[0:00] What we're going to do is each of us commissioners are going to give a uh

[0:03] quick rundown of what's going on in our districts because the way we treat the

[0:07] districts is each commissioner is responsible for their district and I'll

[0:10] put up a map here in a moment showing what those districts look like, but each

[0:14] of us have the boundaries for our districts and those are our folks that

[0:17] we represent. So, uh Kevin represents those out there in district 1 and I

[0:22] represent district two, which is the top of Wanche and up to Stevens Pass. And

[0:26] then Commissioner Hawkins does the north end of Wanche all the way to Steaken. So

[0:30] each of those areas are broken up in areas of population. So each of us

[0:35] represent the same number of people in the county, but the square miles. Kevin

[0:40] is small but mighty out there in Malaga. And then Commissioner Hawkins and I both

[0:44] have pretty big districts up there that don't have a lot of road systems in them

[0:47] sometimes. So it's focused on the population base. Okay. With that, uh, if

[0:52] you would hold your questions, write them down and let us go through our

[0:56] presentations, and then if you have questions, we're going to open this up

[0:59] for a very long question and answer period so that you can share with the

[1:03] commissioners what's going on or if you have questions about the government, uh,

[1:06] the local government here. So with that uh we will go first to a slideshow

[1:14] that will give a couple talking points here to go over talking about of course

[1:19] that's our beautiful courthouse Jill. We just had our 100redy year

[1:24] anniversaryund

[1:27] » 102. Yeah.

[1:37] Oh, there we go. Okay, so this is back to the districts and you can see right

[1:40] there, uh, they're broken out in colors. So, Commissioner Hawkins is up there in

[1:44] the third and then I'm there in the second and, uh, Commissioner Overbeay is

[1:48] down there in the bottom first. And if you're not quite sure what district

[1:53] you're in, the very easy way to do that is to look at your ballot and see what

[1:56] commissioner is on the line for a primary, and that will tell you who your

[2:01] commissioner is. or you can go to our GIS mapping system we have here at the

[2:05] county. Type in your address and it'll pop right up which one of the three of

[2:08] us you're going to call when you have a question or a comment or whatnot. I kind

[2:13] of uh share that we feel like air traffic controllers oftent times because

[2:17] the they go straight to the top, get their commissioner on the line and then

[2:21] we're able to direct it out to a department that can answer a question

[2:24] little more better than we can sometimes. So we always uh fall back on

[2:28] that. Um let's see. Number two. So, one of the things that uh we have to

[2:35] remind people is we have a lot of elected officials here in the county

[2:40] that are all equals to us commissioners. And oftentimes they'll call and say, "I

[2:44] have a problem with this person or that person." We say, "Well, they're their

[2:46] own elected official." So, we have the auditor, Skip Moore. We have the

[2:49] assessor, Wes Cornelius. We have the treasurer, Dave Griffiths. We have, of

[2:53] course, the sheriff Mike Morrison back there and the coroner Earl Crowe. Then

[2:57] over in the clerk's office, we have Marty Young. In the prosecutor's office,

[3:00] we have Robert Sealby. And then district court judges, we have two of them, Alan

[3:05] Blackman and John Bolan. And the superior court judges is uh Robert

[3:09] Jordan, Travis Brent, and Kristen Ferrer. So when we're talking about what

[3:14] it is that the county commissioners actually have access to, those elected

[3:19] officials are responsible for their own jobs that they're elected to do. And

[3:22] they say, "Well, why can't you call the assessor and get my taxes down? Why

[3:25] can't you call the auditor and check on my my election stuff? Well, those those

[3:31] elected officials have their own departments. The one thing that we do

[3:34] have influence on is the budgets because the budgets for the Schlan County, each

[3:39] of those departments have their own budget, but us commissioners are the

[3:43] ones that are responsible for tightening the budget up or getting it closer to a

[3:47] balance or making it so that it works effectively so that we spend your

[3:51] taxpayer dollars the most intelligent way that we possibly can. And that's

[3:54] what us three commissioners take very very seriously. Once a year we go

[3:59] through the budget. We start picking it apart in about October, get it finalized

[4:03] the end of December so that we know where we're going for in this case 2027.

[4:08] So as we go down through there, we look at some of the things that the county

[4:11] administrator or the county commissioners are directly responsible

[4:14] for. And we have the county administrator, of course, and we have

[4:17] economic services, community development, natural resources, regional

[4:21] justice center, and public works. And then from there, you go all the way down

[4:25] to the bottom and the commissioners have a whole bunch of boards that we sit on

[4:29] that is part of our job duties that we do on a monthly basis, weekly basis, or

[4:34] a quarterly basis depending on what those are. And we divide those boards up

[4:37] between the three commissioners. Sometimes it's district specific as to

[4:41] where a majority of that action goes in those boards. And some of them are just

[4:45] where our interest points are, uh, things that we're interested in in the

[4:48] county and the boards that we sit on. So, we split those up between us

[4:52] commissioners. One of the things that I also like to uh

[4:56] remind people when we're talking about county government, our jurisdiction

[5:00] stops at city limits. So, if you have a mayor, you live inside of an

[5:06] incorporated uh area like Wanche, Cashmere, Levvenworth, Annatalam.

[5:12] Did I miss any? >> Yeah, I think I got them all. outside of

[5:18] those areas that are incorporated that have a mayor and a city council. That's

[5:21] where our jurisdiction starts. So the unincorporated areas of like uh we're

[5:26] going to go Chalan Falls, Manson, Staken, Pashastan, Dryen, Lake Wanche,

[5:31] Plane, and I can't forget Malaga, Vicki. I never can.

[5:36] That that is our jurisdiction and that's where we end up doing our work. We don't

[5:40] stay out of the cities. Sometimes we work with the cities as we're touching

[5:43] borders or issues that are going to affect the county and the city. So we do

[5:47] have work that we do inside of Chalan and Levworth and Cashmere and Wanche.

[5:52] But that you have to remind yourself that bump in your sidewalk is a city

[5:56] issue. It's not a county issue. Sometimes the calls come in, our road

[5:59] didn't get plowed. We look it up and we find out where it's at. We're actually

[6:02] in the city limits. My garbage didn't get picked up. Well, it's waste

[6:05] management. We have no control over that. The dogs barking out loud all

[6:09] night long. Well, we do have a little bit influence at animal control. So,

[6:13] that's some of the some of the differences between city government and

[6:15] county government. We have a much broader um uh coverage area.

[6:22] One of the things that I also learned coming into this early as a new

[6:25] commissioner is the fact that way back in the old days, county commissioners

[6:29] were actually road commissioners and that was the that was the main uh

[6:32] authority and obligation of a county commissioner was roads and bridges. As

[6:36] you can see, as you go down through our org chart here, it has grown into so

[6:40] many other things that the county does now that we as commissioners are not

[6:45] only responsible for, but we have guidance in and we have discretion in uh

[6:49] when you're looking at the different departments of the county.

[6:53] So, with that, I'm going to hand off to district one commissioner Kevin

[6:58] Overbade. He has a few slides he'd like to show and share some things going on

[7:02] out there in District One. Take >> Thank you, Sean. Appreciate it. So, uh,

[7:06] welcome everybody and those folks that are online. Uh, Kevin Overbay. I am

[7:10] actually starting the second year of my third term and so I've been been doing

[7:14] this job for a little while. Uh, as Sean said, I am the commissioner representing

[7:19] District 1. We are small, but we are mighty. And you can actually see that I

[7:23] actually have that on my door there, uh, you know, from my office. But, uh, a lot

[7:27] of things going on in the Malaga area. And I do see some familiar faces here

[7:30] from my district. Uh, so we'll just kind of jump right into it. But I've got

[7:35] really four areas that I'm going to cover. Uh they're giving us about 10

[7:38] minutes or so just to kind of share out. The first one that I wanted to talk

[7:41] about was actually the tiff and and that's tax increment financing area. A

[7:44] lot of folks have heard a lot of information over the last year or so

[7:48] with regards to the regional port in the tax increment area in the Malaga uh

[7:52] area. So basically this really kind of shows the 3,300 plus

[7:58] acres that the uh is the boundary of the tax increment area that the port has uh

[8:03] has decided that they were going to take action on and move forward with. Uh just

[8:07] to give you a little bit of background, we uh received information from the port

[8:10] around April of last year that they were thinking about doing this and uh we had

[8:15] a meeting with them in June and then worked throughout the course of the

[8:18] summer to try to reach a resolution of a partnership or something where you know

[8:22] we're in the middle of our comprehensive planning update right now. Uh I'll talk

[8:26] a little bit more about UG urban growth area a little bit later in my

[8:30] presentation but basically it asked uh for a little bit of a pause for them to

[8:34] kind of come to the table with us kind of work some things out and uh see what

[8:39] would be in the best interest of folks not only today but well into tomorrow

[8:43] considering that tax increment area is good for 25 years that's the longevity

[8:47] of a tax increment area and uh so as we move through that process uh we uh we

[8:53] found that we weren't really kind of agreeing on the direction and so forth.

[8:57] The statute allowed for the port as well as a PUD or even a county or even a city

[9:02] to implement a a tax increment area. And so as we went through that, we decided

[9:07] that we would go ahead and impose a moratorum on tax increment areas in

[9:11] unincorporated Chalan County. That was challenged by the port. Uh they did get

[9:15] a judgment in their favor. Uh but we I will tell you that we are in the process

[9:20] of the appeal of that uh of that superior court of the trial court. uh

[9:25] judgment on that particular case. So that is still pending.

[9:29] So that will f I'll fast forward to uh basically December 23rd. We had

[9:34] requested that they wait until January 27th to impose the uh tax increment

[9:39] area. Um because we wanted to really get we we're talking about an interlocal

[9:43] agreement. There was a couple of offers made back and forth and we thought that

[9:47] we'd basically kind of landed on one that would work for everybody. And it's

[9:50] not and the reason why we want to do that is this. Tax income in areas take

[9:55] two forms of funding. They take the differential of property value as it

[9:59] improves and improvements are made. It takes that differential and it also what

[10:03] it does is it takes new construction and I'm not going to go into a lot of detail

[10:07] with regards to that. If you want to know more, please catch me after the

[10:10] meeting or send me an email. But basically what it does is when we look

[10:14] at property taxes, the county for the services that we provide in any other J

[10:19] taxing district or junior taxing district like a fire department

[10:22] basically can increase that by 1% on the aggregate. So if we were to take in $16

[10:27] million in property tax, we can increase that by $160,000.

[10:31] Doesn't even keep up with inflation. The other thing that we get with the

[10:34] property taxes though is we get uh new construction. And that new construction

[10:37] sometimes is two to $500,000. uh that basically is additive to create that new

[10:42] lawful legal limit or basically highest leg legal limit. And with regards to tax

[10:49] increment areas, what the county will lose is not only the differential and

[10:53] the tax elements, but we will also lose the new construction. And so basically,

[10:58] when we talk to communities and say we'd like to bring an industry in to your

[11:02] community, it will create jobs. It will create sales tax revenue that helps keep

[11:06] taxes low. But what it also does is offset the property tax. And when the

[11:11] with the offset of the property tax, what that means is your per thousand

[11:14] rate goes down. Reason being is let's say we have an overall value in the

[11:18] county of $20 billion. And you have an entity that comes in and they basically

[11:22] are now worth $5 billion of that. So basically the increase is a 25. They now

[11:27] take on one of the tax burden. So if you're paying a dollar a thousand, they

[11:32] would take on one fifth of that. your tax rate would then go down to 80 cents

[11:36] a thousand because they're picking up the other 20. It doesn't add. A lot of

[11:40] folks think that new construction and new businesses add to the value of what

[11:45] the county has. It is the value, but it's not to the tax base because we're

[11:48] capped at that 1%. So with a tax increment area, what happens is we lose

[11:53] that differential. So you, the taxpayer, actually still continue to pay the same

[11:57] amount that's locked in. you don't get the tax break and that funding funding

[12:02] is then siphoned off to then use for infrastructure improvements

[12:06] and there's no offset. So if there's new roadways that are built there's no

[12:10] offset to maintain those there's no offset to plow those that becomes an

[12:14] additional burden to the county you the taxpayer and then we if we don't have

[12:18] the funding either have to raise taxes to get the funding just to meet minimum

[12:22] services or we don't meet those minimum services. Thus you can see the position

[12:26] of the county. So basically in uh we had asked they had made their decision

[12:32] December 23rd went ahead and imposed a tiff by resolution. We did have a joint

[12:36] meeting with them on the 13th of January went through an interlocal agreement

[12:40] with them that we had been talking about for a couple of weeks and basically came

[12:45] to what we felt was an agreement. Now, the downside to the law is the law

[12:50] required us basically 90 days or excuse me, 30 days after they imposed the tax

[12:55] increment area that if we wish to challenge it, we had to file a lawsuit

[13:00] within that 30-day period. That 30-day period was January 22nd.

[13:04] So, we had asked to wait. They did not wait. We did not come to a resolution as

[13:10] far as a signed document on the 13th of January. So the 22nd of January, we had

[13:16] no choice but to at least protect and hold our position in the courts by

[13:21] filing a lawsuit. We did it jointly with uh the Wache Fire Department as well as

[13:26] Douglas County because they also are impacted by a tax increment area.

