PORT TOWNSEND — A joint oversight board is considering the information it should request from agencies applying for funding for affordable and homeless housing projects in Jefferson County.
The city-county board that met Wednesday at the Cotton Building in downtown Port Townsend wasn’t able to reach a decision on how to form a template for proposals.
Questions from a task force meeting earlier in the afternoon, which regarded how much of each application would be part of the public record, were unresolved.
Vicki Kirkpatrick, the director of Jefferson County Public Health, said she wanted a legal opinion on the types of information that could be protected.
“If there are interviews for the applicants, would it have to be an open public meeting or a closed meeting because of the information?” she asked.
The joint oversight board, which takes recommendations from the task force and presents them to the Board of County Commissioners, is looking at about $80,000 annually, plus some existing funds, to award as grants.
The funds would come as part of a tax credit against state sales tax both in the county and within city limits. The state Legislature gave local governments the authority to use those funds toward housing issues in House Bill 1406.
“It’s based on a degree of openness,” said David Sullivan, a county commissioner who chairs the joint oversight board on housing. “All of a sudden we’re faced with proprietary information.”
Kirkpatrick, also an oversight board member, said the county wants to ensure it isn’t breaching any legal authority with public disclosure.
“Our goal in this entire process is to be as open and transparent as possible,” she said.
One of the potential issues is that many of the members of the task force represent agencies likely to apply for the funds, oversight board member Frank Hoffman said.
“My first concern is all the members of the task force,” Hoffman said. “I think it’s important that we trust each other and that we’re transparent with each other.”
Agencies represented on the task force include Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP), the Peninsula Housing Authority, Dove House, the Olympic Area on Aging and Jumping Mouse Children’s Center in addition to the public health department, law enforcement and the winter shelter at the American Legion hall.
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladaily news.com.
