Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

good morning i call this session sketch county commissioners to order is a little after 8 30 on september 8th 2026 please join me in this look to our flag i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all

Thank you everybody for being here this morning. Commissioner Burns is off today so he will not be joining us, but we have some proclamations here. So Monica, what do we have first?

Good morning, commissioners. I'm on Engrila. So for the first proclamation, we are here to recognize National Recovery Month. Thank you so much for recognizing that with us this morning. For those who might not be familiar, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, an estimated 50 million adults in the United States consider themselves in recovery each year. Since 1989, Recovery Month has been observed each September as a time to celebrate the progress and successes of people in recovery. This is also a time to pause from our day-to-day work and educate ourselves and to bring awareness to substance use disorders and mental health and to the reality that recovery is possible. So why are we celebrating and recognizing Recovery Month? Formally recognizing this event and issuing a proclamation is really an important step in normalizing the conversation around substance use and mental health and recovery. And so being able to come here together, celebrate with you all, speaks volumes to the values that each of us work on instilling in our community. Because working together and normalizing the conversation around addiction, mental health, and recovery, we can help reduce the stigma and create an environment where people, especially the younger generations, can see recovery as possible and feel supported and have hope for the future. SAMHSA identifies four pillars or building blocks to recovery. Those are health, home, purpose, and community. I am really grateful to work in this community where the county as a government entity not only recognizes the Recovery Month as a symbol or just as values, but puts the words into action. And I'm very, very grateful that we, together, are working on supporting the services that are the building blocks to recovery. So I mentioned health, home, purpose, and community. These services are translated in recovery housing services, in employment, in recovery services. And so I'm very, very grateful to be part of this community where we actually support these services. So this year's Recovery Month celebration has been organized by the North Star Recovery Task Force. And so with me this morning are members of the various communities that are represented not only on the Recovery Task Force but also on the Housing Task Force and who are working together with you commissioners in really implementing your vision, your actions, and also implementing recovery in our community. So first to speak, I'm going to invite Alan Mia from the New Earth Recovery Services to speak. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning. I'm Alan Mui. I'm director of New Earth Recovery. We operate eight recovery homes here in Skagit Valley and have been just really privileged to do this really important work. There's a lot we could say this morning about people in recovery in our community. We could talk about the people whose addiction led them to crime and homelessness and how they do recover and how that when they do recover, they're contributing to the systems that they used to take from. They no longer need to be incarcerated. They no longer need to be in regular ER visits. Instead, they're now paying taxes and they're building, they're kind of rebuilding that safety net. We could talk about how studies show that people in recovery volunteer at twice the rate of the general population. We could talk about how people in recovery as part of their own healing process regularly serve as peer mentors and sponsors to help other people out of addiction. But I don't want to talk about any of those things. Instead I want to talk about how we as a community are welcoming people who are coming back to us from usually institutional settings, not always, but coming back to us at least from addiction. I need to say here that I've had some of this conversation with a couple of you and with a number of folks in our audience before, but I'm mindful that I've at times left out the punchline and I want to be sure I get there in the next minute or two. So there are three primary ways that we as a community are making a difference in the lives of people in recovery. First of all, relief. We provide shelter and food at First Steps, at Welcome Home Skagit, at Friendship House, and at Family Promise. The syringe exchange provides safe supplies and Narcan so people live long enough to experience recovery, hugely important. We also do of course a lot of relief in our emergency rooms. Rehabilitation happens, this is the second piece, is that we spend a lot of resources on rehabilitation, sending people to inpatient and outpatient treatment programs. And our newly opened Star Center, which we all are celebrating, will be a huge help to people starting that rehabilitative journey. And so this particular kind of arm is the most expensive treatment. It costs a lot of money to send people to inpatient treatment and afterward there's sort of medical clinical components to all that. We also, it needs to be said, do some rehabilitation in the criminal justice system. So in jails and in prisons, there's some rehabilitation that happens for people. The third kind of arm of what we do is development. And this happens alongside and after rehabilitation. It happens when people are working hard to rebuild their lives by going to school or by learning new trades, getting a job, paying off debts. relearning how to be in healthy relationships and figuring out how they want to contribute to society. So this is what happens in recovery homes, it's what happens in the recovery cafe, it's what happens in our local community college and in supported employment when employers take the time and effort to go the extra mile to help somebody relearn those skills. So here's the punchline I talked about which I think is really important is that that a community that supports all three of these arms, all three of these kind of components will make a huge difference in the lives of people in recovery and an investment in the development piece of that will keep us from having to do the other two over and over and over again. The more development we do, the less we have to do relief and the less we have to do rehabilitation of the same folks over and over. So I am, as Monica mentioned, we are so privileged to live in a community where that is recognized and where efforts like ours in housing and in the recovery cafe and in other kind of development efforts are hugely supported. And I have colleagues around the state who look at us and say, wow, that your community supports you in that way is huge. And as a result, there are hundreds of people whose stories are different and changed because of your support for recovery in the community and then all the rest of us who kind of help out in that effort. So thank you for all of that in advance. I'm going to turn it over to, I think, Sean is next to talk about the Recovery Cafe.

thank you alan good morning commissioners my name is sean howard i'm the executive director for the recovery cafe here in mount vernon i wanted to give a quick update on the cafe and where we're at but also just talk about what northstar has been able to accomplish for us as a cafe so in most communities At least in the conversations I've had with other EDs across the nation, most of the cafes work very much in isolation, very siloed. They don't have a lot of work with their county government, with their city government. And when I came here from Texas, it was just the complete opposite of that. It was immediate that the commissioners cared, that the city council members cared. and that there was this realization that this work could not be done in isolation so through the recovery task force through northstar we have been able to create partnerships with such great organizations like cascade job corps going out there and providing services to those kids who have had their services cut We've been able to go to community court and establish a voucher program there, work very closely with them. Same with drug court and just many other partnerships, which I could highlight with New Earth Recovery, with Rise Recovery. And it's just this... great way of bringing things together and we're able to share ideas, we're able to work together in tandem. So on top of that, in 2025, through a lot of those partnerships, we were able to get over 10,000 meals and visits for the first time. We are now up to roughly 12 to 13 recovery circle support groups at any given time. We have over 600 people do those circles. So it's really growing and moving at the cafe. We are just trying to continue to be a space for safe and sober Friday nights and continuing to just grow. Our hope is, again, to get to that seven days a week, have that safe and sober community for people. And then I think I wanted to close just with a thing that we are looking at at the cafe is very much recovery from substance use is still front of mind for all of us. But looking at how are people recovering from mental health? How are people handling what the former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called the loneliness epidemic? I think the research is clear and continues to be very clear that those That disconnection that we have in our community is really one of the driving forces behind people picking up substances, behind people suffering from mental health. So I just encourage the county and everybody here to continue to look at how are we addressing that loneliness and getting people off of their phones, off of their couches, and into community, into something that is bigger than them, a third space. So thank you, commissioners. And I'm passing it off to Nora and Tina, I think.

