Good morning, everybody. It is 10 a.m. on the 3rd of October, and we are here for our regular weekly commissioners meeting. It's a pleasure to see everybody
this morning. Thank you to all those who have joined us to begin our meeting. As always, I'd love to ask you to please stand and join me in the
of Allegiance.
I'm here.
All right, thank you very much. And do we have any modifications
noted to the agenda today?
I believe the modification is we're going to be removing item 3a from
today's agenda. Is that correct? Yes. All right. Are there any additional modifications
to the agenda move
to approve the agenda as modified. It has been moved and
now seconded to approve our agenda as modified namely removing item 3a all in
favor please say aye. Aye. Aye, there are none opposed that motion passes our
modified agenda has been approved. That does bring us to our first
opportunity for public comment here at the beginning of the meeting we are
looking for comment specific to agenda items please. We do have a second
general open public comment period at the end of the meeting at which point we'd
love to hear from you on any subject whatsoever but at this time again I'm
just looking for comment specific to our agenda. Mr. Bowen I see your hand is up
please unmute yourself and go right ahead sir.
Good morning commissioners at
Bowen P.O. Box 11 Collin Bay and just a short public comment on agenda item
four B is in Baker.
Appreciate the fact that you're posting a call for
hearing today on this topic that's of a value to the county. I do not meant to
influence some interest that I have in this, but I do want to make note that it's
dear to my heart this particular topic and for me to prepare for the hearing.
I do want to recognize the the county administrator for assistance grant
provided me in the past week and the ongoing effort to address my issues
concerns in preparation for the hearing. So I think that is a tremendous
value that the County Administrator brings to the table when a member of
the public is having a difficult time navigating the county's infrastructure or
staffing infrastructure. I'll call it that. Thank you very much and those are my comments today.
Thank you very much Mr. Bowen. Appreciate it as always. Is there anyone in the
boardroom who would like to make comments specific to any of our agenda
items this morning.
Alright anyone else online or joining us virtually interested
in making comments specific to any of our agenda items if so please raise your
hand come on camera or otherwise indicate your interest.
Alright seeing
none we will go ahead and move on through the agenda and again we'll
have a second public comment period once we get through all of our action
items, but let's go ahead and begin with our consent agenda, please, Mr. Malki.
You bet, commissioners. We have five items on today's consent agenda. Item 1A is the
approval vouchers for the week of September 25th. 1B is the approval
of payable for the period ending September 15th. Item 1C is the
approval of minutes for the week of September 25th. 1D is a letter of
support to Dr. Michael Maxwell, Chief Executive Officer of the North
Olympic health care network regarding their redesignation as the service area
competition application and that that letter goes to the health resources and
services administration and item 1e is a proclamation recognizing the second
Monday of October as indigenous people say. I move to approve the consent
agenda. It has been moved and I will second approval of the consent
agenda all in favor of approval please say hi. Hi. There are none opposed.
Theresa Lehmann, would you please join me at the podium.
Thank you very much.
This morning it is my honor to read a proclamation recognizing the second
Monday of October 2023 as Indigenous People's Day in order to promote
tolerance, understanding and friendship, and to combat the
prejudice and discrimination stemming from colonization. I'm honored today to be
joined by Teresa Lehman from the Jamestown's Clowham tribe. Whereas Clowham
County recognizes that we occupy tribal ancestral land and that tribal people
have lived on this land since time immemorial and whereas the county values
the many contributions of knowledge, labor, technology, science, philosophy,
arts, and the deep cultural influences which have shaped the character of this county.
And whereas Clowham County recognizes that systemic racism toward Indigenous people,
education and social crises, and whereas the idea of Indigenous People's Day was first
prepared by
a delegation of Native Nations to the United Nations-sponsored International
National Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas.
And whereas, in 2011, the affiliated tribes of Northwest Indians representing 59 nations
from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Northern California, Western Montana, and Alaska passed Resolution
Number 11-57 to, quote, support to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day,
end quote, and whereas Clowham County joins a growing number of counties that
have recognized the second Monday of October as Indigenous People's Day,
creating an opportunity to promote appreciation, tolerance, understanding,
friendship, and partnerships among all peoples. Now therefore, we the Board of
Clowham County Commissioners hereby proclaim the second Monday in October
as Indigenous People's Day in Clowham County, and we encourage all to
celebrate the thriving cultures and values of the indigenous peoples of our region to learn more
about the history of indigenous peoples and their cultures, and to continue efforts to promote the
well-being and growth of our indigenous communities. Sign this third day of October 2023,
Mark Ozias, Randy Johnson, and Mike French. And Teresa, thank you again so much for being here.
The proclamation speaks to learning, cultures, values, partnership, and a lot of aspirational
words and concepts which the Jamestown Scalillum tribe through years and decades and centuries
of generosity have shared with those who have arrived here over the course of many years.
so thank you very much and we would love to hear a few words. Thank you Mark and
thank you the County Commissioners we really appreciate it. Good morning my
name is Theresa Lehman and I am from the Jamestown tribe I'm the current
treasurer. My family name is Kurt Kordonsky. These are words we must acknowledge when we
first speak to people because it gives honor and respect to our families. Today I am present
here to represent Indigenous people day this day commemorates and honors our beautiful history,
tradition and our culture on these lands and afar. These lands are currently, the
the lands we currently stand on represents three column tribes. They are the
Jamestown tribe, Port Gamble tribe and the Elwa tribe. When we step outside and
look around at the beauty our Creator has given us. We must remind ourselves we
are the caretakers and and appointed by our Creator to take care of these lands.
