ISLAND COUNTY: A Message from Commissioner Bacon (MELANIE BACON/Feb. 23, 2024)

Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) sent the following newsletter on Fri., Feb. 23, 2024.

Thank you for reading my newsletter for the 8^th week of 2024.

Last Monday was a holiday; I only attended one meeting, and that by Zoom. I’m grateful for that little breather, because the rest of this week has been whirlwind crazy. I’m actually starting to write this (very long) newsletter at 3:30 Friday morning from my hotel room in Olympia (see below), because after I get back to Whidbey this morning I’ll be spending most of the day going on field trips with the County Engineer, looking at a couple of issues of concern to the public; also I will spend a few minutes certifying an election (see below).

Also below: today I begin a series on “How Progress Happens in Island County.” I don’t know yet how long this series will be; I’m writing it in response to citizen frustration over not understanding how policies become code, what authority the Commissioners have as individuals, and numerous other issues associated with how you can move an issue you advocate to County action. If you have a particular question related to this process, please reach out and I will tackle it in an upcoming newsletter.

• Water Study News: I want to start off by thanking Rep. Paul, Rep. Shavers, and Senator Muzzall for their work getting funding for most of the Board’s requests. Both the House and the Senate Budgets include funding for the Ituha Stabilization Center (we want to build more beds, and also need some operations funding in the meantime). AND: both budgets include funding for the water infrastructure study I’ve been advocating for. So that was a great win, and a great way to begin our week.
• Regular Session.  The agenda and recording for the Tuesday February 20 Regular Session is here.
  • Public comment took up the largest amount of time on Tuesday, because we had no items on the Regular Agenda. We heard public comment from five citizens, all on different topics: the Mutiny Bay neighborhood and the SMP, code enforcement on light pollution, a request for County help with the Oak Harbor airport, the County’s role in approving big houses on the shoreline, and a request that the County initiate an advisory vote on the ballot to ban all fireworks on the south end of Whidbey Island.
  • The agenda for our Tuesday,  February 27 regular session is here. Public Works will present on two road closures scheduled for March: Penn Cove Road on Whidbey and Baker Way Road on Camano.
• Upcoming Public Hearings (held during Tuesday board meetings, beginning at 10 am):
  • March 5: PSE Franchise PW2023-0127
  • March 12 (pending BOCC approval of date): Marshall Drainage District Assessment
  • March 12: Franchise Renewal Saratoga Shores (Camano)
  • March 12: Franchise Renewal Juniper Beach (Camano)
  • March 19 (pending BOCC approval of date): Compost Procurement Ordinance
  • March 19: New Franchise 58 W Camano
  • March 19: SMP, Public Hearing deliberation continued from 2/6.
  • March 26 (pending BOCC approval of date): Countywide Planning Policy
  • March 26 (pending BOCC approval of date): Franchise Renewal Whidbey Country Club
  • April 2 (pending BOCC approval of date): Opening an unopened County Right-of-Way in Section 14, Township 31 North, Range 2 East (Camano)
  • April 16 (pending BOCC approval of date): a water system approval
• Work Session.   The agenda for the Wednesday, February 21 work session is here. The recording is here. The two presentations are available here.
  • We had two conversations on Wednesday regarding updating the jail. The first was a request by the Facilities Director that we initiate a Jail Feasibility Study, the first item on Wednesday’s agenda. The Board supports doing this study. A link to the presentation by Facilities is above.
  • Our second Jail-related conversation was to consider formation of a Jail Replacement Steering Committee. The Board also supports this. This discussion can be heard beginning at mark 0:16:00 in the recording.
  • Most of the work session (almost two hours) was spent talking about the draft update to the County’s Shoreline Master Program (SMP). I want you to know that all of the Commissioners paid close attention to the many comments we received, and we referenced many of them during the discussion. Even in two hours we didn’t get through all our questions; we will be holding a second long work session discussion on this as soon as possible. I’ll let you know when that work session date is confirmed. The 465-page draft SMP and the draft resolution can be found beginning on page 27 of the agenda. The discussion begins at mark 0:24:26. The presentation used to guide the discussion can be found in the presentations link above, beginning on page 18.
  • We discussed a petition to open an unopened County right-of-way on Camano, beginning at mark 2:30:30. The tentative project associated with this road opening is receiving a lot of community conversation among Camano residents, and I anticipate we will hear a lot about that during the public hearing tentatively scheduled for April 2.
  • There will be no work session next week because it will be a fourth week; the agenda for the March 6 work session will be posted here by Friday, March 1.
• Board of Health. The Board of Health met Tuesday afternoon. The agenda is here; the recording is here.
  • The first item was a presentation by Human Services on our Housing Continuum, from Emergency Housing to Affordable Housing. The presentation can be found beginning on page 5 of the agenda.
