Community members address fifth levy attempt, media opportunities at YCS meeting

During a Yelm Community Schools (YCS) Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, Aug. 13, three area-residents used the “community comments” portion of the meeting to speak on the district’s fifth run at a levy, and a potential media opportunity.
First, William Gunstrom, former YHS campus security, spoke on the upcoming levy attempt, set at a rate of $1.50 per $1,000 assessed home value.

“But do you honestly think that there’s a single vote in Yelm that sat there and said ‘I voted no four times for this levy, but now that it’s at $1.50 and they promised nothing, I’m going to vote yes this time?’” Gunstrom questioned. “There’s predominantly two groups of people voting no on this levy. Group one feels that they’ve been taxed, overtaxed locally, federally and by the states so much that they can’t afford things. You could lower this levy to a nickel and they’re never going to vote for it.”

Gunstrom claimed that group two feels the same way about taxes but also feels that YCS is wasting the taxpayer money as well.

“This group might vote yes if you guys can show that you’re being good stewards to their money,” Gunstrom said. “You can start by stopping playing games. You’re an educator. How much money do we actually need to run the schools? Figure that out and then run it on the levy. So when you jump around from $2.25 to $1.75 to $1.50, all you’re doing is making the community mad and showing that you don’t know what we’re spending our money on. Stop this, ‘oh, golly gee, we might think about discussing having a committee about whatever.’ No. Pick five things that you can guarantee will come back if the levy passes and then run it.”

Specifically, Gunstrom told Chris Woods, YCS superintendent, to go out into the community with information about the levy — rather than requiring members of the community to attend board meetings.

“Anybody that’s going to that meeting has already made up their mind,” Gunstrom said. “You failed four levies and have a vote of no confidence. You need to get out and ask for our support. They let signature gatherers sit at a desk at Walmart. You should be there with the facts… talking to voters, answering tough questions.”

Jason Lane, a second speaker on the topic of the upcoming levy, first thanked Woods and board members for their time. Lane also told them that he’d be short and sweet with his time at the podium.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result,” Lane said. “You guys are going on five levies now — four have failed. It might be time to start looking at the state of Washington to get more money rather than the taxpayers in this city.”

The third speaker of the evening was E. Wyatt Mendel, who spoke to Woods and board members about a potential media opportunity with Tony Taylor, who has one of the biggest local podcasts, “Leaders Lead Even When It Hurts.”

Mendel said normally the podcast and Taylor will welcome politicians to get their opinions on the record, but he was able to lobby on Yelm’s behalf to organize either one large meeting or a series of short meetings.

“I think it would be best to get opposing view points from the board — one who’s a yay and one who’s a nay,” Mendel said. “I can be there to do my best and fact check you guys.”

Mendel views this as a good opportunity for YCS as he claims there is only so much “you can get from a newspaper article.”
On a separate topic, Mendel said that the safety and security of students should always be the utmost priority before the district can accomplish anything else.

“I was inspired to see our local businesses step up and offer security, also on a voluntary basis,” Mendel said, in reference to YARD Security Services offering to assist the district with security.

Lastly, Mendel spoke on the topic of James Ruiz, the ex-YCS bus driver arrested by the FBI on charges of first-degree child molestation, first-degree rape of a child and first-degree possession of depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Mendel said he has read the paperwork and believes there were a few signs that might’ve been looked past when hiring Ruiz.

“The biggest one that stood out to me was why is this guy — with multiple Corvettes — so adamant about being a school bus driver for kids? I’m not saying we should discriminate, but we should certainly scrutinize when it comes to the security of students,” Mendel said.

Editors Note: The original publication of this story mistakenly cited the second paragraph to YCS Superintendent Chris Woods. This quote was intended to be attributed to William Gunstrom, who was speaking at the podium during the community comments portion of the meeting. The Nisqually Valley News apologizes for this error.