Again, my weekly review of the Olympia city council packet. If you don't find something of interest here, read the packet yourself. It is fun.

1.  The city council is planning on engaging the public again in their budget writing process. What a cool thing, their is no more basic act of local government than deciding how much money they want and how they're going to spend it. And, the more pubic input they get the better.

What really excites me is that on the second page of the staff report for this piece, they ask the simple question: "Do you want to use a web-based process?" To that I say HECK YA. There is nothing worse than an entire process based in in person meetings where you're only going to get the typical folks that always show up. Put the conversation online. Not everything should be online, but the online conversation will help bring folks out of the woodwork and into the conversation.

2. Heck of a section on the water rights discussion at the March 7 meeting. There as a portion of the meeting tacken up by the Olympia's (and now Tumwater and Lacey's) lawsuit to claim the water associated with the old Tumwater Brewery.

Its interesting that not only did All American Water's lawyer show up, but the Teamsters asked the city not to shut down All American, but Don Brunell of the AWB showed up. Here it is:

City Attorney Bob Sterbank summarized the issue and recommendation. He said the Council passed Ordinance No. 6394 on February 13 to condemn property and water rights at the old brewery. Tonight the Council will reconsider the ordinance and decide whether to ratify it or revoke it and not proceed further. If the Council ratifies the ordinance (they did), it should then consider the Interlocal Agreement with the cities of Lacey and Tumwater.

Mayor Foutch noted that Lacey has approved this Agreement and Tumwater is considering it at its Council meeting tonight. Thurston County PUD Commissioner Gary Cooper said the PUD has a vested interest in the brewery water rights and noted the PUD was excluded from meetings with the cities as well as the Interlocal Agreement. He asked why the cities are opposed to PUD participation in the discussions.

Teamsters Union President Gary Johnson spoke in favor of keeping options open for All American Bottled Water Company to begin bottling water and providing local jobs.

All American Bottled Water Company Attorney Tom Lemly discussed his client’s efforts to launch this business, outlined concerns with the condemnation action, and said his client will have to file bankruptcy if the condemnation moves forward.

Mayor Pro Tem Ware asked the City Manager if the City asked Mr. Whetstone if he would be interested in selling water rights to the City. Mr. Hall replied he met with Mr. Whetstone twice and was told All American Bottling Company would only sell water as a commodity.

Mr. Lanny Carpenter congratulated the City for condemning the old brewery property for water rights. Association of Washington Business representative

Don Burnell, 1414 S. Cherry St., asked the Council to consider this opportunity to bring in 200 jobs to the community.

Capital Valley View LLC Attorney Richard Ditlevson, 324 West Bay Drive, said his client is concerned about the condemnation proceedings and believes they are entitled to some of the water rights.