Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good morning, Alicia and Aika.

Good morning, Chair and Commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to provide you all with the update on the district-aligned community groups. My name is Alicia Sojourner, Director of Access and Opportunity here at Washington County, and joining me today is Ika Fulstrom, our Community Engagement Lead, who has been leading much of our community engagement work and the design of this I just want to also shout out Willie, also Community Engagement, who also did a lot of great work this summer. Today, we're here to talk about, less to talk about the decisions, but more about sharing the process, what we've learned from the community through the summer, and making sure the board has what they need and direction before we launch this fall. Our presentation will follow the same pattern as what the project has taken on. We'll briefly revisit why this work begun, provide an update on engagement process, share what community members have told us, walk through how those findings have shaped the program, and discuss how we'll measure success, and close with the launch of our timeline. Most importantly, we like your feedback on three questions that will help shape year one. And so for consideration, does the board have what they need to support the launch? What priorities should shape year one agendas? And how would the board like to receive updates? One way. This work really began with the simple question, how do we make it easier and more meaningful for community members to engage with their county government? Over time, participation patterns changed. Some communities participate regularly while others rarely engage. We also heard that many community members wanted to be involved but didn't know where to start or felt existing structures weren't designed with them in mind. While we have many ways for the community to engage, for our time today, we'll only be focusing on the district-aligned groups. Resolution and Order 2614 gave us the opportunity to rethink the systems rather than simply making small adjustments. More importantly, this isn't about eliminating community voice. It's about building a system that is more flexible, more accessible, and better aligned with how community members engage today. Although the groups are organized by commission districts, the conversations about community services and because the chair represents the county at large, there will also be opportunities for the chair to engage across the district groups and bring a county-wide perspective to these conversations. One thing we also want to emphasize is that land use engagement continues through its own required public process. Those responsibilities remain with LUT, land use and transportation. The state land use goal one will be responsibility of the Planning Commission. The district-aligned groups we're discussing today will focus on county-wide services through a one Washington County approach.

Since January, we've intentionally designed this as a community informed process, rather than a staff designed process. Every phase is built upon the previous one. We first met with existing community leaders and partners, then expanded into listening sessions across the county, followed by virtual conversations to reach community members unable to attend in person. We also brought the conversation directly into communities through fairs, cultural celebrations, farmers markets, and community events. Today represents another important milestone before launching the first two district groups in September. These numbers represent more than participation. They represent relationships. We intentionally used multiple engagement methods because we know one approach doesn't reach everyone. Some community members prefer surveys, others engage through community events, others only participate when conversations happen in spaces they already trust. Taking engagement to the community rather than expecting the community to come to us resulted in conversations with people who have not historically participated in county engagement. One finding stood out immediately. People genuinely want to engage. The barrier isn't interest. The barrier is understanding how county government works and knowing where their voice fits. We also learned that many community members weren't familiar with commissioner districts or county responsibilities, reinforcing the need for engagement that includes education, not just collecting feedback. This tells us our meetings need to be welcome welcoming to first-time participants rather than assuming prior knowledge. We also recognize that if we relied on traditional engagement methods, we'd continue hearing from many of the same voices. That's why we developed a separate youth and young adult effort. Rather than asking young people to participate in adult systems, we wanted to understand how they prefer to engage. what issues mattered to them, and where trusted relationships already existed. Our office decided to reach out and also connect with the youth from Harkins House. They offered a unique and varied perspective. Even with this limited and brief engagement, we were able to gain valuable insights. This is really the beginning of a stronger youth engagement strategy for the future. These listening sessions allowed many of our former CPO and CCI members to participate and offer their thoughts and feedback. Across every listening session, several themes were remarkably consistent. Community wanted clear information about county services. They wanted opportunities to connect with neighbors before formal meetings. They also wanted recognition that different communities experience county services differently. One example was the urban unincorporated area where residents expressed uncertainty about which services came from the county or other jurisdictions. These conversations reinforced that these meetings should help individuals understand government while also creating meaningful dialogue. One of the most valuable lessons came from meeting people where they already were At community festivals and cultural events, many people stopped simply because they were curious. These informal sessions and conversations often led to deeper discussions than traditional public meetings. We consistently heard two requests. Help us better understand county services and create more opportunities to connect directly with elected officials. We provide some context on the level of engagement We successfully distributed over 1,000 activity books among the various popups and engagement opportunities this summer to kids, youth, and those young at heart.