  • Public Health and Planning gave a presentation on the Housing Element and the Land Use Element of our Comprehensive Plan update, focusing on the goals of the elements and the Public Health subgoals to each goal. The presentation begins on page 20 of the agenda; the discussion begins at mark 0:52:30 in the recording.
  • The Community Health Assessment Board (CHAB) presented their response to the Housing and Land Use elements. See page 32 of the agenda; mark 1:33:13 in the recording. See Community Health Survey info below to see how you can participate in the assessment of our community and our goals.
  • Planning gave an overview of the Countywide Planning Policies from the Comprehensive Plan update, beginning on page 34 of the agenda; the housing projects discussion begins at mark 1:25:02 in the recording.
• Next Wednesday the Council of Governments (COG), the Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization (IRTPO) and the Island Local Integrating Organization (ILIO) will each hold their meetings, beginning with the COG at 9 am. We’re going to try an efficiency improvement: we’re all going to use the same Zoom link. The COG agenda is here.
• Fairgrounds Advisory Committee. The Fairgrounds Advisory Committee met Wednesday evening. I am very happy to be able to tell you that a) we expect to have all of the pertinent contracts to run the fair signed by the end of March, and b) the food booths are expected to be repaired sufficiently to be able to safely provide food to fairgoers again this year. The Fairgrounds Advisory Committee heard over and over that everyone is working well together, and everyone is committed to having a successful, drama-free fair this year. Actually, “drama free” is my interpretation of what we heard, but I think it is an accurate reflection of what we can expect. So yay!
• Wildland Fire Advisory Committee (WFAC). I drove to Olympia Wednesday night for an all-day meeting yesterday of the State’s Wildland Fire Advisory Committee.
  • The “Washington State Wildland Fire Protection 10-Year Strategic Plan” was published in 2019, and WFAC is now going through the goals, metrics, and strategics [sic] established at that time to see what needs to be updated. You can access the plan here.
  • Yesterday we went through the goals and talked through objectives and achievements; we will meet again in person next month to talk about whether or not we need to update the strategies.
  • The Board was happy to acknowledge that many of the actions items identified in the 2019 plan have already been achieved.
• Elections. Regular readers of this newsletter know I love serving on the Canvassing Board, which certifies elections (the Canvassing Board is made up of the Auditor, the Prosecuting Attorney, and a County Commissioner). Today we certified a Special Election that was held February 13 on Camano, on a Stanwood-Camano School District levy. It required 50% to pass; Camano voters were certified at 57.9% “yes”; and as of yesterday the voters on the Snohomish side were at 59% “yes”. So although I haven’t seen the Snohomish County certified numbers yet, it looks like this levy has passed. Now all Island County voters should start watching their mailboxes for the ballots for the March 12 Presidential Primary.
• 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.
  • Long Range Planning gave an update on the Comprehensive Plan at our Board of Health meeting this week; see info above.
  • The Comprehensive Plan Update public engagement website is now live. I encourage you to join and participate.
  • The next meeting of the Planning Commission will be held Wednesday, March 6.
• The Port of South Whidbey is in the process of updating its Comprehensive Scheme of Harbor Improvements and needs your input. The Comprehensive Scheme aims to (1) Identify the Port’s goals, properties, and priority initiatives and projects, and (2) Outline spending plans for the next 5-10 years. You are encouraged to complete their survey by the end of February, here.
• Also on Wednesday night I attended a film screening and discussion on regenerative farming at WICA. Judy Feldman, the Executive Director of Whidbey’s wonderful Organic Farm School, started off the meeting by saying they are “trying to start a conversation that transforms everything by thinking about place and community and feeding ourselves.” Three short films were screened, all produced by Thriving Communities: a film about an urban farm in Cleveland, “From Forgotten Triangle to Thriving Community: The Rid-All Green Partnership”; a film about a farming community in New Mexico using age-old practices to produce nourishing food where little grew before, “Spirit Farm: A Soil-to-Soul Awakening in Vanderwagen, New Mexico”; and a film about a local Whidbey treasure, “Nourishing Soil, People, and Community: The Organic Farm School, Clinton, Washington”. All three films are very inspiring. You can see trailers of all three at https://www.thrivingcommunities.org/ , and learn more about The Organic Farm School here: https://organicfarmschool.org/.
• Tomorrow, Saturday February 24 from 3 – 5 pm, Goosefoot is sponsoring a community reading of Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. This will take place at the Front Room, 2nd Floor of the Bayview Cash Store, 5603 Bayview Road. The public is invited, and I am deeply honored to have been asked to be one of the readers. For more information, see this link.
• Earth Month: Are you holding a work party, hike, informational lecture, community conversation, day trip, indoor activity, educational exploration, meditation, anything centered on climate, sustainability, or our oceans and lands that is open to the public during the month of April? If so, contact Sami@goosefoot.org by March 14 at 5 PM to include your event in their print calendar of Earth Month events.
