Councilman Nehring's March Newsletter

I hope you had a great February as we begin to dry out from our Pacific Northwest winter weather. In this month’s newsletter I will highlight our in-district County Council meeting in Granite Falls, a few opportunities I had to present to community groups, our advocacy day in Olympia, and a new “Civic University” program I am working on with other community leaders. 

In 2016, Snohomish County voters amended the County Charter. One of the amendments requires that the County Council hold an evening meeting in each of the five council districts at least once per year. These evening meetings present an opportunity to bring county government closer to the people and the chance to attend meetings that they would otherwise not be able to attend. The District 1 night meeting for 2020 was held in Granite Falls on February 10th. The meeting was held in the brand new Granite Falls City Hall and Civic Center. We met in the City Council Chambers and received a presentation from Mayor Matt Hartman and City Administrator Brent Kirk. At the meeting, I also presented the City with a check from the Snohomish County Council for $40,000 to support their downtown infrastructure improvements. I appreciate the City for hosting us and for Mayor Hartman and Administrator Kirk for their presentation.  

In addition to the work we do within County Government, a large part of our job as elected representatives is to advocate on behalf of our communities in Olympia. On February 14th, I joined business and community leaders as well as other elected officials in Olympia at our State Capitol for the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County’s (EASC) Legislative Advocacy Day. This annual event gives us the opportunity to speak with our legislative representatives and senators and share our priorities for Snohomish County. We are able to share our transportation needs as well as other policy issues that affect our communities and residents. Thank you to the EASC and our legislators who made the time to meet with us. 

Finally, I am excited to share a new program that I am working on with fellow elected officials called Civic University. Civic University is a day where I join elected officials from other parts of government to go into a local high school and speak with students about government and public policy. It also involves an opportunity to provide feedback on student policy proposals. The first of these programs was on February 20th at Marysville Getchell High School. I was joined by Snohomish County Prosecutor Adam Cornell and Marysville City Council President Kamille Norton for this event. We had great questions from students about public policy areas including the criminal justice system, fireworks, and homelessness. I am continuing to reach out to high schools across North Snohomish County to do these Civic Universities and bring local government closer to students to give them real-life exposure to their elected officials and decision makers.