Newcastle man Michael Mockovak — who pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder — appeared in court Feb. 18 for a case setting hearing. Another case setting hearing has been scheduled for May 27.

King County prosecutors said in charging papers that Mockovak, an eye surgeon for Clearly Lasik, sought to have his business partner, Joseph King, and former Clearly Lasik President Brad Klock killed.

After his arrest, Mockovak paid his $2 million bail. Although he remains out of prison while he awaits trial, he is prohibited from contacting King and his family, and Klock and his family.

The state Department of Health also suspended Mockovak’s medical license.

Apollo Elementary School Principal Marla Erath will be the next principal of Newcastle Elementary School.

Erath will start at Newcastle in July, and the news was announced in a letter sent to families March 3.

“This was a very difficult decision for me to make. I will miss everyone at Apollo tremendously,” Erath wrote. “However, I am following an important life lesson that we try to teach all of our students: Challenge and change are often necessary for growth and fresh perspectives.

“I believe this is not only an opportunity for both me to continue growth professionally, but for Apollo Elementary to continue to grow and develop as well.

“While I am excited for my new professional adventure in life, I will always carry my time here at Apollo in my heart.”

Erath will start her new position at Newcastle Elementary in July.

In February, Newcastle Principal Christy Otley announced she would resign from her school to take the principal position at Grand Ridge Elementary School in the Issaquah Highlands. Grand Ridge Principal Barbara Walton will retire at the end of this school year.

The bill (SB 6858) generally proposes that local school districts have their levy lid decreased, meaning less local school taxes. In exchange, the state would increase its property tax rate by a corresponding amount.For the average taxpayer, there would be precious little difference. A different government agency would be taking about the same amount of money from the same pocket.

However, there are some obvious benefits. First is that the state would finally begin to live up to its responsibility to fund education. The extra funding might even be able to jump-start last year’s effort that redefined basic education but did not identify funding for it.

Second, it could reduce local school districts’ dependence on passing a levy every few years just to be able to pay their teachers.

While voters, at least in King County, have been generous, it would only take one failed measure to cripple a district.

We imagine that most school districts would welcome knowing that they have a stable, reliable funding source instead of having to go out hat in hand every third or fourth year.

But the idea also raises some questions. First, how much of the money sent to Olympia would actually find its way back to the local Renton and Issaquah districts? When the state is battling a once-in-a-generation budget problem, it might be tempting for legislators to use some fiscal tricks to help fund other budget priorities. It’s been done before.

Co-sponsor Sen. Cheryl Pflug (R- 5th district) says that almost two-thirds of districts would receive more funds. What about the other third? We’re not sure how the math works that such a large proportion of districts would get more money without someone, somewhere getting substantially less. Pflug’s bill could be a good step toward the state taking responsibility for its share of funding, but the devil is in the details.

The Newcastle Library, which will be at the corner of Newcastle Way and 129th Avenue Southeast, will be 11,000 square feet with several distinguishing features, including a grand entryway. Drawing contributed by KCLS

King County Library System officials released detailed plans for the Newcastle Library last month. The library will be 11,000 square feet with 44 parking stalls, and most of the stalls will be in an underground parking garage beneath the library.

The inside of the library will contain several distinguishing features, including a grand entryway and a meeting room with a retractable wall that can be opened to allow for more reading space for patrons. The Snoqualmie and Sammamish libraries both feature similar meeting rooms with retractable walls.

The new library will also include electronic return machines, which have become commonplace at KCLS libraries. On the outside, the library design calls for a green roof, which will help insulate the building and absorb water, reducing runoff.

The library system will still co-develop the site — at the southeast corner of the intersection of Newcastle Way and 129th Avenue Southeast — with developer Lorig Associates, which plans to build apartment units.

The library and the apartment units will be in two separate buildings separated by a parking lot, with the library on the north end of the site, abutting the intersection of Newcastle Way and 129th Avenue Southeast, and the apartments on the south end.