[13:31] On the 27th or excuse me, on the 26th, we requested a copy of the interlocal

[13:35] agreement that we had all agreed to. They sent us their copy. It was all the

[13:39] language is done. We signed it the next day and Commissioner Smith delivered it

[13:43] and delivered six wet copies to the port and the response was they had not

[13:47] reviewed it. And so we basically gave the last 60 days that went up until last

[13:52] Tuesday for the port to respond to the signed interlocal agreement. Built into

[13:58] that interlocal agreement was section 7. And basically I will go ahead and

[14:02] forward the slide. There's three QR codes here. One of them is the

[14:06] interlocal agreement. One of them is our court complaint to the port. And then

[14:09] the other one's a video of Commissioner Smith last week

[14:13] basically um presenting to the port during the public comment period asking

[14:18] the port what their position was with regards to signing the interlocal

[14:21] agreement only to be told that the interlocal agreement was not going to be

[14:25] signed by the port that they were at an impass because we had filed a lawsuit

[14:29] against them. Throughout the course of from January to this point, there was a

[14:33] couple of conversations that they basically wanted us to talk Douglas

[14:36] County out of a lawsuit, get the fire district to drop their lawsuit. The

[14:40] downside to that is if we drop the lawsuit without a signed under local

[14:43] agreement, we lose our ability to then challenge the the uh tax increment area.

[14:48] So, where we're at right now is basically we uh there was a provision in

[14:54] the interlocal agreement in section 7 and if you do get the QR code and read

[14:58] that in that section 7 we basically had agreed that if we filed a lawsuit they

[15:02] knew we were going to that we would dismiss the lawsuit with a signature of

[15:06] the interlocal agreement and basically they now want us to now dismiss the

[15:10] lawsuit before they'll sign it and that's something that we can't do. We

[15:13] will not give up our standing in the courts and we will not do that to the

[15:16] citizens of Schlank County. So unfortunately we're right now according

[15:20] to a quote from one of the commissioners in the video apparently we're at an

[15:24] impass and so we have no op, you know, basically uh option but to go ahead and

[15:29] move forward with litigation. That's was the last thing that my seatmates and I

[15:33] wanted to do. So we tried every effort we could to get to a resolution because

[15:37] I do know that me as a citizen I don't want my governments arguing and fighting

[15:42] with my taxpayer dollars and it's not the best use. But unfortunately, we do

[15:46] have to basically take our stand on this to protect the taxpayer in in Schlank

[15:52] County. So that's kind of where we currently stand with regards to the

[15:55] tiff. The next item that uh I'll talk about is

[15:59] regional pathways master plan. About two years ago, there was funding that we uh

[16:04] had provided uh out of a federal grant that was extra dollars that we were able

[16:08] to secure into the area as well as some uh private funding. And we actually uh

[16:13] the Schlan Douglas Transportation Council hired Alta as the uh consultant

[16:18] and basically looked at five different pathways to connect communities. So

[16:22] basically the hub being the city of Wan that a connected pathway all the way

[16:26] from Wanachi to Levvenworth, one from basically Rock Island to East Wanache,

[16:31] one from Malaga to Wan that one from uh Chalan to Manson. All that work has been

[16:37] done and completed. the on I will say that on March 12th the transportation

[16:41] council adopted the pathways plan. And what does that mean? The adoption of the

[16:45] pathways plan does not mean that it's going to automatically be built. What it

[16:48] means is now the communities that want to build those pathways, want to do the

[16:53] work to do that can now identify their pathways, move along. What came out of

[16:57] that work was uh the most reasonable alignments with regards to cost as well

[17:01] as the ability to basically get the pathway built without incurring a lot of

[17:06] encroachment on private properties mostly on rideways. It may not be the

[17:10] most scenic route but what it does is does provide that access and that

[17:13] connectivity at a lot lower cost but also something that we have not had in

[17:18] the past. So the QR code here basically will lead you to the uh pathways master

[17:22] plan. You can take a look at that. What I will tell you is the Malaga uh

[17:26] pathway. We are moving forward with that. Um uh as far as the funding

[17:31] element, um our natural resources department has applied about 3 weeks ago

[17:35] for a build grant. They had applied last year. We were I think in the top 10, but

[17:38] didn't didn't make the money. This year hopefully we've uh were able to to get

[17:42] into the money to maybe actually do a multimotal pathway for pedestrians and

[17:47] bicyclists to safely get off the Malaga Alcoa Highway to traverse from Malaga to

[17:51] Wanachi. So, and happy to answer questions uh when it

[17:55] comes to the Q&A time on this. The next item I wanted to discuss that's going on

[17:59] in Malaga is the Malaga Waterfront Park. Uh this has been about four years in the

[18:03] in the process. We've worked with the Malag clock community council. Um when

[18:06] we did our shoreline master program, Malaga was identified as the only

[18:09] community in Schlan County that don't have public access to water. And so over

[18:13] the course of the last four years, we've looked at different park concepts. The

[18:17] county uh with uh uh assistance from the recreational conservation office, state

[18:22] of Washington has received grant funding as well as used other county funds and

[18:26] in partnership with the PUD under their early investment program for the

[18:29] relicensing of Rock Island Dam has been able to acquire currently 48 acres and

[18:34] we have an additional 4 acres we're looking to acquire. So it' be a total of

[18:37] 52 acres that will have been acquired by Schlang County equaling almost a mile

[18:42] and a half of waterfront along the Malaga waterfront there for a riverfront

[18:45] park for the community of Malaga. So we're right now in the process of of

[18:51] looking at the uh park planning as far as the design as well as uh identifying

[18:57] some additional funding to build out the park. Uh one of the things that I will

[19:01] say that we were able to achieve and again hats off to Mike and his uh his

[19:05] department. they're really good at grant writing and bringing dollars into the

[19:08] community was the ability for us to get a federal rail grant uh to the tune of $

[19:14] 1.5 million. And so, uh we'll receive that funding within the next three

[19:18] months. And we're actually going to start to do some work on uh uh the

[19:22] intersection at West Maliga Road, Malagalcoa Highway, and Goose Rock Lane,

[19:26] which would be the entrance into the park area. And what that will be is that

[19:30] will be some intersection improvement there, decelerate or excuse me, a turn

[19:34] pocket and acceleration lane as well as a um updated grade crossing with

[19:40] crossarss and so forth. And so that way uh we're going to be putting that safety

[19:43] mechanism in place. So uh a lot of great things happening with regards to that.

[19:48] And then the last do uh item I wanted to touch on was a Malaga urban growth area.

[19:51] In 2006, the Malaga community went through a planning uh visioning

[19:56] statement which was now 20 years ago. Um it it seems like it was just yesterday.

[20:01] I was actually part of that group that did that when I was on the Malaga

[20:05] council and you know basically created Lambert designations within the

[20:09] community with all the growth that is going on and everything that is

[20:12] occurring in Malaga. We've now had conversations with the Malaga Council as

[20:17] well as community members about an urban growth area. Currently, right now,

[20:20] Chalan County has three unincorporated urban growth areas. Um, excuse me, two

[20:26] two unincorporated urban growth areas. Uh, community of

[20:30] Manson and the community of Bashton are the uh other unincorporated growth

[20:34] management areas. So, basically what this does is this allows for uh greater

[20:38] opportunity in the Malaga area uh greater density with regards to if

[20:42] wastewater is then brought in with regards to sewer system. It also uh

[20:46] allows for better opportunity for commercial space. Currently, right now,

[20:50] we're limited because uh we are within 10 miles of the Wachi UG to 5,000 square

[20:54] feet of retail space. That's all we can have in uh in our area under commercial

[21:00] um um zoning. So, basically, this will open up a greater opportunity not only

[21:05] for additional housing opportunities, but also business opportunities in the

[21:08] Malaga area as well as services and amenities. So the Malaga Clock Community

[21:12] Council has actually formed a subcommittee made up of council members

[21:15] as well as members of the community. Uh they we actually asked them to take a

[21:20] look at the Manson as well as the Pashastan codes as far as the zoning

[21:24] codes and they kind of have I think uh moved more towards the Pastan to kind of

[21:28] adopt similar codes to what they have as far as their zoning uh opportunities.

[21:33] They are actually holding uh council meetings are going to be held April 14th

[21:38] as well as May 7th and those will be at 4 402 Dixie Lane which is actually the

[21:43] intersection of Dixie Lane and Sard Avenue the crossroads mission that

[21:46] church that is located there and then the county will actually uh have our

[21:50] meeting on the 18th and that location and time is yet to be determined. So

[21:54] basically uh there's doing a lot of work uh with regards to that but I'm just

[21:58] going to take just another couple of minutes. I want to ask Mike if he has

[22:01] anything he wants to provide either on the pathways or the Malaga Park a little

[22:05] information and then I'll go to Dena just to maybe give any additional UG

[22:08] updates. So Mike >> and I want to say I will stay around

[22:12] after the commission presentation covered every single point that we

[22:17] talked about this morning presentation. So I don't have anything else to add.

[22:21] » Okay. Would you put a picture back up of the parking? My camera wouldn't work.

[22:26] » Of the >> park.

[22:28] » Would you warn us so we can smile? Say one, two, three.

[22:33] » What if I want to be in it? >> And understand this is a conceptual

[22:37] drawing. It's not the actual planning that's happening there. So Dina,

[22:41] anything you want to talk about UG? >> No. Again, yeah, you pretty much covered

[22:46] everything. The only thing that's a little bit outstanding is the

[22:50] justification for growth area um is the need for additional commercial space.

[22:56] There's some inherent issues with septic systems in the uh well protection radius

[23:02] for the Malaga water district. So we're starting the process to look at a sewer

[23:08] system planning project. It probably won't be

[23:13] implemented even if approved for numerous years. But this is the first

[23:17] step to being able to grow community. So, and I'll stay around for any

[23:23] questions afterwards also. >> Yeah. And the one thing that I did not

[23:27] mention is the reason why we're looking at this, the county and as well as with

[23:32] our moratorum, the county is actually in the middle of its comprehensive planning

[23:35] update that is due by the end of this year. The UG will probably not be

[23:38] completed by this year, but probably we're shooting for the end of the first

[23:41] quarter of next year. So, but uh there will be a lot of opportunities for folks

[23:46] in the Malaga area to weigh in on this process, take a look at what the

[23:49] boundary is of the UG, and then take a look at the zoning elements within the

[23:54] uh confines of the boundary. So, and that's all I have for you all tonight.

[23:58] I'll turn it over to my uh seatmate, Commissioner Smith from uh District 2.

[24:02] » Great. And like I said, we're just >> Sorry.

[24:06] » Oh, no. You can hit the QR code for the movie. I thought about putting the movie

[24:09] in and I will let you go ahead and do that at your pleasure. I didn't want you

[24:13] all out there on your phones watching the movie while we were trying to talk.

[24:15] So, >> all right. Well, thank you everyone.

[24:19] Appreciate that. Uh, Commissioner Overbay, District Two, moving on to my

[24:23] district. Um, have three topics I want to bring up tonight. Uh, the first one

[24:27] is something very exciting for the community of Plane. Plane, of course, is

[24:31] the small town just outside of Levvenworth up over Beaver Hill. And

[24:34] they're kind of isolated and they're kind of have their own identity up

[24:37] there. and they're feeling some of the same pressures that we're feeling in

[24:40] other parts of the county when it comes to tourism.

[24:44] As I know, you know, those that are watching the news and even watching the

[24:48] Seattle news, there are areas of our county that are just being loved to

[24:51] death by the tourists and the residents as well, but the tourists because of the

[24:55] impact and the massive numbers that come to just certain areas, whether it be up

[25:00] in the enchantments, whether it be uh Lake Chalan, whether it be Alala Canyon

[25:05] for the balsam uh uh flowering that's about to happen. So what we're doing uh

[25:11] part of our impact study that we had for our tourism impact study was to find

[25:15] areas where we could point overcrowding to and spread out through the county and

[25:20] share not only where the load goes but also where that revenue dollar goes and

[25:24] help out the other communities in Chelan County that don't necessarily get that

[25:28] tourism impact dollar. So we have uh pretty exciting news to share. Um, we

[25:34] are currently working on a purchase sale agreement for a piece of property up in

[25:38] Plane that is going to end up being the Plain Community Park. They have nowhere

[25:43] up in Plane to gather together for their winter sports, for their summer sports,

[25:48] for their spring and and fall sports. The tourists that come through there,

[25:52] they're like, "Well, what else do we do here?" So plane is really wanting to

[25:56] capitalize on that traffic coming through and saying hang out here for a

[25:59] little bit, stay, and of course spend a little money in our community. So we

[26:04] don't quite have the announcement ready to let you know where that is going to

[26:07] be, but Schlank County plans on owning about 18 acres of uh Plane central area

[26:13] that we can actually build a park up there for the residents of Plane. It'll

[26:18] uh take in part of their uh cross-country skiing, which has become

[26:22] very popular up there with their ski teams that they have for the kids, and

[26:25] the trails that are connected not only to private land, but also public lands

[26:29] uh through cooperation and easements to get to the public lands to go up and

[26:34] explore in that upper upper valley up there. So, uh, that outcome of that

[26:39] study was the need for more trail heads and be able to spread out that

[26:42] recreation so that we don't get crushed in certain small pockets of the

[26:46] community because the tourists are going to come. This is a unbelievably

[26:50] beautiful place to come and visit and recreate and some end up staying here

[26:55] because they fall in love with it just like some of you probably have as well.

