Board of County Commissioners - workshop

IN PROGRESS.

GOOD MORNING. WELCOME TO THE THURSTON COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA SETTING WORK SESSION FOR TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2026. IT IS 9.05 A.M. MY NAME IS TY MENSER, CHAIR OF THE BOARD. TO MY FAR LEFT IS COUNTY MANAGER LEONARD HERNANDEZ. ASSISTANT COUNTY MANAGER JENNIFER WALKER, JOSH CUMMINGS, CLERK OF THE BOARD AMY DAVIS, COMMISSIONERS MEJIA, GRANT, FORNIER AND KLAUS ARE PARTICIPATING VIRTUALLY. We are live streaming to the YouTube channel and written public comment may be received up to two hours in advance of the meeting and distributed to the board. Action may be taken at this meeting. Okay, so first up is to review, first review of next week's business agenda for the August 5th, 2026 commissioners meeting. And we are going to take one item out of order per the clerk's heads up to me, which is item seven. If we can look at that one first. It's on the consent. We have a number of officials from the Thurston County Sheriff's Office here, and we have a special guest that we want to respect that guest's time. And so we're going to look at item seven, transfer of retired canine Manny to Deputy Van Diver.

Manny, you want to come on up?

Well, good morning, board. And so this is... This is K-9 Manny. He is retiring, and this is effectively just to transfer ownership to Deputy Vannevar so that Manny can live with Dad full-time. All right. That's as simple as it is for him, so I don't know what other explanation.

Any questions or... COMMENTS FROM THE BOARD? OKAY. I WANT TO TAKE A QUICK CAMP HEAD THROUGH THAT, OF COURSE.

IS MANNY GOING TO GET PLAY TIME EVERY DAY A FEW TIMES?

OH, YES. HE'S GOING TO CHASE CATS AND PLAY WITH THE SISTERS.

SO IS MANNY HERE FOR HIS APPEARANCE? HE WON'T BE THERE NEXT WEEK OR HE WILL BE?

He will not be here next week. This is his official appearance.

Okay, then I want to thank you for your service, Manny. I appreciate you guys bringing him in. Bye. Thank you so much.

Oh my gosh, I'm on my way. Don't leave. I know, I'm so sad I'm not there. I'm like, oh, I want to see this dog. Is there going to be a new one coming on? That's my question.

Yes, likely next January.

Awesome. Okay, very good. So headed back to the top of the agenda. We have a pledge of allegiance to be led by district 2 commissioner, which would be commissioner grant.

Real quick, I am going to be virtual. Hold on. I'm just. Yeah. Yeah, I have to be at the Washington Commissioner's Insurance Fund in-person meeting that day, and so I will be virtual. And so I don't know if we want to have someone else do it, or if you want me to do it virtually, I can do that.

Yeah, we can just go to the next.

Yeah, just flip it through. No problem. Yep, Amy will handle that. Land acknowledgement, approval of agenda, agenda-related public comment, county manager update.

Don't have any updates at this time, Chair.

Okay. CONSENT ITEM ONE IS RESOLUTION AND CALL FOR SEALED BIDS FOR HOLE HIGHWAY 99 AT INTERSECTIONS OF SERGEANT ROAD AND 201ST AVENUE. CP NUMBER 615.

GOOD MORNING. GOOD MORNING. GOOD MORNING.

GOOD MORNING. MY NAME IS MATT.

DO YOU THINK THAT'S DOG SLAPPER?

I DON'T KNOW.

WE'RE NOT COMPETING WITH THAT. Okay, Matt Rowley. So my name is Matt Outsman, Thurston County Engineer. Public Works is requesting permission from the Board of County Commissioners to call for seal bids to construct improvements on Old Highway 99 at the intersections of Sergeant Road and 201st Avenue in Grand Mound. This is located just north of the Great Wolf Lodge. The project includes construction of a roundabout, at the intersection of Old Highway 99 and 201st Avenue, as well as adding a turn lane at Sargent Road. Other improvements include additional street lighting, sidewalks, and providing safe locations for pedestrians and cyclists to cross. This intersection has experienced numerous serious injury and fatal collisions in the past. One tree will be removed as part of the project to accommodate construction of a stormwater collection and treatment facility. The estimated construction cost is 2.832 million. 1.464 of that is federally funded. 900,000 will come from transportation impact fees, and the remainder will be from a combination of the county road fund and the storm and surface water utility funds. Any questions?

