League of Women Voters | County Council January 12, 2026

At a previous meeting on December 29, the council ratified and executed the collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME Local 1849 union for 2026-2028. The council adopted the county staffing levels and pay and benefit plans for 2026 including for the sheriff’s guild and non-represented staff.

At the January 12 retreat the council elected Justin Paulsen as chair and Kari McVeigh as Vice Chair. They reallocated liaison roles among boards, committees and commissions and for regional, state and national bodies and committees. After a brief review of things completed last year or wrapping up in 2026, the council turned to specific areas to give directions to staff for this year.  

For priorities on revising and updating county code and docket items, they identified with the director of community development and the prosecuting attorney to continue work to update the code in line with changes in the comprehensive plan, to correct inconsistencies, to update Land Use Tables and code and to do a needs assessment of code changes to improve housing affordability.

They approved a schedule to examine specific areas affecting the budget and will look at insurance in February, and fleet management in March, with organizational restructuring, internal service funds, and costs and fees for services in following months.

With the budget tightly constrained, positions cut for 2026 and a $3 million gap for 2027, the council decided to put a levy lid lift on the ballot in 2026. Normally a lid lift has been done on a five-year schedule, but the last one was in 2019. The council decided to put the issue on the April 2026 special election ballot with a vote of 2-1 with Fuller advocating for later in the year. They decided to make it a single-year permanent lift but will do more analysis and discussion before deciding the rate of the request. They will discuss a draft resolution at the February 3 meeting.

* The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization encourages informed participation in government. The Observer Corps attends and takes notes at government meetings to expand public understanding of public policy and decisions. The notes do not necessarily reflect the views of the League or its members.