[26:58] So, um, stay tuned and we'll be ready to share more of that as we get the

[27:03] purchase and sale agreement, uh, finalized and we're currently doing the

[27:07] homework on the property to make sure that we're, you know, environmentally

[27:10] and culturally sensitive to what is in that area so that we're able to build

[27:14] upon that and make it a place that everyone up in plane can be proud of.

[27:18] So, stay tuned for that one. Um the second uh topic I want to share with you

[27:23] is something that we have coming up. It's actually in the corner of district

[27:27] three,

[27:31] our new old station campus. This has been how many years?

[27:35] » Four. >> Four years of Kevin's uh time here at

[27:38] the county. And uh Ron came in at just exactly the right time. We found a piece

[27:43] of land out there um that was not for sale at the time. It had a different use

[27:48] intended for it. and then the owners of the property offered it up and said, "We

[27:52] hear you guys want to build a campus where you can take and consolidate some

[27:56] of the things that you have going on here at the county." So, the coroner and

[27:59] emergency management services are going to be moving out there. Actually, those

[28:03] two are actually moving in right now. And I know the sheriff is helping out

[28:06] with that with his emergency management services, which is currently tenants out

[28:11] at the uh old station uh fire hall fire station on the north end of town. So

[28:16] it's just down the road from that. On this side of the picture over there is

[28:20] where Weinstein Beverages and Countryside Vets and then on the other

[28:24] side is the Mini Storage and then goes out towards the roundabout there at

[28:28] Still. It's uh the address is 425 Omi Garden Road. And uh like I say, it's

[28:33] going to be the new home for the motorpool operations and the offices

[28:37] emergency management and the county coroner. Um just some stats on that. The

[28:42] buildings are 18,000 square foot a piece. And there's three of the

[28:46] buildings out there. ABC. Yeah. Just ABC. And then on this side over here is

[28:51] the covered um uh >> bullpen.

[28:55] » Bullpin for uh vehicles that are impounded. That was one of the things

[28:59] that we really needed here in the county was the fact to be able to lock up a

[29:03] vehicle. They needed to get a search warrant on it where they were currently

[29:07] stored. It's easy to hop the fence in the middle of the night, get out of

[29:10] whatever that car you don't want to be caught with when the inspection starts.

[29:14] And so we have a place to lock up vehicles now and protect them because we

[29:18] are responsible for those vehicles until the owner is able to either get the car

[29:21] out of impound or if they're incarcerated, we're responsible for that

[29:25] vehicle. So if it gets trashed in an unprotected area, the county is now

[29:30] responsible for that. So we have a nice bullpen out there that's protected with

[29:33] fencing, lots of lights, lots of cameras. Um the construction cost was

[29:39] about 7.8 million and it took about a year to go from dirt to uh uh roofing

[29:46] and uh the move in is already started. The ground was an additional $1.8

[29:51] million and so we were budgeting at about $8.6 million for the construction

[29:56] on this and we came in at 7.8 because Ron is a miser over there and he did a

[30:01] really good job keeping track of the expenses on this building and kept it

[30:04] going. So, we're very proud of that. Um, it was paid for by county funds so that,

[30:10] uh, we were able to build this entire complex here, uh, with the community in

[30:14] mind. Um, the groundbreaking event for this is Thursday, April 16th at 10 a.m.

[30:21] if anybody, not groundbreaking, ribbon cutting, the ribbon cutting,

[30:26] » so that you can come out and see all of these areas that uh are going to be uh

[30:30] utilized at a much greater use than being spread out all around the county.

[30:35] This is kind of a central hub out there at the north end where the sheriff's

[30:38] department and EM can dispatch from and uh get to all corners of the county much

[30:43] quicker than being spread out three or four different locations. Equipment

[30:46] stored in city garages and uh other places where they have to do a lot of

[30:52] gathering before they can get out. So, we're very proud of that. Um the uh

[30:57] motorpool is getting ready to move out there and they are currently across the

[31:01] street over here. That old building over there is going to actually be demolished

[31:07] once the move is totally done. And we currently have uh the lift equipment for

[31:12] the vehicles and all the maintenance equipment that's necessary for the motor

[31:16] pool to be uh installed and then they can make the final move out there. And a

[31:21] lot of the cars that are parked down here in between us and the central uh

[31:26] library will be moved out to that area as well. So, we're going to increase

[31:31] some additional parking out here. But part of that 20-year capital plan calls

[31:35] for that building once it's vacated to be actually demolished. And hopefully in

[31:40] the future, maybe one of the three of us will still be around when a new building

[31:44] is constructed and additional uh space is created here at the county to uh

[31:49] serve the other departments, including the prosecuting office and the uh county

[31:53] jail as well. So, um, with that, I'm going to jump next to

[32:00] something that has been very, very, uh, a very big desire for more fire

[32:06] protection up in district 2. I know there's other areas in districts one and

[32:11] three that also have concerns, but district two is the ranked the highest

[32:17] fire risk in the Pacific Northwest. And if any of you are familiar with that

[32:22] chumstick all the way to Lake Wanche and Stevens Pass, it is a tinder box up

[32:27] there. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. So, two fire marshals

[32:32] ago or one two one one ago started this uh investigation as to how could we get

[32:38] some water in those uh far outreaching areas where it takes 20 30 minutes to

[32:45] get back to town to fill up a a tender truck in order to be able to go back out

[32:49] and start working on a fire again. So this uh this idea was uh hatched

[32:58] five years ago, maybe six years, Mike, at least to where if we were to get some

[33:03] portable water out there that could be backfilled by city trucks or contract

[33:09] trucks and let the firefighters continue to go out and work on the fire, but have

[33:14] a place to go back and refill their truck that is not a 40minut run back to

[33:18] town. So, this idea of placing at least 10 of

[33:24] them up in the upper valley uh locations around Nason Ridge and Koh's Corner and

[33:30] the Chumstick area would make it so that that turnaround trip to get back to the

[33:33] fire and keep working on it is much faster. So, we're very grateful for uh

[33:38] congressional uh investment and uh Representative Kim Shrier was

[33:43] instrumental in this, but uh she came up with about $860

[33:48] $893,000 to start this project out for Chalan

[33:52] County. >> We don't have a desire to own these

[33:55] tanks. we are the intermediary in between the funding and the placement

[34:00] and then on to an owner that would then take over the maintenance of that uh for

[34:04] its life cycle. So we have uh several locations that are already picked out

[34:09] and we're working on agreements with that and we're hoping to get them

[34:12] installed spring and summer of this year. So if we can if we can beat the

[34:15] fire season that we all think is probably coming with the pretty light

[34:18] winter that we had, that'll be a huge bonus. And for those that are in that

[34:23] upper valley, um we have all experienced outrageous homeowners insurance on our

[34:29] homes. And many of us have gotten cancelled and have to go out and shop

[34:33] new insurance. One of the main reasons behind that is the fire rating up in

[34:37] those areas is so high that if there's not a fire station close by, they say

[34:42] that you're too high of a risk. So, we're really hoping that as we place

[34:46] these around the community, the insurance companies will then realize

[34:48] and go, "Wait a minute, these communities are firewise. They're

[34:51] actually getting ahead of this and they're making it so that we don't have

[34:54] such catastrophic losses if a fire does break out." So, this is a great uh

[34:59] investment for the community and those upper valley folks, including myself,

[35:03] are going to be very appreciative of having copious amounts of water, 20,000

[35:07] gallons at a time per tank. And these tanks are mobile. They have a set of

[35:10] wheels on the back, so they can be moved. They can be relocated. They can

[35:14] be permanently affixed, but everything will be set up and hooked up so the fire

[35:18] trucks have the exact attachments to go in, refill their trucks, liquidity

[35:22] split, back out on the fire. So, and there's also additional tanks planned

[35:26] for other locations. I know that Commissioner Hawkins has a couple

[35:29] locations up there that he needs to focus on as well where water is just too

[35:33] tough to get back to town to get. Commissioner Overbeay has a couple areas

[35:37] out there that he would like to have some tanks as well. So, as this program

[35:41] launches, moves forward, and we see the success rate on it, it'll be much easier

[35:45] to go out there and try and find more grant money for this so that we can keep

[35:48] the project going. And with that,

[35:54] I will turn it over to Commissioner Hawkins for his District 3 update. And

[35:58] then, like I say, we will be coming back around and allowing plenty of time for

[36:03] questions to be asked of all the department heads and electives that we

[36:06] have here tonight. So, take it away, Commissioner. Thank you, Commissioner

[36:09] Smith, and thanks everybody for coming and for participating via Zoom. I'm Brad

[36:14] Hawkins, Commissioner for District 3. I'm our newest commissioner, so I've

[36:19] only been doing this for just over a year now, so uh so bear with me, but I

[36:25] have three things to discuss uh tonight. one is a future Rivercom 911 center uh

[36:33] that is in the works and I'll also be discussing the Chalane County Regional

[36:38] Justice Center which is also known as the jail and a flood protection project

[36:44] in Staken. Uh this is um a picture of the future facility. Um, so as

[36:53] Commissioner Smith mentioned, we all serve on different boards in addition to

[36:57] our role as county commissioners. So, Commissioner Overbeay serves on the uh

[37:02] transportation council and link transit with Commissioner Smith and Commissioner

[37:07] Smith and I both serve on the health board. Uh but I serve uh on Rivercom and

[37:14] uh if you might not be aware, Rivercom is um an operation where local

[37:19] jurisdictions have sort of partnered together, but it is the 911

[37:24] um operation for both Chalan and Douglas counties. Um, and currently and for many

[37:31] years it's been operating out of the city of Wanchi's, you know, t top floor

[37:36] there and it's really sort of overgrown and we need to expand because our

[37:41] twocounty area is growing and the city of Wanchi police department needs its

[37:46] space back and so uh went ahead and purchased this facility which I'm not

[37:53] sure if you recognize I think is formerly CMI

[37:57] uh for apples but it's located on Uklid Avenue close to the Confluence State

[38:04] Park and the facility I'll actually it's it's two buildings but they're

[38:08] connected. One will be for the Rivercom administration and sort of office

[38:13] functions and the other will be for the operational center. Uh the total cost is

[38:18] about $12.5 million. Um, a good portion of that is the

[38:24] purchase price of the facility itself. And so about $4 million has been spent

[38:29] so far to acquire the facility um throughout. And you probably think,

[38:35] well, what more do you have to do? But there are a lot of specific standards

[38:39] and earthquake readiness and all these different things associated with having

[38:44] a 911 control center. So throughout the the end of this year and next year is

[38:52] when the construction will actually take place. So we're going through the design

[38:55] and permitting now and hopefully if all goes well uh we're scheduled to be

[39:00] completed uh by the end of 2027. And I also serve on the Rivercom board with

[39:06] Sheriff Morrison. He's chaired the board recently and done a great job. So it's

[39:11] fun to serve on that board with so many different people in the 2count area.

[39:16] Um each of those we have two different buildings but they also have two

[39:20] different floors and we'll also have room to actually have our board meetings

[39:23] there and in and public space. And recently voters approved overwhelmingly

[39:29] in both counties um a small sales tax adjustment for Rivercom which will help

[39:35] fund continued and growing operational support as well as uh some capital

[39:40] needs. We do currently have a a funding gap in this facility and we're just

[39:45] trying to figure out what's the best way to close that gap.

[39:48] We did get the approval from the voters. We might be able to utilize some of that

[39:53] revenue and we're also seeking some uh federal uh congressional support. And uh

[39:59] this is just kind of another look at some of the features which will include

[40:04] parking and visitor parking and secured access. We have a lot of facilities,

[40:09] radio towers, and things that go along with RiverCom as well. Um, and the next

[40:14] item is our Schlank County Regional Justice Center. Uh, a lot of people

[40:20] refer to it sometimes as the regional jail, but that's not actually

[40:24] technically precisely accurate. Uh, and I'll tell you a little bit more about

[40:28] why, but it is a 267 bed facility. It's located just across

[40:34] the street. And actually, I can see it through Commissioner Smith's window

[40:39] right now. So, >> that's both of our views out of our

[40:41] » Yeah, our view is the jail. >> They're beautiful views of the jail.

[40:45] » Yeah. So, it's it's right there. >> Our thing, Chris. No offense.

