[0:03] Good morning and welcome to the October 6, 2026 regular session of the Board of Island

[0:08] County Commissioners. Uh, Commissioner Johnson is excused and Commissioner Bacon,

[0:13] as you can see, is virtual with us today. Um, please silence your cellphone, something

[0:18] I always have to remember to do. Um,

[0:23] You'll pardon me for a minute. OK. Um, Uh, during the meeting. Uh, would you join

[0:30] me for the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

[0:34] I pledge allegiance to the flag, the United States for that, and to the republic

[0:40] for which it seems, for the mission under God.

[0:47] Mhm

[0:49] This is the time in our meeting, uh, it is working. This is the time in the meeting

[0:54] that we set aside for public input or comments if you're online and would like to

[0:59] provide public comment. Please, if possible, raise your virtual hand and turn on

[1:03] your camera and microphone after accepting the invitation to become a participant.

[1:09] So you have to pay attention to that part. Um, we're gonna begin in the room with

[1:13] a good friend. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that, but Mr. Meehan, would you

[1:17] like to come to the microphone?

[1:21] Good morning. Gong Leehan, 721 Palisades Brookville resident. Uh So

[1:29] I'm here because uh I listened to uh a uh link that uh Commissioner Bacon, uh thank

[1:34] you very much, gave to us as uh people who pay attention to her little uh end of

[1:40] the week reports. And that was the, the report uh that I listened to that dealt with

[1:46] the WSU extensions interaction with the county commissioners regarding the budget.

[1:52] And, uh, and it really kind of shocked me. And so, I just felt like, well, I guess

[1:58] I need to come say something and um I actually kind of promised myself I'd stay out

[2:03] of county business with regard to my old job that I had here. And I worked here for

[2:09] 26 years as a department head. And when I heard this budget session going, I realized

[2:16] that this whole concept of somehow or another things turned into turning the extension

[2:22] program into a subcontractor, right in there with window washer contractors. And,

[2:27] um, and I just want to remind people that it was the land grant university system

[2:32] that Abraham Lincoln brought in along with uh Justin Morrell, uh, that created Washington

[2:38] State University, which is uh one of the many land grant universities in this country.

[2:43] who made a huge, huge difference. And it was in the 1914 Smith-Laver Act that said

[2:49] to counties, we're gonna partner with you and all these land grant universities to

[2:54] come help you. So in 1917, that is when Russell Turner, who was the first county

[3:00] extension agent, came to Island County. And we have departments today that didn't

[3:06] even exist back then. But he was on the same par as everybody in this county that

[3:11] was running a major program. And that included the sheriff, the treasurer, the auditor,

[3:15] and on and on. So, 109 years ago is when Russell Turner came here. And I'm here to

[3:22] tell you that I, I, after listening to this budget thing, I decided, well, jeez,

[3:27] I guess I haven't been paying attention. As you well know, I kinda am wrapped up

[3:30] in aviation these days. Trying to do something about that. But uh so I started paying

[3:35] attention. And lo and behold, I realized that my budget when I was a county extension

[3:39] director here in 2008, it was actually a little bit bigger than the budget that uh

[3:46] exists today for the WSU extension program. And, uh, and that's 20 years ago almost.

[3:54] And I'm thinking, well, that's a bad sign. Then I decided, well, I'm gonna look and

[3:58] see uh how, how is this working out? If it's a subcontractor, who's the department?

[4:03] Well, my understanding was it was supposedly in government services. And so I went

[4:08] to look at government services on the, the county website. There is no mention of

[4:12] WSU extension in the county website. And here we are partners of 109 years of seniority

[4:19] as partners. And I'm just trying to figure out how can that be? So, I guess also

[4:24] I'm trying to say is, is that it looks like this county has abandoned the university

[4:30] and the concept of a land grant partnership with the county. And I find that quite

[4:35] distressing. And, um, and you have an opportunity to start the turnaround if you

[4:40] choose to do that. Now, the other thing that got me so wired up was, uh, one of the

[4:46] programs that I valued in, uh, being a director for Washington State University Extension

[4:51] in Island County was the 4-H Youth Program. And I always committed to the concept

[4:57] that we're gonna have a strong 4-H youth program. And, um, And then I find out that

[5:04] here, things are going along where there's a major potential, major cut to half of

[5:10] the extension program, which included the 4H position. Well, you know, when I was

[5:17] a county extension agent, and I came here in 1982, it was probably 20 years, uh,

[5:24] almost 20 years of working with male board of county directors. And I always worried

[5:30] about those guys, they are not gonna care about kids, cause they're always worrying

[5:35] about land use stuff. And so, lo and behold, we started getting women on the board.