Hi, I'm Nora Peterson from the Cedar Woolley City Council, and this is Tina Tate, the Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity, but more importantly, one of my neighbors in Ward 3 in Cedar Woolley. I want to thank you for doing this proclamation this month for Recovery Month and for inviting us to share what's happening in our community in Cedar Woolley to support this nationwide effort. Earlier this year, Tina and I attended the North Star Symposium where we got to talking about organizing a recovery walk in Cedar Woolley. We had just seen an amazing presentation about a similar event, much larger, thousands of people in Philadelphia, and I was just so excited to bring that idea home. I mentioned it to Tina and if you know anything about Tina, the next thing we had was a committee, an agenda, a marketing plan. With the support of Hospital District 304, we were able to get some really cool t-shirts And Tina reached out to a few people who are prominent in the recovery community to speak at the event. I'm just so grateful for all of the people who have donated their time and resources to this effort. It's been really amazing to get together with folks from within our community in Cedar Woolley to support and celebrate those who are in recovery. This event is really important to me because I feel like my generation really got the short end of the stick with the whole opioid thing. So many people my age first encountered opioids after a sports injury as kids. They trusted their doctors, they trusted their parents, and then now they have to face a really hard road at no fault of their own. Growing up and even as an adult, these drugs were just too accessible. It created problems for individuals, families, and whole communities. And it takes a whole community approach to address the harm caused by the opioid crisis. Addiction has taken so many in our community, but together as a society, we're turning things around. We sued the pharmaceutical companies, and then there was more money for facilities, treatment facilities like the Star Center in Cedar Woolley. With North Star, jurisdictions are coming together to coordinate wraparound services and policies that address these complex needs. We need this kind of community-based solution to get at the heart of the problem. And that starts with raising awareness around recovery. That's why we're doing this recovery walk. I want to live in a town where everyone is really proud to celebrate recovery in their families, in their neighborhoods, at work, at home. Recovery is a big accomplishment. not just for the individual but for the community as a whole. My hope is that in 20 years we can read about the opioid crisis in history books and see it as an event that was tragic but time bound and something that taught us about who we are as people. And before I finish, I just want to say some of the names of the folks who have made this walk possible. Of course, Tina Tate, Paul and Diane Koch, Linda Crothers, Monty Thompson, Rachel and Alan from New Earth Recovery, Monique Bingham, and of course our speakers, Lisa Janicki, Kevin Riley, and Kay Knott. It's just been, oh, and the hospital district, who's got our cool shirts. It's just been such an uplifting thing to work with all these neighbors to put together a homegrown event like this. And we hope that you can join us on the 12th for our Cedra Woolley Walk for Recovery.

And I just want to say just a couple of things. Recovery, people in recovery make a stronger community. So our tagline is a step toward a stronger community. I am 22 years in recovery and very proud to live in Cedar Woolley. And there's so many others in Cedar Woolley. We need to come together as a community and make sure that we are making a stronger community by embracing others that are in recovery as well.

A little more details on that walk? September 12th?

September 12th. Yes, September 12th. We are meeting at 10 a.m. in the, if you know Cedarville, the old Ford car lot on Ferry Street. It's a big open lot. We'll be out there. You'll see us. And then the walk is about two miles long, and we're going to end at Hammer Heritage Square, where we will have our speakers.

Very good. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anybody else?

I'm Judge Jennifer Housen, and I am on the Recovery Task Force and also preside over the Mount Vernon Municipal Court Community Court. And we also recognize Jeff McCann, who's the City of Mount Vernon prosecutor, and he expertly handles the community court in the City of Mount Vernon, which happens to be very, very large, robust. It is over half of our entire calendar in the City of Mount Vernon. We have hundreds of people that participate and successfully graduate and it's thanks to the partnership of all of these folks here working together and funding from state and from the county and we're really grateful. Every single week, Mr. McCann and I witness recovery working and we see over five graduates a week in our program and they're staying successful. So it's through partnerships with all of these folks that we're making it work on a daily basis. Thank you.

Can you go over a little bit more how that court system works? Not everybody watching understands how that works.

Community court in Skagit County is a diversion court away from the criminal justice system. It's held in the community court building on College Way. Eligible charges are folks charged with shoplifting, trespass, disorderly conduct, misdemeanors, and drug possession. So it is our drug court at this time since drug charges are misdemeanors at this time. And so we intervene at the first hearing for those individuals and provide services, mental health treatment, housing, and substance treatment and so if people are successful in that program we monitor them and hold them accountable over the course of their lengthening times like a year or six months and then the goal is to have no new charges and to successfully be engaged in treatment and recovery and be housed so it

Not everybody understands that monitoring program and the things they have to do because if they don't do it, they're out, correct?

Yeah, correct. They have to show up for review hearings. They have to stay in contact with their probation officer on a monthly basis. They have to attend the evaluation right away as soon as they enter the program. And they have to attend a resource clinic. They have to... Attend all their treatment classes stay clean off drugs and alcohol and stay off of charges not commit any new charges So they're monitored by probation officers, but they're also tested to sometimes correct.

They are yes So it's not just to do this program. No problem.

You've got to do a lot of it It's actually far more intense than the regular system, which has no supervision or accountability, correct?

Thank you very much for bringing that up burn or support

anybody else commissioner browning any comments a lot of you know i've been involved in a lot of the recovery stuff since the mid 80s and in those days it was inefficient inefficient we didn't have what alan has brought to our community the long-term recovery that we get people clean sober to some degree they go back to the neighborhoods go back to their friends and they're back in the streets immediately and so what you've allen brought to this community is immeasurable this has so much value and sean what you're doing just giving a community there's so much work right now on kind of happiness and being able to function in life and it has so much to do with friends and people you can hang out with and and get relationships with and so What you two are doing is what brings us from just a recovery program that a lot of people can go through and have a couple months of sobriety and then something will trigger them. Yours is what keeps that from happening. And really, it's so, so important. I'm really proud of this community for having. We need more. We certainly need more because we still have people going back to their neighborhoods and their friends ending up where they started. We have to get better about the recovery. So I really appreciate the work you're doing. Nora and Tina, thank you. That's getting just some visibility. Let's all get out to walk and get people recognizing that it is neighbors and friends. It's not somebody that you don't know and somebody you're not necessarily proud to have in your community, but people who you care about that are on those walks that are in some version of recovery. It's really important to make it... to make it real for people that recovery is among us all the time, successful and unsuccessful. But again, back to Alan and Sean, you guys are exactly what we need to create a good, long-standing recovery program. So thank you.

yeah i'd also like to thank you all for being here today and i think we live in a kind of a medium-sized county community and so we still know each other we have family connections friends and neighbors connections and i think that helps make this go forward and working successfully north star has been able to come together and give them the opportunity for people who wanting to work on these community issues to go forward and get solutions You know, Alan, you brought up some of the issues that not every part of the country is dealing with the same way as we are because of our small lists or how we're able to work together. You know, Sean, you were talking about the recovery cafe. We were able to go down to Olympia and get some funding to help with the purchase of the building there. So those kind of things don't happen without community coming together and working together and showing the people in Olympia that this is really important for us in Skagit County, and I really appreciate that. Nora and Tina, you know, it's great to have people come together and understand that there are issues going on in the community, but we can work together and help solve those problems. And just having the walk and doing that, like Nora said, it's just, you come together, we want to do this, so see the woolly. We're going to have a great little walk event, have some good speakers. I really do appreciate all the time and effort to do it. The community court, Jennifer, you and everybody else in your staff are doing a great job. And that's what people don't realize, that it's not just giving people the free pass. There are things they have to do along the way to be successful. And if they aren't able to do that, then they get those charges and they go to the regular justice system. So that's what people don't realize all the time. We're doing this work, but it's just to help people to be successful in their recovery and to move forward afterwards. So I thank you for all the time and effort and everybody who's working so hard on these programs in Skagit County. Do you have the... I have not seen it. You haven't seen it.

