By Mai Ling Slaughter, The Chronicle, 7/29/2000
ROCHESTER -After a 15 minute conversation about consensus and its importance in the Chehalis River Basin Partnership, Pe Ell resident John Penberth blocked a vote at the group's Friday meeting as the lone naysayer.
The partnership - a consortium of governmental agencies, tribes and other groups dedicated to the river basin operates strictly under consensus.
Members agreed to begin processing grant applications for the state Salmon Recovery Funding Board, until Penberth, representing the Chehalis Fisheries Task Force, blocked the vote in protest of the grant process.
As part of the process, the partnership is responsible for prioritizing grant projects for the Salmon Recovery Funding Board,
But Penberth believes the funding board's top priority should be that the partnership's lead entity, Gray's Harbor County, has enough money for staff to complete its necessary projects.
"The task force will continue to block the vote until the lead entity has the money to do what it has to do," Penberth said.
He also expressed overall concern about the grant process, following a presentation by a fellow partnership member about the same subject.
"They've really complicated the grant process," said Penberth of the Salmon Recovery Board.
Penberth contended the task force spent $ 1 0,000 on grant writers last year to apply for four grants for which they did not qualify.
"This time," he said, "we want to have a better process, a simpler process, so we can get a better chance. We want to change the system of dispersing funds throughout the state."
He and other partnership members also expressed concern about the fairness of the grant process, which often guarantees more money for metropolitan areas that have a greater concentration of people, and for a more professional grant application.
But other partnership members, including Brian Shea with the city of Aberdeen, were displeased with Penberth's decision to block the vote, which could jeopardize the ability of any agency in the Chehalis River basin from obtaining the Salmon Recovery grants.
Penberth plans to discuss the issue with the Chehalis Basin Fisheries Task Force at the next meeting in two weeks. If the 20 year-old group agrees to lift the block, Penberth will notify Grays Harbor and the partnership will begin processing the grants.
The deadline for the partnership to review and prioritize the grants is Oct. 30. Its next meeting is Aug. 25.
Mai Ling Slaughter covers municipal government for The Chronicle. She can be reached by e-mail at mslaughter@chronline.com or by telephoning 807-8237.
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