Here are you? Does this, does yours have a proclamation on it? A new agenda? Which
is ok. I hope I didn't.
We have a copy we can pass amongst ourselves recording in progress,
I think.
Or just one person could read this since we only have one. They happy you guys can
share that. I'll get it from the other day. We can share, we know how to do that.
Ok. Hm. Hey, Mark. Do you want to use the center right now? Oh, no, it's working,
but it won't be working for long.
Mhm. All right. Go ahead and start a capture.
All right, good morning, everyone. I will call this meeting of the board of County
commissioners to order for October 16th 2023. Um and we will begin as we
do every week with, with public comment. So,
um anyone, we don't have anyone in the chambers with us today, but anyone who's online
with us, you can hit uh the raise hand button or Star Nine. If you're on the phone
to make a public comment for up to three minutes, we would love to hear from you.
We'd love to uh hear from you, if you have any public comment, you can hit the raise
hand button or star nine if you're on the phone.
All right, we have one. Let's bring Mish over.
No, it won't start.
Mm
Welcome, Mr T you have three minutes. Uh uh Good morning commissioners. One of all
um I uh you, you have later on uh in your meeting today and this afternoon you're
gonna be taking up again the uh pro some proposed changes to the county code regarding
uh agricultural buildings. And uh I've sent in some written testimony about that,
but there, there's one part of that uh code change that I, that I wanted to reemphasize
because I'm not sure if you're going to have additional public testimony this afternoon.
Um The, the thing that I want to focus on here is that this proposed code amendment
includes some new language which, which states quote, the building official has exclusive
discretion to determine whether a building or structure qualifies. Well, that, that,
that part really concerns me exclusive discretion. Wait, what the building official
is now, judge jury and executioner. There's no administrative appeals process. There's
no nothing that, that doesn't seem right. In fact, it seems downright unconstitutional
in terms of due process uh without, you know, without a clearly defined administrative
process for appeals and so forth. Uh That language is just, well, first of all, I
just think it's unnecessary. I mean, there are all kinds of things that are inspected,
reviewed and so forth and if they're found to be in violation of code, then there's
already a, a process in place to deal with that. And I don't see the point of, of
adding that to this part of the code specifically uh with that word exclusive. Uh
No, that, that just needs to be revoked. I'm sorry, that, that, that's just unacceptable
to me. Um And as as I said, I have other detailed concerns about the proposed code
revisions and I've documented those in my written testimony. So I just wanted to
cover that again. Thanks very much. Thank you very much, Mr T. Um As always, we'll
respond to public comments after we've, we've heard them all. Um Anyone else like
to make public comments today, we would love to hear from you get hit raise hand
or Star nine if you're on the phone.
All right, why don't we bring Nina over
kind of
uh Nina, you, you can uh you can unmute yourself and we would love to, to hear from
you. You have three minutes to comment on anything on the agenda or, or anything
else that's in front of us. Can you hear me? We can hear you? Yes. Thank you. Thanks
for being here. Ok. Hi, good morning. Um I'm calling in from a, a cell phone and
this is my first uh Jefferson County commissioner meeting. Um So thanks for the opportunity
and um I live in Clallam. County actually. But I do spend a lot of time
in East Jefferson County hiking. And um I work part time for the Center for responsible
forestry. So I wanted to thank the commissioners for their leadership in
protecting older forests and for nominating um acreage to be included in the state's
2000 acre climate Solutions account funding program. Um It's really great to see
that. Um And today I want to bring up a forest that um was not included. Um It's
called Last Crocker and I haven't been able to visit, but I've seen a lot of the
pictures um that show that it is a mature forest um that meets uh many of the meets
the criteria of mature forests by the DNR with multiple species of large trees. Um
Mid story understory that's very diverse. Um And lots of forks and burls and
um branching that um shows the forest will turn into old growth and what struck me
about it was um the, the wetness of, of the forest. Um There seemed to be a lot
of um like marshland and water um all throughout the sale.
And um that is, that is pretty unique um to see and I do know that it's like a very
lowland area there right along 50101 that is important for
filtering water and providing water um to the nearby waterways um that might have
salmon in them um and providing moisture to the to the forest um protecting the
area from severe forest fires. Um So, um I would like the board um the
commissioners to consider um that if there are not mature acres in the nomination
list, um then those could be replaced by mature acres in last Crocker. Um Since nominations
do not need to be limited by parcel boundaries. So I wanted to recommend um having
a look at last Crocker maybe a visit. I do hope I get to visit um and see um the
beauty of that forest. So um thank you and um look forward to um commenting
more. Thanks. Thank you very much, Nina. All right. Uh I see Jim Oliver has raised
his hand. Let's bring Jim over and uh Jim, you can go ahead and unmute yourself and,
and once you get unmuted, you have three minutes. Hey, can you hear me? We can hear
you wait. I want to say that I am 110% in agreement with the previous comment. Um
And I will add my own thoughts to it. Um Yeah, large firms like rainier and copy
resources are trying to turn the entire state of Washington into a Douglas for mono
cot plantation on a 30 to 50 year rotation of clear cutting and the state DNR is
more than happy to help them. Jefferson County is ground zero for this and much of
our county is a mono cot tree plantation already a few mature forest remain places
where one can actually lie down on a soft bed of moss places that are actually navigable
to bear and deers that aren't thick with blown down debris made by diesel powered
fellow bunches. But the DNR and their corporate overseers would like to clear cut
even these last refuges. And that's what we're here to talk about today. As the previous
commenter said, we are urging you to urge the DNR to cancel the last Crocker timber
sale and put it into conservation. Hillary Franz, the supposed leader of the DNR
is running for governor and her main funders are Sierra Pacific Industries, a giant
mega corporation that is the largest landowner in California and the main bidder
on Washington State timber sales, including right here in Jefferson County, the huge
timber companies have had their preferred candidate in the post of public lands commissioner
for almost eight years. And now they're trying to get another one in there and now
they're trying to get a governor too. She is running the DNR exactly as a timber
company executive would. And the last Crocker forest here in Jefferson County is
next on the chopping block. Please urge the DNR to cancel the last Crocker timber
sale. All future generations will be extremely grateful. Thank you. Thank you very
much, Jim.
Anyone else with us today that would like to make public comment. We would love to
hear from you. You can hit Star nine if you're on the phone or the raise hand button
and we will bring you over,
make one more call for anyone that would like to make public comments. Please hit
the raised hand. Oh, I see. We have another uh why we bring Miss Fall Over
morning Jane. You have three minutes. Good morning. Can you hear me? We can terrific.
Thank you very much. I didn't really prepare any comments on. I'm gonna just ramble.
I apologize for that. Uh A couple of points I wanted to hit. Um Thank you, Commissioner
Dean for joining the Northwest Watershed Institute. Um And some representatives from
the Department of Natural Resources to take a tour of the proposed day, Bob Natural
Area expansion last week. It's um it's, it's um
very humbling and I'm very grateful that all three of you have now joined us for
this tour. Um I, I um I'm struggling for the words here. Um
Just thank you for your participation. I, I feel so fortunate to live in an area
where we have elected, represented rep representation that engages with us on these
types of issues and many other, a broad diversity of issues. And um you are actively
involved in these decision making processes and you support the people. So thank
you for that and thank you for all joining us. Um We're still working to get this
expansion approved. Um Of course, you know, I agree with the other two comments about
the Crocker parcel as well. Um The other thing I wanted to mention was this
agricultural code revision. Um You've received my comments. I apologize. I have not
heard I missed the meeting last week where there was a break, a briefing on this
issue. So I have not had a chance to hear that. And I don't know, um I don't know
if that recording is available. I generally assume that it is operator error on my
part that I'm unable to access this. Although I do know that you did have some recording
difficulties, but I've not had a chance to listen to it yet. Um The other thing I
wanted to mention, aside from what Mr Kirsch has mentioned, which I completely wholeheartedly
agree with is the uh dollar value threshold at $3000. You
can't shake a stick at a pile of lumber for $3000. So to make that the threshold,
I think is prohibitive for anybody to do any um modifications or additions or, you
know, corrections to issues they may have with their property. So I think that that
$3000 limit should be really scrutinized more heavily. Um I think that's
probably it. You've received my written comments. Thank you very much for your participation.
Thank you jean.
Anyone else like to make a public comment today? We would love to hear from you.
You can hit Star Nine if you're on the phone or that raise hand button.
Oh, pleasure. Thank you. All right. I don't see anyone else right now, but we will
keep public comment as is our custom open until 930. And, uh, I'll turn to my seat
mates to see, uh, what kind of responses you have your finger. Um, I could jump in,
go for it. All right, Monday morning, still getting set up here. Um, so,
um, I, I share some concerns about the egg, um, the new egg building code and I
also um was not here last week, had to be at a state Board of Health meeting which
conflicted. Um And so uh look forward to more discussion on that today. Um
I do believe that there are some subjective decisions. It's, it's very difficult
as MS Ball just pointed out. Um You know, we, we're always trying to strike a balance
between having these prescriptive codes, you know, things like dollar values, which
can seem really arbitrary. Um but then also not making them too subjective, like
Mr Tier pointed out um where it's um you know, one person getting to, to make that
call, but I do think it's important that we take a close look at that. Um There are
a number of truly agricultural buildings that um they would not currently meet the,
the, the proposed code requirements and uh you know, things like greenhouses in particular,
um which do have plumbing in them, for example. So, um sorry, I missed the discussion
last week and look forward to di diving into that more fully this afternoon. Um uh
As MS Ball said, had a great um tour down in day Bob in the forest um with some
DNR leadership and um look forward to, to sharing an idea with you guys that came
out of that meeting um uh later today. Um Be, you know,
to, to be honest, I have not looked into the last Crocker or lost Crocker last Crocker.
Um uh just haven't had time to, to dig into that or not. But I, in some ways, I feel
like with so many balls in the air with DNR and with our forestry policy considerations,
um I, I'm not inclined to, to go anywhere with that request unless, um you know,
unless one of you were to say, oh, this is, you know, extraordinarily important.
Um But, you know, I, I know that DNRS uh really struggling, their financial model
is broken. Um And, you know, we have been asked, pushing for change there, but I,
I feel like we have to, to continue to apply pressure in a strategic way. Um And
we have some really good avenues right now. They have uh through the legislature
largely. Um And with the help of Commissioner Eisenhower and some of our local advocates
have developed more tools for us. And so I'm interested in really trying to pursue
and perfect those tools. Um And that probably means that the, the much of the train
being on the usual tracks, which I agree is very problematic. Um But we need to,
I, I would suggest we put our energy into, to really building out these other tools
and so that we slowly move the train off of the old track onto a new one.
I think that's all for now, Heidi, anything to add, um fly close to this. Yeah. So
on the forest front, I have been probably working full time in addition to all my
other 29 other committees as a commissioner on um the Forest front with, with DNR
and as I've said, in multiple other meetings, you know, we've stated in a pretty
specific letter to DNR, what we would like to collaborate with them on and see them
work towards um on our behalf. And I'm not inclined to move away from what we've
asked them to do and I'm more inclined to, as Kate said, make sure that the tools
that I personally have spent a couple of years refining um work for our community.
So I'm continuing my work on the trust land transfer program. I've raised my hand
to be on the um DNR work group that came out of the $83 million budget proviso. I've
worked with Mallory Weinheimer and Catherine Copus to identify specific parcels that
could address all elements of that proviso. And now we need to work to see that those
parcels fit the criteria that they're um targeted for and that, that's a ton of work.
It's more, more work than I have to do. So, I'm not inclined and we've also been
talking with DNR about um being ok with some of their timber sales. So I'm not inclined
to jump up and down about this one. Sorry folks. Um But I am inclined to keep doing
a lot of work on behalf of forests and to ensure that the tools that a number of
us in, in Washington have spent a couple of years rev revising and refining and creating
actually get operationalized and we see some um gains for the forests of, of Washington
from those tools. So that may sound like a politician, but I guess I've been reminded
this weekend a number of times that I am one. And um you know, I'm, I'm proud to
represent our community and I know that the majority of our community um relishes
the forested landscapes that surround us. And I know the uniqueness of these older
legacy, whatever you wanna call them structurally complex for us, they're incredibly
important and we wanna protect as much of them as we can. Um Well, we can. So,
um I'm sure I'm gonna get blowback from the timber industry about everything I just
said. But um you know, I'm a little bit curious about what Nina said about the marshes
in the, in the last Crocker timber sale. Um DNR does a good job with its
forest practice. Applications and they're, you know, sticking to their uh habitat
conservation plan and their sustainable or their old growth forest policy and their
sustainable forest policy, all the policies that guide them. So I, you know, I, I
would think that they would leave those areas wetlands out of a timber sale, but
I would like to know more about that if there are specifics that somebody could share.
Um And I am also curious about the AG building um
policy that we'll be talking about later this afternoon. I've received a number of
specific comments and I don't know if this needs more that that's the subject needs
more of a workshop, but it just um feels like there are enough questions that I hope
that we can get some answers this afternoon. Can I ask a question about that? Did
you guys get into that much last week? The details of the, the proposed AG code changes?
I mean, the details of them principally are the definition, the addition of the state
definition. And I think what Mr Tier called out today, all the other things, the
plumbing and everything is in existing AG building. And I think what if I'm characterizing
what Mr C or how he, how he portrayed it? I think it's uh maybe I'm also putting
some of my own um assertions into, I think it's real, it's real. It's real tempting
to say, oh yeah, this is an AG building and this is an AG building and this is an
AG building and they're really conscious of, uh, you know, especially when properties
change hands and uses change that. Oh, it's an AG building. It's always an AG building
though. I've got all my, my vintage cars in there now or something. So, the changes
aren't that much but I think they're trying to preserve DN or, uh DC D's ability
to say that doesn't look like an AG building. Um But the plumbing um and we did talk
about plumbing, we did talk about that and irrigation and that kind of thing is,
is acceptable. It's really, if it needs to get permitted by environmental public
health, they're really trying to get at, you know, is it farm worker housing building
that comes residential? Right. That's what, that's what he talked about last week.
Right. Right. Yeah, I just don't, don't want it to have a chilling effect on a bag.
Yeah. Yeah. And so we can get into it with him later. I just wonder, I think it's
worth worth worth diving in deeper. Were you able to review it from last week? No,
I didn't, I didn't watch that. I'm not sure Carolyn to that public comment. Is it
up and available to watch at this point? We did have a capture issues I can issue,
but if not, it's available on files. So under laser fish, publicly accessible
under Bocc boards and commissions uh Board of Commissioners of Bocc Zoom meeting
files. Great. Um, and we can dig in a little bit more, of course with password
and it's telling me when I use those passwords that my passwords are potentially
corrupted. Are we, should we be concerned?
Ok.
Um All right. Uh uh I mean, I, I agree with you guys about the, uh, the forest issues
and last Crocker. Um I think we are, you know, we have a lot of stakeholders in this,
including one that hasn't been mentioned as the junior taxing districts and really
are kind of not working south of 104 in our in our asks was also a big concession
to the junior taxing district, specifically the fire districts that say this is a
real critical piece of our, of our budget and we did talk about that last week because
I did have a meeting with um Chief Bley the week before and I specifically cited
that meeting and you know, uh are in collaboration with DNR saying that we're not
gonna work to oppose timber sales south of 104, reminding, reminding people out loud
again. And so it's a natural area may be a little bit of an exception. Yeah, yeah.
So I mean, there's a lot of work going into these and we're trying to, you know,
build and preserve relationships with DNR and make sure that, you know, DNR is a
very responsible with that trust and, and part of it is is keeping those junior tax
and districts whole. And so we gotta, gotta honor the system as well as I think we're,
we're really working hard, especially with under Heidi's leadership to, uh, preserve
more and more of that of that land. But at the same time recognizing that DNR, you
know, unlike the commercial timber industries, I mean, fully half of their land is
encumbered and protected. So, as we're frequently reminded by the timber industry,
you know, so that letter didn't quite satisfy anyone, you know, that might be the
perfect letter. Yeah. Um, but do take your point. Um, and about the AG
building, you know, I've, I've him and hard on this, my myself. Um, I don't
know the, the, the adding the definition I think is good and I, I think digging in
a little bit more on that exclusive discretion and what is the appeal process after
that? Because I'm sure there is an appeal process. I think it's just, you know, I
imagine that it came out of conversations where, like you can't tell me that's what
it's an AG building. I'm storing my feet in there. It's an AG building. But, but
I, I think that's worth a little bit of a conversation, but if you look, if you look
it up like it's a, a handout number 14 or something that we've had since 2014 that
has all the other rules already are in there. Um, uh, I think the 10 ft proximity
has been an issue and Phil talked very clearly about that really about fire safety
and everything. Um I just wish that uses like just having the USB livestock is very
narrow. There's a lot of other agricultural uses in agricultural building. So that's
really my concern is expanding that the uses to reflect actually what current agriculture
looks like in Jefferson County, which might be seed processing, it might be growing
crops with a very low risk. Um You can store tractors and unlicensed farm equipment.
We did talk about that because they said only licensed farm equipment which is uh
I did recently license our farm truck as a farm truck. It's a great loophole for
those that have farm vehicles they just use as farm vehicles. Um Could I mention
the um one of the commenters had a concern with the $3000 limit, not a currently
is 1500. So that limit got doubled and, and so, um, how high should it go? Right.
And so that, that, yeah, thanks for bringing that up, Mark. Um And that's not associated
with the AG buildings, of course, but just any construction, if you do more than
$3000 worth of materials into a project is when a threshold when you contemplate
pull in a per permit for it. And uh does that include greenhouses, um, greenhouse
would be an AG building? You don't need to permit that greenhouse. Well, unless it's
over $3000. No, no, no, no. The $3000 is for normal construction. Not ag building
construction. You could build a $20,000 AG building. You don't have to permit it.
But currently, I mean, with this definition, we're considering today, a greenhouse
would be, would not be considered an AG building. Um, it's not used for livestock.
It has often has water running to it. Um And so a greenhouse would not, that's how
I read it. But yeah, and there's been question in our code previously about whether
greenhouses should be considered egg buildings or not. So I think clarifying that
would be helpful. Has anyone been to spring rain farm or any of the farms? Rely on
them. Yeah. And they're very low risk. Um I, I think I feel like we talked about
that. I don't think you have to permit it. The funding from Washington are a programs
for those buildings, you know, I mean, it's, yeah, it would, it would be nice to
be as clear as we can. We're digging into the, I hope I'm not language my read
of it is that it would not, would not qualify. Yeah. Well, we're worth uh and we
are going to uh take, take this up again as a reminder to the public. We had a hearing
last week, we continued it for written uh testimony up until Friday afternoon at
430. So testimony is closed, but we will, we will take it up um And address these
questions at 230 when we're joined by, by Phil this here. I'll make one last call
for public comment. If anyone hasn't made public comment and would like to make public
comment. We would love to hear from you. Um Do you remember if there was um uh oral
testimony? Um In the discussion last year, I see testimony in our, we had 11
folder or comment testified was the only we had one person oral testimony last week.
Ok. Or I guess it was public comment because it was, it was, that was a hearing then
as well. Ok, great. Thank you. And we extended the hearing. We thought you should
be participant in it with indigenous people's day. Many people thought we would be
closed and not open. So we wanted to make sure everyone had a chance and I went on
the radio on Friday too to talk about it and amplified it. Mr C joined me one last
call for public comment. We would love to hear from you. You can hit the raise hand
button or star nine.
Ok,
great. Oh, we've got one more. Let's bring Mr Y over. Y
hm
Mr He's here. All right. Can you, can you hear me? We can. Good, good to hear you,
George, please. Ok. Uh Just a quick comment. Uh uh If you haven't had a chance to
review the uh egg study process that the port is doing, I would urge you to look
at that. It's a, it's a very thorough process that involves um vested interest as
well as the scientific community in it. And um I'm, I'm sure that it will uh
have some impact on the CC or the, the whatever they are and
uh uh it looks like a very good program. So I urge you to look at it.
Great. Thank you very much, Miss Han.
Ok. Uh With that, we will close public comment and take a quick look at our consent
agenda. We'll presumably quick any questions or comments on the consent agenda?
Mm
Good to see more sewer project contract work moving forward um with the
little creek going on, but I think that's pretty inevitable. Yeah, and we're um you
know, digging in on the tech funding process and I'm interested in this isn't related
to item two, but just in interested in making the whole L tech process more transparent.
It, it's been a couple of years of learning how it's worked in the past now and I
feel like now I'm focused on improving it for the future. We have a number of grant
making. I'm using air quotes here processes that we lead as commissioners and I think
it would be good to review, you know, kind of how we do those kind of whole cloth
for behavioral health, for tech, for P I for uh housing fun board and just make our
processes as kind of clear as possible so that there aren't as many questions about
how things are. Well, I, I mean, I had a comment kind of to that point seeing the
Piff, great, great uh that we have, you know, 800 K to put into the RFP from Piff
and, and wondering, you know, if we want to start looking at for all of these things,
um set asides kind of to build capacities with the programs, you know, P has the
ability to, I think carve out for affordable housing at this point or workforce housing,
right? And uh, you know, we talked about LTC and some of the frustration as an applicant,
even before I was a commissioner, I'd had frustration at, oh, it's just going to
all of the, the, the same, you know, pillar institutions and if we're gonna do that,
then maybe we should not make that part of the RFP process, decide how much we're
gonna put in there. So we have a real, you know, everyone that's in the RFP process
is on a level playing field. And the same with uh the housing fund board, you know,
if the funding of the emergency shelter, which is uh critical, both city and county
really want to make sure that we maintain that kind of bottom rung of, of the uh
housing continuum, then we should make those decisions. So I'm not sure if that's
what you're talking about, but I think it's, yeah, I mean, it is. And then the idea
of creating a budget for these programs of allowable expenses um before we put out
an RFP makes sense to me and I've been reviewing uh Clallam and Kids App and Port
Townsend and Island County and a number of other LTAC programs just to see what other
folks do and looking at their last agendas and what their budgets look like. And
for the most part, most organizations or entities do have a budget that pulls at
least 50% of L tech into projects that they know they're gonna need to fund and then
puts out an RFP for the remainder of the balance. And in the city of Port Townsend's
case, they collect between 505 $150,000 in L tech funds and they're doing a grant
program that's 20 to 30,000 a year. So, you know, I mean, I'm not saying we should
pull our, our entire almost 800,000 in L tech funds and allocate it to, you know,
pet projects. But I'm saying that we should look at the things that we've funded
for decades as part of L tech and provide a budget for those things. And then in
some cases, I think some of those larger items, those larger grants we might want
to parse apart like the core, operating from advertising or whatever, but be very
specific about what we're funding with the budgetary part of a funding source like
LT and then what, what the grant RFP is for. I know I'm, I'm of um, mixed mind about
this and I've actually served on fewer of those funding boards. Um, so I was on P
I and now on housing fund Board. So some experience, certainly, but less, I think
you guys have handled more of those because of, uh, L tech and, um behavioral health.
