When I ran for County
Commissioner in 2020, I wrote my 10-year vision. I still stand behind what I
said then. Below, underlined and in italics, you can see my 2024 comments on my
original 2020 vision for 2030, plus thoughts on other priorities I have
identified over the last four years.
I know the way we will succeed is with everyone at the table, working with
civility as we creatively solve our problems together. My vision can become a
reality with your help—your ideas, your involvement, and your endorsement.
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In or
By 2030:
·
Island County is viewed as a national model for how to
achieve a modern economy nestled within a strong, protected, rural community.
We have been recognized nationally for our emergency preparedness and smart
management and mitigation of climate-change related environmental impacts.
Shoreline communities from all over the country visit us to see how we did it.
·
Our citizens are confident that their
neighborhoods and their local government have taken the necessary proactive
steps to keep their communities safe during major emergencies.
·
Island County has more and healthier trees than we did in
2020, a necessary step in ensuring our aquifer recharge. Our
streams and aquifers are protected. Our parks and trails are treasured and
cared for. We have reduced our solid waste output by over 25%, grocery stores
use biodegradable produce bags, no stores carry single-use petroleum plastic
products anymore and citizens have easy access to compost their bioplastics and
food waste.
·
We have safe and pleasant roadways for
all travelers—people who walk, people who bike, and people who use motorized
vehicles. Bicyclists, pedestrians, and users of all abilities can safely access
transit and ferry connections, shopping, jobs, schools, and recreational
activities. Citizens can still rely on free bus service through
Island Transit.
That agency and all of our government services rely on electric
and hydrogen-powered vehicles, and electrical charging stations are available
throughout the county. We have walk-on ferries at several port locations for
the convenience of our tourists and citizens who’d prefer not to rely on
automobiles to go on and off the island. Our local airports, marine docks
and boat launches provide easy options for citizens and visitors who travel by
air or boat. Our ferries provide reliable service.
·
Small builders have created a few new small housing projects,
mixed income and mixed use, that are desirable places to live, and lovely to
live next to. By this time, we can reliably house our teachers and nurses and
other key workers, as well as our retail and service workers.
·
We are a diverse and intergenerational vibrant community. All
citizens know they can access the services they need in the manner that best
suits them. Every teenager knows at least five adults who are not
teachers or family members. And every senior citizen knows at least five
children outside their own family. As a 75-year-old retiree in 2030, I am
involved in intergenerational activities that energize our community and
economy.
·
Our economy has boomed as young entrepreneurs conduct their
businesses online through our state-of-the-art fiber optic broadband network.
Young families move here to make their homes and raise their children. South
Whidbey no longer looks like what a 2020 audience at WICA looks like.
·
We who are senior citizens can safely age in our own homes
with a network of services to assist us, but if we need more regular attention
there are quality facilities available for us to live in with grace and joy.
·
Tourists come to the Islands both for the beauty of our
landscape and healthy natural environment but also for a robust local food
system which supports and empowers our farmers.
·
The citizens of Island County and the Navy work together
and trust one another as neighbors.
·
And in 2030, citizens consider Island County government a
pleasure to work with.
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Steps We Must Take to Achieve This Vision
1. How
do we protect our rural character and natural resources?
·
We need to make the philosophy of retaining our rural
character a part of our County mission—and the viability of all economic and
housing development plans need to be viewed through that lens. And we must push
our rights as a County to protect our forests and streams to the utmost edge of
our authority. We need to be very clear about what’s important to us. Only by
being aggressive about that can we avoid becoming a Lynwood with beach access. It
is important that citizens who care about this be involved in the development
of our 2025 Comprehensive Plan. You can find out more about this by joining the
County’s planning engagement page here: https://www.islandcounty2045.com/ .
·
We need to work proactively to mitigate the impacts of
climate change. We will start this by making a County inventory of properties
and resources likely to be impacted. Then we write and implement a Climate
Action Plan. As Chair of the Board in 2022, I negotiated a Climate
Resiliency resolution that was approved by unanimous vote, https://www.islandcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3844/Climate-Resolution-C-55-22-pdf. In
addition, a Climate Resilience sub-element will be part of our 2025
Comprehensive Plan, which we’re working on this year.
