I find that some of the most brilliant ideas surface when one’s brain is in that dreamy mode, halfway between sleep and waking up completely. At least, that’s the way my own process works.
I also admit that some of my most far-fetched concepts are achieved through the same process. I’ll let you decide which category this one fits into.
First of all, most of you are aware that I find the Seminary Hill Natural Area to be the biggest gem in the city of Centralia. A problem exists, though, in that “Natural Area” is not a permanent designation.
You see, the only way we had as a City Commission back in the early 1980s to declare that jewel a Natural Area was through the process known as an ordinance, which is not a permanent law. All it would take would be for the majority (four members) of a future council to cancel our original ordinance would be to pass another one, declaring the one we passed to be null and void.
We all hope that it would never happen, of course, but we can’t see into the future. With this nation’s unbelievable national debt growing at an equally unbelievable pace, a future depression could cause Centralia to want to sell off the timber, to say nothing of the land itself, just to make payroll. How could this possibility be prevented?
Here’s the Moeller four-step plan and I hope you can follow its convoluted logic. Step No. 1 would be for the city water department — which owns the land — to have a survey made of that land that’s not expected to be needed in its future. My suggestion is that the emphasis of the survey made on the timber because the very terrain suggests that the likelihood of the area turning into a residential development is slim indeed.
Step two would be to determine what the annual payments would be in a sale if it was paid off at an annual rate over, say 20 years. The city council would then collect that same amount, in a form of rent, from the water department, using the reasoning that water lines, wells, pumping stations and reservoirs are on public domain properties without paying any compensation. (I’d have to look up the validity of that statement, but are you following me so far?)
Step three would be for the city council to then enrich the parks department’s annual budget by that same amount, and step four is, obviously, having the park department then purchase the land using that new, yearly budget. So, the water department gets its money back and the parks department — which would then own the land — could then legally declare the Natural Area to be a bona fide park and protect its existence permanently.
I also envision the entire transition might even be accomplished without any actual cash flow between the three entities involved because the whole thing is a revolving circle. Just keep track of it in the books. The only actual cost would be the original price of the survey itself.
I’m well aware that most readers will consider all of the foregoing to be just another wild vision of that ancient hippy who must have inhaled more than he should have back in the 1960s. I deny that, because my actual intake was only a little bit on this side of nonexistence, but I do plead guilty to having an overactive 5 a.m. imagination!
One more thought which has nothing at all to do with the previous topic; while watching the Seahawks play recently I got to wondering how many years has it been since any of us saw that old “Statue of Liberty” play in football? Sure, the double reverse has taken its place, but some of the elegance and surprise has been lost. Hasn’t it?
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Bill Moeller is a former entertainer, mayor, bookstore owner, city council member, paratrooper and pilot living in Centralia. He can be reached at bookmaven321@comcast.net.