Um, but, you know, it is a, a valuable way to be able to both keep things kind of
fresh and competitive, like, and I know very little about the city's process, but
I know that they were really ready for a big change in how they use those dollars
after having used them largely one way for 1015 years. Um, and, um,
you know, I think, I think it is in some ways it's, it's nice to have that funding
to be a way that we can kind of help, um, kind of seed some priorities into sectors
because, I mean, we know it's easy to just do things a certain way because it's the
way it's been done. And so this is an opportunity where you get to say, hey, we actually
really want to prioritize this and, and have folks have to, like, be thinking about
what's most important and sell themselves a little bit. So, I don't know. I'm, I'm
a little bit torn. Well, I don't think you need to be torn because I think that's
what exactly what we're talking about is how do we, how do we keep the ideas fresh
and how are we responsive to the community instead of just a kind of stale process
that just funds the same things? Because, because we do it looks nimble but it isn't
necessarily nimble, I think. Yeah, it's very much, very much so. And I think it would
be a good thing to workshop and come up with, you know, just in terms of, I mean,
Kate and I have written hundreds of grants to get collectively and, you know, I mean,
I've seen really great foundation grant, um, guidelines that I've seen squishy ones
and I think it would be good to have great, a great RFP and G and clear guidelines
so that people don't, aren't confused at what our intentions are with the funding
because I think we, we owe that to our, um, our public and our entities that are
needing the support. Yeah. And I do know it's a pain in the butt for them to apply
for these and not know if they're gonna get in a base funding. Um, so I, I get that
it's problematic but I, I'm just afraid of giving up that opportunity to help, um,
you know, drive investment in a certain direction. I think it's where you draw the
line so you can know what the actual liquid amount is, right? You know, I mean, we
wanna make sure that the historical society stays, you know, viable and we wanna
make sure that, you know, I think our visitor centers stay viable. So, how much does
that take? And then so, so we have, because we have new nonprofits come up all the
time that are, uh, are itching to compete and when they look at the, the total amount
of money they, you know, it takes a couple, uh, cycles to know, well, you take off
50% off the top for the ones that always get funded because they're always gonna
get funded. Um So having a realistic prize for lack of a better word would be, I
think more nimble than less nimble. I mean, I think it's something that would be
because it is, it is a tool that we have as commissioners. I think it would benefit
us and the community to workshop this and like, look at some of these examples and
look at some of our past funding, like we've got for LTC, like 10 years worth of
funding on a spreadsheet. We can look at how that's worked over time and so that
we have a collective knowledge about it and we can kind of say, well, this is what
we'd like to see happen and then we can make guidelines that match our intentions
anyway. So that, that was my comment on consent, sorry. But it, but the LTC and the
PIB I items brought that from I wanted to say this out loud because, because we can't
talk to each other otherwise, um let's see.
So Mark, maybe put a pin in the idea of the funding of funding grant. Great. Thank
you. That's, that's all my comments. Um Love seeing continued funding for the, the
accessibility of the public health mobile app. And you know, I think it would be
great to expand this at some point uh to the whole county. It's very valuable.
All right, if there's no other questions or comments, I would welcome a motion to
approve and adopt, I move to approve and adopt the consent agenda for October 16th
2023. A second. Ok. It's been moved and seconded to approve and adopt the consent
agenda for October 16th 2023 as presented all in favor, indicate by saying III I
OK, that uh passes unanimously. All right. Now, finally, we're gonna get to our uh
originally on our calendar and on the second a proclamation for National Disability
Employment Month, you guys all have access to the, the proclamation. Can we bring
Anna over? Oh, great. Ok.
Um Taylor, we'd, we'd love to have you over if you uh
OK. And so as is our custom, we will read and adopt the proclamation. I have additional,
a few additional uh um honors that we want to read to really uh thank and recognize
some of the businesses that uh participate in these programs and uh support our intellectually
and dis dis, and developmentally disabled, uh, uh, friends and, and neighbors and
family and, and then we'll, we'll hear from Anna and Taylor, you know how it is on
the streets. So, thank you so much for being here, Anna and putting this together.
Ok, let's go. Uh, youngest, oldest like that. All right. So, oh,
God, bringing up the rear. Right. Yeah, I know. Feeling old today. Wait,
Heidi's older than you, Greg. Yeah, I'm big sister. Not by much. No matter how much,
how much do you want me to read? Some of it make us feel better. Thanks. A proclamation,
National Disability Employment Month. Whereas the purpose of National Disability
Employment Awareness Month is to educate the community about disability, employment
issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of Jefferson County's employees
who experience intellectual developmental disabilities and individuals who experience
other types of disip and whereas disabilities including sensory, physical mental
and cognitive disabilities know no boundaries and affect people of all races, religions
ages, cultures, economic groups and education levels and individuals with disabilities
represent 12.9% of the Washington State population or one out of eight individuals.
And whereas nationally only 19.1% of persons who experience disabilities are employed
but per per person. But for persons without a disability, 63.7 are employed. And
whereas local businesses who welcome the workforce, talents of individuals who experience
intellectual or developmental disabilities are critical to building an inclusive
and robust economy. And whereas Jefferson County supports the goals of diversity,
equity inclusion, access, economic self sufficiency and work is a fundamental part
of identity and offers purpose and the opportunity to lead an independent self directed
life for all people, including individuals who experience intellectual and developmental
disabilities. And whereas the values and diversity of people of Jefferson County
have made this county a leader in the state of Washington in business and employment
opportunities for individuals, individuals who experience intellectual developmental
and other disabilities. Now, therefore, the Jefferson County Board of commissioners
hereby commits to taking steps throughout the year to recruit retain and advance
individuals with disabilities in employment in order to promote economic self sufficiency
and full participation and proclaims October 20 23rd, excuse me, 2023 as National
Disability Employment Month. In addition, we urge all citizens to join in observing
this occasion by recognizing the talents of all people, including people who experience
intellectual developmental and other disabilities as a critical part of our efforts
to build an inclusive community and a strong and diverse economy proclaimed the 16th
day of October 2023.
Great. I welcome a motion. I am happy to make a motion
declaring October 2023 as National Disability Employment Month. I will gladly second.
Ok. It's been moved and seconded all in favor indicate by saying III I um and now
I'd love to uh give a little bit more. Um as, as a member of the Jefferson County
Intellectual Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board and on behalf of the board,
the Jefferson County ID D program, individuals who experience intellectual and developmental
disabilities and the supported employment provider cascade community connections.
Good to see you Taylor. Um I would like to recognize the following businesses for
employing people who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities, AC I
boats, anchor, restaurant, and bar, the Bishop Hotel. Cascade community connections,
Jimma Far and Stand. The Community United Methodist Church, Fort Warden Hospitality,
Goodwill, Port Townsend, Henry Hardware. Jefferson County public works at the transfer
station crew. Jefferson County Y MC A two separate positions. Jefferson Health Care,
mcdonald's Pania Moore, three separate positions, Pizza Factory, two separate positions,
the Port Townsend School of Massage, QFC, two separate positions, Safeway grocers,
Skookum, laundry, Victoria Place and West Sound Marine. Thank you for being leaders
in your community by welcoming the workforce talents of individuals with intellectual
and developmental disabilities. You are indispensable to building a diverse equitable,
inclusive community, a robust economy and economic self sufficiency. So I do support
these businesses because they support our community. So it's not a hard list of businesses
to support. It's a lot. It's a big list. Yes. So um now we would love to turn it
over Anna first. Do you have anything that you'd like to add? I do. Thank you, Commissioner.
Um Good morning everybody. Um Anna mchenry from public health. Um I thank you. Commissioners
for helping us celebrate national Disability Employment Month. Just a few thoughts.
Um, I've experienced the field of intellectual developmental disabilities for over
35 years. Um, I guess I would be the oldest one on that during that time. We've seen
the integration and acceptance of disabilities where there wasn't any, it's hard
to believe that it wasn't until 1975 that a federal law was created that required
all Children with disabilities to have access to a free and appropriate public education.
I know we're here to recognize National Disability Employment Month, but it's important
to recognize how far we've come in the last 50 years and supported employment has
helped to create a full circle moment in our state and in our county, of course,
it's also important to recognize how far we still have to go. Every year. We have
young people who experience intellectual disabilities, graduate from their transition
program and enter the adult world. Every year, many of those graduates are looking
for employment, employment opportunities continue to help create a community where
port, where people can be long and can overcome their barriers to work and live with
passion and determination. If we want to act on this proclamation, it would be wonderful
if the county were to let our employment agency cascade community connections. Look
at matching a few people who experience disabilities to employment positions. Now
the county has had employment positions here before PRE COVID employment for individuals
who experience disabilities is not about charity. It's about matching a job with
an individual that has the correct skills. In closing. I'd like to give a shout out
to the many amazing people with intellectual disabilities who have lived and worked
in our community. Another shout out to our wonderful employers who have hired individuals
with disabilities and the people who work in this field. They're all practiced in
helping others find their superpower And we are grateful. Thank you for letting me
share. Can I add a shout out? Thank you Anna for her decades of service to folks
with disabilities in our community, Anna, we really appreciate your leadership. Thank
you, Commissioner. I appreciate that. And, and before we turn it over to Taylor,
I also want to thank Anna for, you know, calling out an action because I, you know,
as our strategic plan plan outlines, we, we want to find how can we make these proclamations
more actionable. So Taylor, I would love to love to hear how, how we can do that
and, and anything else that you'd like to share with us? Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thank you, good morning commissioners. And I just wanted to say thank you for sharing
your time with us this morning. And thank you Anna for putting together the proclamation
and for all of you for reading that into the record. Um at Cascade community connections,
we have the privilege of working with individuals with disabilities all types of
disabilities, developmental people with mental health, um veterans, physical disabilities,
youth with learning disabilities, and we really focus on their strengths and their
talents and the skills that they have to offer. And the best thing about it is that
the, the people we work with are ready to work with, they're ready, they're willing,
they're able to work and with such high turnover rates and high unemployment rates,
um, there's really this pool of candidates that employers may not know about. And
so that's sort of our mission with the disability awareness. Um Employment Awareness
Month is to spread the word that we're out here. And there's people that want to
work for you and be dedicated and be in their home community, Jefferson County and
be an asset to their businesses. And so I'm really inspired to honor all of these
employers today, uh who have taken the step to diversify their workforce and be inclusive
with their hiring practices, work with people with different abilities and add a
different level of positivity to their workplace. And our staff love working with
businesses and figuring out what um what it is that they need, what, what their gaps
are and how someone can be an asset to their team and um and help them further mission.
So as Anna said, we'd love to see more jobs in government at the city and the county
and the different departments. Um And I think that'd be a great way to embody this
proclamation year round and set an example for other businesses throughout the county.
So thanks so much for your time today. And uh we really appreciate you supporting
everyone in the field, the people with disabilities and also all of the employers.
All right, great. Thank you very much Taylor and I wanna get another department on
that list for, for next year, for sure. So reach out and let's figure out how we
do that. Yeah, I, I wanna say thank you to you both. It's um you know, I just, when
I think about the, the kind of social fabric we want to have in our community, it's
where people are truly integrated um in a way that there's, there's dignity and,
and tolerance and celebration and you, you are doing that very work. So thank you.
Um And yeah, I agree. Let's find other opportunities for us to be more engaged.
Thank you, commission. All right. Thank you so much, Anna. Thank you Taylor. We see
you soon. Sorry, I can't join you Thursday. I got bored of health this week, but
uh thank you so much. All right, have a great day. Um Now we're, we're joined by
Judy Shepherd. I think this is, is this our last budget presentation? Um Yes. Uh
department directors and elected briefed the board on the their budgets the second.
You want to take a five minute, let's take five minutes. Yeah. Ok. We'll recess till
1055. Get the mic moved over. It might take some time. And Carolyn, you're joining
us here at the table. Oh, I like it.
Recording stopped.
Oh, you didn't know she's blushing already right now.
I got a crack here. Yeah, it's just a little more. It seemed like it wasn't too bad.
Give me.
All right. We are coming back into session for our 2024 25 budget briefing regarding
funds managed by the county administrator and board of county commissioners. And
it's nice to see a v capture working. All right, we'll just give a moment to uh Carolyn
get ready for her close up. Yeah. Can we, can we get the slow pan as she walks over
to the table? Yes, with so many. Yeah, I know it's. Mhm.
All right. We're turning the tables on our clerk. That's right.
So do you mind a little short intro, please? All right, commissioners. Um So the
week of October 2nd, we had our department directors and um independent elected officials
brief you on their budgets, their preliminary budget uh today. Um Carolyn and Judy
mostly and me to some small extent will run you through all the budgets managed by
Carolyn. Um Judy, me and the board uh there, I don't know, 15 of them or so. Uh Some
of them are rather small and inconsequential. Not a lot of decisions need to be made
about the budgeting going forward. Uh There are some however, uh affordable housing,
homeless housing, lt A uh public infrastructure and so on that are dependent on requests
for proposal. Um And in some cases, those rfps had not gone out when the preliminary
budget uh was put together. And so uh what you see today will be modified uh between
now and when I submit the recommended budget, uh when is that the end of November
or so, first part of the last
part of the next week. So, um anyway, with that brief intro, I think Carolyn's gonna
cover about seven different budgets. So I just wanna um add to what Mark said and
this preliminary budgets were due on September 5th. And so there's, you know, there's,
these are preliminary budgets that you're seeing. So we will be fine tuning and we're
working through that in the month of a to get ready for the recommended. So there
will be some things we didn't know it. We're presenting these budgets that we now
know. And so we will be incorporating that in the recommended budget. So just knowing
that going forward, another example would be uh risk premiums from the risk pool.
Um We received our invoices for this year and they're quite a bit larger than we
had budgeted for this year. Um Well, actually, that's a 2024 but we pay it now.
So, all right, would you prefer questions after or as you're going through during,
I'll try to answer them as best as I can. If not, I have Judy here to help me going
in the order of the pages in our packet actually. So, so I prepared the agenda request
and um I must have had dyslexia because I, I think I put them in a slightly different
order than they appear here. Let us go by what they appear. Yeah, they appear in
the medical order. Uh you know, 59 60 61 in the agenda request. I think I mixed up
a couple. Uh So this is uh county, so shoot Carolyn. Uh Yes. Ok. So county administrator
um budget has stayed the same for quite some time. But recently we hired a communications
specialist and a finance manager. So some of that travel and um dues and subscriptions
are coming out of that line. Um
It's kind of been raised and one thing you'll see commissioners is the personal benefit
line. The, the 2023 budget original budget assumed, I believe that the health care
health premium holiday was going to continue and we all know it, it's not a real
double. It's just we're back to
the staff. It would have been had we not had, had a holiday and well, even more though,
right? Because we're paying for what the staff would be paying without the holiday.
Uh Well, no, not in 2424. 0, only, only for this year. And that's why I'm glad Judy
and Mark are here because I pay the invoices and they do that all the behind the
scene stuff as the, why, why we do things so why we do what we do. Um, and so, unless
you have questions about this, I can move on to the next one and that would be
county commissioners. Yeah. Um, so again, I think we stayed pretty close on the
travel. Um, we have the three commissioners and three office staff that, that comes
out of, um, the travel comes out of that and we've been doing pretty good. Um, when
A O goes to travel for WCRP that gets reimbursed fully. Um, and there are some things
like if you're, if like Kate sits on a board, um, they'll refund airfare lodging.
So we kind of stay pretty consistent on that, but we do have enough money upfront
usually to make it. Um, this year, I think we have about $1200 left and, you know,
a couple of months left out of the year. So I think we're doing pretty good. Um,
any questions on that? What's the, what's the revenue from historical preservation?
What is that? That's so, um, I'm not prepared to talk about that, but that's, uh,
an RC by RCW Stacy Preda. Um, gives me those numbers and we pay that every year.
It's based. Do you know more about that? It's revenue? It's not something we pay.
I believe it is.
Ok. So it's revenue that comes in and then we go ahead and turn out and pay it with
the budgeted amount. Um Who do we pay it to? Uh, the historical society? Is that
the imaging services? Yeah, I'm not sure why it's coming out of this fund but, and
it's more, the, the cost is more than the revenue that comes in. It looks like. So
these are budgeted numbers. I, I'd have to look, these are not actuals. Um, I'm not,
I can get back to you on if you'd like if you'd like some more information on that.
I don't know, I don't know where we are in actuals for this year for 2023 to see
if we're above budget or not. So, because that would just be interesting. So, like,
so like last year it was, um, we had like 1000 extra budgeted and so it came in,
the invoice came in less than what we needed. But, um, cell phone costs,
those are about, it was about the same office and operating supplies. We're doing
pretty good on that. Um, we had upped it for a bit there because we were, um, I think
some of ours was um, paying for finance manager, um, new laptop and that sort of
thing, um, which first came on and furniture. Um, so the big changes are uh pay increases
for uh, for staff and then of course, the jump in personnel benefits and then we
have a B capture fees on here. So there's repair and maintenance. I think it's about
6000 a year for a B capture. I can't remember off the top of my head. Um So we need
to pay them more. So it actually works well right now, right now it's been tech issues
because of the recent one was a monitor issue. Uh And then before that, we had zoom
issues. So it wasn't a va they, they were incredibly helpful this morning. They were
responding. Yeah, I love a capture because you pick up the phone and they answer
right away. So um and they hop on your computer. So um is that it?
Ok. Board of equalization. So this is a very small fund. Um but it pays um for the
board of equalization staff. Uh There's three board members, they get $100 for each
here. Uh Each day they meet. Um We use up all of the office and operating supplies
and postage. Um Now travel, that's for if they went to Boe training, it's a very
small amount. You'll see Boe training or um mileage to their courthouse. Um But I
think that might have been done away with because they got the $100 stipend. Actually,
I'm not positive on that, but it's, it's left over for Boe training. You'll see it's
only $406. Um Actually I'll be attending Boe training this week. Uh
because Julie in our office is leaving this is civil service and this is mostly for
exams, for candidates for positions. Mhm. Yeah, we had to up it um because they found
out that we need actually more exams during the year so that amount has increased
but now it's a standard um postage we use all up and advertising, we use all up and
then some so super small budget, very small budget
community services. And this is driven mostly by contracts that we have um a
actually every single expense um except for DV prevention, local RCW is by contract.
It's like like Mark said, the contract dictates how much we put aside for the budget.
Um OK, we really only give the Gardner Community Center less than $4000 a year to
maintain that one. Yeah, they're super active. They, no, they, I mean, they're happy
with that during pandemic. We gave them a 5% increase for a couple of years and they're
like, wow. Yeah. Um And this doesn't include the, the uh increase that we're planning
to give the county fair. Is that right? Right. That's an adjustment that yes, yeah,
I'm not, I'm not aware of it yet
that the 50,000 is in the agreement yet to be reached. Right. So
it's yes, that is still projected. Correct. Yeah, so that that amount should be,
should be put into this budget. Um Eagle Eye Kate. That's, yeah.
Uh and then that'll be inflation adjusted by 3%. Most likely. Yeah. So as, you know,
we're new to having a finance manager. So, what we've discussed amongst ourselves
is she definitely needs the ability to know these new contract amounts. Um And so
we had a bit of a period where it's transitioning. And so now, um she'll be cc on
all the agendas and I thought Claire avoidance was a requirement for finance manager.
Right. So, yeah, getting her in on the loop because sometimes she's like, I didn't
know where this was, this was approved of our, you know, directors watched the meeting
all day Monday.
So basically looking at the agenda for the consent items, but you know, um next one
is
operating transfers. That's you, right. So operating transfers are staying the same,
um is the goal in these, um we've had a couple that have requested more but they
all go through the general fund finance policy and uh support they ask for why they
are requesting more. Um I'm pleased to say what I've seen so far. It's only been
a couple of them that are asking for increases. So, yeah, D CD for one. and then
you'll notice, uh for the veterans fund 155 transfer to veterans, uh 00. And that's
because they have a very healthy fund balance and do not need the support. You know,
they, um when the board approves the resolutions uh with the budget, uh one of those
is the levy for veterans so they get about 48,000 a year from that levy. So their
fund balance I think is like 197,000 right now. So that also reflect that it's been
undersubscribed a little bit during COVID. Surprisingly, those I was going to talk
about when we do 155. But yeah, surprisingly, during COVID, we've seen less people
and we think it's because they got COVID funding from the federal government
and the health department amount is the amount that they were here talking to us
about. Yeah, and that's going to stay the same. Yeah. Now, uh, the money for, for
community development, um to, to help fund the fix, um for the SDR backlog and
leave a lot of record and so on. Um, uh, the board authorized them to contract with
five firms. So they're farming some of the work out and they'll be, um, yeah, uh
costs associated with that. Um So this will go up and plus their staffing is dramatically
improving. And so some of the salary savings we saw this year, uh, we won't experience
next year. Hopefully good. So, are we going to see this 450,000 dollar number go
up? Is that what you're saying? Like?
Yeah. Correct. Yeah. The extent of the increase, we don't know yet, but I've always
told Josh we need things fixed and so I've told him that we'll, we'll fund him appropriately.
A couple of the other ones that I'm aware of is WSU and just
working with them on that, um, they've asked, requested additional. Um, and then
I think, um, roads asked, I don't know if it was roads or I know parks, I think is
asked for additional, I think they've asked for an FTE for recreation. Right. So,
um, so, but we'll have more information on that and the recommended.
Ok. All right. Non departmental. This is a biggie out of the general fund. The biggest
one that uh collectively commissioners we, we manage and it's so large, it won't
fit on one page. Um So this is where we pay information services facilities. This
is where we pay indigent defense. This is where we pay um uh the wrist pool and um
dispatch. Um and also the 911 Greg um Jeff. Jeff
come. Well, we, I mean, I, I see also, uh the Humane Society would be on here if
we paid them any money instead of just getting money from them. And, uh are we taking
that conversation further down the road and we have capital, capital facilities or,
I mean, what are the budget implications of that path? Um Well, there are, there
are two separate um forks in that conversation. One might be on the capital side,
the other is just operational. Um I think I've mentioned to the board that most other
communities subsidize their humane societies. We are one of the few that do not.
And so I um and they don't have an executive director now. So I, I think the chair
of the board is who I'm dealing with. Um But I will be bringing a workshop to the
board with a recommendation for how, how to move forward. But um there are so
many demands on the, the general fund. This budget go around that I think we need
a workshop or two before uh recommended budget is submitted. Um because there's some
hard choices and I I think I need to know where the board stands on a number of these
requests before I submit a recommended budget. Well, and with that one that's also
uh um and that could also be a capital like, you know, some of sometimes the the
two are vis a vis so like the Humane Society, if we could help them out more with
capital, maybe that would, you know, make their operations a little easier and not
take on that ongoing at an expense. Yeah, that's the second prong on the four would
be the capital side. So thank you Kate. Uh And then, so this is page two of um non
departmental. Well, on page one of non departmental, the association of counties,
I know they were increasing their dues. Is that, do you remember, is that their total?
I thought their increase was like uh over a couple of years. So the number was gonna
go up but I don't remember. It's 27,000. And yeah, it's been going, there's a lot
of items on here that have been going up. Um There's, I also want to point out real
quick though, animal control facility, we pay um a lease on that. So I pay that monthly
to central services. Um and yeah, so Chickadee Forestry that's going to go up. Um
but that contract was just approved a couple of meetings ago. Um Well, that, that
amendment four was for the balance of this year. And so a new contract will be coming
to the board um in the next few weeks for uh 2024 and beyond. Right? And so I'll
work with um, Judy on that a new amount. Um, a lot of items. So like the professional
Services line, um that is um a lot of new stuff is being paid out of that. Um So
for instance, there's peak consulting. Um, there was uh Barry and Dunn. Um other,
other places that we pay that we normally don't do come out of that professional
services line, um, offices, office and operating supplies. Half of that is our Zoom
licenses. We still do 23 licenses um across various departments including three webinar.
Um So that takes a half of our budget and the rest of that budget is taken up by
hr um and their supplies. Um And, you know, state examiner, we have to pay that
every month when they come and do an audit. Um and remind me what we get for in revenue
for the public defender from the 3535 K. I think this year it's like 30 or something.
