Mason County commissioners discussed responses to a letter from the City of Bremerton about extending sewer service in the Belfair area and asked county staff to prepare concrete feasibility information and numerical benchmarks before further negotiations. Commissioners flagged the need to clarify costs, easements and the extent of any revenue-sharing arrangement before meeting again with Bremerton.

Commissioner Ned Netherland (first reference) argued the county must develop its own feasibility analysis and specific terms before returning to negotiating sessions. "We currently have a sewer system extension up there that all we have is a utility easement for part of it ... we have a 1 and a half million dollar, pump station, lift station on a piece of property we never even closed," he said, urging staff work to assemble the facts and costs that would be the county's negotiating baseline.

Staff and commissioners agreed to hold a focused work session to compile the commission's priorities, numbers and potential deal points. The county prompted that each commissioner share their proposed negotiation points within about a week so staff could assemble a packet for a meeting tentatively scheduled for either Aug. 20 or Aug. 22 (commission availability dependent). "It sounds to me like ... Commissioner Netherland has some concrete ideas ... Would it be useful to take a week to get what Commissioner Netherland believes would be a good starting point ... I could distribute that to the other commissioners so that there could be a basis for conversation for the meeting," a county staffer said.

Discussion topics included: whether Bremerton's proposed cost-sharing or connection charges (previously discussed percentages) are acceptable to Mason County; the county's current system capacity (described during the briefing as a 250,000‑gallon system expandable to 1 million gallons); outstanding easement and property-closure issues for existing lift stations; and the need for feasibility/engineering studies to ground any negotiations. A staff member reminded the commissioners that outside entities such as the Port of Bremerton had told the county they would want a feasibility study before committing resources.

No formal decision to enter a specific agreement was made; commissioners instructed staff to prepare a briefing packet with numeric options and to schedule a work session to finalize a negotiating stance. Commissioners emphasized the need for facts and financial analysis before pursuing a framework with Bremerton.

Ending: Staff will compile feasibility estimates, cost scenarios and the commissioner's suggested deal points for a dedicated work session; county staff will then use the commissioners' agreed baseline in follow-up discussions with the City of Bremerton.