County commissioners to order,
to
at
11:30. Good morning. I
call this
sessions cat
on
AUGUST 24
, 25th
, 2026
, please
join me in salute to our flag
.
I
pledge allegiance to
the flag
of the United
States
of
America
and to
the republic for
one
nation under GOD
, indivisible
butberty
and justice for all
.
Nice to have a large crowd
in
here today, so thank you very
much for
being here
. Um
, just a
reminder, the 3 minute
public
comment and
uh the buzzer goes
off for 2 minutes
and then at 3
minutes it blares, keeps
going
,
and we will ask you
to
respect
that
. Um, if the
crowd gets
too
disoriented
, we MAY close
public comment, and
we will
just shut it down
, so, just
give
you
a warning how
that
works. How many want to have
public comments? Today
? Just 6
or so, so
, ok
, who wants to
go
first? Go
ahead, Darryl
. Good
morning, commissioners
and
clerk
. I'll start
by saying um
.
I
, I cannot keep it to 3
minutes, so
I'm going to make
a
synopsis before
I
start today
I'm here
to encourage
. The
commissioners to
consider a
or
reconsider a portion of
their
budget proposal for the future
.
And that is of the
coroner's
office
number one
. We
have a
situation where
If
the
coroner's loses
1/3
of their
staff
. We
have some issues that
Concerned
state law and
If
we
don't observe
these mandates,
we will
lose accreditation with
the state and lose
money
,
possibly more than we
would
gain by
cutting two from
the
staff in the future
. So
With
that said
, We
have some
things
to
at least consider
. And that
is
When
you cut
a
staff, I've
had as many
as
300
employees,
and when
you put
too much
pressure on them
, burnout
causes
resignations and you
can't afford very many
in this
small staff
. In order to
keep
accreditation with
the state to
get
the
federal
subsidy funding
that
the state provides
. So
Here's a
few things that can
happen
. That
we're
not
anticipating today
. And that is
a
surge
on
this
particular
coroner's
office one
. Would be
Possibly a tsunami
. A flood of
the Skagit River
. A pileup
on
I-5
. An earthquake
a landslide.
We all know about Oso
, a mass
shooting
. Or
a
bad month
of
f
fentanyl overdose
. These case
Loads will
Outstretch our
ability
of what the corners can
do
right
now and
everything
goes on the side
and gets
delayed
. In
addition to losing
the state subsidy
. I've
provided
you with some notes. I
have some more that
I'll leave
with you
. We have a full
house,
but I want to
end by
saying
this
. We want
to
thank Coroner
Haley Thompson
. Extraordinaire
.
For 10 years of
great service
to this county
. She
leaves
behind
. This county 7
in
this
state
for
accreditation
. Number
39 nationally
. This state or
this county is accredited
. And
She believes
, as I
visited with
her
, that staying
in front
costs
. A
lot less
than
falling
behind. Thank you very
much
.
Thank you. If you have comments
you can
leave in the basket up
in front there too. Thank you
.
I'll do it
. Next
Anybody else
?
Anybody else in your group?
Nope
, we're done
. Thank you
,
gentlemen
. Thank
you
. Good job
,
sir. Thank you
. Yeah
. Okey doke
start her
up
. Good morning. My
name is
John
Ravnick. I'm a
civil
engineer in
Skagit County
I've been
practicing for 42
years
. And
I think this is the
2nd time
that I've ever come to
the commissioner's
, um,
grasping for hope
. There
is
a
significant delay
in
permorating and processing
, and
I'm not going to go into the
permit issuance, that's going
to be somebody else
. But right
now
I've
got
12
Skagia
County
jobs
, right
? 9
of them
, I'm
going to say are average in
size
, if
not
larger
, probably
anywhere between 5 and 15 to
$18 million
. Their
construction
gets
significantly delayed
. By
the fact
that Do plans
,
documents, reports, whatever
it
takes to
permit the project
.
Are
seriously delayed, and you
might say
, what's serious? Is
it a
month? Is it
2
months
? How
about anywhere between and
5
years
, ok
? I'd like for each
one of
you to decide to
carry
the
, the wallet that
it takes
to
own
that property and to
hold up on
your interest and
pay for all the design services
that come along
. So
I
would
hope that there is a time
. When
we can
work together with the
commissioners
. Some type of
a
stakeholder
working meeting
, um
bring
in some
of your staff
that's directly
involved in the
process
. And try
to
get
answers
as
to
why
technically there's
maybe
3 people that I
know of
that
are
involved in the
civil
aspects of projects
. Now, some
of my sites are small, some of
them
are large
. And
if
I'm
putting in
a utility and I have
to call for
an inspection, and
so I called for
an
inspection,
and it's going to be on Friday
.
