Director freak. Head of
you just finish that for us.
Mm.
They are all sufficiently sympathetic.
Hm.
Director for Ecology.
I'm sure we sound more intelligent than that in real time. I'm sure.
All right. Are we ready to go? Mark? Can have this?
Mm.
Oh, I guess that's, we're all screwed up with our microphones. Are you? Ok.
This one
just make sure Heidi has something. That one. Yeah, I got the,
I guess it's great to have that one. And what happened?
Uh Board of Health, I think it all around.
All right, everyone ready. Ok. Get this little closer.
Good morning, everyone. I'll call this meeting with the Jefferson County Board of
Commissioners to order. Um, let's see any, um, announcements before we dive in. Well,
I just noticed, um, in reading my emails, that Department of Ecology called the statewide
drought last week and I, I mean, I heard it on the media but I just think that that's
put a pin in that, you know, for the coming months. And then also I heard this morning
that John Brewer died on Friday in a fishing accident and he was a big player on
the peninsula. For many decades and I just thought, thought of him fondly because
I had a few really good interactions with him over the course of my tenure at the
land trust and with other entities on the peninsula. So I just wanted to call that
out too and. Yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah, I wonder, um, maybe, I don't know, I IC G meeting would be a good place to
talk about the drought and just start thinking about planning for contingencies on
that. Yeah.
Um We are gonna add an executive session at the end of the day after our 230 discussion
with Mr Hucker, but we'll announce that um at that time. Ok.
Let's dive in, start with public comments. We don't have anybody here in the room
with us. So if anyone in the zoom room would like to provide public comment, please
hit raise hand. You'll need to accept the promotion to the panelists when prompted
to do so, then you'll have up to three minutes to speak on any issue. Well, please
raise your hand. If you'd like to provide public comment,
we're gonna have none today a couple. Oh, good. Yes.
Uh Go ahead MS Yarnell and be followed by Mister Tisch.
Thank you, MS Yel, Mr T. Right.
Brighten.
Ok.
Thank you, Mister.
Who else would like to provide public comment today?
Is it resend
last call?
All right. Um Let's go ahead and respond and I'll provide another opportunity again.
Before closing public comments. Anyone help? Um Sure I'll go, I'll go first. Thank
you, Mr Yel Mr Tier for the comments. Um I, I think we're all at the connectivity
fair and I didn't, I missed the housing talks, but I've worked a lot with, with all
these organizations and we've at various times had almost all of them on the board
at the housing fund board when it was called something else, the job at that point.
And um you know, the, as a county, we are challenged in a lot of the solutions for
workforce housing and affordable housing. And we are are definitely doing what we
can. I think it's um I would say it is the highest priority um as we as we move through
and, and look for other funding opportunities. Part of our legis legislative goals
too is to unlock more ways that we can support those rungs of the housing continuum
that are more challenging for the public sector to address. But I'm with you and
uh Mr Tisch, I appreciate uh the continued input on the, the EV chargers, you know,
the first step is you need to be most careful as you make that, you know, measure
twice, cut, once kind of thing. And I think it's better. I mean, I just as your,
you know, early termination, we don't have a lot of options to uh terminate it early,
you know, as long as they keep maintaining the contract uh, I think we'll just have
to, yeah, use them basically and make sure that, that the, uh, that they stay, keep
that 90% you know, up rate that they have contracted with washed out. And, um, yeah,
it's a challenge and, you know, I think at this point I'm ready to move forward,
you know, despite it not being perfect because I think we are, you know, being the
enemy of the good if we keep going, I don't think we're gonna get too much more out
of them. So, um I appreciate the, the uh subject matter expertise from the public
that it's always really helpful and uh we'll talk about climate goals more. Um II,
I take your point there's goals and not a lot of actionable items in there, but um,
curious, I don't know if Kate has any specifics to add. Well, we will be talking
about actions to help get us towards that. The goals today. Great part of the discussion.
That's what I got um on the housing front, as you all know, I'm the, the least
active commissioner on the housing front, but I, I do know that there has been appetite
for some county leadership on kind of the coordinations of housing. And I know we've
talked about the idea of creating a housing office or having a housing staff and
I, I still think that's a good idea, but um, talk about that today too. Yeah. So,
um and then Miss Yarnell mentioned the pool and I think the current
effort on the pool, the task force is, is the pur part of the purpose of that is
to get broader community input into the pool process. And I think the people that
we've appointed to the task force and the geographic diversity they represent will
do just that. So some people are frustrated with another task force, but I for one
feel like it's the right step. Um in this conversation, um in terms of the climate
goals, I did spend some time last night trying to um anticipate or provide ideas
of things that we're currently doing that. I've been working actively on around forestry
that will contribute to the goals that were outlined. So there aren't specific tactics
or um actions in the document, but I think we've got some things that we're doing
right now that will uh contribute to those goals and we'll talk about that later.
Um I think that's the extent I'm grateful that, you know, the team
dug into the contract and made the refinement and as an ev driver, I hope that those
chargers work forever because as I've said before, I'm most often frustrated, not
by the type of charger I confront, but the fact that they don't work. So, yeah. Yeah,
it was, it was interesting timing last week. Um I had a tight turn around trying
to get from um a meeting in Bellingham back home for, I can't remember what meeting
I had here. But, um, I like half hour to charge and I was like, ok, I know exactly
the Chargers. I'm going to in Bellingham Fast Chargers only had 30 minutes, but that
was enough to get me, you know, to, to Coupeville and, um, pulled up EB CS Chargers
spent 15 minutes wrestling with one of the Chargers. There's no indication that it
was out of order would not work. It was EV CS. Yeah, after 15 minutes went to the
one next to it, which did work. Um, but I, I was extremely frustrated and the timing
was a little uncanny. Like, right. This is, this is way too common and you know,
if it just had an error message on it, like it would have saved me all that time.
And so a little bit frustrating. Oh, yeah, there's so many that are out of order.
One that I go to in Olympia all the time is just, they just, it's been taped up for
six months now. Which one is that? Uh, it's by the ORCA building. It's Baskin and
Robbins, the charge 0.1 there no longer functional. Oh, yeah, it's, it's frustrating.
I will say that the plug share. The app does a pretty good job of, um, tracking when
they're down and the comments from users are really helpful, but it shouldn't be
that hard. Was the one that you in Bellingham that you encountered was that on plug,
share is not working. It was not. No. And partly because the one next to it was working.
So, you know, it was functional but um, it was, it was frustrating and ended up barely
having, you know, enough time or charge to, to get home sufficiently. But I told
you my two miles left story, right. You have a higher tolerance for me than I do.
You guys have never run it out? No, we've got to so many times in that leaf sometimes
from just a block away from my house. And then how do you get it started again? Um,
plug it back in and charge it, you know, get it towed home and plug it in. I not
done. Suppose we can do it with a generator but you need a really long cord even
out the irregular, uh, um, that's like a, a little life hack is if you want to pull
a generator up to a dead one, like a 25 ft cord with it. I wonder too if that, you
know, they call the, the range that you're given a guess 0 m. You know, it's a really
estimate based on your previous 50 miles driven or something. So I wonder if they've
gotten better too, but
I don't know. It still, it still seems pretty squishy anyway. Um, so I, um, appreciate
all your help, Mr Tier and I actually volunteered you and I, um, the boat school.
Is also negotiating a contract with EV CS for Charger down at overhead lock, which
is great. And um, uh my father happens to be working on that. And so, yeah, yeah,
he's on the boat school board. So I, uh I said that if they are, you know, struggling
to work through that contract that we'd be happy to help him. Um, I, I am, it, it's
a good point about if, and when, um I, if ev CS were to cease to exist, what would
happen with that infrastructure? And I'm betting that the um funding that they are
getting from the state and Feds outlined the requirements, but I of course, don't
know that for certain. So um that's a good point. Um As for uh C
AC Climate Action Committee, we will be digging further into um ideas for meeting
those goals today, Cindy and I, since Jane and I um did some prep for the meeting
today. So I know that that is part of our discussion. Um And um in terms of housing,
you know, we, we do have a, a structure that housing fund board that and its and
its subcommittees, which we do encourage more folks to get involved with. But currently
that is kind of where that level of coordinations happens among housing partners.
And um it has been refined over previous iteration from a few years ago. Um
But, you know, I think we will continue to figure out how to best use. Um our, our
partners to be strategic. It did meant to tell both Greg and Tom that um I did
complete the two association of county legislative proposals um last week. So those
have both been submitted, draft was helpful. Yes. Yes. Yes. Both the housing one
and um the uh the advisory committee is excellent. Yes. Ok. All
right. Let's uh go back to the Zoom room and see if anyone, if we have inspired any
additional public comments with our brilliant musings. Oh, good, Mr King.
Thanks.
Good morning Gordon. That's one. Good let go. And um,
hm,
oh my God. My overalls took 33 runs through the washer. I was the muddiest.
I've been in 10 years. It was awesome. Yeah. And those were, those were 100 and £50
wheelbarrows and I was impressed with myself that I could move those. So, yeah. Thanks
Gordon.
Mm, I
us.
Mm.
Good to know.
I don't know. And what, and what kind of charging station is it? Gordon?
Ha.
Mhm.
Yeah.
P CS. Yeah. Level two. Ok, great. Is that a free charger, Gordon?
Ok. You like three ones? Maybe a
maybe you have to buy £10 of oysters and you get like a 30 minute charge. Yeah. So
it's a level two, but level two with an 8.8 plug score is pretty good.
So it must, it must be a decent one. And Gor Gordon, I've driven by our, um, Oyster
Co location a few times since last week and I look down there and see the shells
at, at the right tide and I'm just, I, yeah, that was a really great, um, event that
you helped organize and I'm happy to move more oyster shell as needed.
Mhm. I've been down there, I've been down there moving Colt. So, yeah, I'll do it
again. It's been busy. Busy quarter Taylor needs to buy some more of those two wheeled
wheelbarrows and just put your logo on the side.
Yeah, thanks. I am, I am fatally allergic, you know, Gordon, I am fatally allergic
to shellfish. Ok.
Yeah, so I apologize. It is. It is not the best use of my time that I'm on Benadryl
for three days and useless. So,
ok, let us know when you know about the MRC coordinator though. That's a big, big
role. Good luck.
Thank you, Brian. All right. We're just gonna be chatty today apparently props to
Heidi for moving the co Yeah, it was awesome. Last call for public comments.
I should have found a picture. I was so muddy. I slid in the mud. So I hope people
got photos. I don't even know I was having too much fun.
All right, I will close public comments and let's take a look at the consent agenda.
I will say 11 question I have not about consent agenda, but about public comment
is um, you know, more and more, it's uh getting tricky to assume anyone's gender
and we do have a, a protocol generally calling people by Mr and Missus. And I wonder
if that's gonna need to be a thing of the past at some point. Um and just go to first
names, which I like the formality of addressing people by, you know, title, but I
have been challenged and screwed it up more than once. So citizen last name, oh citizens
out, citizens
do not assume citizenship status.
And when people come to make public comment, we should say welcome in. We should
say what? Welcome in. Welcome in. Yeah. Ok. So mostly when you enter a
establishment these days, I feel like most of the younger generations are. That's
how they greet you. Welcome in two words, welcome in. Welcome in
for whoever is chair next year, you'll get to wrestle with this. You can wrestle
with it. Now I am wrestling with it. Um Is there a gender neutral? There just
isn't, I can't think of one person blank for time management. I just was going to
let you know we have a 930 session but we were to float on the gravity budget modules.
I know at least that letter needs to happen before by noon and get signed. So maybe
we can we quickly look at the consent agenda. Of course, I'll call a couple things
out. I just, I really appreciate the work. The public works is doing with the port
for the Gardner Beach road boat ramp. You know, it's kind of seizing an opportunity.
They got an RCO grant to redo the boat ramp. The port did and we've had constant
flooding issues down there. So public works kind of just is, has been working with
them since the beginning to, you know, get both things taken care of. So this will
kind of raise the road a little bit. It will be huge for the, uh, the area down there.
Um Is there a county park? There's no county park, fish and wildlife owns the parking
lot. We have the road that goes through it. That is really like part of the boat
ramp and then the port owns the, just the boat ramp. So it's like three different
municipalities that kind of have to get involved in. They might come back after this
is done and ask for us to pay to defray the cost of the Porta Potty that's down there.
Um Great to move forward on the electric vehicle charging station. Um, of course,
great to see the sewer moving forward and the Schmidt farm with the conservation
futures. All right, just lots of good stuff here. Um And the recompete coalition
support letter, you know, hopefully you guys are ok with that, but the 25th is the
deadline. So we're kind of just getting it in under the, uh, under the deadline.
Really excited to have that wrapped up. In the application. And then of course, always
excited about Deba Bay Natural Area and of course the uh reappointing show low. And
also. Oh, yeah. And that's the, it's not a reappointment. She's new to, um, futures,
isn't she? Well, the letter I think she was there for a partial turn, a letter kind
of indicated that she, she was, she had been appointed and wants to be reappointed,
I think for a little bit.
Um I would just add, you know, uh it's nice to see the words phases two and three
of the court have luck wastewater treatment system on our agenda. And also that uh
for the benefit of the public, there's been confusion with our agenda, seeing things
like phase two and three, we're still working on phase one of the Port Hadlock Wastewater
treatment system. This is just change the language about that. Yeah, the phases we're
gonna do like uh phase A or something, right? But people are still holding on to
it. So this is phase two and three of the phase one part of the project. So um Schmidt
Farm is a really important piece of the Quilcene headwaters to Bay Overall Project
area. And if you look at the map, it's right there at the head of the Bay without
going through it. I don't like number item number seven because we're proclaiming
Eric Johnson leaving day. And Eric has been a really um great leader for me as a
county commissioner as a new county commissioner and I've appreciated his calm, steady
hand on the tiller there at, um, was so that's going to be hard shoes to fill. I
did bring a map of the three parcels um, for the day about Bay Natural area, if anyone's
curious about that, um, but they are all additions to existing already protected
areas and they're kind of up and down the bay from south to north, but they're small
additions to, to DNR in a current nap parcels and then uh WDFW parcel at the south
end of the bay. And yeah, grateful for she to Cheryl for stepping back up for that
conservation futures role. So I quickly that's, that's me being quick on this. Jeez.
Well, he didn't leave me much. It's ok. Um Anyone wanna make motion, please? I'll
move that we uh approve and adopt the consent agenda as presented and
I'll second that any further discussion, all those in favor say I I consent agenda
is approved. Um three minutes most
enthusiastic agenda request we had for this one, so many world class,
which one for the gravity modules? I hope it's, I hope this sounds really heavy.
Although I think Carolyn saying we need to do the 930. No trying to get this done
before 930. Um 0, great. Ok, I stay here here right now. Yes. All right. Um
And just to let Joe know we're running a little bit behind we'll be a little late
on our 930 item, but um welcome to Judy Shepherd and Treasure Stacy Prada. They handed
it off to Mark or I'll take the lead. Ok.
Mhm. Here.
Right. So when I arrived here in 2017, one of the goals I was
given by Mr Morley, the county administrator at the time uh was to improve our presentation
of budget and much like with capital planning, seven years have gone by. And um I
now want to undertake an effort to improve our uh our budget presentation. And um
we did some research and found a number of um software firms that make software that's
specifically designed to help counties and cities prepare uh world class uh budget
presentations. And um Quesa and Gravity were the two that we reviewed and the
review team was our treasurer, Stacy Breda and our finance manager, Judy Shepherd.
And uh we've, we've settled on this one for a number of reasons. Um It, it looks
like the easiest to implement, it's um significantly less expensive than, than the
other product. And um it'll achieve all the objectives that we've set for ourselves.
And principally it's uh to present our, our budget data in a, a visually attractive
way in a very understandable way um using charts and graphs and um
importing photographs and um just telling the story in a, in a very attractive way
and on the screen, you see some examples of the charts that can be made by this,
this software. Um You simply export your budget data out of unis import it into this
and then um there's AAA budget book um building schedule and you just work your way
through it and as you import data, it, it will make um the graphics and you can select
whether you want P charts, line charts, bar charts and whatnot. Um And um you know,
Judy Shepherd, uh she's on the call. Um I, I think now that we've got the auditor's
office fully staffed Judy's got bandwidth to undertake um a project of this size.