Unfortunately for several years due to colonization we were victimized. We
lost many of our women. We lost many of our children. Our children were
replaced in boarding schools, boarding homes. Many of those children did not
return back to their own homes. This has saddened our tribes not only here but
nationwide. We are now reviewing what has happened to our children. We will
never ever allow our children to ever face these tragedies again. We
encourage our children to go on in society, hold their heads up high, and the
rest of our Native Americans to hold our heads up high. This is important to us
plus our education value is important and what we can teach our children. We
have taught our children respect and this is carried on today.
the county commissioners and
Clollum County for their
annual proclamation. Thank you.
And it's a wonderful day.
Oh, you're welcome. Thank you.
I'll give it to Ron.
Thank you for being here today.
Thank you.
Commissioner French, is there
anything that you would like to
report on this morning. Okay, so I did a lot this last week. Of course, we attended the
Dundas-Levy Town Hall and I would say that that was a very successful event
thanks to all the county staff that put some good work into making that, you
know, a good event so the public could come and discuss that project with us
and give us their views. I also attended for Randy the EDC board
meeting and it was a great board meeting. One thing that we took kind
of a little bit of a deep dive into was what the PTAC, the, I can't, I
I never remember the acronym,
but they've also now changed the acronym.
Now it's called the APEX Accelerator.
And so we had a good little deep dive on that
and it sounds like that project is moving forward.
And they've actually, I think,
also gotten some funding so that they can expand
how many employees are gonna be involved at the EDC
in providing that service.
Oh, wow, that's wonderful.
Let's see, I attended the public health staff meeting
yesterday, which is a great meeting
of some really great staff members
who are, you know, I think doing really good work.
one thing that I learned at that meeting is we're hopeful I don't I don't
want to announce anything out of turn but I think we're hoping sometime in the
middle of October to have the help the harm reduction health center new location
open right in the middle of October and they're working very hard to make that
happen I also attended one of our tourism master plan town halls I don't
know if you attended the one in Skwim or I did not there is one in Fort Townsend
one in Skwim one in Port Angeles and one in Forks I was not able to make the
one in Forks I apologize to Lizzie for that but I did it make the one
important to us earlier that day.
And it was a really good turnout, 40 or 50 people,
a mix of residents as well as professionals
who are in the industry.
They got over 1,300 responses, 1,200 responses
on the resident survey that they delivered.
And they got over 160 responses on the stakeholders
survey that they targeted to people that are specifically
working.
So they had a lot of good public input
both from the industry and from our residents.
So I think it's going to create a very good plan.
The things that they talked about,
that I think we will probably see represented in that plan
is the strategy of becoming a four season destination.
So we don't just have tourism happening
in the warm times of the year,
but we continue to build that shoulder season
and off season, which I think has been a strategy
that we've been pursuing county-wide for some.
They talked about the need for, you know, more transit opportunities, both public and
private, and that's something where I know that we've had a lot of those discussions at
Clown Transit. They talked about developing one singular events calendar. That's something
that, you know, we've had a couple of fits and starts on, and hopefully we'll figure
that out as a community on who should hold that calendar and who should push it out.
They also talked about, you know, kind of the idea of becoming a sports tourism area
because that could be something that helps supplant our off-season if we find indoor venues where we can bring, you know,
traveling teams in, which is something that we've done in small amounts, but that I think presents a big opportunity for growth.
They all talked a lot about the challenges of being a tourist destination, meaning, you know,
the number one, of course, is housing accommodations that we need, more accommodations for tourists, and more housing for our workforce.
And of course, that's tied to workforce shortages, and that creates, I think, a real challenge to the
peak season when our workforce in service industry, restaurants, and, you know, the kind
of the cultural experience part of that, when we don't have the workforce to accommodate
peak season, that creates bad experiences.
And then we, you know, one of the other challenges
is that we do have limited offseason experiences where, you know, obviously people want to
come here in the high season because of how beautiful it is outside and the weather
changes and so that limits our offseason experiences and but it was a great event. I think we're
going to have a great plan come out of that that will really help us create strategies to
become more of a four-season destination. I do think that there are policy implications
that we should always be thinking about. If we're saying right now we don't really have
enough capacity to increase offerings in the peak season, you know, I think that there is
a nexus between that and when we talk about short-term rentals, well, more short-term
rentals are available during the peak season. So we're creating capacity that we can't
serve. So that's something that we should, you know, I think it's very hard to make
some of those deliberations, but we should be thoughtful about it. But I think it's
really important that we're creating a strategy that we can then reform our policy discussions
about that. Great event though, I think, you know, Marcia and Debbie did really good work
putting this plan together, putting the public participation part together because they did
get really good turnout. I attended the City of Swim, City Council meeting, talking about
a re-compete letter of support, and while I was there, they were having a good discussion
about the 1590 funds and the potential of an inaugural agreement. So I did briefly
please speak to the council about, you know,
what our process has been looking like,
how they have been involved,
but I believe that they have to motion at that meeting
to have their staff connect with our staff
about what an ILA might look like.
And so we'll see how that goes.
And, you know, what I would say about that
at this point is what is more typical
in how these kinds of funds are distributed
is when cities combine funding sources
and reduce process. It is not difficult to increase the amount of process that we do by
separating them. So I hope that we'll have a good conversation with our staff about that.
And then of course, the big amount of meetings I went through this week was a Recompete Plan.
And I think we were pretty close to actually having a fully developed Recompete Plan. We,
of course, have one more day to do so. But we've been putting in a lot of work.