[40:50] Um, but the jail building, you know, is owned and and the jail is operated by

[40:56] Chalan County and it is a costly operation and those costs have increased

[41:00] recently due to the growing fentanyl epidemic and some of the other

[41:05] challenges that we have with, you know, the inmates that we're now hosting

[41:08] there. But one thing that's important to point out about the regional justice

[41:13] center is that it functions separately from our general fund budget and

[41:18] functions as a standalone budget. Um, and we do have Chris Sharp here who's

[41:23] our jail director. And uh, thanks to Chris and the hardworking men and women

[41:29] of our regional justice center. They've won national awards and the

[41:33] commissioners over recent years uh well before me have invested significantly in

[41:40] our regional jail. Uh cameras, sensors, K9 units, nursing staff, body scanners,

[41:48] a lot of different things to to keep that population safe. Uh we have

[41:53] different user groups. Uh that's kind of how we refer to it at the jail. So

[41:59] Chellane County, we're one because we host our inmates there. Douglas County,

[42:04] Wanchi, East Wanche. Uh those are the major user groups that represent the

[42:09] vast majority of the population of the jail inmates. But we also have Cashmere,

[42:15] Chalan, Levvenworth, INEAT, and uh some inmates from the Department of

[42:20] Corrections. And and basically the way this works is that each jurisdiction uh

[42:25] that participates does so under their own contract that

[42:30] their jurisdiction uh approves. And you may hear a little bit about this. This

[42:35] is why I wanted to make sure to get this slide in the presentation is because the

[42:40] contracts are sometimes like three years or whatever and they're scheduled to

[42:43] expire this year. So December 31st of this year. Uh so we're we're already in

[42:49] the process of reaching out to the participants to to to talk about that.

[42:54] Um but it is important that the revenues from the participating jurisdictions

[43:00] offset the cost um of the jail operations. So we need to make sure that

[43:06] those revenues equal the expenditures or else basically the Chalan County

[43:11] taxpayers are in a sense subsidizing the other jurisdictions. So, um, we look

[43:18] forward to kind of working with those jurisdictions as we look forward to

[43:23] potential contracts in in future years. And the last thing for me is a flood

[43:29] protection project that we are sort of helping to facilitate in a sense uh, up

[43:35] in Sthein. and uh you know the I think it was the early December flood events

[43:43] that came through um fortunately did not have widespread impacts in Chalan

[43:49] County. We we definitely had some a lot of impacts in western Washington and

[43:54] other areas, but uh up lake in Lake Chalan, we did have some impacts. uh one

[44:00] to the road up to Holden Village uh which is a US Forest Service owned and

[44:06] operated road and then also we had a lot of impacts to National Park Service

[44:12] facilities in and around Steaken including like a wastewater facility

[44:17] that the National Park Service owns and some of their housing but in particular

[44:22] the Steaken River sort of adjusted itself during this process and uh this

[44:28] is an image that our natural resources director Mike Caputo put together with

[44:34] his team and Mike has been doing exceptional work

[44:38] helping communicate with the folks in in Stan and with the National Park Service

[44:44] but um basically at the top I don't know that I can point with this but you'll

[44:49] see that white line across the river it says Company Creek Road and that was

[44:55] sort of where the road once was before the flooding event and now the river has

[45:01] adjusted itself completely over the top of that in one area and actually this

[45:07] image was taken like a couple months ago I believe and so the the

[45:13] river has adjusted even further so um but basically the National Park Service

[45:19] this is their property and their project um the flooding compromised a levey uh a

[45:27] dyke that was constructed there some years ago. So, we're looking to

[45:32] encourage the National Park Service to uh rebuild that. And that's what that

[45:37] green bright green line is is what uh where the National Park Service on their

[45:43] property proposes to build essentially an elevated road that'll also hopefully

[45:48] serve to protect some of the water during spring runoff um and other events

[45:55] throughout the year. and it's already sort of starting to happen now. So,

[45:59] Chalang County sort of in our role, not just with Mike, but we helped kind of

[46:04] facilitate some rocks to get barged up to Steakin and uh just this week, the

[46:11] National Park Service and the US Army Corps of Engineers and others are

[46:16] working to try to complete that project. probably take a couple weeks and um and

[46:23] hopefully, you know, it will serve to protect some of the homes on private

[46:28] property below that green line. And so, um, hopefully I covered everything,

[46:34] Mike, and, uh, we'll be around if there's other questions about this. But

[46:38] you may have not have heard too much about this, but believe me, the

[46:42] community of Steaken, which has about almost 100 yearround residents, are

[46:47] really invested and really concerned with uh the potential flooding uh that

[46:52] could be that's kind of starting to happen due to the runoff. But uh, with

[46:57] that, I guess, Commissioner Smith, I'll pass this over to you. Great report.

[47:01] Thank you very much. Appreciate that. >> Okay, Annabelle, you're going to take

[47:05] over now, right? >> Okay. So, with our three presentations

[47:11] from each of the districts here gave us an opportunity to start the conversation

[47:15] and then hopefully it will inspire you to ask us some questions. And if we

[47:18] didn't touch on a topic that maybe is of interest to you right now tonight, this

[47:23] is a great opportunity to talk to all three of your commissioners at one time.

[47:27] We kind of have a a a well it's not kind of a rule it is a rule. When we meet

[47:33] together we need to be on the microphone so that the public is very aware of the

[47:37] business that we are doing for the residents of the county. We take that

[47:41] very uh um very soberly so that we're able to ensure everyone that we are not

[47:49] working behind the scenes. We want to be very transparent. That's what our role

[47:54] in government is to be transparent to the taxpayers and the people that put us

[47:57] here. Every Monday morning uh when we start our session, we have a public

[48:01] comment period and we always invite the public to come and speak to us on a

[48:06] weekly basis with all three commissioners in the room. So, this is

[48:09] this is very unusual for us to be doing that outside of the Monday morning

[48:13] public comment period to where you can ask all three of us plus all of our

[48:17] department heads that came with us tonight as opposed to being oneon-one.

[48:22] you know, I'm pulling us aside or catching us in our district or at a

[48:25] different meeting in the community. This is an opportunity for the all of you and

[48:29] those that are online tonight to speak with all three commissioners at one

[48:33] time. So, this is this is kind of cool. This is a neat model to do. We'll take a

[48:37] survey after the fact and see if this is something we want to continue at least

[48:40] once a year, twice a year, or how we do our district meetings from here on out.

[48:45] So, with that, we will open it up to public comment. We got plenty of time

[48:48] here. We have the room reserved till about 7:30. Then the lights are going to

[48:52] get turned off. The heat's going to get turned off and it'll get uncomfortable

[48:55] till tomorrow morning. So, we'll see if we can blow through here and give

[48:58] everybody plenty of time to talk. So, what we're going to do though is we're

[49:01] going to set about 3 minutes for you to speak and ask your question and tell us

[49:05] what's uh what what you're working on. And uh when you do, if you would just

[49:09] introduce yourself to us. Those that are online have a name showing. We don't

[49:13] know if that's their name, but we would like to be able to call you something as

[49:16] we're communicating with you and answering. So, if you would just uh give

[49:20] us your name and we'll start a timer for about 3 minutes and hopefully you'll be

[49:24] able to watch that and those online can watch it as well. Oh, look, Kathy Mohal

[49:27] tuned in. Thank you, Kathy, for uh for tuning in tonight. We appreciate seeing

[49:32] you there. Um, and from there, um, if you are in the back half of the room

[49:37] back there around the sheriff area, you can just step up to that microphone that

[49:40] we have on the, uh, tower back there. If you're in the front half of the room, we

[49:44] don't expect you to go out and come back around. Just come up here to one of

[49:46] these chairs up here and, uh, you'll be able to get on the microphone so those

[49:51] people that are online will be able to hear your questions as well. And then

[49:54] we'll have our directors and our department heads come over to this other

[49:57] microphone and be able to give an answer and have the dialogue and answer your

[50:01] questions hopefully. So, with that, um, you can just start forming a line at the

[50:07] microphone if you want. We're not going to call on people. You can just head to

[50:10] the microphone in the back or up here in front and I'll do a little bit of What's

[50:13] that, Jill? >> We have Yeah, we have two online already

[50:17] as well. So, we'll kind of alternate between in the room and online just see

[50:21] if we can have a good dialogue tonight and get your questions answered so that

[50:24] you have uh have that uh answer in your back pocket. We have a a question in the

[50:30] chat also. >> In the chat also. Okay, great. All

[50:34] right, so we're going to jump first to Pat uh Thurby is online. She had her

[50:39] hand up first. So Pat, if you'd unmute your mic and and introduce yourself and

[50:43] we'll get you started. >> Hi. Uh I'm Pat Thurlby from District 2.

[50:50] And I really appreciate um this meeting because I uh like to know all of the

[50:56] news in Chalan County, but I'm particularly interested in a district to

[51:03] uh set of information about recreation property in Plane. And Sean, uh if you

[51:10] can connect with me, I I am active in a group of people that are looking at

[51:16] Osborne Elementary. I know that's Levvenworth issue, but if people in

[51:23] plain could please consider the fastest growing sport in the world is pickle

[51:31] ball. >> Pickle ball. I knew you were going to

[51:33] say that, Pat. >> Yeah. And and just so you know, there's

[51:37] a large population of people in Levvenworth that drive 45 minutes to Wan

[51:43] that we'd be delighted to drive 25 minutes to plane and have real outdoor

[51:51] courts available and it's not unlike not having good snow here and people driving

[51:58] to plane for cross-country skiing. So, if you could connect me with the plain

[52:03] folks that are um working on this, I'd be very happy to represent um

[52:11] Levvenworth people in in that. I realize there's way more serious things than

[52:16] pickle ball, but it's awesome and it's a real draw.

[52:20] » Well, that's great, Pat. Thank you for >> You bet. It's funny because Mike just

[52:25] raised his hand and volunteered for that, so he's going to reach out to you.

[52:28] Okay. >> Oh, super. Awesome. Thanks so much you

[52:32] guys. You're doing great. >> Thanks for joining us tonight. We sure

[52:35] appreciate it. >> All right. We're gonna take one in

[52:39] Chambers here. And it looks like Vicky Malloy jumped up quickly. So you're on.

[52:43] » Yes. And as my name is Vicky Malloy. I'm from the Malaga area. And really all I'm

[52:49] doing is you guys have done a marvelous job of explaining everything that's

[52:54] going on. Very interesting. I like this format a lot better than when you have

[53:00] everybody talk and you know it just much better in my mind this way. Plus I get

[53:06] to be here want to approve. Okay. >> Okay. So yeah

[53:09] » and we didn't explain everything that was going on. We we have to cut it down

[53:13] for this. >> With regard to the Chalan County

[53:15] Regional Justice Center, um you had talked about all the contracts coming up

[53:19] at the end of the year. I would really suggest if you can to stagger the

[53:25] contract so that all at once you're not having um these guys say, "Well, I want

[53:31] this or blah blah blah blah blah." And the other, "Oh, then I'm not going to

[53:34] renew either." So that you're not put on the spot of not having money at in hand.

[53:39] And um like every one Yeah. three years apart. So that's all I have to say. Wow.

[53:46] You guys did such a great job. And Mike, I'll talk to you later. Good. Thanks.

[53:53] » Um,

[53:56] » you're gonna be busy tomorrow, buddy. Um, Chris, could you could you come up

[54:00] really quick and explain why we go on a three-year contract or a two-year

[54:04] contract rather than staggering, and I'm sure you're probably going to touch on

[54:07] union contracts and known numbers that we have. So, turn it over to Chris.

[54:12] » So, I appreciate that. And one of the reasons why we try to keep all of our

[54:15] user agencies on a three-year cycle is for everybody's time, obviously.

[54:20] um three years. Sometimes we've been running these three years. We've had a

[54:23] four-year contract with unuser and it kind of gets out of spec for cost uh

[54:27] recuperation for uh today's inmate because as the commissioner highlighted

[54:31] the last five years have really changed incarcerated individual with the

[54:35] sickness of fentanyl and the detox uh taking 3 to 10 days to get them healthy

[54:39] um before we can even move them to a regular cell. So, it's that's one of the

[54:42] reasons why we put the sensors in and all the cost measures that the

[54:45] commissioners have approved over the last five to six years has really

[54:47] enhanced that um decreases our risk and liability, enhancing our safety and

[54:52] security. So, when we get those three-year contracts, we want to be

[54:55] really conscientious of what the second and third year look like because, you

[54:59] know, we have salaries with CBAs that come into play with different types of

[55:03] raises for the nurses, for the support staff, as well as the correction

[55:06] officers and being competitive in the field of public safety. So, we will be

[55:12] up against uh the six of our users this year uh come up and we are already

[55:17] reached out. We have meetings already scheduled for May to meet with them. We

[55:20] have a new contract we're going to try to propose u for cost recovery and

[55:24] looking at today's inmate and what and how we're moving forward. One of the

[55:28] things if you're in those communities is understand the costs do go up and um if

[55:32] we want to incarcerate people, we need to take care of them and we need to make

[55:36] sure that we are providing the safest and secure environment that we have uh

[55:40] for those individuals to stay in our facility. Our population is staying

[55:43] around 150 to 170. It has gone up over the last few months. So, we're looking

[55:47] at, you know, we have to feed all those people. We have to take care of them

[55:51] medically and all the things that go along with that. And each agency that we

[55:54] have a contract is responsible for portions of those medicals and sometimes

[55:58] those can get expensive for an Anniaat or Levvenworth or Kashmir or Schlan and

[56:02] we understand that but at the same time we don't want to get ourselves into a

[56:06] place where the Schlan County taxpayers have to subsidize the user contracts to

[56:11] uh keep us afloat and keep us where we need to be. So

[56:15] » excellent. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you Chris. Appreciate that.