And of course, it'll, it'll, it'll also involve, involve our treasure. And so, um
our pitch today is um hopefully to, to gain your approval uh to authorize me to sign
a letter of intent that we can send to gravity. If we do it by the 30th of April,
we get a discount. Um I think 4000 is the, the discount. And uh and
then once that uh letter of intent is done, then we'll work on a, a contract document
to bring to the board and ask for budget during the second quarter of appropriation
cycle. And so, um with that, I'd like to turn it over to Stacy and Judy for, for
their comments and take any questions you might have, Judy. You wanna go.
Uh Yeah, I have been really excited that we're working on this project. Um You know,
everyone sees these numbers differently. If you ask Mark, you'll say 456,000 in sales
tax. And he sees exactly what that is. Most people don't and they don't have the
context of it. And I think having the visuals helps bring everyone's collective knowledge
of, of how we're faring and what the trends are. Um and how things are going and
makes it make sense. Part of the uh budget book would be also tying things to our
strategic plan, which we spend a lot of time doing. And so you could say, ok, well,
just use spreadsheets and, and I don't know a publisher, but it's really clunky.
And I'm excited that part of this proposal is to uh do the monthly reports. I spend
a lot of time doing them, but I think it's worth it because the feedback I get is
that it helps make sense of our revenue numbers. And so I'd really like to standardize
that and have fewer opportunities for spreadsheet formulas to break and things like
that. Can I ask you a question on that? Yes, I think your, your budget presentations
for the monthly budget meeting. If people don't go to those meetings, they should
every last Wednesday of the month, right? But will this 3rd, 3rd Wednesday of the
month, will this make those easier for you to prepare? Will it save you time and
preparation of those standardized? Well, there were, as I understand it, there's
about there's four components of this. One of them is the annual budget. Another
is sharing information online with uh and he showed the visual on that. One of them
that I asked to have added would be monthly reports. And so the goal would be we've
standardized this and we've got the reports and plus some of that is forecasting
and we could, I would also like to see us as a group, you know, see if we want to
improve them. Basically, they've said yes, we can do the finance reports and the
the budget reports with the monthly um reporting portion of this. Um I
think what it would do is just we upload the data in the format and I'm not manipulating
everything to make it work in six different reports and the others. So um I'm sorry
if I deviated from no, that's my question. It sounds like it would save you a lot
of time. Yes, after the learning curve, right. Of course. Yeah, I noticed easy to
implement was like the first criteria that you guys listed today. Well, I will say,
you know, it is, it's still a lot of money, but the other ones we looked at were
extremely robust, but they were in the $150,000 range and they do a lot of other
things and you can create your budget in their programs and we didn't wanna duplicate
things we already have available to us. So while the other one looked great and was
exciting and we considered it. We also went, let's go back to the core of what are
our needs and what programs do we not have? So I think, you know, there's a lot we
could do with a whole lot of more time and googling how to do things. But this is
a program, they do this for a living, they keep upgrading them. I think the budget
book they had last year available has been completely reworked and is different this
year. So staying up to date on things, but really um it's their software, it's their
expertise and then their implementation team for creating the reports that would
hopefully uh be a lot less time to do each month, but also uh
just standardize it and we know what to expect. OK, thank you. Do you have an expectation
that that Muni does work well with that. My question gravity. It's a simple export,
you import it into gravity and and it's a tried and true method of nothing. Simple
mark nothing. I I think, you know, basically when it comes from Muus, we have our
bars, there's a lot of formatting to translate it into where it goes. Um But Munni
is excellent for exporting into a CS V file and it's really just understanding the
data. So we are always creating new revenue and expenditure codes but making sure
that the core financial team that are working between this, know what it means. And
also making sure that if we upload and it's different than what we've got, we know
where to find it and just make it part of our workflow that when we create a new
one, we know how it's gonna flow up to the, the reporting. Sounds like a pretty robust
mapping exercise to get the initial reports done. And then, I mean, I before being
a commissioner spent a lot of time in my career working with Excel and creating Excel
formula. So whenever Stacey says I've got to go in and change that for me, I'm like,
you've got to go in and change all the formulas all the time. I mean, it, this can
get around Stacy having to, you know, remember where all those formulas sit and which
ones seem to be updated or not. I think it's a great thing and it's the the cost
is the money saved will be, will be effort that Stacy can put into other parts of
our operation, right? So, you know, I think it's efficiency is really a thing that
we're going to get out of this gravity budget module. I think it's a great thing.
And awards too. I'm curious what kind of awards budgets even can win the goa a Government
Finance Officers Association if you submit your budget document to them. Um There's
an excellence in budgeting. We got an expectation if we approve this, we're targeting,
that
is the challenge
Clark County where I came from every single year, we got the excellence that we want,
that you can't retire until we get that mark.
Um I, I will say that um I, I was probably the, the bug in
Philip Morley's ear seven years ago. Mark saying we really need to make this budget
more accessible and understandable. Um So also has been an interest of mine for a
long time, you know, they say the budget is our most important policy documents.
Um So I'm yeah, I I would be thrilled to have it be something that, you know, it
was something we could easily share with the public um to help them understand the
the breadth of the work that we do and how we make decisions. And um and, and Wendy
Davis will help with photos and graphics and making it a a very appealing piece of
work.
It also seems like it would be really useful for capital projects and capital planning
from, from the materials that you guys sent out in advance this week. So that seems
important too. Yeah, yeah, that would make me very happy. I am studying budgeting
right now in in class. So you, you got me at the right time. I'm like, oh sexy and
I'm not sure if I normally think that I just, you have rows of codes and columns
of numbers, that's what we produce currently. Well, and I'm impressed that Judy and
Stacy are, you know, willing to take on a yet another new process after wrestling
with the nus implementation for so long. So thank you for being willing to jump in
yet again. Thank you. I will add that. That was part of what we considered is there's
a lot of maintenance with all of the software we use, but we currently don't have
a software program that does this level of publication and you know, when
things aren't connecting or licenses expire or all of that. So there is the the work
of having that done. But I just think it, it's really exciting to um have something
that people will be able to hopefully relate to more and, and help make sense. Yeah.
Well, do you remember uh running when you were running for office for the first time
and trying to change my budget documents and then make any sense of them? And we
did make progress. We, we, it's better than it was eight years ago, I can say, but
it's still takes um you know, and like, you know, I had my MP A and I just studied
government finance and it was still like, really, I'm happy to make a motion that
we delegate authority to the county administrator to sign a letter of intent to procure
a number of gravity budget modules. I have a second. Any uh further discussion,
do not need to do any additional public comments. I may be interested in dabbling
in this. I wanna know more. I know. Me too. I was thinking, do we get input on what
gets communicated? You gotta get into Muis. Have you signed into the Muni? Are we
allowed to, we set up the gravity sales team gave us links. Uh, I will share them
with you, uh, to cities and counties that have used their product so you can get
an idea of what our book might look like. One of them is 735 pages. I don't believe
we're gonna produce that much material initially, but, um, some of them, some of
them report uh, employment numbers and demographics and that sort of thing. So, you
know, if the commissioners have an interest in including that kind of information
in our budget book and, um, we'll work with E DC and whoever to get those numbers
and stats to put in it. Excellent. All right. Any further discussion? Uh, all those
in favor of the delegation of authority, please say hi. Hi. Hi. Thank you, Stacy.
Thank you, Judy
Greg. Do you have, do you have access to Muni? No, but again. Right. Right. I think
you can sign, you could get it if you wanted. Like there's user Munis. Right? We
can get access to this
easy.
Ok. Yeah, Sarah, Sarah and I, we will not mess with it. I promise. Thank
you.
All right. Um So now to our 930 over, please. Yup. So we're a
little bit behind. Good morning Joel. Um, um, Greg,
are you gonna pick us off or I'll start it off and hand it to Joel? I mean, just
to say that Joel's managed, we had, I believe one applicant for the district three
position that was vacated by Mike Nielsen who served uh really well in that role,
he was the chair when I came on to the Planning Commission. So, uh, Joel and I spent
uh 30 minutes with, with Andrew Schwartz uh this Wednesday. And you know, my joke
was that well, with one member, we just need to do a capa and that's really true
as long as he's human, but it's, it's great that we had an actual qualified applicant.
So Joel, I'll hand it off to you.
Mhm.
Ok.
And I'll talk a little bit more about our interview real quickly. You know, Joel
prepared for questions and I think there are the four standard questions Andrew demonstrated
as he has in the past meetings. He's a real maven. He's on the I serve on the board
of the Northwood Canal Chamber of Commerce with Andrew. And he also throughout our
engagements, he puts on community meetings down in Brennan. And as a result of the
emotional intelligence, he shows in a lot of really uh potentially fraught conversations.
I thought he would be a great member of the Growth Management steering committee.
So I recruited him as a steering committee member and I'm I'm, I'm gladdened that
he's taken that to the next level to apply for the planning commission uh seat as
well. So I wholeheartedly endorse him. Do either of you have any, have any sense
of his land use or planning experience? Does he have any of that,
Joel, you wanna architecture any, you know,
on the east coast
that doesn't have a, a career, I mean, business development and business training
as well as retail and the arts. But he did, you know, he was part of an organization
out in Connecticut. I think that uh that worked on development of a kind of a town
center and was a real kind of a land use, you know, uh uh one of those complicated
capital projects that involved a lot of stakeholders. So um yeah, mo mostly not a
lot of land, just experience professionally, professionally. Um It um my other question
is, do we, I have a recollection of sometimes seeing planning commission members
often taking months and this seems like this is great that it came up so quick. Do
we have a, a period of time that we advertise planning commission vacancies for?
Are we trying to give it a month or do we just um you know, set a set a
deadline and then work towards that deadline? That's I guess that's my administrative,
more administrative process question.
Yes.
Yeah.
No, I think Andrew is a, is a great applicant. I just always like to stand up for
my fellow women and I'm always wanting to see more women appointed to these boards
and committees. Um But, you know, I have no, no concern or opposition to this appointment.
I'm just kind of trying to understand the process and have been asked some questions
in the community. So
girl power, I'm always fighting for girl power. I would say I feel like we have um
tightened up this process or at least been more clear on our end of things. Like
Joel's always had a good handle on the process, but um we've done a better job of
kind of um institutionalizing how our office engages in this process, make it standard.
Yeah. Yeah. So it's, I think that's part of why it's moved more quickly this time
too because we're, we're all on the same, you know. Yeah, I think it's great and
I've been part of the process with Joel and a couple of other vacancies in District
two and I really appreciate your leadership on, on these appointments, Joel. So I
said there was public comment on this though. All right. So maybe I I will make a
motion to appoint Andrew Schwartz to the open District three Planning Commission
seat. A second. It um it's been a motion in a second to appoint and shorts the
commission. Would anyone in the public like to comment on this item? Only
call again, any public comment on this motion for appointment? Ok. Hearing then I
will close public comment and call the question all those in favor, please indicate
by saying hi, hi, hi. Thank you so much, Joel. Thanks to Andrew for throwing his
head in and he's gonna have a lot of work to do. He was full when I came to him about
the steering committee. So
he'll make time. Yes. Ok. Thank you. We have um, about 40 minutes before our next
agenda item. So maybe we can do some briefing unless I missed anything. Did I miss
anything? Mark for sure. I, I couldn't tell if you were, if you were gonna tell me
I missed something on the agenda, but I think
we'll wait till 1030 for that. So, should we do some briefing from last week? Do
you want to start? Sure, I can start. I always just feel like we go 123 down the
line. So uh let's see my calendar up. I was with you guys last Monday. We got done
early which enabled me to go to the budgeting meeting for the uh recompete, as I
said earlier, almost all is done, but just mailing it off pretty much. So everything
is working really great. And then I went to the North North Hood Canal uh Chamber
of Commerce board meeting, um hiring uh an executive assistant. Um And
then that was Monday, late night on Tuesday. We had the follow up
meeting that uh Laura Gaston atta had set up with about the, the shelter with kind
of the community and faith based uh advocates and Holy Cap and uh the big news
there that kind of resonates through a couple of meetings. Oh, I also had a meeting
with the American Legion Board Monday evening, um a Zoom meeting and they said we
will contract with the county to continue operations of the shelter. So we kind of
have a decision point whether we want to move forward. I have tentative meetings
scheduled with Judy and with Sarah and with Mark to start working out a budget and
operations plan and hiring people here fairly quickly for a position that might be
under the housing fund board. You know, we're still kind of so having initial meetings
with Sarah, we have time, of course, because cap will maintain the shelter until
uh the end of June, the idea would be, then we would take it over. We've got the
contract that the Philip Hunsucker. So we'll start negotiating a contract with them.
Um In the meeting with the, the follow up meeting on Tuesday, I pretty much laid
it out that, you know, many hands make light work where we don't have the opportunity
to, to rely on fundraising. So we're gonna use the, you know, build the program with
the 27,000 recording fee kick back. We got that we got this year and next year and
then come, you know, to the budgeting of the of next year's um
funds, we would have to start with budgeting what the shelter was before we opened
it up to other programs, basically. So let's build a big coalition. We do. We will
have more money from commerce too. Additional recording fees from the leg. Great.
So yeah, starting with that and with recording fees, but really just that 149 fund
has a prime use as long as we're operating the shelter. We just, I mean, so I'm asking
as well. That's uh we're drawing a line in the sand and say does the county and I
think the city will partner and that's the reason to have it under the housing fund
board. Want to make sure that we have a, an emergency shelter year round. Yeah, that's
a kind of question. And do you have a recommendation based on cap's willingness to
continue? I mean, I'm, I say, let's go ahead. I mean, yeah, go ahead with, with,
well, cap will continue until June. Ok. And they don't have the capacity to do that.
So, I mean, I can see hiring a couple clerk hires that are their monitors. I reached
out to cap to get job descriptions and salary ranges for the shelter manager and
monitors. And basically do we want to keep, you know, there's a couple go, no go
opportunities here where we can say that is beyond our capacity, you know, it's not
something that we've uh I don't think ever done before. So it's uh um there's a lot
of learning curve that comes and the other question that you don't have to answer
now, but you should consider is, does the Housing fund board seem like the right
place for it to be? We talked about it kind of being under uh Bocc uh control. And
so housing fund board isn't quite that, but it is kind of so, I mean, just, are we
going in the right direction as we try to, to develop this? Yeah, I think, um, Greg
knows this just because we've been able to have more conversation about having fun
board. Yeah, this is the, the path that I was proposing and, um, I feel good about
it. I think us being closer to it is important because of the kind of extraordinary
nature of this and um given how uh uh kind of entrenched and
challenging, um, the operation of the shelter has been and the, the strong
opinions around it, I think, you know, we are taking a risk and I, I want us to have
some um authority here and not just hand it off to a board to say, you know, you
decide and I think there's just too many, you know, we are hoping to maintain a status
quo um uh to keep the shelter functional, but to bridge. Yes, exactly until we have
a new facility. But I, I, I'm afraid of turning it into anything bigger than that.
Um I don't think we have the capacity for and, um, so I, I think keeping it close,
keeping it in a very limited scope, um, bes us and one more just note in my early
conversations with Sarah from hr you know, this would be kind of a, the first position
would be the shelter manager. They were, you know, getting descriptions as a template
for and that would be a term limited, full staff position probably. But you know
that two year um until the other shelter is going, there's opportunity along the
way if you know, we have the right person in there to create that kind of housing
czar, you know, um that Zarina, I, I think Zara is gender neutral, isn't it? Maybe
not Zarina? Oh, you're right. It is. Ok. Is that like, I don't know, I I've always
heard and Russian history. Ok.
I think that's the
room under the tent up for Girl Power today, I guess. Um Yeah, no or Zarina potentially.
And I guess the other question is housing fun board. Is that close enough to this
board to be to give that kind of control? Housing fund board is an advisory board
to the Bocc, but it does give the city that I hope to get uh engaged in as well.