And I think we have a pretty strong application that has good data to back it, good narratives
behind it that contains a mix of infrastructure projects and job creation projects, job training,
workforce development projects, mostly center ground and into college, and social support
services that will help connect people to those jobs and make sure they're successful
along that pathway, including supports that they might need to move barriers to entrants
into those for force development opportunities and job opportunities.
Do you want me to go over any of the specific projects?
Why don't we cover those next week after the application has been put together?
Maybe we can.
Great.
I'm not sure we'll have to take a look at it, whether it would be appropriate.
Yeah.
Where we have had a lot of discussions have been around specifically how the county
is going to help administer and manage the grant opportunities,
specifically if that's strategic development grant.
And that's been a difficult conversation.
I think that's going to help finance and from our administrator.
But one of the things that's been challenging
is with the big grant, the Recompete Plan,
a lot of the positions don't have to be made today.
We're putting together a framework.
I think we're putting together a very good framework,
but we're going to have another process to deepen that with the student development grant.
We're having a very precise right now on a very short time.
I'm not going to challenge.
But I think every effort that's been put into this, especially Angie.
Excellent.
Thank you very much.
Thank you again for your participation and leadership.
It has been a very challenging summer getting all of this put together.
I also appreciate all of the support that Angie and others on our team have provided.
I think the lift has been a little bit heavier than we anticipated in some ways at the beginning
of the summer.
I'm wondering if you have any thoughts, you know, once we get past applications in
middle, you know, there's all this effort that's gone in, you know, to sort of take
a breath once we get the application, you know, once we hit send.
And then there's just going to be sort of a period of waiting.
Has the steering committee had any conversation
about any potential follow-up steps once the groups
had the chance to breathe for a week or two?
What would be an appropriate way to continue
to maintain some lines of communication and momentum
while we're waiting?
The good thought, and we haven't really talked about that
because we've been so focused,
but I do think it's important to keep this group at least talking to each other.
I would say that there's two things that come to mind first.
One is direct staff-to-staff connections that we've made between large institutions,
right, where we have staff members from the Port of Port Angeles talking to Peninsula College,
talking to Qualum County staff members, and they're making professional development
connections that can be, that might be really useful, especially in this world where
we've seen such an immense amount of different grant opportunities coming down
from the federal government, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation
Reduction Act, and it's not always easy to figure out who swats in well for them.
So that connection has been really important, and I hope that that continues.
And then at the task force level, one thing that we've noted is how many of these different
ideas already have motions, you know, they already have action going in and have other
potential funding sources and so that's something where we want to make sure we
keep the momentum going that we don't just you know slump our head we don't
get this money and say well we tried but we keep momentum going and say where
else can we find resources to make these things happen because I think the
projects we've identified are all very good projects that would have
meaningful results you know in our region. Excellent thank you. I'll bring
that up to the task force so that's a good yeah no that I would
appreciate that that would be great. Would it be appropriate
update for Monday so
that you can share the application and talk a little bit about the projects I'm
not sure you know depending on how much time and how deep you would you would
think would be appropriate we could either do that as part of our reports
and presentations on Tuesday or we could just you know notch up work
I think either way would work okay well also down with money afterwards we can
talk about what we think is best and one way or the other we'll get a little bit
more of an update next week. Thank you. And briefly also on the concept of an
interlocal agreement with the city of swim with regard to $1590 just a little
bit of history behind that concept. When the county decided to go ahead and move forward
with the public hearing process for adopting that revenue stream, we reached out to the
City of Squim. The City of Port Angeles had of course already proactively adopted that
on their own. We did reach out to both the cities of Squim and Forks to let them
know what the county's intent was so that each of those cities would have time to take
action ahead of the county should they be interested.
Squim indicated at the time that they were not going to go ahead and move forward, but
we did talk about in general the concept of ensuring that some portion of that 1590
revenue is deployed in and around Squim.
So I think as we look to developing some language for that interlocal I just
would ask that we keep that basic concept in mind as that was the genesis of
the of the concept for an interlocal is you know how do we ensure that some
portion of those dollars are spent in and around the squim area. Of course the
Housing Solutions Committee has been developed and formed since then that
group has developed a significant amount of process and put a significant amount of thought
into that process. And I don't think it would be appropriate for the interlocal to build
a new process or to do anything that's going to usurp the work that the Housing Solutions
Committee is doing. But that's the basic context that led up to the concept.
I want to echo your comments about the public meeting on the Dungeons and Slavies
setback project last week. You know that is obviously a project around which
there is a lot of concern and opinion in the community. There are a lot of
factors that we are looking at and weighing internally and I really
appreciate all of the work that staff did from multiple departments to make
that meeting happen considering the contentiousness of the issue. It was
a remarkably civil public meeting which I appreciate very much and say thank you to everyone who
participated and helped to ensure that that was a productive and civil public meeting.
I attended a staff meeting with the IT staff last week and as always I am amazed at the
breadth and depth of work that that team does.
I have noted in meetings with other departments a significant difference from several years
back. You know, there aren't a lot of complaints that I'm hearing about the IT department. And
as I told them, you know, staying out of the headlines and hearing nothing generally
means you're doing a pretty good job. So I hoped that that was a compliment. It
certainly was was intended that way and I you know that that that team the heavy
lift never ends and you know once they once they get through with one
project they're already you know working on the one that's to down the road so
it's always an honor to get to meet with teams of professionals that's one
of the actually one of the privileges of of this position I've lastly wanted
to note that the housing panel I participated in last week was actually all of the audience
were legislative aides of state senators, which was a wonderful audience. I have never
seen that group put together before and I let the facilitator know that if there are
other opportunities for our county or for counties and cities generally to get in
front of that group then I would love to take advantage of it so we will see
and lastly I did have the honor to participate in a panel on Friday
morning the state gathering of PUD commissioners was held in our county
late last week it looked like they had a really great agenda over several days
is the panel that I participated in
had to do with sort of the nexus
between tribal water rights and municipal water rights.
