ISLAND COUNTY: A Message from Commissioner Bacon [May 31, 2024]

Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) sent the following newsletter on Fri., May 31, 2024.

Thank you for reading my newsletter for the 23^rd week of 2024.

As regular readers of this newsletter know, I serve on the Board of Directors of Island Transit. This week that Board took two significant personnel actions, one of which you can read about here. Because of that Board’s commitment to continue without disruption the important and excellent service provided by Island Transit to our citizens, and my awareness that my 30 years’ experience in Human Resources would be of benefit to Island Transit during their transition to a new senior leadership team, I offered to step up to serve as acting HR Director for Island Transit until we find an alternative solution.

So now I have a temporary full-time job (unpaid) in addition to my full-time County Commissioner job. Happily both of my BOICC colleagues, Jill Johnson and Janet St. Clair, also serve on the Island Transit Board. They are in support of my taking on this additional responsibility and will cover for me and the interests of District 1 in any county meetings that I may be unable to attend (I do still plan to attend our Tuesday board meetings and our Wednesday work sessions). I am very grateful to both of them, and happy that the collegiality of our working relationship encourages us to step up to cover for each other when necessary.

What I will not be able to do, for a little while, is attend very many other meetings (normally, I might have a half-dozen or more meetings scheduled in a day). Also, I will not be able to hold my Monday afternoon teas with the public until we get through this. I apologize to you if your meeting with me has been cancelled. I do not expect this situation to last very long.

I do intend to continue to write this newsletter, however. I am always grateful when I hear how important it is to many of you.

Island Transit remains a financially stable, healthy, and visionary organization that continues to serve our citizens in accordance with its mission to provide safe, accessible, convenient, and friendly public transportation services that enhance our Island quality of life.

• Regular Session.  The agenda and video recording for the Tuesday May 27^th Regular Session of the Board of Island County Commissioners is here.
  • Public Comments: One citizen spoke about how inefficient our County Code is at maximizing ground water recharge, and suggested a couple of code changes.
  • The agenda for the June 4^th  regular meeting is here. On that agenda: the public hearing listed below.
• Upcoming BOCC Public Hearings (held during Tuesday board meetings, beginning at 10 am):
  • June 4: Brian Boslaugh Water Franchise Transfer
  • June 25: Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Amendment
  • June 25 (pending BOCC approval of date):  PBRS Freedom Park
  • June 25 (pending BOCC approval of date):  Crescent Acres Franchise
  • July 2 (pending BOCC approval of date):  Budget Amendment
  • July 9  (pending BOCC approval of date): Polnell Shores Franchise
• Work Session. There was no work session this week. The next work session will be held on Wednesday, June 5^th; this is the agenda. On that agenda: the revised draft of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (Administrator); a discussion of the LTAC’s recommendation that the Board fund all three fireworks applications (Commissioners); a consultant agreement regarding the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Transportation Element (Public Works); discussion of a Historical Preservation and Programs Grant to be offered by the County to eligible non-profit organizations (HR); the Citizens Advisory Board recommendations on the Conservation Futures Fund (Health); the Wastewater Proviso Study (Health); and an update to our Financial Management policy (Budget).
• Planning Commission and the Comprehensive Plan Update: This is a link to the Planning Commission page. You can find details on their meetings and minutes, including Zoom info, here. The Planning Commission meets at 6 pm on the 1^st and 3^rd Wednesday of each month; the agendas are published at least a week in advance.
  • I encourage you to join and participate in the Comprehensive Plan Update public engagement website: https://www.islandcounty2045.com/.
  • We will discuss a consultant contract to work on the Transportation Element at Wednesday’s work session; see link above.
  • The next meeting of the Planning Commission will be held Wednesday, June 5^th, at 6 pm. The agenda, including the Zoom link, is here. On that agenda: an Island County Hydrogeologist Presentation on Drinking Water and Groundwater, and a workshop about the Comprehensive Plan Timeline Update,  
• You can find all of my newsletters since January 2023 here.
• Since I am now temporarily working two full-time jobs, many of my regular meetings are being put on hiatus until I am no longer needed at Island Transit. Unfortunately, that must include the Monday afternoons I have been spending with citizens in Freeland and Coupeville. I encourage my regulars—or anyone else interested—to continue to meet without me; citizens have found listening to their peers talk about County issues to be very edifying, and I hate to quash that. As soon as I have finished this latest gig, I will return to spending Monday afternoons with interested citizens, talking about County issues.

Melanie

“Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun.”

– Brian Wilson

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