MELANIE BACON: A Message from Commissioner Bacon (Jul. 29, 2022)

Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) sent the following newsletter on Fri., Jul. 29, 2022.

I hope you all get a chance to visit the Whidbey Island Fair this weekend! Thank you for reading my newsletter for the 30th week of 2022.

• Regular Agenda: We had a very short Board meeting on Tuesday. You can listen to it at this link. There was no work session on Wednesday.
• Resolutions passed this week:
  • Resolution C-48-22 (regular agenda): Proclaiming the week of August 1^st– 7^thBreastfeeding Awareness Week in Island County.
  • Resolution C-46-22 (public hearing, regular agenda): Re-Establishing Fees and Charges for Public Records addressing Body Worn Video Redaction Fees.
• The Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization (IRTPO) met this week.
  • The Executive Board approved sending out a Call for Projects for 2023, from August 1^st– September 30^th.
  • We began discussing the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) update.
  • The IRTPO is updating its Human Service Transportation Plan, and there will be a meeting on Thursday, August 4^that 6 pm in the Island County Commissioners Hearing Room in Coupeville to talk about the challenges faced by residents with special transportation needs and identify possible updates to our plan in response to those challenges. You can also join virtually at this link, using meeting ID 453 420 7527. If you have any questions, contact IRTPO Transportation Planning Benjamin Jones at 360-240-5546 or email him at benjamin.jones@islandcountywa.gov
• The Elections Office has been receiving your ballots, both mailed and collected from official ballot drop boxes. But they will not begin tallying our votes until the evening of Tuesday, August 2^nd, after the election has closed. I spent a very informative hour this week touring the voting center with our superb Elections Supervisor Michele Reagan and I feel very good about the high level of security protocols they have implemented to ensure that all votes are counted securely and accurately. I intend to spend many hours observing the ballot processes next week, including watching at the station where they receive and log ballots, the station where they open and separate ballots from envelopes, the station where they run ballots through the scanner, and the station where votes are tabulated. Members of the public are always welcome to come and observe these processes for themselves (but you will not be able to see who voted or how anyone voted- I promise you, the security protocols ensure that no one can ever see how anyone voted). I also learned what the hole in the envelope is for! The Island County Auditor’s Elections Office is located at 400 N. Main Street, Coupeville. Don’t bring your phone or computer or any other photographic or video technology with you.
• Due to the warm weather and reduced moisture levels, Sheriff Rick Felici has implemented a Type 1 burn ban for unincorporated Island County effective tomorrow, July 30^th. You can read the details about the burn ban, including how to legally manage your recreational fires, on the Sheriff’s Office web page here.
• I strongly encourage individuals and neighborhoods to look into the Firewise program run by the Whidbey Island Conservation District. This free program will help you and/or your neighborhood take proactive steps to protect your homes from wildfire. For information on who to talk to and how to get started, see this flyer.
• This week’s COVID report: To obtain a rapid home test kit you can call the Island County COVID Response Call Center at 360-678-2301; or to have free test kits mailed to your home, go online to sayyestocovidhometest.org or covid.gov.
• 988 Hotline: I’m going to continue to include this in my newsletter for at least the next few weeks, because it’s new. The United States’ first nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline went live this month. It’s designed to be as easy to remember and use as 911, but instead of a dispatcher sending police, firefighters or paramedics, 988 will connect callers with trained mental health counsellors.
• Solid Waste Text Updates: I’m also going to continue to include this as recurring information in my newsletter for a while. We now have texting capabilities in Solid Waste, so you can be informed if there is a shut-down due to lack of containers, or if some other emergency occurs that impacts our Solid Waste functions. To sign up, send a text to the number 8559997728, giving the message ICSOLIDWASTE. You’ll get a text back saying you’re now signed up.
• I have found myself giving frequent ferry updates on my personal Facebook page lately. I’ve been doing this because, unfortunately, there have been many unexpected breaks in service. For example, last night they thought there would be only 1 boat running the Clinton/Mukilteo route today—the beginning of a beautiful tourist weekend on Whidbey Island! Happily, they were able to find the staff or fix the equipment or whatever the problem was, in time to send an update this morning saying there would be 2 boats running today after all. Even so, as of an hour ago (as I type this) there was a 2-hour wait. How do I know all this? Because I subscribe to the ferry text service: https://wsdot.wa.gov/Ferries/RouteAlerts/ I also regularly check the web cams through WhidbeyTel: https://dev.whidbeytel.com/cams/ Everyone should subscribe to the ferry text service. No one should rely on their Facebook friend to tell them if the ferry is on time. 
• You can find the agenda for next Tuesday’s regular Board of Island County Commissioners meeting, including how to attend virtually, here.
• You can find the agenda for next Wednesday’s work session, including how to listen in, here.
• Monday Tea with Melanie is at 3 pm at Crabby Coffee in Freeland in the WiFire Community Space, 1651 E Main St, Freeland. Tea is on me.

Thanks,

Melanie

“Butterfly to the Fair.”

  — the slogan for the 2022 Whidbey Island Fair