The meeting included an in-depth discussion of local transportation alternatives, possible short-term solutions, and next steps for the 2025 legislative session.
||| FROM SAN JUAN COUNTY COMMUNICATIONS |||
On Saturday, August 24, representatives from San Juan County met with Governor Jay Inslee in Friday Harbor to share data, review ferry service challenges, and discuss possible next steps. The Governor initiated the productive, 30-minute meeting that included Council Chair Jane Fuller, Health & Community Services Transportation Voucher Program Coordinator Richard Uri, County Manager Jessica Hudson, and Ferry Advisory Committee Vice Chair Ken Burtness. Town Councilmember Richard Gefffen and staff from Inslee’s Office were also in attendance.
“I was pleased that the Governor reached out to us with the intention of hearing our stories, digesting our data, and helping us form next steps to address challenges posed by ferry service disruptions,” said Chair Fuller. “I’m grateful for his time, attention, and support.”
The meeting included an in-depth discussion of local transportation alternatives that have developed as a result of unstable WSF services. From The Community Water Taxi to unique uses of the Transportation Voucher Program, innovative solutions are being developed locally to subsidize State services. Governor Inslee affirmed it is ‘worth looking at’ short term solutions that may help with the current ferry situation in the islands.
During the meeting, Council Chair Fuller reviewed the three components of the County’s executive relief ask:
- Interisland passenger only water taxi service $ 279,450.00
- Anacortes / San Juan Islands passenger only ferry service $ 659,295.00
- On-call essential/critical services barge transportation $ 56,925.00
The Governor reiterated the limitations on declaring a ‘state of emergency’ and allocating emergency funds that prevented the Office from fulfilling Council’s most recent request. He noted that he is willing to think broadly to find some options for short-term relief for the island routes.
The Governor is hopeful that some short-term relief will come via negotiations with the Marine Engineer Beneficial Association (MEBA) that are expected to conclude in September and may provide stability for staffing challenges. The Governor also reiterated his support for incorporating new electric ferries into the fleet, noting that procuring diesel vessels may add two years onto the current timeline.
County staff learned it is unlikely that the County would receive capital funds to support boat purchases until the State completes the two outstanding studies on ferry economic impacts and passenger only services. In the meantime, the County will work to develop a legislative ask for the 2025 legislative session.
“I left feeling optimistic,” said Chair Fuller. “I’m motivated to work with my seatmates on a compelling and achievable legislative ask that will help us better take care of ourselves in the event of future ferry service disruptions.”
Many thanks to the folks working on this beginning of our transition to a diversified, more resilient, ferry system in San Juan County.
Not to sound negative, but a 30 minute meeting sounds like a wholly insufficient amount of time for a deep dive into the ferry issues. Hopefully the photo-op wasn’t included in the 30 minutes.
So we need Anacortes to the Islands foot ferry service. At a cost of about $600,000.
Last time I was on a WSF ferry, there was plenty of walk on space. Actually I have never seen a WSF ferry over flowing with walk-ons.
Were we asking for more than we actually need? Why?
Tom,
I can speak to this. The request was not based on the capacity of WSF to hold walk on passengers.
One of the major impacts on SJ County residents from service disruptions has been impact to the ability to reliably access medical services, governmental access and work/education opportunities. The impact has had a massive effect on those who are least able to absorb the impacts and is resulting in real detriment to the health and success of residents. We are seeing people have to turn to traveling 24-48 hours ahead of their planned activity, resulting in heavy additional costs and time loss – or simply just deferring the needed care.
The concept behind the request you see was based on the fact that service from WSF has become functionally unstable. The concept proposed was to create stability and restore some sense of reliability. Further, it would have helped to establish some transportation solutions for SJ County residents over in the Skagit/Whatcom/Island county area to accomplish greater access.
Happy to talk transportation concept and ideas any time. This request was simply one attempt at bringing solutions to our county. There’s plenty more work to do!
No secret the Marine Engineer Beneficial Association (MEBA) (licensed engineers) is in a very testy labor dispute in their union contract negotiations with the state’s labor negotiator, the Office of Financial Management. That dispute is headed to arbitration … same as the last contract where they only got a 14% salary increase when they wanted 18%. But State legislators added two annual increases in the 3% each range (last one 1 July 2024), and if the info from OFM is correct, their salaries have increased 20% + in the last two years.
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Ferry workers can’t strike by state law, but they can fail to show up for their scheduled work shift for a whole host of reasons. What I believe Governor Inslee is saying is if the union gets the salary and benefit increases (hard to imagine they can get any better benefits … their current contract is available from OFM if you are curious) they are seeking (not public information, but it’s likely substantial), crew shortages will likely become less frequent.
Zero surprise the SJC emergency submission went nowhere other than to have Governor Inslee stop in and listen/acknowledge some of the frustrations with the current ferry situation, but he’s hearing that from all ferry route users and the Western Washington media.