On Thursday, May 5, 2011, the Yelm Chamber of Commerce sent an e-mail naming Margaret Clapp “Citizen of the Year”.

Margaret Clapp is to be remunerated for the 2nd floor of her building by City of Yelm taxpayers, plus the annual O & M (Operating & Maintenance) expenses paid by TRL for the 20-year bonding period.

Hasn’t the time has come where our Chamber recognizes the unseen and unsung heroes in our community!

So let’s see:
– Margaret Clapp lowers the price by almost 17% (i.e. “donating” $200,000 from $1.2 million to $1 million) of her “condo-concept” to provide the City of Yelm a library on the 2nd floor of her Prairie Park Building, because if the Yelm Library leaves, her building becomes +75% vacant, with the odd shape and size of the 2nd floor a difficult area to otherwise rent. Did she have the price inflated to begin with?
The public was never presented with the appraisal of the 2nd floor space’s value when sold as a condo.

– Clapp MUST be breathing a sigh of relief as she is to receive $1 million from City of Yelm taxpayers for the 2nd floor of her building, saving her from looking to lease the space were the library not there and a potential loss of rental income for many years, since there is so much vacant space in town.

– So the Yelm Chamber Board under direction of their Chair Mayor Ron Harding gave Clapp the “Citizen of the Year”, even though she sells her building’s space, makes a handsome windfall and has operations & maintenance expenses covered for the 20 year term of the bond.
Harding never presented other library locations that he says were considered.

As one Yelm Community Blog reader recently wrote:
“Those of us that can read library books can read between the lines!”

HASN’T THE TIME COME FOR THE “GOOD OLE BOY (AND GIRL)” NETWORK AROUND HERE TO PUT THE PUBLIC’S INTEREST FIRST & ACKNOWLEDGE THIS TOWN’S UNSEEN HEROES, INSTEAD OF EVERY YEAR RECOGNIZING THE TOWN’S INNER CIRCLE?