How to Prepare for the Historic Heatwave

Your Update on What's Happening at the King County Council  

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Watch for King County, with expected high temperatures in the upper 90s up to 107 degrees on Sunday and Monday. This is anticipated to be an all-time record high temperature for our region for the month of June!

As we brace ourselves against the heat, I want to share some resources to help you and your family stay safe:

• Stay cool at a cooling center near you. There are locations available across District 9, including Bellevue, Issaquah, Maple Valley, Black Diamond, Enumclaw.
• Learn about how to prevent heat exhaustion and heat stroke and what to do if you or someone else shows signs of heat-related illnesses. Drinking plenty of water, staying out of the sun, and limiting physical activity are key.
• Find more hot weather safety tips at the Department of Health’s website.
• Remember—there is a Stage 1 burn ban in effect across unincorporated King County.

Please stay safe—and try to stay cool this weekend!

All my best,

Reagan Dunn Vice Chair Metropolitan King County Council

Councilmember Dunn’s Stop Hate Hotline and Officer Wellness Program proposals receive funding at the Council

I am happy to share that two of my top legislative priorities received funding in the supplemental budget that the King County Council passed this week:

• My Stop the Hate Hotline legislation aims to provide a community-based avenue for people to report incidents of hate crimes.
• My legislation to create an Officer Wellness Program would provide mental health resources to our King County Sheriff’s Office deputies who are struggling with stress or trauma from the demands of the job or any other cause.

Both of these pieces of legislation will need to be approved by a vote of the Council, but I am pleased to see these budget allocations approved. I will continue to keep you updated as these items move through the King County Council!

The King County Council approves Councilmember Dunn’s $500k budget ask to fund Recovery Café’s programs on addiction and mental health

Councilmember Reagan Dunn with Recovery Cafe David Coffey

Our region is seeing a heartbreaking crisis of addiction that has greatly worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic. As a recovering alcoholic with years of sobriety under my belt, I am very glad to help provide funding to Recovery Café that will allow them to re-open their location in the SODO neighborhood of Seattle, furthering their work helping people from all over King County re-claim their lives from addiction. Thank you to Executive Director David Coffey for working with me on this initiative.

King County Leading the Nation in Vaccination Rates

I am proud that King County has among the highest vaccine coverage relative to the 100 most populous counties in the nation. Among the 12 most populous counties, King County has, by far, the highest proportion of residents ages 12+ who have completed the vaccine series. A special thank you to all of our healthcare workers who have worked tirelessly to make this achievement possible!

In the News

• The Seattle Times: Fatal stabbing prompts proposed legislation to condemn Seattle’s City Hall Park
• KING 5 News: King County councilmember pushes to condemn Seattle park with large homeless population
• KOMO News: Proposal calls for condemning Seattle's City Hall Park as menace to public safety