Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) sent the following newsletter on Fri., July 18, 2025.
As you probably know, a dead whale washed up on the beach at Ebey’s. Sadly, we must leave it to decompose or be pulled out to the sea by the tide. More info here. The County is putting up signage at the beach today, which states that to ensure your safety and the safety of all children and pets, do not approach the deceased whale. There are potential health and injury risks involved. Stay at least 100 feet back.
Thank you for reading my newsletter for the 29th week of 2025.
- Regular Session. The agenda and recording for the Tuesday July 15th Regular Session of the Board of Island County Commissioners is here.
- We gave a special recognition to Public Works Director Fred Snoderly and the Public Works Team for the County once again receiving the Certificate of Good Practice from the County Road Administration Board (CRAB). We need this certificate in order for the County to continue receiving gas tax revenues from the State—one of our primary sources of County revenue.
- There was only one public comment this week, from someone concerned that the anticipated staff cuts at Ebey’s Reserve due to Federal cuts to parks might impact the Trust Board’s ability to respond to public records requests.
- I had expected we would receive public comments about the July 4th fireworks, since over 30 individuals came to my regular Monday public meeting in Freeland this week to express their fears and anger—yet no one provided any public comments on this concern at our board meeting. So I offer you this reminder: I am happy to listen to anyone, at any time—but since it takes two votes to accomplish anything and I already support a ban on fireworks, there isn’t much value in expressing your concerns about them to me if you don’t also share your thoughts with my colleagues who have not supported banning them. And obviously, the same holds true with every issue: it takes two votes.
- Ryan Elting of the Whidbey Camano Land Trust (WCLT) gave a presentation on the process needed for the County’s acquisition of 334 acres of trust lands currently leased to Island County from the State (including trust lands at Elger Bay Preserve, Strawberry Point, Swantown, Smuggler’s Cove, Wahl Road, Skyline West and High Point). This is a very complicated issue and process, and I am extremely grateful to WCLT for their work in helping us continue to protect these beloved natural spaces for the public. The documents associated with this issue are linked on the web page above; the discussion begins at mark 0:06:10 in the recording. There will be many more steps for the County and the WCLT to take before any of this is finished.
- We held three franchise public hearings and approved all three, all on Camano Island (Pleasant View, Camano Colony, and Saekow & Wood), mark 00:30:44. These will be the last public hearings we will hold on franchises under the existing franchise policy; see the work session discussion below.
- The next regular session will occur at 10 am on Tuesday, July 22, The agenda for that meeting is here. On that agenda: the Abdollah & Kathryn Vafaeezadeh Sewer Distribution System Franchise Renewal, which I anticipate will be continued to a future date after our franchise policy has been revised.
- Tentative Upcoming Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Public Hearings (held during Tuesday board meetings, beginning at 10 am):
- September 9: Capital Improvement Plan/Transportation Improvement Plan
- October 6: 2026 Budget
- The Board of Health met Tuesday afternoon. Agenda. Video recording.
- Cheryn Weiser and Nic Wildeman gave a presentation on the services provided by Island Senior Resources, mark 00:01:33 in the recording. Fact sheet available on page 5 of the agenda.
- We received a presentation from County staff on emergency preparedness, with an emphasis on heat danger and smoke events. Documents begin on page 6 of the agenda; discussion at mark 0:27:52 in the recording. In addition, Island County Department of Emergency Management has this page of helpful information on extreme heat. Island County has cooling centers available: The Center in Oak Harbor, Camano Center, and the Sno-Isle Public Libraries in Oak Harbor, Camano, Coupeville, Freeland, Langley, and Clinton; for details on open times see Extreme Heat link above.
- Shawn Morris gave a presentation on proposed changes to the County’s Food Program Fee Schedule. If you have a restaurant, mobile food truck, or do temporary events with food, I encourage you to listen. Documents begin on page 9 of the agenda; the recording begins at mark 0:41:01. The Board of Health will hold a public hearing on the proposed fee schedule at our next meeting, Tuesday September 16.
- Erin Lavery-Mullins gave a presentation on the 2025 recommendations of the Community Health Advisory Board, page 21 of the agenda, mark 0:57:50 in the recording. Here is the full 2024 Community Health Assessment Report.
- The August Board of Health meeting has been cancelled; the next BOH meeting will be September 16.
- Work Session. The agenda for the Wednesday, July 16 work session is here; the recording is here.
- Citizens concerned about our water policies might be interested in the conversation we had with Public Works on using the County franchise permit as a tool to ensure that water systems make necessary repairs to reduce water leakage. We will work on revising our franchise applications with this goal in mind. The conversation begins at mark 0:58:48, but the issue that the commissioners specifically wanted to address does not start until 1:05:00.
- The other very interesting conversation we had was with regard to the Urban Growth Area and population targets in the Comp Plan for Oak Harbor. The many documents associated with this begin on page 23 of the agenda; the discussion begins at mark 01:49:04.
- The next work session will be on Wednesday, August 6. The agenda for this meeting will be posted by 3 pm on Friday, August 1, here.
- We began our 2026 Budget meetings this week. Recording links: Wednesday’s Budget meeting beginning at mark 2:31:40; Thursday’s budget meeting.
- The schedule for upcoming Budget meetings is here (note: this schedule is subject to change). We will hold Budget meetings next Wednesday afternoon July 23 (beginning at 1) and Thursday morning July 24 (beginning at 9).
- If you would like to listen to future Budget meetings via zoom, contact our office for an invitation.
- There will be no Council of Governments (COG) meeting this month. The Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization (IRTPO) and the Island Local Integrating Organization (ILIO) will meet on Wednesday, July 23rd beginning at 10 am. As of this writing, neither agenda is available yet; if you’d like to attend by Zoom, contact my office.
- 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 agendas are published at least a week in advance. The Planning Commission usually meets at 6 pm on the first and third Wednesday of each month in the Commissioners Hearing Room in Coupeville.
- A citizen asked me why the handles had been removed from the showers at Maxwelton. This is the answer from our Parks Department: We removed the push button shower units because the valves were faulty and would stick on, causing the water to flow and depleting the reservoir in the pumphouse. We have purchased new valves to replace all the valves at Double Bluff and Maxwelton showers and fountains.
- I will NOT be meeting with citizens on Monday, July 21st or on Monday, August 4th because I will be undergoing medical procedures those days. On Monday, July 28 I will meet with citizens in Freeland at 3 pm and in Clinton at 5 pm.
Melanie
Tomorrow I will be joining the celebration of the 120th anniversary of the Coupeville Wharf.
“We are like sailors who have to rebuild their ship on the open sea, without ever being able to dismantle it in dry-dock and reconstruct it from the best components.”
~ Otto Neurath
