HomeMy WebLinkAboutE-mail from Brenda Heineman to Lisa Torres termination of caretakerPage 1 of 8
Lisa Torres
From: Brenda Heineman
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2009 9:55 AM
To: Lisa Torres
Subject: FW: termination of caretaker
Hi Lisa: Lets get a meeting on this. Not sure what this is about. B
From; Patricia Cosgrove
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 11:32 AM
To: Brenda Heineman
Cc: Daryl Faber; Bob Wuotila
Subject: termination of caretaker
Dear Brenda
We wish to terminate the lease agreement between the City and Mary Olson Farm caretaker Stan
Flewelling. Our contract culls fora 60 day notice.
1. Is this something I need take through your office?
2. Might something like what follows be appropriate for a termination letter?
Dear Stan
The City of Auburn has decided that your services as caretaker of the Mary Olson Farm will no
longer be required. With this letter we are giving you sixty days notice. _January 29th 2010 will
be your last day as caretaker. Please make arrangements to remove yourself and possessions
from the Farm and turn in your keys by January 29th 2010. �9s,�-��—�r��,���,A,po�.,-� —�'^� -tea
Per our agreement, your mobile home cnn either be sold to the�.t caretaker or rem ve�d/by �
Januar�9th, 2010. Should a caretaker not be identified by that time, the mobile home may stay\/1
on site until a purchase agreement is made with the new caretaker; if it is not purchased by the J t-`7,
new caretaker, it must be removed within two weeks of that determination. /
Additionally, with the receipt of this letter your services at the White River Valley Museum wil
no longer be needed. Please make arrangements to turn in your key as soon as possible. Your o
access code has been deleted from the museum's security system.
3. Should I call him?
4. Should
you
wish, you can
read his
emails
to
me
below
regarding a
long list of concerns and
grievances
he
has had, none
of which
to me
or
my
staff
seem viable.
Thank you Brenda for your help.
Patricia
11 /30/2009
Page 2 of 8
From: flewelling [mailto:flewelling@juno.com]
Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 2:44 AM
To: Patricia Cosgrove
Subject: Re: Farm questions
Thanks for the answers to my questions, Pahicia. This is the kind of information I've been hoping for. It
seems that you have had many "things on your plate" lately, and I regret that my concerns are involving
so much of your time. However, I hope the issues Iraise-are not just important and helpful to me, but
also to the ongoing operations of WRVM and Olson Farm.
Regarding #1 ("Drainage system"): What I was referring to, of course, was not so much surface drainage
as the under rg ound drainage (piping under the new road and tluough the ground to the stream), which
we've been communicating about for years. (See sample quotes from 2006-2009 messages below.)
Surface and underground drainage are related, of course, but the more crucial problem here has been the
ponding in the lower• orchard --as if the drainage part of the stream and old roadway revision work in
September 2008 failed. It has appeared that the final stage of the drainage work rnaintained the
existing "dam" effect more than it improved underground drainage. Gravel has been very helpful in
handling mud problems at the gate and along the roadways, but it does little for ponding caused by
underground drainage backups. As you your self said (1/7/09), "Under the drive !here ure drain pipes
th��t nr•e supposed to keep that from hnppenirag." The January ponding on the Olson property was much
greater than I've ever seen it before --even during the week of November 6, 2006, when there was so
much rain, excess water released from the Hanson Dam caused the Green River to spill over its
banks. There also was a huge amount of rain during the week of January 6, 2009, and there was a lot of
water that poured over the Olson property, but the ponding was not caused by catastrophic flooding --it
had already started before the heavy rains came.
