Hey Internet. This is one of the Plaintiffs. I am not a cartoon character running off with bags of cash. I am your neighbor and fellow islander. Never in my wildest imagination did I think this case would drag on as long as it has, and the length of time is a major reason the penalties were so high, because the statute provides for daily fines. I didn't write the statute. But it says that records requesters are the ones who get the fines, so that is what will happen.

OF COURSE the money should be given back to the community. And it will. But not on the Internet's instantaneous time frame.

I've never had a chunk of money like this to give away and I want to make sure I know what I'm doing. It will take time for us to conclude the settlement and receive the money. Once that happens, we plan to reach out to nonprofits we are passionate about, to learn their ideas about island needs and how to maximize the benefit to the community. That may take months, or even longer. This may not reassure people who just want to be mad at us. But it's the truth.

One more thing: there are posts on this article that are just vicious gossip and should be deleted for their nastiness. For the record: the Marons, Blairs and the others named by a commenter had nothing to do with this lawsuit. We are not "close friends." There is no conspiracy. It was just the Fortners and my husband and myself, working extremely hard throughout this litigation to push government officials to do their work honestly, with accountability and out in the open. <div style="display:block;margin:6px 0 0"><a class="a2a_dd" href="https://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2 <a href="http://Fwww.insidebainbridge.com%2F2014%2F12%2F03%2Fpublic-records-lawsuit-settlement-city-will-pay-nearly-500k-councilmember-ward-will-resign%2F%23IDCommentIDComment924742015&title=Public%20Records%20Lawsuit%20Settlement%3A%20City%20Pays%20Nearly%20%24500K%20%26%20Councilmember%20Resigns%20%7C%20Inside%20Bainbridge&description=">Fwww.insidebainbridge.com%2F2014%2F12%2F03%2Fpublic-records-lawsuit-settlement-city-will-pay-nearly-500k-councilmember-ward-will-resign%2F%23IDCommentIDComment924742015&title=Public%20Records%20Lawsuit%20Settlement%3A%20City%20Pays%20Nearly%20%24500K%20%26%20Councilmember%20Resigns%20%7C%20Inside%20Bainbridge&description='><img src="http://static.addtoany.com/buttons/share_save_171_16.png" width='171' height='16' border='0' alt='Share/Save/Bookmark' scale='0'/>

You say you want us all to comply with the law, Mahakala. You also should be aware of the law. First of all--and this answers Kelly's questions too--it is NOT against the law to have an unleashed dog on the trails, as long as that dog is under effective vocal control of the owner. I have confirmed this with the Parks Board and have also heard City Council talk about it. That means someone walking an unleashed but obedient dog is not breaking the law. It is against Parks POLICY to have an unleashed dog on Parks property. A policy does not have the force of law and the police cannot enforce it. A policy is like a school rule--officials can scold you (and ask you to leave) but they can't give you a ticket or arrest you.

The Parks Dept. also has a policy of no firearms on Parks property, so if you bring one in, you are violating policy as much as someone with an unleashed dog. And there are strict laws about guns on the island. BIMC 9.10.030 prohibits the discharge of a firearm "where there is reasonable likelihood of injury to humans, domestic animals or property." In addition, it's a violation of the state criminal code even to make a threat to use a firearm or otherwise put someone in reasonable fear of bodily harm (e.g. threaten a person's dog).

Please stop talking about gun violence. We are all trying to work on a community issue, and there are reasonable points to be made on all side of this. Talk of guns is intimidating and shuts down discussion.

Aggressive dogs can be dangerous, and even friendly dogs can be frightening. I agree that people must control their dogs. Bainbridge law already requires this. In my two years of experience walking the trails every day, I have not encountered a single experience similar to what you report. You may be having unusually bad experiences for some reason. In any event, there are many, many obedient dogs and responsible dog owners on the island. We are simply asking for a solution that respects others while giving us an opportunity to properly exercise our dogs. Posted off-leash times would be great.

oops--in the final part of my previous comment, I was addressing Sharon Gilpin, who commented on the same topic on another IB article. Her comment is here: http://www.insidebainbridge.com/2014/03/01/letter...

