Snohomish County Council News - Sam Low, District 5

Snohomish County, Washington sent this bulletin at 07/25/2019 02:24 PM PDT

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

News from Sam Low

July 2019

Sam Low'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: Sam.Low@snoco.org

Darcy Cheesman, Legislative Aide

SWUGA - Study Sharing Workshop

Snohomish County’s Planning and Development Services is hosting a study sharing workshop to discuss and share information they have gathered during this planning study. All details are listed below.

Southwest Urban Growth Area Boundary Planning Study (SWUGA BPS) Study Sharing Workshop Agenda

Wednesday, August 7 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Valley View Middle School 14308 Broadway Ave. Snohomish, WA 98296

https://www.snohomishcountywa.gov/4129/SWUGA-Boundary-Planning-Study?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Recycling Information

Republic Services and Snohomish County Solid Waste delivered a presentation at one of our Public Works Committee meetings this month. Below are a few highlights from the meeting.

Republic Services

Republic Services presented their annual solid waste disposal report to council. One area of interest was information regarding what is not considered recyclable. Below is a slide that shows items that should not be included in recycling.

Paint Recycling

Our Solid Waste division also provided Council with an update on the paint recycling program I introduced in 2017 and it was fully implemented early this year. Below are a few highlights.

The new latex paint recycling program was implemented March of this year. It provides an option for residents to deal with their unwanted latex paint. The cost of the program is $10 per 5 gallon increment and customers seem to be very willing to pay for the service. County residents have also expressed appreciation for the program to household hazardous waste staff at the facility located in downtown Everett. (For additional information on program and costs go to https://snohomishcountywa.gov/207/Solid-Waste).

Approximately 90 to 95% of the paint that is collected is sent off for recycling through the County vendor GreenSheen. GreenSheen has other paint recycling partners in the area that can be found at:

https://greensheenpaint.com/recycle/washington/everett.php.

The numbers:

As of June 30, 2019

               Number of Customers:             1,453
               Gallons Collected:                    23,487
               Paid by Customers:               $ 40,737

As of May 31, 2019

Paid to Vendor: $ 31,281

Sievers Plaza

Last year I introduced an ordinance to rename the county plaza to the Sievers Plaza. Council voted to move forward on this proposal and this month we honored Kirke Sievers and his late father Vern for 85 combined years of service to the residents of Snohomish County. Family, friends, current and past elected officials came out to honor the Sievers' family. I was humbled to be able to be part of this day.

NACO – Digital Awards for Snohomish County

Information Courtesy of Executive Somers Office

This month, the Center for Digital Government (CDG) and the National Association for Counties (NACo) announced the winners of the 17^th annual Digital Counties Survey. Snohomish County won first place in the 500,000-999,999 population category.

Snohomish County received the award for its innovative solutions to the challenges faced by local government. The county’s CIO and director of the Department of Information Technology, Viggo Forde, set out to change the culture of government technology and utilize a more collaborative approach to addressing the various IT needs. Snohomish County adopted a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy to keep data more secure and protect the continuity of government operations. In addition, the county’s annual Information Services Plan and Report is a model for other counties.

“Our team is honored to receive this award and proud to be leaders in digital government,” said Forde. “Making the lives of county residents and employees easier through smart use of technology motivates us. As our operations grow, so does the need for tools and technologies to better serve our residents in an efficient and effective manner. We will continue to innovate and invest in new solutions to achieve our goals and enhance our services.”

The Digital Counties Survey, conducted by CDG in partnership with NACo, identifies the best technology practices among U.S. counties, including initiatives that streamline delivery of government services, encourage collaboration and shared services, and enhance cybersecurity.

I was honored to accept this award on behalf of Viggo and his team.

Sky Valley Open House

Traffic on US 2 is an ongoing concern for the residents of Sky Valley. On Wednesday July 31^st at 7pm Sheriff Trenary and I are hosting an Open House with WSDOT and Snohomish County Public Works. If you live in the area I hope you are able to come out and join in the conversation.

Roads Update

WESTBOUND US 2 CLOSED AUG. 3-4

Additional information on the closure can be found here.

LAKE STEVENS/SNOHOMISH:

Changes coming to SR 204/20th Street merge.

Additional information on this change can be found here

US 2 SINGLE LANE CLOSURE AND PILOT CARS

WSDOT will have a slew of overnight on- and off-ramp closures and single lane reductions for the US 2/Bickford to Gold Bar project. There’s too many to list here, but they’re on the Snohomish County construction page.

Below is information on the single lane closures with a pilot car alternating traffic through one open lane on US 2. Expect delays during the following dates/times:

Pilot car alternates traffic between South Machias Road and Fryelands Boulevard:

Sunday, July 21, to the morning of Wednesday, July 24 – 7 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. nightly.

Pilot car alternates traffic between East Main Street/Old Owen Road to just west of 227th Avenue Southeast:

Thursday, Aug. 8, to the morning of Friday, Aug. 9 – 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Monday, Aug. 12, to the morning of Friday, Aug. 16 – 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly.
Sunday, Aug. 18, to the morning of Monday, Aug. 19 – 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.

INDEX & SKYKOMISH:

Phase two of WSDOT’s multi-highway resurfacing project is coming back to US 2!

US 2: Single lane reductions between Mt Index Road and Old Cascade Highway

Tuesday, July 23 - Single lane closure from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday, July 26 or Monday, July 29 (depending on weather/completion of SR 547) - Single lane closure from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 1 and Friday, Aug. 2 - Single lane closure from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
Wednesday, Aug. 7 - Single lane closure from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

LAKE STEVENS:

SR 9/SR 204 daytime improvements

Daytime shoulder closures along northbound and southbound SR 9 between 4^th Street Southeast and Market Street continue this month. This is for the first phase of the intersection improvement project there. Please look out for crews on the shoulders during the following dates/times:

Monday, July 22 to Friday, July 26 – shoulder closure between 4th Street Southeast and Market Street from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
Monday, July 29 to Friday, Aug. 2 – shoulder closure between 4th Street Southeast and Market Street from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
Monday, Aug. 5 to Friday, Aug. 9 – shoulder closure between 4th Street Southeast and Market Street from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

SR 92 full weekend closure Aug. 10-11

Plan now for a full weekend closure of both directions of SR 92 between 127th Avenue and 44th Street in support of WSDOT’S Little Pilchuck fish passage project.

From 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9 to 10 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 11 – SR 92 will close. This gives contractor crews working for Graham Construction the space they need to replace a guardrail. While there’s no guardrail there, WSDOT can’t have the road open to travel, hence the weekend closure.