[5:41] And I thought, oh, there's hope here, don't have to worry so much. But here we are

[5:46] today, 3 women on the board of county commissioners. And we're talking about eliminating

[5:52] a position that supports the youth program that has been here since Smith Lever Act

[5:58] was created in 1914. Don, so you're gonna need to wrap it up. I am wrapping it up

[6:04] with that because I find the whole thing shameful. Thank you very much for your time,

[6:08] Don. Thank you for being here, and I wish you would stay because we respond to public

[6:12] comments at the end of the meeting, and it's a short meeting. I agree. I'd, I'd like

[6:17] you to stay, Don. He just walked out.

[6:24] All right. Is there anyone else in the room for public input?

[6:30] Online Hunter.

[6:41] Oh

[6:44] Hello, can you hear me? We can. Can you state your name and where you're from? I

[6:50] am in Coupeville, Washington. My name is Hunter. I am the public

[7:00] OK, you have 3 minutes. Go ahead. All right, on this day of September 24th. I was

[7:08] placed over at the Haven, which is a shelter. And on Morris Road,

[7:16] and I was, it's night to night basis. Between the hours

[7:24] of 3:30 a.m. till 4:35, I had got up, I

[7:32] went to the bathroom. I went to the male bathroom. And there was an overnight staff

[7:39] member named Crystal. That uh I went, I came out. They said something to

[7:47] me about uh you can only be in there for 10 minutes. That's ridiculous. But yes,

[7:54] 10 minutes. And I said, well, I have to change my diaper. And so she let me go

[8:01] back. And I came out and at 4. 4:00,

[8:09] 4:35, the uh shelter manager, Eddie Martin,

[8:16] came to the bunk. They have bunks, bunk beds, and they came to my bunk. Melissa Jordan,

[8:23] I don't know why she said that, but my name is Hunter. She said, you need to leave.

[8:29] There is fentanyl in the bathroom. Fentanyl in the bathroom. Smells like fentanyl.

[8:35] You were supposed to change your diaper and we don't even see it in there. This is

[8:40] ridiculous. This is ridiculous. Uh, you need to leave now. All I did was took out

[8:47] my uh cleaning uh body wash and that's all I had. And

[8:56] another thing, I was in there, I didn't smell this stuff. Well, it is. And and and

[9:00] you were in the I I I was in the men's bathroom and I went over to Crystal, the overnight

[9:06] staff member. I told her, and yes, it was. Yeah, I said in the men's bathroom. Yes,

[9:13] it was in the men's bathroom. That's ridiculous. That came from I think the women's

[9:18] or outside or whatever because they had the doors open. But anyway, and so Eddie

[9:25] Martin, shelter manager, says to me, uh, says to Crystal, uh, you need, you don't

[9:32] need to say anything to her and call me a her. You don't need to say anything to

[9:37] them. Then, then sat there and you need to leave now or I have to call the cops.

[9:44] This is crazy. This this is upsetting. I, I, I, I got my stuff together. I mean,

[9:49] just I said, will you check my stuff? You can check my bags. She did not check the

[9:54] bags at all. Just told me to leave. So, later on, and I was standing outside trying

[10:02] to get myself together and waiting for a bus to arrive on Morris Road. Sat there.

[10:09] She came, pulled up, kept telling me, get out of the parking lot. I'm, I'm off the

[10:14] property of the building. This is not your property. It is. Get off the property.

[10:19] You're not gonna mess up my show. I don't know what that means, but this is the shelter

[10:25] manager, and then she drives off. So I, I end up contacting the uh

[10:34] Coalition, Homeless Coalition in Allen County. And I spoke with the executive director,

[10:41] Stanton. Stanton, it was a woman. And I tried to explain to her that this was wrong.

[10:47] I shouldn't have been done that way. I, she, she said that she talked to Eddie Martin.

