Triumvirate

I'm still puzzling over a three questions that came out of the meeting on Thursday.

The first: When it was brought up, Jim Peterson expressed lack of knowledge about the problems in the fly loft. This information was clearly explained in my report, which he said he had read. The issue of the water pipes built across the fly loft were clearly explained in an email I sent to him on October 4. I followed it up a couple of days later with a cd of pictures of the problems that I gave to his secretary, Theresa. The problem of the sprinkler pipe at the top of the loft was document in an series of emails that he was copied on from myself, Jim Meland with the architect and the Cascade Fire Protection people starting on February 5th. There is an email where Theresa relays Jim's instructions, so there is little doubt that he was appraised. I just don't understand why he would "forget" about any problem that was a serious barrier to the use of the building as intended.

The second: Dr. Van Ausdle made the statement "We haven't de-commissioned China Pavilion." There was nothing in my report about China Pavilion being taken out of service. Where had this question come from? All three of us responded to the effect that the HVAC system had been off completely for the first month of the quarter. We had no janitorial service for a couple of weeks and now, only weekly walk throughs to empty the trash and check the bathroom papers. Kevin, when faced with complaints from the students of the building being cold, had to ask Matt Graves to turn it on, which was done on October 19. Dr. Van Ausdle turned to Jim Peterson and asked "was it?" Jim's response was unclear. He said it was on during the summer for the costumer, but was turned off during the period of no occupancy to save energy. He didn't comment on the school year.

I received an email from Cathy Nelson yesterday with signups for the Safety Committee elections. It basically said that there could be one nominee from each building, and the 12 who received the most votes would be the committee members. It said that if no one had signed up for a particular building you could write in a name. This was sort of exciting, as I have always had an interest in safety issues, and I didn't figure that anyone would be signed up for China Pavilion yet. The attachment had a list of the buildings on campus, and the safety committee nominee for each building.

China Pavilion was not listed as a building. Interesting.

The third: During the meeting yesterday, during Dr. Van Ausdle's tirade, during any other meeting or discussion I've had on the subject, the question has never come up as to whether I might be wrong about some of the facts. Dr. Van Ausdle did say that I was wrong to write the report, and therefore make vulnerable the leadership of the college and "their" architect, but he didn't refute anything (except for his comment on the de-commissioning of China Pavilion, which I had not written about.) So no one is arguing with what I said, just my right to say it.

It's my understanding that I work for the State of Washington. That's who administers the payroll system that issues my compensation checks. The State of Washington has a number of agencies, one of which is the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, and the State Board administers and funds Walla Walla Community College.

That makes Walla Walla Community College a State Agency, and therefore a public institution. Public institutions are open to public scrutiny, and it is my understanding that any and all records of public institutions are open to public inspections, except in the case of personnel records, student records and information pertaining to national security. Which means that any member of the public can come in and ask to see how their money has been spent, and given reasonable expense and effort rules, must be given access to these records.
This is taken from the Access Washington Web Site:

Washington law (Chapter 42.56 RCW) requires that identifiable public records be made available promptly to members of the public for inspection and copying upon request. Only records that are exempt by law may be withheld from disclosure. . . .

These exemptions are generally intended to prevent invasion of privacy and the use of public records for personal, commercial or political gain.