Comparison of that "unplanned pond" to flooding in Pacific last January is absurd. I was at the GRCC
Flood Preparation meeting on September 9 when Col. Anthony Wright of the US Army Corps of
Engineers apologized for what happened in Pacific, claiming full responsibility himself for releasing
extra water from the Mud Mountain Dam on White River. Wright is in charge of both the Howard
Hanson and Mud Mountain Dams. He had the courage, at least, to admit a mistake. As we learned from
the news late last week, the USACE has, until now, been considered imnnrne from liability for flooding
problems. But I suppose the ruling by a federal judge last Wednesday that the USACE is liable for much
of the Hurricane Katrina flooding in New Orleans will make Army Corps people more cautious in what
they say. Too bad that our excessively litigious society makes people lean toward caution and
defensiveness and away fi•orn being open and honest.
You must have received my September 9 message requesting a meeting with you and Kristen about
flood concerns --it was the same message she responded to both of us about (regarding preliminary
emergency plans for the animals). But now that you have answered my questions to the best of your
ability, a meeting about flooding at Olson seems almost irrelevant (unless something new comes up).
However, your answer to my other concerns --considerations regarding my mobile home in Olson Farm
Alarming designs --troubles me all the more. These issues are not as inunediate and urgent as Green River
flood concerns! But regardless of any perceived value of a mobile home, and regardless of any
assumptions about the prohibitive costs of moving it, I believe an owner's rights to his/her property can
not be confiscated by another party. Nothing I'm aware of in my lease agreement with the City of
Auburn, nor in the RCW erases any of those rights (within the guidelines of the agreement itself). You
would not want your own property rights modified by the plans of someone else, especially if they never
consulted or made any agreement with you about those modifications. Forme, it's an important matter
11/30/2009
Page 3 of 8
of principle and civil rights. Like you, I hope the mobile home I currently own (at the insistence of the
City) will continue to be useful here long beyond my caretaker tenancy, but that will depend a lot on
what I can eventually work out with any future caretaker. Please clarify (with the Legal Department, I
suppose) any questions regarding the rights of mobile home owners whose property is on leased land. I
will also consult my own legal references and advisors, and if any differences of opinion or ambiguities
remain, we should certainly meet to find solutions. As it now stands, some portions of the�lson_F�rn>r
Landscaping and Fencing Plan" are unacceptable. �
Regards, Stan
P.S. [PAST
COMMUNICATIONS
REGARDING
OLSON FARM DRAINAGE PLANS AND
SURFACE
GRAVEL --please read
from the oldest
at bottom to newest at top]:
January 8, 2009 PC to SF & MM:
I believe that if we do any pumping into the stream we will be violating all kinds of rules and regulations.
Please do not do that unless the buildings or Stan personally are at risk. I think Stan just hos to park near
the gate during times he anticipates flooding a rather common-sense solution. I have passed the photos on
to our engineer and architects for a discussion on long term fixes. This is an exceptionally wet time -PC
January 8, 2009 MM to SF & PC:
I took a look at it this morning and did not see on out flow to the creek, so that might be a good long term solution,
or re gravel old road on berm would be a cheaper solution. I can try and locate a pump for you and gas if you
want to pump it out, it will take a good day and than some. It looks like the majority of the pond is being fed by the
river along the hillside and will continue to fill the pond as you pump it out. It doesn't appear as if there is any
water flowing into the pond form the creek so you could pump water into the creek. However, I would need
Patricia to verify whether there is an outflow or not. If there isn't than you could pump into the creek, if there is an
outflow than you wouldn't be able to pump into the creek until the outflow was below the creek level.
January 8, 2009 SF to MM & PC:
Thanks for your suggestions, Mike. Yes, I had thought of parking at the gate. Yes, the berm is walkable
with some taller boots on. But at this point, I'm unable to get either of my vehicles safely to the gate. I
canceled my work assigmnent for today. The stream is very full, but a lot lower than the pond and the
culvert opening. I don't know if there's actually a culvert outlet near the stream --it was supposed to be
completed when the recent stream work was done by KC. But my impression is that it's not working as
planned. The pooling had already started last weekend, before the recent heavy rains. New
developments today:
. The pond has grown overnight so that it is now spilling over the berm. It is also being fed by a
steady stream from the open ditch between my home and the west ridge.