Your money issues are just starting in the youngish old age this article talks about. Be sure to save lots and lots of money in case you live into your 80's and 90's when you'll probably need assistance with daily living. If you do, you might as well open your bank account and let the "care" industry vacuum it out. Rents in assisted living facilities start at nearly $4000 a month, before you add any care costs to the bill. They don't necessarily excel at offering support and care for the aging and dying process, but they are very good at finding things to charge for. These facilities---and I'm talking about all of the bigger ones---charge extra for your meds, meals in your room, standing around while you get dressed, helping you shower, even talking to your doctor or you family. If you become incontinent, or too anxious, or too confused, it will probably run you upwards of $8000 a month in today's dollars. Neither your insurance nor Medicare is going to help you out. When you finally go broke, there's always Medicaid, but most well-heeled establishments only have one or two apartments in their buildings, so chances are high they'll kick you out. Maybe you'll be lucky and be too broke and tired to care where you live by then. It breaks my heart to see our vulnerable elders ---most of whom are not wealthy, but saved and played by the rules, hoping to leave a little bit behind---get cleaned out by an industry that sees 30-40% return on revenue. (Here's a Frontline interview about it: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-is... The owners of the facilities know they have a captive customer base until the money runs out, because frail old people, especially those with dementia, experience so much hardship with a move that most stay put. Jeannette, I'd love to see an article about this issue, which so many of us face with our parents. The silver lining is that the industry itself realizes they operate an unsustainable business model (how many people can save enough to pay an $60-80,000+ in living expenses, annually, sometimes for years?). Changes are coming---but what?

Dear Ms. Lester--

I regret that you were confused by the article. To clarify: I wrote above that "Lester began the discussion by expressing her desire to make a minor modification to the city’s business licensing ordinance." Then Mr. Ward made his own separate, but related motion. Because both motions had to do with the licensing ordinance, the Council took up your issue in the same conversation as the Ward motion. To be clear: you asked to include Internet and digital service businesses in a list of examples of businesses subject to the licensing ordinance. That is a separate question from Ward's motion, which was to exempt homeowners and condo associations. Your motion passed. Ward withdrew his. None of the above article is related to your motion. I apologize if that point was not clear enough.

But again to be clear, with respect to the Ward motion, you were included on the Buetow emails at your personal email address. As of the last time the city responded to my request, you had not forwarded those emails to the city server.

I don't think you understood my comment above about Ms. Buetow--I wrote that the "potential problems" with the PRA and OPMA do not relate to Ms. Buetow in this article but rather to the city council persons. I did not write anything about my other records requests, but thank you for being interested enough to check up on them. I hope you are as diligently checking your private emails for responsive records to my public records request. To date I have not received a full response.

Finally, as to your worries about the July 17 reference in the article, please note that the date refers to the day before this article was published. My point was that as of July 17--the most recently practicable date before the article was posted---- I had not received any records showing how Ward had communicated with Buetow. He may not have communicated in writing at all, but I have no way of knowing at the present time, because I have not received all the responsive records.

I have significantly narrowed my request since I was informed of the volume of records on the city's server that may be responsive. I have no wish to hassle the city. I have an interest in obtaining public records maintained on personal computers (or deleted from those computers) of at least four council persons, including yourself. It would be wonderful if all council persons were fully committed to open and transparent government, in compliance with state law and city policy. I believe these requests could then be fulfilled quickly and relatively easily.

There are quite a number of folks statewide who would vehemently disagree that the League of Education Voters is "nonpartisan" as you write in your first sentence. In fact, some schools advocates say it's an astro-turf group, funded largely by the Gates Foundation, in order to push charter schools and privatization. Google "League of Education Voters" (no connection to the truly nonpartisan League of Women Voters) and you'll see what I mean. On the other hand, the critics may well be interest groups protecting the status quo. So it's hard to piece together the truth in the midst of all the lobbying. At the very least, this report should be viewed with a fair amount of skepticism---it is in the interest of ed reform/charter school folks to show how lousy our public schools are. I'm not necessarily against charter schools and I'm definitely in favor of always trying to improve our schools. But I am very much against astro-turfing and dishonesty in playing the political game.

Such great coverage for a great community news organization! Well deserved. Congratulations!!!

Lots of people will be sad to see Susan go...she's smart and big-hearted and has been an enormous presence in this community, as a mom, a school board member, working for arts organizations and Kidimu, plus her volunteer work and board positions. And she's a good friend to a lot of people, including me. Best of luck Suz!!

So Intense. So sobering--I hope.

I was deeply disappointed in the vote on Wednesday night, but as I reflect on the turmoil at City Hall, with more to come (next Wednesday's agenda contains an exec session for reviewing the performance of an employee, presumably the City Manager)--- I realize an important project like the 305 separated path probably should't be started this year. Who knows what management, if any, will be in place to see it through?