Councilman Nehring's October Newsletter

Dear North County Neighbors,

In the lead up to our busy budget season, September had some exciting updates and events I will share with you in this month’s newsletter. I will cover County Executive Dave Somers’ budget delivery, the Multi-Agency Coordination (MAC) Group update as it relates to our approach to the heroin/opioid epidemic, and the Snohomish County Tomorrow (SCT) Annual General Assembly.

The Snohomish County Charter requires the County Executive to present a proposed budget to the Snohomish County Council. On September 25, 2018, Executive Somers presented his budget in a delivery speech at the County Admin Building with all councilmembers present. As I mentioned previously, I have joined Council Chair Wright in meeting with Executive Somers over the past several months to discuss budget priorities for the Council and Executive going into 2019. These meetings led to the proposed budget from the Executive which does not raise the County’s general property tax levy, prioritizes public safety, and continues to find new and better ways to save your valuable tax dollars. I appreciate what the County Executive called the “most bipartisan budget process in the county’s history” and I am grateful to have been included in the process. Now that the Council has received the proposed budget, we will begin hearing from the different departments about their specific requests. Council will then consider changes and adopt a final budget in November. I will continue to update you on the budget process and negotiations as we move forward. You can read the Everett Herald's coverage of the budget presentation here.

Last year, Executive Somers partially activated the County’s emergency management system to address the heroin and opioid epidemic. In doing so, the Multi-Agency Coordination (MAC) group was formed. The MAC group is a collective effort including government agencies and service providers such as the Sheriff’s Office, the Health District, and many others. This group identified goals and then specific objectives to apply our collective resources and time to solving this crisis which affects all of us. I regularly attend the MAC group meetings to stay up to date on the work they are doing and provide any policy assistance we can from the County Council. The MAC group has recently presented its work from the past year to city mayors across the county. It will continue to operate into next year as we collectively work to find solutions to these complex issues and foster safer communities for our families. You can learn more about the MAC group’s efforts here and coverage by MyNorthwest here.

Last Wednesday, October 26th, we hosted the Snohomish County Tomorrow General Assembly. The General Assembly gathers elected leaders from local governments in Snohomish County to discuss issues affecting us all and develop a plan for addressing them. This year’s General Assembly was heavily focused on transportation issues, particularly in the context of the population growth projected for our region. Washington State Director of Transportation Roger Millar gave us a presentation about how the State Department of Transportation works and answered many questions about growing transportation concerns in Snohomish County. I appreciate the work of Snohomish County Tomorrow and the many elected officials that joined us for the Assembly last week.

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

Snohomish County Council 3000 Rockefeller Ave., M/S 609 Everett, Washington 98201   8th floor, Robert J. Drewel Building  Phone: 425-388-3494 E-Mail: Nate.Nehring@snoco.org   Russell Wiita, Legislative Aide