. The creek has run so rapidly that it widened to approx. 30 feet a ways down fiom the farmhouse
(before the bend). The plank "bridge" is gone. There are also several new (temporary) channels,
like one straight across the old road from the farmhouse.
. Several new, small (temporary) streams have appeared elsewhere on the farm--e.g. above the
"rock garden" at the N end of the meadow. It flows down in front of the barn and has
virtually turned the new road fiom my house to the gate into a pair of small streams. Some tiny
streams are lapping at the edge of my house, but I don't expect any big trouble there.
. The Green River is not flooding, but it's higher today, which turns a lot of the creek water at the
big culvert back to our south meadow. I don't think that will cause much trouble.
11J30/2009
Page 4 of 8
Things should improve with the better weather, but Ion guessing that our pond will not go away very
quickly!
January 8, 2009 MM to SP
& PC:
Is it possible to park your car
at the gate and walk in? The berm by
the river looks
like you can walk in from there.
I'II take a Zook at it during day
light, but there doesn't look like there
is anyplace to
pump the water to until the
stream goes down There is a
bowl where the pond is forming and I
believe there is
a culvert there that goes into
the stream. With the out flow
currently under river level (I might be
wrong on this,
you two would know) Long
term solution would probably
be to create a detention pond deeper
into the Orchard
area for times when the
stream is too high, this would
get it away from the road.
January 7, 2009 SF to PC & MM:
Patricia, here are the photos from this morning.
Regarding fiu4her flooding (Mike's question), no, I don't think the water will reach my house (or other
buildings on the property) this time around. The "danger" is that I might not be able to drive between my
house and the gate, and get "locked" in without transportation. This morning en route to work, my car
spun through the grassy area between the "pond" and the new stream -side landscaping (left side of the
2nd photo) --very soggy. It was an even bigger struggle coming in after work --almost didn't make it.
The stream is raging now, of course, but it seems to be draining to the Green River pretty well.
On Wed, 7 Jau 2009 ] 8:07:25 -0800 "Mike Miller" <rmnlle_r�a)1it�urn>vp.gov> writes:
Stan, is there any danger of the water reaching your house?
From: Patricia Cosgrove
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 3:29 PM
To: Mike Miller
Cc: 'Stan Flewelling'
Subject: FW: Olson drainage
Mike
Well, we can't pump the water into the stream... Any suggestions?
Patricia
P5, I will send this on to the architects so they can be pondering a long term fix.
_ _ __ __ _ .
From: Stan Flewelling [mailto:flewelling@juno.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 8:39 AM
To: Patricia Cosgrove
Subject: Re: Olson drainage
The situation is much worse this morning. The "pond" covers most of the key drainage area inside the
gate--approx.50 feet in diameter, and about 8 inches deep over some of the new road. I should be able to
exit via the old road, although the grass makes the footing soft. Will by to take pictures when heading
out, but can't download them to my computer until later. If the city has any way to pump the pool over
the edge to the sh•eam, that would help. I used to "trench" over the old road to promote drainage, but that
no longer seems possible. Stan
On Tue, 6 Jan 2009 08:37:50 -0800 "Patricia Cosgrove" <pcosgro��e�auburnwa.go�>> writes:
No insights. Under the drive there are drain pipes that are supposed to keep that from happening. Can you
11/30/2009
Page 5 of 8
take a photo and email it to me? I will send along to our engineer and perhaps when we design the entry and
ticket booth we can do something else to help with that problem.
Thanks, PC
From: Stan Flewelling [mailto:flewelling@juno.com]
Sent: Monday, January O5, 2009 11:25 PM
To: Patricia Cosgrove
Subject: Re: museum lights
... I'm concerned (still) about the drainage situation just inside the Olson gate. I thought the recent stream
work was also going to complete the drainage system underneath the newest road bed and out to the
creek. But the relatively small amount of rain and snow we've had this past week is pooling up over and
around the drainage pipes (like it's done for several years) as if it has nowhere to go. Any insights?
