commission have been invited (five have confirmed at press time) to participate in a candidate forum, to be moderated by the League of Women Voters of Tacoma-Pierce County. Elected at large by the voters of Pierce County, this is your opportunity to hear and assess the candidate’s positions, perspectives, and qualifications. Candidates will also take audience questions.

=> Read more!

The on-line publication Crosscut has carved out a nice niche in its coverage of historic preservation – often an afterthought in other Seattle publications. Today, Knute Berger uses examples of successes in Seattle and a big failure in Tacoma to write about the difficulty in saving sacred places.

A link to the article is here.

As Berger notes, I wrote last week about efforts to learn from Tacoma's past mistakes. But churches face problems other historic buildings don't.

The state Supreme Court ruled that government can't enforce preservation laws against churches because it would interfere with their worship rights. Tax-exempt churches don't need tax benefits that have helped other historic buildings. At the same time, church-state separation policies make it difficult to use government money to help preserve religious buildings.

Berger notes that a conference on the topic will be held in Seattle Sept. 12 featuring Robert Jaeger of the Philadelphia-based Partners for Sacred Places.

Here are two images of Tacoma's First United Methodist Church, first before (by Drew Perine) and then during demolition (by Bruce Kellman).