Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) sent out this newsletter on Jan. 28, 2022.
Thank you for reading my County Commissioner update for week 4 of 2022.
- On the 4th Wednesday of every month, the Council of Governments (COG) and the Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization (IRTPO) meet back to back from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. Langley, Coupeville, Oak Harbor, Port of Coupeville, Port of South Whidbey, and Island County have representatives on both boards. Island Transit, NAS Whidbey, WSDOT and WSF join these jurisdictions as members of the IRTPO. This week at the COG meeting, Commissioner St. Clair gave a great presentation updating us on broadband work: coverage issues, grant initiatives, and policy considerations. At the IRTPO meeting, the Director of the Green Transportation Program at Washington State University gave an inspiring presentation on fleet electrification; an initiative which every jurisdiction wants to accomplish smoothly and successfully. I encourage any citizen interested in hearing about the myriad intersections and joint initiatives between the different jurisdictions and agencies to listen in to the meetings. The next meetings for these two groups will be held on February 23rd , beginning at 9:00 am.
- You can find the COG meeting info here: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/Commissioners/Pages/COG.aspx
- Information on IRTPO meetings can be found here: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/PublicWorks/Roads/Planning/Pages/Itpominutesandagendas.aspx.
- During the eleven years I’ve worked at the county, the primary complaint I’ve heard from citizens about county government has been the length of time it takes to get a permit from the Planning Department. You will be happy to learn that we now have a full crew in the Planning Permitting function. Whereas, a year ago it could take 6 – 8 months to receive a fully issued permit, right now if you make a full application submission, the turnaround time is down to 4 – 6 weeks. This is actually better than the 6 – 8 weeks we have set as our standard. Kudos to Planning Director Mary Engle, Deputy Planning Director Jonathan Lange, and all of the terrific and dedicated staff in that department (and in Public Health and Public Works) who have been working so hard to resolve our permitting issues at the county.
- Next Tuesday, February 1st, at 6:00 pm, Puget Sound Energy will give a presentation to the Board of Island County Commissioners and interested citizens on electrical outages. They will also answer citizen questions.
- To attend telephonically, you may access the meeting by dialing 1-669-800-5335 and entering meeting ID number 491 987 8603. To attend by way of video, you may access the meeting via StarLeaf: https://meet.starleaf.com/4919878603/app
- We feel pretty confident the pandemic will start abating very soon, but for this moment we are still experiencing a significant case load and still need to practice care and wear our masks. Island County had 1185 new reported cases this last week (Thursday-Thursday) and 1 new COVID death.
- This week’s report can be found here: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/Health/COVID%20Manager%20Report%20Library/BOCC%20Brief%201-28-2022.pdf
- Last Friday I spoke to the Oak Harbor Rotary Club, updating them on topics the Board is facing in 2022. Due to COVID restrictions since I joined the Board of County Commissioners, I think it’s the first time I had an in-person meeting of this type with citizens on my own. The Rotary is a great organization and I really enjoyed myself. If your organization would like me to meet with them, please contact my office to arrange a time for me to come visit. I hope to make more of these kind of public connections as the pandemic eases.
~Melanie
“In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.”
–Anne Frank