The site was originally designed to include a single, multiuse building containing both the library and Lorig’s apartments, but Lorig had difficulty financing its portion of the project. This prompted KCLS officials to split the project into two phases, so it could construct the library independently without waiting for Lorig to get financing for its portion.

The original agreement between the library system and Lorig called for Lorig to manage the entire project, but the change in plans shifted responsibility to the respective parties for their individual portions.

KCLS officials said they hope to apply for their building permits this spring, receive the permits this summer and break ground this fall, ideally by September. They said construction would likely take a year, yielding a fall 2011 opening.

Now, library system officials are working on a new agreement with Lorig to establish a deadline by when Lorig must have funding for its portion of the project. KCLS officials would not comment on the new timeline with negotiations ongoing. However, if Lorig ultimately fails to find financing by the next deadline and KCLS does not grant the developer an extension, the agreement would dissolve.

KCLS officials said if the agreement dissolves, they would likely search for another partner to use the remaining space on their land.

In September 2004, King County residents voted in favor of a $172 million bond measure to expand and maintain the county library system. This involved providing improvements to all libraries in the county, as well as constructing a library in Newcastle.

Construction on the library was slated to begin in 2006.

In spring 2005, library system officials began discussing a possible joint development with the city at the current City Hall site. However, that fall, KCLS secured its current location, next to Chase Bank.

Ptacek said city officials, including then-City Manager John Starbard and then-Mayor Jean Garber, encouraged KCLS to construct a mixed-use building that included the library.

“It was made abundantly clear to the library system that it should be mixed use,” Ptacek said.

Ptacek said Starbard recommended that the library system work with Lorig on a mixed-use project. KCLS pursued the mixed-use project and selected Lorig through its standard selection process, Ptacek said.

Also, the City Council voted to grant the housing portion of the project an eight-year property tax exemption. The exemption would become effective after construction is complete.

Ptacek said it wasn’t just encouragement from city officials that led the library system to construct a mixed-use building. He said constructing libraries in conjunction with other facilities has become a growing trend for the system, and that the Newcastle Way and 129th Avenue Southeast site was about twice as expensive as KCLS officials anticipated, making a mixed-use building a better financial option.

While some city officials spoke in favor of a mixed-use project, Garber said KCLS’s decision to pursue the mixed-use project was its own.

“Nobody twisted their arm,” she said.

Mayor John Dulcich, a member of the City Council when the mixed-used project was developed, said he was against it from the start.

He said the city pressed the mixed-use project on KCLS, and he said the mixed-use project was “density for the sake of density.” He also said he worried such a mixed-use project would backfire on KCLS by halting construction.

“I feared they’d get the unintended consequence, which was nothing,” he said.

He said he very much wants to see the library built, and he said the decision to group the library with housing units was “one of the most bonehead decisions ever made.”

Turnout reached 40 percent — or 22,629 ballots cast — as voters approved three levies meant to supplement district coffers with more than $214 million by 2014. The levy package included $172.5 million for maintenance and operations, $1.7 million for transportation and $38.4 million for technology and critical repairs.Taxpayers will pay $4.81 for every $1,000 of assessed property for the levies and the remainder of the 2006 bond.

Results show the wide margins by which voters approved the measures: 66 percent for the maintenance and operations levy, 64 percent for the transportation item and 66 percent for the technology and repairs levy.

The district stretches from Sammamish to Newcastle; the elections office mailed 56,313 ballots to district voters. Districtwide turnout beat forecasts offered by officials before the Feb. 9 deadline for the all-mail election.

Countywide turnout also exceeded pre-election estimates. The elections office predicted 35 percent turnout. Instead, 37 percent — or 395,624 voters — returned ballots to the elections office by the deadline.

Officials certified the election Feb. 24. The elections office processed more than 400,000 ballots — the largest mail ballot spring election in terms of volume — and recorded no discrepancies between the number of ballots received and the number tallied. King County switched to all-mail elections a year ago.