[56:17] We're going to go in room. We have one back here at the microphones. Go ahead.

[56:21] You're up. >> Hi. Uh, hi. Thank you. U, my name is

[56:24] Becca Freemouth. Um, I am here tonight on behalf of the Chalan Douglas CASA

[56:30] program. Uh, first off, thank you commissioners for providing this

[56:33] opportunity tonight. Um, I know public service can be a really thankless job.

[56:38] So, thanks for providing this opportunity and these updates. Um,

[56:41] something you didn't touch on tonight was the CASA program. Um, for those in

[56:45] the room who aren't familiar with the CASA program, it is a courtappointed

[56:48] special advocate for children and foster youth. So we are volunteers who um are

[56:53] assigned to foster children and we are their voice in the court system um when

[56:58] they are in dependency cases. Um the CASA program is a nonprofit organization

[57:04] that is partially funded through both of the counties locally. Um this last year

[57:09] the Chalan County decided to um reduce some of the funding to that program. Um

[57:14] and I just wanted to highlight some of the positive benefits to um our

[57:18] community through that program. Um so as a volunteer I've personally served for

[57:23] two and a half years. I've sub um supported uh three children through that

[57:28] work. Um one child um one baby. I I received her as um my CASA case when she

[57:34] was a newborn and then she just returned home with her mom and the case was

[57:37] dismissed and she's two years old. Another case I support is uh two

[57:42] 15year-old twins. Um they all both of these uh sets of youth are here locally

[57:48] in Chalan County in the Wanache area. We have about 65 volunteers through the

[57:54] Chalan Douglas Kasa program. Um as a collective group we are providing

[57:59] thousands of volunteer hours to support these youth throughout the year. Um

[58:03] there is a staff of about five at the CASA office and I just um the number one

[58:10] thing I tell people when I talk about my CASA work is that I would not be doing

[58:13] this if it wasn't for that CAS the CASA team. Um the support that they provide

[58:17] us as volunteers is um it's it's it just wouldn't be possible without

[58:23] them. They provide a safe space to do this really hard work. Um and their

[58:28] budget primarily goes to support those staff employees. So, um, I wanted to

[58:33] share some of that today and then also ask, uh, the commissioners if you could

[58:37] provide some insight into, um, that budgeting process and where and why you

[58:41] decided to reduce some of the funds going directly to that program. Thank

[58:44] you. >> Great, Becca. Thank you. We appreciate

[58:47] that. And thanks for the introduction and the explanation for everyone in the

[58:50] room and online. And I'll turn that one over to Commissioner Overbeay. He has

[58:53] some news for you tonight. >> Yeah. So, we did reduce the funding, I

[58:57] believe it's $19,000 to CASA. And basically what we were facing when we

[59:00] went into this budget season was a $7 million gap between what our projected

[59:04] revenues and our projected expenditures were going to be. And that was basically

[59:09] not only just the expenditures, but what the asks were from each one of the uh

[59:12] elected officials and our appointed officials to continue to serve the

[59:16] citizens of Chalan County. And so there were some hard decisions we had to make.

[59:20] I will say that we did get the uh that $7 million deficit down to about 2 point

[59:25] I believe it's 2.3 >> roughly 2.1 2.3

[59:28] » I think two >> 2.2 million. So we were able to shave

[59:32] about $4.8 million off of that. Uh, and while the decisions were not easy, they

[59:37] were decisions we had to make. What I will tell you is this, and what some of

[59:41] the research I've done, because I know you all came and visited us at the

[59:43] beginning of the year, right after the budget was finalized, and had some

[59:47] concerns about the cuts, is um, we are receiving opioid abatement dollars. And

[59:52] I do know that some of the cost of work has to do with kids that are impacted by

[59:55] opioids. And so, uh, there is a provision in the one Washington. And so

[1:00:00] what I would do is encourage CASA um Carolon is actually our managing agency

[1:00:04] for the funds and they are going out for an RFP process and I would encourage

[1:00:09] CASA to actually apply under that RFP process for some of that opioid

[1:00:12] abatement funding to be able to offset that budget gap. So there is some

[1:00:16] additional funding that's not general fund dollars that we might be able to

[1:00:19] shift over to be able to fill that gap. So I would encourage you to do so. You

[1:00:23] betcha. >> Okay, great. We're going to go next to

[1:00:27] Elaine. I'm just trying to keep track of everyone so I don't get out of order

[1:00:31] here. So, Elaine, go ahead. >> Uh, thank you. Uh, Elaine Civy from

[1:00:36] Plane. Um, and this has been really a very interesting meeting and uh, there

[1:00:42] was a number of times I wanted to clap my hands uh, particularly on the

[1:00:46] portable water tanks. Great. Thanks. >> And the park out in plane. I have a

[1:00:54] couple of questions. One was that on uh the portable water tanks. Uh you

[1:01:01] mentioned that Chalan County was not going to be the owner of those and I'm

[1:01:05] wondering are you renting them or who's going to be the owner?

[1:01:10] » I'm going to hand this off to Mike or Ron. Which one do you want to feel that

[1:01:13] or Chris? We got we got three good options here tonight. Elaine.

[1:01:17] » Okay, great. We we are actually working with the fire districts up there and

[1:01:22] they they will take ownership and maintenance of those

[1:01:25] » things once they set. >> Um so uh the next item that I had a

[1:01:31] comment on is that I would encourage you uh to look at a bike path between

[1:01:38] Levvenworth and Chumstick. There is a lot of bike traffic that goes up the

[1:01:43] Chumstick. And I realize there's not a good answer for it, but uh you know, a

[1:01:49] lot of those, you know, are actually even sanctioned bike races and and

[1:01:54] events and it's a there's very little shoulder on that road. I don't

[1:02:00] necessarily need a feedback on it, but um you know, kind of keep that in your

[1:02:05] long range plans if you can. Um, and so then my primary question is

[1:02:12] if you could please uh describe the process that you anticipate taking uh

[1:02:19] and the timing associated with uh your appointment for an interim auditor and

[1:02:27] any opportunities you anticipate for public input in that process.

[1:02:31] » Yeah, I appreciate that, Elaine. I'll answer that one for you. Um, thank you

[1:02:35] for your email on that. I appreciate that and your job description and

[1:02:39] qualifications were spoton. I couldn't have added one more thing to the desires

[1:02:44] for that position. When we're looking at elected officials in Washington state,

[1:02:50] we refer back to the state constitution. And in the constitution for elected

[1:02:56] offices, um, sheriff, you can probably correct me on this as well, but the

[1:03:02] standards for someone to run for office are very low. It's 18 years old plus,

[1:03:10] and then you get one more vote than anyone that is you're competing against.

[1:03:15] Um, I think the sheriff has certain qualifications and superior court judges

[1:03:19] have certain qualifications >> and prosecutor

[1:03:22] » and prosecutor. Those are the ones that actually fall

[1:03:25] into uh a certain job description and a resume that would back that up in

[1:03:31] reference to your email that you sent down. Um, that is uh that is one of the

[1:03:38] things that we would like to consider. But the way the process goes when an uh

[1:03:42] an elected official vacates before their expiration of their term,

[1:03:49] the the party that that person represented when they ran for office

[1:03:53] originally, so in this case, we have a Republican auditor that is leaving

[1:03:59] office early. that goes to the central committee, the central Republican

[1:04:03] committee of Chalan County to advertise, get a list of names of anyone interested

[1:04:10] in taking that interim position before the next election cycle comes around to

[1:04:16] fill that spot in the interim. And that question when we were notified that the

[1:04:21] auditor was leaving office early, I sent an email to the central committee of the

[1:04:27] Republican party and asked them to start the process. And we've done this before.

[1:04:32] We just did it with the coroner and just before I got here, we did it with

[1:04:35] district judges as well because we had one leave uh the bench before his term

[1:04:39] was up. So they bring forward a list of three potential up to three potential uh

[1:04:47] persons that show interest in filling that interim position. Those three

[1:04:51] individuals then come to the county commissioners and the county

[1:04:54] commissioners then do an evaluation interview process, go through their

[1:04:59] resume and we find the best person for that uh position. That process of

[1:05:04] advertising is done publicly. uh these days a lot of it's on social media but

[1:05:08] we also know that they advertised it in the public notice section of the Wanche

[1:05:12] world. So they fulfilled their part of that process of finding uh a fillin for

[1:05:18] the interim period. They returned back to us only one applicant. Only one

[1:05:24] person showed interest in filling that position until the next election cycle

[1:05:29] comes around. So, we will not be appointing anyone until um April 30th

[1:05:36] when uh Skip Moore actually uh retires and then the one interview that we have

[1:05:43] to do uh will be brought to us. If we don't choose as commissioners from our

[1:05:49] local community who that interim person is going to be, the governor then

[1:05:55] chooses who that interim person is going to be. So, we want to make sure that we

[1:05:59] keep as much local control on our elected officials and the interims for

[1:06:03] our elected officials as we possibly can. So, uh when that information is

[1:06:08] brought up, uh we'll be able to uh be working with the one candidate that uh

[1:06:13] said that he would fill in the interim period. And I believe that person is our

[1:06:18] uh chief deputy of the auditor's office that's currently in that position is the

[1:06:25] one name that was brought forward. So, we'll be doing that interview process

[1:06:29] later next month. Next, next month starts tomorrow.

[1:06:33] » And Elaine, uh, one thing I can share, too, is I believe since that appointment

[1:06:37] will likely be made prior to the filing period, and maybe this is a question for

[1:06:41] the auditor's office, the appointee would uh need to file to to run to fill

[1:06:47] the unexpired term of the auditor. Um, and I'm glad you have a lot of interest

[1:06:53] in this position because it is a real complicated elected position and uh, a

[1:07:00] lot of people tend to think of the auditor through the election process,

[1:07:03] but it's really the auditor does the financial statements, you know, kind of

[1:07:08] like need to get audited financial statements eventually from the state

[1:07:12] auditor, but the the financial documentation is a very important

[1:07:17] component of the role of auditor. and then also the licensing and elections.

[1:07:22] So, it's kind of that >> three-legged stooling.

[1:07:25] » Recording. Yeah. Excuse me. Recording. Yeah. So, there's there's a lot that

[1:07:28] goes into that. >> Yeah. So, uh just for purposes of the

[1:07:33] the audience, uh I had sent an email. I'm a retired CPA and since this

[1:07:39] position is responsible for dispersing, you know,

[1:07:44] 60 million worth of funds per year on behalf of the county. It it is a very

[1:07:52] significant position and ideally in my mind somebody you'd want to have quite a

[1:07:58] bit of experience. Um, so, uh, when you're interviewing the candidate, I

[1:08:05] mean, because it sounds like you were going to interview the candidate.

[1:08:09] Um, will you have an opportunity for public

[1:08:16] uh, engagement in that process? >> Um, probably not. That will be a

[1:08:20] decision made by the three commissioners uh, coming up with a consensus uh, and

[1:08:26] uh, voting that person in. And I guess it's it's kind of a why bother since

[1:08:31] there's only one candidate that's being submitted to you.

[1:08:34] » Yeah. I don't want to say why bother, Elaine. That's that's we we take it very

[1:08:39] serious. And so I would say your opportunity to give us input is by

[1:08:42] emailing the commissioners and sharing thoughts just like you've already done.

[1:08:46] I appreciate you doing that. >> Okay. Thank you.

[1:08:49] » Thank you, Elaine. Good to hear from you again. Haven't seen you since Upper

[1:08:52] Columbia Salmon Recovery Board. Hope you're enjoying your time. I've been to

[1:08:56] your restaurants a couple of times, but >> Well, thank you. I I haven't been, as

[1:09:01] you noticed, Elaine, I'm kind of busy with my side hustle.

[1:09:04] » Kind of busy. >> Yeah. Well, thank you, Elaine.

[1:09:07] Appreciate you participating tonight. >> Well, and Elaine, I want to say I think

[1:09:10] it's really cool that your first name rhymes with your community.

[1:09:14] » Elaine from Plane. >> Yes, Ela from easy to remember.