We intentionally asked the community to help us name the new groups because names communicate purpose. Several thoughtful ideas emerged. After reviewing community suggestions alongside the goals of this program, Our preferred recommendation is strengthening participation in reaching communities or SPARC. We believe it reflects exactly what we're trying to accomplish. Strengthening participation while intentionally reaching communities that may have not historically been part of the conversation, but also community members who have been part of the conversation. We welcome the board's thought before we finalize the name.

As a reminder, these district groups are only one piece of the much larger engagement strategy. We're also exploring opportunities for youth leadership, strengthening partnerships with community organizations, developing business partnerships, and redesigning our civic leaders program. Together, these efforts create multiple entry points so people can engage in ways that make sense to them. What you're seeing here reflects a direct connection between community feedback and program design. Community asked for predictable meeting schedules. They asked for easier access. They wanted conversations focused on issues that affect everyday life and county services. As a result, we're proposing evening hybrid meetings aligned with commissioner districts focused on county services with the Office of Access and Opportunity facilitating during the first year to create consistency across all four districts. Into year two and beyond, OAO will continue to oversee the program and program components to ensure continuity. The district structure creates a consistent opportunity for commissioners to connect with the communities they represent. The chair, serving at large, has a different but equally important role and can engage across all four district groups, particularly around issues and county priorities that cross district boundaries. The annual countywide gathering will also create a natural opportunity for the chair, commissioners, and community members from across all four districts to come together around shared themes and countywide priorities.

Another design priority was making roles clear from the beginning. Departments will bring topics forward and will also engage community members in identifying topics they would like to discuss. OAO will continue to coordinate the agendas and facilitate the meetings. I do want to clarify the language you see on the slide regarding district priorities. The board collectively established priorities for Washington County. With these district-aligned meetings, district commissioners have an opportunity to help connect those county priorities to the communities they represent and hear how those priorities are being experienced locally. The chair brings the at-large perspective to this structure. Because the chair represents the entire county, there will be opportunities for the chair to participate across the district groups help connect conversations occurring across districts and provide a countywide perspective on issues and priorities that affect multiple communities.

I'm sorry. You make it sound like the chair can't connect with constituents in any particular district. And that's not true. It's not unique to district commissioners.

Sorry, chair. We will make sure and correct that.

Thank you. We've worked hard as a board to make sure that all commissioners speak to county priorities. I like the point that you made about connecting that more locally with districts, but

Yeah, needs improvement. Thank you, Chair. And my apologies. We're hoping that this creates a two-way connection. Community members gain a better understanding of county priorities, how they may affect the communities, while departments can hear directly from county work is being done in experience at the different district levels. And most importantly, that community feedback doesn't end when the meeting does. We'll document what we hear, share it with appropriate departments, and close the loop with participants so they understand how their input may be considered in county work.

We intentionally selected measures that go beyond attendance. Success isn't simply filling a room. Success is whether new people participate whether youth and young adults are represented, whether departments engage, whether participants feel the experience was worthwhile, and ultimately whether community input influences county decisions.

With any new program, there can come risk. Rather than hoping challenges doesn't occur, we're planning for the most likely ones. During year one, we'll maintain consistent facilitation, coordinate communication across departments, actively recruit participants, and continuously evaluate what is working and what is not working. Year one is intentionally designed as a learning year, while we'll make adjustments based on what we hear from the community members, from the commissioners, and from departments.

We're up.

Hold on. Yeah.

Okay. I'll wait. I'll wait. We're almost there. Okay.

If we're sitting here one year from now, we hope success looks like more than just simply launching four groups. We hope the community better understands city government. We hope departments build better and stronger relationships with communities. We hope commissioners have another meaningful way to hear directly from their constituents. And together, those conversations can help the board see what is unique with individual districts and departments as well, and what community may be experiencing across Washington County. And we hope community members leave feeling that their participation matters and their time was valid.

Following today's discussion, our focus shifts from planning to implementation. We'll continue analyzing engagement data, finalize meeting topics with county departments, complete outreach, and begin launching groups in September and October. While meetings will begin this fall, continuous improvement will remain a part of the work throughout the year. And while the meetings are organized by district, we will continue approaching this for one Washington County strategy Our plan is to return in a year to provide updates, share successes, and lessons learned.

We would like to conclude where we began, with our questions of consideration. And we are more than happy to answer any questions.

My colleagues.

Yeah, go ahead and pick this up, Commissioner Tree.

Thank you for the report. I have a couple things. I'd like to ask one question and then I have another piece I'd like to share. So on the preceding page, you talked about what success looks like in year one, okay? And does that mean that after the first year of facilitation by OAO that we will move to volunteer and leadership in these groups.