Elections officials posted results for more than 290,000 ballots Feb. 9 — the highest number of mail ballots posted on election night to date. In the November general election, the office tabulated 254,000 mail ballots, compared to 117,000 in the 2008 presidential contest.

“We’re very pleased with our new technology, the track record we’ve been building, and the accolades from staff and voters alike about our vote by mail process,” King County Elections Director Sherril Huff said in a Feb. 24 statement. “Our system is streamlined, secure and accurate. On top of that, it’s available for voters, parties, campaigns and the media to observe and witness.”

Newcastle and King County residents also approved additional dollars for the King County Library System.

The library measure passed by a more narrow margin: 52 percent — or 124,429 people — agreed to restore the property tax rate to 50 cents per $1,000 in assessed value next year.

A homeowner with a $400,000 home will pay $32 more because of the measure. The increase will be limited to 2011.

The levy lid lift differs from a capital bond measure; money raised through a bond is funneled to facilities and infrastructure.

Proponents said the measure should prevent further cuts. Officials trimmed $1.9 million from the system last year, cutting dollars for new books and other materials, technology upgrades and building maintenance at the third-busiest library system in the nation.

The main areas of decline in the city’s revenue between 2008 and 2009 were in sales tax and development revenue, Finance Director Christine Olson wrote in her report.

The city collected $126,000 less in sales tax in 2009 than it had in 2008, and it collected $100,000 less in development revenue in 2009 than it had in 2008. The city received only three single-family permits in 2009, and no commercial permits.

Cutting $482,000 required city officials to eliminate three staff positions, as well as slash funding for City Council retreats, landscape maintenance, office supplies and other items.

Olson said she does not yet have an estimate as to how much money the city will need to draw from its ending fund balance this year, as the City Council is still adjusting the 2010 budget.

Routes 240 and 114 began stopping at the Newcastle Transit Center Feb. 6, but routes 219 and 925 had previously made stops at the location prior to the construction of the transit center.Interim Public Works Director Steve Roberge said the project is very close to completion.

“There’s a few little things that are getting wrapped up,” he said. “It’s down to the details.”

Specifically, crosswalks need to be painted with stripes, work needs to be done on an irrigation control box, way-finding signs need to be installed, and glass and wood backs need to be installed in the waiting areas.

Furthermore, the sidewalk on the northwest corner of the intersection of Coal Creek Parkway and Newcastle Way needs to be expanded. This expansion will widen the sidewalk into nearby bark.

CH2M Hill built the Newcastle Transit Center, and according to the city’s contract with the company, CH2M Hill hoped to have the project substantially completed in October.

However, the project lasted longer than anticipated for several reasons, which were detailed in an amendment to the city’s contract with CH2M Hill.

CH2M Hill encountered unknown and unidentified utilities during construction, which required coordination with the city, utility companies and the fire department officials. This also required revisions to storm drainage and relocation of a traffic signal pole, a fire hydrant and vaults containing equipment for Puget Sound Energy, Comcast and Qwest, according to the contract amendment.

CH2M Hill also needed to make paving and grading revisions, as there was “unforeseen and inadequate pavement thickness in shoulder areas,” according to the contract amendment. There were also contract revisions to accommodate the future traffic signal at Newcastle Way and 129th Avenue Southeast.

CH2M Hill needed to coordinate with local property owners and businesses to communicate traffic control and construction activities, including unanticipated road closures and detours.

Finally, CH2M Hill needed to prepare materials for presentations at two community meetings to present project information and respond to citizen questions, according to the contract amendment.

The ending construction date for the project is now March 30.

The identity theft ring brought in more than $3 million during a seven-year period.Jang was also ordered to forfeit three houses he purchased with the proceeds from the scheme, $116,527 in cash and hundreds of thousands of dollars in electronic devices, according to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.

“This defendant will have up to 3,100 days in prison to consider the impact of his crime,” said Daniel Wardlaw, special agent and public information officer for IRS Criminal Investigation.