One of the things we're gonna have to do pretty quickly is apply for a conditional
use permit um because they have uh it's not an allowed use housing in that, in that
piece of property. But uh Emma Bolan who was at the uh at the, um, at the, the shelter
meeting on Tuesday, I made it to Tuesday at 11 o'clock by the way in my report so
far
and we came back and said it would be a modification, not a modification. So they
have an existing conditional use permit for emergency use. We're just sliding in
behind and so I sent you an email with the legion. We need a lease,
fire and health inspection. So three things that we need and I'll apply for cam.
And if you'd like to attend that, I put it on your calendar. Sounds great beyond
the staff position. What are the financial implications of this rent utilities costs
right now? About $30,000 a month to operate is the $30,000 a month. That's, that's
what the only cap budget has been. We're ok. So that, I think
r 1750 a month, that's what the current utilities is. Something we probably want
to negotiate a little right now. We pay a share of them. Yeah, they pay perhaps a
pretty loaded share right now. I mean, I, I don, I doubt we're gonna get the rent
to go down. If anything, it might go up. But I think redressing the utility distribution
is, is something that I would wanna address in that negotiation. But, you know, uh
you know, they have a strong negotiating position, let's say, um, given the concerns
we've heard about the showers. Do we have? We, are we planning to do a kind of assessment
of the facility to see if it needs any? I think we'd have to. I mean, you know, I've,
I've heard numerous times from no, the cat that it takes a little while to get the
water, hot water going in one of the showers. But there is, there is water and, you
know, working with Coast too that owns the washers and dryers and the kitchen implements
and everything and making sure that we can get a smooth handover. So it's pretty
much a functional shelter handed from one agency to another just at the end of June.
Do we know if Coast will continue to um Coast? Had a representative at the Tuesday
meeting, Sally who was going to take it back to the board. I've not heard back from
them, but they were interested in continuing that they have real capacity issues,
you know, for volunteering, they were hit hard during COVID as well. So, um what
I, I think, I believe that they had kind of ceased doing uh the meal a day. I'm not
sure. So um I was really clear with everyone that the more uh um the more community
support we can get for this, the less we have to, you know, potentially drained from
other good housing projects in the area which is just like the only other way I could
find out, figure out to like make this pencil. I think there is still interest from
the faith community in, in doing the meals. And so, you know, that could be the kind
of thing that now having a dedicated staff person, they could be plugging into the
model that coast had and, and that the churches are already really familiar with
and I kind of jumping at the bit to get reengages with and I can see it's a lot of
work for coast. So maybe we could fill that in again. And they're interested, we
have another meeting scheduled. It's no longer like, what do we do with the shelter
meeting? It's now the, the Emergency Shelter Coalition meeting. So awesome. And thank
you for your leadership on this Greg. I really appreciate it. I think we're, I mean,
you guys are, are I, I would say you guys are housing commissioners, but this seems
like a very logical step next step. That um one of the thing I'll say is that, you
know, public health has quite a bit of like solid waste abatement dollars, not quite
a bit, you know, 5075 K left and two grants and uh they'll continue doing that. But
this is like a, a conscious strategy to support the shelter and the core area of
that is that we are not supporting unmanaged encampments, you know, by providing
infrastructure for un management encampments. We still have our ordinance that the
city has their ordinance that if a faith based organization, a nonprofit, some organization
wants to create an encampment, um there are, you know, rules to make them uh safe
that we can, we can follow. But uh we want to make sure that everyone has a place
to go and this is all playing out on national front today, right?
Regardless of how, even if that right is stripped away and we can weaponize and criminalize
homelessness. I think this is still something worth doing. We're a compassionate
community. So I just, I'm struck by the timing of all this, right? Um So that
was Tuesday at 11. Uh we had Jefferson Transit. I always have a conflict with the
Tourism Coordinating Committee when Jefferson transit is there, I did not, was not
able to attend that Quilcene Brennan uh empowered teens, you know, they uh Holly
has left the Quilcene empowered teens to go into the port towns and then, and they
changed the job requirements to be like the most critical thing was you live in the
area already and have some nexus with kids. Uh And they had multiple applications
that they thought were great. So I think changing the criteria was really important
to getting good applicants. Um No,
yes, I see it. OK, I can, I can mention it. Um Now, OK, uh
Wednesday, I saw some of you, many of you at the tax blues breakfast when I showed
up with my daughter, Dr her all around today, uh this last week and then I had the
kind of last team Jefferson recompete coordinations meeting all is going well. And
so I missed the budget meeting on Wednesday that the last one I'll miss for a good
time. I had the interview with Andrew Schwartz that we've already talked about. Um
mhm. Betsy Davis from uh the wooden boat school has talked about beyond recompete.
And so we had our first beyond recompete meeting. Um And then we had a follow up
meeting with Bill Dowling from the Olympic Consortium Board and he met with a new
member there, Molly Props from the hospital and Cindy Brooks. And I, so we're talking
about data and they got a new portal so we can actually scrape out Jefferson County
data from the ESD data. So um there's a new application that OCB signed up for, they've
got four seats. So each of the Ed CS is gonna get one seat and they get one seat.
So I know that's been an ongoing uh uh data frustration has been able to scrape local
data. So, and will we run into the problem? We run into like with the um reporting
revenues where if there's not enough people reporting in a category that it um becomes
invisible? I don't know. Maybe, but that's, we'll see. Yeah, I know. I know it's
being, being the, the little little guy in that bunch is uh is challenging for sure.
But there's a lot of uh OCB funds that are going to Jefferson County right now, much
higher than our proportion according to Bill. Like uh the WE O uh internship money,
you know, where they pay basically uh pay for an employer to have an on the job intern.
So the wooden boat school ther yeah, um wooden Board school is, is getting a lot
of those funds to, to get people straight into, to jobs outside of, out of graduation.
So can I? Well and recompete I love that there's already a beyond recompete like
you all barely caught your breath and I already thinking about the future. Um I did,
I spent a day last week with uh Kevin Decker, the economist from C Grant and was
glad that he was like read in and recompete and had contributed some data I think
for the port. Um But like I think we should keep in mind what a great resource he
is and um think about ways to engage him. Ok. Yeah. No, absolutely. And I'll say
one other thing, the kind of a last minute budget edition was that there's I think
750,000 for EEC team Jefferson in that, you know, there were sort of some complaints
as we're going through the process, you know, why don't you guys have a project going?
Why don't you have this going and I think uh Cindy and Karen together uh realize
that was because we don't have capacity to think about what's next because we're
just barely keeping up with the, the good, you know, um business continuation and,
you know, profit making classes that they have. So there's some that's dedicated
just for South County Karen from the, no DC did a lot of work uh at the last minute
to kind of get um a bunch of funds for the tribes. So basically, um seven tribes
were asked, how much do you want? And um whatever they were given was put into the
budget. So we have $8 million for underserved communities, 500 K for the Forks to
kind of develop their industrial park a little bit 250 to the E DC because there
was no organization in the south end that is used for business development and Brennan
and Quills in the south end and then $500,000 for basic workforce development. And
then the tribes got from, you know, between 502 million, 500 K and $2 million depending
on what their request was. And those were just kind of open, you know, they might
not know what they needed for, but this is how we can serve our under underserved
communities. So, um yeah, I look forward to seeing the completed you guys want
to see the 10 page narrative. I'd love to,
I'll send it out. Uh
and then had the no DC executive board meeting talked a lot about recompete there
on Thursday. Ok. I don't know what I did in the morning something. Um, yeah. Board
of Health. It's good. I was sorry, I couldn't be here. Oh, yeah, I had that uh, migraine
all day. So I stayed home and attended virtually, I missed the Public Health Awards.
I was sad. I hope the picture was good and I hope you have pictures of the Zumba
Zumba mob afterwards. I started Zumba and then I was like, I look like a I was like,
I, I've done Zumba a few times but you have to learn the routine. This one year she
knew the r I was like a ringer. I don't, I don't do it enough to like actually, yeah,
but I mean, I've done Zumba and you have to go a few times to learn a routine, you
know, and so next time there's a Zumba Mob Heidi, I will make you look good. I'm
happy to jump around like a chicken if I need to. But I was like, OK, this is a little
too, like for me, I like that looks terrible. Doing great. But you know, eventually
you get into it enough that you don't, you're not thinking about what other people
are seeing. I wasn't thinking about, I was thinking about how I was feeling. I was
just like, oh, maybe it's everything else but I was just like I'm not feeling very
zoom horrific right now. It was very fun though. I was with Apple and the three of
us in a row, we had a great time, kind of line danced it a little bit. It was fun.
Yeah. And they both danced a lot. So she, she has fantastic energy. Oh my gos ba
is a gift. That's why I wanted her to be that award. Um We did
planning for the housing fund board which is gonna be a big meeting this week, the
gender plan with Amy Howard and, uh, then I had an old cap meeting. The, uh, they're
using a, a company for hiring the executive director. You wanna guess how much this
company, this headhunter company costs 250,000? Oh, no, not that much for one staff
member. 30% of the annual, uh, wage. That's that, uh, you know, from
1120 to 150. Yeah. So, I mean, it's like 4050 grand. Uh,
yeah, but it's, they, they do the, no, I mean, we, we dickered back and forth but
yeah. Are you applying? I am not applying. Are you applying? No, no, no. And involved
in other searches that are not costing that much. I, I offer for other ones that
I knew cost less. But this, you know, there's, um, this is what the cap agencies
around. Where was a suggested to, is this agency so that, you know, the, the the,
uh, the posting went up this weekend, but already the agency was kind of reaching
out to potential candidates. So, you know, there's like a, a network, I guess the
value that they add, I don't know. I'm, I will admit a little skeptical. Um, and,
but there's good, uh, we've had some great applicants for the Director of Housing
position as well. So there's a really and finance director too. So I think I've heard
all around that. I think the uh staffing is the, the balance has changed a little,
there's more applicants going for positions than there were, you know, a couple of
years ago. Yeah. Yeah, that Cliff Moore told us that recently. Are you getting really
good applicants for jobs? Now, let's see, Friday, I met, oh, my second candidate
for office, one of the legislative applicants um met for coffee to introduce and
then I walked over and saw Mike Min's uh keynote address and the following one from
Anna, I can't remember her last name at the T lab. So I got to spend, you know, until
11 o'clock there before I had to come back for County Coordinations. Um You know,
it's, it's great. Of course, the solutions all end at the city limits, but I'm used
to that density. It's just like the port, the port Hadlock soon, you know, I mean,
easy to talk about that. But it's still that, that same stronger town's dynamic comes,
you know, where you know, it's, it's, uh, you can have a smaller carbon footprint
in the city and, and yet we have a lot of rural areas that we have to still find
solutions for. So that often feels like it's left out a little bit that's been coming
up at the straight, er, n as well.
Oh, yeah, the reason it's called urban planning, it's such a bias.
Could I get an email it to you to you?
Um, let's see then I, uh, so I was counting coordinations
and then I went on KPTZ with Cathy Morgan with the basic question. So how do you
want a shelter and kind of talked about the idea? Um, and so we spent half an hour
just talking about some of the, the practical operation stuff. Um, and then we
had our final recompete uh meeting and final everything except this letter I'm signing
right now and I did go down Friday for the Statesman presentation at the Burning
Community Center about, um, it was good. I think a smaller crowd than they've had
the last couple of times. I think a lot of the participants, you know, are folks
that have properties really close that are really impacted by the, the development
as it goes forward. Um, I mean, there's quite some amenities going on. George was
down there, George. Uh, Terry from D CD did fantastic. Um, I think he was also at
the T lab. I missed his talk in the morning. But, uh, he did, he did really good
representing the county and, you know, there's questions about the settlement and
everything that had happened and, uh, so I sign this, I asked for it. Carolyn's looking
anxiously at you.
A
bad cop. Um, and, uh, best dress cop again. She puts us all to
shame. Um, you know, I think they're, they're doing it. Well, it's a political thing
too. I mean, like one statement that I asked a little bit about is like, oh, we,
we're skipping building the large on-site septic and we're just gonna go straight
to a full wastewater treatment plant. Um And we're gonna build lots of extra capacity.
So if anyone in the region needs uh access to sewer, you know, we have lot of capacity.
I'm like, you know, they go right checks at the mouth that you can uh you can cash.
Um So there is a little bit of sale going on, I guess is the point. But, um you know,
they're, they're working hard and they have a seven year wind horizon that they hope
to get it built out. And the thing I was really excited about is, you know, they're
building a factory to build the houses, right? So the first thing they built, they
had their plant manager was there at the meeting and they're gonna build modular
buildings and they say they can build a house every two days. Um So like habitats
already reached out about, hey, so when you're done with that, uh, can you build
four plex for us? And then I asked them the same question, you know,
um, well, you know, you know, that was me offering the sewer outside the N pr boundaries,
you know, I mean, they've got a, like a, a plan that they have to go through, they've
got to build their internal stuff first and then the goal was something else goes
there. I'm not sure what, I'm not sure if it's the ice skating rink slash indoor
soccer field or what not the amenities, they have to build the amenities first and
they're still doing that. The phasing is kind of change it, but they've got, you
know, multiple pools down there. They're going to be accessible to the folks of Brennan
and Ka and as well as the ice skating rink and soccer field inside and, and uh medical
facilities including surgical facilities. We'll see that. I, I know, I know I was
like, all of those are like, you know, required. No, apparently that's what Statesman
does though at all their facilities. They, so and supposedly Garth is moving to Brennan
the Chair of Statesman. So, and we've got our conversations going about South County
deputy as well. Uh Yes, and I said that came up and, you know, there's a lot of interest
in that, especially with the case, you know, that happened last week where a lot
of stolen material from many people was found. Um, and I said, I, I think the conversations
are happening faster at the county already than they are there. And, you know, if
you're talking six years, seven years before you really have built out to the point,
you know, we're also interested and it was in our budget past last year and will
be considered again. Yeah.
But really up to the sheriff much of a priority. That is, yes. No, talked about all
that. Yeah, and also the challenges of a law enforcement officer that's also a security
guard. And you know, how do you, how do you make that match? Uh ok, we'll see. Is
that the end of your week?
I'm just Saturday. I, you know, we had supper club, the men were cooking so I had
to come home and cook pretty quickly. But I did go and, and saw the, the keynote
presentation at the Connectivity Fair. Um Yeah, plus Scott and, and uh Rose and,
and uh Judy all talked Judy only cried one time. So it was pretty good, very restrained.
Um Yeah, but it was, it's a lovely just walking around. I mean, I didn't get the
table and there was a little crisis my daughter had. So I had to fly out and I didn't
even get to stop by the county table. But uh I saw Kate Kate there, the first thing
I didn't see you. Yeah, I think I ran by as I was leaving because there was some,
you know, teen crisis. But uh it was, it's great, you know, I mean, I made lots of
connections and I, I really enjoyed it. I'm so curious how the housing panel went.
I was tabling so I didn't get to see it, but there were 14 people on the panel and
he was um, the, but after introductions, how is there time for anything else? Totally
that I haven't heard a report out, maybe somebody will be able to close them. Ok,
I'll see if I can be any faster than sorry, I was slow. Um Let's see. So Monday here
with you guys um Tuesday, I I'm meeting out at Bayside
and you know, it turned into, it was a personal meeting that turned into a good update
on what's happening at Bayside. So here I am being the non housing housing commissioner
all the time that comes up everywhere and then uh middle of the day met with Pinky
and Amanda Grace. We are the three of us are the board of health sanitation subcomittee
and we are killing it so far. We came up with answers for the board of Health on
the RV pumping situation and you can do it, you can do it. Yeah, that was great.