I was certainly the least directly knowledgeable
panelist on that topic,
but was able to spend a little bit of time
talking about the role that the county plays
as sort of connective tissue in some ways
between various entities
and how what structures it takes and what we're doing in this county to allow
us to work together through difficult conversations like that. So that also is
a valuable audience to be in front of and I appreciated the invitation. That is
all I've got for this morning. So Mr. Melkey, let's go ahead and move back
into the agenda beginning with item 2A, please.
is an agreement with the Port Angeles School District for Mental Health School Support Services.
This is the third year of the contract. There really are no changes to it. The services
are costed out at $97.43 an hour, not to exceed $72,000 for the year.
I move to approve the agreement with the Port Angeles Public School District for Mental
Health School Support Services.
I will second your motion. It has been moved and seconded to approve an
agreement with the Port Angeles Public School District. Commissioner Frantz, any
final comments, questions? In that case, all in favor of approval please say aye.
Aye. There are none opposed. That motion passes. We can move on to item 2B please.
Item 2B is the contract amendment D with the Salish Behavioral Health
Administrative Services Organization for substance use disorder outpatient
services. This is an agreement that we have every year. It is a redistribution to existing
providers. There is a slight increase in this contract.
I move to approve the contract amendment D with the S-B-H-A-S-O or S-B-H-A-S-O.
Substance use disorder outpatient services. I will second your motion. It has been moved and
seconded to approve contract amendment D with the Salish behavioral health administrative services
organization. Any additional comment or question? In that case, all in favor of approval, please say
aye. Aye. There are none opposed. That motion passes and contract amendment D with the Salish
BHASO has been approved, which moves us along to agenda item 2C. Please, Mr. Malki.
I am to see is an agreement with the Department of Commerce for behavioral health services within the secure crisis residential center
The amount of this agreement is three hundred and fourteen thousand dollars
Excuse me three hundred and fourteen
nine hundred and forty six dollars
It is a grant renewal and it aligns with the state fiscal year. I
Move to approve the agreement with the Department of Commerce for behavioral health services within the SCRC
All right, I will second your motion. It has been moved and seconded to approve an
agreement with the Department of Commerce. Any additional comment or question? In that
case, all in favor of approval please say aye. Aye. There are none opposed. That motion
passes and an agreement with the Department of Commerce for behavioral health services
and the Secure Crisis Residential Center has been approved. That moves us on to
item 2-D for this morning please, Todd. So, commissioners, the next three items
as deal with the transition program services.
This is a program that is based,
or as the purpose is for individuals
with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
The cost of these contracts are based
on the number of students anticipated
for the 2023-2024 school year.
So there are different dollar amounts.
So item 2D is the agreement with the Squim School District
for the transition program services.
this agreement is for the amount of $43,200.
I move to approve the agreement with the Squim School District for Transition Program Services.
I'll second your motion. It's been moved and seconded to approve an agreement with the Squim School District for Transition Program Services.
Any final comment? All right. All in favor of approval please say hi.
Hi.
There are none opposed. That motion passes and the first of three agreements this time with the Squim School District for Transition Program Services has been
approved moving us along to item 2e please Mr. Malki. 2e is an agreement for
the same program with the Quillute Valley School District. The amount of
this agreement is valued at fifty thousand four hundred dollars. I move to
the agreement with the Quillute Valley School District for transition program
services. I'll second your motion. It has been moved and seconded to approve
an agreement with the Quillute Valley School District for transition
program services. Any final comment or question? Alright seeing none all in
my favor of approval please say aye.
Aye.
There are none opposed that motion passes
and an agreement with the Quilley Valley School District
for Transition Program Services has been approved.
Moving us along to item 2F please.
2F is the third of these three agreements
for Transition Program Services.
This one is with the Port Angeles School District.
The value of this agreement is $55,200.
I move to approve the agreement
with the Port Angeles School District
for Transition Program Services.
I will second your motion.
it has been moved and seconded to approve an agreement with the Port Angeles School District
for Transition Program Services. Any additional comment or question? All right. All in favor
of approval please say aye. Aye. There are none opposed. That motion passes and an agreement
with the PA School District for Transition Program Services has been approved. Moving
us along to agenda item 2G, please. Mr. Melke. Yes. Item 2G is an agreement with
the Washington State Military Department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for
operation stone garden. This is an agreement that comes about every year and it actually
acts in a way or so. It's always based on the year of application and then it takes
a couple years to process the payment. This is the second agreement. This agreement
replaces the previous one at the suggestion of the military department and it is for
the same fiscal year and it includes the remainder of the amount for border patrol and security purposes.
I move to approve the agreement with the Washington State Military Department and the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security for Operation Stone Garden. I will second your motion. It has now
been moved and seconded to approve an agreement with the Washington State Military Department
and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Operation Stone Garden. Any additional
comment or question. All right. In that case, all in favor of approval, please say aye.
Aye. There are none opposed. That motion passes. We have removed item 3A from the agenda. So that
brings us to item 3B. Please, Administrator Melke. Sure. And just a reminder for item 3A,
we are removing this project in the 2024 construction season. So we do anticipate going
going back out for bid on this project in spring
in anticipation of a summer construction schedule.