Seeing any. All right. Public works item is number two, resolution correcting right-of-way dedication, Delphi Road, and turn first.

So these next two items are related. I'll go first, then Karen, director of public works, will follow me. The Board of County Commissioners previously approved a resolution dedicating right of way at the intersection of Delphi Road and 101st Avenue from an adjacent county-owned parcel, which used to be a county pit. This additional right of way will accommodate any future improvements at this intersection. That resolution, though, had a typographical error. We listed the wrong parcel number. So this resolution is correcting that error. The dedication is 0.507 acres from the existing three-acre parcel, which, as I mentioned, is owned by the county and used to be a rock pit a long time ago.

OK. Questions for Matt?

Nope?

OK. You can go here next time.

OK. So again, Karen Reese, Public Works Director, not as exciting about the dog, but this is actually a really exciting thing for Public Works. We're bringing forward our first property for surplus through our Property Management Surplus Program, and we've been working on this for several years. It was first started under the leadership of Jennifer Walker, Assistant County Manager. In March of this year, the board approved revisions to Thurston County Code 2.104, comprehensive property management procedures, which laid the foundation for this action that we're requesting. This is, as Matt described, we've confirmed our Delphi gravel pit site, which is at the intersection of Delphi Road Southwest and 101st Avenue Southwest, is no longer used as a gravel pit and has not been for many, many years. and we have no anticipated future need for that site. We've circulated the property among county departments for evaluation and none have expressed a need for the property. So we are requesting that the board surplus this parcel in accordance with the TCC code, comprehensive property management procedures, and also our property management surplus program within Public Works. Upon the board declaring this property surplus, We will float this to local jurisdictions. They'll be notified of the surplus property and they'll have the opportunity to bid and purchase this parcel. And if none of the local jurisdictions are interested, we would be authorized to negotiate the sale of the property with the one adjacent property owner in this case. We would be publishing in alignment with a code the intent of negotiation with the adjoining property owner. be published in the official county newspaper for two weeks, two consecutive weeks prior to that negotiation. If any other interested buyer comes forward at that time, we would then move the property to public auction so we could have a fair platform for selling that property. If not, we would negotiate with the adjacent property owner, and at the conclusion of the process, the deed would be brought forward to the board for execution. This parcel has wet conditions. It's considered unsuitable for development, including as a building site, and so has limited use or benefit except to the adjacent property owner, and they have reached out and expressed interest in purchasing the parcel. This will bring the parcel public benefit by bringing it back on our books, relieve the public works of ownership and liability, and then generate compensation based on taxes. And the adjacent property owner would benefit through the addition of additional land, increasing their property value. Questions?

So it sounds like there's one person, like one adjacent owner. I mean, on some properties, I can imagine you'd have multiple. Is that, is it like... It sounded like there was sort of a hierarchy of priority. And so like in terms of an adjacent property owner, is it any property that touches the property or how is that defined? Like who is an adjacent property owner that would have that priority?

We do have, I have to go back to the specific language, but it does have, I think, a specific relation to the property. Is that your recollection as well, Matt? Yeah. In instances like that, we would make sure that the property owners in that surrounding area were aware of that.

This property's an intersection, so 101st is on one side, Delphi's on the other side, and then the same property owners own the other two sides. It basically surrounds that corner parcel.

And I will be transparent in that we selected a first property to bring forward to move through that process that we felt was not complicated, so we can have our first property process.

Questions for the Public Works team? Okay, one more Public Works item is number four, set a public hearing to consider adoption of 2026 Thurston County Road Standards.