I mean it was, it just took getting the right people to have the right conversation,
which is usually the case, right? So and some willingness, you know, so Yeah. So
now we're on to the question of how we handle sanitation on small lots. And you know,
we have Pinky has confirmed that holding tanks are allowed but they're costly. So
we're thinking about expanding the the sanitation subcomittee to have a broader conversation
about small lot development including along shorelines. But that's kind of the next
piece of work for the Board of Health. And we're going to bring that back to the
Board of Health on next update for the Board of Health. We're going to bring it back
to the Board of Health in June. That will be the next time Pinky is available to
be there. Are you officially the poop commissioner? Now, if I'm not, I don't know
who could be. I would wrestle you guys. I would, I want a little honorary poop having
worked on the sewer. Yeah. No, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. Ok. You guys can, you can
both that I feel like every Yeah. No, Kate definitely is a poop queen just a little
bit. I'm just, she's, you know that our short time right now. So someone's got to
pick up the mantle and carry the bucket. So here it is, it's me. Um, let's see. And
then I had a meeting with our Chic Creek Drainage District consultants and Mark and
the team there to talk about our next steps, which are getting a survey out to all
of the landowners in the drainage district. And um, peak sustainability in the process
of drafting that survey as we speak. So, and I am working on a postcard and the mailing
list for that um postcard. We're also gonna send a snail mail postcard to everyone
because we don't have emails for everyone in the drainage district. Right. Um Then
we had Jefferson Transit Authority board meeting. Um Wednesday morning, got up and
went to the tax breakfast, which I was there just in the, the bewitching hour where,
where I missed the road crew.
Yeah, for the previous three years I've gotten there early enough for that, but,
or two years. But anyway, uh, grateful that the county, um, host that event perc.
Um, and I keep hearing that it used to be the commissioners that cooked all this
food. And so you'll hear, I remember there were director wasn't catered, it was
staffed by county employees by the county engineer was supposed to do it.
Um Sure mcintyre. Is it the picnic where the commissioners cook the food? I don't
know, I've heard it used to be right. That gets thrown out to me a lot when I go
to these events. So I'm just trying to figure out to me. I wish somebody would level
set the truth and the reality on this
from the office and we wait till my per update for Thursday. So,
so then we all had the budget meeting at 830 on Wednesday. And then I had a call
with one of my co uh ca DNR Carbon Forest Management work group members. Um
There was a really poorly facilitated meeting our last meeting. And so we're trying
to salvage the effort. We are salvaging the effort, but it's unfortunately, we're
in that position then. That was the chime empower teens coalition meeting. And then
in the evening, the Short Farm community listening session um for the Port Short
Farm Steering Committee group. Uh Thursday, I had an early morning meeting with the
planning Commission member. Then I had the perk meeting. I went to this one because
next month is Tamale day and I have a great team to roll tamales with me to make
the tamale batter to roll the tamales and then to serve the tamales. It's going to
be a huge effort though. We're making 3 to 400 tamales. I would help. I'm just concerned
about quorum issues. Let me just talk about tamale recipes. I'll help you with tamales.
OK. OK. I'm saying you both up for shelter monitors positions. So
um let's see. Uh And then we had the board of health meeting. Oh, wait, no. Then,
then I had a meeting with DNR, two of the heavy hitters at DNR to follow up on the
last Carbon Forest Management Work group meeting. And that was interesting. And I
said it's on you guys because I missed that meeting. They missed the last meeting.
I said you guys, it's on you guys you guys gotta pull this ship back on course. So
they're, they're tasked with that for the next meeting. And I think we're throwing
in another meeting. So this DNR task force work has become a quarter time job.
Then we had the board of Health meeting. Um Then we had the, uh, then we had the
Shorts farm farm steering committee meeting on Thursday evening. So it was a short
farm meetings back to back. So per I gave you that one. So then Friday, so last,
I promise, I'll make it through it in the next few minutes. Um, I, um, Friday
morning, I traveled to Blynn and attended the Salish Behavior, Health Administrative
Services Organization. Um, it was a great conversation. We talked about naloxone
distribution. I just felt like there were a lot of things where, you know, I realized
how commissioners can be helpful to that group. So they've now got these things called
Barney boxes, these purple boxes that can serve as naloxone distribution sites named
after a children's television show. I'm not sure who it was named after, but I was,
I thought the same thing did not ask that question because there were so many other
important questions to be asked. Um, and then, and then, let's see,
had a, uh, a meeting with the prosecuting attorney's office on the drainage district.
Just, there's a number of legal issues have come up around the, the latent drainage
district which has been fallow I love all my farm and field metaphors lately because
that's what I spend half my time on. Um is, um it's been fallow since
1974 just reminding people I was three year old, three years old when the drainage
district went dormant. And, you know, it's potentially a really useful tool as a
drainage district or a flood control district or a watershed improvement district
for the county and residents of the district. But we're just trying to figure out
what, what the legal sidebars are. So we've engaged um Philip and Melissa and Melissa
has officially grabbed the football and they are attorney working on this issue with
the drainage district team, which is great. So this was the most interesting intersection
meetings. I had, I had the Salish meeting and then I got in my car and I did the
drainage district meeting and I drove across the street to chair the straight er
n spring quarterly meeting at the Red Cedar Hall. Yeah. And so that meeting went
into the afternoon. It was also a really great meeting that I felt like we did not
have enough time, which was awesome because the conversations there had become so
meaningful for people that um it's, we're talking about making the meetings longer
um because there's usually about 20 stakeholders around the table and we didn't even
get to report out this time. So, and then UCB is meeting there next month. Right.
Yes. And we're hosting that. Straight Urine is hosting that. Um, and we're looking
for an ecosystem, um, services board, uh, member from local elected, or is
it? Yeah, local elected. So, if anyone's interested, I'm not, I'm not ready to volunteer
for another board right now because I just got put on two more. It's a good one.
Yeah, I was on it for many years. Ok. Well, I'll consider it then, then I came back
for a meeting with Mark and the sheriff and undersheriff in response to the letter
we got from Northwest Towing and I reached out to Sheriff Noel and then undersheriff
Prince Steiner came in and said I got this one. This is something I actually know
some stuff about. So he is taking this foot that football and working with Northwest
towing and other ones too. Right. It's not just Northwest Towing that's impacted
by this. Right. But, but what we, what we learned is that, um, because the Northwest
Towing has a new owner, I think they just don't understand all the moving parts and
how the contracts work with counties and the state. So Andy does have his head around
that and he's gonna reach out to the Northwest towing gentleman and, um, have a conversation
and help, you know, help them get their contracts in order so that they do have contracts
with the county and state where lots of people coming in. Ok. Then on Saturday, I
attended the dedication of the Marist fire station, crew quarters that East Jefferson
fire and rescue just completed out there with the help of the Marist Island Foundation
and of army of volunteers. And it was an awesome event. Chief Black did a stellar
job as did all the other folks who've been involved with that project. So is the
theory there that if folks are on site, they can respond more and it is already proven
to be true. Volunteers working on getting the crew quarters up and running or responding
to calls while they were there. So they have things like a gym, they have a kitchen,
they have a ham radio station, they have uh decontamination ability out there. So
they have a lot of functionality at that fire station. Um Now that's really come
along in the last five years, super exciting. And then I did staff the connectivity
fair from noon to two um along with Mark and Amanda Christopherson and had a million
great conversations and I thought I should go walk around the connectivity fair and
I made it down one row and back and I'm like, I gotta go, I have to be at my table.
So I did about an hour of networking and an hour of answering county questions and
throwing Frisbees. So anyway, and I have confirmed that we do have another full box
of Frisbees. Excellent, good. So that was my week and it, I'm back in action folks
after losing my mom. Three weeks ago I had, have had moments of complete and utter
grief and I still do and, but I'm kicking, yeah, you
jumped back in very quickly and I can also take the time you need. Yeah. But when
I need it I'll get, it will be. I know it's a, it's a long haul. I know. And I'm
a little worried about that, but thanks for everything you're doing probably the
phase of grief I'm in right now. I need to be this busy. Yeah. All right. Um, just
a couple of scheduling things. Um I did want to announce it got left off of our um,
calendar and the agenda accidentally. But the um, finance meeting, which is uh quarterly,
quarterly meeting that um myself and Creta Auditor and administrator participated
is tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. There is an open public meeting stuff, investments
of the county. So sorry for leaving that off the calendar. Um It was my fault. I'm
not good at accepting every calendar invite. It's, you know, totally. I see it. I'll
be there.
It's still all LG IP though. Right. Put all the money we can in LG IP and watch the
money roll in. We've got a number of investment. It was not on our website. Yes,
it was um, a couple of things. Um, just before we jump in. Sorry, Eric. Um,
would anyone mind if I jumped out? Apparently I'm needed uh, at, for an 11 to 1130
meeting in the PM partnership. Um I was hoping to not be needed, but I am. Um, would
one of you be willing to chair? And I'm sorry to miss the, um, the Humane Society
discussion but really thrilled to see um, the, the uh agreement on agenda. So, is
that, do you mind if I jumped out? Ok. Do you want to arm wrestle? Do you want a
chair? I think you should share. I'm already a compromised citizen. I'm a, I'm a
dog lover. She gonna be crying the whole time. I'm happy to cheer for you when you
have to step away. Great. Thank you. Ok. Thanks. When I cry during that item. It's
not about my mom. It's about all the dogs that end up at the Humane Society and the
cats here. I'm here representing the cats. Ok. All right. So we have, uh, Colette
Kale from Public works as well as Eric Kuzma, our Deputy Director of Public Works
um, to discuss tree removal, brave souls and the irony of asking for permission to
cut trees and vegetation on earth days. Not. Yeah. Yeah. Well timed, well timed
and asking this tree hugging board to do that too. Do you have the names of all the
trees as we go through this? No,
that's all those greenhouse gas emissions by the little I have gone to the, I
have gone to the community meetings and this is a great place. So I'm just, I'm just
teasing about triaging being the number one. I don't know why I get so much pleasure
from cross section drawings of roads. It just seems like, oh, man, if everything
could be laid out so clearly and you know how it's gonna work, but please, um well,
as you know, from our request, uh public works is in the design phase of uh
the project that the board approved some time ago for improvement of bike and pedestrian
facilities um from the Chimica crossroads up to um HJ Carroll Park.
And um most of the work related to that facility, it's a multi use trail separated
from the highway by a swale um is going to happen in the state right of way. But
our current design shows that there may be some minor cut and fill on the neighboring
property, which is the Brookwood Glen plat. Can I control it? Let me
see here.
It's just a scroll down. I think it's a PDF. Yeah. So this is actually um
superimposed layout of the design current design on an aerial photo um
or just a, a regular photo showing the travel lane, a shoulder, the swale 5
ft swell. This would actually be the multi use path and a shoulder or um
a vasal, I'm a trail shoulder and that says it's a 2 ft shoulder, but that line is
so narrow. It was, that's why we're here today, right? Well, actually the shoulder
will actually be on the state, right? Of way. What we're here today to talk about
are some minor cotton fills that may take place, um, to the right of the shoulder
in the, on the lots, um, of Brookwood Glen. Um, so that's
so the shoulder to the road is actually gonna get more narrow and then that where
there is shoulder now will be turned into a swale. Is that, am I reading that? Right?
And we're the, uh, the, the travel lane with, we're gonna reduce, well, travel lane
211, surprising because what should have been or seemed to be such a simple project
took nearly two years of trying to shoehorn into that. So you're narrowing it, not
because of speed concerns, but just because of the fitting the trail in. Well, I
think, I mean, it theoretically we have AAA secondary benefit of reducing speed.
I mean, there, there is, there is a research that demonstrates you've heard road
diet before you take the LA and you shorten it. I mean, it's just where the stripe
is. But yeah, if you're stuck between two really wide lines or not stuck, then you
tend to drive faster. If you kind of gotta keep it between the lines, then slow down.
So this is the first time I've had a conversation as a commissioner about reducing
the width of a state highway. How's that going with the state? Well, that's part
of what took us all this time. That and then, and then a multi use trail width, um,
is, should be 10, they've actually bumped it up to 11. So we had to get it down to
eight to get it to fit. And then it should have a shoulder on both sides. Um, but
we're using the swell on the left side in that cross section to satisfy the shoulder
requirement, uh, for the trail, not the road. So, again, shoe horning it in there.
So let me go to the, um, this was the plat of Brookwood Glen.
Um, the highway along here and the plat when it was re um approved
in 1970 called for a green belt, a 20 ft green belt that I've highlighted in yellow
here along that highway right of way. Um We couldn't find anything in the files to
talk about or to explain or justify why that green belt was set up. There's not a
homeowners association, the, um, restrictions on that green belt um, are related
to cutting trees and vegetation, giving the board of county commissioners the sole
right to approve to give permission for cutting of any vegetation in that green belt.
The green belt um extends over each lot. It's not a separate community owned
green belt, it's just 20 ft on the westerly side of each of those blocks that abut
the highway. So, um,
the actual restriction is in under a section called Protective Covenants. And if
you could read this, it says no cutting of trees or brush. Um Can you read that?
Can I get
the area with that written permission of the board of cutting? Yeah, except by permission,
written permission of the Warden County Commission on. Oh, yeah. Um The power.
Yeah, that too.
So um so we're here today because we're anticipating the possible need of doing some
minor cutting and filling um in that green belt area. And before we approach the
neighboring property owners to start negotiating for acquisition of temporary construction
easements from each of those, we want to make sure that we have the county's per
county commissioner's permission if we're successful in negotiating easements to
remove whatever vegetation is needed for the project. Um There was a
question of whether we should negotiate those easements first and then come back
for permission. It was kind of a chicken or the egg thing. But, um, well, that was
my question is, well, have you talked with the property owners yet? So I know we've
had community meetings and I know a number of folks showed up and some were I there
was that picture with the, the road that runs internal to this development. Um Brookwood
Glen, that's fern way. Yeah. And there was some interest in why couldn't you use
fern way? And then there was some people who were like, don't use fern way. And so,
um I'm, I'm imagining there will be input about folks encroaching on
folks what they consider their property because they're not thinking about these
restrictive covenants. Right. And then I think that some of those lots have
built into those green areas because when you drive down the road there you can see
some people are built out right up to the edge of the property. Yeah. You even see
some fences in this, um, a
or a photo diagram. Yeah. So that's gonna be an interesting. Are you gonna stick
with us for that piece of work? Celeste and sorry? Sorry. Uh Well, we'll have to
see about that. No promises. Yeah. Oh, ok. Yeah, you can kind of see a fence right
in here. I'm not sure if that's in or out of the 20 ft zone. Um, a couple of things.
Uh We did obviously look at use of fern way as the alignment for this, um, trail,
not motorized trail. Our concern was all of the driveways that people will be backing
out of their driveways, right? Um, to that and from a safety point of view, I mean,
right now I think the kids do use burn way as the cut, but once we have this
multimodal trail, um, I suspect it will get more use than that neighborhood. It's
a very logical concern. Yeah, the driveways. That makes complete sense. So, and our
use of the property, um, again, these would be temporary construction easements.
So, um, not a permanent encumbrance on the property. Um,
so you know, not the same impact to those property owners as a permanent easement
would be or any, um, you know, actual improvements to that area, the number of trees
is fairly small. We don't think it will, you know, significantly impact the visual
um from the highway into that uh development, which, you know,
based on the record that we have, I think the intent of that green belt was really
more to provide a visual barrier between the highway and, and the development rather
than to preserve some native. But that's, you know, that's just based on the fact
that the board was given permission to allow cutting of the vegetation as opposed
to a Homeowners Association or it might be more plats. I don't know, some sort of
arbitrary authorization, any cutting we would need to do would be part of the temporary
construction activities. Yes. Ok.
Well, I'm happy to make a motion if you guys are ready. Mhm.
The other bone. No, not chemo. Um I'm happy to move that we approve sign in the attached
permission to remove trees and shrubs from the Brookwood Glen Belt area to accommodate
a public works project. Thank you for your clear staff work on this colette and I
am also happy to second that motion. It um a little for the discussion. I if we could
just go back to Heidi's question about um outreach to landowners and has any of that
happened. And um just curious, your your impressions. It's a little premature for
us to start approaching regarding acquisition of easement because I don't think uh
all of the environmental review has taken place yet. So were sensitive to um the
rules regarding starting negotiations versus having all of the environmental documentation
approved. We have had some outreach of meeting at uh the tri area community center.
Um I think one person showed up from that, but um again, we were anticipating
starting to approach property owners and have them say, well, wait a minute, don't
you need county commissioner approval before you get there? So, um it, it's just
nice for us to have that box checked, you know, as we go into negotiations.