So just want to make sure that public is aware of that.
Item 3B is a proposal opening.
This is for behavioral health programs
and related services, a proposal for 2024.
Excellent.
Well, we will take a couple of moments
and open these individually and
kick us off here.
I am looking at a propelled
education and early intervention for mental wellness.
The requested funds amount for 2024 would be $168,200 for 2025 would be $187,400.
$200.
Proma
-informed support groups from Nature's Academy, Davis, this is Unbounded Horizons,
and that's in the amount of $25,310 from the 2024 year, and $45,475 from the 2025 year
for a total of $70,785.
All right.
Next up is a proposal from Olympic Personal Growth Center titled Filling the Gap in
in the amount of $39,240 in both 2024 and 2025.
I have a proposal from the School of High School titled Education and Early Intervention for
Mental Wellness and in 2024 requesting $191,800 and 2025 requesting $212,250.
I am reviewing a proposal from first step family support center titled parents as teachers behavioral health and early intervention program.
They are requesting $100,000 in 2024 and $100,000 in 2025 to support this program.
I have a proposal from West End Outreach Services titled West End Outreach Behavioral Health Services.
The request is an equal amount of $24,000 and $25,645 each year.
Next up is a proposal from Lutheran Community Services Northwest titled Clalem Community
Resource Center requested amount in 2024, $212,272 in 2025, $223,846.
I have a proposal from the Olympic Peninsula Community Clinic. Title of rediscovery, unfunded-undefunded, requesting in 2024, $277,200 and in 2025, $296,780. I'll disclose that I am a member of this Board of Directors.
I'm looking at a proposal from Reflections Counseling Services Group titled Crisis Intervention
and they are requesting $189,800 in 2024 as well as $189,800 in 2025.
I have a proposal from a real health for the past project which is project for
transition homelessness requesting $23,301 in 2024 and $24,470 in 2025.
All
right next up is a proposal from the Port Angeles Fire Department for the
community paramedic program. They are requesting $206,259.33 in 2024, and $145,611.91 in 2025.
I have another proposal for mental health. This time for mental health per se.
funding in both 24 and 25 of $12,000 per year.
This is a proposal from Prevention Works of Clalem County titled Prevention and Early
Intervention Education and Awareness Campaign. They are looking for this proposal for $12,595
in 2024 and $12,650 in 2025.
And my last proposal here is from the boys and girls club. It does not contain the same cover sheet.
So let me just dig through this for a moment and I'll see if I can get through it.
can find their proposal.
While you're digging, I have a proposal
from transformations by Olympic Angels
called Love, Box, and Dare to Dream Case Management for $31,468.24
and $47,402.25.
OK, I found it.
This proposal is from the Boys and Girls Club
of the Olympic Peninsula.
It is for their Comprehensive Behavioral Health
and Wellness Plan.
They are requesting $21,681.20 in 2024 and $12,247.20 in 2025.
I look
forward to these proposals to Clalent County Health and Human Services for recommendations.
It has been moved and I will second the motion to remand these to Health and Human Services for their additional review and recommendations.
questions.
Commissioner French any additional comment or question. All right. In that case
I want to thank the behavioral health advisory board as always for their good work. That
group has just in my observation anyway continued to gain traction over the last couple of years.
There's been a lot of evolution in how this RFP process works and I am really looking
forward to the recommendations forwarded by the behavioral health committee after
they've had the chance to review all of these proposals. Obviously it will not be
an easy job trying to figure out how to how to sort through and prioritize
these. So Christine, thank you and thanks to your team for their leadership
thanks to the behavioral health advisory board for doing some very
difficult bit of work on behalf of the public. So it has been moved and
seconded to remand these proposals to Health and Human Services. All in favor
please say aye. Aye. There are none opposed. That motion passes. Thank you
again Christine. And with that Administrator Melke, let's go ahead and
move on to the administration section of the agenda with item 4a please.
There are two. One is in the amount of $100. That is the prosecuting attorney's petty cash
fund. The other one is in the amount of $50. It is the prosecuting attorney's child support fund.
These accounts have not been used. They're no longer necessary, and this would eliminate
the need for long-term accounting. I move to approve the resolution, closing
the prosecuting attorney's office petty cash funds. I will second your motion. It's been
moved and seconded to approve a resolution closing the prosecuting
attorney's office petty cash funds. Any additional comment in that case all in
favor of approval please say aye. Aye, there are none opposed. That motion passes
and with that we can move on to item 4b please Mr. Melkey.
I'm going to go ahead and call Christina St. John forward to answer any
questions that you may have but this is with regard to the weed
assessment rate and she can give you a little bit of maybe history about this
is one that has not been adjusted in quite some time.