·
We need to optimize the beauty and utility of our port
areas. We should increase our water trails, and create campsites along our
shores for the enjoyment of kayakers and others.
·
We need to encourage carbon-neutral activities. That means
using and encouraging electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles and providing
plenty of electric charging stations. It means encouraging the use of vanpools,
and our wonderful Island Transit, and making trails friendly to ebikes. We must
also revise our County codes to encourage carbon-neutral housing and commercial
buildings. We have started our EV mission by purchasing electric County
vehicles on Camano Island, serviced through our own new EV chargers. In
Coupeville, the County received a $1M clean energy electrification grant and
are using that plus the $3.5M we budgeted to do a major carbon reduction refit
of the County Administration Building in Coupeville (which was built in the
1940’s). Also, as a member of the Board of Island Transit, I have supported
that agency’s transition to hydrogen and electric vehicles.
·
The County needs to make providing recycling and composting
options a priority. We need to state in our mission that our obligation to
protect the Earth is an integral part of our obligation to protect our
citizens. I am working with our local trash provider on Whidbey to bring
the recycling and composting goal to fruition.
2. How do we keep a vibrant economy within this rural
environment?
· The
County needs to become a hub for telecommuting and telework, which is the
fastest-growing job structure in the country. Millennials and GenZ citizens
expect to work within a telecommuting environment, and they will move here if
they have connectivity. The County and its local partners need to work with the
Governor’s Office for Broadband and other granting agencies to bring fiber
optic broadband immediately to the County, and also ensure that cell phones can
connect everywhere. Since I have been Commissioner, there has been more
than $20 million in federal, state and county investments awarded in Island
County to expand broadband infrastructure for enhanced internet access, and the
Board of Island County Commissioners continues to make this a priority.
· COVID
really brought home to the Commissioners their role in supporting economic
development in the County, and when I was the County’s HR Director I was
heavily involved in the initiative to provide COVID grants to small businesses
to keep their doors open. Since I’ve been Commissioner, we’ve spent $2 Million
in ARPA funds to provide Community Service Grants to help buoy up local service
agencies, in addition to the funds we regularly provide to such groups. We are
also a sponsor and the approving body for the Island County Comprehensive
Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), a plan for regional economic development
that will open grant opportunities to other jurisdictions in Island County that
they otherwise would be unable to apply for.
· I
chair the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC), a group of citizens who review
and recommend to the Board of County Commissioners the distribution of monies
generated by the Lodging Excise Tax. In 2024 we are providing over $700,000 to
organizations to sponsor events and activities that elevate the Island County
tourism experience.
3. How do we enhance the quality of life for our
citizens?
· The
County can ensure affordable housing for our local workers through zoning that
encourages small, localized developments—through permitting accessory dwelling
units, small boarding houses, and small duplex, triplex and 4-plex projects. Since
I was elected in 2020, the Board of Island County Commissioners has approved
over $10 million in affordable housing projects. And we’re far from done. The
2025 Comprehensive Plan will identify expanded zoning options for workforce and
affordable housing.
·
We need to provide supportive housing for our citizens
suffering through behavioral health crises. Since I’ve been Commissioner
we have funded one permanent supportive housing project and are in the process
of establishing another. But we still have a lot of work to do on this.
According to the Countywide Planning Group, unincorporated Island County will
need 230 permanent supportive housing units by the year 2045. We currently have
8.
·
The County needs to acknowledge the growing issue of aging
citizens on the south end of Whidbey Island, and actively work with senior
services and health resources to assist seniors to gracefully age in their
homes with dignity.
·
We must serve those in need with loving kindness—the
homeless, the addicted, the imprisoned. We at the County must recognize our
responsibility as humans to care for those who need our help, our patience, and
our understanding.
·
We must work with our Navy neighbors to push for a
deconcentration of growlers for the life and health of all of our citizens.