So the answer is no, we haven't had direct one on one communications with the property
owners yet. Ok. So this is just 11 step in the process, one box to check. All right,
any further discussion,
all those in favor of the motion, please. And to keep by saying
a car,
all right, we um probably should wait until 11 for our next agenda item since we
have it marked on here. So if you don't mind bearing with us another 15 minutes,
pam knows the routine and you've got time for briefing this. Yes, I will do. My briefing.
Uh Last week was a bit of a funny week. My husband had COVID and so I was continuously
like, should I be going to this meeting? And do I feel sick and testing multiple
times a day and you made it through unscathed
and uh techniques? Yeah. Yeah, we successfully isolated. Um, so here with you on
Monday, Monday afternoon, I went up to uh WCOM County where I was, um, doing a sea
Grant, Washington C advisory board meeting. Um, did meet with a dear friend who is
the housing director for City of Bellingham. Um, my takeaway from that conversation
is adult family homes. We have landed on that as a real sweet spot. Um How's that
different than a boarding house? Um Well, there's a funding mechanism associated
with them. So for services, so recognize it as a housing type that
is can be, some services can be reimbursed. Um but they have found that to be a real
sweet spot for the right scale for people to get the wraparound services that they
need but be in a residential environment. Um So um I'll be just digging into that
a little bit more Olympic Angels, right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. We have uh neighbors.
Yeah, excuse me, Olympics.
Um So Tuesday all day with Washington C Grant. Um
interestingly that the president's proposed budget for fiscal year 25 cuts all of
their funding for uh the shellfish programs, which is a bummer, that's one of their
more active programs. We have heard C grant referenced many times in our Shirley
Master program discussions. So, um that would be a real loss. So we'll be advocating
when I'm back in DC. Uh to uh try to ensure that that stays in the budget. The president's
budget is usually not, does not look anything like the budget that Congress passes
when they, when they pass the budget. So um I'm sorry to miss the transit board meeting
but um needed to be in uh sea grant that time. Um Wednesday budget
meeting. Um I think important to call out uh just continued uh drops in sales tax,
recording fees, you know, where we are looking at pretty significance
um shortfall in revenues to our budget. So our sales tax it is declining, continues
to decline. It's looking like a trend. I I don't wanna call out the, is it
280,000 if, if we were to continue on this trajectory uh shortfall for the year,
I'm a little nervous saying that with Stacy listening, but um significant. So um
it's just something to be aware of and keep in mind at a Canal Coordinating Council
uh board of directors meeting. Uh couple of things to be aware of. I think I mentioned
to you that uh we plan on expanding the service area of our in lieu the mitigation
program to allow for more mitigation from the um Bonneville Power Line project that
they are doing. So, they want to mitigate, they have to mitigate within uh uh the
service area that they are in. And so I want to expand it so that all the way to
Clallam County right now, that service area ends around cosine, I believe. Um, and
this would, uh, go all the way up and around ports in all the way. That's good news
for us. It is. Yeah, it's specifically shoreline mitigation. So, uh, more to come
on that probably need some authority to do that from us. Um, uh, the
childcare facility, um, project running into some
challenges. Um Mark you and I should probably meet with the, the childcare team and
uh Judy to think about how we're gonna manage the cash flow. You know, it's hard
these reimbursement based projects. Um Yeah, it's uh tricky and with so many players
involved funders and uh fiscally responsible agents. So, you know, county applied
for some funding hospital, applied for some funding. So it's, it's complicated, be
warned. So we're gonna have to put our heads together on that.
Um Thursday morning, I've been uh volunteering a little bit at Salish Coast with
their bike safety class. It's fun. I get to go play with some kids on bikes for an
hour once a week, enjoying that. Um Especially when it's beautiful spring days, gorgeous
um Board of Health. Uh Is there anything to report out on board of Health? Oh,
I didn't really take action. I learned about the County health rankings. Um And of
course the Public Health he and such a diverse group of folks in the community were
honored for their contributions to public health and so fun to see just how many
people contribute to um our community's health in ways that, you know, I forget,
like, I love that somebody, somebody nominated uh SS excavation for their work on
um uh the cost share program for septic substance, you know, and I, I would not have
made that connection but of course, in solid waste, you know, I mean, the people
say what's public health? I mean, a lot of things that you don't even imagine. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Um I had a great trip to the, to the transfer station on Saturday
too. I'll tell you about that in a minute. It involves some folly on my part. Um
uh Let's see, Friday. I had a um oh, I meant to announce this when Eric was here.
Peninsula Regional Transportation Planning Organization meeting. We were able at
the last minute to get the uh mill road design project listed on the uh
regions, state mobility um priority list, our local list which then rolls
up into the state list and they fund freight mobility projects. A roundabout project.
Yeah. Yeah. Um and design for that and trying to make it a better design than the
one that was that proposed, which we're all a little feeling a little nervous about.
So uh thanks to P RT PO for letting us do a late edition, see if King did all the
work to get that submitted on Beans. Of city and county. So that was accepted. The
trouble was I needed to be at PP RT PO to um uh present that project, which meant
I missed the um beginning of the move ahead local 2020 Transportation Planning Conference,
which I was bum to miss and then had to go into the um our quarterly um county co
ordination meeting on the roundabout front. I just wanna say the roundabout at the
co op. The saver is looking a lot better. I'm gonna be the one person in the community
to say that roundabout is looking better because it was the markings have gone down
and it's a lot more easy to navigate. So hopefully, people will have an easier time
navigating that roundabout even though it's admittedly a compromised one. I think
I do not find it that difficult, but I'm very more tolerant of them. I don't know.
I'm just trying to be positive. It just got better. Yes. Yeah, that sounds great.
My transportation story involves around that. So back to that too. Um uh
biggest news from the Kenny Coordinations meeting is we have a plan for roadie parade.
Um So it sounds like there is interest in kind of status quo staying with our entry.
Um It was not interest from anyone in, in using cars this time. Everybody seemed
to want to walk. Um Although we did men, you know, just mention we should, we'll
keep the car available for anyone who has mobility issues, who doesn't want to. And
I did get the county's, uh, email from Roadie. So, who's gonna coordinate? Because
I coordinate last year with Roadie. Generally we just go in on the sheriff's, um,
entry. I think we had our own entry last year. We were not. Yeah. So I, maybe I'll
f forward it to. I can, I can do it. I, I usually check in with Rita until they were
gonna join the sheriff again. Ok, I'll forward you that email. Ok, thank you. Um
And as usual, you know, kids invited, we'll have the um banner and
yeah, uh it was definitely interest from a number of department directors. Um, you
know, we generally don't ask staff to join because that feels like a work obligation.
So, but people are welcome to join us if they like and bring their families along.
Um Saturday went to the connectivity fair. It was great, spent a few hours there.
And um, yeah, had many great conversations. Um
We're sorry to miss the, the housing panel. But yeah, no, just really good all around.
Um After the connectivity fair went to the transfer station, entered, entered the
roundabout near the co op, did, did that hard right turn. And the, the old barbecue
at the back of my truck fell out the strap that I, I had to type in the rules. It
was sharp and I was in an unfamiliar truck and, you know, maybe not paying enough
attention, user error for sure. Um, and so it fell out of the truck, smashed, you
know, to bits in the road and two trucks stopped right behind me. Really strong guys.
They picked up that barbecue like it weighed £10. Yeah, Rico, and I struggled to
get it in the truck. They just picked it up and threw it like it was nothing. Um,
picked up all the debris, put it in. And, um, I was embarrassed and humbled and grateful.
Yes. Very impressed that they were, that they were so cheerful about helping out
and it was like done in a flash. So there was some goodwill at the people are hungry
for any picture they can post of that roundabout and screwing up in the roundabout.
I'm glad it was quickly negotiated. Yeah. And they got to the transfer station. I
couldn't believe it. Saturday afternoon, it was empty. There was no, no, I made my
first trip to the transfer station on Saturday as well. We had a wine cooler and
the compressor broke and I can't buy the coolant anymore. And so this beautiful thing
just went into the garbage but the staff, very helpful. Very cheerful. Polite. Yeah.
Great team out there right now
does to Al
Cassin 20 bucks? It was, I was prepared to pay a lot more. Well, the, the weight
went up too, but when we increased the cost, we also increased the minimum amount
to £240. Yes. I had a full load. How many pounds weight? I don't know. I can't remember,
but it was, I was just prepared to pay 60 bucks and it was only 100 and £20 and it
was. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, is it for my last week?
All right. Um, so maybe, um, we're just a few minutes ahead of our 11 o'clock. I
so want a little, a few minute break break. Yeah. Yeah. Well, J and Pam get set up
maybe with the presentation. Ok. Uh We're gonna take a quick recess until 11 o'clock.
At which time Trisha Brotherton is gonna chair for me and I'll, I'll be back before
1130 so I might even be back to the end of this conversation. All right. Nice.
All right. Ok. Tell me when you're ready, Carolyn. All right, it is
11 a.m. the clock tower told us. So I'll call this meeting back into session and
we'll, uh, we're here for a long awaited discussion of potential action regarding
the operating agreement for the Jefferson County Animal Shelter and related services.
We're joined by, of course, Mark Cawley, who's been doing the work on this from the
county site. Thank you. Mark as well as Gender pre the fair 90 days in new Executive
Director of the Jefferson County Humane Society. Yeah. Yeah. Looking for housing.
It's always, yeah. And of course, Pam Polisi, the, the, the board president as Well,
so I'll, I don't know, Mark. Do you wanna introduce just a couple of words? Um, I
think Greg, you said the long awaited, uh, long anticipated and this is something
that should have happened long ago. Um, caring for, um, for animals that are abandoned
or, um, that are found in the wild, that need care. And this is the organization
that takes care of those animals in a humane way. And, um, and this is a governmental
function and the county up until now has, um, actually charged them money for the
privilege of using our facility. And we're gonna flip the table. Um, we're gonna
pay them, um, to begin with 50,000 and, and then January of next year, you'll send
us an invoice for the utilities for this year and then we'll reimburse you for those.
And so, um, so this year, the cost will be about 50,000 and then in January of 2025
I, it'll be around 63,000 and then there's an escalation clause in the agreement
where the annual payment goes up 3% a year. And so, um, anyway, I'm delighted you're
here and I'm gonna turn the floor over to you so that you can press the board and
let the public know if they don't know already what it is. You do and how do you
do it? Can I ask one question on that preamble? Mark? You said that next year it
would be 63 but in the very long 53 in there and then it
goes up increments, utilities we're going to get, find out what utilities are, these
will be what they are, right? They escalate but the 53% right. But so on page
three of 24 of the agreement, it says.
The county shall provide 50,000 per year in 2024 increasing 3% in every subsequent
year covered by this agreement. For clarity. These amounts are 2025 51 5, 51,500
but you just said 63 I think. Ok, so that's estimate with estimated utilities put
in. Ok, I just need to clarify, that is going to be reimbursed after this year,
about 12,000. So that, that's kind of, I just thought if anyone is reading that,
that wasn't clear, there wasn't a bright line between those two numbers. So,
um well, we're happy to be here. We have brought no sad, tragic photos of animals.
So we are not going to pull heartstrings too terribly so you can relax. Um We uh
as you know, we were here last fall and we're happy to be encouraged um to develop
a new agreement that actually give us some, some funding for, for our programs. We
um I think the agreement before you today will be really beneficial to our important
work um for the community. And we're very grateful to mark for his patients and,
and to you for asking some good questions at a meeting that, that you attended. Thanks
for that. Uh So it took a while and then the legal department got a hold of it and
it took a little longer. But um we think that in addition to getting some much needed
financial support, you know, the the new agreement updates the code references and
includes current shelter management um language and I think spells out nicely the
expectations for, for both parties and Kudos to Philip on Tucker for his work on
this agreement. Um So I don't have a lot, a lot more to say except um we're happy
to be, to be welcomed. And uh I will introduce a little more our new executive director,
Jen Dupree, uh as you know, she started in January. Uh She's got a solid background
in shelter management and has already made a lot of positive changes at the shelter.
So we're looking forward to our partnership with, with Jefferson County and to providing
more and better services for all the folks in the county. And um I'll turn it over
to Jen unless there's any questions yet, but we'll, we'll be, we're happy to answer
anything when we get done with the presentation. Ok, sounds good, thanks, ma'am.
Um Yeah. So my name is Jen Dupree. I'm very happy to be here. I have been with the
uh Community Society of Jefferson County since late January of this year. Um I previously
was at Kentucky Maine Society as their behavior manager for a few years and have
a long history with nonprofits in general, but particularly in the animal welfare
industry. So, um as was previously mentioned, there's been a lot of ground work that's
been laid for me as I came into this role and there's been a lot of time and patients
involved with working through this contract and coming up with an agreement that
was being proposed today. Um So my role here today is really just to talk to you
guys a little bit more about what we do at the shelter. Um The services that we do
provide for the residents and what the uh financial support that is outlined in this
contract will enable us to do more of. So I've prepared a very brief presentation.
Um So while time for any questions that you guys may have, um And as PM said, there's
no pictures of anything in here. Um It's really more just statistic based just so
you guys have a really good idea of what it is that we're looking to do and how you're
gonna be supporting us if you choose to move forward with this agreement. So let's
jump right in. Yeah. So our vision, we uh just
confirmed a vision and mission statement for the shelter. So HSJCW A envisions a
future in which all companion animals receive compassionate care and appropriate
housing. And we are on a mission to improve the lives of companion animals and people
through community engagement and education, encouraging responsible pet ownership
and providing high quality public services that support animal welfare. So let's
talk a little bit about what those services are. So, these are a few of the ways
that we currently serve the residents of our county. Um One of the biggest ones is
the surgery. So this is based on data from 2021 through 2023. So the annual average
number of surgeries that we perform per year is about 655. And of those roughly 75%
serve the low income residents of our community if you guys weren't aware, um The
current running cost of a stay at a private veterinary clinic is anywhere from 8
to 9 or excuse me, 800 to $1000 for a dog. Yeah. Um Our surgeries not only include
the actual surgery itself, but we also microchip and vaccinate and dole tick prevention,
parasite prevention and all of that is for a significantly lower cost uh through
our low income stay in computer program as someone who participated in it. Super
grateful before I was a commissioner. I got my new puppy. Um anyway, and he's a joy.