Super. Ok, I'm
gonna work my
schedule around that
. Monday
morning, the inspection hasn't
occurred
, so
the contractor is
.
Forced
Forced to fill that
trench in, only to
get
penalized by
the
county because
he didn't come out
and inspect
it, no
. He didn't
abide by his
own schedule
. So there
are
things that we
need to
do
with
staff
. I think you have
123
people that
In
part are
involved in inspections
. Well
,
keep in mind those people
are
also
doing the plan reviews
.
And you can't
do both
, and
the
brunt
falls upon the
property
owner
, the developer who has to
carry the load or paying
the
expenses
. So
that's one very,
very
important aspect
. That we
would like to meet
with you on
to figure out, is there a
solution? Can I pay
overtime
for staff time
. How do we get
over this
? Problem
You can't
let it just sit there and
ignore it. That's not going
to
do it
any longer. You've got
to
hold
staff accountable for
their actions
. Thank you. Thank
you
. Ok
Oh
. Hello, my name is
Josh Baldwin
. I'm a project
manager with Quantum
Construction and thank you
for
making time for
us today. Um,
as
we talk about this, I want
to come from the point
, um, the
same way we approach
construction projects, which is
where all part of
the same team
going for the same goals. We're
not in
different parties
sitting on the opposite sides
of
the table
with competing
interests, but
We're
all
Skagittonians who are trying to
make a
better place, and a lot
of the things that
the
construction industry addresses
are things that are also
really
important to the county
, um,
construction is
a
profit center
Every time we
build a project,
you get
permit fees
, uh,
increased sales tax. I think
it's
21% of the sales
tax base,
something like
that
is
construction related, um, plus
increased property
taxes as
projects move on
. So
viewing
construction
as
a
profit center
rather than a cost center
is an
important way to frame the
construction industry from the
county's point
. Of view
. Um
, it
also meets county needs of
affordable
housing and
commercial expansion, things
that
are absolutely needed for
the growth and future
success
of our county
. Um
, Time risk is
an important part of
construction that doesn't get
talked
about
a
lot um if when
people
are
developing projects
,
they're starting years in
advance and
they're
anticipating needs, market
conditions
, interest rates, all
of these types of things, and
there's naturally delays in
that
process. What can also
happen though is we
hit
delays
in inspections
and
delays
in
permit review, and
we get put
back to the back of the line
because there's a new
requirement. All of
that
discourages future expansion
and
Future
development by
people and
so it hurts the
county ultimately the longer
time goes. So
, it's important
to
think of time as a risk
, not
just money
. Um
, An important
step that might be
really
helpful from the county's
perspective is
to introduce a
triage process for permits. If
there
was
somebody who had
the
expertise and the empowerment
to look
at
permits
and
um waive
or sign off on
simple items
,
you could
use one staff
member
to
greatly expand the
ability
to
move permits through
,
especially simple ones that
might otherwise share staff
time with
very
complicated
projects that should take a lot
longer
. My
wife has been an er
nurse, and that's the first
thing
that they do is they
triage With patients and
figure
out who can be
quickly
exited
from
the process and who needs
significant resources
put to
them
. Um
, also to echo
something that John said
, uh,
changing rules between
inspections
and review
loses
efficiency and mental focus for
staff members, you know, we're
talking to people who want
to
review permits
, and they're
being called out to the field.
That's a very
different
mindset
and takes their time to do that
Um
, and when
we
hold up
projects, we also
hit
different
issues like weather. I'm trying
to permit just a simple house
expansion right now
, but we
have to tear the roof off.
We've
been waiting for 3 weeks
past when the review was
scheduled
, and as we move into
the fall, we're
concerned that
we're going to be taking the
roof off of
the
house right in
time for the rain to hit
. So
moving
. Uh, projects through
Thank you very much for your
time
. Thank you, Josh
. Next
.