Public Works is requesting the Board of County Commissioners set a public hearing date for September 15th to receive testimony and consider the adoption of the 2026 Thurston County Road Standards. Public Works staff have updated the 2017 Thurston County Road Standards to revise language to meet current business practices as well as meet industry standards. Road standards govern all the construction work within the Thurston County right-of-way, as some of these updates will be presented at the hearing. This update has been through the SEPA review process, and the SEPA determination of non-significance was issued on April 13th, 2026. Public outreach regarding these updates includes a draft posting is available On the Public Works website, targeted outreach has been provided to private landowners, Olympia master builders, local cities, towns, and tribes in the region. Social media posts have been used to solicit feedback. Staff has presented at the Thurston County Planning Commission, and we held a virtual open house on June 11th, 2026, which is also posted for anybody to view on our Public Works website. Any feedback you're getting? We have received some feedback and that will be incorporated into the final draft. And I'll summarize that feedback at the public hearing. Questions for Matt on items four.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Next up, item five, interlocal agreement for a school resource officer in the Tenino School District during three different school years. 26 through 29.

Good morning again. This is not as exciting as the dog. Actually, maybe it is. So this is basically emulating our current contract with the city of Rainier for a school resource officer. So this just sets the terms and the limits, and we have already started recruiting for that position internally. The school district approached us early on in this conversation and was adamant that they wanted to continue a school resource officer program, which will bolster not just presence inside the school district of Tenino, but also within the city of Tenino as a whole. So happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for the sheriff? JUST A THANK YOU TO THE SHERIFF FOR WORKING WITH ONE OF OUR PARTNER CITIES TO HELP THEM OUT, GO THROUGH THIS TRANSITION. I KNOW YOU'VE PERSONALLY SPENT A LOT OF TIME AND ENGAGEMENT, SO WE APPRECIATE THAT.

ABSOLUTELY. YEAH, AND THIS, JUST SO THAT YOU GUYS ARE AWARE, THIS IS, WE KIND OF HAD TO BREAK THIS INTO THREE PIECES. The school, they're all connected, but the school resource officer contract does have some, it is going to tie into the next contract that we signed with Tenino. And then we also had the short-term contract. So it's kind of siloed into three pieces, even though they're connected. You've got the short-term contract that we currently have in place with Tenino. We have the school resource officer program, which we need to get going now because the school year starts in one month. And then you have the long-term contract that we are kind of finishing up for a proposal to give to Tenino as well. So they're all kind of interconnected. So I just want you guys to be aware that when you're looking at this, it's only a piece of the total pie. But this one came a little bit quicker because we can't wait till January to get a contract going for the school year.

Yeah, I think so. a larger conversation with tonight. I know Commissioner Fournier and Sheriff have been great at stepping in and providing leadership and perspective, so we hope to have that to the board in the next several weeks. But there's great conversation taking place, and it's wonderful to have a commissioner who has the community's interest at heart and is looking out for what's best, not only for just tonight, but for that whole area. Commissioner Fournier?

Yeah, I don't have any questions. I just wanted to say thank you to the sheriff as well for his attention to this and working on it. So it's appreciated.

Sir. Quick question, somewhat related, but like six years ago or something when there was a lot of attention about, you know, racial equity and disparities and stuff. there was a legislature passed a law that basically wanted to look at school district officers and basically it started with like requiring some reporting from jurisdictions that used it. And then like a couple of years later, I asked, I think it was still before you were here, I asked the sheriff like, What's going on with that? And we all kind of looked into it and it had been like, because the legislature had kind of gotten sight, like they never really followed through. And so I just, I'm just wondering now, it's been a few years later, like, is that something that's being done? Did it ever get kind of resurrected, that like requirement for you to make certain statistical reports related to statistical research officers, or is that still kind of got shelved?