So a big part of that joy getting him taken care of properly in the initial months
of his life by you guys. Uh We also administer roughly
827 vaccines per year. Um As well as, uh, inserting microchips, which really helps
with reuniting pets with their owners when they do become lost. Um, we issue a roughly
900 licenses per year to resident animals. Um, particularly for dogs. It's not required
for cats as you probably know. Uh, we also perform about 360 adoptions or rehoming
per year. The majority of those our adoptions to individual, um, pet owners, uh,
with re homing, sometimes we will transfer animals out to other animal welfare organizations
that are better equipped or have more services or um support in order to meet the
the needs of those individual animals. And then we also do what we call End of Life
services. So, um individual owners can request euthanasia if their pet is at the
end of life and, or private cremations. And we typically do about 64 of those per
year, which is something that a lot of people don't want to talk about because it
is a sad, but it's something that's very necessary. Um The cost of cognation varies
greatly. The cost of using, it varies greatly at local veterinarians as well. Um
But it's much more expensive than what we offer to the general public, especially
in times when they are breathing. So even though we provide all the
services and it's wonderful that we're able to do that, there's still a greater need
in our community. So a few pieces of that are the physical capacity of our current
facility, we see about 650 animals come through our doors every year. And even with
that, there are still typically 10 to 15 dogs on our wait list wanting to come in
to be rehomed at any given time. Um We try to cycle through those as quickly as we
can, but length of stay is up, um partially because of disease control issues. So
there is no isolation or quarantine area in our current facility really for cats
or dogs, but particularly for cats, which contributes to the spread of upper respiratory
infections, G I infections, which then makes the length of stay for those animals
longer, which means we can get fewer animals through our doors. So that weight list
continues to grow. Um overpopulation is still something that we are battling, especially
in the far corners of our county where they are underfunded and or underserved. And
um they're really lacking outreach and those spa services that I just talked about
so that the population just continues to build and build. So those are the the three
key areas where we really need more support and able to reach out to the community
to help solve these issues. So your support through this contract would enable us
to do many things. But to summarize that additional feline housing with isolation
and quarantine areas. So we are in the beginning stages of researching this, but
we are looking to put roughly a 400 square foot prefabricated modular building on
the site currently to house all cats, which would allow for the current facility
that we have to be dedicated to housing only dogs which increases small, but it's
an increase in our physical capacity. So we currently have 10 indoor kennels. And
if we were able to move our cats out of that building into this prefabricated modular
unit, we would then have 12 indoor kennels, which doesn't sound like a lot. It's
just two increase, but that's two more dogs that are coming off of our week list
regularly as we cycle a dollar. So and give them rehoming. And then what's the capacity
for cats? I mean, the number of cats you can house in that modular, it varies. Um
For what we can house currently in that modular, we would have to also get additional
kennels within that, but we can have roughly 50 to 60 cats in that building. And
how many you may have already said this. But now I'm in this context, how many do
you traditionally have in the shelter? Like you said, I think there was 10 dogs or
10 or 12 dogs. Yeah, 10 dog kennels. Um What we currently have capacity for it varies
depending on litters and, and whatnot versus adult cats, but usually we can safely
house about 40 cats right now. Um With that being said, uh we are housing them in
areas that aren't really appropriate because of stress levels and there's no separate
area to house them. So they're kind of just behind our front desk sometimes. Um with
dogs walking past constantly, it's just not a great environment. So this is more
space for cats and better space for cats is what I'm hearing. It goes in line with
our vision of appropriate housing for animals. Um Community outreach would also be
supported by this contract. So West Jefferson County, as I mentioned earlier is very
underserved and underfunded when it comes to not only spay and neuter services, but
just general about services in general. Um So we would be able to travel out to those
areas. We don't have all of the the uh information yet on what exactly that looks
like. But we do have plans in the works to be able to travel out there ideally at
least once a month at the very beginning just to start vaccine and microchip clinic.
So we can cut down on the number of animals that are spreading disease and also the
number of animals that are just being lost because they wandered off and they can't
be reunited with their owner because there's no way to trace them back. So we would
like to be able to go out there and use bay meter clinics as well as vaccine and
microchip clinics for the far corners of our county. With the trailer. Is that the
idea? So the trailer is not gonna be able to be moved. We would be looking at purchasing
a van that would essentially to pack everything up and do just a mobile spa or a
vaccine and microchip clinic. Is that, I mean, Southeast County as well. I mean,
these other marginalized areas, do you think you'll be able to extend services out
there? Yes, there are some areas that have services from other organizations. Um
Still not enough. Um So we would be targeting the areas where no one currently goes
to, which right now is sort of the far western area. Um But certainly the entire
county is what we're looking at. Um Along with community outreach, we have a program
called Mom's Last Litter. And basically the way that works is if someone has a um
female dog or cat who continues to have litter after litter generally because they
can't afford to spay and neuter, then we will spay them off and we will take the
last litter that they have and get them spayed, neutered, microchip, vaccinated and
up for adoption. So we would like to highlight that program a little bit more. And
if we have more funding to support it, then we can get this done a little bit faster
and cut down on the overpopulation and lastly, um proactive owner rehoming. So what
we're looking to do and it might sound a little odd at first, but we are trying to
have fewer animals come into the shelter, all of a sudden show all of the experience
that I have at other shelters show that the fewer to come in, the more you can serve.
So we're looking to increase support for our lost and found animals. We currently
don't really do a lot on social media. We don't have a lot of ways for anyone to
look for these animals. Um There's bulletin boards, there's a couple of all found
uh pages on Facebook, but they're not really fully utilized. So this would allow
us to um increase the support for self rehoming, which is another thing that sort
of up and coming in the animal welfare industry by uh giving the community members
resources of here's where you can go. These are vetted websites, these are vetted
ways for you to start the process of self rehoming your animal that you can't care
for anymore instead of just being stuck on our wait list for months on end. Um It
would also allow us to purchase software that would improve communication with volunteers
and community members to do more um public education outreach as well.
And that is it for the presentation
that yes, of course. I, I I've been asking as we went along. Ok. Oh, well, I have
some questions. Um One of the slides I think you showed said, like there's 360 dogs
adopted kind of on average per year and 650 dogs come in. So I'm just wondering what
happens to that other 300 dogs. So 360 animals total is not dogs and we have about
650 animals total that come through our doors. So the majority of them are adopted
or sometimes transferred to other organizations and many of them are reunited as
well. Um So when it comes to the outcome of that, we do euthanize, um if there are
medical or behavioral issues that we can't um adequately support in our shelter and
the animal's quality life is decreasing because of that. Um But our um life saving
rate is pretty impressive. We're at about a 95% life saving rate. So what that means
is that roughly 95% of the animals that come through our door, walk out with a live
outcome. Um Whether that be adopting to a new home, transferring somewhere else or
being returned to their owner, how many, what percentage do you think are returned
to the owner? Because I would assume that would be the majority. You know, I'm trying
to think about, I just read a lot of statistics on Friday to create this presentation.
I don't know exactly, but I would say at least a solid 30% or so, which is good.
But um compared to a lot of other animal for organizations, because we don't have
a lot of um micro tipping going on. We don't have a lot of that support that I just
talked about that number could definitely be increased if we have more support and
ways for the community to be reunited with their pets. I love the program to, you
know, self self homing. Uh, you know, an animal that you can't care for anymore.
That seems great. You know, anytime you can shorten that chain is, is really good
for the animal too. I know. Um, I guess I'm curious in your mission and vision, you
talked about companion animals. And that was, uh, I mean, I, I think I understand
it but I'm wondering if you can just drill into that and vis a vis the mission of
the Humane Society specifically because there's, you know, you talk about lost animals
and, and you know, there's lots of feral animals too, you know, bunnies and Hadlock.
I don't know, but you talk about the nexus with companion animals and what those
are. Yeah. So companion animals right now in our current facility, we are only set
up to serve as cats and dogs. We don't have appropriate housing or space to do any
other species that could also be companion animals like rabbits, um, livestock and
guardian animals, um, pocket pets, lizards, reptiles, that sort of thing. So all
of those are companion animals. Um, but we are only set up right now to serve cats
and dogs. Um, we also have a barn cat program that goes into that. So even our barn
cats and that, that means feral cats are cats who can't really be housed indoors,
um, for various reasons. Um, they still fall under the companion animal, um, category
and that's really just a, a term that is used in animal welfare. Um, it's not specific
to a particular species. Ok. Ok. Another question. Um, no, I mean, how much
does a spay and neuter cost if you're not low income at the, at the Humane Society
versus the eight or $900. So, due to Washington, well, not just the national but
Washington State law, we're not able to perform surgeries and you fall under the
low income status. Oh, got you. Ok. What is that like under 100% of ami or what's,
what's the threshold? I believe it's 80%. I have to go back and check. Ok. I thought
the slides at 75% of the spay and neuters are low income. They are roughly 75. All
the others are just people that you have to do it as an animal, an animal that comes
in the animals that come to us that are either relinquished by their own or who are
strays that we end up for adoption. So that, that's what makes up the other 25% isn't
a neuter. Much less invasive than a, than a spa. They cost about the same. No, much
worse than Yeah, sorry. Just for my own edification that any other questions? Well,
I appreciate Mark. I know this has been a long time coming. You know, we definitely,
it's great to see how this investment in our humane society can pay dividends downstream
as well. Um And you know, of course that we just decommissioned your public road,
right. Uh Yeah, but still, don't worry, we're still gonna take it. Well, I mean,
I would say I have no question. But, um, you know, when I was reading through this,
there's a clear public benefit to having the Humane Society operating and operating
as effectively as possible. And one of that is their partnership with our J CSO animal
enforcement officer. And that's, that's quite a bit of work. And I was wondering
if you could the 24 7 drop offs and I wonder if you could characterize it all that,
that how much that line of business brings to you. Um, in terms of the number of
animals that do you have any sense or, you know, how much activity, um, the animal
enforcement officer at J CSO, I mean, how, how often do you see that? Um, we don't
see air that often, I would say on average and it really depends on what time of
year or two. There's, there's a cycle that goes with that, uh, especially with kitten
season, which is ranking up now, but I would say on average, we probably see 3 to
4 dogs a month come in. So fewer cats come from animal control. Um, you gotta be
a really bad cat to come in a bad cat.
Ok. Ok. Um, I, I feel like you already answered this, but are you a cat person or
a dog person?
I have a cat but I, I'm actually kind of split 5050. My dog passed away a few years
ago and I just haven't been in a position to adopt another dog. So, yeah, one of
each at the moment. I mean, I have both too but, you know, they always have a favorite
kid. Don't you feel like you always ask me that everywhere I worked at before? And
I, I honestly don't, I like them equally. I mean, I, I like both dogs and cats too,
but I, I always thought I was a dog person. I've recently discovered though, I have
both, you know, livestock dogs and, you know, inside dogs. And I am a cat person.
I'm much better at training a cat than a dog. See, I'm glad you said that because
cats can be trained. A lot of people don't realize that. Yeah. No, I mean, you know,
you know, repetition and everything. Yeah. No, it's, and I'm also really bad at training
dogs and I might just have lower standards for training. I'm definitely personally
a dog person, but I adore cats as well and realized recently that I have quite a
few cat people in my family and this came up because we're having a conversation
and I learned about patios and I'm like, you paid how much to have a kio bill. I
am an indoor outdoor cat person. Yeah. I'm like, but I was, like, fancy Caio anyway.
So I think, you know, it's important to have love for both and all the other critters
that are out there. We have a parrot in our house,
paying an animal for generations. Right. Yeah. She, she's in our will to our goddaughters
and I, I've let them know that, but I'm happy to make a motion that we approve an
operating agreement for the Jefferson County animal Shelter and related services.
All right, I'll second it. But I have one more question. Ok. Um, a tension that I've,
I've encountered with the Humane Society in years past is the, the need and the requirement
to license dogs when so few dogs are licensed. And I'm just wondering if you can,
you know, in the rural area and folks feel like, you know, I feel like it's an additional
burden. So make the case for me why folks that are out in rural Jefferson County
should be licensing their dogs? Well, for one, reunification, um, especially if the
dog is not microchipped. And oftentimes that's the correlation we see is if they're
not licensed, they're also not microchipped. So if your dog wanders off, if someone
drives by and they think it's a stray, even though it's right outside your property
line and they pick it up and bring it to us. That's how we get you back in touch
with the owner. We have record of that license so we can make contact and keep it
all out of the shelter. Great. Thank you, Jen. That's a great reason. Yeah, that's
a great reason. Ok. I don't think we need a public comments in front of this. It
was well posted before. So I will call the question. It listed all in favor of the
motion on the floor. Indicate by saying II I, all right, we have a new agreement.
Thank you so much. Great to meet you, Jen. Nice to see you again, Pam and happy to
be supporting the human society as we should just. Oh yeah, and we
you missed a great presentation. Ok. When we're looking for housing, are you looking
for in Port Townsend in the
to the ground? Thank you so much, Jen. Thanks so much. Have a great day.
All right, I'll pass it to you, Charine. Let me get back. We did approve the operating
agreement. Yes, we did. Thank you after the hard questions.
All right. It's Mark for
nice work. Mark. I know you've been working on this for a while. So
gotta throw kudos to Philip. He's got so much, he's juggling. We just keep throwing
more at him. Um, Mark, do you wanna do some briefing from last week? Sure.
Uh get to my calendar here. All right. Well, on Monday the 15th of course, there
was a board meeting day and then, um, Commissioner Brotherton had a Zoom meeting
with, uh, Diane mcdade the to um, sort of strategize the first, uh Aquatic Center
of Task Force meeting. Uh, it was a great meeting I thought and then on Tuesday,
um, ho ho some of this has already been talked about and others. But, uh, we have
the Chimica Creek, uh, the drainage district, um meeting uh with our uh consultant
and with other important folks to talk about a path forward. Um And then at two o'clock,
uh a meeting um with Aaron and John Kevin street's been traveling a lot, so he's
been missing these uh 18 meetings on a regular basis. Um And then, uh and then I
met with a staff from the Central Services department to talk about the reorganization
and Tracy's departure.
And then on Wednesday, we had our initial oh, Tax blues breakfast, which I thought
was outstanding, nice social event, good food. Uh And then at 830 we met with uh
the fraternal order of police and the support services staff to begin negotiations.
And my sense is that uh we, we're gonna conclude an agreement with them pretty quickly
and they did not have a lot on their list and we presented the, the wage uh offered
to them and they uh got a pretty good reception based on reading the room.
And then on Thursday the 18th,
pretty empty day, just a gender review with Kate in the afternoon. And then uh on
Friday, um we met with the Gravity software people uh to go over the final terms
of their offer. And then I switched to a meeting with um Scar Melanson, um Veronica
Shaw, Apple Martin and uh Philip and sucker to talk about the draft policy regarding
signage. Um that remains a very touchy issue
and then um uh another meeting on the drainage district and that was um what he,
you said uh with Melissa Ploy and Phil Pucker to begin, uh to look for answers to
the legal questions that have been posed. Then they would have the quarterly county
coordinations and then the abandoned uh impounded vehicle discussion with the sheriff
and Heidi. And so that took me to the end of Friday
and then we saw you at the Connectivity Fair on Saturday. Yes. Yeah, two hours there.
And that was fun. I, I made it through the whole room because I don't know everyone.
It was astounding how many people I knew what connections there. Yeah. Yeah. And
just like, you know, it, it's supposed to be for the public to come and learn. But
like everybody I knew had a table and I was like, who, who are the participants were?
Yeah. And then of course, everybody, you know, with six different hats, like probably
all sat at different tables throughout the day. So for me, the most significant thing
was, um I I grabbed a couple of, uh, volunteer pamphlets for, you know, after
employment, I'm gonna have time on my hands. So you volunteer for Echo or AmeriCorps?
Seniors. Echo is, does a lot of great work they did when I had my hip surgery, they
loaned the equipment which is super helpful. And then my gym buddy, Mark Lannon,
uh, his wife, Jane works at public works. Uh, he's a driver, works for them. He,
he gets a real good feeling about helping people that otherwise wouldn't have transportation
and you have so many great cars you could ask how much they want to be delivered
in.
Great. All right, should we look ahead? Sounds good. Ok, I go first. I mean, I can
go first just to shake things up for you. I feel like you always get, you, go ahead,
go ahead, Greg, you go. Um I am here with you guys today and then ferrying teenagers
off to a rap show in Seattle after work. So I leave at four. You can, if you want,
if you a Kenny Mason fan, I know I don't even know who it is. That sounds fun to
me. But uh you know, there's a few opportunities before they don't even let me drive
them places. So I think you got to seize it where you can uh tomorrow, I guess a
question if Heidi is planning to go to the uh community wildfire preparedness plan,
final advisory group meeting, meeting and I was planning on it. Oh, good. And I won't,
um, I'd hate to make a forum issue. It's like, yeah, that would be a awful, uh, I
did take a look through it. I have no notes so I don't have a lot to add. So I will
not go to that. Then I will go to the E DC finance committee meeting and then the
South County, uh, harm reduction meeting at one. Then I'll be meeting with Mark and
Judy and Sarah at 330 to kind of, you know, get people going on the, the shelter
plan development on Wednesday. I will be joining many dignitaries. I'm sure some
of you for the Point Hudson ribbon cutting. We get to ride on a boat. I'm going to
be riding on the boat too. Yeah. Well, but we have to get back in time for fun board.
Right. Well, they, all the speeches are supposed to be done by two. So if we do a
little like I gotta, I gotta leave straight after, yeah, leave a car down at point
Hudson, we can just arrange a little carpool so one of us can leave a car at the
boat yard, one can leave a car at the Point Hudson and so we can zip back for the
230. I have to. Yeah. Ok. So all three are going to be on the boat. Yeah, I mean,
not talking about, you know, just port business. That's fine. We can talk about port
business, right. I'll stay on the bow, you stay on the stern, you go out, you go
and drive the boat bows the front. Yes, that's the stern. Just kidding.