I'm about to. Well, this is without a chance to warm up and make sure I can pronounce all the words, but we'll go ahead anyway. So... All right, whereas behavioral health is an essential part of overall health and wellness, and substance use and mental health disorders are treatable health conditions from which people can and do recover, and whereas substance use and mental health challenges affect individuals, families, workplaces, schools, and communities across every region and background, And whereas recovery from behavioral health disorders is strengthened by access to evidence-based treatment, peer support, harm reduction, stable housing, employment opportunities, family and community connection, and public policies that reduce barriers to care, And whereas Skagit County, through the North Star Collaborative and strong partnerships with health care providers, community organizations, tribal nations, first responders, schools, and other regional partners, is working to expand access to recovery-oriented services, strengthening the behavior health system, and improve outcomes for individuals and families across our community. And whereas stigma remains one of the greatest barriers preventing people from seeking help, addressing treatment, and sustaining recovery. And whereas society is stronger and healthier when people in recovery are supported by the community and people in recovery serving in every sector of society as business leaders, public servants, community leaders, and more. And whereas policymakers can support recovery by listening to people with lived experience, expanding access to care, investing in recovery support services, using recovery-friendly language to reduce stigma, and advancing policies that help people build their lives with dignity and support. And whereas Recovery Month promotes evidence-based treatment and recovery pathways and provides opportunities to celebrate people in recovery, honor those who have lost, and support families and loved ones, And whereas we reaffirm our commitment to ensuring every Skagitonian has the resources they need to recover and thrive, now, therefore, it be resolved that we, the Skagit County Board of County Commissioners, do hereby proclaim September 26th as Recovery Month in Skagit County, signed this day of September 2006, so moved.

And I will second that. It is moved and seconded to proclaim... September is recovery month in Skagit County. Is there any more discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed, motion passes. Thank you very much. We have another proclamation to do. I don't know if this group wants to leave or you want to stay. It's flood awareness week, so thank you very much for all coming in. I appreciate that. Let's go ahead and take a five-minute break, and we'll take some pictures. So with that, we're adjourned for five minutes. Thank you.

you

good morning i call this session sketchy kind of commissioners back to order it's a little after nine o'clock on september 8th 2026 we are here for a proclamation dealing with the 2026 flood awareness week julie what do you have for us

Good morning, Commissioners. Well, Flood Awareness Week this year is September 14th through the 18th. We've moved it up a bit to give us more time to be aware and prepare. Before we read today's proclamation, I want to emphasize that preparedness is a system. It takes all of us from first responders to public works, local governments, our dike and drainage districts, and most importantly, our community. For residents, preparedness starts with understanding the nuances of where you live and the risks around you. Every time it floods, the river changes. If it hasn't flooded at your home or property before, that doesn't mean that it won't flood there in the future. And while we understandably focus a great deal on the Skagit River, we also need to understand the risks associated with other rivers and tributaries throughout the county, such as the Sauk and the Samish. And we also need to be aware of the levels of water in each of our reservoirs, whether it's Judy Lake or if it's Big Lake, you just need to be aware of the waterways around you. We ask every household to be prepared to take care of themselves for up to two weeks following a disaster and to know the risks, know how to receive warnings, and to have supplies and plans that your family will need. We're also continuing to improve the information available to communities and residents. Skagit County is working with our Diken Drainage District to begin a new effort to develop community level inundation mapping. So this is not the hundred year floodplain mapping, which is regulatory. This goal in this project is really to better understand what happens at the community level, at a street level. at Swan Road, at Francis Road, what's happening at a very micro level in the community where people live. And really not just focusing on what the river gauge says, because we're used to looking at the concrete river gauge and the Mount Vernon gauge, but what we know historically happens in neighborhoods. Flood preparedness is a shared responsibility and Flood Awareness Week is an opportunity for us all to better understand our risks and to be better prepared for what comes next. Thank you.

Very good.

I've got the DEM team here today and Public Works. I mentioned this is a system we must work together for flood preparedness and flood response.

On last year, December, we had a very large event here in Skagit County. Lessons learned from your department, community members, any highlights you want to hit on that?

Yeah, sure. That was such an interesting event. because it unfolded in phases. So I think one thing the community should be aware of is we're prone to have double atmospheric rivers in Skagit County where we can have a big atmospheric river coming in that holds a lot of water and dumps it and then a couple days where there's nothing and then another one that comes in and they may hold at six hours with all of that extra precipitation coming in pushing on the dike and levee system. So just because one atmospheric river is over doesn't mean that all of the response teams go away. We've got to stay for the next one. Things we learned, and I think the community experiences this every time we put out an alert and warning, is that while cell phones, text messages, that's our best way to get a hold of people and people can register through Skagit Ready, to get additional types of information from us. Those cell phone towers bounce around. So sometimes a message goes somewhere other than we intended. And so we can't control for that. But if you sign up for Skagit Ready and opt into our communication system, then we can control. It goes right to you, right to your address, right to the cell phone that was registered. And it doesn't bounce around. We will still use the emergency alert and warnings when we need to. and those do bounce around.

And the connection that is on the website?

Correct. On Skagit County, we have our new website now. SkagitCounty.net forward slash emergency management, and you can find the Skagit Ready information to sign up there.

And the other interesting thing with the Skagit River, we have dams on the north section, but the Sauk River is not. So roughly...

60 behind the dams correct yep so rain could fall um you know in front of the dams behind the dams we can we can secure water behind the dams but a lot of waterfalls that is not um controlled by the dams

Yeah, and that was one of the things that Seattle city light relicensing we are able to secure. More capacity behind the dams starting in November compared to before was December, but they had been traditionally having that available in November anyway, so, but we have it in. writing now so that's really important and additional capacity as well we were very close to um uh full capacity in the 2021 floods so it's that extra capacity literally saves lives and those atmospheric rivers they come you know out of the pacific and coming up and if they go you know 30 miles or 100 miles south or north that makes a big difference on how much capacity and behind their dams or just the sock where there's no dams at all and so has a huge effect on us.

Absolutely, absolutely. I think that's another thing for the community to know. We prepare based on the forecasts, and the forecasts get fine-tuned and fine-tuned and fine-tuned, and it's really a matter of maybe 24 hours where you've got it kind of tuned in the best you can. But three days out, it could still be a little wobbly, and it could move a little more north or a little more south. Our job is to prepare. be prepared as soon as we can for what we see coming. And if we wait until those last 24 hours where it's a clearer forecast, we might not have the resources we need if the system changes. So we try to get ahead of things.

yeah and you mentioned the to-go bag and those kind of things have people know it is dry right now um it'd be helpful if people understood other roads to get out of where they are and so the other maybe side roads that they can go on instead of relying on the main routes because sometimes they get clogged or trees down or bridges out or something or everybody else is on them

Yes, this is a perfect time with September being prepared this month to think about where your egress and ingress roads, the roads you would travel, a secondary road. What are the special needs in your family? Do you have large animals, small animals? somebody with mobility needs, medications, even an extra pair of glasses. These are the things to think about having around, making sure that your gas tank is at least half full. And I like to have a go bag in my car, and I like to have a go bag in my house. Because I'm in many places, as a lot of people are, and if you have something in your car that can sustain you, if you can't get back home, or if you're at work when an incident happens, or if you've got something at home to be able to quickly gather your family together. Having both is important.

And you mentioned two weeks supply to take care of yourself, because if something major happens, there isn't enough government employees to be able to get what you need. Correct. You have to take care of yourself.

Correct, yes.

And that's food, water for you and your animals, what you have, and all those things.

We recommend at least a gallon a day per person is the very minimum. Three gallons is a nice buffer. And you need water to drink, water for your animals. And people often say, well, I'll just boil water. It's not always that easy to boil water, especially if you don't have access to heat. So if there are electric is down or gas lines are down, It could be problematic to heat if you don't have a third way to do that.

And you can buy a case of water relatively cheap. Yes, you can. Commissioner Browning, any other questions or thoughts?

So they're making it sound like we are just sure-fire to get another big storm this year. Is that a lot of drama, or how accurate is that?