Yeah Christina thank you very much for being here if you could highlight for
us just a little bit of the remind us of the composition of the Noxious Weed
Board maybe share a little bit of their deliberation with us and then remind
us what the additional revenue would help to accomplish. Of course. So the
Noctua-Suite Control Board is made up of five volunteers representing five
districts within the county and they are the board that oversees the Palm County
Noctua-Suite Control Program. Part of that program is the inspection and
general education program where we work with private landowners who have
regulated noxious weeds on their property and make sure that they know what
they are, how they can safely and effectively control them, and make sure
that they are complying with state and county noxious weed control laws. Our
general program also works with the community in general informing them
about what noxious weeds are, why they're important to control, and what
are effective ways to do that. This program is funded through the general
of the suite assessment. This was enacted in 2000 and the rates were $1.50 per parcel and
13 cents an acre and it has not been increased since then. Obviously our program has grown
since the 2000s and we're asking for an increase or the Noxious Control Board is recommending
that we have an increase to $3.60 a parcel and 31 cents an acre. And this will help
to fund a full-time inspection program. So previously our inspection program has
not been able to be fully funded. We work with the public when we can, but we've
also had to take on grants and contract work in order to pay for staff. And so
this program would fund a full-time inspection program where we can really
work with the public, let them know again what Noxious Weeds are, how they
can control them, and what the laws are, and to educate the public about
what Noxious Weeds, why they're important to control. And so the
Noxious Weed Control Board has been thinking about this weed assessment increase recommendation
for a number of years and we feel like it's time for our county to have a full-time inspection
program to work with the public. Thank you so very much. Any additional questions this morning
for Christina?
I moved to call for a hearing to be held on Tuesday, October 17, 2023,
regarding an ordinance amending Chapter 5.28 of the Clown County Code
assessment levied for not just weed control. I will second motion. It has been
moved and seconded to approve a call for hearing that's scheduled for Tuesday
the 17th of October regarding an ordinance submitting chapter 5.28 of the
Clowlam County Code, namely assessment levied for not just weed control. Any
additional comment or question? All right in that case all in favor of
approval please say aye. Aye. There are none opposed that motion passes and we
We will look forward to that public hearing scheduled for 10.30 in the morning on October 17.
With that, Mr. Malke, let's go ahead and move on.
Thank you, Christina.
Let's go ahead and move on to item 4C, please.
4C Commissioners is a resolution appointing Katina Hester to the Planning Commission.
I move to approve the resolution appointing Katina Hester to the Planning Commission.
I will second your motion.
it's been moved and seconded to approve a resolution appointing Katina Hester to
the Planning Commission. Any additional comment or question? We're always grateful when the
public joins us in these volunteer commissions. Yes we are. All in favor of
approval please say aye. Aye. There are none opposed that motion passes and a
resolution appointing a member to the Planning Commission has been approved.
That is the final formal agenda item which brings us back around to our
general opportunity for public comment. I suspect we've got comment from both
folks in the boardroom and online. So I'm going to go ahead and take turns. I'll
start with people here in the boardroom. Is there anyone joining us in the
boardroom who would like to make general comment? Yes, please join us at the
podium. Let us know who you are and where you're from for the record and
then you've got three minutes.
Sure. I'm Kate Halk and I'm from 4501
from Dunge Nest Way in Dunge Nest and I just wanted to come in and talk to you
about what happened at my house this summer during the drought. I live on
Mediver Creek adjacent to the the project the Levy project and I started
my lawn mowing guy told me in June that he couldn't get the lawn mower along my
Yard the way he always did every summer and then in August where I thought things would dry out instead it got wetter and
I was concerned, but also I was kind of ignoring it doing other things and then I
It wasn't a plan
But I happened to see a guy with a clipboard in the culvert
Where the meta work creek goes under swim nunch nunch way?
I was going by on my bike and I said, hey, I seem to have a problem in my yard.
Can you come and take a look?
And so he said he was a county employee from the streamkeepers and he came over and looked
at what was going on and we threw out a tape measure and took a picture and the water
was coming in and it was about 20 feet from my deck.
And so he also said that when he was on the levy, because there are often a lot of county
people there, he would come over and check this out again for me, with me, whatever.
And so I just knew that he was a county employee and that he had taken up a piece of data
about the situation.
And then, surprisingly, as drought wore on, the water kept coming more and more into my
yard until it was concerned that it got to pretty much a panic state in my mind because
it was coming from two different directions, not just the first direction.
And so the numbers changed from 20 feet to 10 feet to 4 feet.
and two trees fell over because they got so inundated with water that the roots
just didn't hold. So then I called the county and took a couple days got the
call back from Bruce Emery and he said he'd follow up with an engineer on
Monday that didn't happen and then it was the next Monday and he did get in
touch with me at the end of the week or I called him and he said he'd send a
biologist out. So she came out yesterday and we checked it all out and so what it
was was in a close area of the squimmed under Nesway, Meadowbrook Creek had four
different beaver dams and one of them was actually in that culvert that
went underswimmed under Ness Way. So I'm here to request that you would monitor this situation
because, you know, it's a tidal creek and so I have water pushing two different ways.
We have the project and we have the coming spring where we're really going to see snow
melt, heavy rains, possibly high tide all at once. So I'm hoping that we can set something
up where you will clear this debris because it's affecting and I understand that you have
to maybe contact the state. So it would be great if you could monitor it because if the
state has to get involved and it might take longer and longer. In the meantime, you know,
it's getting crazy in my yard. I am a 100-year-old house there, close and a low elevation.
other people that moved in since I've been there for 40 years have brought in
fill. So anyways I just wanted to get on the record that on channel like make an
avenue for watching it and thank you for coming and having a meeting in swim
last week I thought it was well attended and well run appreciate it. Thank
you so much for making time to comment this morning I saw our county
administrator taking a lot of notes we will definitely follow up with
project leads to make sure we understand what kind of a monitoring red no
regiment we can put in place. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. Alright
I'm gonna turn next to our virtual audience. Mr. Grad, I saw your hand go up
first so please unmute yourself and introduce yourself for the record and
the next three minutes is yours, sir.
Good morning, we're on a ride from Swim
and thank you to the ministry
for giving me the opportunity to address me.