[10:51] I told her to do it. And you're not gonna be in the program. I didn't even know I

[10:55] was in the program. Hunter, I'm gonna ask you to wrap it up and what I'd like to

[11:00] do is if you could uh email the board or somehow reach out to us, we will. What

[11:08] is the email? What is the email address? It's BC. Is that, is that case sensitive?

[11:17] No, just board of county commissioners BOCC at

[11:22] islandcounty.gov. Island County, uh, Island County

[11:29] WA.gov. Uh-huh. And I wanna be able to connect you up to our human services team

[11:36] and perhaps the state ombudsman. So if you want to tell us, we will make sure to

[11:41] follow up. You said the state, state who now? Our, our human services department

[11:47] and there's something called the ombuds program at the state that can is a, is an

[11:51] advocate for people, uh, uh, circumstances like this. OK. All right. Thank you. Thank

[11:59] you for, for reaching out. Is there anyone else online?

[12:22] OK. I see no one else. Is there anyone else in the room? I've already asked that

[12:26] question. I will close our public comment, um, Per the agenda, commissioner,

[12:35] we have two executive sessions today. One at 11:30 a.m. to discuss real estate sale,

[12:41] purchase or lease if there's a likelihood that disclosure would increase the price,

[12:45] and the second one at 1:00 p.m. to discuss litigation and potential litigation with

[12:50] legal counsel. And we also have a uh uh business meeting this afternoon as you, as

[12:57] you know. So, would I, I'd entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended. I

[13:02] move to approve the agenda as amended, adding these two executive sessions. I'll

[13:07] second, all in favor. Aye, aye. And I move to approve the consent agenda as published.

[13:14] I'm gonna pull an item off the consent agenda, OK, if you don't mind. What? There's

[13:20] a motion on the floor. There's a motion on the floor. I'm not going to second your

[13:24] motion so that I can pull one item. OK, so the motion fails for lack of second. Robert's

[13:30] rules. Thank you. Um, I'd like to pull item number 3, which is an interlocal agreement.

[13:37] We have a very brief, uh, meeting today, and I think it's a wonderful opportunity

[13:41] to sort of celebrate a little bit the work that our new, um, DEM disaster manager

[13:49] is doing. So is Justin in the room? Have I lost him? Oh, he's hiding behind. Can

[13:53] you come up to the table and um, if, if with, is that OK, Melanie? I just think it's

[13:59] a great opportunity to highlight some of the work. It's OK, but we still need to

[14:02] pass the consent agenda as amended. OK. She is great. I am not, I haven't done this

[14:07] in a couple of years. Uh, would you like to start the motion, chair? Sure, I, I move

[14:14] to, uh, approve the consent agenda as amended, pulling, uh, item number 3 to the

[14:20] regular session. Thank you, commissioner. I second it. All in favor. Aye, aye.

[14:27] Justin, this is just a chance to highlight your work.

[14:35] Thank you, commissioners. uh Justin Ross, Director of Emergency Management.

[14:40] OK. Did you, you want me to discuss it briefly? Yeah, just talk a little bit about

[14:44] what the interlocal agreement and how we work in collaboratively with counties across

[14:48] the region. Absolutely, thank you for the opportunity. So this interlocal agreement

[14:52] that I've asked that we enter into is, uh, um, creates a standard practice amongst

[14:57] our, our other, um, counties that we work with in Homeland Security Region One. So

[15:02] that includes San Juan, Snohomish, Skagit, Watcom, and Island County. So this agreement

[15:08] says that. In case that we have to activate our emergency emergency coordination

[15:14] center or emergency operations center in our neighboring counties, that for the 1st

[15:19] 72 hours we're agreeing that we're going to deploy assets to our, to our neighboring

[15:25] communities to help them in their response and recovery practices. On the dime of,

[15:32] of Island County and in this agreement, the same thing happens, so we can request

[15:36] resources from those other uh communities and they'll send their resources to us

[15:40] with the same, same agreement. So this uh really illustrates the uh the collaborative

[15:46] working nature of our, our, our relationship with our neighboring counties and uh

[15:50] moves the needle for us significantly because we have a smaller trained staff to

[15:55] respond to our emergency coordination center. Now we can Um, rest assured that we

[16:00] can reach out to our neighbors and that there's not gonna be an immediate cost for