Well, so at Flood Awareness Week next week, we will have a presentation from the National Weather Service who's going to give us the fall-winter forecast. I think it's really too early to say. We do have a strong signal for El Nino, and I have heard that we might have... more coastal flooding this year, but it really is too soon to say. We just start watching these markers now and continue to hone in on those throughout the rest of this season. In emergency management, we have at least two people on duty 24-7 who are monitoring all of these alerts and warnings as they come in. We all have set on our phones early alerts from the National Weather Service, and we have the ability to get into a government-to-government chat with the National Weather Service at any time. So they are very responsive to us if we hear or see something, even if we're just curious, and they'll get back to us right away, and that helps us start planning.

And you talked about your go bags, and I really want to emphasize the importance of medication. Older people get so dependent, and to be shut off from medication for a couple days can have really catastrophic impacts. So you just set yourself up with a week's worth that are just set aside. Most of the pharmacies will give you a three-month supply at a time, so you can just take some of that and put it in a safe place so it's always there and so that is so important we found that up at Hamilton a couple years ago and quite a few years ago and no one had their medications and it was getting really scary and some of some of the people at the church so so we can't emphasize that enough yeah and reminding people when you do set those aside um

take a masking tape or something and mark on there the expiration date and what it is because you want to be able to cycle those through. But yes, your pharmacist can usually help you come up with a good emergency plan for medications.

Thank you.

Yeah, we live in a very unique area here. It's the third largest river in the west coast united states so it has a very large volume and like you mentioned um don't just look at the the gauges because the river changes and so forth and one of the things i know they're looking at you know the qvp for second have that number instead of a 10-year flood or 25-year flood because with Climate changing, those may not mean what you expect them to mean. So that's why the cubic feet per second in the river is really important to understand how much volume is coming down. And when a certain volume level hits, then certain roads go underwater and that kind of stuff. People understand the process.

Yeah. That's a good reminder. We should do a preparedness Facebook post about that, about learning how to read those numbers and where to get the source for that.

But like I said, we live in a valley and it was formed because the river flooded and all this sediment. That's why we have relatively flat land here. That means the river flooded at one point. If it's flat and got mountains, it hasn't flooded. But down in the valley area, it has flooded at one point over the thousands of years. And so people need to realize that when they're living here and understanding what they can do to get themselves to safety.

Yes, absolutely.

Any other questions or comments?

No, thank you. I feel real protected. This is a really good crew you pulled together. This is good.

They aren't able to protect you. They're able to help you if something happens. They feel protected. They have the training. Some things just happen.

We can help you with your go bag.

you look at the news the last uh couple weeks there's been some huge huge events across the world and it's uh people don't understand how much forced water does have if large things happen so it's heartbreaking yeah absolutely absolutely so thank you very much for coming in proclamation i'll read the proclamation this time it's just a lot shorter than that Skagit County Proclamation, 2026 Flood Awareness Week. Whereas flooding has been a serious concern to the community of Skagit County since the late 1800s. And whereas the threat of extreme flooding generally occurs in the Skagit Valley between the months of October and March. And whereas, due to this concern, measures have been taken throughout the years to reduce the risk of flood damage in the valley. And whereas, As a part of this preventative measures, Skagit County Public Works and Department of Emergency Management holds flood awareness weeks each year to assist and implement ongoing flood preparedness. And whereas the Board of Skagit County Commissioners feels it is prudent to be continuously aware of and plan for the threat of flooding so the public may be informed of and protected in the event of a flood. Now therefore, it may resolve that it is hereby ordered the Board of Skagit County Commissioners declares September 14th through 18th, 2026 as flood awareness week. And I so move.

I second.

So move to second to proclaim september 14th through 18th 2026 is flood awareness week any more discussion all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed motion passes thank you very much thank you commissioners and once again commissioner burns is gone today so he will not he's not here Anything else to come before us this time? So with that, we're gonna adjourn till 9.30 when we have public works, the public hearing. With that, we adjourn. Thank you very much.

The county has reported, as have other places, but the county has reported that the rates between 24 and 25 went up a consistent 30%. In 25 to 26, they went up another 30%.

good morning I call this session sketch County Commissioners to order it's a little after 9 30 on September 8th 2026 we are here for a public hearing um dealing with uh considerations for us Lake Management District Marie Lambert our assistant director

Good morning, commissioners and members of the public. I'm Marie Lambert, the assistant public works director and controller. And natural resources division manager Jen Johnson and our natural resources coordinator, Evan Emmerich, are here to review the proposed annual special assessment for Lake Management District number four for Clear Lake and Beaver Lake before you open the public hearing today. I'll turn it over to Jen.

Good morning, commissioners, members of the public. As Marie said, I'm Jen Johnson. I manage the Natural Resources Division here at Skagit County. And we just have a few slides going over this potential reformation of one of our four lake management districts. This is Clear and Beaver Lakes. We also today, depending on how the discussion goes, have a potential resolution for consideration to approve these changes. And so I'll just dive right in. This first slide is just showing that timeline we've been going through this year and where we are now. So we've already had quite a few chances for outreach to the public. We had our first public hearing. We sent ballots to all residents. We received eight this round, seven in favor, one against, and those ballots are simple yes or nos for reformation. And right now we have gone through our appeal period, which just wrapped up, and we are on our final step of our second public hearing, like I mentioned, with that possible action to adopt the resolution. These changes, if approved, would go into effect starting January 1st of 2027. Here are the proposed changes to our special assessment rate structure. As I mentioned, this was included at the first public hearing as well as on the ballots sent to residents. What you see here is the breakdown of the land use types. the number of units per type and then that base rate. So you can see in the orange column, that's our current rate we have established for this Lake Management District. What we are proposing and what we received support for through those ballots is for the next 10 years having a slight increase to keep up with increases to treatment. So that was the main initiator for reforming this district early is the rates have gone up for treatments of lakes and of these noxious aquatic weeds. And so what we're doing here and what we heard from the public is just have a small increase over time to help support and keep up with those changes. And so you can see that 10 year time frame here laid out, like I said, by land use type. And with that, I will pass it over to Evan. Marie mentioned our Noxious Week coordinator who also oversees our lake management districts. Just to speak to details on how these assessments are then utilized for our lake treatments.

Good morning, commissioners, members of the public. As Jen mentioned, I am Evan Emrick. I'm the noxious weed coordinator for Skagit County, and I also oversee our four lake management districts as well. So with lake management, District 4, Clear, and Beaver Lakes, as Jen kind of pointed out, we've been sort of running into simply a lack of funds for the amount of treatments that we need to do out there. Some of the activities that go along with our contractors include surveys and mappings, as you can see in the top right there. This is essentially using a biosurvey type data where we are able to look through the water and then be able to see the amount of vegetation that is through the water column. We use this data yearly just for data collection, for planning for future treatments, and so that we can not just see, of course, what's above the surface for vegetation issues, but below as well. There's also a number of permits and publications like public notifications that we need to go about when we do these treatments each year. Some of these treatments for notifications would overlap with my noxious weed type work, treating mostly fragrant water lilies, which are a class seaweed. here in Skagit County, as well as a Eurasian watermilk oil, which is B. Both of these noxious weeds are non-selected, meaning they are not required for control, but of course have a lot of nuisance problems when it becomes an issue in our lakes. Some more of the things that we need for activities. We need to further our monitoring for water quality. We've been having some miscellaneous issues with algae in some of the other local lakes around Skagit County. So we want to kind of make sure as best as possible if this does happen in Clear Lake, we have a sort of battle ready plan of what we need to do with that. We also want to continue our community and education outreach as well, including in these annual reports that our contractors give to us. And then we're able to relay to the public in order to get feedback on what we would like to do with the lakes moving forward. Included in our newsletters as well. So a couple of things that some of this. further assessment might help us with and what we're looking to do as suggested by contractors historically would be to include treatments in the early spring to treat seedlings instead of only doing one treatment a year on fully mature plants and only once during the midsummer. Considerations of mechanical harvesting for some of the more dense shoreline areas that we have, particularly near the boat launches as well. And expand our herbicide swaths near these boat launches to ensure that there is better access to the lakes as well. So with that, I am open for questions if any members of the public or commissioners have any for me.