It's going down for 32 this year 29. Well,
you have the was a lawsuit bears any fruit. We might see an increase there and Mark
mentioned earlier about the transfer for WCRP costs. It was very large but that gets
distributed amongst others. Yeah. Ok. I'm trying to look for that was sack. There
was. Oh, well, because there's the, the new uh NACO, there's an assessment for the
new NACO uh forestry initiative too, which would be additive, right? I thought they
had summarized in a proposal somewhere, but I think that we need to drill into small
changes like that can be absorbed pretty easily. Um I mean, it's nice to have the
precise number if we have it.
Ok. This is Grant management fund. Ok. So this is the Grants Management fund. This
is where we housed ARPA funds um through the last what three years now. Um Also our
C DB G funds come through here. Um A new area that we're going to receive funding
uh to this fund is for the Y MC A uh early childhood project. And so there's quite
a bit of grant money that will be flowing through the fund uh when they start construction
in 2024. So we're hoping another line gets added there for the Commerce because there's
another grant for,
are we the applicants on that one
here? Oh, we've already, that's already there. It's already there. But there was
a second grant. Right. Right. So the, there's public services grant is a, the C DB
G grant is the Commerce Grant for 2 million. Um, and then
the federal aid. So the federal, we don't anticipate the congressional grant. We
don't really anticipate using that until 2025. Um Because so we would use the Commerce
Grant is the CWBG general purpose grant. Y MC A, that's the Commerce Grant, the 2
million. Ok. I think, I think Mark is talking about administration for those grants.
Are, you know, are we going to charge some overhead? And that would be an administration.
We just now started having that conversation with Win.
Ok.
Great brother Tim for clerk of the board.
Mm,
so he could have done it. You can stay in front of the screen.
Um So yes, so the administration was still working that piece out about how much
the county will receive, how much Y MC A will receive it. It would be, it would come
out of the focus on other stuff. Yes, that, that would be correct. Ok. So we have
to still work the bottom line. We have to work the administration part out yet. Stacy.
Did you want to go back to something? Did you have a question or a comment just come
up to uh I don't know, share a microphone with Caroline and Judy. I guess I was just
gonna answer the um historic preservation and the way that works if that's ok. Now,
um so the money that comes in each year, I report to Carolyn and the
Jefferson County Historical Society and they build the county at the beginning of
each year for the prior year for 90% of what comes in. And so in
2021 we brought in 11,056 for uh
recording and it was basically scanning the images. And so that's why in
2022 the amount that went out was in the 11,000 range. And so January of
this year, what went out to them was 7030 this year 8489,
I they're requesting 6000. Um So we paid the 7000 this
year, this coming year through the end of September. Um only $4327
have come in. And so like recording and all of the transactions their way down. So
I can see why they put 6000 for this 2024 which will get paid in February.
Thanks Daisy. So the expenditures will go down to reflect that. I mean, it's just,
it's gonna be 90% of the revenue basically. Yes. Yeah, it's not a lot. So I hope
they are able to put it to good use. Can you do you mind just explaining a little
more what that um service is that we do. Like what, what triggers that? Uh I, well,
I don't have the details on it other than, um, it's a recording fee for this purpose
and I believe the historic Society is doing scanning of historic documents,
but I really don't want to speak for them. That would just be my guess. But the state
pays for those documents to be recorded or I'm, I'm trying to understand the who's,
who's paying for that recording? Those would be every document that's recorded. So
the fees 200 something, it's going up to 300 something, some of them go to affordable
housing. I mean, there's just a lot of fees on top of recording documents,
distribution.
Thank you. Ok, I understand. All right. Thanks so much, Stacy. I'll keep an eye out
if you have anything else to add or you can just stick around
a
commissioner at that point. All right. Take it away. Ok, so great management fund
and um ok, this is Hotel Motel, go ahead. And so Hotel Motel, um, we have the RFP
amount in the budget. And so what happens with that is that once those awards are
um identified, then we would, we're just getting budget authority for the RFP amount
for this and then it'll get spread across the awards that are, are given for LT A
so that the LTAT board decides so that 730. We project, right? And that way
as they bill us next year for their uh for their grants, we can record the expenses
against the amount they were awarded. Excellent, thanks. I'm not sure if we've done
this kind of dig before, but it's really very helpful to kind of see behind the veil
of, of these rfps we're talking about in this morning during consent and it's, it's
really, it's very helpful. Thank you. Ok. Mental health.
Is that me? I mean, we, yeah, um, the sheriff department pays for discovery, behavioral
health and then we pay a portion of that and the 25%. Right. Yeah. So, um,
I'm sorry, I don't have more information on this. I'm just kind of, it is what it
is. I mean, that it just automatically happens. Yeah,
Stacy is with us in the, in the panel now. So, Stacy, if you have anything to add,
just feel free to, to interject. Ok. This is the drug fund 35. So this used to see
some activity but lately not so much. Not for, for quite a few years for me. What's
that? This is like because there's no more LF OS or what? Well, the, it's, it's in,
it's investigations and it's, it's managed by, um, I believe by the,
um, prosecuting attorney and they weren't aware that they had it and then they, they,
they weren't aware that they, they had it available. So that was kind of an, aha
moment earlier this year. So I think we're still trying to figure out whether we
even really need it or not. So, it's one of those that might go the way of the dinosaurs.
And some years ago, I know we, we purchased digital cameras, uh, for evidence purposes
using money in the fund. Um, so anyway, we'll, we'll look at, um, we'll consult with
the sheriff and the prosecuting attorney and maybe snuff this fund out
141. This is Trial Court Improvement. Um, this is another one of those. It's on
autopilot, a certain amount of money for jabs maintenance and then 4500 to each of
the two chords for Bailiff, uh, that they used to for Bailiff, um, support. I work
with, um, superior Court and district court offices on how much they need for a B
for the year and sometimes they split the difference. Sometimes they say, well, one
department needs it more than the other that year. So they kind of work together
to use those funds up. It wouldn't be a, it would be Jabs. Yeah.
All right. This is title three. This is the fun that accumulated money over the course
of, I don't know, 10 or 15 years. Uh, we're using monies out of this. The, you see
the 100,000, that's for the community file Welfare protection plan. Um, we'll probably
reduce the 100,000 or move it. Uh, because I think the sheriff asked for a emergency
vehicle for search and rescue, search and rescue. Um, and I think they wanted
67,000 or so. And, um, looking at the fun balance here, it looks like we might be
able to afford that. And, and that was something that I suggested because I, in one
of my was a sessions was, um, I just asked, I mean, have, have any of you used this
title? three money for Search and Rescue? And they a number of people said yes. And
I'm like, oh, it was like an aha moment and I came back and I, I think I said it
to you Greg and to mark, I was like, I think we can use title three because Search
and Rescue came forward with the request as part of the ARPA the last round, right?
Last call. And so I think there was a minor tweak to the title three eligibility
criteria. I, I think it used to be that equipment that was damaged or destroyed
during operations could be replaced right now. You can buy a new piece. Well, I never,
if you've never had equipment, maybe you can get some, I currently pay the SWC a
consultants for the Community Welfare Protection plan implementation of this, right.
So what we'll do for um as part of the recommended budget, we'll determine how much
is left on that contract for the wildfire protection plan. And then um should the
board decide to fund the vehicle. Um, then we would create a line there for um, for
that uh vehicle acquisition.
All right, this is affordable housing. So this again, we got the RFP um, budgeted
amount and then the 1590 fund budgeted amount. So we, these are the amounts that
were presented and agreed upon to fund the RFPS for 2024.
All right. And that's the same thing for this, right. Um the
27,000 is that, um, grant by Department of Commerce for the reduction of
recording fees. So that 27,000 is, um, that's the amount that we would be
able to receive and it can only be given to LIC camp as a community action program.
So that's why you see that broken out as a separate amount.
Ok.
Uh, this is our veterans program and, and we already kind of went over this. Um,
uh, yeah, basically amount of people that have come in requesting the services has
decreased during COVID, um, during COVID, we were doing parking lot appointments.
Uh, we met people out in the cars and distributed funds from the program and I called
the service officers and they approved telephonically. Um, we're back to in person
now, but, um, we still, we still have a lower amount and, you know, surprisingly
the, the death certificates, I'm sorry, the, um, funeral benefits that we used to
do have also gone down in previous years. We've had a higher influx in, uh, funeral
benefits. And so, and we had to do budget, um, supplementals, uh, to pay for those.
But now funeral benefits 500 it's 500 it goes to the veteran and their spouse. Um,
but anyhow, um, we haven't had a bunch of funeral benefits lately, but I kept the
same amount because I didn't want to lower it. Ok.
Oh, I don't want to talk about this one.
I don't even know how to explain this so many years ago. Uh, the county guaranteed
some loans for affordable housing. Um, uh, some money was, uh, yeah,
maybe Stacey's still on the line. Um,
yeah, I don't even know how to explain this. Um,
well, it doesn't mean I'm gonna save the day.
Gosh, uh, maybe we could come back to this while I do some research. Thank you. Um,
go ahead. This is water pollution. Um, yeah, 160 is, maybe you
might be thinking of something else. And so, um, so there are loans out there and
we're reaching to the end of those, which is why we have a reduction of, um, of amount
there, you know, instead of 7000, we're at 1000 because I believe, and Stacey you
can correct me. I think we only have like, maybe one loan is septic loans from the
nineties. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Right. Yes. So, thank you so much
Judy for identifying the fund each year. I provide notifications to the
auditor and the health department for, I believe we have two or three outstanding
loans that are left and they were very low interest, um, for failing septic
systems. We had like, 12 when I started nine years ago and we either have one or
two now. It might be down to one. But, um, when they pay it off, uh, before
closing and releasing it, the health department, uh, needs to voucher out the fees
for closing and recording all of the documents to be able to, um, you know, have
them have their title. These loans are, um, they have terms that we aren't
doing anymore, which is they, uh, either get paid upon change of ownership
or death of the owner, which is essentially the change of the ownership. Um, so,
uh, many of them, uh, they might, they changed when they sold the property or a couple
of them refinanced, um, or had, doesn't matter, they paid it off. Um, and
so as I'm looking through my notes, um, I would be able to find it but there's another
outstanding one. And so it's something where you have to have it budgeted. You can't
just say that it's ok. Here we go. We have one remaining
loan, 1993 excuse me, 22 remaining loans. Um, one from
1993 the other from 98 and, you know, it's low interest but it's kind of a shame
that, uh, they weren't allowing payments in the past and I have since told the people
in my annual notification that we would accept payments. Should they want to do that?
But essentially the total amount is, uh,
$18,000 between the two loans that's owed currently. And it just keeps going the
4% right now on one,
both of them are 4%. Are these the old craft three loans or did they predate the
craft three loans even? Um, I think they predate that because they were,
uh through a bank and then the bank decided they didn't want to do that before I
came along. And so, uh, Judy Morris, the prior treasurer or, um, took them over,
um, you know, uh quite some time ago and again, we just have two left.
So the $1000 is budget authority to do the rec conveyance. So in case they get paid
off in 2024 or 2025.
Ok. Well, thank you for bailing me out on that one. Well, thank you Judy for the
reminder. It takes a village, right? Ok.
All right. This is, um, the P I Fund. Um And as, um, you approved this
morning, uh, the issuance of an RFP. Um, we didn't know that we were, well, we knew
we were gonna issue one, we now know the amount. Um And when the, the budget's adopted,
we'll know the individual projects that are funded and I need to point out that there
are two lines missing on this particular chart. One is the 100,000 for we see complete
streets phase two and a million for the SIMS gateway. Um The joint project between
the port to Pud and the city. Um So these numbers are understated by 1.1 million
um Each for 2023 and 2024. Um The board just extended the
deadline for both of those projects out in the 2025. Um We're hoping that they'll
get completed next year. Um So we'll have an opportunity when we do the mid biennium
review to budget in 2025 for an appropriate amount. Um
ok. Down to the, the final two here. Yeah, so this is um risk management and this
has to do so when we get claims um against uh the county for like auto things like
that that fall below our deductible for WCRP. Um we actually pay them out of this
fund and then that fund is actually billed um the, the fund. So like say it's roads,
they're following a dump truck or something like that. Ok. And they get a ping to
the window, you know, to the windshield or something like that. That's just a real
basic thing that happens. So then the claim gets paid out of this fund and then the
auditor's office will then bill roads to pay for the claim and then we reimburse
the fund 502. So that's why you see it's 100 and 50 100 100 and 50 out, 100 and 50
in. It's just, it's, we just keep, it, this allows us to pay the claim in a timely
manner and then we just build up the fund that is responsible for the claim. So it's
all self insured. Yes, basically that's for the $25,000 deductible, right?
Ok. Ok. Uh, employee benefit reserve. So this is, um,
this is paid out with every payroll or excuse me, this is, um, paid into, with every
payroll. And then we have different things that we're able to pay out of here out
of this. The main, one of the biggest thing is the post employment payout. So, quarterly,
what we do is we find who has left the county during that quarter. And so the, we
can reimburse the fund from this fund for those people that have, you know, payout
for sick time or PTO the, the larger payouts. Um, and so this can be just a, again,
it's, it's money coming in and money going out to as people retire and move on from
the county. You know, one thing to consider that I'm not sure we have is that as
we migrate to PTO, uh, we're gonna have more payouts cause sick leave,
um, isn't payable if you leave employment unless you retire. So, um, PTO balances
I think are gonna be larger. So it may be that we have to revisit uh what funds pay
into this fund so that we can afford the payouts.
Good point. We, we should look at that. It has a fairly robust um fund balance. So
we'll just, but we don't want to draw that down to nothing. Of course. So, all right.
So that's the last of funds managed by the county administrator. Um And the board
so great. Any other questions? Commissioners question?
No, I really appreciate it. Ok. Ok. So we're gonna have a couple, you said a couple
of workshops at least one. Um And depending on the result of that, um maybe a follow
up tank. So we do have the recommended presentation. So we'll have to schedule that
fairly soon to be able to meet and those, those dates are set right?
There's well and they're set by the budget committee approval as well. I would be
curious in the P I one because we just approved $800,000 in the PIRFP this morning.
So um so the RFP
amounts are deadline is the 8th November eighth. I believe so, the
recommended budget. Ok. So yeah, so we have a little train wreck coming on that.
So, so it does happen a lot like that because especially with grants too, people
have applied, you know, the funds have applied for grants, then they get notice notification
after we're working through all this. So um we'll just, it, it ends up being first
quarter appropriations where we have to balance those things out. And you know, the
expectation is we do that is why we did lt earlier, right? But we can, so we're slowly
getting like smart about this stuff. We can put 800 in the recommended budget for
the RFP amount. And then between the recommended budget and adoption by the board,
changes are possible. And so when the board a adopts the budget second Monday in
December, the correct amounts can actually be in the budget. And Carolyn, you're
clerking Piff. Correct. Yeah,
I put digital pull out for the next meeting that where you're going to review the
RFPS received. So I know you were gone that one day I put out there. So I put it
in the RP. It was a tentative date for that day. So, so the RFP is already out. You
approved it this morning is
the ad it will go out and post it on the website and so on. It's really quick. The
whole process is like,
ok, thank you. All right. Thank you guys so much for staying within the, you know,
the budget ask too. Ok.
All right. Well, that takes us to the end of our scheduled agenda or timed agenda
or specific items. We've got briefing and calendaring. Is there anything else that
folks would like to talk about? We should probably talk about the KPTZ schedule for
November. Other things we need to put on. I feel like there was something else.
No, we do need to schedule a, a workshop on, uh, legislative priorities
and 1117, uh, th is coming with commerce from 10 to 12. And, uh,
um, yeah, you gotta schedule that too. I think that's a, there's a, he's ready to
ask for things and he was very fo focused on, you know, the brit and sewer specifically.
I think it'd be worth kind of strategizing for that. But we still could you repeat
that? Yeah. Um, I spoke with Steve daring and on the 17th of November, he's coming
and he's visiting with, I think already scheduled some time with the city planners
and, and, and leadership, I think they'll, it's the head of commerce. They'll be
here from 10 to 12 and he, uh wants to talk about commerce, things with them and
planning specifically and he mentioned uh connection of the sewer and Brennan explicitly,
Steve did so having a kind of a plan of attack, uh, not attack, but a plan, a strategy
for, for that meeting and, and who will, who represents that? No, I think we'll just
choose a, a representative to, to join. Maybe, I think, you know, he, he talked about
Josh Peters and I imagine one of the commissioners. Um, so,
um, well, maybe we should, uh, look to, uh a little bit of briefing and
calendaring. You want people who wants to go first looking back, I can do that.
Um, a busy week last week. Busy reintroduction to um
life on this side of the water, although a lot of it was on the other side of the
water. Um So uh Monday uh attended the State Board of Health meeting in
Wenatchee. Um the code. Yeah, there's a draft out. Yeah, and I have some um
it would be interesting to think about, do we want to discuss that in depth here
or in Board of Health? Um
Board of Health Board of Health does make sense. Yeah, because I, I mean, I can,
I have some slides I can share with summary of the um changes that are being proposed.
Um You have a a yes, I was planning on doing it for Board of Health. So we stick
with that. Ok. Which is Thursday, Thursday. Yeah. Um uh uh the
Board of Health met that morning and then were invited to join the Public health
leaders of the state, which was all of the tribal um medical directors. Um A number
of health officers from around the state and some public health directors. So Apple
Martin was there as well. Um Doctor Berry was not able to be there. So um uh and
uh it was led by Doctor Shah, the um state medical Director officer. Um I should
get his health officer, right? State Health. I don't think he has a more elevated
title than that. Um uh Just really talking about how to better reinforce the state's
public health system. In anticipation of another major event and how to be better
prepared next time. So, um it was, it was good meeting, but really the State Board
of Health meeting was the important part and getting the um that early look at the
um uh draft on site. Septic code for the state, which is important and generally,
I think headed in the right direction. I was really pleased. Um Yeah, it is the right
direction. Um trying to um allow for more flexibility, really like grappling with
constrained lots. Um Unfortunately, some of the fixes are more expensive, but at
least it approves some more um, options. Yep. Yep. And um gives health
officers a little more latitude to help come up with solutions for constrained properties.
Um But there are some, some pieces of it that are less, um probably popular with
counties, things like the um um, minimum lot size is actually increased. Um, based
on soil types for new septic systems. No, it's um, it varies. So it's an addition
of between 500 1000 square feet for depending on soil types. So, not a massive increase.
Um uh All um septic systems must be inspected before
transfer of title. Yeah. Although that can be waived by a health officer, but it's
gonna capacity for. So if they pass a lot of those things perhaps.
Yeah. II I didn't get that into the weeds but we can take a look at it. Um, I said
I have the red line version of it but it's, you know, 200 pages of RCW. Sorry, not.
Uh No, no. Um but I'm, I'm slowly getting through it. Um
So I if, if a county has an existing O and M program and a parcel is or
system has, has at least three years of um you know, past timely inspections, then
the health officer can consider waiving it, but you have to set up a program for
that program,
right? Um uh Some changes to the local management plan which is each health jurisdiction
has to have an approved plan from the state for monitoring um septic systems um that
uh now requires areas that are um likely to be affected by sea level rise to be uh
given special consideration. So I think that's valuable that we have to take a look
at areas where sea level rise is gonna be an issue. Um Yeah, I think those are some
of the high the the points most critical to to counties. Um It does approve a new
nitrogen remediation based system like I said, for those smaller parcels. Um So I'll
do a full report out at the um state Board of Health that
I'd be interested in looking at it. Yeah, I need to figure out how to separate it
from the entire like 400 page board of Health or is it on, is it online somewhere?
It is. Yeah, and it's, it's in a 400 page. I'll find it, um board of Health agenda.
So the full copy of acrobat and cut it. Ok. Yeah, I rely on Caroline to do that for
me. Um I'll find it. Yeah. And once the hearing notice is scheduled because our November
8th Board of Health meeting is the hearing. Um, so then it would have all of that
information more, um, concisely delineated. So I'll see if that is um up. So we testify
at the hearing. Do we have to notice that as a Bocc special meeting? No, I mean,
if we approved uh comments in this meeting or at the uh Board of Health, I think
it would be powerful coming from the Board of Health. Um So I will get you that link
um soon. So you can start taking a look at it. There's a power point that breaks
out the uh significant changes. Yeah. Ok. I haven't gotten very far. I'm still on
Monday morning.
Um Let's see. Hm, uh Tuesday had a uh Economic Development Council finance committee
meeting and not a lot of change there. I think still really, you know, like the E
DC staff really doesn't want to go after grants and that's a pretty or, or finds
it more effort than it's worth. Um And so just, it's a really big existential question
of should, should the E DC just be um you know, going after fee for service or relying
more on government partners to fund it. Um, or, or be going after soft money, which
comes with lots of challenges. So, um, still a year in or so we've not resolved that
question. Um, have some more data points of when is it worth it? And when it's, when
is, or is it not? Um, yeah, I mean, if they want to be a nonprofit and not subject
to OP ma they should probably get some outside funding it seems like. Right. For
service or grants or something. Right. Yeah. And so they're currently organized as
AC six, not as AC three, but that's part of the discussion is should that structure
change? Um And needing to maintain an arm's length relationship from uh governments.
Um if they want, don't want to operate as a function of government. So, yeah, lots
of, lots of big existential questions. Trade association. Yeah. So not, it is tax
exempt but uh not um charitable. Um So unable to receive a lot of grants and donations.
Uh The, they're looking at more memberships and sponsorships as potential revenue
sources. Um brings up some questions with the chamber who is a member organization.
So, um yeah. Yeah, there's get pretty close. They do. Yeah. And there's a lot of
territorialism with the chamber and tourism, you know. Right. Yeah, I've been hearing
a lot about that. So, yeah. Right. With North of Canal. Ok. Just the whole um
you know, the L tech grants request that came in, there was a number of grants or
requests for map creation. So like who owns the map Lane, the map making Lane to
send me the map for the maps. Yeah.
Uh spent Tuesday afternoon in Tacoma with the Puget Sound Partnership. Um spoke on
a panel about the challenges of working with federal funding right now and it was
with the regional director of the EPA um and good, good conversation. It was appreciated
that they include local government. Um I was the only local government representative
there. And um, yeah, in a study, I asked the room like because I mean, so much of
the funding that we're talking about is coming down to transportation dollars. And
I said, who here works in transportation. And the one person raised their hand and
Secretary Millar from watch dot And the Federal Highway Administration, um State
director had been there earlier for their panel, but they had left. So the one person
I'm like, this is the problem. We're all working in these silos that aren't talking
to each other. So the, you know, public works, roads, departments are not talking
to our salmon enhancement group so that when a project like the Quilcene Bridge comes
up. Yeah, so, yes, yeah. So a little bit challenging. Um Wednesday
had a great tour of the um daub natural area with Peter Bales and a few division
directors from DNR. And um
the um the my takeaway from that um well, a few things. So I don't know if you've
met Todd, he's Angus Brodie's replacement.
