Submitted by the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization that encourages informed participation in government. The Observer Corps attends and takes notes at government meetings to expand public understanding of public policy and decisions. The notes do not necessarily reflect the views of the League or its members.
County Council regular meeting of Dec. 1-2
At a public hearing, the County Council reviewed the updates to the 2026 and the Six-Year Capital Improvement Plans. The 2026 plan includes environmental stewardship projects like solid waste, culvert replacements, stormwater improvements and creek, beach and wetland restoration projects. It includes road and marine facilities projects by public works, fleet replacement, Land Bank acquisitions, parks and fairground improvements, County building repair and improvement projects, including the historic courthouse preservation project, which received a state grant. The hearing was continued to Dec. 15.
The County held a public hearing that continued both days on the one-year budget for 2026. The Auditor’s Office presented a balanced budget for 2026 and asked the Council to approve or reject new spending requests (“decision packages”) and proposed personnel cuts for 2026. It approved two environmental stewardship and two land bank items fully funded by dedicated revenue flows, the budget request for the coroner staff, as required under changed state law, and for a judge pro temp to cover maternity leave for the district court judge. It cut two small allocations and reduced allocations for personnel classification and code updates in 2026. It removed five positions from the list of potential cuts, including one each for the Assessor’s Office, the Treasurer‘s Office and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, and two Sheriff’s Office positions. It left a final decision on a Facilities Department position for the next hearing date.
At a continued public hearing on the draft Comprehensive Plan, three citizens expressed concerns that designating renewable energy projects as essential public facilities would reduce citizen input to siting such facilities. The long-term planner reviewed items that would be added to meet Department of Commerce requests on income bands, affordable housing barriers and gaps, subsidized housing units and land capacity analysis for emergency shelter. The planner described amended language to address tribal consultation. The plan would expand the Roche Harbor Masterplan area to the south to preserve existing wetlands in the current footprint while maintaining the existing 180 housing units and adding a 150-foot buffer zone along roads.
The Council approved the Environmental Stewardship department applying for $150,000 for a mooring buoy project under the Puget Sound Partnership Healthy Shorelines program. It also approved submitting the draft Solid Waste Management Plan to the state Department of Ecology for review.