Commissioner Browning, any questions?

One of the discussions that constantly comes up is, is it fair to just put all of the cost of this on the businesses that are right up against the lake? Because the hillside behind Clear Lake definitely adds chemicals, things like that. The hillside on the other side, they're all coming down and impacting it. Has there been discussion of doing a lesser amount but still taking into consideration the other properties that have an impact on the health of the lake?

Yeah, so there has been discussions on this with not just Lake Management District 4 but other of our lake management districts as well. One of the hurdles that we sort of run into with this, of course, when you expand the area of which that you want to do an assessment on is this is a voted formation. So folks would be able to vote whether or not they are essentially doing a self-tax in that way. Of course, depending on lake management districts, that can look differently here, there, and what water bodies you would want to include would go into your reformation plan as well. This reformation plan just goes over the properties that are being currently assessed in Lake Management District 4.

and are there most of it's just swimming in that lake there's very little boat activity and so it's anyway so the the milfoil is more about just irritating when you're swimming but not necessarily the standard one where it messes up with props and things like that but

Sure. And that would be messing with boat props might be more of a fragrant water lily issue, as well as the fragrant water lilies ending up in people's shorelines and not getting treated properly is another issue we're running into as well. We want to make sure we have enough funds to actually be able to do the work that is being proposed instead of only having so many funds to do some of the treatment each year. this is why we're looking at a full instead and it's the first time in quite a while so it's not an excessive increase it's because the increase it in how many years so this was end of 2017 was the last time we did this um there was during these meetings that we have annually there was outcry to maybe look at this to do it further as well if we wanted to do a reassessment we can do them early much like we're pushing to do this one as well normally they're set for 10 years This time we're kind of setting it up so that there is an increase annually so that we don't end up in the same boat again to be behind. That makes sense. Yeah, good. Okay. Thank you.

yeah thank you very much for the presentation um as you mentioned the rcw allows a 10-year time period on this but you can go back and start over yeah redo it yeah you could start over on here too if it was needed for that and one of the issues we're coming up with is the regulations and what chemicals are available has changed over the years can you go in that a little bit

Yeah, so not only is, you know, some of the chemicals become more restricted, more expensive, but, you know, Washington State sometimes has the ability to sell certain herbicides in our state and then redacts them later, and then they become no longer able to sell. Of course, some of the biggest costs that goes into kind of doing any lake work tends to be just, like, man hours of doing that, labor hours as well. But we do still have some really good options for treating aquatic weeds in our state as well. Triclopyr 3 has kind of been a go-to for fragrant water lilies around, as well as some of the other aquatic vegetation we have. One of the things that Our contractors would like to do, of course, further and have suggested doing for next treatment should we ever have a larger assessment would be to include that early spring treatment, which would be a different herbicide that's more aimed at plants that are getting better in their seedling phase that are ready to sprout up. So kind of coming at it with 2 pronged attack instead of just the 1 summer application.

And that's not available if you don't have the funds to do it. Correct. I know from agriculture standpoint, it's always better to treat the weeds when they're young and small. They're more vulnerable to... Sure.

And of course, it's different for each one. We have 180 some odd noxious weeds here in Skagit that have different requirements and control efforts that work better.

I was surprised that only eight ballots... Am I reading this correctly? There's... Almost 45 different property owners.

Yeah, 48 different property owners. We received eight. When we initially did this reformation effort last year, I believe I received around nine or 10 ballots. So whether that's just the case of that's how our normal amounts for this lake were low, I can't say, but... um yeah just remind me again how those ballots are sent out or how that is done sure so i actually have an example ballot um that this was just a copy of what is exactly sent out to landowners um and anyway it's real free to take a look at this if they want to but um What's included in that, of course, is the ballot. The ballots are color-coded based on the different property usage they might have under.

Types of property they have.

Yes. A security envelope. There are ballot instructions as well as the resolution for folks to go through as well. As part of the RCW, there's also requirements for it to be notarized as well by the landowner as well as have the assessment number that they would be paying on it as well. Okay.

So the landowner has to go to a notary to get it?

Sorry, just signature, just a signature on it from them.

They have to go to a notary to get their signature on the ballot?

There's a place for the landowner to sign on the secrecy envelope. So they don't need to, they can just sign it as the landowner.

Yeah, they don't have to go to a notary. Correct. So I'm getting it, it's mailed to their kitchen table. Yep. It's at their kitchen table. They just have to fill it out and put it back in the mail. Correct. And you come back and you count them and so forth.

i'm just the turnout seemed very low to me so yeah but that's generally what you've been seeing yeah that's that's what and i took over this uh in 2020 2025 early 2025 so those are the only two i have seen um so yeah that would be the normal for me okay any other questions that's it we have several that signed up for

public comment on this hearing. So this is a public hearing, so we will accept the names here.

Stan Buchanan, if you'd like to step up and put your feet on the yellow footprints and talk into the microphones.

Right here.

Thanks, Stan.

There's footprints on the ground there, and you stand on the footprints, and the mics are all set, so you just have to talk.

Okay. Okay, I lived just east of the boat launch. First dock east. Well, to start with, there wasn't any work done there. It never killed a single plant, whatever they did. Not one. So I talked to my neighbor. He says, well, I didn't kill any of mine either. I talked to Joel, which is my son here. Didn't kill any of his either. So there's something wrong with the system. And I came in and talked to Avon about it, and I brought some pictures. And he said he didn't even particularly want to see them because he says they wouldn't hold up in court anyway because he said they could have been taken last year. Or I said, well, why don't you come out and take a look yourself? I just took them the day before yesterday. Not our business. I think that's kind of... unfair to the we've got no oversight in this thing at all and this isn't the first year they didn't have me they didn't do anything last year either and the next thing is it's always done too late the season is half over before they even do the job and i don't understand why only eight people would have voted that's beyond me um And I just heard a little bit through the grapevine that actually some people didn't even get charged. Now, I don't know. That's just a hearsay so far, but I would like to look into it. But I'm not satisfied with the way this has gone. I complained last year, too. I'm the one who voted no because I didn't see any results. As far as upping the fee, it's doubled. It's not just a little bit, they doubled it. And how do we know we're gonna get anything next year? They could have been just spraying water around out there as far as I know. And what do they spray anyway? Are they spraying all of the lake or are they just spraying in front of each dock? Because there's some docks, there's no water lilies ever grow there because it's too deep or it's just in the environment of it. And other docks, it looks like they just, the weeds love it, I guess. But there's no spent spray in all of the lake when only a few people want it. Some people don't even want their lake sprayed. They want to leave it just like it is. And I wouldn't mind the spraying around the docks, but it's no good the way it is. Because that does not work and it hasn't worked for years. I've been there eight years.

Thank you very much, that's three minutes.

Next is Joel Buchanan.

I'm Joel Buchanan and I want to echo everything that my dad said. I want to attest that the work that's been done on the lake was not effective around my portion, my property. And then I also want to address a couple of things like Commissioner Browning said. The propellers are fairly important. a boating lake and so it's not just swimming around the uh the edges and the docks however the docks are the most important because that's how we all access the lake is from our own docks and uh my feeling along with most of the other property owners on the lake is the boat launch is the least important part of the lake management. We're kind of proud of being a private lake. We kind of like having not the best boat launch because then other people from other lakes don't come there and it stays kind of a private lake that way. The thing about the fees, My dad said that it's going up quite a bit and it is. And if it does continue to raise in the price, I don't know that it's worth it unless we get a better end result for us to be assessed at the end of the 10 years, close to $500 a piece every year. And then also, I appreciate our coordinator Evan showing up, but we would like to know who's kind of in charge of the whole thing and what our point person is. If not Evan, is there anybody on the lake itself that is in charge of putting a committee together as property owners? Because we're actually not really connected with him. In fact, I had to look it up to find out who our coordinator is and I'm glad you're on there. I'm not sure what your position is. I think you're more of a technical advisor, is that correct?