I met him. He was fully fully. Yeah. Yeah. So Dwayne was, I think Interim and now
Todd is in that position. He was uh great, really? Like he don't want to burst your
bubble. But these are our challenges for things like expansion of the day of natural
area. We'd have no funding to do the management. Um, You know, we wanna counties
like ours, wanna take, you know, do protections on lands, but uh we really need revenue
from them and we get very little as it is from harvesting on county lands 25%. And
um so it was great, great kind of, you know, ground true thing of the reality of
this from DNRS perspective. Um But what he proposed and, and, and Mary Jean Ryan
had another idea for this. It's a couple of different models of thinking about how
to collectively pool timber revenues within our county and distribute
them on in a more consistent way to junior taxing districts. Um They do this for
six counties in southeastern Washington. DNR collects all of those funds when they
reach a certain amount. They do a distribution. It, it's a more um stable, reliable
funding source. Um You could, you could throw other, you know, if we had an active
forestry program, if we are someone were selling carbon credits, that was a revenue
to the county either DNRS or our own, we could put that in a pot and have that be
distributed on a formula um to even out some of those revenues. Um You could also
do things like carve out the urban growth areas. They would, you know, potentially
not receive that funding, really try to put it in areas that are impacted by timber
production and harvest. Yeah. So, um I was, I, I thought that was a great idea to,
you know, especially because when we kind of, you know, even like expanding Day Bob
Natural area, like, you know, if you're taking things out of production, that's gonna
affect certain junior taxing districts more. But this is like, hey, this is, there's
a, a benefit Countywide
that they do this for. It's like
it's the southeast corner of the state
and uh I think it's ag program. They, well, they, I think they just have very little
timber there because so much of their land is egg there. And so it wasn't worth it
to be. Um Yeah. Yeah, to be thinking of those on a county by county basis that the,
the timber sales there are so few. Well, it had come up as part of that legislative
proviso the idea of creating a pot of funding that could compensate junior taxing
districts for leaving more standing.
Yeah. So I it just feels like there's an opportunity to maybe think about um how
I didn't even realize we had the authority to do that. Like I thought it was in statute
that it had to go to the junior taxing districts, but it actually isn't really, it,
I, I don't question that they should get that whatsoever. They, they should, but
if, if we could make it a more consistent pot of funds so that certain, there weren't
as many winners and losers, but it could be more evenly distributed. And um like
I said, potentially even including if the county were to do a timber harvest, like
have a collective timber um fund. So just very preliminary. But I think it's um
it's something that I could see as we get more tools, you know. So for example, the
um is it in TLT that you got in the proviso that a certain amount could come out
as cash? Yeah. Um you know, that would be another source of revenue in there. So
just, you know, the other, this has been coming through OS T I as well. The idea
of how we compensate we all school districts. So I know that um rag dols thinking
along these lines as well. Yes. Yeah. And Mike Chapman is interested in this conversation
too at the state level. It does remind me the the six counties that have that combined
pool. It is almost entirely school construction trust. So common school construction.
Yeah.
Um ok, sorry, a little um diversion there. Um I had a
uh last minute um additional interview for the planning commissioner from district
one position. Um Yeah. Yeah. And it's funny because that there were two, originally,
two applicants and I had, I really had to do soul searching to come up with the one
that I was gonna recommend to this board and then somebody pulled out of that. So
I'd already gone through this, like, uh, it's hard problem. Two great, two great
candidates. Um And so now I have to go through that again. So still, still back in
having 22 good candidates. But next week we will um, yeah, have a recommendation
to you in district two. We did interview our one candidate and recommended appointing
him. So we'll have new planning commissioners shortly. Yeah, great. And it's Todd
Welker at DNR. Oh, great. Ok. The new state up land manager and he's not the planning
commissioner. No, I was just,
that would be fantastic. And then it drives me nuts if I can't remember his name
and he's fantastic and I can't just call him fantastic, Todd. So, yeah, yeah, he
was really helpful. Um, went to a climate solutions event um with our lobbyists
on Thursday night, um, which is just good to spend some time with them. There's new
two new staff will be, uh, working at the Olympia office and working with us, Paul
Barrett retired. So getting to know those one of whom was the, um, one of the policy
leads in the governor's office who just left there and went to strategy so very,
very knowledgeable. Um Friday um had a meeting at Fort
Worden uh with the hospitality folks trying to just think about uh you know, kind
of long term sustainability of the Fort and capital requests and wide ranging conversation.
Um uh Saturday was the annual meeting for the Fairgrounds Association that went well.
We have uh a couple of new board members. Um We did not get as many applicants for
board members, so we'll be having to add some, but we do have a process for that.
But um so some stepped down and uh others, a couple others stepped up but still a
couple of vacancies. So we'll be recruiting for that. But generally, um I'd say the
fair grounds is stabilizing and um uh having a successful fair really helps kind
of galvanize that group. And so Mark and Philip and I will be meeting. We, we're
slowly working on an agreement. Um And we're late in getting that to them. We've
not even paid our, paid them for this year's um community services agreement. So
we have some work to do there. Um Also Saturday went to the fire prevention event
downtown Port Townsend, which was really great. Um I got to see helicopters land.
I know I was on the ferry leaving and I saw the helicopters landing and I was like,
what's going on and then I was like, oh, yeah, the, the event and then I was getting
all these messages like what's going on in helicopters overhead and I was, like,
go down to Memorial Field. Yeah. Yeah, it was a great event, really, uh, good showing
of a number of county departments too. And, um, it's, uh, that is celebrated on the
anniversary of the Chicago fire and I grew up in Chicago, so it's obviously mythical
in my mind. Although we celebrated fire prevention, um, on the fourth of July. And
I know that because two years in a row when I was a kid, I built competitive floats
for the fire prevention parade and won two years in a row. Yeah, I won Shwin Collegiate
10 speed bikes twice, twice. Yeah. Um, the route of your biking now. Yes. Yeah. Yeah,
I love those bikes. So, what did you do with the second bike? The first one I had
to share with my, um, siblings. We've done a joint float. And so the second year
I said I want my own. So I, I went off solo and built my own float, which was a
radio flyer wagon with a dollhouse in it with all of the fire prevention techniques
demonstrated in the doll house. So anyway, this is, I think that I was nine and 10
maybe. Yeah. Yeah. So, anyway, I've been interested in fire prevention for a long
time and it was fun to be at our, our local event. My mom still has the dollhouse.
Yeah, I used my radio flyer yesterday. I might need to borrow it. I do have one.
I don't know, I don't know if anyone's giving away a shwin 10 speed anymore. That
was a real draw. So, um, great event. They had fun activities for kids showing off
the sheriff's office drone, which was getting a ton of attention because it had the
infrared camera out. And, um, I learned a lot from Detective Allen about the, like
he said, other counties as far as Okanogan County have, have been asking for, um,
to use the services of our drone operators in that drone. And so, um, yeah, just
great, great showing all around search and rescue there, obviously. Um I, I didn't,
some of the booths were crowded and I couldn't get in like, I assume there was, there
was talk about the, um, community welfare protection plan, but II I didn't get into
the, into that booth. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, great events. Anyway, I think that was
my week.
Yeah. How about you, honey? Last week, so long ago, obviously here
with you guys on Monday. Um mm. And then I went
out to the, um, swack artist and residency reveal at the transfer station. I
had never heard of it. It was fantastic. Oh, my gosh. How did we not know about this?
Yeah. Well, I did. That's true. Solid waste. And you gotta hang with the cool kids.
Like I feel like I keep up to
go to the station. Yeah, it was a fun event. Yeah, it looked like it. Um
Let's see.
Uh
Oh, and then ok, so Tuesday morning Mark and I had a check in with our consultants
from peak sustainability about the chemic drainage district. And essentially we are
slow playing the drainage district conversation. We may come back to you next year
with another extension of that drainage district for a year because the conservation
district is currently undertaking a watershed management plan for CHIC. And we really
want the findings of that plan to inform whether the drainage district is a viable
or, you know, a necessary tool for the community. And also the um port is undertaking
its short short farm. I forget what they're calling advisory group formation and
that group will probably have input into the drainage district. So it's, it's all
good. There's energy coalescing around. Yeah, I mean, we don't want, you know, 11
effort to undo another. So, um and then I went over to D CD for a conversation
with public works and D CD about um UG A zoning in the Port Hadlock sewer
boundary. And that was a great conversation. I'm pretty sure we'll get a briefing
on that at some point. But, um, just, you know, realizing there's gonna be a sewer
there and the community is asking us, what's this gonna look like once the sewer
is there? And they've been asking me for since I was running for commissioner. So
well, that the use table has, you know, height of buildings, 35 ft, you know, it
has certain things, but some people are just like, what does that mean? What is our
community gonna look like? And I think there's just interest in kind of, this is
kind of starting the conversation and making this a real conversation going forward
about as the sewer develops. So the community feels like they're um included, right?
Because it was 20 years ago that, that zoning was decided on. I mean, and what I
keep reminding folks is a lot of folks weren't here then, you know, they weren't
part of the conversation back then. So good conversation there and then went down
to Port Ludlow for the Tourism Coordinating Council meeting and then back up to Chimica
for the chic school library open House, which was awesome. They did a remodel of
the, the library in the high school and um, it looks awesome. Yeah, and it just,
it feels a lot more open and there's a lot more space to, you know, sit, sit in clusters
of kids and hang out and a lot more um, these little devices, these little stanchions
that have lots of little plugins for your devices, you know, and I, I heard somebody
said this is one of the most popular things so far as kids come in and plug in their
devices, they can sit in comfortable chairs and visit with each other. And anyways,
kudos to the, to the school library and out there Michelle and, um, Art Clark was
really involved in that and, and Scott was as well. So nice improvement for the kids
in Chim Gram. And then also I've learned in the last week, I think maybe I mentioned
this last week is that the teen center in Chic has a new manager, Jeff Jones and
he, um, is actually someone who I met not school related over the last couple of
years and really enjoy him. So it'll be fun to see him kind of take that on and embrace
it. And I invited him to go to the Community Wellness project dinner tomorrow night,
which he's, he and his wife are joining for that. So just getting them integrated
a little more in the school community. Um And then Wednesday,
uh we had a Olympic Peninsula tourism strategic planning update meeting and on our
um um agenda today this afternoon. You'll see that Debbie is gonna join us, Debbie,
not, not the general manager of the Port Port Li Resort. She noticed that instantly
and said, take that down. Um No longer. No, she has been. She's still at Jamestown
though. Yeah, she's consulting on this um strategic plan. Ok. So, um, but she is
still at seven seaters. Yeah. No, no, no, she's not there either. Nope. Um
Then middle of the day had a, um, behavior health advisory committee membership discussion
with uh Anna and just, and a island from the
city just around the idea of having alternate um alternate roles for each of the
seats. Because I think Anna's kind of rocking the whole hybrid meeting and quorum
issues and trying to figure out how to make, set us up for success in the future
in terms of having quorums for the Behavioral Health Committee. So we're working
on that and I think we'll see, I think Board of Health we'll see a first proposal
from, I forget who it was, but it's on the agenda for an alternate Wednesday afternoon.
I took two hours off and went with my goddaughter for her first ever professional
manicure and pedicure and still have chip nails to share. Um That was so fun. I don't
have kids. So it's like whenever I get to dip my toe in the deep end of parenting,
I just love it. And we had such a good time together and I really wish I had more
time in my life to spend with she and her sister. So saying that out loud and I said
on the way home, I'm like, what do you want? Listened to and guess what it was Taylor
Swift. Yes. And I had never listened to Taylor Swift knowingly and I dialed it up
and I'm like, oh my God, I know the song, you know, you know, we're like bopping
down the road anyway. It was super fun. So that was, that was the highlight of probably
my summer and it's, you know, um, and then Thursday morning, I came in and did a
whole bunch of catch up work and then met with um some folks about LTC funding and
this whole conversation about kind of being more clear and transparent with our priorities
and RFP. So I don't think it's a, um I don't think it's too high of a hill to climb
with this. I think we could be a lot clearer and, and also probably budget for some
of the LTC funds for things we know we're gonna fund anyway. So
that was a good long conversation. And then Friday, I spent most of the day with
my community foundation colleagues in a retreat. Um Just, it was really good just
talking about how to expand the reach of the community foundation. And it basically
came down to expanding the board geographically. So, and then Saturday and Sunday
were the Apple and Cider Festival and I did participate in a cider pressing. So that
was super fun. It's the, and you press the apples day and got lots of juice in the
freezer now. So that was last week. All right, I guess Sunday, Sunday. Well, Sunday,
it was, I went to the memorial service for Mike Bowen, Terry Namis husband and it
was just like my whole childhood rushed in front of my eyes. So, I it's been the
last week has been heavy with the news about Chris and then all of this just, I haven't,
I haven't, I haven't slept more than four hours a night for the last week. And so
I'm just, yeah, it's taking it on to internalizing everything and need to learn to
nap, nap or supplication. I struggle to sleep and I took a nap the next day and it
really helped 15 little power nap. I, I can't do it. Can't do it. I tried, I tried,
can't do it. That was the last week. All right, sounds busy. Um Let's see, my last
week. Um with you guys, of course. And I also went out to the uh the opening of the
air, the Guardian of the transfer station. It's great. Love that program. Love, you
know, making art out of garbage is a great thing. It's a program, it's a program.
How do I not know this? Yeah, they had an artist in residence, they had an application
process. It was a Seattle artist. What was her name? Carolyn something. She was a
Tracy Grisman who's on the swack. Really? Uh shepherded it in with a small board.
Um who, who does the um partnership with the swack? I mean, you know, al was there
totally local, totally local. They do, they do it in King County as well. It's based
on uh uh concept, the air concept. I forget what that stands for. Art artist in residence
in garbage. I don't know. Um
I, I saw the article that's how I learned about it and I was stunned, has it? It's
happened here before. No, no, it's only for the last year. This is the first unveiling
of the first artist in that makes me feel better. Yeah, thank you. So, yeah, they
talked about how they're just spinning and the transportation staff would always
keep an eye out too. You know, they're looking at the tipping floor now looking for,
you know, oh, she said this was the fun story. The, the funnest thing she got from
transportation. Transportation staff was a box of trophies and they're all on that.
The crown of the, the king guardian of waste. Yeah.
Yeah. Inspired by that, you know, Dragon story Peninsula. Yeah, it was great. Um
Let's see. And then Tuesday I met with some staff, Tammy and a couple others uh kind
of debriefing the previous week's meeting um uh a in Brennan and then uh later
Eric Kuzma and I joined uh um Justin from Wasto and some Shine
residents as we're they were really eager to add, you know, the uh as
the roundabout construction, you know, begins. Um They're concerned about safety
at T Lake Road, Sh Shine road and 104. It's kind of a just slightly offset intersection,
so not it's kind of suboptimal no turn lanes or anything. And there was have been
a couple recent accidents there but was out did kind of a survey
of traffic data and everything and it doesn't really rise to the list of being something
they could address. So there was a lot of interest in considering another roundabout
there. And they were like, oh, it's probably not going to happen and, and uh, but
they did already, they painted cross hatching across that to prevent, you know, don't
block the intersection and everything and they, um, doing some stuff but you can't
move the roads or at a turn lane because the shoulder isn't wide enough to accommodate.
It would have to be, you know, building new road and everything. So it's uh it can't
happen under the kind of the minor improvements or safety that, that uh Justin has
authority over. But talking to about the, you know, bridge openings and, you know,
just generally that kind of interface and about how probably next will be uh um
round considering a roundabout uh on the other side where there's a traffic light
cause so much delay. Yeah. No, totally. And so, um I said kind of, I'd engage a little
bit or talk to you guys about engaging with the, our RT po about uh about that, you
know, and about, I don't know those issues and managing the openings which is of
course, like Coast Guard mandated and, you know, with the military base and everything
is really problematic, but just something we should maybe have a workshop on or something
dig into a little because it does create huge impacts. I mean, Eric showed me the
uh P RT PO plan talking about the impacts of, you know, large sailboats and what's
planning uh doing a study on what's the economic impact of uh to, to the, the public,
you know, and 11 sailboat can disrupt traffic for hours. Basically. I mean, it has
rippling impacts with the quilt Brennan powered teens uh coalition and uh Lindsay
Scal uh stood in for um uh for our beloved. I'm absolutely spacing on her name,
but she's out on maternity leave. So, um Bravo for babies. Uh but it was nice. Lots
of, lots of good stuff happening down there and great that they could contribute
the school based mental health with some of those funds as well. The survey is out
right now for uh you know, we need to get 100 of those surveys about uh if you have
anyone who's got um I'll, I'll post it. Um But uh you don't have to live in the Quilcene
Brennan area. But it's for kind of what is the mental health and, and kind of access
to drugs and alcohol for kids in the quilt scene. Brian area, just like Jim and Port
Townsend did, but we did not get enough. Yeah, different survey. It's essentially
the same survey I think, but each one has to do it separately. And this is the like
adult perception, the perception of the, the youth survey that's done.
I did, I did mine too. Yeah. Um, and, uh, yeah, passing it on down in the cool scene.
Uh, Wednesday. We did the, we have the ORCA meeting, not meeting in November, but
we'll meet in December. We have 10 meetings a year. Um, as well as the finance committee
which I sit on or is very robust, you know, unfortunately lots of fines going on
and also a lot more notices of, uh um completion, you know, a lot more permits. It's
like it's really uh active field right now. Um Yeah, everything's going great. Our,
our new executive director is in a year now and he's really been uh a strong addition
and really been a leader in a way that has uh empowered staff from top to bottom.
And it's been really nice to see how do they um review like all the paper mills and
they don't do the Port Townsend paper mill. They do, they do, they have an annual
permit so they've got to renew it and they go out and do inspections and, and why
don't they do ports? It's under the Department of Ecology. And I can't remember the
type of, so the type of emissions determine whether it's under and it's actually
a federal permit that ecology administers for EPA. So it's a funny, it just, it's
like that whatever is being emitted there falls under a different regulation. I mean,
they, they monitor and fit the mckinley plants. But, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting.
Yeah. So often there's very little in Jefferson County except some complaints and,
and burn, burn, uh, you know, burn permits and everything. Um, and gas stations.
Of course, then I had school Wednesday night, uh, met with the E DC on Friday the
13th to kinda talk through some stuff and it was a very productive conversation,
um, with Cindy in the chair, Ben and then, uh, met with Barb Jones about some
new surveying they're doing about uh health outcomes and they've got some grants.
Interesting. They're doing, uh, sailboat surveys. Have you heard about that? That's
the, the, the technique they're using, which is uh less, uh, you know, how, what
are, what are, what are the answers from 1 to 5? How safe is this community and more
like starting a conversation and not having a predetermined destination or route
to get there. But really kind of being more responsive and asking open ended questions.
Yes. Don't get technical on me. Now. Come on. This is as much sailing knowledge as
I have. Um And then I was on KPTZ, as I mentioned earlier with Phil Cer
talking, uh, talking about our open hearing that we're gonna continue at 230 today
and we didn't get too far into ag buildings which I intended to, but 30 minutes sometimes
just goes like a snap. Um Last you weren't here, Kate, but we had kind of an open
meeting talking about what song and building we should have and, and, uh, we ended
up with, uh, changes by David Bowie. It was Good.
Fix The Strange. Yeah. Um, and, uh, that was Phil did a great job. I, I
called him the best dressed planner in D CD. I don't know. That's, uh, yeah. Um,
and then I was gonna go to the canal tracks. Ho Eight and Brennan on Saturday. But
they had, uh, I got bumped because the Sheriff Noel went down there. So I was like,
oh, you know, it's really who we want to talk to anyway. So I will probably go to
their November meeting and those were the, the high point of my week mark fled to
avoid talking about his last week. So maybe we should go on to say out loud. We just
got an email from Monte that the transfer station is going to be closed some extra
days coming up. So they're always closed on Sunday and Monday to residential traffic,
but they are going to close on Tuesday, October 31st and Wednesday, November 1st
for some very important software updates, not optional closures, but um, the transfer
station will be closed. So that week they'll be closed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
So that's an opportunity for people um to practice collecting
enough ways to reach the minimum, right? Because we were getting lots of comments
about not being able to get to the minimum.
Um No, but just as Monty said short term pain to avoid long ongoing ongoing long
term pain, which I totally relate to.
Thank you al and Monty for that. And Justin and Justin. Yes. All
right. You wanna look to this week? Sure. Mhm.
Um Let's see. It looks like there is a was a meeting over the lunch hours. Does anyone
know the housing
fund and state funds for housing? Ok, so I'll probably attend. Sounds good. I I'll
probably listen in. I have some other, I need to finish um some transit work over
the lunch hour too, so I'll multitask. Um Tomorrow morning, I have a um leadership
council executive committee meeting. I was appointed as the vice chair of the P to
Time Partnership Leadership Council. So um um to start that official role
tomorrow morning, um we have Transit Authority board meeting tomorrow. Um I'm sorry
that I can't make it to the community Wellness project uh dinner. It is also senior
night at the uh for the um uh Port Townsend and cum soccer team, girls soccer team.
My daughter's not a senior but it's a big deal in their last home game. So I will
be attending that instead. It's too bad. Those are on the same night. Um Wednesday
today, I have a hood canal coordinating council board of directors meeting, but we
have a retreat all day Friday. So I'm not sure if that's actually happening or not.
Mark and I Mark. Are you attending the healthier together operations meeting Wednesday
afternoon. Um I'll be en route to Anna Cortes for the risk pool. Ok. So I will, I
will be there and I have a few, few things set Carrie to add to the agenda for that
discussion. Um might have to miss our childcare meeting. Um I'm never sure in my
calendar what's at the right time or not? But today my meeting was on at 830 for
some reason. Oh my God. Oh, no, I got, I got UTC now. Universal time on a lot of
my meetings. So did, did you figure out how to program it?
Oh, I have some mountain time meetings and some universal time meetings and mostly
pacific time meetings. I have officially missed a couple of meetings now. Yeah.
Um and then um a meeting tomorrow evening on the Chim Commons Project. Um the Land
Trust and uh Olympic Housing Trust are working on with some other landowner partners
nearby uh Thursday Youth Advisory Board. Um our holdover from the last
Chip Youth Age Band um meeting we haven't met for some time. So looking forward to
that and the, you know, the goal of that, of that youth age band and that previous
iteration was um uh um eliminating youth suicide in Jefferson County. And um
so it's um just poignant timing, thinking about suicide and nammi proclamation and
um fears around well being of county employees. And so um I
have a no DC monthly meeting, Thursday afternoon. And um no, DC was put in a pre
application for a no, a coastal resilience planning grant. Those are our big competitive
grants and they were invited to submit full applications. So that's exciting. We'll
be talking about that, I imagine. Oh, but it's at the same time, of course, as our
Board of Health meeting. So forget that I'll attend the first half hour of no DC
and then get to Board of Health. Um
Friday, I'm in a strategic planning retreat all day with the Canal Coordinating Council
and have the radio show. Um Quinn and Brenda will be joining to talk about elections
which I'm looking forward to and I feel like I have something next weekend other
than Styrofoam recycling, but the styrofoam recycling is really important for. Yeah.
Yeah, I've got a big pile of
Yeah. No, you could drop it in my back shed any time. You'll see. There's a big pile.
My wife will be forever in your Yeah, glad to. That's all great.
Heidi. How did your meeting this week?
Uh Let's see here with you today tomorrow. I need to do some work on
the wack federal um issues, updates on the housing issue because I
added that to the federal legislative issues last year and volunteered at update
that section um meeting with the constituent. So I probably will work from home in
the morning and then the meeting with the constituent midday to talk about boats
illegally anchoring in the bay. I've become officially, well, I always say this but
more people are getting my phone number about um derelict boat issues in the bay.
So uh and then transit authority board meeting and I did a bunch of work last week
on uh Nicole's review and there's a document included in our packet. And then I realized
we need to also include um peer review brainstorming a list of peer review who who
will send a peer review form to for her. So anyway, in the evening, uh community
Wellness project harvest dinner at Finn River on Wednesday morning, I am taking part
in a training called roles and responsibilities of county legislative authorities
for open space, levies and boards of equalization. Thank you by the Department of
Revenue. So I signed up for it, but it conflicted. So thank you for doing that. And
then the evening, I'm going to attend the Port's first Short firm um
advisory group meeting just as an innocent bystander. I'm not, I'm not on that committee
by request. I'm not, wait, wait till the end of the meeting. I'm not on that committee
by their request. So I'm not going to be on that committee. Yeah, they didn't want
me and let's see. Um Then we have Board of Health on Thursday. So Miss Wack
federal issues Friday, we have county coordinations, looks like the occ
coordinations, not just the chair one. Why is it on my calendar. Remember, quarterly,
it's a special meeting because we're all there. So, I don't know, Callen. Do you
know this week? Is that the quarterly, one
special Bocc Co Ordination meeting? It's, I think it's the, so I know I was still
on the calendar invite even though Greg had taken over. But it's, it's, and then
I also have one from 1230 to 2 with Jefferson County Coordinations with elected.