October 8, 2008 SF to PC:
...The rain these past two weeks plus the extra haffic coming through the gate and down the newer
driveway is creating a lot of slick mud that will get much worse during the winter. May I suggest getting
another supply of gravel on the driveway, not only near the gate, but most of the way back to my place?
Is the meadow drainage system now considered complete with the recent stream work?
April 6, 2008 SF to PC:
Update: Since Friday night I've been able to take a closer look. Although some gravel has been applied
to some spots, the worst mud problem areas (inside, outside, and widerneath the gate area) haven't been
touched yet. I assume the golf course guys are aware of this and plan to do more sometime. Thanks for
your help.
Apri15, 2008 SF to PC:
Thanks, Patricia. Got back this evening and it looks like they filled some potholes here and there.
Apri12, 2008 PC to SF:
I will ask the golf course guys if they could bring in some gravel... .
Apri12, 2008 SF to PC:
...Both roadways just inside the gate are pretty beaten up and muddy right now and could use more
gravel.
March 5, 2007 SF to PC:
Is it possible (or already in the plans) to get more gravel on the new road and near the entry gate? As
you've probably noticed, the work on the gate stirred up a lot of mud around the entryway. The new road
has been soggy for nnrch of the winter, and very slippery since the gate work was started. Now I can not
exit or enter the farm without smearing my shoes in mud and caking my vehicle tires.
January 11, 2006 PC to SF:
The flow of water that I saw this morning is to be expected. The drainage is working as designed. The final part
of that project will include removing the old driveway and that cannot happen until we have permits for in -stream
work, perhaps this summer. So, we had to pause in that project 9/10ths of the way through, leaving the old drive
in place. We realized it would form a dam, but there is nothing we can do about that. Unfortunate that we have a
100 year flood during the period between work on that project.
11 /30/2009
Page 6 of 8
January 3, 2006 SF to PC:
... I saw that the drainage "holding pond" area (both sides of the new road, near the gate) was pooling
up considerably. The flooding completely covered a portion of the new road. As the rain subsided, the
pool stayed put. Only today is it receding significantly. The visible ends of the 3 pipes placed
underneath the new road seem clogged with gravel, leaves, etc. I wonder if the new drainage is not
working the way it's supposed to. The lengthy submergence of the new access road especially concerns
me. Anyway, it's something to be aware of.
[END OF COMMUNICATION QUOTES.]
On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:5223 -0800 "Patricia Cosgrove" <pcosgrove r�auburmva.go�>> writes:
Hi Stan
Here are the answers to the best of our ability to your questions. None of these answers are from
experts, so please know we are all just doing the best we can with a potentially difficult situation.
I. Drainage system: Last January, you (Patricia) told me to send pictures of the ponding over the
road near the gate so you could consult with the engineers and work on solutions before the winter
season of 2009-10. Any follow-up or other information?
As I think we mentioned earlier, putting gravel down was their solution. We did this several times last year
and will do it again this year. I was out yesterday and thought perhaps it was time for me to call in a grovel
request —will do later today.
2. Cul��ert: Sometime last spring, someone from King County stopped by to investigate the culvert
under Green River Rd. He said they were concerned that the huge amount of gravel washed by the
heavy rains down Olson Creek had filled the culvert too much, restricting drainage from the
property into the Green River. Any follow-up or other information?
No, we have not heard anything. I know that the culvert is considered small and of the wrong kind —styles
hove changed since it was installed, but it seems unlikely that King County with their budget issues would
initiate any kind of replacement effort for some years to come. I wonder though if the threat of floods
might inspire the agencies in charge (and I don't know who that might be) to move this up in their priority.
3. _S_e_ wage_& drain field: If there is flooding in the orchard, would sewage potentially back up into
my home?
Not likely since you are on n septic system and only the drain field floods. However, if the drain field was
to become snturated to the point that it no longer could function properly and the Conk become full, it could
back up if you continued to use it since it has nowhere to go.
4. Water supper: If there is flooding on the property, would the well water supply potentially be
corrupted?