Commissioners, thank you for
taking the time
. Uh
, Shelby
Vanderpool
, civil contractor in
Skagit County for over 30 years
Um
, Just
to
reiterate
, John
and
Josh
, uh, the struggles
we're
facing, um
, On
the
contractor's
side of
the
permitting
process
,
uh, one
issue
, John
mentioned
briefly on is
the inspection
process
. The
new
civic
access
portal for
requesting
inspections
. Um
, I
is
not
properly
In
my opinion
, being
maintained
. Um
, when we put in
for inspections, we
rarely know
if they're going to happen
. We
don't
know
the
exact time it's
going to happen
or if
it
happens
. If
that
inspection is
completed
. Rarely
is the permit
in the
portal
updated
, which is
a frustration on
the
contractors in the phasing of
the job
. To know if we
can move
on
and backfill and with the
weather, we, we've got to be
able to get this ground
covered
up
. With all
the
new stormwater
regulations that were that are
upon us
and especially in
Skagie County in
Washington
,
Western Washington
, large
amounts of rain. It's a, it's a
big impact to the
project and
to the
surrounding properties
.
Um
, The civic access portal
. I
Very cumbersome in
the fact
that
the communication between
the contractors and the county
.
There's, there's a, a big
void
.
No longer are we able to pick
up
the
phone. We leave
.
Multiple voicemails
before
ever
hearing back if we hear back
.
From the planning department
.
Um
, Like Josh and John said
,
we're, we're here to help. We
want to be a
part
of the
solution
. Ah
, You know
, One of
my notes here is
the number of
permits
it takes
. Uh
, currently
on a, on
a specific project
, I
have 5 permits
. Does there need
to
be 5
separate permits
. For a
project
. Uh, we have a
low
impact development. I have a
demolition permit
. I have a
fill and grade permit. I have
an
underground fire line permit
and I have a
building permit.
Every one of those
has
inspections
. And
a lot of them
are the
same inspections
. So
that's requesting the county
inspector to come out to the
same project, 5
different times
to see the same thing
. Not very
efficient
. Um
, Yeah
. Would love
to get support from the county
on the contractor's side
, and
uh thank
you for your time
.
Thank you
. My
name's
Alan
Perks
I've been in
the
county for
60+
years
and
uh I've been in
construction
also for 40
some
years
. I'm more
from the
commercial building side, so
the things that
I would
like to
to share
real quick is
currently we have
, you're
building official
. Randy
Johnson
. Your
storm management,
uh
, Um
, plans examiner
, Sean
Christensen
. Your
, uh,
commercial
plants examiner, Al
.
Can't remember
to say his name
right, but
, uh, anyway, Big
Al
,
and, and, uh
. These
are the
people doing your inspections
.
So
every
hour
, roughly 15 to
20
inspections a day
. In
an 8
hour
day throughout the county
means
they can only spend a minimum
of
15 minutes
at each location
.
Every
time that
has been
sold
this last spring
and
summer
when
we've had Al
. And, and
,
and Sean and, and
uh I
haven't
had Randy on one of mine, but I
know he's
out there doing it,
ok
. All
their
work stops
. It
don't get, it
just stops
.
Because they're the only ones
you have to
do it. So here
you
got your
key pe
uh from the
commercial side
, your
three key
people
. Ok
. That are out
doing
legwork and everything stops in
here
. No
plan reviews are done
or anything
like that. And the
thing is
, is that
, uh, you're
not
going to, and it's not
going to be efficient to
try to
train other staff members to do
these roles
. Because they're
already tasked
with a, with
what they're doing
. The
, the
thing is, is maybe you need to
,
maybe we need to remove some
of
the
non-essential tasks that
they're doing
. The uh in my
career, I've
learned that
the
whole purpose of the, the
, the
permitting process, is that me
already? Ok, one more minute.
Ok. Is that another
3 minutes
?
No
. Life safety
, life
safety,
life safety
. Ok
, why can't we
focus on that
? Why is it we had
to
the example is
why is it we
had to for
40 years we've
turned in
water
availability
letter from pud to the
county
signed by the
pud engineer
. Now
effective
this last the spring
here
now
public works, they
have their own form
. It has
to
go
back out and it has to
be
signed
by pud
with
the
that's
been on
the
letter
of
water
availability
for 40 some years
.