[1:09:19] » All right. Thanks, Elaine. We're going to go to uh one in the room and then

[1:09:23] there's a couple chats that I want to address here as well. So, we'll go to

[1:09:26] the back of the room. Go ahead. >> Thank you and thanks again for the

[1:09:30] information y'all presented to begin with. It was nice to see what you all

[1:09:35] are doing and it's a lot of work. My name is Ashley Kaiser. I am another CASA

[1:09:39] and it's the same issue. If the budget is not a done deal, I would love for the

[1:09:45] cuts proposed to the CASA program to be reconsidered. Uh that $19,000 is a ton

[1:09:51] of money and it sets us back, I believe, to the 20134

[1:09:55] funding level. That's a big cut. Um again, I've been a CASA for about 10

[1:10:00] years and it's my experience that the CASA is often the only consistent adult

[1:10:07] present in our kiddos lives as they're going through the foster care system. I

[1:10:11] work primarily with teens and when they are going through a crisis, it is

[1:10:16] usually me that they call out to. They've had changes in their placement,

[1:10:19] in their social worker, their mental health counselor has moved on. Even the

[1:10:24] parents aren't consistent necessarily in showing up for their visits. I could not

[1:10:29] be there for them in their moments of crisis if I didn't have the support of

[1:10:32] our staff. They are the ones with the expertise, you know, keeping up on

[1:10:36] what's current in the law, what our various um resources are. What's been

[1:10:41] the experience of other causes who might have experienced something similar that

[1:10:45] can guide me as I help guide the kiddos? And it's great that there's an, you

[1:10:51] know, a small option for some of the opioid recovery money. That's going to

[1:10:56] be additional task they have to do chasing that down as opposed to just

[1:11:00] helping me and my fellow CASAs. So, I hope the budget is not completely

[1:11:04] solved. I hope you'll reconsider that. Um,

[1:11:09] if we have to take a cut, maybe more comparable to what some of the

[1:11:13] other agencies have had to take and keep us in mind for future years for

[1:11:18] something approaching a cost of building increase to help us do the work we do.

[1:11:23] Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Ashley. Appreciate that. Very

[1:11:27] thoughtful. Um, let's pull up the chat box if we could a moment, please.

[1:11:32] Annabelle saw a couple comments in there.

[1:11:36] Um, let's see. Go to the top.

[1:11:42] Um, okay. Uh, Commissioner Hawkins, do you want to field that top question

[1:11:46] there? >> Sure. I think I can see that from here,

[1:11:49] but the question is, can you explain how positions are decided as essential? And

[1:11:55] today you denied a request to for a deputy position because uh Commissioner

[1:12:01] Hawkins said he wanted to balance the budget. So I think I can clarify. We as

[1:12:06] a commission did not deny that request. It was approved but it was supported by

[1:12:13] my two colleague commissioners. I voted against it and hopefully um you know you

[1:12:20] were able to hear the reasons why. You know, these are these are tough

[1:12:24] decisions like when we're talking about budget reductions um even to the tune of

[1:12:29] $19,000 in a $61 million budget. But um we are faced with a lot of growing costs

[1:12:38] and challenges in Schlank County. And um as Commissioner Overbeay mentioned

[1:12:45] recently, the projected deficit in the budget for 2026

[1:12:51] was as we started the process for budget development, which was my first year

[1:12:55] doing it. But we were looking at over 10% of our budget in a deficit. But we

[1:13:01] worked extremely hard. The staff worked really hard. I think almost every

[1:13:05] department and division made a lot of sacrifices and we got that down to just

[1:13:09] around $2 million of a deficit. But we also implemented a hiring freeze and uh

[1:13:15] I my feeling is the two coupled together might give us some opportunities to

[1:13:20] realize some savings and eat into that um budgeted deficit. Now, just because

[1:13:26] there is a a modest budgeted deficit at the beginning of the year doesn't mean

[1:13:32] that that's where the actuals end up at year end. You know, there's budgeted

[1:13:36] figures and then there's actuals. And so for last year, for example, for 2025, we

[1:13:43] had a budgeted deficit of uh $4.1 million, but we only ended up with about

[1:13:49] $850 or $900,000 um uh diminished reserves. So my thought

[1:13:57] is with this particular position um if we are absorbing cost increases,

[1:14:05] collective bargaining increases and other things, one of the ways we can

[1:14:09] realize some savings is not to fill positions due to attrition when there

[1:14:14] are natural retirements or resignations. And so we've mostly approved all of

[1:14:19] those rehires, but um I think we should look at ways that we can um realize some

[1:14:28] savings potentially without filling some of those positions. And that's tough.

[1:14:32] That's tough, especially when it involves potentially public safety

[1:14:35] impacts or other things. But the way the budget is structured now for 2026,

[1:14:41] our revenues are estimated at 59 million and our expenditures at 61. So that's

[1:14:47] the approximate two $2 million uh deficit. And you know, we might need to

[1:14:53] overperform on our revenues and um significantly under spend to make it

[1:14:59] work at year end. And you know, that's where I hope we end up. So hopefully

[1:15:03] that explains it. And uh maybe for some other positions too due to the hiring

[1:15:08] freeze, I'll I'll also support not filling those positions. And I feel like

[1:15:12] that's much better than some layoff at some point in the future. Um hopefully

[1:15:17] we'll never get to that point. But >> and just to expand on that a little bit,

[1:15:22] we did have an unusual year last year. We would have come in right at budget,

[1:15:26] but we had a couple things pop up that we can't control. I'll remind everyone

[1:15:30] of the Travis Decker case and the Iron Mountain fire. remind everyone of the

[1:15:34] floods that we had in December. There was a lot of a lot of additional money

[1:15:37] that was spent. So, as commissioners, we do the best we can to try and get the

[1:15:41] expenses, the revenues to line up. We're conservative on the revenues and we're

[1:15:46] excessive on the expenses. So, hopefully by the end of the year with everyone

[1:15:50] keeping their belt tight, we can get to the end of the year and have a better uh

[1:15:53] number than what we forecast before we even start the year out. Um, would you

[1:15:58] like to add anything to that, Commissioner Overbe? No, I I guess you

[1:16:02] know I don't I you know when when when a sheriff comes

[1:16:06] to you and asks for a position to be filled a couple of months before

[1:16:08] retirement when you have about a 3-month FTO opportunity and 20% of his staffing

[1:16:13] is currently out on leave. Um you know you basically have to take a look at

[1:16:18] what's the safety of the community and is this something that's going to take

[1:16:21] another three additional months past that retirement piece. We know the

[1:16:24] individual is leaving and so the one question to the sheriff was in your

[1:16:28] authorized budget do you have the funding available to to offset this or

[1:16:32] are you asking for additional funds to bring this individual in and because of

[1:16:36] uh some vacancies the sheriff had uh basically he had the additional funding

[1:16:39] in the existing budget that was authorized expenditures for him. That's

[1:16:42] why I'll just say that's why I made the decision to go ahead and move forward to

[1:16:46] back fill that spot a couple of months early so that person could actually hit

[1:16:50] the ground running and actually be out there patrolling when that person leaves

[1:16:53] and it basically does not create a void uh within a dorm that's already

[1:16:58] diminished a little bit by some uh some personal leave elements and some other

[1:17:02] leave things. So I want to make sure that we support the sheriff's office as

[1:17:05] we could. I don't disagree with the philosophy that um that Commissioner

[1:17:08] Hawkins has. We know we're trying really hard to balance a budget, but you know,

[1:17:12] you have to make those tough decisions sometimes and it is a balancing act. So,

[1:17:16] » and uh I guess one thing I can add is kudos to our sheriff, Sheriff Morrison.

[1:17:20] I mean, he he uh you know, he always says, "I'm going to do the best I can to

[1:17:25] serve the people of Chellan County within the resources provided." And uh

[1:17:29] it's been a really difficult year for him and and and his team, but uh I

[1:17:35] appreciate you, Sheriff. And I I do point out that you know within the

[1:17:39] county's budget, the sheriff's division is 30% of of our spending or about 29%.

[1:17:45] And so it's um you know any savings we can realize through the sheriff's

[1:17:50] department does does help us overall. But you know there's always an

[1:17:53] offsetting impact to that too. So I try to be a tenant of that.

[1:17:58] » Okay, we'll go back online here a second. Uh, Mary Gallagher, I like when

[1:18:02] the commissioners come up here, the districts have public meetings in

[1:18:04] addition to general meeting like this with all three of you together. Thank

[1:18:08] you. We'll put down a second approve. Thank you, Mary.

[1:18:11] » Um, let's see. Zoom meetings, but I do like extended Q&A time. Yep. We save

[1:18:15] plenty of time tonight for that. Uh, >> oh, she want she wants us to come to the

[1:18:20] districts, too, which we do do. >> Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. This is just a I

[1:18:24] think a one-off, but maybe we'll >> Yep. Twice a year. We try and come in

[1:18:26] the spring and try and come in the fall so everyone get together. Uh, thank you

[1:18:30] for everything you do for the county, Ian Vasquez. Thank you, Ian. Appreciate

[1:18:33] that. Is that it for the chat box? Thank you, Annabelle. All right, we'll go back

[1:18:37] in chambers.

[1:18:41] » I'm Danielle Wlette. I'm I live out in Malaga. I actually live in Three Lakes

[1:18:45] Estates. And don't forget, I am the president of Three Lakes Homeowners

[1:18:50] Association. You may refer to me as Madame President.

[1:18:55] » The floor is yours, Madam President. So Danielle, before you start, I do want to

[1:18:58] tell you that I'm a Malaga kid and I did marry a three-leggeds girl, so I did

[1:19:01] marry up. So >> Oh, you did, didn't you?

[1:19:05] » Uh I I hate to start with things that make me unhappy, but I'm going to uh I

[1:19:10] felt very disrespected as a citizen of Malaga by the TIFF board. They listened

[1:19:15] to all these people and they still had already made up their minds. And I saw a

[1:19:17] couple of the board members doodling and it irritated me that they were in a

[1:19:22] position to respect us and they didn't. And they'd already made up their mind.

[1:19:25] And I don't like it then. and I don't like it now. I may run for office. Who

[1:19:29] knows? Uh I don't quite understand personally how we can win if our taxes

[1:19:34] go down because the other things that will go up. The traffic already if y'all

[1:19:39] live out there and try and come into town at any given time during the day.

[1:19:43] There's huge traffic. If we get more people, we're going to have more trash.

[1:19:48] We're going to have more trouble. We're going to need bigger roads. And where

[1:19:51] y'all going to put them roads? You got the railroad and you got the orchards.

[1:19:54] Uh, I don't understand how that's a win-win. I mean, what are tourists going

[1:19:59] to do in Malaga? Go to Clockom. I mean, truly, you know, it's a it's a dead end

[1:20:04] road, which I like. I like living out there. Uh, I don't know understand why

[1:20:09] we think we need a pathway. Again, why do we want people to run into Balaga? I

[1:20:14] It's just an opinion, and I like having one. I am an American. I have opinions.

[1:20:19] Uh, in terms of the lawsuit, we waste a lot of tax dollars all the time. Let's

[1:20:23] waste tax dollars on a lawsuit. I like it. I completely support it. I'm in

[1:20:27] favor of the lawsuit. Uh and interestingly, we we get uh all of

[1:20:34] these buildings, which is great. The new facility is great. So, what are we going

[1:20:38] to do with our current buildings that are there? Are we going to be able to

[1:20:41] repurpose them in a way? Are we be to make our community healthy all around? I

[1:20:45] think it's great that we have a central point now. So, everybody's together. So,

[1:20:49] what are we going to do with what's left over? I thought about CASA. Uh, as some

[1:20:54] of us know, I I was a school teacher for years and now I substitute, which is so

[1:20:57] much more fun. And, uh, I'm still a sports official, so I'm around a lot of

[1:21:01] young people. If we don't support our CASA, you're going to be needing bigger

[1:21:05] jails because those kids aren't going to have support and there's no place for

[1:21:09] them to go except out. And it's not going to be a good thing. I'm just

[1:21:12] saying. I get it was only $19,000, but Lord have mercy. Y'all got two million

[1:21:16] here and two million there. I think $20,000 to support our community in the

[1:21:21] future is a really good idea. I'm really grateful we're getting a new jail. I'm

[1:21:26] really sorry to say I've been in that jail a time or two to visit students and

[1:21:29] whoever. Uh that jail is nasty. I don't know if y'all have ever been inside that

[1:21:34] jail as a as a person visiting. Please go in. It's nasty. You can't touch that

[1:21:38] seat. You don't want to touch them walls. Pick up that phone. Excuse me. So

[1:21:42] that's not a bad idea if we take a couple of grand and clean off the inside

[1:21:45] of the jail that's still there. so that when we go there, we don't feel nasty

[1:21:49] about the whole thing because it's gross. Uh, I don't want more tourists in

[1:21:53] Malaga. I like Malaga just like it is. Okay, so I'm close-minded, but that's my

[1:21:57] feeling. I just don't think it's going to help us. I'd rather pay higher taxes

[1:22:01] and keep Mala small. I don't know that we need urban

[1:22:06] growth. Why do we want to be like everybody else? Why don't y'all grow up

[1:22:10] toward Levvenworth or or, you know, on the other side of the river in the

[1:22:13] Douglas County? once I'll grow up, you know, toward Waterville. It's just a

[1:22:17] thought. It's just an opinion. Thank you.

[1:22:21] » Thank you, Madam President. We sure appreciate

[1:22:24] » appreciate your thoughtful input there. >> All right, we have a gentleman in the

[1:22:30] room. We'll go ahead and go to the room next. Go right ahead.

[1:22:33] » Hi. Um, my name is John Grin and I live in the Chalan Ridge community in Chalan

[1:22:39] and this is my first uh county commissioner meeting and I want to say h

[1:22:43] how well I think it's it's so well done and not at all boring and uh so sorry

[1:22:50] for expecting boring. Um we're very glad that we could exceed

[1:22:57] your expectations. >> Thanks John.

