Beavers and the budget highlighted discussion at the Nov. 12 Bainbridge Island City Council meeting.

Councilmembers were at loggerheads over beavers, some wondering why it was even on the budget.

Mayor Joe Deets said he wanted to discuss the importance of beavers regarding the climate. “We have a critter that is going to do our work for us” improving water quality, he said. “It’s a flawed policy to get rid of them.” He made a motion for the city to research what could be done to protect beavers and their habitat. The council could decide then if it wanted to “shoot the whole thing down.”

Councilmember Clarence Moriwaki dammed up the issue, saying it was only supposed to be a discussion item, and at the “last minute we are being asked to make a decision on the spot. It’s not good, predictable government.” This was just discussed at their last meeting (regarding a grant for affordable housing). City staff is busy so work just can’t be piled on, he said. “Our staff is fully booked.”

He added that the issue should be “flushed out by us,” and they shouldn’t do “something on the fly.”

Councilmember Brenda Fantroy-Johnson agreed, saying they should discuss it at a future meeting. “This is not the correct way.”

She said it’s the type of issue that the Planning Commission and Critical Areas Committee should weigh in on. Moriwaki mentioned public input, too, and property owners. And Councilmember Leslie Schneider said the Climate Change Advisory Committee could “do some work we would ask staff to do.”

State Fish and Wildlife biologist Adam Samara opened the discussion talking about beaver regulations. More activity has been seen after bridge and roundabout construction. Beaver dams are causing flooding, and permits are needed to deal with them. “They are beloved and challenging creatures to be around,” Samara said.

Schneider said she didn’t know beavers were such a threat that permits were needed to take care of them.

Deputy mayor Ashley Mathews said she sees issues with protecting an animal that sometimes conflicts with housing.

Councilmember Jon Quitslund said rather than preserve them some property owners have issues with destruction they cause. But society needs to tolerate them because of the good they do with habitat management, he said. “They set a good example of ingenuity Americans are supposed to be proud of.”

Deets withdrew his motion for more discussion and public input later.

Budget

No one spoke at the second public hearing on the budget, so there was little discussion as the council had discussed it in-depth in previous meetings.

City manager Blair King assured the council that the general fund will not be just $133,000 in the good at year’s end. “It will not be that tight.”

Deets said while many cities in Puget Sound are making big cuts the BI budget is balanced, and there won’t be any layoffs. “Budget times are tough unfortunately,” he said. “We’ve had to say no to a lot of folks. That’s not fun.”

He and Moriwaki said if more money is brought in they’d like to see a police officer hired.

Moriwaki applauded that the city didn’t have to dip into reserves. “If we lost all our money today, we could still operate for three months.” He said while each department made cuts, it was not as bad as expected. “This budget was supposed to go south this year.”

Schneider said the council, despite belt tightening, still was able to do “many, many projects that show a commitment to our values.”

The only question on the budget came from Quitslund. He said Housing Resources Bainbridge told him BI is way behind on spending commitments to affordable housing. In the budget, he sees the funds but not the specific projects they are committed to. In the budget it says the funds are restricted. So while plans are making progress, funding isn’t.

King said there are four revenue sources for affordable housing, and they are all restricted because they depend on how much money is brought in through things like sales taxes and some committed to the city housing project at the site of the former police building. What critics really are saying is that enough is not going to affordable housing from the general fund, King said, because of so many other priorities there.