The State of the County with Rick Hughes

County Councilman Rick Hughes speaks to islanders at one of many public meetings

By Margie Doyle

Rick Hughes, Orcas Council Member for the San Juan County Council, recently gave an interview to Orcas Issues on county-wide issues including growing the economy, the impacts of marijuana legalization, simplifying government, budget projections and the accomplishments of the “Winter Council.”

With the “new” three-member council seated mid-May, Hughes and his council colleagues have been at work just over a month. Hughes describes himself politically as a Moderate: “I want to be an advocate for the working class.”

Growing the Economy

Noting that 89 percent of the county voted for the legalization of recreational marijuana use in Washington State, Hughes is intent upon the county  developing this new business opportunity: “It’s all legal and ready to go January 1, 2014 —  we need to have a dialgue of how we want it to happen,” Hughes says.

“Being a GMO-free county, we can have a homegrown industry, or we can see a mega-corporation move in to sell it to marijuana customers.”

By giving regulatory authority to the Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB), the State has proposed laws that observe the same separation of roles as those used to regulate liquor sales: production, distribution and retail sales.

Among the 46-pages of regulations, local control is maintained in that the County and the Sheriff will have the ability to screen vendors; and a 1,000 foot radius of school, churches, parks and the like that is production-, distribution- and sales-free must be observed.

Hughes notes that with its  GMA structured density, “There’s probably not an area in Eastsound where you can sell [marijuana].”

He says he is fully in support of defending and implementing the laws, and adds, “It’s a process, we can decide. Business people can consider this a potential opportunity and not be afraid of the unknown — because there’s a lot of unknowns.

“By gosh let’s do it right: figure out land use, retail sales, health and dependency issues. People need to be respectful of others.”

While he cautions that the Coast Guard monitors county waters and raids by federal agents may occur within the county or Washington State, he repeats his legal and business stance: “If we don’t explore the possibilities that come with the legalization of marijuana, its use might not be executed properly.”

In his vision for new business opportunities, Hughes also identifies another economic activity with great potential: the production and sales of  sustainable wood. He’s considering “full-on plans to become harvesters, and create full-time sustainable forest gigs here.”

He cites the example of San Juan Woods to find and create branded products such as island grown timber… which is more dense, strong and sturdy.”

Further, if the scale is “ramped up,” the growth, harvesting and final product can all happen on the island, “creating a high end business that eventually is exporting its products in the other direction on the ferry instead of just coming here.”

The Budget

The Council recently assigned $500,000 savings into the combined rainy day reserve and capital projects improvement fund, acting on County Auditor Milene Henley’s recommendation.

Projecting out, Hughes sees a stable budget, provided a close watch is kept on employment and health costs to see they don’t deplete the revenue reserves — “unless something changes.”

He commends the Community Conversations project earlier this year, saying, “The point of the Community Conversations was to ask, ‘Are we willing to pay for the services we expect?'”

While the Mt. Baker Road project is in full view of the Orcas public this spring, Hughes notes that it has been on the County’s Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) for six years. He urges the public to get involved early on in the decision-making process for similar projects. “Once you set that goal, then certain regulations come into play. If we get federal funding, we have to meet federal requirements,” he said.

“If people have concerns about widening roads and making curves ‘softer’ they need to come out before the funding is secured and regulations set.”

For example, if what is envisioned is a bike lane from the ferry landing to Eastsound or Moran State Park, the county will have to decide upon changes to the Orcas Road, including the tree-lined stretch just south of the Orcas Transfer Station. Hughes has similar concerns about the trees lining  Crow Valley Road.  He’d like to explore private-public partnerships in developing trails close to the established roads. “We can make beautiful, non-motorized walkways and not have to worry about truck traffic,” he says.

Regarding the solid waste disposal issues that have drained the county budget in recent years, Hughes says he eagerly anticipates the island-localization of solid waste operations being wrapped up and completed. “I can’t wait for the day ORS gets the keys to the facility and [their] operations begin.

“I’m hoping with the new County Manager, we can establish new strategic values for the county to retain its rural character. If people have issues, they need to get involved way earlier,” Hughes said.

Council Meetings

The council plans to meet every other Monday,  “just to sit around and talk,” in addition to its regularly-scheduled Tuesday meetings in Friday Harbor.