[16:03] us, and then once we cross that 72 hour mark, then we'll have to renegotiate what

[16:08] the situation is from there, but this is a, a, a, a, a, a, uh, a great benefit to

[16:13] Island County, so I appreciate your consideration with it. Thank you. Commissioner,

[16:17] do you have any questions? I do. So, uh, so Justin. Is this, is this a commitment

[16:23] for just staff in DEM or is it a commitment for other county staff? So for example,

[16:29] there's an emergency over in Snohomish County and they just needed desperately to

[16:34] clear off a road, would we send public works people over there as an example? Yeah,

[16:40] this is specifically for emergency management related things. So that, this is to

[16:44] go work in somebody's emergency operation center. It would be for the DEM if they

[16:49] requested other resources, then I would go to the commissioners and see if there

[16:53] was interest in us sending other resources, but this is, this is committing the DEM

[16:57] staff. OK, thank you. And of course we can, we can say we're unable to participate

[17:01] at this time, you know, we're not, we're not bound to do this, but Can you give any

[17:07] examples in the past because I can think of examples where we've worked collaboratively

[17:11] in every, in disasters. Do you have any concrete examples? Well, I know that uh Island

[17:18] County sent over some resources to Skagit County in the December floods of last year,

[17:23] so, um, it's not unprecedented that this happens and uh what I'm looking forward

[17:27] to is when we get a make a request of, of, uh, Skagit County and they can send over

[17:31] some of their, uh, well-honed resources too. And that was the most current when I

[17:37] was recalling that we sent folks up into that um Anacortes area and places where

[17:42] they were seeing just significant flooding, but going all the way back to the pandemic,

[17:47] we worked with our county neighbors on, um on the COVID response as well. So, I

[17:54] just think it's important to know that we, we stand together regionally on these

[17:58] issues and I appreciate this contract. Any further questions, Melanie? No, uh uh,

[18:04] I'm good. Would you like to make a motion? Let me find item number 3 here and I'll

[18:09] do that. OK, um, I move approval of the interlocal agreement between Island County,

[18:16] San Juan County, Skagit County, Snohomish County, Watkin County, and the city of

[18:20] Marysville to provide mutual aid to one another during a disaster or emergency event

[18:25] through the Washington Interstate Mutual Aid System. I'll second that. Any other

[18:31] discussion? All in favor. Aye, aye, thank you. All right, thank you, commissioners.

[18:38] Thank you, Justin. So, there are no public hearings today. Uh, the executive sessions,

[18:44] um, the board will reconvene at 11:30, uh, for two executive sessions. Uh, the first

[18:52] Uh, executive session under RCW 42301101B to discuss real estate sale, purchase,

[18:59] or lease if there's a likelihood that disclosure would increase the price. The executive

[19:03] session will be held in the administration building room 116 and it's expected to

[19:08] last 15 minutes or until 11:45 with no announcement anticipated. Then the board will

[19:13] reconvene at 1:00 p.m. for an executive session as permitted under RCW 42301101 I.

[19:21] Uh, to discuss litigation or potential litigation with legal counsel, the executive

[19:25] session will be held in the admin building room 116 and is expected to last 30 minutes

[19:30] or until 1:30 p.m. with no announcement anticipated. With that, we'll move to commissioner

[19:36] comments or announcements. OK. Well, we have uh just a comment that we have our,

[19:43] on Friday, um, Island Transit board meeting. Seems like every time I turn around

[19:50] there's an island transit board meeting. But anyway, there's an island transit board

[19:53] meeting on Friday. The only other thing that I had was a couple things. First, thank

[19:58] you, Janet, for the way you responded to Hunter. Those, that was where I was gonna

[20:02] go as well. So thank you for that. And, and I wanna thank Don Meehan. I am sorry

[20:07] that he left. Um, Don Meehan is, uh, has been a, an amazing Um, citizen participating

[20:15] in public service in Island County, as he said, worked for the county for a couple

[20:19] of decades. Um, and I, I, I appreciate the history that he brought into the conversation.