I just came off as a tenetist
at the Board of Natural Resources Meeting
where I appealed to them to accept
Fort Angeles' application for a transfer of trust loans,
specifically those that boarded the Elwha River
and in particular, the power plant
that we've often discussed and one of the things that I noted was that the DNR assertion
regarding the geologic and hydrologic studies which you all saw presentation regarding back
in May, my contention is that there needs to be further study because I have not seen
a report of record regarding those studies.
And I ask you, the board, if you have access
or receive any document relating to those studies.
And the reason I think it's important is
is that there are independent studies,
perhaps they're not deemed worthy
because they don't appear to be associated
I will say however that a study that was submitted to you by Glenn Wade, he noted that he is
a certified state licensed professional engineer and you know in most places if you achieve
that that's considered being a qualified expert.
the other criteria that's involved regarding three years of study on steep slopes.
Well, I want to see the, you know, I want to see qualifications of DNR's hydrologist
and see if, in fact, he's a qualified expert because I just don't, I don't know.
So the problem is, is if we can't trust the studies and that there is contradiction
from an independent report, there's some pretty close examination.
And I know that it's easy to say that, well, DNR is the authority, and they've been doing
this forever, and they know what they're doing.
Let me note that the Federal Aviation Authority granted the inspection certifications be done
by the aviation companies themselves.
And we've seen problems with that over the years and, you know, that's like letting the
fox in the henhouse.
We need independent oversight in regards to this particular cut.
I mean, I could say a hell of a lot about other cuts, but this one in particular is
egregious because of the impacts it can have upon the city of Port Angeles.
Now I would note that, you know, if you go to buy a car, you want to keep the tires,
But you have access to something called a car fax.
That's a report of record about the status of that particular vehicle.
And if you can't get at least a document, a record of what they have done here,
telling us that, in fact, our levels of concern aren't necessarily worth a second look.
I really think we have a problem, and it's a matter of transparency and trust.
So again, I ask you to consider everything related to our request to honor the City of
Fort Angeles as requested to delay or cancel the power plant timber cut, because I don't
think the information you've gotten is as reliable as you believe it is.
Thank you.
boardroom. Mister grad. Thank
you. So anyone else in the
boardroom who would like to
make general comment this
morning. If so, we would
welcome that at this time.
All right. Then turning back
to our virtual audience. Mister
Wheeler. You are next, sir.
Please go ahead and unmute
yourself. Introduce yourself
for the record and the next
3 minutes is yours. Nice to
see you this morning, sir.
Hello, I'm Tim Wheeler, I, too, am from Swim, and I was one of four people in...
Including Brian, we were just on the Zoom with the DNR, so we made a pitch to them. And we weren't
alone. I mean, there were a lot of other people who were speaking out against the timber sales
here and there, but especially on the Olympic Peninsula.
I wanted to comment, Commissioner Osias, that I ran into you and your lovely wife at the
North Olympic Land Trust Harvest Dinner on Saturday, and that was a real pleasure.
we are very lucky to live in this county. This is such a beautiful place to live.
And the view of the mountains, the view of the water, out over the straight of Wanda
Puget, just outstanding. But with that comes a responsibility to look after this
beauty and make sure that it is not harmed. And that's a reason that I feel so strongly
about this cut, this timber sale and this cut that's planned in the Elwha River Watershed.
And I don't need to repeat what I've said before about the salmon, the spawning
beds, the, you know, the drinking water for the people of Port Anselis, and I wholeheartedly
agree with what Brian said about this appeal by this application by the City of Port Anselis
for a transfer of land. I don't think there should be any logging in the Elwha River
water shed. It is magnificently beautiful and vital to the survival of salmon and providing
drinking water. It is so beautiful there. And again, thank you for all you do and we're
going to keep on pushing on this question. And it's not the end. I mean, there's going
to be more. This is just the beginning. I'm up and armed about that ode to Joyce. My beloved
wife was named Joyce and they want to cut down the timber in the ode to Joyce. Oh my God,
that hurts. Anyway, thank you for all you do and let's stop logging the Elwha Watershed.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your time this morning, sir.
Ms. Menchew, please go ahead and unmute yourself,
reintroduce yourself for the record,
and the next three or so minutes is yours.
Good morning.
My name is Ellen Menchew, and I live in Clowland County,
and I thank you for the opportunity to speak again this morning.
First, I want to thank Commissioner French
for meeting with us last week.
We had, I think, a very productive meeting and we share very, very similar concerns about
our community and money that is afforded to the junior taxing districts as a result of
these timber sales.
And particularly in regard to that, with money being the driving force, I want to
just reiterate, we know that the school districts are the most important
recipients of the monies from these sales here in our community and in light of
that I want to just address the fact that I think that the remuneration
process that exists from these timber sales is pitting junior taxing districts
against one another. And it is just not an equitable path forward. And particularly here
in Clowlam County, we all share the same concerns about the money that our schools need. And
I don't have to tell anybody on this Zoom or in the meeting room there that we know
that this results in our, I'm not going to be ashamed to say my fellow, the political
party on the opposing side, the GOP folks here in our communities who vote
consistently against bonds for replacement of public education facilities
in our communities. And we need to address other ways to fund our schools.
I'm looking forward to the fact I'm grateful that you're having a workshop
shop next week and I'm looking forward to that. But I think we all share the same concerns
and I would really like to ask you to support the City of Port Angeles' application process
to have this land transferred. If there is any possibility at all that there is the
possibility of harm to the water system in the city, that has to be the most
important factor. And I did some research because I remember when the dams
were removed, there was problems with the water treatment plant that was old,
what was it called? It was the Ranny Tower or the Ranny Water System. And
And this resulted in an $80 million fund to rebuild a water treatment plant.
