LWVSJ Observer Corps | County Council December 23, 2024

||| FROM NECIA QUAST for LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS |||

The Council approved the revised Lodging Tax Advisory Committee recommendation for 2025 destination marketing services agreement for one year with the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau with a flat fee of $535k which represented an 8% nominal cut in funding vs. the 16% cut the Council had proposed. Given inflation the real cut was larger. Given the fall in tourism activity and the challenges faced by tourism-dependent visits, the LTAC thought, and the Council accepted, that this was not the time for a higher cut. The LATC committee did express interest in better data and a willingness to potentially consider a bigger cut depending on what the data revealed. The council approved using LTAC funds to support the wages of the LTAC coordinator up to $30,380.

The council ratified the bargaining agreement with the Sheriff’s Guild for 2025-2026. The council approved a resolution adopting county staffing levels and pay and benefit plans for 2025. In both cases council members noted the cordial and productive negotiations between the county manager and union representatives.

The Governor sent a letter to the Canadian government in support of stationing an emergency tow vessel in Sydney. This is in support of the bilateral effort to get such a vessel based near enough to the Salish Sea to respond to vessel emergencies and mitigate the damage from oil spills.

The council passed a resolution to appoint Tamara Green as interim coroner while they continue to seek a functional way to manage coroner services now that state law has changed to prohibit the county prosecuting attorneys from acting as coroner as had been the practice in small counties.

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.