Oh, they did attack, I think a
$300 fee to
it
also
375 or
something like that
, ok
. The,
the, the other
, the main thing
I, last thing I want to try to
hit on
is
that we
, the county
requires third
party
inspections by credited
professional people
. Is
that me
? That's
you. Yep. Can I take
an extra second, please
? Just a
second here
. Accredited people
Peter's
laughing because he
knows me. Ok
. The bottom
line
is, is, uh
, Um
, they were doing
3rd
party
inspections
by
credited agencies
, geos
, many
others, ok
. Why did
the county
have to do them too
? I
, so
then you're sending them out.
We have 2 people look at
all of
those tasks
, and
they
require
it to
do
our concrete work
, our
rebar
, our
our structural
, our
embeds
into our
uh or the
, the
embeds into the slabs
and
so
forth
. There's got to be a
better way
, and
the bottom line
is, is you are
, you are
putting
the
, the
brakes on what
you're
complaining about. It's not
having revenue
. But yet
you've
got
Two
that Shelby's project
and ours are kitty corner from
each other
. They're both coming
out of the city
of
Anacortes
,
Tusktchet County
. And
my
question is
, Why can't they be
here sooner
? Thank you
. Anybody
else
? Mr
. Won
. Got you go right
ahead
. Let them out
. Rebecca
Peck
from Bow. Good morning
.
There's a lot of things going
on in our country right now
that
are
unjust and
And
people
aren't being held accountable
for
that, and that's something
that needs
to
change. This
county stands for liberty
and
justice for all, and that's not
happening here
right
now
. Just
gonna do
one
example today
, ice
is shredding
the
Constitution
violating 6
constitutional
amendments daily as
they kidnap
people off the streets from
work sites
, from hospitals,
from courts
, and even two
blocks from right from here,
right
here in Mount Vernon
. The
list is
long and includes
many
rites
. First
Amendment includes
the freedom of speech
, freedom
of press, rights
to
peacefully
assemble
. Ice
violates
that
watch
any video
. The Fourth
Amendment rights of people to
be secure in
their person's
house, papers
, and
effects
against unreasonable
searches
and
seizures
, seizures
, right
and also
the right to
probable
cause warrants
. Fifth Amendment
and I'm quoting, these
are
words directly from the
Constitution
, nor
be
deprived
of life, liberty, or
property
without
due
process of
law
. Sixth Amendment to have
the assistance of counsel for
his defense. 8th
Amendment Ex
excessive bail shall not be
required
, nor excessive
fines
imposed
, nor cruel
and
unusual
punishments afflicted
. Go
visit
a detention center, see if
that's
not cruel
. Uh
, 16th
, no
,
the 14th Amendment is
the
civil
rights amendment
, Section 1
,
nor denied to
any
person within
its jurisdiction
the
equal
protection of the
law
, and
that's talking about any
.
Actual person in the us
. Sure
,
let's blame
the
emigrants for
what's wrong in our country
.
Instead of
greedy white
men
taking so much from everyone
else
. Food
rots
in
grocery
dumpsters while somebody nearby
is hungry
. Empty houses
or
apartments, and people sleeping
on
the
street. There
is
medicine, but can you afford it
when you
need
it
. If not, it's
the farm
workers' fault, or
maybe it's the nursing home
worker's fault
. Whoever is
brown or black
. Here's a quote
from
a song
by the system of
the Down
. Why
do
presidents
always fight
a
war
? Why do they
always send the poor
? Yes
,
let's blame the immigrants for
shredding
our
constitution, not
those greedy
white men
. Thank
you
. Thank you
. Anybody else
? I
love the passion in
the room
.
This
is
Elka McCartney from
Anacortes again, uh, this
is
my
stop lithium Bess comet number
32. I continue to quote from
Seattle Times opinion piece by
Snowqualmie
City Council member
Dan Murphy
, quote
, The fossil
fuel
playbook's 2nd
page
is
fear
. Ask hard questions, and
then
the
answers, the answer
is
threats of brownouts and
blackouts
unless this project
is built on this site
, on
this
schedule, the grid strain
.
Being invoked
is real concern,
and the biggest
new
driver is
da da
data centers demand
that
could add 2
to
4 Seattle's
worth of load across the
Northwest by 2030
. But the
question of
who pays for that
and how
merits
careful
consideration, what it
doesn't
merit
, prioritizing
a
developer's profit and
convenience
by
steamrolling
communities who are asking for
a
transparent public process
.