· We
need to work strategically with our State and Federal partners to fund
important public safety projects such as ferry access improvements, a
roundabout at SR 525/ Bush Point Road, shoulder widening at SR 20 between
Welcher and Race Roads, an elevated boat launch at Robinson Beach, public
access to the Whidbey Airpark Light Industrial Zone, the Swantown Lake Tidegate
replacement, and SR 532 Camano Gateway improvements.
4. And
finally, how do we improve our citizens’ experience with the County so that
they enjoy working with the government they pay for?
·
We must computerize all functions possible so that citizens
can file, pay for, and follow their permits and other processes online. And we
need to emphasize to County employees that they work for citizens who expect to
have an impeccable customer service experience—and we at the County need to
train them to provide that. Since I was elected, we have established an
online budget process so that very soon citizens will be able to easily view
and analyze our budget; we’ve improved our Smart Gov permitting system
utilization so that citizens can now follow the process of their permits for
themselves; and we’ve implemented other software systems in other departments
so that citizen response and follow-up is more dependable and reportable.
·
We need to continue to work to make our processes and
actions as transparent as possible so that citizens can trust that there aren’t
any dirty dealings going on behind closed doors. Since January 2022, I
have written a comprehensive newsletter every week that the Board has met,
letting subscribers know what the Board did that week and what is planned for
the following weeks—even including links and noting the marks in the recordings
when specific issues are being discussed. I also host “Monday Tea with Melanie”
every week, a time when citizens can discuss anything they want with their
commissioner and with each other.
- The County must also prepare its staff to continue to serve the
public during emergency situations. When natural disasters occur, we who
work at the County must be ready to assist our citizens in whatever
capacity is needed. At my request, the 2024 Budget includes a new
$100,000 fund for emergency preparedness, as well as a new training
position in our Department of Emergency Management who will be responsible
for training our employees in their emergency duties and will also assist
local neighborhoods to draft their own Community Wildfire Protection
Plans.
***********
The Island County Commissioners are in effect
the CEOs of a $138 million company with 500 employees. I was ready for this job
when I was elected in 2020, because after 10 years of serving as the County’s
Human Resources Manager I was thoroughly aware of the functions and knew all of
the elected and appointed officials—and I was ready because I am a problem
solver, something I’ve proven time and again since I was elected. I see
problems, I identify solutions, and then I see those solutions through to
implementation—even when taking the right action might have negative political
repercussions. I can do this because I’m analytical and I have no fear of
making changes for the good. As I often tell people, this is my super power.
I’ve done this my whole life.
A few recent examples:
I am the Commissioner who identified the need for new septic/sewer technologies
in Island County, and asked my colleagues in 2023 to support asking the State
for funds for a study—which the State has now given us, and now we’ve hired a
consulting firm. BTW: the State gave this to us because they want us to
identify septage solutions that can then be adopted by other jurisdictions in
the State. That worked so well that I then identified a need for a water
availability study, which is in our State ask for 2024 (I have been quite vocal
about my concern over adopting 20-year population growth projections without
knowing what our water availability is).
I
am the Commissioner who pushes for emergency planning and preparation,
the one who asked our Department of Emergency Management for a
presentation on our vulnerabilities after the Maui fire last August and
who serves on the State’s Wildland Fire Advisory Committee. Because
of my concern over lack of boat access on the west side of South Whidbey, I
asked for a study on our boat launches, which identified an elevated ramp on
Robinson Beach as a project we should implement as well as repairs to a boat
launch on Camano.
I was the County’s champion for the Climate Resiliency resolution,
the Animal Welfare resolution, and the Fireworks resolution. I am the
Commissioner who said we needed a contractor in Washington, DC to work on
finding funds for necessary projects that Island County citizens can’t afford
to pay for on our own. I meet regularly with citizens about County issues, and
always try to find solutions for their problems that balance out the rights of
the whole community with the desires of individuals in need.
I have always
been a consistent, effective, and creative problem solver and leader, who’s
never run from a challenge or succumbed to pressure from those who were nervous
of change.
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