I think that OAO will continue to work with community if there are volunteers, but again, year one is a pilot, and so if that's not what we...

So I'm having trouble just understanding if there'll be leadership in each of these four organizations, if you will, that is volunteer-led.

So that is something to be determined. We are hoping for...

I'm just trying to understand what our vision is. And if that's what we're working on, I'm comfortable with that, but I wanted to ask the question.

Yep. We are hoping that we can get volunteers to maybe help co-facilitate with OAO, share that leadership role. We would even love young adults and youth to even participate support some of that as well. And we know that this first year will tell us will give us a lot of good information.

Great. I'd also like to just say thank you for all this work. Thank you to you know, thank you for the people that have participated. I know I attended many of the summer events and saw you at many of the outdoor festivals and activities. So thank you for your presence in the community. I also wanted to REMIND YOU, I MENTIONED IT AT MY LAST LEADERSHIP UPDATE THAT I HAD A DISCUSSION WITH TWO INCOMING JUNIORS AT KATLIN GABLE ABOUT THIS, ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND ABOUT THE YOUTH OPPORTUNITIES THAT WE'RE LOOKING TO. AND NOURI SAKARI HAS JOINED US TODAY AND HE UNDERSTANDS IT'S NOT HIS OPPORTUNITY FOR PARTICIPATION, BUT I JUST WANTED TO INTRODUCE YOU TO HIM.

You're asking about priorities that should be on the year one agenda, right? That's one of the questions.

Yes.

To me, year one is going to be forming, like the actual just forming process and focus on that will be important from my perspective. Given what you provided as feedback, it seems like there needs to be or should be some robust discussion about countywide services and what do counties actually do. That's what we're getting from the feedback that we received and therefore how people may want to engage there. And then I guess that I already started my second point. Addressing gaps about services provided and how to engage with those services is what came through. Either feedback is on the SPARC name. I think it's the right words. I think it's missing a noun at the end of some sort. Like when I think of, back to where it has the thing right now. I think all the words are the right word, but I don't, like there's no, there's no nouns. Like what is the, is it an organization?

Participation and reaching communities.

Yeah. So, I mean, I understand that's what we're doing. I think it's just, and I think it's the right words overall. I just, to me, it doesn't convey that this is a thing or a body or a program. I don't know what word should be there, but I think it's... That's my preference would be that it convey that point a little bit or somehow. Maybe others don't agree with me. I'm okay. I'm open to that.

I have a similar but different question. Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. I understand. I'm going to be coming back to you. Okay. Because somebody's got to hold you accountable. I know. Darn it. Any thought about how you might like to receive updates, Commissioner Snyder?

I THINK THE I THINK OUR ATTENDANCE IN THE MEETING IS IMPORTANT BUT I THINK THE OVERALL I THINK GETTING WRITTEN JUST WRITTEN SUMMARIES WOULD PROBABLY BE ADEQUATE TO ME AND IF THERE'S A REAL HOT ISSUE THAT REQUIRES DISCUSSION THEN IT COULD COME BACK TO THE BOARD FOR DISCUSSION BUT OTHERWISE I'M OKAY WITH WRITTEN UPDATES.

NEW SPEAKER SO BACK TO YOU COMMISSIONER TREES.

I LIKE THE NAME. BUT I ALSO THINK THAT IT COULD, THERE COULD BE A, LIKE COMMUNITY, IT STARTS WITH WHERE IT SAYS PARTICIPATION PROGRAM, IT MIGHT BE PARTICIPATION PROGRAM. SO SOLVE THE PROBLEM THERE. THAT JASON IDENTIFIED, COMMISSIONER STEIDER IDENTIFIED. THE PRIORITIES THAT SHOULD SHAPE YEAR ONE AGENDA SHOULD BE OUTREACH AND GETTING PEOPLE to be aware of the program and engaging them. So that would be my number one priority. I also think that there are lessons that we could learn through ACRE and how, to Commissioner Snyder's point about the priority around civic, what does it mean? We spent a lot of time with ACRE doing that. And I think we can reflect back on some of the things that were positive some of them that might have been overkill or too far down in the weeds. So I just put that forward as something to think about. And as far as receiving updates, I do believe that it's certainly the responsibility of the elected commissioner to attend those meetings. I also feel that the update process should be something that comes to us, but also goes to the community at large. SO WHETHER IT'S A NEWSLETTER, WHETHER IT'S SOMETHING THAT ENGAGES PEOPLE, TALKS ABOUT WHAT THE ACTIVITIES WERE AT THE LAST MEETING, BUT ALSO PROJECTS WHAT THAT MEANS FOR FUTURE, FOR THE NEXT MEETINGS. AND I'D LIKE TO SEE THAT TYPE OF UPDATE INCLUDE WHAT'S HAPPENING AT ALL OF THE MEETINGS. SO IT'S HERE'S THE FOCUS FOR DISTRICT 2, HERE'S THE FOCUS FOR DISTRICT 3, WHATEVER THAT MIGHT BE. all pointing toward increasing the community engagement, all of these things. Thank you. Thank you.