So I just urge you to please consider all the factors here and support the City of
Port Angeles in their efforts.
I would expect that you would want them to support you if the shoe was on the other
foot because they would be the ones holding the bag if anything does happen and the
the water system fails. They're responsible to answer to the residents here in the city.
So thank you again for the opportunity to speak and I echo my friends that you'll be seeing us
continually until we come to some resolve over this entire situation. But we appreciate all
that you do for us. Thanks so much. Thank you very much. I don't see any other hands online.
Mr. Rihando please feel free to join us at the podium sir.
Good morning
commissioners Kenneth Rihando, Port Angeles. So as a lifetime resident I was
pleased to hear the new administrators comments about strategy long-term
strategy yesterday in your very long work session. They included very many
important topics going forward. I think what some of my fellow Democrats online here have
spoken about are a strategic vision for long term going forward. What would we do? I did
attend with Commissioner of French, the meeting in Port Angeles about tourism, and I did go
to forks to listen to the differences. It was stark. What I heard in forks was much
concern about general living, not so much tourism. They were worried about some of
the people of resiliency in the face of more visitation.
So I looked at some of
the offerings yesterday and going forward.
Again, I'm concerned about purchase of vehicles
that create more emissions, in particular landscaping,
groundskeeping type, high dollar equipment
that might be using a different power source.
I don't have all the details about the needs,
but these are some of the things that I'm interested in going forward for as
you know our representative from the Indigenous community earlier talked about
sustainability over the long term. Thank you. Thank you very much. Turning back
to our virtual audience Nina you are next please go ahead and unmute
yourself introduce yourself for the record and the next few minutes is
Nina
Cermanto in Fort Angeles and thanks for the opportunity to comment this
morning. I'm here to comment about the logging of mature forests in Clown
County specifically power plant and the other planned timber sales in the next
few years.
I'm here to ask you to support the city's request to cancel the
power plant timber sale and all other planned logging
in the El La River watershed.
This proposal by the city is the only thing I've seen
that really is aligned with the climate crisis
that we're facing and that is doing the right thing
for future generations, we're all going to die.
You're gonna die much sooner than me. I'm gonna die much sooner than people younger
than me. And so that's a truth that we need to talk about more because what
we're doing right now is going to be more important after we die than while
we're alive. So I'm not here to destroy anyone's livelihood. I'm not out to get
the forest products industry. I'm here to to help future generations coexist with
this land and show you the truth and you're not gonna find it by listening
to timber industry executives that call forest products climate-friendly. There's
absolutely nothing friendly about forest products. The only things that they're
friendly to are the people that they're making money for. This entire society is
awash in speciesism and that's the misguided human-held belief that all
other species are inferior to us. We are so interdependent on everything around us and
it really shows with the El Wah watershed because those mature trees are helping us have
a quality and quantity of drinking water. And so the proposal by the city, it isn't
It's only a tiny fraction of the land is actually a mature forest.
All of the land, we're really not going to see benefits from protection for many decades
out, but by protecting the land now, it's really the right decision for the future
based on the path that we're headed.
So please stop the power plant timber sale and actually do something different, actually show us that you want change.
You haven't asked the DNR to do anything differently regarding the power plant timber sale.
They are treating this sale like they do every single other sale.
Like it doesn't matter if you ask them hard questions, you're still not asking them to do anything differently.
And again, this is the Owawa River.
This is the most magnificent, beautiful rivers on the planet.
And that's because so many people care about it,
that so many people have a connection to it.
That's what makes it the most important.
I mean, I could go into the other ecological reasons.
It has the most species of salmon
than any other Olympic river.
It's the largest watershed, you know,
it's our drinking water.
but a lot of the decisions that people make are kind of based on what's in their heart
and so we're gonna find the truth within yourself by actually going out and experiencing these
mature forests and experiencing the river, experiencing the consciousness of every single
sip of water that you drink every time you turn your sink on every time you
make some tea all that water coming from the El Wa watershed after having
being filtered through this mature forest so please find the truth within
yourself and please do something to protect Power Plant and supporting the
city and protecting the river watershed. Thanks. Thank you very much sir.
Anyone else who would like to make comment this morning if so please raise
your hand come on camera or otherwise indicate your interest.
Okay seeing none
I want to thank everyone again very much for your participation and your
interest and everything that this county government is doing. Looking ahead
to the remainder of the week. Tomorrow at 8 a.m. is the weekly virtual Coffee
with Colleen program. We will be at Blinksley's Bar and Grill in Forks
tomorrow beginning at 11 30 for the first stop on our
Budget outreach process and looking forward to meeting with folks from the
Forks Chamber of Commerce and others who are interested. Again that is tomorrow we
have that starting at 11 30. I think it's approximately until 1 o'clock.
Thursday at 9 a.m. there will be a meeting of the county finance committee.
That is an open public meeting so folks please feel free to join in if you're
interested. And lastly, Friday morning at 9 a.m. is a meeting of the Housing Solutions
Committee. We expect two or more commissioners are generally in attendance at that meeting.
Friday at 4 p.m. we have KSQM. And I believe that Mark Lane will be joining me to provide
a county budget update during that radio program. Commissioner French, anything else
that you wanted to add? Administrator Mulkey, anything else?
Thank you so much. Well, with no further business before us, we stand adjourned. Thank you.