My understanding is that the well is relatively shallow, 49 feet, so it could be affected by flood saturation.
We have no way to guard against this. There are plans in the works to drill a new well and we just finished
raising funds for that. It is on hold, along with many projects, until the State Department of Archaeology
and Historic Preservation review the results of our archaeological tests and determine that by doing any of
our planned digging (for well, fences, gardens etc) we will not ruin an important site. (BTW, there was
nothing of importance found, except one stone chip of the kind flaked off while making a tool, and it was in
a layer of very contemporary stuff, so it is by law considered on anomaly, not a find.)
11/30/2009
Page 7 of 8
5. Power supply_: If there is flooding on the property, would the power• supply potentially be
interrupted? If I am asked to evacuate, should I shut down the power supply (or any part of it) at
Olson? (I know how to turn off my own home's power supply.)
It is a good idea to secure power to your building if you have to leave. The feed to the farm from the
street is overhead and at the mercy of the power grid.
6. Vandalism: If I am asked to evacuate, there will still be a number of homeless people nearby who
will not receive a phone call alert. (I see them walking and biking along Green River Rd. every
week.) During heavy rains and/or a flood, they will probably be forced to move uphill away fiotn
their campsites, and then they may want to look for dry shelter nearby. Empty, abandoned farm
buildings will probably look quite inviting, and a furnished mobile home even more so. Are there
any plans by the city to add security and patrols when none of the rest of us can get here?
If flooding is extensive, security forces will be deployed to control looting or unauthorized entry into
buildings. Because a very large area will need to be patrolled, I would not count on "absolute" security.
As to the design of fences and gardens curtailing the possible movement of your mobile home, we have
made several assumptions:
1. Last time we changed caretakers, it was desirable for them to keep the same home and avoid the costs
of moving it.
2. Now, years later, the value of the mobile home has decreased to be less thou the cost of moving it, so
the odds of deciding to do that ore low. BTW, it cost well over 20K to move and reconnect the home just
within the farm, so moving it out would cost at least that much.
Thus we did not consider movement of the mobile to be a strong possibility.
As to sandbagging, we have not suggested you do that, because of two things: highly unlikely that water
would reach that far, and sandbagging only works if it is maintained hourly with pumps. This is something I
did not know but learned when we toured the farm with the fire department asking just such questions.
As for the'unplanned pool' that formed at the base of the driveway, if you recall, the entire town of Pacific
was under water and that was n catastrophic flood. We are not in charge or control of such things, and it is
incumbent for you to realize that you must be, as is everyone, responsible for your own welfare and take
appropriate actions. As to the drainage system not working during that time, all I can say is well, it was a
catastrophic flood.
Regarding your being left out of flood preparedness meetings, we had one such staff meeting concerning
the museum, not the form. I met many times with skilled individuals to ascertain the possible or probable '
flooding at the farm and sent you our information and instructions as soon as that information solidified
enough to be of use. You are not left out of anything that is important to your welfare.
Lastly, I did not know you asked for a meeting with me. I am here Monday through Friday 9 to 5. I know
you work but perhaps a late afternoon meeting be possible? Would you like to meet at the farm or the
museum? My schedule is open late afternoon, say 3 or 4, on the 19th, 23`'d and 24ih to name a few.
Patricia Cosgro�-e
Museum and Farm Director
9i8 H Street SE
11 /30/2009
Page 8 of 8
Auburn WA 98002
253 ?SS-7437
�53 931-309`�
pcosgrot�e @ auburmwa,gos�
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received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by reply e-mail. Thank you.
Patricia Cosgrove
J4usetun and Farm Director
9iH H Sh•eet SL
Auburn WA 9800z
z53 288-7437
253 931-309&
pcosgrove a:aubtu•n�wa,gov
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Family Day: The Gift of Art
Small Works, Big Presents is an annual juried art show and sale that includes talented artists from the region. Join
the festivities and watch artist demonstrations, create your own miniature work of art, and more. Free with regular
Museum admission.
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11/30/2009