And we'll come to a summarize, or summarize it all for a group direction. I want to start with, I really have two big thank yous. I really like what I've heard here today. because I think your verbal articulation was more powerful than the words on the paper, was more human scale. And I thank you for that, because that is part of the art of humanity that you bring to all of this. I also really appreciate the approach that you've utilized as the timeline simplifies, but the approach that you took. I want our community members to understand that departments have been going out to community for decades. And frankly, I'll say we had a little bit of a rub in how we approached community engagement with our first step at diversity, equity, and inclusion, and community engagement, where it seemed like one department and solely one department owned community engagement. And that is not what you're talking about. That is not what you're suggesting. And I don't want anyone to ever think it does. Because I've seen your team work, not just with all the departments, but amongst all the departments. It's been a one Washington County approach. And I want to ensure that the way we talk about this new modernized aspect, one of many of our community engagement tools is being modernized through a one Washington County approach. There was a question about the naming of this and you know we're comfortable i'm hearing that we're comfortable the three of us with then the idea of this name approach you've got with spark my question is somewhat different than commissioner snyder how do you distinguish between the four spark meetings is it like spark one two three and four i don't know yeah i i think we were at

in the interest of keeping things very easy for community and for staff. I think it would just be SPARCs one through four.

Well, I didn't see it anywhere, so I figured I'd better ask. So, okay. So, it still goes to your point. I think SPARC is the overall program, but there are these implementation instances across our full county. And I think that's really important for us to convey. We already have a representation of this because we already have the all county map with the districts. So it's visually we're able to articulate that. Your presentation helped me get over some of the notes that I made for myself about where I felt there was a little bit of a rub versus what I was seeing on the paper. Oh, I have one other comment before I get to the questions. I was trying to get to the questions. What you're outlining here for all of us as this one Washington County SPARC approach where I think it goes back to the governance framework is that the departments submit agenda topics, this is that how we take that one Washington County approach. We pull it all together. And so I don't want anyone to be turned off by that at all. This is the nature of how we do this work. We do it together. So I just wanted to put a finer point on that because here it comes to On the next steps and looking ahead slide, you talked about using a one Washington County strategy. You'll coordinate with the county departments to identify topics and establish themes for upcoming meetings. Well, it's not just the departments, but I have tremendous, not just faith in the departments, I know through the leadership and the tools that we have to try to pull everything together and make sure that the board and staff are aligned on what our key priorities are, that we have that POR already established, our plan of record. We know what every single year we've got to make decisions on. um so um it's not just the departments right it's it's with the board that way too because we're in that um but i also want to make sure i articulate that i understand how this may involve some more planning by our staff because of the nature the challenge operating in continued resource constraints and what's happening at the federal level that's affecting the state level and each of those in turn is directly affecting us because of the nature of counties being instruments of both those levels of government means staff has been sharpening that pencil so much that we're right down to the no, we can't lose that grain of carbon. But it does require us to do a bit of looking ahead to make sure that you're able to assess for all of us, are we making sure that each of the countywide portfolio domains that when the time is right for them based upon their program, that they're not eclipsed by other larger programs. And that may be a little challenging. We may only be able to spend so much time in the meeting, but the sort of the after summaries and the pulling it all together summaries may help increase the visibility. So I guess I just needed a little bit more head nodding that on the supporting the launch, that that's part of the vision. Yes, it is. See, you had me at yes. What priorities should shape year one agendas? Well, from my seat, it feels so obvious. What are our priorities? What does the county do in terms of our services? And then it's not lost on me that we need to take a breath and help our community understand that the reality is there are many levels of government. They're connected. We're not here to be selling you on anything cities do or any other government. We're here to represent the work of the county. And just reiterating that it has to be county centric and county focused, which is where I started getting a little uncomfortable about the vision of shifting the facilitation of these meetings back to volunteers. Because the bottom line is we invest in this process because of county needs and county information needs. Is my mind open to how the engagement goes and developing those linkages? Totally. But the bottom line is, if it doesn't serve the county, then we can't fund it. So I just want to give a word of caution there. So on the priorities, particularly given the launch of this, we need to make sure they know what we're pushing to get done by the end of the year. And then what's on deck for 2027 and beyond. And all those materials exist in an easy to summarize fashion. And then I think also making sure we always mention there are emerging issues and the federal government shifting is causing those all the time. The state legislature causes some of that and it's just the nature of our work on behalf of community. Sorry, I'm so long winded about touching on these different things. I agree with my colleagues that board leadership and attendance is required at these meetings. And with regard to updates, I think it's also on us as board members to during board updates and or emails to say, you know, we had a good meeting. I'll send you a quick email about things I think you want to be in the know or something. but it's the responsibility of board members to inform other board members, absolutely. I like the idea of your summary emails so that community knows that they've been heard and here are the kind of actions that will result from their feedback, but continue to reinforce that We carry that feedback into our programs and into the shaping of the process. And while community members may not recognize their individual feedback, we have heard it and we incorporate it into our thinking. So, yeah, I'm very excited about this.

