HomeMy WebLinkAboutMoAMEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
ON BEHALF OF KITTITAS COUNTY, A MEMBER
OF THE EVERGREEN FOREST COUNTY GROUP
A Rural Public Lands County Council Affiliate
2019
I. PARTIES
This Memorandum of Agreement is by and between Robert K. Weidner,
hereinafter "Weidner", with offices in the Washington, D.C. area and Kittitas County,
hereinafter "the County".
II. RESPONSIBILITIES
Pursuant to the tenns of this Memorandum of Agreement, Weidner will serve as
Washington, D. C. government relation's advisor to Kittitas 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
mat f rs, which affe ct member counti es . ,. his will involve ananging
m eeti ngs fo t o fficja l o; of the memb er count ies with official s of these
departments as necessary; the preparation of testimony and briefing
papers; assisting in devising strategy; t h implementation of t hat sn;at egy
with resp ect to Hou se and en ate C ommittees ; and lia is on work wi t h key
committee m em'bers of the {ou se an d e nate Co mmittees a we ll a
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.
ID. 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 $10,000.00 in January of 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.
A ~ Cf -,~ l 8 ~ --·-----·--------------../.-------
Date
Date
Evergreen Fore st County Group
10648 Canterberry Road
Fairfax Station, VA 22039
703 8 98-6603
rkw57@mac.com
January 1, 2019
INVOICE
2019 County Annual Dues for Public Land, Environment &
Natural Resources Work by Robert K. Weidner on behalf of
Kittitas County in Washington D.C.
Amount Due: $10,000.00
Please note the following new information & make check payable
to:
Robert K Weidner
Chartwell Enterprises
W-9 S Corp. 47-2716989
Many Thanks!
Evergreen Forest County Group
September 20, 2018 OCT -5 ~ri·
Dear Commissioner:
I am pleased to report on the successful work of our lobbyist, Bob Weidner and
urge your support of his efforts on our behalf going forward. Here's why:
It was Bob's work lobbying with the National Forest Counties and Schools
Coalition throughout 2016, 2017 and 2018 that first devised the plan and then
provided the votes from members of Congress in both parties to pass that bill.
It was Bob Weidner who first identified the linkage between SRS payments and
PIL T payments back in 2005. It was he who continued to raise the issue until
those in power finally listened and came to understand that failure to fund SRS
would result in a dramatic shift in PIL T payments west wide simply because of
the way the PIL T formula is written. That problem still exists.
The reality is that 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
wild 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. All credible science validates this reality.
Our work now is to persuade Congress to solve the management problem, make
sure that increased forest management provides the revenues to counties and
jobs for our communities and lest we forget, once again gain Congressional
support for Secure Rural Schools (SRS) funding. Bob is already working with
the Congress to resolve outstanding issues regarding SRS Title's 1,11, Ill
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,
Bob is working on a plan to determine whether active management alone will
actually offset SRS payments to counties in the aggregate and on a state by
state, forest by forest, county by county basis.
Bob met in early September with House Energy and Commerce Committee
Chairman Greg Walden (R-Oregon), Chairman Bishop and others to put this
strategy in place. Remember it was Walden who found the SRS offset needed to
pay for SRS funding along with Washington Representatives Cathy McMorris
Rodgers, Dan Newhouse and Jaime Herrera Beutler who persuaded GOP
Speaker Paul Ryan to agree to include SRS in the March 22, Omnibus
Appropriations bill.
Going forward Bob is working on:
• Active National Forest Management and more aggressive timber harvests;
• Making certain that once active National Forest management reforms
pass that they provide revenue to counties equal to or greater than current
SRS payments;
·• Organizing the next effort to extend SRS and PIL T payments;
• Endangered Species Act reform including a revision to the Northwest
Forest Plan;
• 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 recognizes a county government's unique responsibility to protect the
health and safety of its citizens during negotiations with federal agencies
over any major federal action.
The record of success speaks for itself. I urge your continued financial support
for Bob's work in Washington on behalf of our National Forest counties. <i!y,
Doug ;;land, Chelan County
Chairman Evergreen Forest County Group