That's, that's for the, the mountain time. We'll come back on anyway, we have a lot
of fans in.
I've got a few comments from Colorado. Maybe that's why. So, depending on what time
that meeting is, I may attend the NACO Public Land Steering Committee, which I'm
on that as well.
I will not be there. Sorry to say
that you'll be able to attend Heidi. Yeah. Ok.
Um Can I go back to something? I forgot an important piece of business. I forgot,
Mark. You're gonna, um I think I'm crazy but, um, I am, I'm going to attend Jim Scar
Andino's meeting on the Aquatic Center in Quilcene on Thursday night. Um I feel like
it's important that we demonstrate that we're listening and um, so, um, yeah, any,
any words of advice are helpful but, um, and I have conflicts for all three of the
dates that they have. So I'm not attending, although I wanted to, but they obviously
didn't check with our calendars when they scheduled the meeting. So
Did you ever find the note that they sent out? No, no, I never got an email. I didn't
either, although I did the 16th is IC G. So that's the next one is uh and on the
14th as well and there's counties and we'll be in Spokane for was a conference. I
will be, yeah, you probably won. It's a three day conference in
the pool meeting on I believe that's the one.
Um So we haven't been getting more uh written comments about the pool though. It
is great. I noticed this morning. So, ok, so let's see. I had one thing to add. I
have been um tasked or asked or given the opportunity to sit in a shoreline hearing
board hearing for a week in December, but it would cause me to miss two meetings
and there are budget meetings too. No, but December, that's when we do a hearing
and approve our budget is in December. Those first two December meetings are, are
generally the
most important ones. And then
so the fourth will be
the fourth will be one and the 11th will be one. Those are the two. Is that hearing?
And is that the case towards the end of the year, usually do the hearing the first
Monday in December and then approve it on the second meeting of December. Yeah. So
if I do the first one and then I'm not there for the second one when you guys are
approving it, I'll have all the information, right. Very seldom or changes between
the first presentation and the second. So, what you see on the first Monday will
be what the board will be asked to approve on the second Monday. Ok. So I could do
the 11th and the 18th because it's the 2nd and 3rd Mondays that they. Ok, because
I just want, and I didn't know if either, if you had travel plan during that time.
I mean, I don't want to mess with quorum issues. That's why I said I would check
with my colleagues before I committed to that.
Yeah, I always keep those pretty sacred because it's a in part too because like,
we have to get one passed by the same. So if we, if we have our presentation on the
fourth and by the 11th, yeah, you'll be fine without me. Ok, great, thanks. All right.
What did you do? He said you need vacation, Heidi. That's not what I meant. Take
a week for yourself.
Um. Ok. Does that conclude your week? Heidi?
Boom. Boom. Let me get back to where we are here. The Ken just said we get the fourth.
That's the 25th. We get Christmas off, we get Christmas off. Yeah. And don't spend
it all in one place.
All right, I'm gonna start losing it. I'm so sleep deprived right now that I'm not
sure. We have a meeting that we scheduled for 26
that
we usually do.
I don't know if I remember talking about it. Well, usually we keep it in case we
need to, for budget if it really comes down to the wire. So I think we should, we
have a special meeting, you know, I know we had some like right before to get people
sworn out and say,
all right. Well, let's, let's address that in the next soon. All right, my week.
Let's see with you guys today. If we get out by 330 it looks unlikely so far. I will,
I will join, uh, Judy Shepherd and, and Stephanie Lewis from the sales bhaso to talk
about the opioid settlements and the, um, how we create those contracts. Um, for
at least the one that has already come in. Then I have the North Canal Chamber of
Commerce this evening. I'll rush down after we at 430 that, well, I'll be late for
the 430 executive meeting but definitely be there by the uh general meeting at 530
tomorrow. We have a left one board meeting, uh, to deal with uh, some
benefits for our, our retired law enforcement firefighters about that new member
a while ago. Right. Didn't you get a new member? No, I thought I did. We, we still
have a citizen, citizen board open. We had more members apply that were in the law
enforcement and firefighters, uh, you know, pers one or whatever it's called. Um,
couldn't one of them be a citizen? No. No, it's got to be someone who's not in the,
uh, firefighter or, or law enforcement, retired retiree pool and then I'll, uh, join,
of course, for the Transit Authority board. It was kind of going in person, but no
one ever goes in person. It would just be me and Kelly sitting in that big board
room.
I was like, this is less of a, not very, not very workable so far. I used to bike
out there, which I really enjoy. That would be great. What's a bike? Yeah.
Um, it's the season that you put it away right now. I think I did go for a bike ride,
uh, this past weekend. It was nice. Yeah, I thought all those gravel and ravel guys
go up into the hills and I, I just, I volunteered at it this summer. I was like,
let's see what it's like to just ride uphill until you're done. And, uh, I, I was
done after two miles and I was like, oh, that's not fun because coming back is fun.
Two miles uphill. That's nothing to see. That way back is fun. Yeah. Um, uh, let's
see. And Wednesday, nothing big on the schedule. Catch up. I haven't done any of
the prep for transit or Board of Health, any of that. So I've got a lot of, kind
of off the stuff. I've been a little behind on as well. Some emails on
Thursday. I will be remote for the Board of Health. I'm, I'm joining my family out
in Ocean Shores for the Irish Fest, uh, at, uh, at Galway Bay. Yeah, little Irish
music. But I will also be of course, as we all remote for the county coordinations
on Friday and then remote for the Board of Health. And I feel like I had another
thing, another big thing. Oh, I did want to point out that uh um all the we compete
grant applications and uh all the letters of support are on our website and we're
on public health. I mean, I'm sorry on Facebook and big thanks to Amanda Kristofferson
for helping put that together and also to Wendy for, for getting it out and, and
you know, giving it in the press release. Yep, putting that professional sheen on
it. So, um yeah, so out there and continuing the conversations and, and uh yeah,
it's exciting. We're just fingers crossed. Now. We're still meeting, we have another
uh meeting of that, of that coalition to figure out next steps and you know, what
are the steps if we don't get the funding or just get the phase one do we? You know,
so lots of good projects on it. You know, I would love to get those childcare subsidies
too. That seems like the critical component that is really missing from childcare
right now. Um Is it just the market doesn't bear it? Right. Yeah. And especially
if you want to be able to pay those workers and have to keep them in those roles.
Um Yeah, then families can't afford it totally. Um All right, Mark,
you, you fled on us when we were turning to you for last week. But you want to take
a look, look back and forward. Yeah, it was a good thing. I fled.
Ok, last week on the ninth. Um, of course, that's Monday with the board. Um on Tuesday,
met with uh Phil C and, and Josh Peters to talk about um getting the fire marshal
program up and running. Um Of course, that's gonna require some ordinance changes
and um um inspection regime and so on. Um I'm looking forward to that program maturing
and then at Chimica Creek um Drainage District check in with Heidi and peak sustainability.
And then I met with Carolyn and Judy to talk about uh this morning's budget uh discussion
with the board. Um Then on Wednesday, um had a monthly co ordination meeting with
Josh uh Peters and uh Brent Butler.
Um And then I had uh the childcare uh family support meeting in the afternoon with
uh with Kate and Amanda and uh Y MC A and Jefferson Healthcare. And then on the 12th,
um happy to report that we interviewed two candidates for the fleet manager position.
And um we're gonna interview two more on Wednesday and hopefully by Friday we have
uh a job offer and an acceptance in hand. Excellent. Then on Friday, um we had
uh check in with the state auditor on the uh accountability audit, which seems to
be going fairly well. Um It, it, I think we're headed uh potentially to an out brief
with a couple of comments and, and potential for a management letter, but we don't
know yet. Um We'll see during the out brief, uh whether we get a, a management letter
or not and then a quick check in with Josh Peters, um and then my weekly with Brent
and then a meeting in the afternoon with Hr Payroll and our prosecuting attorney
with regarding a sensitive personnel issue. Uh This week. Uh This is a quick one
of course today with the board tomorrow, labor negotiations with Teamsters public
works. Um that's scheduled for most of the day, but at nine o'clock in the morning,
I'm meeting with it, staff to talk about storage and how we can offload some local
storage to the cloud and whether we need to acquire more equipment locally. Um And
then um fleet interviews like I mentioned on uh Wednesday morning and then I travel
to uh Anacortes for the uh risk pool which will last the balance of the week. Sounds
good. Ok. Well, we've got 15 minutes left before our scheduled lunch break. Anything
else that we maybe should we look at county connections for the next couple of weeks?
Make sure that, um, I'm sorry to say that I have to join an important doctor appointment
with my husband at 330 just on the phone. So I'm gonna duck out. Um, and we have,
I know it's bad timing but um you need to be and you won't be able to return anything.
No, I I'll, I'll come back. Ok, so we will maybe we'll try to delay because you missed
meeting with Grant the last time. The last, just the last time we were there the
first one. So um we'll try to delay that and, and uh continue when you return. Um,
at 330 I could always join the meeting with Judy and Stephanie as well, but that's
the hearing. The hearing is from 230. No, there's another one C Pacer 230 then the
uh international building code is 330. No, Mike's schedule, I think you were looking
at last week's. Oh, you're right. I have two. Sorry, I have two A vs open apologies.
Yeah, I was thinking that it was, I thought I had planned it better. Right. Yeah,
so we we maybe recess it from 330 to 4. Would that be timely, do you think? Yeah.
I mean, it's doctor appointment, like you never know when they're gonna show up.
So, either way, if that is helpful to you. Great. And then, yep. No, I'd love to
be able to join the meeting to add any clarity I can. 01 thing I did want to say
is the week after Thanksgiving. Mm. Um, which is what, the
23rd, I guess. Yeah. So. Oh, my goodness.
Pre certification meeting. Right. Right. I might need someone to cover the pre certification
meeting and certification meeting point would kill me if I missed it again. But I
think I'm going out of state for Thanksgiving and coming back Tuesday morning. So
it would be a challenge. So I might need someone to cover that for me. Uh Monday
the 27th of November and Tuesday the 28th.
We did it last year. So I could probably
Monday the 27th at 1230 the 28th at one.
I'm free with those. Ok. And then I would probably just be on Monday remote for any
business so we can take care of business and then be absent in the afternoon. I'm
also available for both of those precertification thingers. Ok, cool. I will let
Quinn know.
Ok, um, let me print up the schedule and just make sure everyone jives with what
everyone thinks. So I had Kate with clinical services but now you are with
um, wait, what was the one you said? I thought you had Susan o'brien on this Friday.
Oh, got you. Ok. So you're doing elections
West when? 28? And then next week I have
Heidi with Kelly Amanda and Amit for Tilt. Trying to figure I'm trying, I were trying
to actually do a live broadcast from Tilt. Oh, wow. And so I'm working on that with
Jim. But, yeah, we'll see. They have, they have the new, uh, you go from the new
cap. That's what they're trying. I don't know. It's been, it's been a challenge.
Yeah, because they're probably all gonna have to be there all day. Right. And then
I have me on November 3rd and Heidi with, uh, maybe ODT,
with Eric and John Fleming on the 10th of November. Is that still?
Yeah, I've got it. That's a, is that a holiday, is the 10th of November a holiday?
Carolyn. Do you know Veterans Day?
It's fine though.
And then the 17th of November, I can take one. All right. You want, you want
the 17th? Sure. Ok. I, I'm on the third but I don't have a, a guest yet and I'm sure
I will have a guest before Friday the third.
Oh, shoot, I might have a, are you going to the conference celebrate all the, I'll
be back by then. Um, I can certainly do the 17th if you're tied up. Um, well, I
have a meeting. It's on my calendar for both 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. So, I assume it's
starting at 9 a.m. and it's the 10 a.m. is the wrong. Yes. Um, in which case, I
can do a radio show. I mean, I am out of the office or something. I don't know what,
so I can't do the 17th. So, Kate, you can. Ok, we'll leave the subject and the guest
open and then I guess the 24th, the day after Thanksgiving,
I don't know. I will be,
be hard to find a, a staff person to help.
I will be out of state, but I could potentially do it. But I don't know Heidi can
do, I'll be here. Let's put Heidi, but we'll put in Thanksgiving
ask if they actually, I guess they, the radio must go on though. Right? I could do
something. I mean, half the school board comes to my house for Thanksgiving. I know
I'll be here. So,
and then 12 1,
I can take that one. I feel like I'm not doing very many. Um,
12 1 is not good for me.
So 12, 8. Yeah. Ok.
I'm sorry, my days are all messed up actually. It, it's November 20th. I'm sorry,
I'm looking at Friday, Friday. Eight. All right.
Oh, I can do 12 8 cake because I can't do the 15th because I'll be at that Shoreline
Hearing Board. Hearing. Well, it's, it's just, it's the damn calendar problem. Like
I don't know if this meeting is at 11 o'clock or if it's at 10 o'clock, it's at 10
o'clock. I'm fine. But, and it doesn't show on the app where, like, it, it doesn't
show the time zone. So it's really maddening. I keep asking it for help and nobody
seems to, is that something you could help us with? Mark trying to drill down on
this. Are you off an hour? Maybe, like half of my meetings are off by an hour. So,
it's, and I don't know, you never know. Right. Unless you know exactly when the meeting
is. I think I'll look into it. I think it exceeds our staff's ability to solve. Um,
can you just, like, reset control all pacific time? That's, well, you know, I've
gone to my, I've gone to my settings and I'm on pacific time, but this morning's
meeting was moved to 8 38 30 too and there's no, there's no time difference that
would move it to 830. No. And so, yeah. Yeah, I can do the eighth. Ok.
And I cannot do the 15th because of that hearing. Um, I'll take the 15th. I can do
the 22nd.
All right.
Maybe I'll be out of the country but I'll do it. Well, whoa. Come on. Really? I don't
know. We're getting, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's see. Yeah, I can do
it too. I'm not going anywhere because Finn's coming home.
Ok. All right. Well, yeah, if you might be out of the country, it's always better.
Ok, so let's uh and think about your schedules and what, what you wanna do. But um
ok, I will save this. Let's save this. We should debrief with gem as to how these
are going for him. Yeah. You know year end review. Totally.
Mhm.
Tell me what I just committed to Greg. Put them in my calendar committed to uh 1117,
12, 8, 1222. Ok.
And that of John Boina from the Fairies. Come on. Oh, wow. A good one. It would be
good. You guys doing today, Kate, this, this week, this week Friday elections? Yeah.
Ok.
October 20th. Yeah, I'm a little low. I can take one of these too because right now
between now and the end of the year, I've only got three, I guess we're just Kate's.
Kate's just uh, well, I have three before the end of the year. Ok. I guess if you
include this week it's fourth. But did, did anyone take that? Did anyone figure out
that Ray Air Grant? I, did I talk to the breakfast. They're Grants. It's really clown
county. I think they're being inclusive. I mean, it's in Forks like 730 in the morning
for you. I said we were all probably unlikely to go. I think they're just being,
I just declined. Why, why ranging and their invitations?
I might take um, some days off. Uh Yes, you should because we have 1/5 Monday coming
up. 30th is 1/5 Monday. Yeah, October 30th.
I did kind of tentatively agree to go to the meeting. You know, folks are still really
frustrated in Port Ludlow with the water system there that, uh, you know, water will
come out looking like weak coffee. Like how a lot of people have that problem. Um
Oh, we just with wells. Um, yeah, but if you're paying for pro you know, processed
water
but they, and they've been battling the fee increase as well, which is, you know,
UTC probably will end up in higher fees sooner because they have to add those costs
in.
Um, so that's tough. All right. I will remember to.
Yeah. Delegate Heidi for the 27th, 28th.
Are you gonna chair another year? Am I gonna chair another year? That's not really
our, our, our practice usually I love control. So I would,
I might have to. Oh, right. Because you're both, you're both. Uh Yeah. Well, if someone
asked me that the other day, I'm like, I don't know, I haven't asked. Yeah, of course.
I would. Huh? What do you think of that idea? November next year? It's that, yeah,
it is a big, big November. I don't know. You guys are gonna, gonna make public announcements
right now. No, but I just, someone asked me and I'm like, oh, I haven't even thought
of that. Could, could he do that? Yeah. And there's nothing that says that we can't,
you know, it's good. Practice that anyone who's up for re election doesn't. Um, but,
you know, we can also change it at any time, part way through the year so we could,
um, stay on our rotation and then, you know, if, if indeed there's a seat or, you
know,
out of my cold dead hand,
it's, it's always know whether you'll be challenged until what may potentially.
So, I mean, could always change it then too if it was a, it was a race. Right. Yeah.
And I think too that, you know, there's, there's a certain amount of like
how much is somebody likely to abuse the, the position to their benefit. And like,
I, I don't actually worry about the three, any of the three of us doing that. Um,
when there are two that can check you. Right. Yeah. So it's, but, um, I'm happy to
proceed with the rotation and then if there's a problem, then we address it. Yep.
Sounds good to me. Ok. Oh, it's nice. It's a nicer seat over there. Anyway, there's
a better airflow over there. I like to stand up during meetings. Sometimes it's easier
for me to do that in the middle. You don't have to be in the middle. Uh, can we,
can we lift up the da so we can stand, stand d that would be awesome.
And that would be
like that. But
you mean on here things that lift up and down? I
want to raise hydraulically What's that?
Ok. Well, um anything else this afternoon that we should add to the
agenda?
Not that I can think of nothing might happen over lunch. So let's take a quick look
at our post lunch. We're gonna have a fairly busy afternoon, I think strategic do
you expect? I bet it'll take a good 40 minutes the first briefing. Um,
yeah, she's just gonna give us a rundown on what's what's been happening with the
planning process. I was, I enjoyed the materials.
It was much more optimistic, the material than I expected. Actually, I have to say.
I mean, yeah, well, II I really thought there would be more of a current of uh um
don't overburden us with too much tourism and I, I think that's a sentiment I get
from some small communities but that I didn't see in any of the, how do you, how
do you tell people that? I mean, people are gonna come right?
Like the quilting doesn't want the port to put in uh um you know, a trailer, you
know, campground down there. And uh Gardner is, was super concerned at our community
meeting about the impacts of a new accessible boat ramp, bringing, you know, uh floods
of people to their sleepy boat launch, right? So I like on the ground. I get this,
you know, that will be an important piece to share today. Ok, I was just, yeah, I
will, I was surprised and not seeing it, I mean, it's the people who come to those
community meetings are totally different segments of the population that, that we
hear from. Right. You know. So, yeah. Yeah. Ok. Great. I look forward to the conversation
saying Debbie, um, if there's nothing else, we'll recess this until 130 we'll see
you back here. Have a good lunch and we will be at the, was a meeting at least two
of us. So, or at least participating or listening. So, keep it, keep it posted
recording in progress. So, meetings over lunch. All right, I'll call this
October 16th meeting of the board of county commissioners back into session. We're
just, uh joined by Debbie Warr and she's just getting into the meeting to be able
to share her screen. So we'll just pause for a moment as we get our tech caught up
and then we will get a presentation
from the Olympic Peninsula Strategic Tourism Strategic Plan. What is it exactly?
You could imagine the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Strategic Plan.
So, do you have your presentation like 10? So if not stop messing
powerpoint?
Yeah.
Anything else, uh, come up to your attention that we should add to the agenda?
I, I didn't get a lot of value out of the, uh, was a meeting. I mean, it was fine.
It was just a presentation they adjourned at 1256.
I mean, it was a presentation from Hope Source which seems like it was super effective
organization out there in Ellensburg and around building and repurposing units. But
basically they'll, I'll give you the takeaway. Uh you need to county, county state
first and then, you know, state mining and then uh federal tax credits
purchasing of land.
So finding a good nonprofit uh develop partner, which we have quite a few. So, and
that's what is hope, a nonprofit developer.
So we're, we put some of my test,
but is it COVID was? Here we go. Ok. Oh, no, my son,
why
it's in your packet already? We do. Is it we still struggling? We have it attached
as part of a PDF. So we'd have to like cycle through it instead of forwarding slides.
If you email it to me, I'd be happy to share it to do that also. Ok. So where is
the presentation? Are you able to get onto the internet? Just a second? Hold on.
Oh, very bye.
I know you wanna drive. Is this powerpoint? We should ask Debbie that
question. I'm, it's not good. Um, Debbie, do we want as a Pe O
Debbie? Do we want Marsha over as well? From Marsha Massey? Uh I don't know if she's
gonna join in on Zoom or not. She's here. Yeah. Bring her over Carol. Maybe she can
pull it up on her computer. Yeah. Hey, Marsha, as you come over
here, share.
Hey, Marsha. Ok. Yes. Hello. Hi. Thank you.
Um, Debbie is having trouble pulling the presentation up on her computer? Is it possible
for you to do that on your end? She asked probably. So, let me Debbie, is it the,
uh, which one is it Debbie? That, um, that we did last week? It's a master plan.
Ok. Give me just a second to find it. I have it on my screen here and you can't share
a screen. That's it right there.
How many does it take? Yeah, that's good. So if you may I please the Zoom,
we hit your screen. But oh, so you're right. And what did you say? This is your Zoom
window? Where's all the people marker sent it to you as the one that I
fancy apples? That's correct. I email it to you. Oh, is this an apple?
All right. Yeah, I'm sure it's one of these commands up here.
Not to me.
Ok. Mark you have it on your computer too.
Well, your time. Why don't we just got an email too?
Yeah, I don't wanna distract your time.
I do have a hard stop at 230 but plenty of time till then.
Ok. Thank you all for making the time today and allowing us to share with you the
work that has been done uh over the last nine months with the Olympic Peninsula Tourism
Master Plan. Um I come to you today as the project manager for this uh as part of
the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau team, Marsha Massey, who's on the call, as you
probably know is the executive director of the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau as
well. And we have made a lot of progress in data collection. So I thought it would
be helpful since um this is a very important piece of the puzzle to tourism, both
in Jefferson and Clallam County. And that's pretty much how we're describing this
project. We recognize that the Olympic Peninsula is more than that. But for the purpose
of this, it's really focused on the North Olympic Peninsula with Jefferson and Clallam
County. Ok. So can we
excuse me, I can share my screen if you want, but I, I would need to screen sharing.
I've got that. It's already up, Marsha. Thank you so much. So, the purpose of the
project in a very succinct way is to develop strategies to create a more consistent,
sustainable and vibrant year round visitor economy with an emphasis on increasing
visitor spending in the shoulder seasons and winter. So this is not about bringing
more tourists here necessarily in the high peak of summer, but rather extending it
beyond that, the intended outcomes are to increase visitor spending in shoulder and
winter seasons by developing visitor experiences and industry capacity. So that's
the supply and developing more diverse targeted seasonal promotions. That's the demand,
that's how we're going to do this. That's the intended outcome. If in case you're
not aware and you all probably are. Uh the National Park Service did a survey in
2022 regarding the economic impact of tourism on the Olympic Peninsula that
equates to $320 million. So we are not talking about chump change here. And Debbie,
that's all tourism or is that just associated with the National Park? That's all
tourism as they measure it? Ok. Yes. So we have done a lot of this data collection,
including a resident survey. We had a goal of 500 to respond and we stretched that
too well. If we really do well, we'll get 1000. We had 1440 respondents and those
are residents in our community of that. 90% answered this question. How would you
rate the importance of tourism on the Olympic Peninsula, either as important or extremely
important? I think that's pretty powerful. In other words, they like tourism. Uh
They understand that it's important to our economy.