[1:22:59] » I did. It was wonderful. >> Good. Um, so I first want to just tee up

[1:23:03] the topic that I'd like to talk and ask a few questions about. It's about the

[1:23:08] possible relocation of the Mountain Barge Service um from its current

[1:23:12] location to a possible location on on South uh Lakeshore Road,

[1:23:18] » Moonlight Bay. >> Uh I believe our HOA president, Julia

[1:23:21] Nelson, has u lodged a formal complaint or protest against that move. And I and

[1:23:28] I just, you know, Julia told me about the meeting and and I just wanted to,

[1:23:33] you know, as a person in the community and I know that there's many other

[1:23:36] people that feel the same way I do, not just in Chalan Ridge, but also in Sunny

[1:23:41] Bank. I've talked to a number of residents there and other residents on

[1:23:44] Southshore Road. So, um, maybe just a few things to consider. And first, I

[1:23:50] want to say I love Steaken. I have been to Steaken five or six times over the

[1:23:53] years. I love it. So, I want to support Steheken however we can. But I also want

[1:23:58] that to not destroy a a beautiful residential neighborhood that we have

[1:24:04] along Southshore Road. So, um we do understand that another temporary permit

[1:24:10] has been granted to the Mountain Barge Service in support of Steaken's

[1:24:15] emergency needs. We get that. But I can tell you during the last um temporary

[1:24:20] permit, I personally witnessed a fuel spill on Lake Chalan that came down to

[1:24:26] our marina and coated the whole area from where their barge dock is to the

[1:24:32] state park with a coating of diesel fuel. And that wasn't the first spill

[1:24:36] they've had. So I think that is a that is a major concern uh for us the

[1:24:42] environmental impacts. But some questions maybe. First, Mountain Barge

[1:24:47] Service has operated from next door to the Lady of the Lake Dock for many years

[1:24:51] as I understand it. I got to ask why can't that continue? It seems like

[1:24:56] there's a lot of synergies. I hate that word to those being colllocated. I mean,

[1:25:02] the same people own both businesses. There's a lot of, you know, they're

[1:25:06] marine services, right? Um, and then some questions to ask about why

[1:25:14] not Southshore Road. You know, first, it's his own residential. It is a

[1:25:19] residential neighborhood in the truest sense.

[1:25:22] Think about the impact on a very popular state park just up lake.

[1:25:29] Look at if you've driven Southshore Road and witnessed some of the slides, we

[1:25:34] were closed for six weeks last last year. you know, that's a very fragile

[1:25:38] slope right there. And I think that, you know, um, building something that has,

[1:25:43] you know, capital is is a problem there. I'll be very quick. Also, building a

[1:25:48] dock over a very steep underwater slope is problematic. And I think that if

[1:25:55] there has to be a move out of its current location, I really think having

[1:25:59] been there and looked at the facility that exists at Fields Point Landing,

[1:26:03] that is an alternative that should be considered. Thanks for your time.

[1:26:07] » Thank you, John. We'll turn that over to Commissioner Three.

[1:26:10] » Yes. So, John, thank you so much for your feedback. I really appreciate it.

[1:26:14] That's definitely an issue that we've heard a lot about kind of on all sides.

[1:26:19] Um, and I can give you some some updates. Um, I guess to answer one of

[1:26:25] your questions, you know, why not the traditional location they've always

[1:26:30] used? Well, um due to sort of a city of Schlan

[1:26:36] pedestrian pathway that was recently constructed, the barge operation had

[1:26:43] difficulty actually getting their trucks down and then there's also some traffic

[1:26:48] concerns kind of at that location. So, it has created a bit of urgency for for

[1:26:54] that um particular barging business. Um but that notwithstanding they had a

[1:27:01] separate application for Moonlight Bay which I believe is still uh under

[1:27:06] consideration. The current operations there do pertain to the emergency

[1:27:11] response and kind of the flood protection efforts that are ongoing in

[1:27:15] Steaken and there could be some more for um the US Forest Service road near

[1:27:21] Holden. Um, but in terms of kind of a longterm solution, uh, I actually was on

[1:27:28] the phone this afternoon with uh, regional port commissioner Richard D.

[1:27:31] Rock and, uh, you know, um, Mike Capuda had a meeting up there that Dena and I

[1:27:38] attended and others including the DOT and and a lot of City of Chalan

[1:27:43] participants. And we one of the potential ideas we had was well what if

[1:27:48] the regional port sort of thought of developing a port of Lake Chalan um in

[1:27:56] kind of in maybe that area and not a port of Lake Chalan in the sense of an

[1:28:00] entity but as an actual physical port that's publicly owned that could support

[1:28:06] multiple operations and they are working with property owners right now. uh

[1:28:13] they've requested funding from um our US representatives and US senators. So, uh

[1:28:20] I think that I'm hoping that that might be a long-term

[1:28:25] solution. I I asked about Fields Point and some other things, too, but it's um

[1:28:30] when it comes to that particular location near Moonlight Bay, that

[1:28:34] happens to be the property that that particular barging company also owns.

[1:28:39] And so I think that led to them seeking a permit. But you mentioned the the rock

[1:28:44] slides as well. And I can tell you because um the DOT participated on our

[1:28:50] meeting up uh in Chalan that the DOT also has concerns about an access point

[1:28:56] um for any long-term operations there. So there's definitely a lot to unpack,

[1:29:01] but hopefully that answers some of your questions.

[1:29:04] » Follow the portal that you discussed. Is there any discussion where that would

[1:29:09] be? >> Yeah, I think they're looking at

[1:29:11] locations kind of uh maybe Mike can help out, but kind of in that general area

[1:29:16] that you were talking about with Lady of the Lake and and others.

[1:29:20] » So, but but a bigger property and Yeah.

[1:29:26] » pardon me. >> It seems unfortunate.

[1:29:32] » Yeah. But if there's a way to sort of overcome that and then ultimately end up

[1:29:36] with something bigger and better that's publicly accessible that doesn't support

[1:29:41] just one entity but uh multiples and and protects the upland you know services to

[1:29:46] the upland up lake uh communities as well as on lake residents and other

[1:29:52] things that would be a great thing. It seems like it's something that the

[1:29:56] portal county 40 years ago should have done. Um, and maybe this is the impetus

[1:30:01] to to get it done. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[1:30:05] » Yeah. Thanks, John. >> Dina or Mike, would you like to add

[1:30:07] anything to that? >> Um,

[1:30:12] » yeah, that was a fantastic answer. >> I just wanted to clarify one thing. So,

[1:30:17] uh, they the barge company has submitted, uh, an application for an

[1:30:22] emergency use of the site. Unfortunately,

[1:30:27] once they started dredging and doing work below the ordinary high water mark,

[1:30:31] it no longer qualified for the emergency exemption and it requires a conditional

[1:30:35] use permit. Um, so they're aware of that. Uh, we did receive the complaints

[1:30:41] of early morning and uh late very very late evening almost early morning work

[1:30:49] that was being conducted. And about was it about a month ago, a month and a half

[1:30:54] ago, there was a stop work order placed out there. Um, and then once the stop

[1:31:00] work order is placed, it then it becomes a a code enforcement

[1:31:06] issue. That's a a delicate balance given that

[1:31:11] there are no options to get resources to either Holden Village or Steaken right

[1:31:18] now. So, we're trying to balance that knowing that um the ideal answer here is

[1:31:26] to federalize the property, but that's not going to happen. Um and Mike's been

[1:31:31] working with the feds and the state agencies also through that process. So,

[1:31:37] we don't know what the answer is. Um, that would be ideal if the port

[1:31:43] could step in and help look for a location that that benefits all, but

[1:31:49] right now we're kind of at a stalemate with the whole thing.

[1:31:53] » Mike, >> yeah, I'll stick around. I'd love to

[1:31:55] talk to about that. >> Great. Yeah, John, you can ask more

[1:31:59] questions. You can ask more questions on the other end.

[1:32:03] » Yeah. So, thank you for clarifying on the

[1:32:07] dredging It was active in early March

[1:32:13] » and they did not do that. They were docking the barge right there

[1:32:22] and so I think that's very concerning to the residents. It seemed like it's a

[1:32:26] done deal that was going >> Yeah.

[1:32:32] » Yeah. the the work below the ordinary high water mark was also not included in

[1:32:36] their original this second round of emergency use permit. So yeah,

[1:32:43] » thank you John. Appreciate that. We're going to go in room here for the next

[1:32:46] one. I do want to thank Dom for his comment. You like the individual visits,

[1:32:51] but the common district meetings are good, too. Thank you, Dom. Appreciate

[1:32:55] that. Okay, we'll go to the back of the room.

[1:32:58] » Sure. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Or you can pull it out. Either one. It's

[1:33:02] up to you. Yeah, >> I'll just

[1:33:04] » Okay. >> Um, my name is Britney. I'm a homeowner

[1:33:06] in district one. Um, I'm also a CA volunteer. It's not why I'm here

[1:33:11] tonight, but I do just want to point out that um, you have a lot of engaged

[1:33:16] volunteers who are civically engaged and those dollars um are compounded when you

[1:33:23] are paying something to train volunteers who, you know, were not paid, were not

[1:33:28] getting any travel. Um, It's a really valuable program for

[1:33:33] some of our most vulnerable children in our community. Not why I'm here. Um I'm

[1:33:39] actually here, we're hearing a lot about the tip tonight, but I haven't heard

[1:33:42] anything about the data centers themselves.

[1:33:46] Um I'm really concerned about what is happening with not the Microsoft

[1:33:54] data center, but we actually have another data center that's being built

[1:33:57] right now on the protected zone. This is the same

[1:34:03] protected system that um you actually stopped construction of

[1:34:08] an affordable housing development which would have provided 45 homes for the Mal

[1:34:14] community. Um meanwhile across the street and that was 22 acres of land

[1:34:20] across the street there are 80 acres of land that have been purchased by Sy

[1:34:24] Industries who are planning to build a data center in Malaga that I don't local

[1:34:30] residents have heard much about and we had the Malibu water district hold a

[1:34:35] meeting to tell people how um residential septic tanks are going to

[1:34:42] pollute their water where we have a data center which is being built across the

[1:34:47] street on a area that's four times the size of the projected housing

[1:34:52] development and I'm interested to know what chemicals are they using to cool

[1:34:58] the water Um this is also going to go into the ground in the same wellhead

[1:35:03] protected zone. Both of these are in the wellhead protected zone. Um so I do have

[1:35:08] a lot of concerns about that one you know what is going into the water. Two

[1:35:16] how much water are they going to use and how is that going to affect the already

[1:35:20] low water supply that we have in Malaga? Also I want to know the impact on the

[1:35:26] quality of life. This is a residential area. What is the sound that's coming

[1:35:30] from the data center? What is the other pollution the other sources of pollution

[1:35:35] that are coming from these data centers? What's it going to do with property

[1:35:40] values? There's a lot of questions here and I'm

[1:35:43] also concerned about the cumulative impact of several data centers in Malaga

[1:35:49] and what is that going to do especially an area that was

[1:35:53] located or Malagan has been identified as a great affordable housing and

[1:35:58] instead of doing that, we're now building data centers instead of

[1:36:02] housing. And it's just ironic to me that we have to drive past a homeless

[1:36:06] encampment where we see people who have nowhere to live and you know these homes

[1:36:12] would have been for first home buyers and I think you should really pay

[1:36:16] attention to what are the benefits that are coming from this and what is the

[1:36:19] cost. >> So I want to address a couple of the

[1:36:22] things that you said here and then I'm going to kick it over to Dena and let

[1:36:24] her address the rest. So to my knowledge and Dina can correct me if I'm wrong,

[1:36:27] we've had basically I believe two permits maybe a third for Microsoft for

[1:36:32] the data center. So three permits for data center. SBI has not submitted any

[1:36:36] permitting for data center. >> So they

[1:36:39] yeah I I'm I'm aware of the uh the location. It actually is the former pit

[1:36:44] there because I actually grew up right across the road there on Dixie Lane from

[1:36:47] it. So when they uh put the trees in and uh basically took out a big field to

[1:36:52] mine it out, you know, that's what the residents had to put up with for several

[1:36:56] years. There was a mineral extraction operation for gravel and then they

[1:37:00] reclaimed it with an orchard. And I know that the new owners, they purchased it

[1:37:03] last March, basically just pulled out all of the orchard uh from that

[1:37:07] particular facility. And so the orchard's been pulled out, but um right

[1:37:11] now we've not received anything at the county with regards to any permitting

[1:37:15] for a data center in that location. Um to kind of go back to a couple of the

[1:37:19] other things that you mentioned, the um the county is not responsible for

[1:37:24] shutting down the um housing that's being built. Uh actually, I think you're

[1:37:29] probably referring to to Mr. Port and Real Homes. Uh we're not responsible for

[1:37:33] that, shutting that down. Uh he basically has to put his permitting

[1:37:38] through us. And there's uh certain elements that we have to make sure in

[1:37:41] place, whether it's, you know, what is the wastewater? And that's basically

[1:37:44] comes from the the health department. do they have potable water that comes from

[1:37:48] the water purveyor and it's actually the Malaga water district that is the one

