Charlie's Angles

At the last meeting of the Kitsap County commissioners one of the department heads referred to “ADA compliance” in a presentation, at which time South Kitsap Commissioner Charlotte Garrido stopped him and asked for clarification. He was, it turned out, referring to the American Disabilities Act.
The county has reduced a lot of service lately, but this exchange reminded us of another program that was eviscerated by budget woes: The informal fine for county employees who used acronyms without explaining them at their first mention.
The practice served a dual purpose, to clear up the foggy alphabet soup brewed at your average government meetings while raising a little money for charity. For approximately two years, the commissioners collected between $30 and $70 a month, giving the proceeds to a local charity that was designated at the beginning of the cycle.
Collecting the money was the responsibility of the PIO (the Public Information Officer) and was supervised by Terrie O’Neal, Lisa Holmer, PJ Ramos and Clarence Moriwaki. But when Moriwaki was laid off two years ago–one of the first employees to feel the budget axe–the program was abandoned.
With this, the county lost an important revenue stream; one that would have generated more than $1200 during this time period. If this wasn’t enough to support hiring another Sheriff’s Deputy, it would have financed enough donuts in order for deputies to feel better about doing their jobs.
This was actually a visionary policy, as it was implemented prior to the social networking practice of overusing notations like LOL in our communications. Imagine if there was a way to tax this jargon. Budgets would be healthier, and people would be smarter. Or at least easier to understand.
We hear a lot about “creative solutions.” This one’s as creative as it gets: Impose a county-wide fine on acronyms, and pump the money into the general fund.
Got a better idea? Contact your leaders, or post here for suggestions how to SOS before we’re SOL.