[20:26] I have talked with, with Sarah Bergquist. About the actions that the board took,

[20:31] um, she had, uh, come up with a, a new budget that's at a 35% cut. I said I'd like

[20:38] to look at the 35% cut versus the 50% cut, kind of get a sense of what the difference

[20:43] is in what can be provided, but I said the more important thing in my opinion was

[20:48] that um I sometimes feel that that WSU is providing the same sorts of services to

[20:55] the citizens that it was providing 100 years ago or 50 years ago or whatever. We

[21:00] need to bring We need to make the uh services that we're receiving from WSU to

[21:08] be more topical to today's world. So for example, uh, I would be interested in services

[21:14] that enhance our work on water, on climate, on housing, on emergency preparedness,

[21:20] on, uh, mental health services, and so on. And she told me that 4H, 1 of the 4H programs

[21:25] they have is, is a, is a mental health. Program. I said, you know, Sarah, if you

[21:31] had brought that to the board and talked about the mental health work that 4H is

[21:35] doing, we probably would not have taken the actions that we did. I can't say that

[21:39] for sure, but it would have made an impact on the board. So, um, yeah, in January,

[21:44] she's gonna come to the board and we're gonna re-talk about, we're gonna have conversations

[21:49] about really what is The, the best relationship we can have with Washington State

[21:55] University Extension in 2026 and moving forward and really rethink, uh, you know,

[22:02] what kind of needs we have as citizens of Island County. So that's happening. And

[22:07] I, uh, and, uh, I'm gonna need to reach out to Don after he calms down a little bit,

[22:12] um, see if he would participate in our 175th, uh, anniversary next year. I, I need

[22:17] to put together a committee to work on that and he would be an amazing participant.

[22:21] So, That's all I have today. I appreciate you. I have been um

[22:30] I have been struggling with how to respond and thinking a lot about that particular

[22:37] budget decision in a time in which our budget decisions are really tough. The 4H

[22:43] decision, as you recall from the conversation was one I was most concerned about

[22:48] because I believe that it is part of our mission for belonging and well-being of

[22:53] our youth just as the funding that we had from Rep Paul is done for us on Cao with

[23:00] uh the group that now is at Community Resource Center, the work in Oak Harbor that

[23:06] it is part of our mission to promote, I think the 4-H promotes inclusion and well-being.

[23:11] So, I had reached out to Dave to see if we had any ability but haven't had a chance

[23:16] to meet with him to, to take a look at that funding source to continue to fund 4H.

[23:23] I think it's vital to those kids' lives and part of our lifestyle. Um, I appreciate

[23:29] the other questions and, um, your effort to work with her and bring back this discussion

[23:34] in January. Um, they, it is a unique relationship with counties. It is not the

[23:42] same as, um, a club or Other organizations, it is part of what when

[23:50] Beach Watchers spun off to Soundwater Stewards, Soundwater Student Stewards no longer

[23:55] has the same gravitas and relationship to the county that Wazoo Extension has. And

[24:01] since I was part of that transition, I understand how that was a challenging transition

[24:06] because of that very thing. So, um, thank you for that work, and, um, I look forward

[24:12] to learning more as a constituent. Next year. Um, in addition to Island Transit,

[24:20] I have the Northwest Clean Air Agency board meeting, um, on Thursday and the MRC

[24:27] meeting today. I wanted to share that this morning, I came out of a Ecosystem Coordination

[24:34] Board land use subcommittee meeting, again, part of the Puget Sound Partnership work

[24:38] where we talked about shoreline management plans, the state's tendency to um try

[24:44] to uh protect our sound through regulations changes at a time in which the other

[24:51] county commissioners and I all agreed, we don't have capacity to implement those

[24:57] regulatory things. We don't have capacity for enforcement, um, My colleague in Jefferson

[25:04] County talked about over 200 open code enforcement cases, none of which are on the

[25:09] shoreline, and we are often struggling with code enforcement here. It was a very

[25:15] good meeting. It was positive. There was also recognition because there was a recent

[25:22] meeting in which they talked about the delays from Department of Ecology in approving

[25:26] our plans and how that draws out what is already a very painful um conversation.

[25:33] And um the need for DOE to get the resources to be able to do their jobs in a timely

[25:40] way so that we can do our jobs in a timely way. Um, it was a good conversation. Uh,

[25:46] there's a letter that's gonna go from the ECB to uh Puget, uh, to the Department

[25:51] of Ecology. I will share with you guys. I made a point of saying that instead of

[25:58] Our partners in the state coming at this from just this purely regulatory, we can

[26:03] regulate our way to salmon restoration. We need to be recognizing and pass with,

[26:08] with deep empathy that when our residents are struggling against some of these changes

[26:14] and protections, That they are advocating for what for many of them is their largest

[26:20] asset and the lack of understanding sometimes that armoring may not even protect

[26:28] their asset. But when you are facing the threats that we face with sea level rise

[26:34] and the extreme weather events, they go to, but that's how granddad did it, right?

