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Personal Services Agreement with Robert Weidner BEFORE THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS LEWIS COUNTY, WASHINGTON IN THE MATTER OF ) Approving a Personal Services Agreement ) RESOLUTION NO 19- 0414 Between Lewis County and Robert K Weidner ) WHEREAS, Lewis County has agreed to join a group of six other Washington Counties who support the Evergreen Forest County Group, and who have enlisted the services of Mr Weidner in Washington, D C , and WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) has reviewed a Personal Services Agreement between Lewis County and Robert K Weidner, dba Evergreen Forest County Group, Fairfax, Virginia, for services for Lewis County as they relate to public lands, environment and natural resources in conjunction with Secure Rural Schools funding, and, WHEREAS, it appears to be in the best public interest to authorize the execution of the Agreement for Lewis County, NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Agreement between Lewis County and Robert K Weidner, dba Evergreen Forest County Group, in the amount of $15,000 00 is hereby approved and the Chair of the BOCC is authorized to sign the same The Agreement shall remain in effect from January 1, 2019 until December 31 2019 DONE IN OPEN SESSION this 11th day of February 2019 APPROVED AS TO FORM : * A -D OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Jonat an L Meyer, Prosecuting Attorney LE IS COU )7W IN TON By Civil Deputy Robert C Jackson, Chair ATTEST Gary Stam r, ice Ch it Alor ieva Lester, Clerk of the Lewis County Edna J Fund, Commissioner Board of County Commissioners ccoUN v. • • tr, W • • i SINCE \i o• ON � 1845 R,, z: •* �� **: •.� is • •••G7ONS15c � MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT ON BEHALF OF LEWIS COUNTY,A MEMBER OF THE EVERGREEN FOREST COUNTY GROUP A Rural Public Lands County Council Affiliate 2019 PARTIES This Memorandum of Agreement is by and between Robert K Weidner, hereinafter"Weidner", with offices in the Washington, D C area and Lewis County, hereinafter "the County" H. RESPONSIBILITIES Pursuant to the terms of this Memorandum of Agreement,Weidner will serve as Washington, D.0 government relation's advisor to Lewis County and other counties of the Evergreen Forest County Group hereinafter "Evergreen" In this role,Weidner will report to and receive guidance from Evergreen Group Members & Commissioners of participating counties including A Monitoring and information gathering with the Administration and Congress with respect to matters in which the counties may have interest Specifically,Weidner will closely monitor and provide information on matters affecting public lands within member counties B Lobbying Congress and departments of the executive Branch of the government including the Department of the Interior, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Agriculture with respect to matters,which affect member counties This will involve arranging meetings for officials of the member counties with officials of these departments as necessary, the preparation of testimony and briefing papers, assisting in devising strategy, the implementation of that strategy with respect to House and Senate Committees, and liaison work with key committee members of the House and Senate Committees as well as Committee staff C In addition to those activities described in "B" above, this will include working with members and staffs of relevant Congressional Committees on an on-going basis on behalf of member counties D Providing regular briefings to the Evergreen Executive Committee and member counties following the guidelines set forth by the Executive Committee E Provide periodic updates on issues and activities,which affect Evergreen member counties III. DURATION This Memorandum of Agreement shall remain in effect from January 1, 2019 until December 31, 2019 However either party may cancel this contract on sixty days notice without cause IV FEES PLEASE MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO Robert K. Weidner In consideration of the above-referenced services to be performed by Weidner,the County agrees to pay Weidner$15,000 00 in February 2019 Should this contract be terminated early, pursuant to the provision of III, above, and then compensation for Weidner's services shall be computed based upon the number of hours actually expended by Weidner multiplied by an hourly rate of$250 00 per hour Provided, however,that in no event shall the fees incurred exceed the total amount stated above unless agreed to by the two parties obe Weidner Date Ai/ /6/4;frpit'--- j/-19 On behalf of Lewis County Date Dear Commissioner I am pleased to report on the work of our lobbyist, Bob Weidner Bob is responsible for working the corridors of power on both sides of the aisle and making certain that when the time came to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Payment in Lieu of Taxes programs, that counties in Washington and across the country actually had the votes to pass the bill that became the law of the land and provided your SRS and PILT payments in 2018 It may surprise you to know that when the roll call votes were taken in the House and Senate in March of this year, the vote was close. It was Bob's work with the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition throughout 2016, 2017 and 2018 that provided the votes from members of Congress in both parties from other states to pass the Omnibus funding measure which honored the age-old