Um, and then I do have an important housing fun board meeting and then off to Tacoma,
of course, for class, um, where we basically, I mean, and you guys, no one said no
to, uh, put, putting the staff member kind of with the Housing fund board. Does that
sound ok for now? But it seems a little a fun board. I don't know, I mean, it's like
bh ac has a staff member too. I mean, often we don't have capacity to do, do even
things like arrange for all of the uh um awardees to come back and give uh you know,
to schedule them out through the year. So we can have a presentation back. Maybe
it should just be the housing board though then, not just because the fund in the
anyway, it makes sense for now. Yeah, because it's the entity we have that has the
right folks at the table, right? But there needs to be a relationship between that
person and someone to evaluate performance, do performance appraisals and, and that
will be working and yeah. Yeah. And now I'm trying to think of how, how to describe
that relationship because ultimately they answer to us, the Housing Fund Board is
the only advisory um I know, I, I, you know, I'm having the first conversation in
depth conversation with Sarah and Judy tomorrow. So hopefully we'll get more out
if you guys are. But um you know, talking, talking that with House Fun Board. Um
and then I missed the last Jef com meeting. So I look forward to Jef com on Thursday.
And then we have our monthly no DC meeting and then I have on Friday just the, my
weekly pool meeting with Diane mcdade getting ready. It looks like the 30th from
4 to 6 will be our first meeting uh for the uh healthier together task force the
following week. So getting going, trying to schedule that it was challenging to get
it scheduled. I think some of the folks have kind of normal work week jobs too, so
it'll probably be an evening or weekend thing. So we shot out some regular meeting
dates and are already windy housekeepers working with me and doing great at keeping
everyone informed and getting information out to folks. And so look forward to digging
into that. Now, that's my week. Ok. So my week ahead. Um
I feel like staying here with you today is a foregone conclusion. So tomorrow I have
the in the morning, the final advisory group meeting for the community wildfire prevention
protection plan. But you know, I know that there's, it'll be interesting to hear
what comes out of that. There's more, more to come on that, right. The city still
got their own. Well, I think, but it makes sense. I mean, they have, at their scale,
have to do a more detailed plan perhaps for, but they're still nested within ours.
Right? Um, uh In the afternoon tomorrow, I'm meeting with Anna mchenry
and to start planning a retreat for the um opioid
funding. So we're gonna pull together the Behavior Health advisory committee to have
a special meeting retreat to talk about the opioid funding and how we wanna address
that use that in the community. Hm. Um And then I have a community foundation board
meeting in the afternoon and a personal um I'll just tell you, I keep saying I have
this personal meeting every Tuesday. So we're doing um weekly uh practices celebrations
for my mom for seven weeks after she passed. So every Tuesday when I can make it
every Tuesday, we're doing it and it's sometimes hard to schedule. But anyway, it's
usually in the afternoon after the last meeting. Um Wednesday morning, I am
tentatively attending the straight er N coffee funding round coffee, which is a funding
round table of straight er N members talking about funding opportunities and potential
collaboration opportunities within the straight um local integrating organization.
I have a meeting with a forest um advocate after that. And then I have to take my
lawn mower to Henry Hardware rental place. Henry Hardware in for Townsend, they fix
lawnmowers. Yeah. My mom's been taking it. They're taking, you're literally driving
by and two other places that lawnmowers. I know. But my mom's been taking it to Henry
and the guy anyway. And since the Honda shop shut down where she got her lawn mower.
Anyway. Long story short, there's an advertisement for Honda lawnmower repair. There's
also about highway 20. Um,
Papa, papa she got, and then Olympic equipment rental also does lawnmower repair.
This is now a public service moment where we're talking about all the lawn mower
repair opportunities in the community, but I, I fix it yourself. What's the problem?
Let's try to troubleshoot it. A piece flew off and went missing in the yard somewhere
and then the handle fell off while I was mowing on a steep hill and I fell down.
It was a, it was a dramatic moment. Anyway, it did shut off, but that's because that
piece fell out and I was thinking it was an intervention from my mom. Oh, anyway,
nice saving you. Now, we're talking about, I had a friend cut his toe off, mowing
the lawn. I always wear solid toe shoes. I was so, um, let's see. Where was I lawnmower?
Ok. And then I will join you for The Point hud to Breakwater reopening party, which
I'm super excited about. I've been watching that project for, I feel like has it
been a decade? Mhm. So, um, and then we have a community Foundation impact event
at the Maritime center after that Thursday, I'm gonna attend the Parks and rec advisory
board tour and duck out to go to the Realtors Association meeting in Port Ludlow.
And then wait, when is that?
I thought it was Thursday Parks and rec advisory board from 9 to 2. And the Realtors
Association meeting is at Port Ludlow from 10 to 1139 to 2. A long parks and rec
meeting. Yeah, it's a tour, the park, the park. Ok. So
then in the evening I'm going to attend the Che um Teen
Center reception they're having because they've done a lot of work on the Teen Center
at the Cheimi School. And then I am officially, I guess meeting with my campaign
team. I have a fantastic team. But anyway, so that's happening. Um, just the season
on Thursday evening and then on Friday. Um, I,
ok, this is, yeah, I have a conflict but it, it's gonna be ok. Uh, Friday, I have,
um, the Substance Use Disorder summit at a SAS O event at the John Wayne Marina,
which I would like to attend, but it conflicts with the county coordinator response
meeting from 12 to 130 here in the chambers. Anyone available Friday from 12 to 130?
The radio show, I have a, a one o'clock meeting. But, um, it's in person. Yeah,
right here. Um, ok. Completely clean day.
But, uh, let me think on it a little I can for you. Ok. What is it the county coordinator,
respond house and town police department. And you know, the service providers that
are kind of the first responders on family issues from 1230 to 1 30 12 to 130. I
mean, if it's in here then you could zoom in. Oh, they don't usually
have zoom going, but they would all be in the room and Greg could just zoom in. It
might be nice to talk to them about the shelter. Yeah. Well, I, I got it on my calendar.
I fed the chem gun fire hall because that's what sounds fun. That's it. All right.
I'll go next. Uh, tomorrow I have the finance committee meeting. We're looking at,
um, the funding for, uh P RT PO has been the same since, like, I don't know,
90 something, you know, it's like they allocated a certain amount um to administer.
I guess that's not true because it did change from the wash dot running it to local
anyway. It's been the same amount for many years and, you know, it's just not going
very far these days. So, uh, looking for other potential funding sources or structures,
um, the Climate Action Committee at the, in the wrong time zone in my calendar.
Um, I just, I just got two hours back of my day. Um, and new
conflicts, the, the For Tens and Power teams changed their meeting time to align
with the Climate Action Committee. So that's gonna be a problem ongoing. Um See Wednesday,
we'll attend the, the port uh the Jetty ribbon cutting um with a
couple of other conflicts. It's gonna be a little bit tight but, um I still wanna
go celebrate them Thursday. Um I have a, a childcare
meeting uh followed by a gender review with Mark and then a fairgrounds meeting that
evening Friday meeting with our lobbyist, Olympia lobbyist. Um If anyone has any,
anything we wanna discuss, let me know I'll be passing on the, the items that we
shared with W A the priorities for next year. She's definitely interested in. If
there are capital projects we wanna consider for the next legislative session, we
should be um thinking about it now. Um So you could consider the Middle Road project
because there's a lot of agreement and energy and work has been done on that po potentially.
Yeah. Yeah,
we need for the childcare center. Um This is for next legislative session. So we've
got certainly have time that wouldn't be until January. But you know, the sooner
we can start getting those wind up the better than doing the radio show. Who are
you gonna have my sister? Oh, nice. Discovery. Be it. You know what you gonna play
out to? I don't. Yeah. Now that Jim's back, I get to decide that we did waiting around
to die by the be good to as well. It's by towns San that's played by the, what is
it? Called Waiting Around to Die. It's a sad song about trauma but it, it's beautiful.
It's a good one of my favorite songs. Ok. Waiting Around to Die. Yeah. Ok. Thanks
Greg.
So do do like, you know, one with a little bit more up, up. Uh Yeah. Um then have
a uh annual um walk and talk or monthly walk and talk with uh DUA from Jefferson
Healthcare and then um uh check in for the Pug and Partnership Leadership Council
in preparation for a meeting next month. Um And Saturday, I'll be speaking at the
launch party for the Beacon, the new local newspaper about the value of local media.
Yeah, that's pretty much my week. How about you mark? All right. Well,
today, of course, with the board at, at noon, I'm, I'm actually um having a reference
check call with someone from was a uh who's interested in prof I would have to hire
them to find a new.
Very ironic. Yeah. Uh Tomorrow, um I'll join finance committee for a, a
short while. But um, at nine o'clock, we have our final cross your fingers. Hope.
Uh our final advisory group meeting for the community welfare protection plan. I
think we sorted out all the details that um the city raised at the last minute. Um
Then a meeting with Josh and Brent at 11, I guess Brent is back from New York. Uh
two o'clock a meeting and then the meeting that Greg reference the shelter manager
and uh other topics. And then is that a lot of money for it
on Wednesday? Um, on my calendar, it says that's Administrative Professionals Day.
So we need to think about that. We should do some day shower and then, um I'll be
attending with, uh with new p conditioners, the breakwater reopening function. Then
Thursday, nine o'clock, I check my admin board. I'll be in on that for probably an
hour. And then I've got to jump to the negotiations with central services. Finally,
I'm assuming, you know, the difference between a bow and a stern
start. And then we have a general review on the calendar, but we don't have a meeting
on the 29th. So maybe we could do an advanced look at the next week. We can look
at what we have for May 6. Thats like a lifetime away.
And then Friday, I'm on the road south to Depot Bay.
All right. Um Anything else we wanna try to get to this morning?
Uh No, bring my mom back to life. Come on. You guys have the power, don't you? Probably
that's a big enough thing. We should put it on the agenda for, to try to do that.
I think it would require a corn of the community.
Um We, since we don't have an opportunity to talk any other time, um,
we want to think about, um, Thursday. Could we look at calendars and see. Does anyone
have availability to do a lunch with our staff on Thursday, this Thursday. Yeah.
Unfortunately, that's when I'm on the parks, that's when I'm on the parks tour and
the time that I'm at the realtors as well. So I'm already double booked that day.
Um, I could do Thursday. I could do you know Wednesday before the Point Hudson ribbon
cutting too. I, I can do that. Got something going at 11 or something. Make sure
we could be down there by 1230. You do Wednesday? I can. What about you? Mark on
Wednesday? Yeah. Um, we have to be at the boat site at 1230 we went at 11.
We did an early lunch light breakfast. Mhm. It's my favorite time to eat. Anyway.
Where do you wanna go, Carolyn and make sure see is everybody gonna be around, um,
we could go out or bring stuff in, see that for like
rain,
rain, Wednesday, rain Thursday. Thank God Friday. People are pretty jacked up to
you all morning, right? You had the conflicts and you're gonna be at the uh, sud.
Uh, so
we, we're checking with, I have a dentist appointment at eight to remind me, but
I'll, I'll be back and then, um, uh, we have veterans but maybe we can move them
so we'll look into that. So I don't want that.
Um,
ok, so we'll wait to hear from you, Carolyn. Sounds like she. No, we're gonna, we're,
we've concreted that I think if we move the veterans maybe an hour earlier or something,
you know, it works. Ok. Um, and Carolyn, what do you think there would be a
preferred going out versus bringing food in? Uh, we'd like to picnics that before
we've done that. Um, outside. I don't want to speak for everyone, but I think it
just kind of seems like that's kind of fun and lighthearted. Ok. Let's see if it
looks at this point it's not supposed to be raining on Wednesday, midday. It will
not be warm either, but we'll have this room reserved because we, we would have had
to reserve our bedrooms. So if we had to move it indoors, we would have to do. Ok,
great. So we'll plan on that lunch at 11 o'clock on Wednesday. Let me know what I
can do logistically. Sounds good. Yeah. Likewise happy to help. I got nothing before
that so I can always pick stuff up. Ok. Thank you anyone. Uh What's what are current
dietary limitations? I wanna throw my diet out for lunch. Good food. It has to be
good. Ok. Um Greg, are you still uh being careful about the meat that you eat?
Fairly careful but not I can always eat vegetarian options, so we don't have to.
Uh Yeah. No, it's fine. Fine anywhere. Ok, great. Um Zoom Zoom
crash did zoom crash for anyone else? 80 capture did I don't know about four times
but it reestablished connection. I still got Zoom going. Ok. You're on the wifi.
I don't. Yeah. All right now I've got that. I'm on Wi Fi.
All right. Anything else this morning?
Let's reassess until 130. I'll just let you know. I did confirm the feminine is form
of Zarina. That's good. But does it need to be like we say, actress? We don't need
to. That's just a dumb gender of a, or a perfectly fine gender neutral word. I think
there's
a, they used to come up with a good gender neutral salutation
record.
Everybody ready? Does it need to like what you say?
I'm ready now. Hm.
Right. We'll call us back into session this afternoon and um let's jump right
into a continuation of a conversation. Um Thank you to Cindy Jane and Case K for
coming back to join us. We need conversations about our um the goals for emissions
and sequestration that we are um considering that the com committee has recommended
to us. Um So shall I hand it off to you, Cindy?
Oh, good, good to see you. Case.
Nice to see you up, right.
OK.
Yeah.
Happy earth day to you guys.
See
to
the presentation to me. Let not your um sorry, Cindy, were you um uh did you want
to share any, any slides with us?
Ok. OK.
That's OK. Yeah. Yeah.
Yes, great.
Mhm.
Thank you.
Do you know um how they uh define the deferred timber harvest?
I would,
it, it's interesting. I'm a member of a um DNR work group right now. It's the Carbon
and Forest management workgroup. So this is very germane to the work that we're doing
together. It's a very diverse workgroup. And um, deferral has been come a point of
contention, obviously. But yeah, it would be interesting to, I wonder how I can
bring this work to that group anyway. I'll think on that.
Right.
Hey, Cindy, I just heard
so much information comes through this brain, but I just heard that somebody was
at a uh workshop with the Forest Service and I'm hoping that
when somebody else here was at the same workshop or heard about this, but they're
talking about kind of redo re uh invigorating thinning on the National Forest. Have
you heard that
that would affect the, you know, us Forest Service number here? Mhm.
No. Right.
Mhm.
Yeah. Can I, I had a question and this is for the last couple of slides and I know
I've probably asked this before, but I just want to make sure I understand the terms
because there's a, you know, often they don't quite mean the same thing and I would,
I think sequestered means removed from the atmosphere. And this slide title talks
about that too. So you're not talking about storage. But when I think about the UF
US F Forest Service at the most efficient removal by ownership per acre, I feel like
is that missing a variable like per year because, uh,
gotcha. Ok. So that's the, the forest service is trees and that's probably because
of, I mean, that's not aggregated. Oh, wait, that is per acre. So the US FS per acre
removes more carbon per year. But they've been harvesting very little
generally, but often sequestration slows down as the tree gets more mature too. So
I guess that's why I was making sure that the, the time like so every year that forest
sequesters only the carbon that it adds to the tree, right? I mean, it's diminishing
returns in any forest and
it is not.
Mhm
We're not looking at net carbon removal. We're looking at annual carbon removal as
a goal. Is that right?
Ok. And do you have that net annual carbon sequestration numbers? That looks like
this chart? But that how much new carbon is sequestered? I mean, you know, I think
the timber industry would probably say AAA replanted stand is going to sequester
more carbon than an older stand on uh annualized um evaluation.
There's got to be an algorithm that does take that same information and says your
annual sequestration rate was this or you know, is this now right? For trees of this
age class?
Thanks, Cindy. Oh, it looks like case has something to add.
No.
Yes, thank you.
Well, it doesn't quite track in my mind and I I might be fuzzy on it, but you're
talking about net carbon reduction in the previous slide. And here you're talking
about annualized carbon sequestration. So if you take that negative five number,
that's a cumulative of all the storage and everything that's been sequestered, right?
