September 2022 Newsletter from Councilmember Megan Dunn

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September 2022

Megan Dunn's eNewsletter

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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


Dear Friend:

I hope that this newsletter finds you well. As school starts up again and a chill returns to the air, I’m reminded that the end of the year will be here before we know it. As Chair of the county council, I am getting ready to preside over “Budget Season” starting later this month. Executive Somers will present his proposed budget to council for our review and deliberation on September 27. Over the following six or so weeks council members will hear from departments and discuss any amendments to the budget that we would like to make. It’s expected that the finalized 2023 Budget will be voted on in early or mid-November. As council chair, it is my responsibility to oversee the process and facilitate proceedings. It’s important to me that our budget remains a reflection of our values as councilmembers, and I will be prioritizing intentional outreach during deliberations, sustainability, and livability. 

The council team will look a little different as we close out this year as Councilmember Stephanie Wright recently stepped down to accept a position as Executive Policy Director in the Snohomish County Executive’s Office. Councilmember Wright served on the county council for 12 years and played a pivotal role in new housing efforts, stabilizing the Health District, and state level coordination. I’m grateful for her years of service and depth of knowledge that she brought to this seat, and wish her well in her next endeavors. Later this month, council will interview three nominees put forward by the Snohomish County Democrats to appoint to fill this vacancy. Nominees must live in Council District 3 and will run in the general election next year to be confirmed by voters.  

With Stephanie

 

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone involved with the Bolt Creek Fire response. Our Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management activated our Emergency Operations Center and response teams coordinated with multi-agency staff and volunteers to help address the wildfire emergency and displacement of people and livestock. The outpouring of support and donations was overwhelming and all needs were promptly met. As of the date of this newsletter, the Emergency Operations Center has been deactivated and reallocated to localized groups, and donations are no longer needed. Follow for any updates at this website Hub, or follow the Bolt Creek Fire Facebook page.   

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.  

Be Well,  

Megan 

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HOMECOMING Benefit Show

I hope you can join for a special benefit show on Sunday, September 18, at 5p at The Historic Everett Theatre: HOMECOMING – Stabilizing Our Community One Home at a Time. The event space and associated costs have been completely covered by Williams Investments Group, so 100% of ticket sales will benefit local organizations addressing homelessness including Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County, Cocoon House, VOAWW’s Maud’s House, Interfaith Family Shelter, and YWCA’s Pathways for Women program.  

The event not only has an all-star line-up featuring Roger Fisher (formerly of Heart), Lynn Sorensen (formerly of Bad Company), Roni Lee (formerly of Venus & The Razorblades), Bernadette Bascom (from the Stevie Wonder Label), and a number of local favorites, but will also feature local stories and information about housing and homelessness in our community. The benefit show was recently highlighted in this article in The Herald, a Facebook invite can be found here, and you can get tickets through the EventBrite page here.  

I hope to see you there for this empowering event! Please share with your networks and on social media as well. 

Homecoming poster

Bridge Housing Community Engagement Efforts

On August 17, the Snohomish County Council approved Executive Somers’s proposal to purchase two hotels to convert to bridge housing with wraparound services. Now that the purchase and sale agreements are approved, the County is undergoing a 60-day due-diligence period before finalizing both contracts. During this period, the County will conduct more expansive community engagement on the new bridge housing facilities. Engagement includes focused conversations with community-based organizations, host cities, agency partners, and adjacent neighborhoods. I will provide more participation information on my Facebook page as it becomes available. 


Evergreen State Fair Opening

This year’s Evergreen State Fair’s theme was “The Show Must Go On” and it was wonderful to be back on the fairgrounds to celebrate the largest county-sponsored event. At the opening ceremonies, I was inspired to meet Kathy VanBuskirk, a local 4-H Equestrian leader and the 2022 Fair Honoree and introduce the councilmembers. She has been active in 4-H programs for 50 years and has volunteered at the Evergreen State Fair every year for the past 20+ years. Kathy cut the Opening Day ribbon for the fair and it was an honor to be part of the opening ceremonies to introduce our councilmembers and say a few words to the crowd.  

We had our cabinet meeting at the fairgrounds and I was thankful that Executive Somers allowed me to invite the Outstanding 4-H Exhibitors from this year and last year to attend the meeting and speak to the Cabinet. Our elected officials and executive staff got to hear from Emma, Kara and Nicole about the importance of 4-H programs and leadership development and their new efforts around equity and inclusion, especially in the LGBTQ+ community. We were all impressed by their dedication and efforts!

Here are some impressive preliminary stats on this year’s fair: 

  • Total attendance was 253,902 over 11 days 
  • Two sold out rodeos on Saturday and Sunday – a first in fair history 
  • Day-of gate sales were up 16% 
  • Sold out Demolition Derby on Sunday 
  • Countless scones and Purple Cows enjoyed 

Thank you to Interim Parks & Recreation Director, Sharon Swan, for all of her work, along with the whole Evergreen State Fair team for another fantastic year.  

Kathy VanBuskirk, the 2022 Fair Honoree, and Tom Teigen, Director of the Conservation and Natural Resources Department at the Fair's Ribbon Cutting.

Congrats, Kathy! 

Tom and Kathy at Ribbon Cutting

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4-H Members Presenting to Cabinet

Congrats to these hard-working 4-H members! 

  • Emma Fontenot, 2021 Outstanding 4-H Exhibitor
  • Cara Harris, 2022 Outstanding 4-H Exhibitor
  • Nicole Gallagher, Outstanding 4-H Exhibitor of 2018 and current 4-H Council President

Evergreen Arboretum Tour

In 2021, I was able to award the Everett Arboretum a $10,000 small capital partnership project grant for their Small Urban Tree Walk project. Myself, my aide Paula, and Senior Legislative Analyst Nicole Gorle joined Eileen Simmons for a tour of the work that had been completed. The funding provided design work, plant purchase, and labor to construct a pathway and signage along the parking lot as a walkway to enter the park. The project was very well done and provides a great welcome path to the gardens.  