Congressional commitment and contained money to operate each of our counties. This is the reason Washington's rural counties have hired a lobbyist, a good one who has identified and put together coalitions of like-minded groups in Washington, D C Bob has reached out to Congressional leaders in both parties to keep SRS and PILT a bi-partisan program It was Bob Weidner who first identified the linkage between SRS payments and PILT payments back in 2005 It was he who continued to raise the issue until the National Association of Counties finally listened and invited the Department of the Interior Budget Office to verify that indeed failure by Congress to reauthorize SRS would result in a dramatic shift in PILT payments but not enough to hold traditional timber producing counties harmless simply because of the way the PILT formula is written This problem has not gone away even with this year's successful Congressional action on March 23, 2018. We would all prefer that timber receipts, local job creation in the forest products industry rather than SRS payments make up the revenue source in our National Forest Counties Yet. as currently structured even if the environmental restrictions which impede management of our National Forests were to be lifted, Congress still has yet to change forest management accounting so that counties can share in 25% of the receipts generated as was promised in the 1908 Compact between the Theodore Roosevelt Administration Forest Service and the current Forest Service In other words we do not know that active forest management alone will offset SRS payments The reality is that in timber sales on National Forest lands dropped from a high in 1989 of nearly 12 billion board feet (bbf) to only 2 bbf in 2017 The increase in forest fires. which now annually threaten to consume us, is a direct result of Congress's failure to continue those sales and actively manage our National Forests We all know it Our work now is to once again gain Congressional support for Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funding We are already working with the Congress to resolve outstanding issues regarding SRS Title's 1.11, III payments. attempting to stop the ongoing ramp-down of SRS funding and easing the appointment of RAC members under Title II of the SRS Act. Longer term, we are working with the Forest Service to determine just how much money increased active National Forest management as proposed in the Westerman bill will actually generate and whether those receipts offset SRS payments both in the aggregate and on a state by state, forest by forest, county by county basis Of course, all of this impacts county PILT payments We think knowing this is essential and will help the Congress understand that it needs to keep SRS in place. at least until we devise a way to accurately offset SRS payments with timber receipts from both traditional timber sales and stewardship contracts Bob Weidner has developed a strategy to find out the answer to those questions Together with Commissioners from across Washington State and the West, Evergreen Group continues to lead I am pleased to report that under our direction Bob is also working on' • Endangered Species Act reform • Regulatory relief for mining: • Revenue sharing legislation for renewable energy modeled after the existing geothermal 25% revenue sharing plan with counties, • Educating each county on "Coordination" tools which empower counties and demand respect of federal agencies for any major federal action, • Making certain that all National Forest Counties receive 25% of receipts generated from all activity on National Forest lands, • Protecting historic road access for counties on National Forest and other public lands Sincerely, Doug England, Chelan County, Chairman Evergreen Group Evergreen Forest County Group 10648 Caiiterberry Road Fairfax Station, VA 22039 703 898-6603 rkw5 i rnac.com January 25, 2019 INVOICE 2019 County Annual Dues for Public Land, Environment & Natural Resources Work by Robert K Weidner on behalf of Lewis County in Washington D C Amount Due: $15,000.00 Please make check payable to. Robert K. Weidner ChartwelI Enter prizes W-9 S Corp 47-2716989 10648 Canterberry Road Fairfax Station, VA 22039 BOCC AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Resolution. BOCC Meeting Date Feb 11, 2019 Suggested Wording for Agenda Item Agenda Type Consent Approving a Personal Services Agreement between Lewis County and Robert K. Weidner Contact BOCC Phone Department Board of County Commissioners Action Needed. Approve Resolution Description Robert K Weidner will serve as Washington, D C government relation's adviser to Lewis County and other counties of the Evergreen Forest County Group In this role, Weidner will report to and receive guidance from Evergreen Group Members & Commissioners of participating counties This Resolution is a renewal agreement with Robert K. Weidner to act on behalf of Lewis County in Washington, D C for Public Lands, Environment&Natural Resources in conjunction with continued Secure Rural Schools funding This personal services agreement in the amount of$15,000 00 will authorize payment to Weidner to monitor and provide information on matters affecting public lands within member counties for 2019 Approvals: User Group Status Metcalf,Josh Public Works Pending Eisenberg, Eric Prosecutor Pending Cover Letter To Josh Metcalf,Tim Fife,Kim Amrine, Laura Miller and Shannon Foister Additional Copies Josh Metcalf,Tim Fife, Kim Amrine, Laura Miller and Shannon Foister