Jang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, access device fraud, aggravated identity theft and structuring currency transactions. He initially faced 21 charges to which he pleaded not guilty on all counts. But he made a plea agreement, changing his plea to guilty on the four charges. In return, his other 17 charges were dropped.

Members of the identity theft ring would frequent workout facilities, break into lockers and steal credit cards, according to charging documents. Jang provided the locker thieves with equipment to quickly manufacture false identification documents, which they then used with the stolen credit cards to purchase high-end electronic equipment. Finally, Jang sold the stolen goods on the Web site eBay.

At Jang’s sentencing, Chief U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik told Jang he “became a sophisticated crook.”

Billy Morris Britt, 37, of Renton, worked with Jang by stealing credit cards from gyms. In November, he was sentenced to more than five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, and he was also ordered to pay $466,622 in restitution.

IRS Criminal Investigation, the Secret Service Electric Crimes Task Force and the Seattle Police Department investigated the cases.

Director of Community Development Steve Roberge said the ordinance, passed at the council’s Feb. 2 regular meeting, will be helpful for developers, because it will allow them to keep building and avoid repeating the permitting process.

Sammamish, Kenmore, Redmond, Issaquah, Bothell and Federal Way have already taken similar developer stimulus action.

City impact fees are fees the city charges to offset the impacts of development, and they are typically collected when the city issues a building permit or gives a plat its final approval.

With the ordinance, parks and traffic impact fees will automatically be deferred until when a building is ready to be occupied. Roberge said this allows developers to earn more money before paying the fee, and as a result they can borrow less money. The opportunity to defer fees ends at the end of this year.

Any project that brings more people to the city is charged with a transportation impact fee, and any project that could bring more people into the city’s parks is charged with a parks impact fee.

Roberge said it is difficult to estimate how much money the city will miss in fees this year through the deferral.

“It’s really hard to tell, because it just depends how much development occurs,” he said.

However, he said the benefits outweigh the deferral of the revenue.

“If it can encourage things to be developed, in the long run, it will really be a benefit to folks, because it will get things on the ground,” he said.

Plat approval extensions will only be granted to plats that have received or will receive preliminary approval from the city between 2005 and this year. Plats that have received preliminary approval are typically given three or five years — depending on the type of plat — to receive final approval from the city. The extension gives these plats two additional years to obtain final approval from the city.

There are 10 plats in the city that are eligible to receive these extensions, and the plats’ developers may receive the extension by request. The city will grant the extensions as long as the project has not undergone substantial changes since the preliminary approval.

Engineering review permits authorize developers to start construction. These permits are valid for one year once they are approved, and two one-year extensions may be given to a permit. With the stimulus, a third one-year extension will be available to permits expiring this year.

Developers will receive the extension upon request if there have been no substantial changes to their projects.

The Planning Commission recommended the City Council adopt the stimulus ordinance, and members of the City Council predominately spoke in favor of it.

“I think we’ll be better off and we’ll see more construction sooner,” Councilwoman Lisa Jensen said.

Councilwoman Carol Simpson spoke about what construction can do for the city.

“Growth is what pays our bills,” she said. “Let’s grow, Newcastle.”

School officials followed Renton School District guidelines by calling police and evacuating. Renton Police searched the building, but did not find anything. After allowing the hour to elapse, students and staff re-entered the school at noon.

The call was traced to a pay phone at a convenience store in the Renton Highlands. The man was caught on the store’s security camera, and Renton Police used the camera’s footage and help from Hazen High School staff members to identify him.

“Normally, when we get these calls, it’s a prank,” Matheson said Feb. 12 after the school was cleared. “Every once in a while, we’ll have a kid who wants to get out of class and call in a bomb threat.”

Principal John Kniseley wrote an e-mail to parents the afternoon of Feb. 12 detailing the incident. At the time, the man who allegedly made the threat had not been taken into custody.

“Calling in bomb threats is a serious offense punishable by law,” Kniseley wrote