[1:37:51] that has uh kind of put a little stop on that and they are looking at 2.5 acres

[1:37:58] for a septic system within their wellhead protection area which extends

[1:38:02] about 3,000 ft and so there is some disagreement over the wellhead

[1:38:06] protection zone with uh some of the developers as well as some of the local

[1:38:10] land owners out there that we're trying to work through. I know that we have a

[1:38:14] meeting coming up at the end of next month or right around third week of uh

[1:38:17] well tomorrow will be this April so it'll be the third week of April. Uh

[1:38:21] Ron, myself, Dena or her staff and some others are meeting with the water

[1:38:25] district. We've already met with the water district to see if we can

[1:38:27] basically find a short-term solution. And I mean short-term in the matter of

[1:38:32] 10 to 15 year solution while we're waiting for the tiff dollars to

[1:38:35] basically create the wastewater facility to continue to get that housing built

[1:38:40] that is affordable housing in those locations that have already been

[1:38:43] identified. And so, um, we're working trying to work through that, whether

[1:38:47] it's maybe a large off-site system that we could actually go ahead and put in

[1:38:51] some trunk lines already in the community to be able to connect to the

[1:38:55] full-time or basically a sewer treatment facility down the road. But these are

[1:38:59] all things that we're still trying to work through the nuances of it. I do

[1:39:02] know that the developer, Mr. Port, does have a a hearing, I think, before the

[1:39:07] hearing examiner on the 15th of of April, uh, over this particular issue

[1:39:11] itself and that and the wellhead protection. So currently right now and I

[1:39:15] like I said I'll let Dina chime in. Uh we have not received anything with

[1:39:19] regards to the building of a data center. Now that property is currently

[1:39:24] zoned rural industrial. So a data center is a permitted use on that property but

[1:39:30] as we look through this process the UG process it's possible that that zoning

[1:39:34] potentially could change. That's going to be up to the the uh property owner as

[1:39:38] well as some other factors. So Dina, I'll let you go ahead and take it from

[1:39:41] there. commen

[1:39:46] » it's currently >> so

[1:39:50] » um so it must have been reszone to industrial during the lanyard

[1:39:55] designation >> it was well that uh mine went in they

[1:40:00] started in the 80s >> okay

[1:40:02] » so it was it was pre um GMA >> yeah so it so it's been industrial for

[1:40:08] quite a while um and in the industrial zoning designations. Residential is not

[1:40:13] allowed. >> That's incorrect. That when that

[1:40:17] property was purchased in

[1:40:22] » there has been no >> comprehensive.

[1:40:32] » Oh yes, that's John Port's property.

[1:40:39] » Right. You are correct there. Yes. >> Yes, it is.

[1:40:45] » Yes. >> And the the data center property or the

[1:40:49] SE property um they've applied for nothing there and actually haven't even

[1:40:54] approached us to ask any questions about it. um that is zoned industrial, but the

[1:41:00] port property for Malaga Ridge and Malaga Meadows, I believe, are the two

[1:41:06] um are going to public hearing in front of the hearing examiner on April 15th at

[1:41:12] 1 p.m. And that's you can actually log on via Zoom link for that. Um but those

[1:41:20] those talks between the developer and the water district have been occurring

[1:41:25] for a year. Yeah, >> it's been about a year. Um, and so the

[1:41:29] the county as the permitting agency, we don't have any say in it at all. It's

[1:41:35] between the water district, the health district, and the developer. And so all

[1:41:40] we do is shuttle it through the process.

[1:41:44] Um, and then both have appeal rights at the end.

[1:41:52] » The Okay. So the residential >> right

[1:41:57] » the data center could not go because that's an industrial use on the property

[1:42:01] that port >> no I'm talking about the data center

[1:42:07] already >> right

[1:42:09] yes >> and the determining factor on that would

[1:42:14] be if they came in for a building permit they would need to provide a water

[1:42:17] availability certificate provided by the Malaga water district and they would

[1:42:23] have the final say. If they don't have water availability, we can't issue the

[1:42:27] building permit for it. I'm just wondering

[1:42:36] what do

[1:42:46] » I I don't know that their study for the well protection area considered that uh

[1:42:53] but the well protection area for the water district also we estimated at

[1:42:58] about 3,000 ft, but it's actually based on time. It's a 10 year, 5 year,

[1:43:03] threeyear, I think, or one year. Um, so we don't actually know what that

[1:43:09] distance is. >> I guess the same company

[1:43:15] is also being paid by Microsoft

[1:43:22] Microsoft. They're also the

[1:43:30] Well, >> and and that is an area that the county

[1:43:35] is not involved in at all. We're just the permitting conduit. Um and so if the

[1:43:41] water district through whatever evidence they have say yes, they're going to sign

[1:43:47] the water availability, we will issue the building permits for it. If they say

[1:43:52] no, there's no water available, I can't issue the permits.

[1:44:00] We do have public meetings coming up to show up to those meetings. One was

[1:44:04] advertised earlier and then the county is having their meeting. We're all very

[1:44:09] concerned with what's going on now that we're looking at the land use

[1:44:15] classifications in each area. Personally, I would really like to see

[1:44:20] not only the water be considered, but all the studies that have been done

[1:44:26] about data centers in close location with residential areas. There's all

[1:44:31] kinds of research that says it's bad news and we have to consider the

[1:44:37] » All right, we'll move on to the next guest that we have. Go ahead and

[1:44:40] introduce yourself. I'm Sharon Seal from Malaga, formerly from South Lakeshore

[1:44:45] Road, but Commissioner Hawkins. Why >> did you leave me, Sharon?

[1:44:51] » She She came to God's country. >> Small small and mighty. I know where

[1:44:55] you're >> keeping it in the county. We appreciate

[1:44:59] it. So, uh, my first question is was

[1:45:04] regarding the sewer system planning, which I believe Kevin covered quite a

[1:45:09] bit, but there was quite a mental discrepancy in my mind between

[1:45:16] Miss Commissioner Overbe's more optimistic

[1:45:20] talks at some of the meetings and Miss Walters's numerous years uh, projection

[1:45:28] of time from when sewer system might

[1:45:32] uh manifest itself. So, I wondered if either one of you could uh quantify what

[1:45:38] you mean uh when we might have a temporary sewer system versus a more

[1:45:43] comprehensive one. >> I was speaking strictly on the

[1:45:46] comprehensive a full-blown sewer system whether there is treatment on our side

[1:45:51] of the river or another option available. So, I don't think we were

[1:45:55] wrong. We were just talking at two >> two different things.

[1:45:58] » Yeah. an interim solution versus the full-blown solution.

[1:46:02] » Yeah. Because realistically, I mean, we are in a housing crisis. I mean, let's

[1:46:05] just, you know, everybody knows that. And so, the ability for developers to

[1:46:08] build housing in areas that basically were designed for that when we go back

[1:46:12] and look, and I mentioned earlier, the 2006 Mala visioning statement basically

[1:46:17] looked at everything inside the West Malica loop as potential housing. And

[1:46:21] you have also have housing that basically goes right along Dixie Lane.

[1:46:24] And so you see that development there and then when that development is

[1:46:27] stopped because there's a concern of a water source then how do we basically we

[1:46:32] can't continue to add to it by saying we'll put better septic systems in. How

[1:46:37] can we basically look at this and say how can we do a large off-site system

[1:46:40] that would be able to handle that load for the interimm time frame? Because

[1:46:45] realistically, if we go with what the the full purpose behind the TIA and the

[1:46:50] primary objective of that according to the port was a wastewater treatment

[1:46:54] facility for the Malaga area. And so that could be 10 years out, 15 years

[1:46:59] out, 20 years out. But what can we put in place to make sure that those houses

[1:47:02] continue to get built? We still have housing for the people that need to have

[1:47:05] the housing, but we have that off-site system that's away from the wellhead

[1:47:09] protection area that we're able to go ahead and pipe that wastewater to that

[1:47:13] won't have the necessarily have the impact to the wellheads because it's

[1:47:16] outside the area. And that's really what we're researching.

[1:47:18] » Yeah. My second uh question was uh regarding

[1:47:24] the UG uh

[1:47:28] you mentioned the first quarter of next year as being posted. This is the first

[1:47:33] I've heard of that because last time we talked to to you uh it was we were

[1:47:39] shooting for the December 31st deadline. >> Yes. So by law we have to have the

[1:47:44] periodic update for the comprehensive plan which would be it would include the

[1:47:48] establishment of the Malaga UG by December 31st. But the implementation

[1:47:53] tools, so the changes in the zoning code and any subdivision regulations, any

[1:47:59] environmental regulations, anything else that uh would be considered an

[1:48:03] implementation to all the current codes we have um we have

[1:48:08] uh we typically we like to have a year, but we have about six months to put

[1:48:13] those in place. So, it's really important upfront as part of the

[1:48:17] comprehensive plan um update to identify the boundaries and identify the zoning.

[1:48:25] And then we're going to move into phase two and say, okay, with these zoning

[1:48:31] designations, what does our district use chart look like? It doesn't have to look

[1:48:36] like the template in Pashaston. Um that it it looks like the community is is

[1:48:42] gonna side with that option. Um but but the community may go through the

[1:48:48] district use chart and say, "Okay, these are uses identified

[1:48:52] um in the template, but we have additional uses we want added in or

[1:48:57] these uses are existing, but we would not like them to be allowed in these

[1:49:02] zones." So, that's part of the planning process that we're going to be working

[1:49:06] with the community with. Um, and you have two meetings coming up, I believe,

[1:49:11] April 7th, >> or sorry, April

[1:49:14] » 14th. >> 14th.

[1:49:16] » 14th and May 7th is the second one. Um, and those are the issues that you're

[1:49:20] going to be working on, right? And then once it's adopted at the end of the

[1:49:24] year, >> then we'll start looking at the um

[1:49:28] amendments to the zoning code to implement those.

[1:49:31] » Right. So that's that's what that first quarter of next year is for those

[1:49:35] implementation tools. >> Okay, that that was my Yeah, it does

[1:49:40] make sense and uh I just was a discrepancy in my mind with the two

[1:49:44] dates, but yeah. Okay, very good. Thank you.

[1:49:46] » You're welcome. >> Great. Thank you, Sharon. Appreciate

[1:49:49] that. We've gone over time here quite a bit, but I'll give it another five or

[1:49:52] six minutes here so we can close out at 8 o'clock and be respectful of

[1:49:56] everyone's schedule and those that have to work tomorrow. So, is there anyone

[1:50:00] else online that would like to uh share anything with us tonight? Be more than

[1:50:04] happy to take another question or two. Anyone else in the room?

[1:50:15] Third and final call. Online or in the room? Oh, Tammy's coming up. Okay, we'll

[1:50:20] take you Tammy. You just made it under the wire, so take it away. I just want

[1:50:25] to ask um you Jame had a meeting for the county you said was going to be the

[1:50:30] 18th. That's a conflict with the Malaga Water District meeting.

[1:50:34] » Yes. >> It's it's we're planning it the week of

[1:50:39] » May 18th. Okay. >> Um but we haven't decided on exactly

[1:50:42] which day yet because we don't want any conflicts with any end of the year

[1:50:47] school activities. Yeah. >> Any banquetss, anything else that's

[1:50:50] going on. The Malaga water district meeting. had that before where like

[1:50:55] Sharon had to be at the Malaga Water meeting and she couldn't come to the

[1:51:00] » Yes. We're trying to plan around everyone else's meeting and I've been

[1:51:03] working with well she was just here Jill Jill our PIO and so we're looking for uh

[1:51:10] an adequate location that will house a lot of people and the date that will

[1:51:15] work that doesn't have any other conflicts.

[1:51:18] » Yes. >> Great. Thank you Tammy. Appreciate that.

[1:51:21] I do want to point out that Marty Young, our county clerk, snuck in the back. You

[1:51:25] can wave at the camera, Marty. There you go. Welcome aboard. Thank you, Marty.

[1:51:30] Okay, a couple more minutes here. Do we have any other questions? Any other

[1:51:33] conversations we'd like to have before we close this out?

[1:51:40] » Well, I want to thank everybody very much for taking the uh effort and the

[1:51:44] time to come down and meet with meet with us in the chambers. That wall right

[1:51:48] there, right behind the second row of chairs, collapses. And we're usually in

[1:51:52] here all by ourselves. So, we love having guests in here and having

[1:51:56] visitors coming and meeting and watching the government work for you.

[1:52:01] » So, with Oh, Vicki, please, you know, we work for you. So with that,

[1:52:08] I will go ahead and uh close the first meeting that we have had in this format

[1:52:16] of all three commissioners being together at once for a community

[1:52:21] meeting. And we will be doing both uh uh in our own districts individually and we

[1:52:27] have two votes so far. I might have some more come in that this was a good idea.

[1:52:31] But I thank you very much. Want to thank everyone for participating

[1:52:36] and all those online taking the time to tune in as well. You got to be in your

[1:52:40] sweats at home obviously while we were all here.

[1:52:44] » So, thank you everyone. Have a great evening and really appreciate your input

[1:52:49] again. Thank you. Or I see the

Spring Community Meeting

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