Supervisor.

Supervisor of him. Okay, so you're really in charge. Okay. And then who is your point person on the lake itself when you have questions about what's going on on Clear Lake? Do you reach out to the property owners personally? yeah i if i'm going to talk i just need to come to the mic okay okay all right and that's all i've got to say for now great thank you thank you reserve to say some more if i can that'd be good yeah

Yeah, of course. Yes. So how our lake management districts work. So, like I said, we do a four and we hold annual meetings at the beginning of each year, either January, February, depending on time. And so with those roles that we get a property owners, we send out communication. to all property owners of when that annual meeting is going to be held. It's usually Evan's contact information on those. I will say in recent years, we get great turnout from some of our LMDs. Big Lake, we usually get 70 people, I think, at this last annual meeting. Lake Campbell and Erie, we get about 40 or 50. For LMDs two and four, we get a little lower turnout, but we do have those annual meetings every year, and that's where we sit down with the residents. We go over the annual report from the previous year of what treatments were done, when they were done, what survey work was done, what post-survey work was done, and then we listen to the community on what worked, what didn't work, and our plans for next year before then we go out to bid for a new contractor. In recent years, our contractor has been for two years. So that's why last year and this year was the same company. This coming spring after that meeting, and we hear from the residents, we'll go out for another two-year contract. And so we do a public process for bidding. Whatever contractors are able to put in those bids, we then send those back out to whoever attended the meeting to give feedback on which ones they would prefer to hire. And then Evan and I go through the contracting process.

I think those were the questions. But it is a contract with the purveyor to do the work. And this is what they're, to spray whatever they're saying. I mean, it says in the contract what they're going to do.

Correct. Yep. And in the contract, it has that layout that I mentioned of they must post to the public. They must apply these. They must get these permits from the state. They must spray x amount of times on these locations based on the survey work. And then again, they must do that post-treatment survey and a final report for the community.

but you have been the supervisor for a few years now.

Almost four. Almost four years, yeah.

Okay, thank you. Just from my background, we're getting a whole lot better communication than we used to, but it is your right to ask for that better communication, so absolutely. Denver, do you want to speak? Denver Fox?

My name is Denver Fox. I live on the south end of the lake. And yeah, I guess I would pretty much echo their entire sentiment as far as the fees. Yeah, it's being posed as this 5% increase, but it's actually far more than that initially, and then it's a 5%. So it's, yeah, a little false advertising as far as how that goes. Anybody reading the numbers can clearly see that. And yeah, the job, I would be very curious as far as oversight, as far as how the job is actually being managed after the fact. the job is clearly not getting done. And so I don't know where the boots on the ground are as far as who's checking out the job of this third party entity. I know if I was hired to do a job, it would be inspected and made sure that it was done right. And I feel like that's a completely fair ask, especially with the rates going up. It just does not seem like we're getting anything what we're paying into. It's, yeah, it's hard for me as far as increasing the rates when the job doesn't seem to be getting done to begin with. The third point, excuse me, would be the communication. I've only lived there for, I've owned the property for three years now and I've only lived there for one. So I don't have a lot of background. I will say I have not gotten any of these notifications nor have I gotten any ballots. So I am one that... did not vote. However, I also did not even know that there was a vote. Now, the first year I did, and I did vote. But yeah, I have not been privy to any of these other votes. And maybe that's an individual issue, but I know none of my neighbors have been getting the notifications either. I did not get a notification for this meeting. The only reason I'm here is because Stan actually called me up and asked if I was coming to it. So I don't know what that overall communication looks like or what it looks like in your guys' other districts, if it's the same type of communication. But if there's any way of getting an email list, obviously the ballots would have to be a physical ballot. But sending out an email notification, phone call, something as far as letting people know what is going on, that there's meetings, and that there's a vote to be had would be, yeah, ask of mine. But that's all I've got.

Thank you. Is there anybody online who'd like to comment? Anybody online who'd like to comment? You want to close the public hearing?

Certainly would. I can move your motion to close the public hearing.

And I will second that. So moved and seconded to close the public hearings setting the rates for the Lake Management District number four. Any more discussion on that? Just one thing. I think definitely communications could be better. The email list. I mean, technology is much better than it used to be 15, 20 years ago. So we ought to do a better job getting that communications out there. And it's easy once you get a list to have that available. I don't know if you want to comment on that at all, Jim.

Yeah, I can just explain. I think a part of it, emails obviously we don't get. So just the process itself of how we get those addresses and how ballots are sent out. So we work with the assessor's office who gives us that role. Sounds like there might be an error there, so we can definitely talk to that office. And we got, last year when we went through this, we got a couple people saying, I don't live on the lake, I don't know why I got this, and vice versa. So there's always a little bit of cleanup and happy to do that. But that's the role we send it to is through that assessor's office, and that's the 48 parcels you see. For emails, obviously, we don't have that internally, so it's all just been word of mouth. I think that's why Big Lake and Lake Campbell is, we have people who are really interested, they reach out and then they share it with their 50 neighbors who we don't have their email addresses for. And so that's something I would love to get as many email addresses as we can on our list serves that we that i've been builds and manages and so every time he gets someone who emails us he adds them to that so they get that annual meeting invite and that's something yes we can always improve upon and as much as you all talk to each other that's the best way to do it thank you any more discussion on closing the public hearing all those in favor signify say aye aye i suppose

This is just closing the public hearing is what it was, so we haven't voted on any motion or anything. Commissioner Browning, any thoughts, any questions?

just that i've been i've been a big lake for 25 years and this it is so much better now that it used to be but it really is torturous to get people involved and so this really is something that combination of assessors but then making sure the audit because the auditor sends out the so that that connection has to be made solid that that the assessor clearly identifies all of the lots that are on the lake and then gives this to the auditor and the auditor gets those ballots out so we've got some work to do and because it really does have everybody has to have a voice in this because it really does matter and yes there there are years sometimes when the the um water lilies just don't seem to quite go away the way they have in the past some people would like to see the water lilies there to get more fish but then that's that's another thing but still evan's been really easy to work with and so our our system right now are the people involved are the best we've had in a long time but it's also yours to hold us and them accountable. But getting some of your neighbors involved in this, making sure they realize that they have a voice and need to share that voice is really important.

Just to clarify for myself, we have to, if we're going to change that, we have to vote by November or when do we have to vote?

October 31st to go into effect for 2027.

to get it on the new assessment has to be october 31st um thank you very much for that i would like to um postpone our vote until later after we get some of these issues help then we can deal with them one of our uh consent agendas is my thought and i would like that as well the middle of october or so forth is what i would suggest yeah

so you want a motion i make a motion that we with that we hold this vote until middle october and we we can put it on consent agenda after we get some some confirmation that we've done some of the processes to make sure people are adequately notified give you all a chance to speak to us and make sure we can address everything that concerns you

i will second that move in seconds that we will hold the vote on our consent agenda in the middle of october sometime after we've dealt with some of these issues any more discussion on that all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed motion passes thank you very much thank you commissioners thank you anything else to come for us at this time so with that we're adjourned thank you yeah thanks

Mr. Burns, do you have any you want to talk about? I've got a few here. Let's look at number 10 under Parks and Rec. This contract for Hilt Creek Park, I should say it is for Hilt Creek Park, and will include construction of a gravel... Reiterate what Michael Brown said about just being here and...