Quote requiring a
public
hearing for a
utility scale
battery facility should be the
bare men and women. You know
what
I say
. That
should be so
for
every lithium-bas unit
,
including
small ones
such as
the disaster that
is
on Samish
Island
. Next to
the firehouse.
Oh
my gosh
, pse is not
taking
any responsibility whatsoever
for
the
noise
, the
impact on
local
property owners
, the
environment
, and honestly, I
don't think
lithium best
installation should be
built
anywhere
on
Earth because if
there's lithium involved
, it's
dangerous from the start in the
way it's mined
. With slave
labor
, toxic
mining practices
to
the
dangerous flammable,
hard
to
uninstall
finished
product
, and then there's the
aftermath of lithium
fires. I
talked
about recently
the
Maui
method
of
post-fire
cleanup
after the
Lahaina fire
, Maui
needed to come up with a way
to
clean up the awful
mess left
behind by
all kinds of
lithium
batteries
and make sure they
were safe enough to haul away
off island by as
many miles
,
the diesel fueled ships
.
Traveled and
then hauled via
diesel fueled trains and trucks
to a place
in
some unfortunate
us state to bury them
. We do
this over and over again. We
do
it over and over
. We say
, Hurry
up, we need to
fix this message
and then we get sprayed
with
ddt or we take safe
and
effective medicines that turn
out not to be
so
like
thalidomide, OxyContin
, Vioxx,
on and
on
, and then there's the
aftermath
, people ill
,
permanently disabled
, or killed
and our
environment
trashed
.
Let's prevent the need
to
deal
with
a
disastrous
aftermath
.
Moratorium right now
, a
many
years long
one until
you
actually get the truth
. And
the
answer
to the question of what
does
lithium best give us
? More
next time
. Thank you so much
for
your attention and the
reference to
the articles
there
Thanks
. Anybody else? Go ahead
.
Ok, now
that she's scared you,
I
have to
. Oh
. Hi
, I'm Laura
Stansbury Weis from Mount
Vernon
, and
I
have
copies of
the stuff I'm going
to say
in
triplicate
. Well, you heard the
bad news, which
is this stuff
is kind
of not really the best
for
our
ecologically delicate
situation, and
it's
cold
, which
means they're
not
efficient
,
and
it's wet
, which means
.
They're dangerous
, but it turns
out there are
federal grants
available
. And
one of them
. Is
from
the Department
of
Clean
the Office of
Clean
Energy from
the
doe office
that is managing
a multi-million
dollar grant
program specifically designed
to
bring advanced battery
storage
to
rural grids
. And
through
the
ira expansion
,
there
are
reap grants that
cover up to
50%
of
total
eligible project costs
for
renewable
energy systems
and
integrated
battery storage
applications for our area
are
because our valley is
. I'm
pretty organic farming
,
agricultural co op, local
food
processors
, seed
companies, and
you know, are
all
important
salmon fisheries
, um, they have
Uh
, I
think
it's like something
like
. Underutilized
technology
set
aside
Section
22002
specifically
sets
aside 303
million
for
underutilized tech
and they have
. Uh
, An
actual
set
aside for them
. Through
the
domestic content bonus
in
the
ira domestic
content Energy
Community
tax
bonus for uh
.
Basically
using
the
American
company
producing
them right
now, which seems
to be
eos
Energy as a
There
are
loan
guarantees
. And
I
have
the
particulars in my handout
. That
apply to
our
region and
situations
. So
if you want to
take a look at my handout, I
have it in
triplicate
. I
highlighted
some of
the more
interesting
areas and you guys
can make your
own
decisions,
but
. As
a
person who's partner
died, I know about
people who
come along and
give you
expensive gifts, hoping they
can control
the
choices that
you make
. And
um sometimes you
gotta tell them no because they
don't have
your best interests
at heart. They
want your farm
.
So
I
urge you to
take a look at
some of
your
alternatives
because they aren't all
impossible
. Thank you, thank
you
very
much
. Anybody else in
the room? Go ahead
. My name is
Todd Ferguson
. I'm resident of
Skagia County my
whole life
, uh
first off, I just want to say
.
Do a, do a
search on battery
.