I believe the school district generates those reports. So we provide the service and of course, There's probably some interface there in terms of if they need any information for us, like generate any reports per that RCW. That was a school district function. But I also believe that you're right, that I think that that was one of those laws that was kind of passed in haste in 2021. There's a rash of, I mean, just dozens of them pertaining to law enforcement. And I don't know if there's been much traction beyond that. I think most of what they were trying to accomplish was to figure out the incarceration rate among schools to see if there's any kind of tie between, you know, prison and jail and having a school resource officer in a school. I can tell you that law enforcement in Washington state that are inside of our schools have lots of advanced training that they have to go to within X amount of days from being appointed in the school. So they have to go to SRO basic. And there's a couple other auxiliary classes that we continue to send them to. The other nice part is the way that we work our school resource officer system is that during the school year, obviously the deputies are in the schools. And then in the summertime is when we send them off to all their training. So we'll get them off to child interviewing or SRO advanced. There's a couple of school security through the Washington Association of safety, I believe it's what it's called. One of our former SROs is on that board, that statewide board. So in the summertime is when we allow them to catch up on all that training to maximize the time they get to spend in the school during the school year. So lots of training for SROs. And with the SROs themselves, you have to be careful about who you place in those roles because it is not a door kicking action packed job, you kind of become a social worker. Your job in the school is really more just focused around problem solving outside of handcuffs. And so, you know, there are instances where SROs have to take obvious enforcement action, bomb threats, school shooting threats, assaults that end in serious, you know, physical injury, those types of things. But really outside of that, everything else is supporting the staff and the parents at the school to just kind of help facilitate the day. And yeah, I think there's a good understanding between the school districts and the deputies that we place in the schools about exactly what their role is.

Back at that time, I interviewed all the superintendents to get a feel for, you know, what their sense of the SROs were. And they described the de-escalation of parents was like a huge value to what they were seeing in their schools.

If you want to see some de-escalation skills, watch an SRO at school pickup time. Excellent. Excellent job there. You know, parents stressed, and I get it. So, yeah, you know, it is social work inside the schools. It's not the place where you're going to go make, you know, eight felony arrests a day. You are really just trying to find a solution, a viable path forward for people who oftentimes have competing interests and different perspectives. You know, it's a big deal that parents send their kids off to school and have an expectation they all get to come home safe.

Any other questions for the sheriff? Thank you. Awesome. We handled item seven. So we'll go to item eight, which is appointment to the fair board.

I think item six was. Oh, sorry.

Shoot. Yeah. I think I have one more. All right. Sorry about that. Request for proposals for procurement of equipment and services to repower a 2013 safe boat.

Yeah, so this is no secret. We've been kind of chatting with you guys and giving you some foresight on this. Integrity has been down for quite some time. So between integrity and Harbor One, we have proposals coming forward. The funding for this comes out of our dedicated boater safety fund. And this will be a big deal to get some saltwater boats powered and ready to go out on the sound for us right now. We're having to launch lake boats out to the Sound to do any of our enforcement or patrols. A lot more efficient to have something that's already docked down there. It's completely encapsulated for interior cab. So especially during rescues and patrols during inclement weather, it's just not really that feasible. It gets real cold out there when you're in an open cab boat, a small boat out on the Sound. This is the repower. Of course, we can go through the actual cost. It is not cheap, but this basically goes through the entire spectrum of everything that we're doing through this procurement, and we ultimately need to get this boat repowered.

The funds, this is for the boat fund that would be funding the repairs? Correct. Okay. Other questions on this? I know we've covered this actually a few times, so. Thank you so much. Covered item seven, so we'll go to item eight, which is an appointment to the fair board. Right on time, Commissioner. I'm done.

Yes, and this was direction from the board last week.

Okay, so this is just putting it on. We had discussed this last week and reviewed it. Voucher list from June 22nd and June 29th. Any questions from the board? We have public comment related to general matters. We have commissioner community reports. And then we have public hearing at 3.30 on moratorium on detention facilities. Community planning and economic development is taking the lead. And we have Ashley O'Reilly to brief the board this morning. Good morning.

Good morning. Community planning and economic development. I'm going to turn this front over to you.

Good morning, Commissioner Sandra Baum with Community Development. This is a follow-up to the board action on June 16th, which the board adopted the moratorium for detention facilities. And part of that requirement is that we have a public hearing within 60 days. And so this is achieving that objective by having it on August 15th.

Any questions for CPED team? Okay, so that will happen at 3.30. We probably have a break because we don't have department items, so... I'm assuming, you never know, public comment might be robust, but we might have a break and then come back for the 3.30 if we don't pull out. So that'll start at 3.30. And yeah, I'm hearing chatter about it in the community, so I think we will have comment on this item. Questions for CPED? Okay, thank you. That's really the main substantive item this morning. Is there any Commissioner items that need to be addressed? We do have two work sessions tomorrow, but going once, going twice. Okay, we're at the end of the agenda and we're adjourned.

Thank you.