The Evergreen Arboretum has a great group of active volunteers to help maintain the grounds and host a series of events throughout the year. They also have openings on their Board of Directors if you are interested in serving in a more direct capacity. Check out their website for more information, or if you’d like to visit the public gardens in-person they’re located adjacent to Legion Memorial Park at 145 Alverson Blvd, Everett. 

Arboretum Entrance

With Eileen Simmons and Paula at the Evergreen Arboretum entrance

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Urban Tree Walk

Providence Nursing Crisis

A group of nurses from Providence Regional Medical Center recently joined a County Council meeting to provide public comment about the dire staffing conditions they are experiencing. They shared harrowing stories of hallways lined with patients, people dying in the lobby, staff to patient ratios that are far beyond industry standards, and a number of other accounts. As the largest medical facility in Snohomish County, it's imperative that this hospital have the means to adequately respond to people experiencing an emergency. I coordinated a meeting between the nurses and representatives from Governor Inslee's Office, to address the public health and labor issues that were brought forward. This connection opened the proper channels to address the situation and I’m glad to have been a conduit to address this public health emergency. I will continue to follow this situation closely as matters move forward.  


Wood Stove Program of Puget Sound

As Chair of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, I work hard to address air quality issues across the region. I’m excited to share information with you about a recent program to help phase out wood burning stoves. Qualifying residents can receive from $350-$2,000 to recycle their wood-burning device and upgrade to a cleaner and more efficient home heating source. For eligibility and more information, please visit this website: https://pscleanair.gov/409/Wood-Stove-Program.  

Wood Stove Snip

Building Community Resilience Conference

Snohomish County Human Services – Behavioral Health is hosting a two-day virtual conference coming up in October called “Building Community Resilience”. The seminars cover a number of topics but are mainly focused on how we can address our social and emotional well-being and heal after experiencing trauma. As we collectively emerge from the pandemic, it’s important that we acknowledge the shared trauma we experienced and give ourselves and each other grace moving forward. If you would like to attend this conference, please register at this link. Scholarships are also available.   

Community Resilience Conference

Grow Your Own Groceries

WSU Snohomish County Extension shared a recent announcement for how you can grow your own groceries in an environmentally friendly way. The class series starts on October 12 and will run through the spring. Speakers and topics will help beginners, as well as long time gardeners, learn more about growing food using healthy and sustainable practices. Register online at GrowingGroceries.Eventbrite.comFor more information about all classes in the series, visit snohomish.wsu.edu/growing-groceries or contact Kate Ryan at (425) 357-6024, or kate.ryan@wsu.edu

WSU Extension

Tire Recycle Survey

I’ve made several visits out to nuisance properties in my district and one of the common items we see in the Tulalip area littering the side of the road and on private property is abandoned tires. In order to reduce the number of abandoned tires, I met with our Public Works department to discuss clean up options and in response they have applied for a grant with the Department of Ecology to recycle tires. The first step is survey to study this need and a future countywide tire recycling event. 

The Snohomish County Solid Waste Division has prepared an anonymous public survey to understand interest in a potential event. The data will also be submitted for a possible grant from Ecology to help fund the event. To help the division determine if an event would be successful, please complete this survey to help them collect the needed data: https://bit.ly/tiresurvey  

Tire Recycle Survey

Village Connection Fair

ChildStrive and the Village on Casino Road is hosting a Village Connection Fair on September 30 from 3-7p. There will be community, food, resources and great ways to connect with others. If you would like to support the resource fair, please bring a pack of diapers or a new toy to donate to the basic needs drive that supports children and their families. Here’s the Facebook flyer with more information: https://www.facebook.com/ConnectCasinoRoad/photos/a.203190573541257/1380904219103214/  

Village Connection Fair

In The Community

I recently met with the Monroe and Mukilteo Kiwanis groups to provide an update on County efforts related to children's health and wellness and mental and behavioral health services for all families. I had such a fun time with the groups that I volunteered at the Kiwanis salmon bake fundraising booth during the Mukilteo Lighthouse Festival.MukFest” celebrated it’s 75th year and is Mukilteo’s signature event and each year it’s kicked off by the landing of the Mukfest Pirates of the Salish Sea at the Lighthouse. Many thanks to all the other volunteers, staff, sponsors, and participants for making it such a successful and fun event! 

With Marty at MukFest after boiling several hundred ears of corn!

MukFest

 

Also in Mukilteo I attended the ceremony to replace the plaque commemorating the place where the 1855 treaty between local tribes and the US government was signed. The treaty itself is stored at the National Archives, but was recently brought to the Hibulb Cultural Center for display. I visited to see the treaty first-hand and learn more about what transpired and the true history of how this agreement came to be.

The land that we all live on was first the land of indigenous people, and in 2021 I led efforts to change our County Code to include a Tribal Land Acknowledgement at our General Legislative Session. Relationships with our local tribes including the Tulalip Tribes is very important to me as is honoring the words in our tribal land acknowledgement which includes: We will strive to be honest about our past mistakes and bring about a future that includes their people, stories, and voices to form a more just and equitable society.  

I encourage folks to learn more about the true and accurate history of the signing of the Treaty of Point Elliott by including and centering the historic accounts by the tribes, and learn about the ways that this treaty has historically not been honored. More information can be found here, here, and here.  

With Teri Gobin at Plaque

With Board of Directors Chair Teri Gobin at the plaque

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Listening to remarks at the event

Remarks at Plaque

Closing

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.  

Stay Well, 

Megan