Excerpt from the Thursday, November 19, 2009 “Rome: Before The Autumn” blog post on Don’t Bankrupt Ferndale
October 16, 2015 Dena Jensen
While the Don’t Bankrupt Ferndale blog site may not have stayed active long, it was just long enough to get a couple posts on record about Mayor Gary Jensen’s involvement in the hugely expensive Ferndale Police Station and Ferndale Library projects that were on the burner in 2009.
The selected quotes from the blog and complete blog posts on the Don’t Bankrupt Ferndale site, along with accompanying links, should be reviewed and investigated by voters looking to educate themselves on what kind of Port of Bellingham Commissioner and representative of the public Gary Jensen will make.
“The recent decisions by Mayor Jensen and his current administration (an administration entirely recruited by the last Mayor) to present the budget of 09 to the current council seriously hampers Mayor Jensen’s image of someone who cares about what Ferndalians think. This election 2 council seats have been hotly contested and their outcome could have serious implications for the nature of the Police/Library Swap Project.
But let us grant that Mayor Jensen is acting in the best interest of the people of Ferndale and the haste was appropriate. The fact that the people did not have the opportunity to reject (or approve) such an expensive project is troubling for the very same reasons. The Mayor decided to go the route of a councilmatic bond. This by definition is debt without a vote of the people who will be paying for that debt and impacted by that project.
“The decision to go the route of a councilmatic bond without confronting the people who will pay for it, make the image of Mayor Jensen that of someone who doesn’t care about Ferndalians opinion.(or doesn’t trust a judgments of his electorate, the very attitude the last administration has been accused of.”
Links to Don’t Bankrupt Ferndale posts and linked materials:
IS THIS REALLY THE BEST SOLUTION FOR FERNDALE’S PROBLEMS IN 2009?
Rome: Before The Autumn
Initial Proposal Drawings & Cost Estimate For Police Station/Library Swap
noisy waters northwest 