Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) sent the following newsletter on Fri., Nov. 4, 2022.
Thank you for reading my newsletter for the 44th week of 2022.
The last couple of weeks of this election season have been brutal for all of us. Even I found myself snipping at a candidate for public office on my personal Facebook page, which is extremely out of character for me. Let’s all try to be remember to be kind—in a week, this election season will be over, and life will be back to “normal” (whatever that is now). I’m saying this as a reminder to myself as much as to any of you.
Regular Agenda
You can watch this week’s Tuesday meeting at this link.
Resolutions Approved
| Resolution C-73-22 (consent agenda), Establishing Salaries for Non-Bargaining Unit Employees (Excluding Elected Officials) |
| Resolution C-74-22 (regular agenda), Adopting Solid Waste and Septage Tipping Fees for Island County. I spoke about this in a previous newsletter, when we discussed the issue in work session. You can watch the discussion and vote starting at the 00:05:22 mark in the above video link. |
Public Hearings: We held two public hearings on Tuesday. The first, for the franchise renewal for the Sandy Point Owners Association, was approved with no public comment. The second, a petition to open the County Road Right-of-Way known as Ander Park Road, was continued to November 8 at 10 am in order to give Public Works time to work out an issue of confusion with the applicants. That conversation can be seen at mark 00:16:03 in the video.
The agenda for our November 8th 10 am meeting, including instructions on how to attend virtually, can be found here.
Work Session. The major focus at work session this week was a discussion of the 2023 work plans for the county departments that report to the Commissioners. You can see the agenda for this meeting here and listen to the audio here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).
A few of the highlights associated with work plan projects in response to climate change–
| Connie Bowers, our Public Works Director, mentioned that they will work on a climate resiliency study at mark 00:05:04 in the Part 1 audio; immediately after that she talked about Public Works conducting a campground feasibility study; and after that, we talked about pursuing a feasibility study for a sewer in South Whidbey. |
| Keith Higman and Heather Kortuem of Public Health spoke about next steps we might take in getting State assistance to address the blue-green algae problem on our lakes. I want the State to address this as a necessary step in climate mitigation, since as our summers get warmer we should expect this problem to become more exacerbated. This conversation can be found beginning at mark 00:18:57 in Part 2 of the audio. There will be more on this topic during next Wednesday’s work session with Gordon Thomas Honeywell Government Relations, scheduled for 10:45. |
| And one more climate resiliency item: our conversation with Facilities Director Ryan Beach on electric vehicle charging stations can be found at mark 00:45:55 in the Part 2 audio. |
| The Board will not be meeting the last two weeks of December. We authorized the Island County Auditor to pay the vouchers for the weeks of December 21 and 27, and will formally approve those vouchers at our regular meeting on January 3, 2023. |
Next week’s Wednesday November 9th work session agenda can be found here.
Due to severe weather and in the best interest of the community, today’s scheduled community picnic at the historic Crockett Barn in Coupeville has been cancelled.
The Planning Commission’s Public Hearing on changes to the PBRS code was continued to November 14 at 2 pm. You can find the agenda for that meeting, including information on how to attend, here.
The SW CARES coalition, part of the Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative, is seeking South Whidbey residents to complete their survey about youth substance use in our community. They collect information annually from a community survey that captures the perceptions of youth behaviors from adults. This survey closely aligns with the Healthy Youth Survey taken in schools, and allows them to address gaps between what adults think is happening, and what youth are self-reporting. If you are willing to take it, you can access it here: https://www.research.net/r/issowhen2022. It took me less than 2 minutes to complete this survey.
Next Friday, November 11, is Veterans Day, and the County offices will be closed. I anticipate that this newsletter will be delivered to you instead on Thursday, November 10.
As usual during an election, I spent time this week as an observer at our County elections office in Coupeville, and will be there observing again this next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I want to assure you: our Island County elections are safe and secure. And if you want to check things out for yourself, they welcome observers (but not too many at the same time). The Island County Elections Office is located at 400 N Main St, Coupeville. If you have any questions, their webpage contains a lot of information—and they’re always happy to answer your phone calls and emails as well.
Monday Tea with Melanie: Unfortunately, it looks like I will be available on Whidbey for my Monday Tea with Melanie only once in November and once in December, due to personal and county business scheduling conflicts. This is my schedule for those Monday community meetings for the rest of the year, which I will hold at the Crabby Coffee in Freeland at 3 pm on the dates shown:
| DATE | MONDAY TEA? |
|---|---|
| 7-Nov | No |
| 14-Nov | No |
| 21-Nov | Yes |
| 28-Nov | No |
| 5-Dec | No |
| 12-Dec | Yes |
| 19-Dec | No |
| 26-Dec | No |
| 2-Jan | Yes |
Thanks,
Melanie
“Every society needs educated people, but the primary responsibility of educated people is to bring wisdom back into the community and make it available to others so that the lives they are leading make sense.”
~ Vine Deloria, Jr.
