Citizen advisory committees are an important component of local control and self-governance.

The vast majority of these types of committees are made up of volunteers that come from all across the community usually with a background or a passion for the subject matter at hand.

I have served on a number of such committees. Currently I am one of seven that serves on the Bremerton Parks and Recreation Commission. This is why I have considerable empathy and dismay for the situation that the Kitsap County Parks Advisory Board currently finds itself in.

This month it was revealed that the county is very close to selling a large 220-acre property to the Suquamish Tribe for $1.475 million. The Parks Advisory Board found out about the pending sale in the exact same manner that the rest of the county did which was through local press coverage.

The very deliberate circumvention of the Parks Advisory Board by Parks Director Jim Dunwiddie in regards to this property and its sale does considerable damage and disservice to the direct voice of the community that such a committee provides. A decision such as this undermines the trust that citizens have in transparency and departmental accountability.

By personally having a seat at the table of what has been a full years’ worth of hard and frank discussions on city parks operations, expenses and funding I can tell you that they struggle. Parks are struggling all over the region. Viewed by many as a “want” instead of a “need” parks funding is typically one of the first to be cut and the last to be restored.

Community green spaces, once gone are hard if not impossible to gain back. The sale of surplus parks properties at any level are not decisions that should be made behind closed administration only doors. These are properties that belong to the public. The public deserves full disclosure, representation and stewardship at every point in the process.

Commissions and advisory committees involved with parks, green spaces and outdoor recreation are set within governing policy for specific purposes.  These groups need the room, the information and the freedom to review and construct the recommendations that they have been entrusted with.

They do not need to be circumvented, left in the dark, undermined and or torn apart before they have had the full opportunity to review all of the data, all of the options and put forth their official recommendations.

My thanks to those who serve on the Kitsap County Parks Advisory Board. I would encourage the Kitsap County Commissioners to call into question the decision that was made to exclude the board from reviewing and weighing in on the sale of the property, who made it and why.

I would also recommend that they put forth a correction that it does not happen again.

Colleen Smidt is a longtime resident of the Bremerton area and writes weekly about political and community issues. Email her at colleensmidt@gmail.com.