Councilman Nehring's February Newsletter

Dear North County Neighbors,

2020 has been busy as we kicked off a New Year and a new decade. In this month’s newsletter, I will highlight some exciting developments at the Snohomish County Council as well as a number of events I attended in January.

On January 6^th, the County Council met for its first meeting of 2020. Annually, the County Council elects its leadership for the year. This year, I was elected Chair of the Council and Councilmember Stephanie Wright was elected Vice Chair. I am honored and humbled by the trust that my fellow Councilmembers placed in me and look forward to working together to make 2020 a great year for Snohomish County. This year, I hope to work on a number of initiatives including our budget process, a focus on housing affordability, and continuing our work to address homelessness and drug abuse in our communities. I look forward to working with my colleagues to tackle these and many of the other issues facing our constituents in Snohomish County.

One of the most significant initiatives we have undertaken since I took office is the Regional Apprenticeship Pathways (RAP) Program. The RAP Program is a pre-apprenticeship opportunity for high school students in Snohomish County to gain valuable experience and training in the building trades. On January 8^th, we held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Marysville Pilchuck High School for the RAP Program. We were joined by over 100 community members and leaders from government, industry, labor, and education as well as the talented students participating in the program. It was great to highlight the tremendous work of the students and I appreciate the support of the community for this great program.

The following day, I spoke to the Stanwood Chamber of Commerce. I presented a State of the County to the business and government leaders at the event. I shared an update of the County’s 2020 budget, the RAP Ribbon Cutting, and other updates from the County. These Chamber meetings are a great opportunity for me to meet with community leaders, listen to their concerns, and share our progress on important issues facing the County.

On January 17^th, I spoke to the WSU Beach Watchers group at their regular meeting. The Beach Watchers are a group of dedicated volunteers who, in addition to learning, commit their time to environmental stewardship by participating in beach clean-up events. The Beach Watchers were a great partner in the kickoff event for SnoCo Tap, an effort to promote the use of reusable water bottles and reduce our use of plastics. I appreciated the opportunity to speak to them and thank them for their efforts.

As you may have heard, Snohomish County Treasurer Kirke Sievers passed away on Christmas Day. Kirke served over 40 years in elected office in Snohomish County as Treasurer and County Councilmember. Kirke and his father dedicated most of their adult lives to public service and Snohomish County is better for it. On January 21^st, we held a memorial for Kirke Sievers at the County Campus. We were joined by members of the Sievers family, staff from the Treasurer’s office, and elected officials to remember a life well lived. I appreciate Councilmember Sam Low for organizing the service and those who helped put on a great service for a great man.

Earlier this week, the County Council met for a retreat to plan for this year and discuss shared priorities. These retreats serve as valuable time for Council to meet with each other and our staff to discuss topics important to our constituents. At the retreat, we discussed our budget process (including the potential of moving to a biennial budget), ways which we can better support veterans in our communities, and regional collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions which will allow us to work together to solve complex issues. We also had early discussions of budget priorities, helping to lay the groundwork for our collaboration with the County Executive and other independently elected officials in the budgeting process.

I would love to hear from you what your priorities are so that I can be sure to communicate these as we move forward in discussions surrounding the county budget and other important policy conversations. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office any time by email or phone.

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