LWVSJ Observer Corps | County Council January 13, 2025

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

With two new council members, the first day of a two-day council retreat focused on setting key elements of the coming year and getting a view of where things stand on county administrative matters. Reviewing last year’s accomplishments, the council flagged issues to follow for further action including the shoreline framework, the sea level rise assessment, the resiliency framework, the federally funded trail project, and tourism management policy. On-going projects from last year to be completed in 2025 are the Youth Community Health Survey and the Killibrew Lake Road culvert replacement.

The Council elected Kari McVeigh as chair and Jane Fuller as co-chair. They set the meeting schedule for the year adding sessions for department budget presentations. The Council divvied up the responsibilities to be the council liaison to county boards, commissions and committees and to regional and state organizations. They reviewed the process for appointments to county boards, commissions and committees. They planned to set up a basic reporting template for these bodies to customize according to their responsibilities.

They reviewed internal and external communications policies, processes and platforms. The communications manager hopes to launch a redesigned county website in March that will make it easier to connect to the Engage site and to find information on county meetings. The county bought three properties, one each on Orcas and Shaw and San Juan and sold two, one on Orcas and San Juan in 2024. The county did not get a grant to do seismic upgrades of the historic courthouse. County facilities face long standing issues of adequate and safe space, with several facilities having major issues, all of which will be very costly to address. The Council wants to develop a facilities master plan to tackle these long-deferred problems.

The county manager told the council about work to date and the next steps in diversity and equity programs with training planned in 2025 in accord with the commitment to these ideals in the county charter. She reviewed the current vacancies and recruitment process for county staff. They are recruiting a new Human Resources Director, and a deputy county manager. They are continuing efforts to find qualified people to fill the Department of Community Planning director position, four Public Works project manager positions, two assessors and three deputy positions on Orcas.

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.