Editor,

On Aug. 22, I attended the Island Transit board of directors meeting to learn more about why Island Transit found itself with $0 in the bank and had to borrow $850,000 to pay its employees and $1.3 million to pay off its remaining cost share of the new IT facility.

As I walked from the parking lot to the lobby of the IT facility to the Rose conference room where the meeting was held, I viewed nothing but outrageous decadence for a transit maintenance facility.

Outside the facility, I viewed an “artsy,” clearly pricey bench, gazebos, atrium workout facility and fancy concrete sidewalk.

Inside, I viewed extravagant woodwork, floor-to-ceiling artwork and the state-of-the-art Rose conference room where the meeting was held.

As I waited for the meeting to begin, it all became instantly clear to me how IT management managed to spend over $410 per square foot on this facility. What a shameful betrayal of the public trust and waste of $23.2 million hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

During the meeting, I was shocked by:

• Island Transit’s executive director and board of directors’ casual, “business as usual” attitude while discussing applying for millions of dollars in state grants to cover four years of gross mismanagement of the Island Transit facility.

• The board of directors’ request to the executive director to provide them financials they could understand. What in the world have they been doing for the past four years?

• Island Transit’s six-year plan, which is centered on spending more money than their tax revenue will produce to the tune of $1 million a year.

Island Transit is a necessary and important service that must be saved. In my opinion, however, not one additional dime of state grant money should be awarded to Island Transit until it has gotten its managerial and financial house in order.

A national search should be conducted effective immediately to replace the current management with an experienced, proven executive whose philosophy is to provide effective service within Island County’s needs and means.

Julie Lauderdale

Coupeville