Dear North County Neighbors,
March saw a culmination of some of the efforts surrounding
opioids that I have been working on over the past year. In this month’s
newsletter, I will highlight our press conference related to the heroin and
opioid epidemic in North County, my legislation that passed in March, and
upcoming 2019 budget discussions.
Last Thursday, March 29th, I joined Executive
Somers, Sheriff Trenary, and the mayors and police chiefs of Arlington and
Marysville to launch the North County Law Enforcement-Embedded Social Worker
(LEESW) team. As I have shared before, the LEESW team consists of a sheriff’s
deputy, a Marysville police officer, an Arlington police officer, and two
social workers. This team is deployed into the community to approach homeless
and drug addicted individuals in their element and work to get them on a better,
more productive path. The team was just officially launched last week and we
have already seen some great success stories. I am excited to see the great
work they will do and the positive impact that they will have on the lives of
these individuals and the community at-large.
At the press conference, I also highlighted some of the
recent legislation that I have introduced and the County Council has passed.
The first piece of legislation that we passed was Ordinance 18-014, banning
heroin injection sites in Snohomish County. Back in September, 2017, the
Snohomish County Council passed a moratorium on these dangerous sites while we
considered a permanent ban. After review by the Planning Commission and
Council, we unanimously passed the ban. I am so grateful to all of the residents
that testified and showed their support for banning heroin injection sites in
unincorporated Snohomish County. I am also thankful to the Cities of Lake
Stevens, Lynnwood, Marysville, Snohomish, Sultan, Granite Falls and the Town of Darrington
for moving forward with bans of their own. Pierce County is also pursuing a ban
similar to ours which was inspired by the movement here in Snohomish County.
My second piece of legislation passed by the Council last
month is the Chronic Nuisance Properties Ordinance (Ord. 18-013). This
ordinance is the product of many months of work by the Drug and Gang Task
Force, the Sheriff’s Office, Planning and Development Services, and Council
staff. The new law will give more tools to law enforcement to identify and
bring resolution to chronic nuisance properties. While the code encourages voluntary
compliance (abatement of the nuisance), it also lays out the process for
mandatory abatement if the property owner is not willing to take steps to stop
the illegal activity happening. This is an important step in helping to address
the negative impact drug addiction and the associated crime are having on our
neighborhoods.
As we move further into the year, we are starting to have
early conversations about the 2019 budget process and priorities. As you will
recall, last year we were successful in passing a budget that did not increase
property taxes and lives within our means. I have the same goal this year and I
have been meeting with Councilmembers and the County Executive to start those
conversations. I am pleased at the direction we are heading and looking forward
to continued talks about where we can save money and continue to provide
necessary services to Snohomish County residents without resorting to a tax
increase.
I
send out newsletters on a monthly basis to keep you informed about what I am
working on and how I am representing the residents of North Snohomish County on
the County Council. Please feel free to reach out to me at 425-388-3494 or Nate.Nehring@snoco.org.
Sincerely,
Nate
Nehring
Councilman, District 1
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