What have we done thus far to in include the community in the uh community engagement.
We had 10 focus groups with industry and community stakeholders. We did 30 individual
interviews and that included uh four with indigenous tribes.
The resident survey I just mentioned we did an industry survey uh destination. Next
is proprietary to the uh company that's doing this work for us. And that was 100
and 68 stakeholders, people that are in the business of tourism who understand tourism.
And that was a 45 minute survey. If you were going fast. So that was a big time commitment.
Then we held four community town halls in September. Um We first went out at Fort
Warden, then we went to swim, we went to Port Angeles and out to Forks to engage
again and uh maybe a different group. And those were well attended with um very enthusiastic
participation. And for the most part, I would say, uh informative and very positive.
And just so you guys know, I've been on the leadership group for this effort. So
I participated in at least one of the focus groups, the transportation focus group.
And that was a lively discussion actually largely about the need for more my uh transit,
mi micro transit um to get people to a destination. And then, um I also participated
in the community, the community town hall at Fort Warden, um which was what as Debbie
just said, well attended with tons of questions and input and, you know, uh people
who've been in the tourism industry in the county for decades and people who have
just gotten their toe in the water. So it was a really good group of folks who are
out there. Yeah. And the one at Fort Worth and we didn't know what to expect. And
we had uh not only a very engaged community, but we had set aside 90 minutes for
each of these. And I think they would have gone at least double that because we were
still talking uh 45 minutes after. And if we hadn't had a time to be, we probably
would have still been there. So, yes, I, I failed to mention we did put a leadership
team together and it's a representative of uh both counties. We tried to find a broad
spectrum of participation from different industries. And that has been sort of the
guiding group through all of these conversations. We will take all of this data and
that's kind of where we are right now is calling through the data, trying to understand
the data, putting it into a meaningful um plan. And on November 2nd, we will have
a visioning workshop, both of the leadership team and others in the community. For
example, uh chamber directors and the presidents of the chamber boards, uh additional
government participation, the National Park, the National Forest. Uh you get the
idea and that will be uh a really important time to kind of come together and say
so here's what we're planning is everybody in agreement with this. And then how do
we execute that?
So we did this thing at the town hall group discussions that seemed to really resonate
with people. And that's called um Minty, Minty, a minty. And so I
share with you here the one from Port Townsend. And basically, it was how would you
describe living in the Olympic on the Olympic Peninsula in 1 to 3 words? And this
is the one that came up from uh Port Townsend for uh out at Fort Worth. So I point
out to you peaceful is front and center. That's, that means that's the word that
most often came up. Um And then you can kind of see you all have probably seen in
these, I didn't. So it was interesting that I, after I got all of them I went back
and looked, there was a lot of commonality but the expensive stands out here in this
port town is the one for me. See if you find it in the other ones from the other
town halls. Yeah. So I, I share with you here all four of them. And then we did a
combined one. So this is the one in Quim, peaceful, beautiful, friendly, healthy,
you were expensive there
again. Beautiful, friendly, green, peaceful, remote.
Look at that.
And then this was the one out in Forks, peaceful, fresh green, magical, wholesome.
Um We were working uh in tandem on the Olympic Peninsula Tourism Commission ad campaign.
That's just uh being sent out right now. And it's kind of amazing that
that's all about um quiet. You know, the tourists have left now come and this is
what you'll experience and it's a green, like the imagery is all green. And so I
kind of think it validated that we might be on to something for this time of the
year. And then we took all four of these and combined them. Oh, I didn't put that
in here. Well, it is online but uh I think I sent it to you. Uh Heidi, I don't remember.
It's in the, it's in the one with the leadership deck uh last week. But basically
it's seeing all those on top of each other. You're gonna see like Heidi said, some
commonality there. So we have the outline of
strategic framework or strate strategic map. And um we are currently working on
taking sort of four pillars for this master plan and we're sharing with you here,
what are those four pillars? They are demand, enhance the marketing. So develop targeted
marketing and sales to increase shoulder season and winter awareness supply,
developing the assets and the visitor experience, invest in responsible industry
development and place making. We in Jefferson County understand place making really
well. I mean, if you just were at the Apple Festival yesterday, that whole thing
is about bringing in people who are doing fascinating, interesting experiential
things uh that tourists and residents alike enjoy, right? Local small business
development, expand and promote networks in culinary culture, arts biking and other
lifestyle segments. So we know that visitors now have more of an expectation than
just looking at pretty mountains and water and uh and green. They they want to experience
what the community is experiencing. So the development of that we think is very important
and then the continuation of public private collaboration. So how do we improve community
and industry alignment regarding infrastructure development. We know and we heard
it and it will be included in the master plan that in order to have workers all year,
a workforce all year, you have to have affordable housing. Well, we think that with
some of this stretching the season, it will allow people to live here and work here
more than just what I call the caviar of three months of the year, right? And so
how do we align government work uh industry that says they want to
have skilled labor and bring those things together? Does that include kind of more
traditional workforce development efforts? Now, that's not what we're doing. We're
not, I mean, the tourist, you know, we're not, this is about tourism but where does
local tourism uh staycations, for example, fit into that picture, right? I'm thinking
though for the the workforce necessary for tourism. Um I I hear you speaking to the
infrastructure development as part of that and number four, but um are there other
places where workforce development comes up in these pillars, would you say? Yes.
And I think it's um uh responsible industry development, right? What does that mean?
And what we're doing right now is putting all the um action plans underneath each
of these. And what does that look like? And it seems reasonable that that is going
to show up? Ok. Yes, thank you for sure. I I'm I'm curious because that's one of
the fields that I work in. So I would love to have a better sense of what the need
is there. Yes, it's huge. Yeah. And it's not just the traditional, uh, housekeepers.
Right. It's, it's every level of tourism and what that looks like. Who, you know,
one of the things that we've seen in some of our, uh, data collection is that we
have a high level of, um, quality with outdoor
experiences. We don't have enough people that are taking people to those outdoor
experiences, right? So we have to connect those dots. Um And that's the data that
we have to say, well, you know, on our d next survey and I'm doing this from memory,
but it was like almost five out of five. This is, you know, we have beautiful parks,
we have beautiful waterways, you know, all these other things, but we have a shortage
of people that can take you to those places, take you along, right? I mean, the
ODT, you know, obviously that's, that's the kind of AAA piece of the crown, a gym
and the crown, right? But I I would love to see like in those European trails, you
know, that have little way points along the way where you can get a beer and grab
a night's sleep and you have this lovely experience that's like would be part of
your path experience, right? And I just, how does, how is that built? So, so that
is one of the things that we have as one of our action plans is how do we take the
135 miles of that trail and put businesses along the trail? And what are those businesses
and how can they be successful? Right. So when you talk about um the, the community
industry alignment, we gotta make sure that we've got the kinds of businesses that
can thrive and not just in July and August, But beyond that, I think the River Center
uh is a pretty good example of that right now where you've got a, you know, a coffee
shop there, ride your bike, you can get a coffee, you can go to a museum, you don't
even have to get off the path, right. And we have those, you know,
at our last meeting, I think I always feel like I'm the peanut gallery. I'm like
we need a hut system. But, but then I was saying someone had feedback about that
idea and I was thinking, well, maybe we already have huts. We just need to identify
them as huts. You know, maybe we have lodging, we have lodging along the trail like
the Jamestown Tribes casino hotel. That could be a hut, you know, and, but or there's
also like vacation rentals so it could be the huts along the way. We could identify
the existing lodging as our hut system, you know? I don't know. But, and I think
your, your use of the word, wayfinding is very important to say. How do people know
that that's there? And how did the, how did the residents know that much of that
trail was funded by lodging tax dollars from visitors? Right. So how do we connect
all of those dots? What we're looking to do? Oh, and I did get the answer from Randy
Johnson as to what they did with all their public works money through L tech. Did
I, I think I last week mentioned that um it was for the trail, that's what they were
using L tech funds for and connecting the trail in the places that are not safe right
now, that's, you know, that's a huge discovery
over to Port Town and that's the raise grant. They just got the $16 million grant
to plan all those connectors. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, when you look at like industry
development that to me that, that feels like smaller independent entrepreneurs, more
than larger restaurants which are already, you know, struggling with workforce, you
know, to even be open five days a week at this point. Right? I guess these are some
of the, the challenges, right? I mean, and even if there was housing, where do people
live for these jobs that often, you know, are paying $18 an hour or something? I
mean, that's just like the conundrum that I'm wondering if you guys have dived into
yet. II, I think that the solution to housing is up to all of us. Uh, and, and it's
not just government, it's not just private and, you know, in Jefferson County we
have some pretty good examples of what's happening with that right now. Um, I think
as a resident, uh, what we see going on over at Bayside, what we see with, you know,
some of these other locations, uh, it's gonna take a lot of cooper operation and
creativity. Yeah, To set the tone, I guess I see, I just see a conflict
and what seems like encouraging more transient rentals because I mean, that's, that's
what I see is like the solution to some of these problems to be about making it more
flexible and having these expanding the shoulder season to me almost seems like it
might suck up units as fast as it could make them. I, I, you know, it's, it's don't
know. Yeah, I'm not looking for a solution. I just, it's an important conversation.
Yeah.
Yeah. Ok. So that is uh a quick review of what we have been up to. Um, and I hope
that that was helpful to kind of see where this book is going and how it's intersecting
with in all the communities. Are there any questions that?
Yeah, I don't know, Marsha. I give me a little chance if you have anything that you
wanna add, love to hear from you, it's good to good to hear your voice again.
Thanks so much. No. Debbie did a great job. Hi. Uh Thanks for having us here. I think
uh Debbie did a great job of summing up. What as you can appreciate has been a very,
uh I, I really feel a very engaged process. Uh We've talked amongst ourselves and
amongst the leadership team to say that, you know, really part of the value of this
is the process itself. And I think, uh having so many engaged voices at different
levels, uh has really just helped raise the awareness of the value of tourism to
our communities, not just the, the obvious, but, you know, the trickle out effect
and jobs and awareness and that sort of thing. So, um, much to do, you know, there's
a lot still to do here and it's not gonna be j finished. I mean, the plan will be
finished, but all the work won't be finished. You know, the first year, it's a five
year plan and I think there's gonna be a lot more engagement to come. So, thank you
so much for the support um, that the county Jefferson county commissioners have shown
and we really appreciate Commissioner Eisenhower's involvement. She's been very involved
and she has a very busy schedule right now. So, thank you. That's great.
Hm, I'm just excited to see the product um because I, I want more detail on things
like the transportation, you know, and that's something I'm really interested in
is how do we get, how do we encourage people to be here, get here and visit here
without bringing more cars. And I think there's a ton of opportunity for itineraries
around using transit, non motorized transportation. Um And you know, that's experiential
travel too. And so, um I know that it's premature to dive into some of those action
plans. But um I'm curious to hear it. Um Please share those among yourselves because
that is what will ultimately happen in a plan of, you know, here's an action plan,
we need to develop uh an additional bike itinerary that goes from this point to this
point. And along the way, this is where, you know what I mean, it's, it's going to
be that kind of plan and it, it's gonna take a lot of different entities to take
this plan and make it live. So from a timeline standpoint, we expect to sort of finalize
this by the end of this year. Um and then roll it out, uh you know, to the tourist
tourism businesses first and then beyond that uh into the communities and
one more thing on transportation. Um You know, it would like, I always think of efforts
like this. It's great when they can kind of help build on other efforts. And um I
think of ev charging is one of those where we're really, you know, trying to make
the case for this. There's a lot of funding available for EV chargers right now and
making the case for the need out here. Um And so, um you know, I just love if this
could kind of help with that narrative too of like, you know, there's AAA shared
desire to see more ev charging stations put in and um it sounds like I wanna just
provide input into the plan you and me both. Yeah, I mean, what I think, what, what
Kate's saying is on fa tours, Familiarization tours, You should really incorporate
transportation into that when possible, right? I mean, like Van Life is 11 thing
but you know, let's get some bus hashtag bus Life out there. It's uh and show, show
people, show people have people show people different ways of experiencing the peninsula
that's been happening. I reflect on one that we did um a couple of years ago and
it was how do you take public transportation from uh the Bainbridge ferry all the
way to Forks? And you can, it's not easy. Um And you have to plan well, and you have
to understand, you know, which bus connects to which bus which you know, and picking
people up along the way with an ev with an electric bike and you know, so it does
it ha that has happened. Um But we need to really, I I hear what you're saying about
that and I'm hearing a lot of conversation uh among hotels and other businesses right
now that are adding uh station chargers. So we were just out of Clay Lock uh like
20 of us from the county for a community meeting. And um two things, one, we stayed
the night and there was like seven electric vehicles and they have four chargers
out there good on them. Right. But only two of them were working. So we had to do
the total. Like, are you done, you know, Greg and I, are you done um charging, you
know, uh co ordination? But the other thing that was fun when we were out there is
a coup a few times I saw Jefferson transit like come through Clay Lock along the
road, you know, and I was just like, oh thank God we could get here on the bus. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, you can the Clay lock all the way to Clay Lock. Yeah, take a long
time and, and you know, that has been used by Clay Lock for their employees with
vouchers.
Cool.
Well, can I just make a comment to Commissioner Dean uh regarding the evs, we actually
did uh a media fan with a writer from British Columbia who came out and did mostly
the West End but did some uh she brought her EV vehicle. We're still waiting for
the article to run. So as soon as it runs, I'll make sure you see it. But we did
have a writer uh late last year who
came with her small child and her ev and so we'll, we'll see how we're waiting for
the story. That's great. Thank you, Marsha.
Ok. Um Well, we're, we're waiting with bated breath for the final product and, you
know, but we'll, we'll continue to wait and, and I'm glad that he's able to participate
in the creation of this document. So. Well, thank you for your encouragement. Way
back. Uh Pre COVID. That's when this whole conversation and, and a lot of set aside
so very visionary And if there is another opportunity for input, it sounds like we
are an eager bunch, lots of opinions. We are still collecting input. So if you would
like to have a conversation with our consultant, I'd be happy to set that up. Um
I know Commissioner Eisenhower has participated a few times, but if you want to do
it as a group or individually, um we're so happy to make that happen. Ok.
We'll work through, we'll work through that. That sounds good. Ok. Thanks so much.
Great to see you. Good to see you, Marsha.
Really good to see you again too. Thank you. Take care. Thank you. Oh, yeah, no problem.
We're, we've got lots of tech issues we're always dealing with. All right. So we,
we do have a a hearing coming up at 230 but we could right. Continued deliberations
on the hearing. Thank you. But we can, I see Mr Butler is with us already. So we
can if folks are so inclined, jump back into the uh continued briefing on the the
chip, the chip program is there no set time on that? It does say no set time and
his potential action. So, Brent, are you, are you ready to hop into that?
Ok. Yeah. Take your time. We'll, we're putting you on the spot but you know, bless
you. The Eager Beaver gets the cheese. Is that how it goes? That's not quite how
Beavers don't eat cheese. Well, you do really know that the two herbivores,
I mean, ok, I eat cheese. Everyone likes cheese. I never heard that.
No, I was, I was mixing my metaphors a little bit. Gets the worm. Who wants a worm?
That's Beavers don't eat worms. Birds.
Yeah. Well, I swear I was gonna go with the Beavers but, uh, don't give a dog a cheese.
Cheese. Beavers eat cheese. I'm googling it right now. Probably not in nature. I've
seen videos of deer eating hot dogs. Oh, yeah. Oh, my goodness. They're herbivores
too. But I guess, you know, they eat bugs, right? So, that's
half a hot dog. I just sent the powerpoint presentation to the clerk.
Ok, cool. Got it.
All right. Yeah, great. Sounds like this is, uh, still lots of progress happening
on the, gotta be in a UG A now before we start, huh?
Conservative reading. When, when the end of the month, I think, I mean, the
conservative reading means we can't apply, right? Ok.
All right. Well, I, I'm, I'm I'm uh already ready to jump the shark. I'm gonna get
up here. Did you get it? Do you wanna open it up or shall I? It's right there? Oh,
you got it. Ok, good.
Ok, come in these two things a little tight. It's not
good. Good, good. So.
Ok.
Work from there and I'm gonna have some notes here, so I wanted to thank the commissioners.
I'm glad that we're able to move this ahead as quickly as we are. Um And um and this
brief presentation, um our next slide agenda uh is the third of our briefings. And,
and the last, yes, and it's just a quick overview of the approach to UG A zoning
uh that which gave rise originally to looking at these grants and then um looking
at the uh connecting housing to infrastructure program and outreach and then a review
of the projects, we've narrowed it down to two and then uh the next steps.
So, um when we discussed um uh process, uh there have been um you know, some discussions
about, well, what are the different approaches? And so, one of the concerns that
uh we see quite frequently um in development is that you can create zoning, but it
doesn't necessarily mean you're gonna have housing or, or what you're desiring and,
and sometimes it's really difficult to, to induce uh developers to, to do that. Um
The rainier um um street is an example of that that went in um eight years ago. And
we're finally now um having the completion of the first housing project there. And
so
the
creamery was supposed to be to the market, you know, you don't have to have commercial
on the bottom floor is kind of what allowed that to move forward, I believe. And,
and so I just use that as an example of there being that difficulty or disconnect
between knowing the local economic economics and what's gonna work. So I'm trying
to close that gap so that we're closer to the local economics. And so, and unfortunately,
what works in Port Townsend um may not work necessarily in Port Hadlock, there are
different price points. Um And one of the most important things is uh looking at
the performers. And so in their um the agenda request, I sort of talked about the
most important question. A lot of persons in the field of housing think is tenure.
What is, and it's often un it's not an asked question regularly, what is it in terms
of tenure that we're supposed to be promoting? I mean, we could go for uh fee simple
ownership and everyone can have their own home and it's gonna serve that population
that's 200% and above ami I if that's the desired tenure of housing. But based upon
the, the board's direction, um the adoption of uh uh interim controls and emergency
ordinance in 2017, it indicates to me that that's not the, the board's direction
that we're not focused on those earning 200% or 300% of AMI we're trying to meet
the, the workforce, which typically is 100 and 20% of AMI and less. And so given
that, um there's some assumptions that I move ahead with is that um I should reach
out to housing developers that are producing housing for that market segment. We're
not a uh a market segment that has a lot of those producers. I mean, I, I was looking
across the nation and there's only really, it was only one large city that has a
lot of, of lower to middle income housing production. And that was Houston, Texas,
a lot of of, you know, of housing that's for the workforce. And so, um some of the
types of, of questions that I would ask is that well, if we are developing housing,
what are the tenures that we should be looking at? And because that's gonna go to
the nature of the developers we invite to the table and I just thought maybe we'd
have a brief discussion on that because I, I haven't received any guidance from the
board on that
thoughts.
I've always been an advocate for workforce housing as being a a really critical missing
rung on the ladder. Um We don't seem to have trouble attracting people who can afford
to build single family residences um often with higher incomes or moving from other
markets, real estate markets. So, um I don't think that's an area and that's an area
that government really needs to intervene. Um You know, the there is funding for
um very low income and homeless housing, obviously not enough funding for that. And
we've not kept up and in ensuring that those units um get built. But um it, it feels
that there is a, a more established pathway for very low income
housing. Um So workforce has always been my interest and I feel like there's an opportunity
for, you know, public private partnerships there, the um housing trust, community,
land trust model um I think is, is, you know, an example of a creative way that we
can help support that, that rung of the housing continuum. So that's my my interest
and where I think we can do some innovative work and the, and the Hadlock offers
that opportunity as well and I would say, ditto to everything she just said at the
same time. Yeah, 80 to 100 and 20% the market has left it behind. It's a broken run.
We've got to do something, land trust, you know, publicly owned land, some way to
attract developers, multifamily uh tax credit. I mean, I think we need to explore
even when it uh impacts, you know, our revenues, those are property taxes, right?
But um I think whatever it takes to attract developers for um yeah, 80 to 120 is,
is the part, I mean, not, there's enough of 80% and below, but at least we have a
funding structure that we can work on and we've been successful in addressing it,
but been completely unsuccessful. And that, what is 80%? 80% equals like
for a family of four. I'm just 30 per hour. No, no, no, no. Is that a
52? Is, what's the ma I think 52 like in our RP we did 60% was I think 50 grand for
a family of four. So it's like 80 grand. I mean, you know, 30 bucks an hour
is kind of and above where you can actually afford rent, but you know, stay affordable
is still 33 a third of your income. I mean, it's uh
this looks like ami 80 for a family of four is 83 400. So 60% of that would
be what 8087 or 67.
And of course, as you know, Brent is documented and we see all over the place I were
in the highest uh um rate of cost of housing, you know, just about anywhere.
Yeah, and what did, what did San Juan just do broke the public sector model for everyone
else.
So, um it's really helpful. Um What I will do is I will look at the different tenures
that can address the workforce. And so typically that's looking at uh rental subsidized
rental, the trust model. So that you're bifurcating the land from the ownership of
the improvements. Um And then there's limited equity co ops. So there's a group of
models there. Um In the report that I uh the agenda request, I identified that some
communities in this case, one of them was um Oakland identified 56 different types
of sub tenures. Um And so we're just gonna look at those that uh we're likely to
attract potential developers. And so, uh that'll be the, the next step. And um and
so looking at this approach, um I would, and the reason I asked that is that the,
oh, and I was still not just yet is um the development proposals that we'd be looking
at are really dependent upon what tenure. And so that's why I wanted to make sure
before I even reach out to any developer, I know what the board's um um overall wishes
in this area. And then um what I would typically do after that and this, I'm looking
at prototype Proforma base number one. And that's really, I'm trying to get to the
market approach. Um And that would be then have the developers put together what
pencils for them, what they would be willing to build because unfortunately, the
developer is not gonna lose their shirt, they're not gonna build anything if that's
the likely outcome. And so, um typically, when we look at we do development performers,
there's an assumption of 10% profit for the developer. Um And so we, we typically,
when um we do that, that, that's an expectation, that's the minimum that developer
would have interest in going into a community. Um And then with those performers,
the question is, well, is there community support for what is being proposed? Uh
No depends who you ask and how close the development is to their house and then
the review of zoning. So that was the performer based approach. Now, um one of the
areas that I've had some discussions with uh um and really this came out of a wonderful
presentation at the Housing Washington Conference where uh the city of Burian uh
provided an example of them creating uh an affordable housing demonstration project.
And so what that says is that it may not, it may necessarily not be within the UG
A although that probably would be a highly likely location, but we could um create
and we already have this in uh the language in our comprehensive plan to actually
move forward with the zoning text amendment that says, well, we will accept affordable
housing demonstration projects if they meet these certain parameters. I think you
take those five properties just south of Cosmo Brown Village that we own, that's
outside of the UG A but really adjacent to the sewer and say we want to do a demonstration
project here. 300 units. Well, with, you know, uh you know, 100 units, 50 units.
Well, that that would, that would um work, I would say if in fact, we are able to
do uh an expansion of the UG A, that would be a sort of a, a condition for that um
to be successful. But I do feel that the um the urban growth area Hadlock is gonna
be right. And so um a demonstration project, someone comes forward and we can get
a couple there and it says that we will look at your proposal if even if it's in
a commercial zone and we'll make the amendment to, to that. So, so that's the alternative
approach that I see. And uh and then the third one is um really a much more comprehensive
approach and that really starts with essentially the development performers and then
you have threats and, and when I say a charette and I have a picture from the National
Shred Institute um where we invite people of the community, they all sit down at
different tables. Um You might have a developer lead each table and say, well, this
is what we know we can develop in your community. Um How do you feel about this?
