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implementation requires action by the Department of Ecology. Before the 

 Director of Ecology was the Chair, Ecology would send a mid-level 

 manager. Now the Director attends in person and there is much higher 

 commitment to implementation. Those who don't like the arrangement 

 claim that it makes it difficult for the Authority to comment critically on 

 Ecology's actions, even though that may be important to the success of the 

 program. 



There is confusion about whether the Authority's plan is mandatory: some 

 parts of the statute seem to say one thing, one another. So the Authority's 

 real work is to persuade others to implement its program. The Authority 

 has been successful in getting the legislature to commit $45,000,000 of 

 cigarette tax money to be used exclusively for water quality programs. 

 $1,000,000 of cigarette tax money is available for fxmding local entities to 

 engage in public involvement activities. 



There is a massive public involvement program. There is one public 

 involvement person assigned to each of the twelve counties, with each of 

 these people responsible for building relatior\ships with the stakeholders 

 in those counties and being on top of issues in the counties that could 

 affect water quality. Other stciff are assigned by constituency. The staff 

 have found from experience that state- wide organizations do not 

 necessarily represent the sentiments of the members. There are also 

 advisory groups covering numerous topics. 



The current staff consists of 25 full-time employee plus some contractors. 

 Staff levels have been as high as 35 in the past. 



Final Draft - September 15, 1993 97 