Uh, what, what things are ready
to come online that are
way
safer and
way
better. I
would
implore
you guys to put
a
moratorium on this thing and
no
don't do it for
at least 5
years
, 3
or 4 years at minimum
.
The other thing I want to talk
about is, uh, listening to
these guys here
. I've been a
carpenter in Skagia
County for
44 years
, been a contractor
4
times, owned
a cabinet shop
.
And the
problem with us, which
my wife and I have
experience
with the medical situation as
we remember how
it used to
be.
And
I know I sound like an old
guy, it's because I am one
. You
can't talk to a doctor
. You
can't talk to, I
, I, when
I got
here, I said, can
I get
uh the
paperwork for demolition permit
Oh
, it's all online. It's
all
online. Everything's online
.
When
we
, my partner and I
went
to Cedar
Woolly
and changed two
stores
into
the chamber what is
now the Chamber of Commerce for
Jack McIntyre
. We
walked across
as we started tearing down, oh
no
, tearing down
the
suspended
ceiling in the
two halves
. We
walked over to the building
department and the old
city
hall and we went up, got the
building inspector. He says
,
well, let me go over there and
see how, what, what you guys
are doing
. So, we went in and
said we're going to do this,
we're going to do that
, we're
going to, you know, take the
party wall
down
, fix things up
,
rewire
some
stuff. He says,
yeah, he says, you probably
need to
get a permit
. But
while
I'm doing that, go ahead and
get started. If you have any
questions, just come over
and
I'll come over and see what you
guys got
questions about
. I've
been a
carpenter, as I said,
for 44
years
. I just need
to
know
two
things where the
property lines and where do
you
want it
to sit? I know
all
about
the
engineering spans
,
weights
, point loads
, all that
stuff
. And
I would
question
anybody that requires everybody
to put all
these stinking hole
downs and everything is to go
out
and look at some of those
80 and 90
and 100 year old
farms
that
survived the 90 mile
an hour
winds
back
in 19
or
2000 and yeah
, 1990
. They all
survived
2
by 4s on
a
1
by 6
piece of lath for a ridge pole
.
I've, I've seen it all
, and
it's, you guys are
way
overthinking this thing, and so
I
just encourage what they said
If you're
going
to introduce
one new rule. I've
challenged
you guys with this before. Take
out 10 of the
old ones because
they're making
it impossible to
build. Thank
you. Thank you,
John. Thank you
. Anybody else
in the room
? Do
we
have
anybody
online? Telephone call
. He
was
ready to go. Hi, Ed Johnson
,
can you
talk now? Sure ahead.
Go ahead, Ed
. All
right. I
, um,
county
commissioners, I'm
in
LaConnor and
uh wow, I had one
comment and I'm
, I guess I'll
make that one quick, and that
is we got to
get rid of all
this negativity
and hate
, which
is displayed in so many
different ways like no parking
signs and what you can't do,
and I come to
the
realization
that we're driven
by
criminals
in
this country by all the
laws
and stuff, and that's not the
way I think it should
be, but
we should be
, in fact, you know
congratulating and applauding
.
All those that
do
well in our
communities
for
the community
at all
times
, and I'm a
big
advocate for if anyone does
something intentionally
to harm
emotionally, physically
, or
financially
, but they just go
straight to the meat grinder
and we put them in
the
ocean
or
the
, the farmland because
there's no sense to
be going
through this process. I've been
to the
courts and I've seen
.
You
know
, criminals saying that
they've
been
through
drug
rehabilitation
789 times.
What's the
point
? Anyways, it's
just cost effective. Now
the
comment by one of the ladies
.
You know, often I find
they're
emotional. So
, um, the
information regarding
lithium
batteries for sure. I think
there should
be
some
uh looking
into
, uh, what was the other
comment, the other
. 30
. Well,
that's what happens when I get
old
. I
can't remember
anything
and there was another comment
this lady had
. Can you remind
me, I think her name was
Patsy
or Patty or
. Ega
. No
. I
can't
remember whether she was
talking about. It was
only
one-sided though, because he
didn't incorporate
. The
rest of
the story and
the
gentleman
talking about the
uh redundancy
of quality
and inspections. I'm
a
quality
specialist of 30
some
years, 37
, I
think, 7
states
, 4
countries, and the bottom
line
is, yeah
, quality is
a
totally
redundant system. Why? Because
humans suck. They always want
to
cut
corners and get away
with things. I
mean, when I
worked in the military
for
countermeasures and
that
robotics and
the aerospace for
Boeing. I mean, it was
. Insane.