Hughes’  schedule calls for commuting to San Juan Island every Monday and Tuesday, attending to the business of the 18 committees which he sits on on Wednesday and Thursday; and he hopes to have “Orcas Office Hours”  on Friday to discuss with Orcas Islanders their issues and his vision of localized and simplified county government.

When the bridge went down

Hughes schedule applies to “regular” hours: the May 30 collapse of the I-5 Skagit River bridge shows what happens to his schedule when an emergency hits.

Within the hour, Hughes was communicating with county and regional officials, including County Emergency Management head Brendan Cowan, County Tourism head Deborah Hopkins, and San Juan Island Councilman Bob Jarman (Council Chair Jamie Stephens was out-of-county that day). They issued a press release and alternative routing that evening. Dave Halloran of the county’s Department of Emergency Management (DEM) was assisting at the bridge collapse “Command Center”  in Skagit County.

With Jarman, Hughes called an emergency session of the Council. The first order of business was to respond to the Department of Transportation (WSDOT) which had issued a public advisory cautioning people not to travel north to Mt. Vernon and beyond.

Hughes and Jarman offered services on behalf of the county to the Burlington-Mt. Vernon area. With Jamie Stephens, Hughes attended a WSDOT briefing to U.S Congressman Rick Larson in Skagit County, and made sure Larson made clear reference to the fact that the San Juan Islands were still very much “in the game.”

As Councilman, Hughes coordinated 220 state officials including the Governor and Secretary of Transportation  to announce, “We’re open for business!”

Winter Council

The “Winter Council”  refers to the six-member council that won election to Council seats in November 2012, before the change approved by county voters to a three-member council elected in 2013. The “Winter Council” was Rick Hughes and Patty Miller for Orcas, Jamie Stephens for Lopez and Shaw, and Marc Forlenza, Bob Jarman and Rich Peterson for San Juan Island.

Hughes lists the accomplishments of the Council during those six months:

• The four Community Conversations on each island;
• Code enforcement ordinance;
• Hiring new County Manager Michael Thomas;
• Pictometry (aerial photography) update;
• Advisory committees reform;
• Annual schedule;
• Solid waste contract negotiations for San Juan, Orcas and Lopez Islands

“We’ve been slammed,” Hughes says with a grin;” We’re out there getting things done.”

He retains his excitement  for process changes, streamlining and finding solutions for customer service, and working with the new county manager.

Conferences and Campaign Promises

Hughes recently attended the Washington Association of Counties (WASAC) in Yakima, where the main topic was making government faster and simpler, using the LEAN production philosophy. This practice considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination.

Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, “value” is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.  Essentially, lean is centered on preserving value with less work.

LEAN was developed with the Toyota company, and is used by Boeing and other manufacturers and producers.

Hughes notes that Kitsap County has reduced its employees from 44 to 22 by using this process. He values reaching out to neighboring counties in the state similar to San Juan County, and notes that there are 11 counties with a population of under 20,000. “If we have allies in other counties we can work with them to speak to their representatives in business and the legislature,” Hughes says.

He intends to use the LEAN process to remove redundancies by working with staff from different county departments, such as Development and Planning, Public Works — including Solid Waste — and Health, to train them in the process.

“We have good staff. We need to make sure we train them and give them the opportunities to make the county a greater place. We need to roll up our sleeves and make sure the people who do the work know the right way to get the work done.”

He says the LEAN process will also make permitting and building more efficient. “We need to establish permitting to make sure structures are safe and sound, without being onerous. If we can make permitting simpler and easier to use, then people will use it.”

Last week, Hughes attended a meeting on Mayne Island, in the Canadian Gulf Islands, for interlocal conversations with Island Trust. While there, they discussed the commonalities we share with our Canadian counterparts, such as tourism and coal shipments.

Hughes also anticipates active participation in completing the update to the  Shoreline Master Program.

Rick Hughes is intent upon listening to the concerns of the voters, and hopes to set up regularly “office hours.” (A recent straw poll conducted by Orcas Issues, indicated that the County Office building/Senior Center on North Beach and Henry Road is the location favored by readers by 49percent; runner-up was the Public Library with 28 percent of the vote.)

In the meantime, Hughes can be found on the ferry, in County offices in Friday Harbor, at Ray’s Pharmacy, and if not there, email him at  RickH@sanjuanco.com