Um Where would you like to see this? And then, um and then this would go to the,
the concern that I've heard. Uh Commissioner Eisenhower identify that, that a lot
of the people uh that spent a lot of time in 2005 and six in developing the plans
for the sewer are no longer here. And so there are a lot of new community members
that don't understand that. And so that was really trying to get to the heart of
the concern that I, I heard Commissioner Eisenhower um um indicate and then, um,
once we have something that already seems to have that support of the community,
then you go and compare and amend the zoning if necessary.
And so, um this is the likely the quickest pathway is the demonstration project.
It's not specific to the UG A. So we would accept demonstration projects anywhere.
And that also provides us with some flexibility. There always has been concern is
about changing the urban regs before we get the sewer online. And so I see this as
a way to sort of avoid that concern. So I just wanted to share this as an alternative
approach and, and it, and the most important thing about that, it doesn't negate
the possibility of doing a more comprehensive approach, you can still do that. So,
so it it's not, it's not ruling that out. So how um
like I'm guessing if we're talking about attracting developers, in this case, workforce
housing developers. Um I mean, we know that that really needs to be done in a a dense
in order for that to pencil, it needs to be a fairly dense land use type. How could
we do that outside of an urban growth area without risking, you know, a pretty significant,
um, violation, um, doing it outside, it does not seem feasible. Um, but we do
have, I mean, the unique opportunity of this urban growth area is almost ready to
be activated, ready to be. So, so, but not for this trip cycle, right? I mean, not,
not within two years. Um, well, as long as construction can start within two years.
Um, and that could mean that if you, if you're able to get something in the ground
in December of 2025. Yes. And so, so that's the, that's the Linchpin. Um
And then if, uh in fact, um there's some effort with the recompete grant and some
of the other projects that are being considered, there'll be more opportunities.
So I'm looking at it from that perspective that, well, we may not be able to immediately,
but there's movement afoot to make some change to accommodate that.
Yeah. Yeah, we like, I like that word quickest. And so then I'm gonna go back and
uh and what really inspired this look at Chip was that I really needed performers
to really understand what pencil. So that's how I, I got here originally is that
I, I can't make any changes or propose any changes to zoning without first understanding
what the board's um desire with regards to tenure is and also then secondarily understanding
what mathematically works. And so, um we've um now this is our third um uh briefing
on this and as Mark said, our last and uh this one, I, I uh we've been, I've been
having lengthy conversations with our partners and so I'm gonna move on to the next
slide and the first partner um and I looked at these chips scoring so I sit down
with them. I, I make sure that uh my, the partners that we would have are aware of
the concerns. And so um we did cover this before. Um and, and this talks
about the number of units that are uh the percentage that's affordable. And, and
so, for example, Evans Vista is now looking at 25% of some 300 some odd units would
be affordable. So, um but you get more points for more um uh or greater than that
minimum level. And then what is the level of affordability now now? And I wanna make
sure when the board says workforce typically um workforce,
um and I would look at the um salaries, it's really workforce is really based upon
the, they used to call the North American industrial classification, you know, so
what are those, the core jobs in your community? And then you would say, well, um
so it might be as low as 50 or 40% ami up to 100 and 20. And if you're looking at
who works at Starbucks or at, at QF at our safeway, for example, or better living
through coffee, some of these um service employees what are their wages and then
understanding that, that wage category and then going up to um, teachers and so forth
and then you get a good workforce range. And so, um, so, um, one of the areas we're
gonna, I'm gonna look at is what is that workforce? And, and that'll be in one of
my agenda requests, having that analysis will be helpful and then obviously length
of affordability. One of the concerns that has been uh emphasized by um numerous
parties has been, you know, that we make it affordable, we give this um low income
household this opportunity. But then um we can't pass it on because they're the only
ones that get it. Um And there's no way to transfer that to the next family. And
so that's being addressed and I just, we have a 230. So I wanna, so where are we
now? Time wise, I just wanna make 220. OK. So I'm gonna move faster here. So this
really covers. OK. OK, good. OK. And then um so then the readiness to
proceed. Uh OK. So we talked about the timeline and then the cost of utility improvements
for the system. So that's another question. And so when we look at Caswell Brown,
what the state has said is that they're focused primarily on new housing units and
they don't consider temporary or transitional to be new housing units. OK. So they're
looking at what we have there as permanent affordable, which is a smaller subsector
that is may potentially um yeah, permanent supportive housing. Yes, so that, that
would meet the definite guidelines. And so the question is uh uh if we have a crisis
situation by having these other units in there, it's providing that continuum, getting
persons out of unsheltered situations. And so we could in, in the grant application,
I'll be working to s to sue that because I think they should be aware that although
permanent supportive housing is the primary um grant eligible uh type of project
that it is accommodating a larger need by the continuum. And so I hope that would
be persuasive um readiness to proceed. Um And we have a commitment letter for Caswell
Brown. Um We don't have that for um our other partners and, and I believe they're
gonna come online at some point and I'm referring to Bayside housing. I did have
a nice meeting with them on Friday. Um And then access to public transit. Um I wanted
to thank the board for helping me because when I looked at the maps like the regular
maps that uh Jefferson transit issues, I don't see those bus stops and then I actually
double check what you said, I called Jefferson transit because I said, well, your
maps show you that the stop is Oak Bay and um Verner or, or QFC and they, this is
one is the closest, is a 22 minute walk. So, and they say, oh no, look at Google
Maps, there's like a bus stop, right? And it's just like you said. So, so there,
yes. So, so that really makes um virtually all of our projects um that we've looked
at close enough. The only concern is that there's an aspect of that they're looking
at frequency. And so um five times a day is not considered high frequency. So that's
the only concern. Um and there might be other ways to address that, but I, I have
to highlight that and then um plans to charge latecomer fee. Uh That's a pretty standard.
Um I think that would be more applicable, for example, if the Evans Vista project
um were to come and, and connect to the lift station then and then they would bring
it all the way down to Caswell Brown Village, then all of the other projects that
come in later would pay that latecomer fee. And so that would be the way you just
extend it all the way to the end. And then um then they have the late come, they
already have that in the city of uh Port Townsend so that the other development projects
would move ahead. And, and one of the things that I and I know they're looking at
a, a grand all at once um development like a master development. But sometimes, um
you know, they, they, they may also have as a backup. Um the small part smaller development,
sort of similar to how we broke up our sewer, uh, just given the history of how development
has occurred fairly slowly here. Um, and then, um, we also are working on the, uh,
removing the system development charges. So we're, we're moving ahead. And so I actually
think given that it's just three minutes to 230. Yes. A good pausing place. Ok. Sounds
good. Don't we stop that share? And is Phil joining us online maybe?
Mhm. Right.
What Phil comes through that door? One? Is it your?
Mhm.
Good afternoon. I'm just waiting for everything to catch up here. Hi, Phil. Hi. Thanks
for being with us. Yes. Can you hear me? I can hear you.
Oh, you, we can't see you though. We can hear you. We see a black screen. Do you
maybe have a shutter? Are you on a laptop or? Oh, there you go. That's exactly what
it was. Ok. Excellent. There we are. Thank you. Cool. All right. We're just getting
back. We'll wait another minute since we label this at, uh,
uh, 230. Um, and, you know, I realized I did not, I looked
through all the correspondence but I don't think I saw all the hearing comments.
I saw jeans. I didn't think I saw tongs one laser fish, I guess under to listen
to that. Yeah, it's in the testimony part of, um, I've
still got it open. I don't know if it would be helpful but ever I can get a noise,
your face real quick. I just,
oh no, it's gone.
Ok. Just the two I need to look at Tom's real quick. So, hm,
just give you the B
oh.
Hm.
All right. Well, we are at 230.
I know I didn't find it because that's a different one.
so let's, uh, um, I think Brent, are you participating in this as well as needed?
Ok. Um Great. Well, we've had, uh, o kept the hearing open for, uh,
written comment up until 430. So that was closed as of Friday. And we're really,
we are here to deliberate on the changes. Uh I think there's some questions, Kate,
I think, I don't know. Do you have questions uh queued up Kate for, for Phil about
the AG buildings? Ok, great, thanks. Great. Um I'm sorry, Phil, that I missed
last week. And I, um, so I know it's annoying to have somebody jump in halfway through.
Um, but over, over the years, uh, um having worked for the WSU small Farms
program and having been a farmer myself in the county, um, the, this question of
AG buildings has, has continually been a challenge and I, I know for D CD it, it
has been as well, but, um, that I'm a little concerned about the, the definition.
Um I'm sorry, let me get, get it opened up here, um, of the egg building just being
really, really limited and limiting. Um, and, you know, I think just that
under that a shall not contain plumbing unless necessary to maintain livestock. Um,
I, it seems like an outdated kind of definition of agriculture. I think agriculture
has changed a lot in the county here. We have a lot of things like horticultural
crops and seed crops and, um, uh, I would just love to, to be sure that we're not
overly kind of boxing in uh uh too limited a definition when, um,
when I think that that egg has, has, has changed considerably, I mean, I think the
most obvious one and this has come up, um, and needed to be interpreted as um uh
greenhouses, you know, simple kind of metal hoop structures typically don't have
heat, do have water, do not, are not used for livestock, um but are very, very common
and pretty low risk. So just curious, like, I mean, that, that's one example of a
type of agricultural building that I think would not work under this new definition
and would love to, to talk more about that. Sure. Absolutely. Thank you commissioners.
So, one thing to, to note on this is that the only thing that has changed on the
A, a definition is adding the definition that is already been adopted by W A in the
International Building C. Um It's one that we've been using for, you know, years.
It just never has been formally formally adopted into the code um, you know, a few
things that, that have come to light from the public. Uh, the clause about the plumbing,
the clause about the uh, uh, heating that did not change, that's been there for,
uh uh as long as collective memory is, uh I'm not sure when that got established.
Um What this was is this was defining that an agriculture building cannot be a, a
store, a, a place of habitation. You can't live in an agriculture building. Um You
know, they're exempt from permit. If you do want to convert it to a living space,
it's possible but it requires a permit. Um These are all uses that are defined in
the international building code. Um greenhouses, the majority of greenhouses are
gonna fall under the 200 square foot of exemption anyway, which gives you uh 10 by
20 greenhouse, which is a pretty decently sized greenhouse for, you know, private
use. You know, if we go into an agricultural, the commercial agricultural use, um
then they would be exempt from permit. One of the things to note on this as well.
Is that uh it's Yeah. Yeah. What's that? Why, why would a large commercial greenhouse
be exempt? Most commercial greenhouses are larger than to and they are exempt from
a permit because, because they're an agricultural building. Now, if it is a processing
facility now that does change because, you know, if it's used as a factory for, let's
say, then you would need to get to get a building permit for that, um, for that use.
If you're going to have workers inside and you're going to actually produce a product
beyond, you know, cleaning vegetables, cleaning field crops, things like that. If
you're actually gonna produce some sort of product, make candles, that kind of a
thing. It doesn't, it no longer works as an agricultural exemption. Greenhouses aren't
listed as one of the agricultural. I, I thought I came away from our, our discussion
last week thinking that they were covered, but I look back at the definition after
talking to Kate and, and hearing comments and I don't see greenhouses listed. Correct.
So, greenhouses, the, the majority of greenhouses that have just used for growing,
then that would be the, the definition of an agriculture and that would be exempt
even if they have plumbing, which is used for, you know, irrigation or washing vegetables.
Correct. So I'm sorry. Correct. So, the plumbing clause basically, the way that it
works is if you talk to uh environmental health, uh the way that it works is plumbing,
they define as anything that adds septic capacity. So for example, a hose bib or
a uh a yard hydrant doesn't add to septic capacity. So they don't view it as internal
plumbing and that's the same thing that we're striving to go through here. Yes, it
does reference animals. That is probably an antiquated clause that as I said has
been in this code uh for quite a long time, it is not something that I removed. I
did not alter that portion of it. Mhm.
Thanks. So, even though greenhouses aren't explicitly referenced, they are considered
as agricultural buildings, correct?
Which I mean, it does get to a building or structure designed constructed and used
exclusively for horticultural products like that. It does meet that. But, um, I think
that, that plumbing distinction is important. It makes sense to me that, you know,
yeah, it's the outflow really that, you know, if there's sanitary waste that needs
to be processed. Yeah. Yeah, I, I just, I wish that the language were a little more
clear. I, I always hate to adopt something knowingly that we know can cause confusion
and yet to clarify can be so uh challenging and, and miss the mark on, you know,
that one obscure type of agriculture that's present. And um
have we already addressed this? I mean that the clause unless necessary to maintain
li livestock, couldn't it be unless necessary for agricultural
activities
that would include livestock, wouldn't it? I mean, I, I just thought we're, that's
getting into wordsmithing, but it feels more inclusive of other uses than livestock,
right? Or shall not include wastewater or should not necessitate the need for
wastewater treatment or um
I mean, I get, I know I, you know, right to farm uh code goes way back
and I, you know, this, this is a, you know, like the, um, exempt wells still have
an exemption based on, uh, on raising livestock. And, you know, I know that it's
a, this is a, a remnant and an important remnants. You know, they're like, in order
to be able to safely help, uh, farm animals, bird, you need to be able to wash your
hands with hot water. Like I get it. II, I totally understand the meaning of the,
or the reason this exists as it is. But it, it just can't we make things better.
Yeah, exactly. Like, I mean, we're seven really smart people in the room right now.
It feels like we can make a couple of things better.
Well, I guess to that point, I mean, we had suggestions for how to change the definition
of agricultural building in the test, the written testimony. And can you talk a little
bit about the risk reward of using the state definition compared to using a non our
own definition or modifying it?
Um My understanding is that we can do, we can come up with our own definition for
it. Um um You know, the one that we have is already protected in a code um If we
go with the state definition, um however, should we choose to amend it? Um Yeah,
I, you would have to check with the uh our legal team to make sure that if we expose
ourselves to any liability there. But I believe that it would be relatively minimal
from my perspective.
And I still read it as it does not include greenhouses because it's used exclusively
to store blah, blah, blah, horticultural products. And certainly you are not storing
products in the greenhouse, you're cultivating them.
Um And can we also, I want, I would like to stay on the AG building. But the the
clause, the other thing that was added was the building official is exclusive dis
discretion to determine whether a building or structure qualifies as an agricultural
building. And II I tried to explain to Commissioner Dean about kind of the rationale
behind that. But can you, can you explain that for our benefit again? Phil Oh, absolutely.
So the building official in most cases has the discretion to decide whether a building
qualifies for uh a permit or requires a permit or not. Um It is a type one decision
um or type one permitting process. So the appeals process, you know, I I spoke with
legal a little bit about this to talk about, you know, creating a Board of Appeals
or, you know, what the, the recommendation could be going forward on something like
that. We've never had a decision challenged at this point. So we have not set up
a board of appeals. That is one option. Another option is delegating it possibly
to the uh hearing examiner. There is a fee involved with that. Um And the, the last
option would be uh you know, if there was a decision that was disagreed upon, then
it can, uh, it can go to, to court, we can let the judicial system decide.
Hm hm. Ok. Other questions about ag building.
Uh, it just feels like we can fix the livestock stock. I mean, iiw, what, what's
the, uh, the urgency of time? Phil if we take it upon ourselves to, uh, get our hands
dirty in this, uh, could we take another week to Wordsmith? The, the definition that's
fine. We, we can also um the, the, the things that I was were most dire with this
um with this ordinance that I was trying to get through uh was the adoption of the
building code which now is not necessarily as much of an issue extended to, to March.
Uh That was originally my, my time frame to try to get this in by the end of October.
Um If we could proceed with uh looking at some of the other language that was in
chapter two about uh the creation of a um I'm sorry, some of it in, in uh
title two, some of it in title 15 about the, the fire marshal and the adoption of
the commercial inspection program because I am trying to get that uh fee schedule
and everything done by the end of the year. Gotcha. Ok. Well, the more time I have
for that, that we can if we hit pause on the agriculture stuff. Um and you know,
and the rest of the building code a option, um, which, I don't know that that's really
been challenged. It seems like this, uh, agriculture was not something that I really,
uh, foresaw being a sticking point on this one. Mhm. I mean, I know the changes are
minor and they seem to me like, they're just trying to facilitate implementation
of the current practice is what, how I interpret them. But I do, I mean, I, I really
don't see a greenhouse in there and I think it should be. So, did you see Josh Peter
has his hand up? Oh, yeah, let's bring Josh over. Ok. He's surfing.
Hi. Thank you. Thank you. So good afternoon commissioners. Um, just listening on
the conversation and I did have a conversation today with um our prosecuting attorney's
office staff and I guess just to step back, I think you've already talked about this.
But our, our main
objective in bringing up the title 15 sections that talk about are, are the exemptions
to building permits, especially with respect to agricultural buildings. It's just
to try to actually solve long standing sort of confusion around what is, what is
and what isn't an building like we've had a brochure. And despite that, we still
end up getting into um sort of debates, I guess you could say with folks about that.
And so we were looking for clarity and we thought that connecting with since we're
about to adopt a new set of building codes. Are we gonna go into effect next year?
But we're going to put in place that, uh, that provision, our own code. We thought
it was an opportunity to, to get closer to, if not identical with state definitions.
Maybe what, what Phil and I can do this this week, um, together with the prosecuting
attorney's offices, just go back to those definitions. You know, maybe there's confusion,
maybe we're picking the wrong one. I mean, I'm looking at one and, and the RCW right
now seems pretty, pretty straightforward. I didn't even mention the, the water piece,
but Phil might educate me on why there's that reference or I know we, we've mentioned
environmental health and how they look at water. But um, maybe we can come back to
you just see if we can get some clarity, might, might punches or, or what my gut
tells me is that we, we'd like to align with, with the definition rather than making
one up ourselves, even if it's, uh, even if it's a little bit better or what have
you only because that then we're just sort of drifting away from the standard that
we're trying to set. Now, maybe we could clarify through the information that we
provide in a reformed um pamphlet that would talk about the issues that you want
to talk about like greenhouses or whether it's OK to have spigots versus um some
other kind of plumbing that would then make a trigger that, that brings the health
code into play. So that's my thought about that. I also want to just have a quick
thought just to um expand on what Phil was saying about our appeals process. So there
is an optional appeals process presented in, in one of the appendices of the, the
building code that we're, that we're gonna adopt like the state um or the state's
direction. However, I think that's really for more perhaps larger jurisdictions with
different, with different um processes as bills, men never really had an issue around
appeals around a determination by the building official. Um That language that we
introduced in there, we went over that with the prosecuting attorney's office. It's
pretty typical code expression according to our attorney friends. Um But if for some
reason, there's, you know, the idea of this exclusive discretion, if that's a phrase
that um isn't working for you, then I think we could find another one just to build,
you know, determination or something like that. But the, I guess the practical reality
is that the building code, uh the building official makes judgment calls all the
time and it's a discretion and the prerogative and that's why we hire, that's why
we have a building officials to make those kinds of calls for the code. Um the administrator
of the, of title 15, just like the development code administrators for title 18.
I guess I would say that is sort of the way it is. It's not that we don't listen
to other people's perspectives, but at some point, we have to make a decision. And
so we were getting to these debates about buildings and we were finding that it wasn't
a fruitful use of time. And so that's why we, we talked about that clause to make
it clear that it's going to be the building officials call. Now someone could always
take us to superior court. That's what happens with type one building permit decision.
So for example, we issue a building permit, that's a type one decision. The, the
remedy for someone who's agreed by that is to file a superior court action. We, we
reserve the administrative repeals function to go to the hearings for type two permits
and above. And so that's just the way it is in the development code right now. And
so we'd like to, it would be nice to keep it that way and it feels like to make a
whole new appeals process just for a sort of a pre building permit determination
would be, would be a big change for us. And I'm not sure what that would invite.
So that's my only caution about changing that process or adopting a board of a complicated
court of appeals. Thanks. Thanks, Josh. That's very clarifying. Um And I, I mean,
I agree, I understand exactly because I think I might have had one of these arguments
in the past uh about uh ag building. So I'm OK with that language but delaying this
until we can kind of refine that. And what do you guys think about that on the that?
So are we saying, keep this language that we're looking at? Josh offered to come
back with a new definition. But no, he did actually recommend an option, but he did
recommend it's safer to you to the state, right? And then just adopt our other materials.
Yeah, that, I mean, me too. But I, I do, I mean, I just, I don't know, like,
and I know that this has come up and I, I don't want to use, I'm not gonna point
out any specific properties, but this has been a challenge specifically with greenhouses.
Um, you know, a, a farmer legitimately thinking that a greenhouse was an agricultural
building and, and having, I'm not sure what it resulted in, but, you know, basically
being told they had to go back and get a permit and this was many years ago. Um,
and, you know, it's, it's when it's not, when our code isn't clear, it just leads
to more problems. And so I would much rather have the code be clear and not rely
on interpretation by either the landowner or, or, you know, I think it makes it harder
for the building official too. Um, who, you know, won't be fill forever. And so,
um, you know, how is someone else in the future to understand that, you know, that
agriculture is not, we're not in the 19 thirties anymore. Only livestock. Right.
Yeah. So I guess I'm hearing that we would like to see an alternate definition. Uh,
that is more inclusive of what agriculture looks like today, if possible, you know.
Well, and that could be just tweaking a few words in this definition. I don't know
if, if you lose the value of consistency, if, if we do change a few words. But you
know, even that um storage or design structured and used yet um
and construction used to, I don't know. Yeah, it, it wouldn't, wouldn't be a lot
of words different um And still have uh some consistency, but I don't know if that's
valuable.
Are you guys? OK. With the uh the, the, the addition of the excl exclusive discretion
as phrased down below and Josh is putting some language in the checks. Here's the
RCW. Yeah, I just put just an RCW definition which I think is similar to a W A definition
I saw too for agricultural structure but maybe Phil could educate us including especially,
or at least me on the difference between agricultural structure as defined in the
same RCW title that deals with building permits as the definition that we've proposed
specifically for the exemption. I mean, this still doesn't do with greenhouses. I
think that's the same one, same one. It's very similar. Yeah, it's very similar.
Like there's no cultivation. I mean like greenhouses would not be inclusive in this
definition either only for storing right house to house horticultural products. But
that's not growing in the same definition section at that RCW. It has this but I
think there's a specific reason why maybe it
can we uh can you, will you share these uh chats, Josh, can you share with everyone?
So the public, this is part of the public record. OK. All right, Carolyn will catch
up. You don't have to reshare them. Thank you.
So, temporary growing that covered with polyethylene pole is similar and it's used
to provide plants with frost or increased heat retention. Is that all
that, that covers most greenhouses? I mean, there's some that are rigid, there are
some that are glass but probably not big or that big. I mean, but even rigid is,
is probably vinyl, isn't it? Unless it's glass? But yeah, I mean, I could probably
live with that
come, there was a fe a definition on the screen. So would that be something we would
add the temporary structure definition to the definition? I like the FEMA definition.
Actually that's shared right now. What do you guys think about that? Much more inclusive?
