ISLAND COUNTY: A Message from Commissioner Bacon (MELANIE BACON/Mar. 2, 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 9^th week of 2024. I’m going to make up for last week’s long newsletter with a short one this week.

• Regular Session.  The agenda and recording for the Tuesday February 27^th Regular Session is here.
  • I had to zoom into the meeting because I was snowed in at my house. But at least I was able to take some pretty pictures (see above)
  • Public comment: suggestions regarding our Penn Cove Road closure in March.
  • We pulled the agenda item regarding our interlocal agreement with Oak Harbor for the Oak Harbor Marina Dredging Project, to be considered at a later date.
  • Public Works brought motions for closing two roads in March: Baker Way on Camano and Penn Cove on Whidbey. Links to maps can be found on the agenda above. The discussion on the Baker Way Road closure begins at mark 10:13:25 in the video recording; the discussion on the Penn Cove Road closure begins at mark 10:30:37. Regarding the public comment concerns raised: we will be drilling posts for guardrails—we will not use any vibrational equipment; also we believe that starting the project in March gives us more time to halt work if bad weather or other issues arise, so that we can get the project done on time.
  • The agenda for our Tuesday,  March 5 regular session is here. We will vote on a contract with Parametrix for Climate Resilience Planning for the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update, and hold a public hearing on a PSE franchise on Whidbey.

• Upcoming BOCC Public Hearings (held during Tuesday board meetings, beginning at 10 am):
  • March 12: 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: Countywide Planning Policy
  • March 26 (pending BOCC approval of date): Franchise Renewal Whidbey Country Club
  • March 26 (pending BOCC approval of date): Franchise Renewal Saratoga Beach (Whidbey)
  • April 2 (pending BOCC approval of date): Opening an unopened County Right-of-Way known as Rowe Road (Camano)
  • April 16 (pending BOCC approval of date): a water system approval
• Upcoming IRTPO Public Hearing
  • March 27, 10 am: Regional Transportation Plan
• On Wednesday, the Council of Governments (COG), the Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization (IRTPO) and the Island Local Integrating Organization (ILIO) met.
  • COG agenda; recording.
  • IRTPO agenda; recording not yet available. The IRTPO will hold a public hearing on March 27 at 10 am to hear comments from the public before voting on adoption of the Regional Transportation Plan.
• Work Session.   The agenda for the Wednesday, March 6 work session is here. On that lengthy agenda: A discussion of the draft Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS); review of a revised policy for the disposition of unclaimed remains of indigent individuals; a discussion of our IT software portfolio; a presentation and update on our Coupeville Solid Waste Transfer Station new compactor installation and other service issues; a 2023 budget amendment; a PBRS application on 16.16 acres on Camano Island; a review of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan Land Use Element’s goals and policies; a Surface Water Quality Program presentation and update; and the recommendation that we revoke the Freund Marsh Conservation Futures award (this may be a sad conversation—I was excited about this project),
• Island Transit’s Executive Board met today.
  • The Board held a public hearing to review proposed updates to the Rideshare (Vanpool) Flat Rate Fare Project Proposal, as well as public comments received from vanpool riders. We will be making the final decision on whether to move forward and finalize official fare amounts at our April 5th meeting.
  • We reviewed the new “No-Show” Policy for our On-Demand service. Interested on-demand riders should contact Island Transit for details.
• 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.
  • During the March 5^th regular session the BOICC will vote on a contract with Parametrix for Climate Resilience Planning for the 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update.
  • During the March 6^th work session the BOICC will review the 2016 Comprehensive Plan Land Use Element’s goals and policies.
  • The Comprehensive Plan Update public engagement website is now live: https://www.islandcounty2045.com/. I encourage you to join and participate.
  • The next meeting of the Planning Commission will be held Wednesday, March 6. This is the agenda and zoom info. They will be talking about the housing continuum, the Land Use element, and the Housing element.
• 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.
• The Washington State Transportation Commission will be sending out a new Ferry Riders’ Opinion Group (FROG) survey soon 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.
• 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: Second in a series. I’m using 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.”
  • Last week: Where do I start?
  • Today: what will the Commissioners do with the information I’ve given them?
• —Now  that at least two commissioners agree that your issue is important and  should be addressed by the County, the Board needs to decide which  department is best suited to add it to their work plan. Most work plan  items are determined in the Fall, for the following year—so depending on  staffing availability to work on it, your item may not even get  addressed this year, so don’t expect this to be a quick thing. At any  rate, the Board will have the first discussion on your request for an  official color (you’re advocating for orange) at one of our  Wednesday work sessions, where we may hammer out what our priority is  for this, which department will be responsible for it, whether or not we  need to get Legal involved, how we’re going to fund it, whether or not  public hearings or public outreach meetings will be necessary (probably—because some people don’t want orange, they want a different color),  whether or not the Planning Commission will need to review it, and  similar process issues. And if the Board decides that this issue needs  to go on next year’s work plan because we don’t have the capacity this  year (especially pertinent in 2024, because of our focus on the Comp Plan update),  you will want to remind us of that as we get closer to finalizing those  work plans—because there are always competing priorities. I have  repeatedly wanted certain issues to go on work plans, and thought for  sure it was going to happen—but when it came down to the Board having to  decide in the Fall between too many priorities I couldn’t get support  from a second commissioner to prioritize a particular item over  something more important to them. And I’m confident my colleagues have  been frustrated by this same thing.
• —The  Board needs to identify a department to work on the issue because the  Board’s job is to make the final decision. We are not (or should not be)  the people advocating for an issue, or writing the plan or resolution  or policy. We should be as objective as possible when we make our  decisions on an issue, and base our decisions on the facts presented and  the recommendations of others. When I wrote the fireworks code revision  resolution, it was because unfortunately there wasn’t a department  prepared to own the issue; but that was a real outlier and I never felt  comfortable about it. I hope to never have to do something like that  again. You wouldn’t want one of the three judges in your case to be the  same person who wrote the legal brief for the other side, right?
• —I  have only twice seen a big policy or resolution get approved the same  year it was first proposed (the 2022 Climate Resiliency Resolution and  the 2023 Animal Welfare Code). In both cases, members of the public  provided the County with draft documents so County staff didn’t have to  start from scratch, and the resolution/policy had two supporters on the  Board pushing for action even though the item wasn’t on the work plan  (and in each case, one of the supporting commissioners was the Chair,  who controls what is included on the agenda). In addition, we were able  to find staff members to work with the public advocates and the Board to  revise the documents and bring them to work session discussion numerous  times before the Board finally voted on them during our regular  meeting. IMPORTANT NOTE: in neither case did the Board approve as our  final document the same proposal brought to us initially by community  members. In fact, to this day there are advocates from both of those  issues who remain angry with me because what they wanted passed was, in  their view, unacceptably watered down in the final approved  resolution/policy. I had the same thing happen to me with the fireworks  resolution—what I initially wanted approved was, after three tries,  watered down to just a trace of what I really wanted. This is simply  political reality; we take the win we can get. So be prepared: you might  want the County to adopt Orange as the official County color—but after  all the back-and-forth you might find yourself with an official color  that you don’t like at all, or one that’s more mustard or ochre than  real orange.
• Next week: What’s the value of public hearings—haven’t the Commissioners already made up their minds?
• 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:

“Despite March’s windy reputation, winter isn’t really blown away; it is washed away. It flows down all the hills, goes swirling down the valleys and spills out to sea. Like so many of this earth’s elements, winter itself is soluble in water.”

~The New York Times, March 17, 1964

    Melanie