So that number doesn't seem to, you can't, you can't just apply this number to an
annualized basis and have it. Yeah,
I thought you said it was the net CO2 removal
that.
Ok.
Ok. Thank you.
Hey, Cindy, do you have any data on the um uh ability of tree canopy
programs like City of Port Townsend? We will be looking at um you know, these the
your last two bullet points here, address it a little bit, but do we have any sense
of kind of how much sequestration we could expect from, say a citywide or a Countywide
program that was either incentivizing or requiring increasing the tree canopy?
Ok. Because there's such, um you know, multiple benefits too to that, you know, cooling
obviously. Um but I agree small returns, but it's also interesting. It's interesting
to try and true up, you know, um forest health versus carbon sequestration
because things like our county forestry program where we say at the trailhead park,
cut down, cut down a lot of trees, basically thin toothpicks, right? To allow the
trees to grow to a healthy, the other, the trees that were left to grow to a healthy
stature and sequester carbon and sequester carbon. But how do you um how do you quantify
that shift, I guess you have to, you know, in in the management activities, some
management activities are um intrinsically more carbon
sequestering kind of activities and others are the opposite. And so how do we measure
or provide credit in something like this, this um method you're trying to
come up with for those transitionary periods where there may be management activities
happening because we're trying to get to a healthy forest.
Yeah,
and that logically also would apply if the US Forest Service and I did remember it
was Ka Cardinal who mentioned that she had been in a forum with the US Forest Service.
If, if the forest service is going to do, you know thinning for the purpose of healthier
forests, that's a huge, huge number in your report, right? So how do we do we, do
we um avoid or you know, how do we, how do we deal with those management activities
that period of time where that management is happening and those trees are regrowing
and therefore holding more carbon for the future? I don't, it's complicated,
right. Yeah.
No. Right.
Mhm.
Ok. Still nothing on aquaculture an opportunity.
I had the scope of this study.
Um Yeah, I just um how can we, that's um like the 2030 number is pretty uh um bold
for emissions, you know, as we've talked about the way we're able to hit our, our,
our goals last time was uh through a systemic change. And I guess I'm, I'm wondering
what are the changes that we can do to, to try to hit that 59% below emissions by
2030?
Do you know how many numbers on how many cars, single, single occupancy vehicles
we'd have to either replace with electric or take off the road to, I guess, make
a difference. That's a good question.
Transportation is like half of our carbon load. Is that right? More than half? Yeah.
Is it 60%?
That's, that, that, that's not gonna cut it, Cindy. I, you know, we got, we got 50%
more emissions, we have to cut if that's what the electric vehicles can do. So, what
else can we do to achieve the goal
there and di,
through the sense of, um, you know, some of the, the programs that the PUD is doing
incentivizing heat pumps, um, you know, that, that's another one that seems like,
uh, uh, uh, achievable or is doing big work with the heat pumps. They've got, there's
a woods tove bounty in Jefferson County that just kind of standing into Jefferson
County. And we are the, we are taking advantage of it more per capita than any other
county. But anyone with an older non wood stove can get a heat pump installed in
its loo up to like $2500 I think. But pretty much takes out and pays you a bounty
for the old one and pays for the new one cap does a lot of weatherization projects
as well. I'm not sure what the pu is doing on that front. They have rebates.
Um, but,
right,
it'd be great to, it'd be great to promote like, 10 activities, like, take out an
A mili and here are the top 10 things you can do to help offset our emissions. Right.
And I, I mean, I know it's,
but it's important to keep educating the public.
I mean, it seems like hybrid work is an opportunity to, to achieve some of these
goals too. If we incentivize hybrid work, you know, if you can cut out two out of
five, uh, commutes, you're going to reduce emissions, just kind of de facto. And
I, I guess I would love to see some strong recommendations for action that we can
take to achieve these lofty goals. And as Heidi says, I'd love to know where we are
now, you know, how far along the way are we as to case? Because we're halfway to
2030. Mhm.
230.
Next thing's at three, we at 230. So we do it until 230 we could, um, uh, you could
choose to adopt new goals today, um, or not. So, and Cindy Brat is on the line now.
Oh, ok. Um, Cindy Bratz is in the, um, she's with us too. So,
feel free to raise your hand to, if you'd like to join the conversation. I mean,
if you're looking for us to uh ratify these goals. I will, I don't have a problem
with the goals. I, I still don't understand how we could possibly achieve them. So
I, I do, I have a little hesitation, I guess and, you know, wishing for those things
to happen by 2030. So I would love to have actionable items and understand where
we are on that journey, but it doesn't have to happen before we approve them. I don't
think and I mean, I don't know. Ok, here this is kind of your baby. Well, um yeah,
I think it's uh so something about a political question, do we wanna adopt goals
and think that, you know, that we know are not necessarily achievable um or do we
wanna scale them back to goals that we do think are achievable or is it better to,
you know, kind of aim high? Like I was just thinking like, you know, 58.7 sounds
like a lot. But if, if you think about trying to reduce by and I know this, this
is weight and so it doesn't work. But if you think about it like by 10% and uh uh
HVAC transportation, commercial buildings, um consumer goods at food, you know, like
there are both institutional and individual choices that, you know, if you kind of
think about the many ways that you could have a, a uh a, a goal that, you know,
cumulatively, I still don't know that we can get to 58.7 but it's, um, you know,
there are a number of things that we have purview over. Um,
I mean, that's not necessarily true. You know, the state, uh, the state's goal for.
No, let me finish this case. Um, the state has the new, uh, clean building code for
public buildings that, you know, I think right now we are not required to comply
with because we're a small enough county. But you know, maybe we choose to anyway,
zero buildings everywhere. Yeah. Um so and being able to articulate kind of what
the rationale behind the goals we adopt is something I wanna be able to achieve.
Um but you know, they, they, they can still be ambitious. Go ahead case ambitious.
It's different than I'm really.
Hello,
Cindy. You're welcome.
I,
well, I heard I heard the N pr this week that uh uh almost one in four cars now being
sold in the US are evs so we're, we are making real progress.
Oh, sorry. So is it better to, I mean, you know what I said earlier about having
the top 10 things an individual can do, maybe it's the top five things that we can
do with local elected to uh improve the charging infrastructure, ensure micro transit
to get people out of their cars. I mean, we need to figure out solutions not just
at the individual level but what are the best things and then promote those best
solutions for local policymakers out to other elected officials in the state through
maybe WS A or the was a conference or I mean, we need to figure out we need like
a campaign plan. This is my, my, my campaign planning brain not, but I'm actually
not thinking about political campaigns but conservation campaigns in the past. It's
like, how do we get the, how do we turn the right dials and get the right message
out to folks about what those dials are a actions are that will make those um significant
of changes happen. Because I know that a transit where all three of us sit on the
transit board and we look at ridership numbers and it's always like, how can we get
more people on the bus? You know, it's, and they hate it when I say this when I'm
saying it's free, it's fair free, you know. And, um, that's a really good price.
So, I don't know,
Cindy, can I just say, do you know how many documents we get sent every week? We
each have 5 to 1500 pages of reading a week. And so if people can be really helpful
and communicate in other ways. Um And I, and I know it's not just the Jefferson County
Board of Commissioners, if you're talking about local elected being your audience,
it's like, how do we really get the, the most important actions mobilized? It's not
by sending another 100 page memo or even 10 page memo or even
I have a proposal. OK. Um II I think that we are all in agreement about
that about the, the importance of this topic and the desire to set ambitious goals
for ourselves and for our communities. Um And I do think we have a kind of a unique
opportunity in being a rural community that wants to do this. We know that a lot
of the solutions are very urban based um that, that come to us kind of, you know,
from the think tanks and, um, and it's, it's, they're just some challenges in rural
areas, you know, moving away from cars, moving away from propane, moving away from
wood stoves, you know, these are all things that are way harder in rural communities.
And I wonder if, um, if we might throw this back to the Climate Action Committee
and say, will you help us come up with a, a rural road map, what are, you know, and
that could be really identifying, you know, a number of, of actions with, with some
ambitious goals attached to it, you know, be specific about the number of number
or percentage of cars that we'd like to see as ev in the future, given the infrastructure
that we're investing in, identify the number of wood stoves, removed wood stoves,
produce a ton of uh CO2 emissions. Um, you know, and then be able to kind of calculate
from there and come up with a realistic goal based on the actions that we think we
have the ability to achieve. Um And, and you know, again, be ambitious not saying
like this is what we can do. So we should limit ourselves to that. But no, like push
the envelope a little bit. And I think, I think other communities would love to see
more options and some data around things in rural communities that um uh uh I, I
don't know, I think it would be, that could be a really valuable output and that
we could then kind of agree to. And in that, in that road map, you can say we know
we need to reduce emissions ultimately by 58.7% in order to stay at the 1.5 degrees
um temperature increase. Um That's really ambitious. We, you know, we feel like these
are our, our most important actions that we can be pointing towards. Yeah, that,
that makes a lot of sense to me. Yeah. No, I like that idea. I mean, I'm, I wouldn't
be opposed to like stating the goals and then coming back, you know, I mean, if it's,
I'm not sure if there's an important timing thing, but I, I like that plan that you
outlined very much. Well, the road map to get us to these goals are, is what you're
talking about, right? Yeah, hopefully in case.
OK,
is that
Yeah,
I have to say I kind of agree with case and II I would be, I think both are possible
but I, I mean, you gotta have one fixed variable, right? One fixed thing or you're
never gonna be able to make an equation, right? So I'd be OK with this. I have a
couple of clarifying questions. One, this is the total emissions goal. This isn't
broken down by sectors, right? Or do you call it a sector based emissions goal? Because
it incorporates all the sectors.
Got you making it harder fine. We can play advanced. Um I guess what, what are the
uh sequestration goals that you're, you're looking for a recommendation on those
two, right? Or uh adoption 20% and 40%.
Mhm. Cindy. Did you have a comment on the the uh cart and horse? The which
which transfers?
Mhm Case is your hand up again or is that a hold up? That's ok. It's ok.
Well, I have no problem supporting ambitious goals. I just get a little mired in
the weeds but that's a lot of where I sit lately. I love the roadmap idea though.
I mean, it's not one or the other I don't think. Yeah. So I mean, could we say yes,
let's move forward with these goals and we just wanna see some more narrative to
support them, to support the rationale and, and a rationale can be, we need to be
more bold. We don't know what changes in, um, you know, technology will exist. We
don't know if the Nature Conservancy will buy the 30,000 acres in on the west end
that are for sale right now. And then suddenly we're, you know, halfway towards the
goal that you mentioned, Cindy, like, um, who's talking to them about doing that?
Yeah, I imagine rainier is, I'm sure rainier is trying to sell it. Right. Yeah.
Um, and I think too, you know, something we haven't talked about today but just the,
the, the two DNR programs that, you know, we're heavily invested in now. Thanks to
Heidi's good work. You know, like I, I'm curious how far that gets us in the sequestration
goals and, you know, just like kind of gathering more and more of that data um and
demonstrating how uh uh small rural government can move the needle on this and it
would be really valuable
2% so far. 2%. That's so, so far. That's right. We got, we got 1000 acres out of,
out of 100,000 acres. Wait, wait, we got 7, 700 out of 2000, right? And we're looking
for 54,000
and, but still commercial harvest. The US forest service rate is still commercially
harvesting. Some would say very little. Some would say almost none.
Well, I'm, I'm happy to move that we approve the sequestration and emissions goals
as presented here by the Climate Action Committee. I'm happy to second that motion.
All right, it's been moved and seconded and um, you're going to open this up for
public comment. So if anyone in the zoom room would like to provide public comment,
please hit raise hand. It's only on this topic. Go ahead. C
thank you, Cindy. Anyone else like to provide public comments? If so, please hit
raise hands.
All right, seeing that I'll close public comments any further discussion, you know,
call the question, all those in favor of adopting the goals as presented today for
both emissions and sequestration. Please say II I motion carries. Um Thank you all
for all of your efforts. And um I know we've actually just created more work for
the C AC um uh which I will commit to uh helping out with. So,
um anything else before we go to our 230 item?
Ok.
Thanks guys. Thank you all. Ok.
Thank you.
Ok.
All right. Oh, we have a discussion with Philip Pucker
of the deputy presented Kid Attorney on the Johnson and Johnson Opiate settlement.
Uh Ker joined us yet. He now. Ok,
good afternoon, Philip. Thanks for joining us. We are ready for you whenever you're
ready. I kind of feel like this is my fault because I kept forwarding Jonathan and
Johnson stuff to Phillip saying we're, we're on it, right? And he probably gets three
of those, right? Oh, you, we can't hear you. We can't hear you. I think your headset
is enough.
Ok, good. I'm back and I thought it might not be but I'm like, how do I know? I'm
just gonna do it.
Yeah.
Hm.
Ok.
Maybe just for the public's benefit. I'll say that, um, right now we estimate that
it would be a, a one time payment of around 230,000 minimum of 230,000
questions. Comments. I mean, pretty easy to say yes. Uh, there's not a lot of incentive
to, uh, to fight this. I don't think, you know, it's, do you want to or not? Um,
I guess I'm wondering just Heidi, I mean, not really pertinent today, but you've
been having conversations. I know we, you know, we split the first two and then the
next one I think went to BH AC as well. Are, are there any other n needs that you,
you've been having these conversations about? I think it's a good conversation for
us to have when we have that, um, conversation. Was it this week? I just briefed
you on it this morning amongst our behavior. Health. The retreat. Ok. Yeah, I think
that that's the table, the right table, the law enforcement and pro and that's the
one thing I, I guess I feel I've just heard that there is an interest and I think
it qualifies under appendix a of that one. Washington. So, and I'm fully briefed
on that mark and I had a meeting with the prosecuting attorney and Apple as well.
I want to make sure those conversations they are happening
and its study. I've never served on the Behavioral Health Advisory committee. So
I'm, I this is my opportunity to be not very informed. Um But yeah, I, I guess I
would just say the same thing, like, are we being really strategic in how we think
about these, um especially one time you think like is there a capital or housing
need that the need to refer to the one Washington mou and make sure that they're
allowed expenses and we're doing all that, all those things
because I mean, I think that question is, do we assume that it's going to the PH
AC for regular distribution or do we want to think differently about, you know, especially
11 time? Yeah. Is there a need that that should be, that would be a question I would
ask the same question. That would be the question I would ask the opioid group, right?
You know, is there a one time need and there's other ways to skin the cat too, you
know, it could be that this therapeutic courts in the bh ac need more of a budget
than it's getting and could this kind of offset that to make sure that awards don't
go down and kind of be a transition? I, I don't, I mean, and there is a noise about
the therapeutic courts needing more funding. So that's very front of front, front
burner right now. Ok, great. Well, I'm happy to move that we approve the Johnson
and Johnson settlement as presented for Jefferson County. I will second. All right.
Um It's been moved and seconded any further discussion. Can I just say just because
it's never exactly clear who is representing housing in so many meetings since we
don't have an office of housing or housing czar that um I would hope that would be
part of that conversation too in terms of assessing need.
All right. Um All those in favor of uh approval of the settlement. He's gonna hate
by saying hi hi, hi. Ok, thank you, Philip. Now, now it will be
now you save yourself from three times however many emails. Ok. Thank you.
Yeah. And new castles on us. All right. Yeah, we'll, we'll come over right away though.
Bye bye. All right. So, um we are going to be going into executive session. Um This
is a exemption from the Open Public Meetings Act um
discuss with legal counsel, potential litigation. I don't have my full script here.
That's section to RCW 42.30 0.1 10 parentheses, one parentheses. I um
we are going in at 240 we will be in until 310 and uh I should say our uh human
resources um manager. Is that right? Is that Sarah's title Dire director? Thank you,
county administrator and uh chief civil deputy prosecuting attorney will be joining
us in executive session. Ok.
And Sarah knows that we're convening now. Uh uh
Yes.
All right. We are coming out of executive session and will not be taking any action.
So we have gotten through all the items on our agenda. Is there anything else anyone
would like to cover today?
Hearing nothing going, once, going twice? I think we'll go ahead and then sounds
good. All right. Have a good night.
They didn't even notice.