Mhm Yeah. Yeah. Agricultural commodities. It doesn't include uh farm implements,
which is a big part of what the ag buildings can be used for. But those are in but
those are in for those purposes in connection with production and harvesting, farm
equipment is in connection. Yeah. Yeah, I like does,
does the F ma def definitions, do those rate? Josh. And the human inhabitation part,
human inhabitation part is, oh, right. What they're, they're really trying to get
at. Yeah. Or, you know, pub public of incident, you know, like the Fin River was
an example, you know, if you have and a farm tour being an exception, but if it's
like designed for the public to be using, there's health and safety
should drink water. I, I totally, I mean, just if you're asking me, I, I totally
understand why looking for a definition elsewhere would be tempting and, and maybe
that's what we end up doing and which is certainly your prerogative. I just go back
to that. We have an RCW in our state in the part that talks about building codes
and it has a definition. And so I, I just would tend to say that sticking closer
to that is, um, would be my preference. But it, you know, if you wanted us to
interpret or somehow put a parenthetical expression that designed to house horticultural
products means a greenhouse that I, I can see us going in that direction. Well, I,
I'm, I'm really, I'm averse to, uh uh I think one's bit about doing this editing
right now. Can we, can we ask that? Maybe we just, uh we table the, the definition
itself and, and let Josh and Phil work with the prosecutor's office. I think you
guys understand the limitations we see in the proposed definition. Mm. And then come
back next week and we can take care. I mean, really, there's nothing that's time
critical since the adoption of the international building code and energy code has
been pushed to mark. Right. I think Phil, I heard you talk about, you know, we're,
we're kind of sort of anxious to get the fire provisions in there, but I think another
week isn't gonna, isn't gonna stop us, stop us from progressing on that. Right. Yeah.
No, I, I can, I can swallow week. That's all right. Ok. So you could just wait for
everything. Um, but we can go, I mean, I don't have any, let's finish our conversations
with the AG and, and continue to liberate about that and any other changes that we'd
like to see and then we'll, um, we can continue to give feedback directly to Phil
and, and Josh in the interim, but I don't have any other feedback then what we just
talked about. Ok, Kate, I can see, she still wants to get it right. Right now. It
just, it's, it's like, so it's an easy fix, but not in real time. Um, ok. Uh,
you know, one of the other things that was brought up and, and II, I see the value
of it is a $3000 you went from $1500 to $3000. And, uh, you know, I think it was
suggested $10,000 which, you know, you can do a lot for $10,000 too, but, you know,
not too much. So, I don't know. Are, are you ho, how do you feel about that? $3000?
Could it go up to $5000 and still kind of be AAA preventative from people going hog
wild or? What do you think? Phil? Well, $3000 is in, I, I could think about $5000
but $3000 is kind of a good cut off because at that point, you're not doing any re
roof activity that would require a permit or you're not doing any H VAC um upgrades
that would require a permit. So it's kind of a good threshold. Um You know, there's,
there's a lot of things that I don't wanna, I don't wanna jump the gun and allow
uh too many things to go on without uh things that we have established processes
and permits for. So I don't want to have the uh the threshold too terribly high.
So that's why I, you know, previously it was the 1500. So I thought 3000 was, was
relatively generous in doubling what was existing. So,
yeah, I just, I mean, there's like what our code is and then what people actually
come in to permit, right to. So you want to find that sweet spot where uh you know,
I don't know, Um,
I know, I mean, how much does an H VAC, I mean, an H VAC system is a lot more than
$5000
typically. I mean, it depends on what you're doing. But yeah, you can, you, you can,
they can start at around 5004 to $5000 if you're doing the work yourself. If you
just buy one of these units online, the do it yourself, kits, uh, you can get them
for, for some $5000. What do you guys think about the $3000 threshold staff has suggested?
I feel like I can't do anything for $3000. I can't get groceries for $3000 in a year
and it is in a 12 month period.
Um It feels low to me but it, but there, but I get the rationale that if there are
activities that we would desire to have above the veil in terms of awareness and
permitting, then if they can cost less than $5000 then that's
not where we want to be. You can swallow five K
Phil. I'm sorry, say again, could you, could you accept $5000 as that threshold?
I mean, or we can strike and go back to 1500. I'm fine with that too.
We still want to make you too busy. I can't even buy duct tape for that anymore.
What's interesting is nobody commented on the 1500 that's been in our code for a
long time and now 3000 is a problem. I know. But I think the problem is that it seems
arbitrary and, you know, I, I get the, the desire to have a, a delineation, um,
of what, what is minor, minor is that, that's what we're trying to do. Exactly. Yeah.
And that's, that's just really tricky.
Sorry, what we're thinking, I
guess we're gonna come back. We don't have to make this decision now. But I, I mean,
I'm fine with it with three. Yeah. Or is it like that? No one? No, I mean, there's
just loopholes all around this and we know that people will drive a truck through
any loophole. Um,
but you know who like are we actually gonna get receipts from a 12 month period?
Like probably not. And so go ahead, Phil, sorry. And
just for reference, there are other jurisdictions that do these uh uh in different
ways. So, one of the ways that like clowns is still set at $1500 which I believe
this is where I'm not sure which came first. The chicken egg is us or clown that
had this $1500 limit. Um That is uh in addition to the, to the
I BC. So this is something in addition to the international building code that allows
a little bit more flexibility in these type of projects. And so $1500 is still where
clown is sitting. Now, other jurisdictions do it in different ways, like for example,
Kitsap County um will exempt um specific types of construction like uh re roofing
projects that are less than 2500 square feet. So there's different ways to come across
this. Um Each jurisdiction does it kind of on, you know, how they're managing on
scale, I believe is where they come up with a lot of these thresholds and things.
Um If the desire of, of, of the commissioners is to go to a higher dollar figure,
then if that's where we want to go with it, that's ok. I definitely wouldn't want
to go to incrementally higher than where we are. Um But we, we could discuss a higher
threshold if that's, if that is one of the asks.
Thank you. I'm not super concerned about it just because I think this is impossible
to enforce anyway, which then makes me question but I get what you're saying, Phil,
you know, trying to have a avenue to, to provide an exemption. Um and allow for that
the, you know, the handy work that we all have to do. Mhm. Yeah.
So it could, I don't have a strong feeling about it. I don't have a strong feeling
either. I mean, I think people do projects in excess of that and don't even think
that I should permit this, you know, not trying to be oblivious to or ignore it,
just oblivious. I know they do. I don't think so. I mean, do we want to write size
to what people actually do and what is practicable? And that's, I guess, I think
that's the intention you're hearing from, from us while acknowledging that, you know,
probably even at the five K there could be people that are going to take advantage
of it and, you know, and put a mini split in where they set their house on fire or
something. And that's so, I understand exactly what this is to prevent.
Um ok. Uh Anything else people want to bring up before we kind of choose a course
of action, which sounds like it's gonna be at least partially mitigated today. It
sounds like we're looking for a new definition of agricultural, right? We've already
said that. But like commercial fire safety inspection program. Any issues with this?
The section five? No. Hm. No clear sailing Phil
because we got hung up on greenhouses and barns. Yeah, we're all tired. We all know
something about.
Yeah. Ok. So no issues with that. So we could um we have a resolution for all this
though, don't we? So it's probably easiest to just bring back. I think Josh said
it would be ok to wait a week for the fire stuff. So we could just re re re jigger
the resolution to encompass all the changes.
Um And does anyone have any problem with the adoption by reference of the billing
code and energy code? No, no, no, that that's a big move though, isn't it? It's a
big move. We'll see if it even happens in March when it happens, big, big changes
that the code
we have to do it. I know it's not like we're not by them.
Right. It's just funny that we're ii, I should also note that I'm, uh, I miss and
the first day of the, uh, Washington State Fire Marshal Conference and, um,
nobody's holding their breath that the uh market date is gonna hold. So, I mean,
so we might be, I mean, at a certain point that it would just kick to the 24 code,
which would come the following year. Right. Correct. So that's what there's like
I said, there's no holding the breath that this is actually gonna go through in uh
in March. So, but that case in point I think is even more important that, that way
we have the most accurate code references that we can if we adopt by, uh if we uh
adopt by W AC. Ok.
Ok. Any other questions? No, no other questions concerns. Thanks for your work. Phil.
We really do appreciate it. My concern is that Phil isn't getting enough props. Um
We had a great time on the radio on Friday. He was excellent. He was gonna be my
anytime I got a, I got an opening in a couple of weeks. Phil, I might call you again.
It was a lot of fun. You count me in. I'm ready. All right.
Well, he has good, good fodder to go complain to the other fire marshals about commissioners.
Now it made me go on the radio. Mhm. No, I, I definitely don't
mind. Heidi, you and I were gonna go on at one point, uh, Kim Stren Hower and they
had the, uh, the concerts at Fort Warden. So we had to leave because of the.
Yeah. Hm.
Well, so I guess maybe we are not going to take action on this, but we would,
uh, so we would keep the hearing open until no, we've closed the hearing. Oh, yeah.
Right. Yeah. So we just would ask for a new resolution to consider new ordinance.
Excuse me,
an ordinance. Yes.
Ok. So, does that, does that sound right? Phil. The two? Fantastic. I, I understand.
I have my homework and Josh and I will get together and we'll come back to you with
some of the definitions. Ok. So, yeah, just to reiterate. Go ahead. So it's the definition
of a building and the dollar threshold or, and the dollar threshold. Three on 5000.
Yep. I mean, well, I think we're interested in 5000. See if you can get around that.
Phil. But I think that doesn't seem like a hill, any of us are really willing to
die on. So, if 3000 seems important to you for life and safety, bring it back and
we'll, we'll consider that. Ok. Ok. That's it. All right, the definition in that.
All righty Kate. No, I'm good. Ok. I keep saying yes, I'm good. All right, great.
Well, thanks. You've got, I'm sure you're probably missing something fun right now.
No, it's, uh, it's just a break, but we're gonna go back in here in a little bit.
So, yeah, they're not over exceeding the, the fire safety for rooms or anything,
are they? No, and I've never seen more folks walk around and check all of the uh
exit signs and the, the, the fire extinguishers and, you know, it's a, it's all getting
a, a free inspection several times a day. Imagine the facility the week before the
building officials and fire inspector conference comes to their building. It's like,
oh my God. Yeah, the, the, the parking lot is quite impressive. There's a lot of
fire vehicles here. Ok, nice. Well, thanks for taking time out to return and, and
Josh for your work on it as well. So we'll, we'll let you go and we'll see you next
week to wrap this up.
All right. Thank you kindly. Excellent. Thank you very much. Ok. So the hearing is
closed and we will uh consider a new ordinance next week with the modifications we've
discussed and we will return to our previous conversation and we do, we're gonna
have to take at least a break at 330 for some hard, uh uh,
some hard schedules. Uh, so take it away Uh Brett, where were we? So we just finished
our discussion regarding the chip scoring criteria and now um the description of
the projects that are awarded in some of the critical milestones. And I think this
really uh addresses uh um what uh the scope of the project is that it delivers to
affordable housing like 25% are affordable. Um uh 25% of the units are affordable
at 80% or less of the area median income ami and that it connects water, sewer, storm
water or uh rights of way is another important component. Um Also, I would point
out that the waiver of system development charges uh is something that the county
is working on. Um And that uh the maximum award is 2 million which is really uh given
the fact that there's no match required that's quite significant. Uh Construction
must start by December 25th and the applicant could be a city county or public utility
and uh the applications are due at the end of this month. Ok. Brent, is that construction
of housing or construction of the infrastructure? I think it could be either although
I didn't ask that question specifically. I I was I sense that it, it could be either
as long as the infrastructure is related to that housing. So, ok. And then um I
wanted to welcome uh Mr Moore from Bayside Housing and uh and uh welcome back
and uh uh we are um we've had some discussions about uh whether or not uh the old
alcohol plant uh will meet uh the criteria for considerations. And, and I did speak
with the growth management uh division this um midday uh to get some clarity and
I did get some clarity. And um and so, uh we didn't really talk about so much as
cost, but we did talk about readiness. And so if we move on to the next slide, I
wanted to point out that we did address some of the other issues that uh readiness
construction start by 2025 the eligible expenses. Um and I did talk with um uh
Bayside this morning because I wanted to make sure that they're aware, we can still
put in an application if they are gonna have an eligible expenses incurred by June
30th of 2027 because the, the state at this point does think that it will be re uh
appropriated in the uh the next biennium. And so, uh can I just clarify on that?
Is that the first expenses need to be incurred or all the expenses need to be incurred
by 30 2027? I um
yeah, I would be reimbursed. Yeah,
yeah, because it would fall in that biennium. And so, yeah, that would make sense,
but I didn't ask that specific question. I always um uh but I, I would assume that
to be correct. Um And that, um I wrote the cost of 5 million. It's actually in um
a technical memorandum uh that was established, created. Um It had identified it
was 4.6 a little less than 5 million, but this was done um in 2022. And so um with
the price escalation, um I'm sure it is at that point by this point. And then um
I did uh wanted to, I mentioned earlier thank you for clarifying that the transportation
stops. And so it's a six minute walk based upon those two stops you see on the map
there, um There is a question about um the frequency and if that is the high frequency
that they would allow next slide, OK. Before we go into this slide, I, I just wanted
to um be before let's go back to the first one since we have an applicant here um
where we are right now uh resting is that um the direction of the board of the
last meeting remains unchanged that uh we will go ahead and open up the application
um for uh Bayside. Um And um and there are some questions that um
will necessarily be addressed in that application. And it's my thinking that in the
event that we're not ready if we are not uh successful this round, I I see us being
um ready in the next round. So II I just think of us as being in the hopper uh for
funding as opposed to this project. Oh, yes. And we did talk about. So this is the
change in, uh, that's being requested because of the conversations I've had with
the, um, the Bayside housing, which owns both the, um, Hadlock Motel and also,
um, is managing the, uh, old alcohol plan a little bit. Yes.
And so, and so based upon our discussion and I just wanted to explain that to those
members of the public that may not have read the agenda request that um we are uh
looking at uh the, the Port Hadlock Motel doesn't have significant infrastructure
needs. So it's not really getting a lot of bang for the buck. And so what we were
looking at is, well, what would serve the community the best and the old alcohol
plant uh um There were um original uh renderings and designs that uh uh if they could
be uh brushed off and used and they were created by uh of all people. It looks like
it was originally worked on by uh Maona Planning uh which was uh the city of Port
Townsend's Planning Director at one point. Um And so, um so if there's a way that
um uh these plans can be um re uh utilized just like the sewer project, it took 20
years to get here. And so we're going back to revisit this. And um I, I would um
uh I think that the applicant is amenable to this and if it's the board pleasure
like they can uh address you at this juncture. It might be a good opportunity. Oh,
sure, Mike, you want, you can come up and take jump on the mic if you, if you have
something to add. Yeah, for how long have you been back with uh Bayside? Yeah, thank
you. Thank you. It's good to be back helping people and figuring out solutions to
um you know, just our country's crisis of housing. So thank you
for, you know, providing the, the backing for the grant um and being a county and
being an applicant as well. I don't know if you guys are going after any dollars
on the county level because you are also eligible to be an applicant for this and
not just a sponsor of it. Um But yeah, we're looking at as Brent was saying, uh the
Headlock Motel is pretty good as it is right now and then this grant is for the infrastructure
of new housing. Um So we currently are limited at the capacity at this point because
we're still working on the rehabilitation and the the transfer over of that project.
So we'd be looking at the old alcohol plant in the facility down there. And as Brent
said, there's some renderings of additions that would happen. So it'd be new housing
being built there and then that sewer project coming down. I know in the preliminary
renderings of the sewer project, it was 1.5 or 2.0 there was a sewer line that was
running down that way. Um So working with the county to figure out how that can be
feasible, uh The 5 million to bring it down there is obviously a fairly expensive
cost to bring the sewer line into it. Um And with the cap being at 2 million, that
is a fair chunk of it, but also exploring options of where that other 3 million could
possibly come from. So looking at other infrastructure grants and um so the 5 million
cost was is just to connect to the port ack. Yeah, that's all it is. How much is
the projects we are still undergoing that? Uh Given the scope if we're looking at,
you know, somewhere between 60 I don't know, 100 150 units being built uh depending
on the capacity of the land that's down there.
Ballpark, figure for that with today's cost probably around 20 million, probably
a little bit more depending on the infrastructure that would have to be placed in
for structural allowances and underground parking or something of that. We haven't
really jumped into those quite yet as we have a couple other projects that are on
our front burners. Um But yeah, given the time frame of it 2027
and like the construction start date 2025 that gives us two years out to do some
more planning and do some more research on it. And look for additional funding for
it if we could do it in a way that was segmented where we can build up and do it
chunk wise or uh stage wise where we can build one unit and then the next unit and
those units comprise of whatever 3030 housing places. Uh We'd be looking at currently,
our thought process for it is looking at um more seniors, affordable housing for
seniors in our community. Realizing that Jefferson County is one of the oldest or
is the oldest county uh in our state. And then also um is the most expensive to
live in as the reports just came out. Um So trying to help relieve some of the pressure
for the populace that is living here. When you say seniors, you're talking a particular
Ami or uh yeah, a lot of our grants that we go after and look for even the the Chip
grant, if you're, I think it was the chip grant that I was, it's 80% or below AMI
and then you're uh I think it's 25% needs to be with within that range of the population.
Uh Typically a lot of our projects are above and beyond that. Um A lot of the grants
that we go after anyway, are usually, um I mean, we're usually 30% below AMI for
most of the grant work that we're working on right now for the residents that we'd
be placing into it. So this would give us a little bit broader of a scope. So looking
at other, other options and other populaces as, um, we dig a little bit further into
evidence based research and evidence based practices to see what our community and
our county needs. Ok, thanks. I mean, this is always imagined to be the next extension
of the sewer, right? Phase. I've heard it called Phase One A, you know, it's, um
so yeah, it's a logical next step. Ok. And there's also a lot of houses down that
way. So I mean, if, if it comes up again and 2026 I guess it would be
um 2025 ish. Um So looking at, I mean, it's, it's just a
little bit of a stimulant with chipping new housing. Uh So I don't know what new
houses are down there, but I know that there is some development that's happening
on the south side of um Oak Oak Bay Road. There is something going on there, but
I don't know what it is. But if it was affordable housing, I mean, maybe there could
be something along the county level to bring that, that further down the road
so we could work together to bring more housing. Thanks Mike.
And one of the things I would point out that um Mike, uh Mr Moore mentioned was that
um if they're doing like section 2021 of the uh aspects of that is 80% of those are
supposed to be uh affordable. So you can have 20% of the units available to those
community members that are aging out of place in their homes in that area. And so
that would be an encouragement for those residents that are abutters to support the
project. So I just wanted to point that out to anyone listening to the board. So
I'm gonna move on to the next project and that was um the um uh the emergency shelter.
And I had identified cost as uh an not an issue but that the ability of the project
to um really rank higher compared to others depends upon how much it's
the cost per unit. Um But I think that we can be creative because we're getting a
lot of bang for the buck through um some of the surge capacity and through some of
the continuum of care provi provided through this project. So I think that um if
that's put into the application, it can't be ignored. Um Another aspect we can move
on to the next page um high compared to other applications, low cost, I don't understand.
Oh, so that is going back to our um chip scoring. OK. And, and right.
So, so it's, so what we're looking at is a lower score. If it's a high cost compared
to other uh um applications, it's a higher score. If it's a low cost compared to
other applications then. Um now what are some of the other questions? And so one
of them is the extension of infrastructure outside of Ugas. Uh And so we do have
one alternative approach um that I would recommend we investigate. Um And that is
the SB 5593 the UG A swap. Um I chose this one. And in the
report, I did indicate that the concern I originally had is the uh um what we call
the critical aquifer recharge area which shows up on the screen as Kara. Um And so,
but it isn't one of those critical aquifer recharge areas, it's just susceptible.
So it's not one of those that I did. I identify that in the agenda request that would
have a prohibition. So the question is um uh as indicated there, the bullet below
housing not in the list of high impact activity. So that's a good thing. Then the
other question is um really, it's gonna really to a large extent, depend on the willingness
of our partner of the city on this. Uh Because the UG A swap is something that, that
would, they would initiate that it's a swap of their um jurisdictional
boundaries. And so, um now they may have some
prohibitions um in the comprehensive plan for the city that I don't know yet. And
so this is the area of next exploration. Um I think it's important that we look at
this because if, in fact, the rec complete grant is successful. We'll be making many
steps in that direction anyway. Um, I mean, the planning grant is, is the, the point
of it is to explore that, uh, and there's a couple of ways of expanding the urban
growth area. It doesn't have to be a swamp, I think. But yes, I think they are willing
to have a conversation. I'd love to have, participate with you in that. Very good,
very good. I, I think that just based on my conversations with the um the growth
management, we should do this as soon as possible. OK. Just um they seem to suggest
that um some concern about its location outside of the, of the official boundary.
Um And so I'd like to be able to just have an alternative if that becomes the one
stumbling block that we find.
And then um other options are uh I and I, and I was concerned, you know, about, you
know, if the county were to go ahead with uh uh a broader uh expansion of the urban
growth area to include Glen Cove that, that the timeline for that is too far out
for us, really to consider that for this job, this grant application. So I was trying
to find something that would be a stop gap, faster pathway. And so that's why I looked
at this uh uh the SB 5593
and that concludes my presentation. So uh your recommendation is to pursue both of
these. I say yes, keep going. I, I have opened up the grant application. Um A cap
is working on theirs. Um and I will open up an application um for a sub recipient
which would be uh Bayside housing tomorrow if the board so chooses. Yeah, Kate did
have to go to her prescheduled meeting miss the conversation. Now we can just decide
I'm gonna have to, we got this. Um, I mean, well, we've been in a lot of conversations
about these projects and I appreciate the further research and, you know, uh every
day brings new information to the table. So I can't imagine this is the end of that
journey we're on together, but both important projects. Absolutely. Finding a way
to get a sewer down the old alcohol plant in the area around there. Sounds really
exciting. What's the, I mean, $2 million wouldn't cover it? Right. So, what's, what
would be, what other funding sources are you thinking about to help us pay for that
infrastructure? You know, outside? I mean, it's really, it would kind of be that
on us. Right. Well, I, I always typically look at what are, what's coming up in terms
of a large resources. Uh And one of the large resources that I do see, there's a
fe a grant, I don't know what the fire capacity or fire service needs are down there,
but it would be good to have a conversation. With Chief Black. That might be an opportunity.
There are others, I just uh identify those that, that are immediately uh available.
I mean, talking with public works. I know they've talked about if there is enough
money in the sewer budget, that's why this was always called phase one A right. Um
So checking in with Bob and Sam again. Yes. And, and if, if it so pleases the board,
I, I would like to have a follow up meeting like we had last time and, and I know
Commissioner Eisenhower, this is your district. If it's the board's pleasure, uh
I could extend that invite to you again. Yeah, we are seeing some escalation in the
cost of this project change orders and the like, um we were, you know, initial bids
came in low, but, you know, when they found the concrete, you know, in the drainage
field, that was a cost and we'll continue to see those change orders. So, yeah, that's
why it's, if money allows always has been the phrase, right? But if we successfully
build the plant then follow on funding could be easy to obtain. Great. Well,
it says potential action, but really you don't need any action from us except, you
know. Yeah, these adjustments look reasonable to carry on submit and very good.
We, we'll do that. Thank you. Thank you. Great. All right. Thanks a lot, Brent. Thank
you gentlemen for showing up. Hope, fingers crossed. We will get that sewer down
to the water would be good. Yeah. Short line and all. All right. Well, I believe
that takes us to the end of our agenda. Um, I think Kate's gone for the foreseeable
future half hour or so. I can, I've got another meeting at 330 as well. So, anything,
yeah. Anything for the good of the order. Motion to adjourn. All right. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. No motion needed. I'll do it. We're adjourned. We'll, we'll see everyone next
week. Have a great evening.