I mean
, you
think
about trying
to do a
job locally. How
about
globally? I was on
the 87
program and we were dealing
with people
in
Jordan and
Italy
and
, you know
, Japan and
Korea
and even South Carolina and
so
on. And so we were dealing with
quality issues there and by the
way, every plane that goes
to
the flight line getting ready
to
be delivered has probably 20
to 400
different
nonconforming
items on it
, and
I don't, I
wouldn't fly
one of them
. That
thinking that
at 35,000
ft and
200 people
. It could fail or
cause
a catastrophic failure,
who knows? Just like
the
lithium battery issue when they
paid 7
1st came out. So
, yeah,
it's
a redundant thing, but
it's
necessary because
some
people just don't want to
follow the rules. All
right
,
well, I'll leave it at that
.
Thank you
, Ed
. Anybody else
online
? Mr
. Burns, do you have
anything today
? I've
got a
few
things from last
week. First, I
want to say that I was, I'm
happy to see
the Jordan Creek
,
uh, temporary bridge
is finally
going in
. We're seeing that
, uh
they're moving the trusses
across the, the
water
and
getting that in place
. I think
we had a good
meeting in
Guaymas Island last week
. Um, I
thought
it was productive. It
was interesting to hear the
input from
residents, and that
was my
first
time out there for
one of
these community
town
halls, so there's a
good
opportunity for me to just um
connect with the residents
there and have a good
conversation
. I enjoyed going
to a senior day in
the park
in
Burlington last week
. I
was
impressed with the number of
booths there and
how fast the
place filled up with people
.
It's obviously very popular and
it's a good
event for
, uh,
seniors to get out too and
see
different organizations that
are in the area
that could
benefit them
. And
, uh, final
thing I have on here
is
Burlington Chamber of Commerce.
I went there on
Wednesday and
uh gave the state of the county
and a North
Star
update and
really enjoyed getting to talk
with
them
and tell them a
little bit more about what's
going on
in the county and
answer some
questions along
the
way, so
That I had for last
week. Thank
you, Commissioner
Browning
. Yes, senior day in
the park
was really great
,
except I realized that a lot of
the seniors they were younger
than me
. But it was still a
good day
to see a lot
of
services. Last week we had a
fairly
big, um, I'm also a
hospital commissioner. We had
a
hospital meeting about the
changes
in Medicare and
Medicaid. I hope everybody
really looks at that seriously
.
It's going to
be
changing the
landscape
of our community
, our
country significantly. We're
going to have a lot of people
who
will
be going to the
emergency rooms because that's
the only healthcare they have
available to them
. There will
be a lot
of hospitals going
out
of business because right now
it just hanging
on by
a thread
and that, the thread
is going
to be much
tighter after
, uh,
the new, the new rules come
into play
, so
if you're talking
to
your legislators, make sure
they realize
that
healthcare is
one of
those necessary parts of
our life, not
exotic healthcare
We all deserve the
, the really
expensive and
sometimes
nonproductive
stuff, but those
things that keep us walking,
keep us eating
, keep us talking
So
That's enough for right now
.
Yeah, thank you, uh, you both
mentioned the senior day in the
park and
uh the Guaymas Island
uh meeting we
had out there
, we
sent about 5 or 6
different
letters out this last week. One
of
them was a score
, the
Skee
County, um
. Group on aging who
have taken
over the Meals
on
Wheels
and also
they're going
to be taking over the
Burlington and
Mount
Vernon
Senior
Center
Management
Programs. I really appreciate
them for that. Um
, gpac, which
is
Island, um
. Planning group
we
sent
uh response letter to
them
, um, also the
washing
and
futures
water
futures
initiative, we had a
round
table meeting that was
select
people, um, the Department
of
Ecology people are up here
and
there's probably 30 people in
the room
, um, we sent
a
response after that
meeting. Um
we have
Forest advisory group
,
um, a new member, Carter
.
Manning is going to be
joining
that. Also
, uh, planning
commission, uh
. Jan Larsson is
now on the planning commission,
so some
of the
letters and
conversations we've done this
last week
. All right. Anything
else
at this time
? That's
everything today. So
, with that
we're adjourned. Thank you very
much