[26:39] That's how, that's what I know. And what we also know because I worked with a resident

[26:44] on Cameno following the bomb cyclone who had 50 cubic yards of dirt scoured out behind

[26:50] his seawall, and it didn't protect him. And so I made a strong emphasis first that

[26:57] the state recognized. Resources need to flow to DOE and counties if they want us

[27:02] to do this work. If they're, if, if, if they are truly our partner, they must be

[27:07] partnering with us and not doing unto us these things. And the second point I made

[27:13] was for all Parties to have empathy for both sides of this conversation because this

[27:17] is, this is a tough conversation when you're talking about people's lives and major

[27:21] assets. And, um, the third thing is better education because we know that

[27:30] armoring can do damage to our neighbors. Armoring can, cannot protect us. So what

[27:36] are the solutions? And I'm actually proud despite You know, sometimes I feel like

[27:41] if everybody hates us, we've made the right decision. Uh. I'm proud of our SNP and

[27:47] I'm proud of the compromises we made in our SNP that said we are going to let science

[27:53] guide our decisions and we are going to encourage options that allow for residents

[28:00] to find a solution that is scientific protective but works within their, their circumstances.

[28:07] So we're not abandoning science and we're not abandoning protections, but we are

[28:12] saying that this is a very real Human and environmental tension and we have to be

[28:19] able as, as leaders in this work to live in both of those spaces simultaneously.

[28:26] So it was a good meeting this morning and I appreciate their listening and I appreciate

[28:30] that they really are elevating the the voices of counties through folks like um Heidi.

[28:36] Eisenhower and and Kate Dean before her and others and Helen Price Johnson who founded

[28:41] this committee so I just wanted to share that with you because I know through your

[28:45] work at MRC that you would be interested in that conversation. Yes, thank you, Janet.

[28:50] Thank you. Sorry for taking so much time, but we've got we haven't, um, and I have

[28:58] nothing more, um. Anything more for us staff because I clearly am failing

[29:06] at my job on Robert's rules and all that. Commissioner Baker, good to see you. Um,

[29:12] hope you're continuing to heal. I asked if you would show your purple toes, but they

[29:15] said no.

[29:18] They're not pretty. This meeting is adjourned until 1:30 a.m. See you then.

[29:35] Good morning. It is 11:01 a.m. and I have a correction to the executive session announcement.

[29:42] The first executive session will occur at 11:30 a.m. when the board reconvenes for

[29:48] an executive session as permitted under RCW 42.30.1101I to discuss

[29:56] litigation or potential litigation with legal counsel. The executive session will

[30:00] be held in the administration room room. Administration Building room 116 and is

[30:07] expected to last until 11:45 a.m. with no announcement anticipated. The executive

[30:12] session at 1:00 p.m. is correct and will begin at such time. Thank you.

[30:24] It is 11:30 a.m. and the board has reconvened and gone into executive session as

[30:30] allowed under RCW 42.30.1101 I to discuss litigation or potential litigation with

[30:37] legal counsel. Thank you.

[30:43] It is 11:45 a.m. The board, the chair has stepped out of executive session and requested

[30:49] 15 more minutes in executive session. Until 12 p.m. Thank you.

[31:02] It is 12:00 p.m. The board has exited executive session and the meeting is recessed

[31:08] until 1:00 p.m. Thank you.

[31:17] It is 1:05 p.m. The board has reconvened and gone immediately into executive session

[31:24] as allowed under RCW 42.30.1101 I to discuss litigation or potential litigation with

[31:30] legal counsel. Uh, the meeting is expected to last 30 minutes or until 1:35 p.m.

[31:45] It is 1:35. The board has exited executive session and the meeting is adjourned until

[31:50] 2:00 p.m. for a business meeting with public health, public works, planning and community

[31:57] development and human services. Thank you.

Island County BOCC Regular Session

Agenda

Transcript