Megan Dunn's eNewsletter
Snohomish County Council
3000 Rockefeller Ave., M/S 609
Everett, Washington 98201
8th floor, Robert J. Drewel Building
Phone: 425-388-3494
E-Mail: Megan.Dunn@snoco.org
Paula Rhyne, Legislative Aide
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Dear Friends and Neighbors:
I hope that you are doing well and enjoying the summer weather that was finally able to join us. It's exciting to attend summer events again, but there are still concerns about rising COVID variants that we should all keep in mind and that our area hospitals and healthcare staff are strained. Please mask in close quarters and large crowds, and if you haven’t yet received your vaccine, please contact your local healthcare provider for your initial series, or booster if you qualify. Vaccines for children aged 6 months and older have now been approved as well. Please visit this website or contact your child’s pediatrician for more info. The Washington State Department of Health still has free at-home test kits that can be mailed to your house. Let's all do what we can to stay healthy.
Over the weekend, we learned of the loss of Terry Williams of the Tulalip Tribes. Terry was an environmental champion for forests and salmon and he leaves behind a transformative legacy. The Herald had a great overview of his accomplishments; linked here. A funeral service will be held at the Tulalip Gathering Hall on Saturday, July 30, at 10am. I share my condolences with his family and those who will miss him dearly.
As always, our office is here as a resource to you. You can also find me online on Facebook and Twitter. My office is committed to being responsive and helpful. If you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at Megan.Dunn@snoco.org. You can also call my office at 425-388-3494.
The county council will have our summer recess the weeks of July 25 and August 1. All council and committee meetings are cancelled during these two weeks and will resume the week of August 8. Council recently passed legislation (three in favor, one opposed, and one absent) amending our meeting schedule to have all of our meetings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Here is council’s new meeting schedule:
- Administrative Session is now every Tuesday at 9am
- First and third Tuesday of the month:
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Public Works will be held at 10am
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Planning and Community Development at 11am
- Second and fourth Tuesday of the month:
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Finance and Economic Development Committee is at 10am
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Conservation, Sustainability and Recreation Committee at 11am
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Law, Justice, and Human Services Committee at 1pm
- Our Wednesday meeting schedule is the same with General Legislative Session at 9am and Public Hearings at 10:30
I voted against this change because of concerns I have that a condensed meeting schedule would reduce our work week and put unneeded strain on staff to prepare minutes and the agenda. It’s important to me to have reasonable expectations of our staff’s time and efforts, and as Council Chair, I will bring this decision back before council to review later this year.
Here’s a link to the meetings and webcast page for more information.
For people who are experiencing a crisis, a new three-digit lifeline rolled out recently: 9-8-8. This number is the new nationwide call line for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Our State Legislature passed legislation last year to help fund this line statewide, and here in Snohomish County, staff at the Volunteers of America Western Washington will be operating the call center. I toured the call center earlier this year and am excited about the work that the VOAWW is doing to get this effort off the ground.
If you or someone you know is having a mental health crisis or having thoughts of suicide, you can confidentially call or text 988 any time and a trained crisis counselor will be available to talk to you and help connect you with resources. Please know that you are not alone and help is available.
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The Snohomish County Department of Planning and Development Services has been working hard to gather input to help inform the county’s Comprehensive Plan. The “Comp Plan” is a document that guides the county on decisions related to a wide range of topics and services over a 20-year period including neighborhood planning, business development, traffic, and the environment. This plan will be updated in 2024 and it’s imperative that the plan’s priorities reflect those of the community. The PDS team is hosting pop-up events across the county over the coming months, so if you happen to see them at your local farmer’s market, library, or out in the community, please stop by their booth to share your input.
To learn more about the 2024 Comprehensive Plan Update, visit the project page at bit.ly/SnoCo2024 or watch this video for a high-level overview of the update.
To serve the growing needs of wild animals and people in Snohomish County, PAWS is building a 25-acre Wildlife Center south of downtown Snohomish along Highway 9. The new PAWS Wildlife Center will feature a specially-designed wildlife hospital and rehabilitation spaces to support the unique needs of over 250 different species of animals. In addition to providing excellent care to more than 5,000 wild animals every year, the new center will also allow PAWS to enhance its highly respected training programs for veterinary and rehabilitation professionals. The new PAWS Wildlife Center is set to open in 2023 and the organization is eager to build partnerships with the people and businesses in the area.
I had a chance to tour the new facility recently and enjoyed meeting staff and hearing more about the great work they are doing to protect wildlife in the PNW. If you would like to learn more about the project, please email Snohomish@paws.org.
As mentioned in a previous newsletter, our county charter requires one evening Administration Session meeting in each council district over the course of the year. The purpose is to be more present and accessible to the community. Because of COVID, we have not held remote meetings these past two years, so I was glad to take part this year. I chose to host the District 2 night meeting at Connect Casino Road which is a community center in South Everett that serves as a collaborative made up of a variety of organizations and stakeholders in the Casino Road neighborhood. They work together to fight racism and provide resources to the diverse community who live in the area and it was great to use this opportunity to highlight the great work that they are doing. If you have ideas or suggestions of places in District 2 (Mukilteo, Everett, and Tulalip) that would be a great spot to host our 2023 in-district meeting, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
As part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (“ARPA”) stimulus, Snohomish County has received almost $160M in funding from the federal government. The county’s Office of Recovery and Resilience has been leading the efforts to determine how we can best spend these one-time funds to recover from the damages of the pandemic and provide pathways to economic resiliency for families and businesses. This office recently hosted events across the county to hear from the local communities about priorities for how the money could and should be spent.
The District 2 “Recovery Roadshow” event was hosted at the county campus which also included tabling from local organizations, kids activities by Mari’s Place for the Arts, interpretation services from Latino Education and Training Institute (LETI), and food by Ryan’s REZ-ipes and Bliss Small Batch Creamery. I appreciated that so many people were able to join and share more about ways that the community can be most equitably served as we move past the pandemic. It’s critically important to me that as we move ahead, we do so in a way that addresses and repairs the inequitable ways that the pandemic impacted women and people of color.
I’m excited for the 30th Annual Nubian Jam hosted by the Snohomish County Black Heritage Committee on Saturday, July 30 at Forest Park. The event is from 10-7 and will have a number of educational and entertaining events with the goal of promoting unity and fellowship by celebrating the beautiful richness of the Black culture. There will be music, vendors, a fashion show, youth activities, food and more. Shuttle service is available from Our Savior’s Lutheran Church. Check out the webpage for more info.
The Sno-Isle Library has a Bookmobile which makes regularly scheduled stops across the county. Customers can sign-up for a library card, pick up their holds, return materials, and connect with Sno-Isle staff. Take a look at their events page for more info and when the Sno-Isle Bookmobile could be coming to a community location near you, or email bookmobile@sno-isle.org.
Every year on the first Tuesday of August, neighborhoods and communities across the US come together for National Night Out. It’s a great way to meet your neighbors and hear more about ways to get involved on a local level. Check out these events in Everett and Mukilteo.
Tulalip’s Hibulb Cultural Center has a number of arts and lectures coming up that may be of interest to you. There are event craft events for children to learn the art of beading and formline painting. Check out the events page for more info and a list of upcoming events.
Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. It’s important to me to keep you updated on my work at the County and updates from my district. If you are in need of any assistance or if there is any county information that I can help to provide, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at Megan.Dunn@snoco.org, or with my aide at Paula.Rhyne@snoco.org. You can call our office as well at 425-388-3494 to leave a message and we’ll return your call.
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