I think I have a proposal to solve the naming stuff.

What's your idea?

I think the whole thing should be referred to as the SPARC program. And I think that each district group should be called, I think the word team is the right word. So it would be like the District 1 SPARC team. District 2 SPARC team. Just a proposal. If you hate it, that's fine. I don't like to just criticize and not have some sort of

District one spark, district two spark, district three spark.

Instead of the word team or not having team at the end.

I was worried that team might mean if I'm not on the team, then do I not go? I just throw that out there. It's a forum.

The district one spark forum. Forum could work.

I like what I like the message team conveys. I do too. All on a team together. that anyone can be on the team. But I understand your comment that that could be viewed as exclusionary.

Like, I'm not on the team, so I can't go. I suspect maybe that's something the community needs input on.

Sure.

I'd also like to hear Akers' thought on that, too.

Okay.

Great idea. Especially around exclusivity. So... LET ME TURN IT AROUND. DO YOU THINK THIS BOARD HAS WHAT IT NEEDS TO WATCH? I'LL TURN TO MS. ANGELES.

I BELIEVE WE'VE HAD GREAT INPUT FROM THE BOARD. WE WILL WORK ON OUR PLAN AS WE STEP INTO PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION AND MAKE SURE THAT WE SHARE THAT TO APPRECIATE JUST THE FEEDBACK AND THE THOUGHTFULNESS ON on language that we use and you'd be interested in this. What I did here is that we will have a scheduled update for year one launch, knowing that, or after one year, also knowing that we have other tools in the toolbox for updates as we go forward. It can be from an email update to a leadership update to a board work session as needed. Also, I heard from the board that you are taking the responsibility on yourselves too, to make sure that you are providing updates and meetings. And so, uh, what my only ask that we didn't touch on is that this is a program, and this is not creating, um, niche in my word, um, district programs. across the county. And so from staff, we will make sure that it stays a program and bring any concerns if we start seeing more of those niches. And that may come through commissioner maybe requests and knowing that we will have a learning curve because we'll be having new commissioners join the board come January. So we'll need to make sure this is included in onboarding.

And that was one thing that you reminded me. I'm not fond of the word pilot in this case because we're not starting small and going outward. But also, we've spent considerable time over how to modernize community engagement. And this program, this SPARK program, is one of the beneficiaries. And it's taken a lot of work and a lot of thoughtfulness. And I don't want the future board to think they can just turn it on a dime as a result of the learnings that you'll be sharing after that year one implementation. Rather, I think that there is this, the SPARC program is very exciting, but the nuance of how we implement it will evolve moving forward.

The language we can use is we're going into the implementation phase. And consistent with a learning culture, we will continue to iterate and improve as we progress in phases.

We're in an unusual situation today of only having three commissioners here. So Ms. Angie, if you're open to it, I would suggest that you and I co-author an email with the summary of the direction from today and share that with the full board so that they know we've provided the input and direction and you're moving forward with the launch and implementation. I think that's part of our responsibility.

I'd also like to express my appreciation to community to all of you that worked so hard on this, both out in the community and internal. And I also want to thank our community members that have been in attendance at these meetings, who have shared their viewpoints and have brought a perspective from the past to the future as well. And that's valuable. And new people coming to this as part of what we're going to be seeing in the So I think I'm excited about it. I'm excited about the positive attitude. So thank you for that. And especially, like I said, thank you to the community. I know it has not been easy in many situations and continues to be a challenge. So thank you.

Thank you. Do you have what you need? We sure do. And we hope you feel great about it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good, good. Okay, well, we're going to pause our work session from here and adjourn till our lunch break or through our lunch break and reconvene at 1 p.m. Thank you.