• Island Transit has launched their Community Surplus Vehicle Program.  They have four vans that are in good enough working order to be part of this program and given away to interested non-profit organizations. More information is available here.
• In March, the Washington State Transportation Commission will be sending out a new Ferry Riders’ Opinion Group (FROG) survey that will ask for input on WSF’s recent performance from January to March 2024. To have as many people involved as possible, they are trying to get more people to join the FROG and take the survey. To join the FROG, go here.
• Our local paper recently had an article that mistakenly said that Island County was suspending our food program. We did do a brief pause in widespread inspections, while continuing to complete inspections related to events, food safety complaints, and site plan reviews. It is not uncommon for us to pause a program while we develop improved approaches and review concerns raised by community members. We are planning on restarting widespread inspections next week with shared visits and the customer feedback survey. We will be providing an inspection time window to support our food establishments.
• Community Health Survey: It only takes 10 minutes to have a BIG impact! Island County’s Community Health Survey is collecting responses through April 30th to include in the Community Health Assessment Report, which will be released in July of 2024. If you haven’t taken the quick survey yet, be sure to do so! The anonymous survey takes ten to twelve minutes and will help Island County Public Health better understand how all islanders are doing. The results of the survey will identify areas of improvement and set a path towards creating a healthier community for all. There are questions about quality of life, access to health care, how people get health-related information, and what are some of the barriers to good health in our county. The more people we hear from, the more complete our picture will be of how Island County community members are doing.
• How progress happens in County Government. I’ve been asked to provide information on how issues and concerns progress to actions and codes in Island County. How do issues find their way to an agenda, or to a work plan? How do policies get drafted? How does code get written? How is enforcement done? I’m going to spend the next who-knows-how-many newsletters talking about these things, so that you’re more informed on what the various steps will be if you have an issue you want to see your local government take action on. I’m going to use a simplistic, non-existent, non-controversial issue as the example through all of this: “I and my neighbors want the County to declare Orange as our official County color, and we want the County to pass a resolution about this and enshrine this in code. I am aware that there is another community in the County pressing for a different color to be declared “official”. But I know they’re wrong, and I and my neighbors are right. Also, I’m convinced that the Permitting Department is opposed to having an official color, because they think they won’t be able to enforce the code.”
  • Today: Where do I start? I always tell people to start by letting all three Commissioners know this issue is important to you and to others. Give public comment at a Tuesday regular meeting of the Board, either in person or virtually. Each of you will usually have up to 3 minutes to make your case (and no, you cannot give your time to someone else so that they can speak longer). If you have science or data to back up your perspective, that’s always beneficial. You can return to make public comment every week on this same issue, if you want, to ensure that the Board knows that this is a real issue for you that is not going away. Let the Board know exactly what the issue is and what you want them to do about it. You might follow up with an email to the Commissioners, so they have something to refer back to later if they need to. Don’t tell just one Commissioner and then expect something to get done. One Commissioner alone has very limited power to get anything accomplished—the Board is famously known as a 3-headed hydra, and at least 2 of those heads need to be in support of something in order for it to gain any traction. So your first challenge will be: get at least two Commissioners to agree with you that (a) the County has authority over this (i.e. “official color” is a local rather than a State or federal issue) and that (b) it’s important enough that we should consider establishing and funding an official color in our County; your second challenge will be to get two of the hydra heads to agree that the official color we establish should be Orange and not the color that other community wants; your third challenge will be to get the Board to agree to talk about this during a Wednesday work session; your fourth challenge will be to convince the Board to assign the issue to a County department to include it on their work plan; your fifth challenge will be to follow your issue’s progress through the County processes in order to raise questions if things get stalled. I’ll talk about all of that in upcoming newsletters.
  • Next week: what will the Commissioners do with the information you’ve given them?
• You can find all of my newsletters since January 2023 here.
• Effective Monday, March 11, I am expanding my Monday meetings with citizens to include an hour each week in Coupeville. These are opportunities for you to meet in an open group to discuss anything County-related with me and anyone else who drops by. Below is my Mondays with Melanie schedule through March:

Melanie

“So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice or for the extension of justice?”

~ Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “Letter from Birmingham Jail”