Good morning. I call this session of Skagit County Commissioners back to order. It is 11 o'clock on September 8th, 2026. We are here for our consent agenda. Commissioner Burns is gone today. So Commissioner Browning, do you have anything?

To talk about? I do. Number four, getting an interlocal agreement with the King County Medical Examiner's Office for provision of autopsy and forensic pathology. Many of you know that our coroner is leaving and going to Idaho. And in the meantime, the people who are filling in or potentially filling in are not coroners for that matter, we know. So it's a necessary function for doing any real involved evaluation of a human, of a death's body that needs to be addressed. Also, the facilities management, we are finally, finally, I should actually leave this one for you, but because it's been even more part of this, but still, I'll jump out, steal it. We're getting a complete repair of the sewer system outlined in the building documents for the Skagit County Community Justice Center. For many of you who've been around to listen to this, the building kind of settled a bit, and it created a... A non-gravitational.

The men's restroom for the officers. Yeah. The sewer pipe wasn't draining properly, so they've got to redo it. It was draining is the wrong direction.

So, finally, in the public works, we have a contract with the Morgan tree works for the abandoned railroad bridge debris removal project. This has been taken off the books last 2 times in a row. But finally, it's on and that's just where we have a lot of debris behind the bridges and we've got potentially. A flood season. In fact, flood season awareness starts next week. So we're in preparation for year 2027 and late 2026 floods. And we can't have that debris piled up in our dock.

And that number 12, they revised the contract. And so it was 207,500, but the corrected number is just 207,000. So it's an updated number. So the number, correct number is 207,000 to remove. Remove and put down river, the logs that are built up on the railroad bridge next to Highway 9 up there. so they can't take them out they just break them loose they have to they can't remove them they can break them loose and shove them downstream so they have to go downstream and so all the other bridges along the way potentially could get another log that was my thought yep but that's the the rules we have to do when we deal with dealing with those things um One thing, number three, is agreement with our economic development funding model with Cedoli for supporting their John Jones, John Liner Railroad Crossing project. That was one of our .09 economic development funding projects. We're going to compensate them for roughly $750,000 to help with that project to really help the traffic around Cedar Woolley to be able to go farther north to get around some of the traffic issues we're getting in Cedar Woolley. Also number seven and eight with the Office of Juvenile Court in a local cooperative agreement with Cedar Woolley and also with La Conner School District to help fund their BECA case manager position and deal with truancy petitions and those issues with students in those two school districts. Number 11 is a agreement, personal service agreement with Nine Line Veterans Services to provide case management and emergency financial assistance for Skagit County veterans. This amendment increases case management from one to one and a half FTEs, adjusting hours per week to work on the site to perform other responsibilities in just the budget categories. So those are good things going on there with our veterans in our community. really appreciate chris's work to make sure a lot of stuff happens that our vet connects and that's all i have tom did you come in to talk about something we talked already a little bit of number 12 we're reducing that from 207 to 275 to 207 000 so

All right, Tom Weller, county engineer. Just wanted to be here in case you had any questions in regards to the Morgan Tree Works contract in the background and reasoning for that, so.

We did talk about they release them and they go down and get stuck on another. Is there any obligation to kind of follow them down so they get past all the bridges?

Well, the hope is they get hung up in places before they get to other people's bridges. But we do our best to coordinate and let our downstream partners know that, hey, we're releasing the logs. And then we just have to see what nature has in store for us.

But that's part of the process. We can't remove them. We have to release them to let them float downstream.

Excellent question. Yes, certainly the case that we could just drag them out and use them other places, but now we are legally bound to simply release them downstream.

Yep. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments on our consent agenda?

Well, number 15 is one that matters to me just because we have a personal service agreement with the Public Safety Psychological Services to provide psychological exams for the potential existing employees for the Skagit County Sheriff's Office. I just hope everybody realizes how much time and effort we put into making sure that they are perfectly designed to be part of our sheriff's team. And we're very proud of our sheriff's department, the way they handle tough situations. And it's partly because of the testing that we put them through to make sure that they are the right person for Skagit County Sheriff's Department.

Absolutely. And we definitely need to support all those individuals that put that uniform on every day to go to work. And I really appreciate what all they do. So do you have a motion?

With that, I'd love to make a motion to approve the consent agenda of items 1 through 16, including all items, including ratification vouchers and warrants for Tuesday, September 8, 2026.

And I will second that. It is moved and seconded to approve the consent agenda items 1 through 16, including all items requiring ratification, vouchers, and warrants for Tuesday, September 8, 2026. Any more discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you very much. Anything else coming for us at this time?

That's everything until 1130.

So with that, we will be back in session at 11.30 with our county commissioners, public comment, county and individual success stories, and miscellaneous announcements. With that, we adjourn until 11.30. Thank you. know as ladies and gentlemen and not whining aggravating people anyway good luck guys thank you thank you just to correct on the punch card turning in it's a ride for ride so if it was good for a driver and car the new system would be driver and car there's no dollar change it's the same thing it just it's on the e-ticketing instead of a paper so it's the same value there's no Anybody else like to comment? So we have on here a potential executive session. Do we have amount of time that we wanna do for that? good morning like all those sessions cutting commissioners back to order it's 11 30 on september 8th 2026 commissioner burns is gone today so we are here for our county commissioners public comment counting the success stories and miscellaneous announcements from the public do we have any individuals like to comment Once again, you have three minutes. The buzzer will do it two minutes, and you can drop your public comments and everything when you're done.

Oh, sure. I'm honestly not a huge fan of talking, so I just came today. My name is Amanda Toscano. I'm a local realtor. I have regular issues with the planning department. I sent you guys an email about the planning department oversight two years ago and no one ever responded. So I'm here today to talk about Hackett VEPA, or Sackett, pardon me, VEPA determinations for wetland definitions. I would like i have talked to the wetlands people specifically leo forbes directly about this and she's disregarded the fact that the laws have changed and um properties all over the county are being determined wetlands when they're they don't meet the definition so i printed it out for you so you could read it i also have Your no, you can't build it if your house burned down in a floodway. I rewrote the codes for you just based on the codes that are already there that gives you a yes instead of a no. We're in a unique situation where this was all riverbed once. So if you really want to call it a wetland, you can. And I would like to see more support for our citizens and less for regulatory bodies.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Anybody else?

Good morning. Ken Dunning, Mount Vernon. Elka can't be here today. She has done a remarkable job of getting into the reality of best facilities and the danger they hold. On a national level, Erin Brockovich is doing the same regarding data centers. I tend to look around for patterns and there is one pattern which jumps out at a person when looking at what is happening in the U.S. That is a pattern of callous exploitation of our natural resources and of the trust that people are taught in schools to place in our government, even to the extent of infusing our food, water, soil, and air with toxic substances. The pattern is happening concurrently with the increasing level of surveillance and control that is being foisted upon us. Flock cameras, digital currency, electronic monitoring over phones, television, computers, cars, buying habits, it is not being done innocently nor benevolently. It is a calculated tightening of controls by those who wield them. It would not be a jump in logic to say that we the people are evidently seen more like into cattle than human beings by those behind these actions. And there is a tech industry which is profiting mightily from this whole misbegotten adventure. Glenwood tried red light cameras downtown and had to remove them because people were avoiding the area. Businesses suffered. While the traffic laws are of course essential, we humans are not designed to adhere to the rigid parameters which electronic surveillance devices impose. As individuals and as a society, we do not need that additional anxiety. I get notices online asking if I support social security, affordable healthcare, or removing toxic additives to food and water. Questions which anyone not cognitively impaired should already know the answer to. That includes our federal and state legislators. You might as well be asking if I support life and health. I have looked into the reality of the toxins in our food and water. For me, it is a matter of life. Many people seem to have no idea how the minuscule amounts of toxic additives in our food and beverages bioaccumulate to become the widespread sources of diminished health and the rising prevalence of diseases, including cancers. Does that mean many people are stupid? I don't think so. I think most people are hardworking, trying to raise a family, have a life, and are counting on the people who they have elected or fund to staff the offices and agencies which they have been told are for public service and protection, counting on them to do their jobs. Maybe a lot of people are naive, but the corruption, the perversion, and dereliction of duty, which is so widespread in national and state government, is not something inherent to government. It's all about people and their level of diligence, honor, and integrity.

Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else?

Hi, I'm Laura Stansbury Weiss, and I'm from Mount Vernon. And I guess I'm going to get up here and thank you guys for, again, for putting the stay on the AI. centers and also to basically thank you guys for entertaining my little informational packets that I keep bringing to you. I really appreciate your attention and the gravity that you seem to view my little information packets with. I really appreciate the fact that you give this time to the people of Skagit County to talk to you and tell you about their concerns. I've lived in other places where we have not had that opportunity and it really was terrible because a lot of things happened and they said, well, you didn't say anything. And well, people did, but writing letters sometimes doesn't work as well as having a video that other people can see posted online. And I want to thank you for that.

Thank you. Thank you.

morning rebecca peck from bow at the last public comment period on 8 25 four men who have spent decades working on large-scale construction projects here in skagit county gave public comments about issues in the planning department and someone just did this morning One of the contractors named a few planning department employees by name. In direct contrast to when Anthony Romano does it, no point of order was called by any of the commissioners. It wasn't called this morning either. I'm glad that you did not violate his rights like you continue to do each time you stopped Anthony Romano from saying any county employee's name. After the meeting adjourned, everyone left except for the four construction bosses, while all three commissioners sat in their seats. So did I, because When a quorum of commissioners meets with any citizen to discuss county business, it is officially a public meeting. A 30-minute conversation of what those four men thought the commissioner should do to fix long permitting times included specific personnel changes, and even an offer to pay for staff overtime. It sure must be nice to have a private public meeting with the commissioners not recorded and staff all gone. Speaking of staff, I wonder what message they get when they see this type of breach of protocol. Does it put them in a hard position ethically? Regarding Anthony Romano's outburst on 8-11-26 when he claimed Commissioner Browning was smirking at him, he was 100% correct. Commissioner Browning has a history of doing just that to Anthony. In fact, last year I spoke privately with Commissioner Browning about the fact that he glares, smirks, grins, et cetera, at Anthony while Anthony is sitting. I did so because I believe it is unprofessional and could be a safety issue. Commissioner Browning admitted to me that he does this and he said he did so in hopes that Anthony would make himself look like an idiot. I told Commissioner Browning that he had better professional skills to use instead and if anything bad was to happen, I'd be testifying that Commissioner Browning antagonizes Anthony. Imagine having your basic rights violated when you mention an employee's name and then having the commissioner that does that smirk at you. I will call it out each and every time, one of you or all of you, and I wish Commissioner Burns was here. uh when you violate citizens rights and i should not have to be the one who calls that out you need to hold each other accountable if you just sit there while another commissioner is professionally or legally out of bounds then you are condoning bad behaviors or a rights violation and are complicit every skagitonian deserves respectful and lawful treatment from our commissioners us peons as well as the movers and shakers thank you

Thank you. Anybody else? Next.

Yeah, hi, I'm Anthony Romano. How are you? How are you doing today, Commissioner? Hope you're doing really good. Anyway, I've got the bad news right here. Just got in my mail. Your Skagit County arbitrator, Ms. Olds, that worked for Sodder's group, is doing some nasty things. Speaking of nasty things, you know, like being taken to the hospital after my bail was posted and my friend's sitting out in the hallway waiting to pick me up and they decide to all of a sudden give me an evaluation and four guys come in and grab me and two other guys stab me in the legs with some drugs and tie me to a gurney bed when I wake up and there's a catheter up my dick. Okay? You ain't getting away with it. There is no way in hell. I will never, ever give up. Ever. I want to know who ordered that. Who ordered that? I want to know. There's all kinds of questions. John Rose. I want to know the five water reviews. Right here, he did. Right here. In Bert Hoff's name. These are all my neighbors that are attacking me and the cops attacking me with the neighbors. The sheriffs. Right here. Who owned it? Bert Hoff. Me. My lot. All the people that are attacking me. with the sheriffs. And then the Ford's son, who's the fire chief commissioner that I just found out, who's hand-in-hand with the cops, no wonder why the cops are harassing me and following me and around and stalking me and everything else. And I've got all the paperwork to prove that my place was a homestead and that Danny Hagan, which I got him on voice recording, and I told him I was recording, so it's legal. I asked him what he did with my homestead and heritage rights papers that I gave him. He said he recycled them, which is illegal. Two, I can prove and show beyond a reasonable doubt that the auditors have been switching numbers up because there was a legal document done at Chicago Title. 763-596 is the faulty number that they put on there. The number should have been 763-556, which is the development rights, which the heritage rights have, which is the homestead rights, and the whole damn area, because F. Schuller, SNL Logging, owned the whole freaking area. I intend today to go up and get my water. These orders, I am not, because it's not in the county's jurisdiction anymore because there's several states involved, several Department of Ecology, and none of these orders are relevant, like I've been saying, any of these. The judges are dirty. I can prove that, corrupt the blue sticky note to the recorder, to the recorder, to the judge, and then all three of them look at me and I lose the case against Mr. Code Enforcement Tom Wenzel, who's been in hot water already, and Perkins been in hot water, all of them, and you, and you. So, good luck. And cease and desist.

Thank you.

That's right. Here, you want me to open this letter for you, see what kind of bad news it is?

Anybody else want to comment today from your arbitrator? Is there gonna be online? Gonna be online like to comment. Anybody online? OK, Commissioner Browning everything this week.

No, I took last week off.

Okay, thank you. This last Friday I was down in Olympia with the Riparian Task Force, which is a governor's appointed task force, about 45, 50 different people. One of the things the ag groups and the tribes have agreed to work together to figure out how we can retain the riparian areas that are out there and not lose any more. So that was, it had taken quite a while to get there. So that was the good news. We had a meeting with our elected officials last week talking about the budget process and where we're gonna start here in the next couple of weeks. PUD had a water transfer meeting. The PUD has more water rights than they're currently using, and the last three years they've had a temporary program because they're allowed to take water out for the Judy Reservoir, which is up at the pipeline just a little bit east of Cedar Woolley. And they are allowed, because that's their water right, is that point of withdrawal, they've been allowing the transfer to a couple different ag producers and the drainage and irrigation districts on Fur Island and on the La Conner area. But to have electronic access cell phone data collecting on the pumps that are pumping out of the river so the water pd isn't using is going down the river and the agriculture is able to use it down there and they were explaining what they're doing and how they're looking at that system and how what the future is for that agriculture like a more longer term currently it's just been a one year by year at least agreement agriculture county would like to have a longer term lease on that And then last week also the Skagit River System Cooperative had a public meeting about flooding, flood inundation maps at the Mount Vernon Commons, talking about they had a bunch of different maps there, what a 10-year flood event or 25 or 50-year or 80-year flood event. It was very interesting, a lot of information there. What the Army Corps has been mapping the data information and now that the Skagit River System Cooperative has made that information available, the county's not gonna be able to go back and look at that data and understand what went into the model when they came up with those different data points. But it was very important that people understand that we live in the Delta area here and the river comes through and we potentially have floods. And this helps people understand those issues coming forward. That's about all I have. Like I said before, Commissioner Burns is gone. So with that, if nothing else, we're adjourned. Thank you very much.