Councilman Nehring's October Newsletter

As we enjoy some of the last days of summer weather and move into fall, I hope you and your family are doing well. Fall brings budget season for us at the Snohomish County Council. In this month’s newsletter I will highlight the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony in Marysville, our law enforcement resolution, a ride-along with our Nuisance Properties team, an update on the SR-529 project, a broadband update, an overview of the Executive’s proposed budget, and a new online budget tool. 

9/11 Remembrance Ceremony 

On September 11th of each year, we pay our respects to the 3,000 lives lost in the horrific terrorist attack perpetrated against our country on 9/11/01. This year, these events looked different as many were broadcast virtually. I was honored to participate in the City of Marysville’s virtual ceremony and want to thank the Marysville Regional Fire Authority for putting on an appropriate tribute to the lives lost and the heroic acts that we remember each year. It is important that we never forget this tragic event and that we continue to strive for the unity that we felt afterward where we put our differences aside to support our country and our fellow citizens. You can watch the ceremony at this link.    

Law Enforcement Resolution 

With the civil unrest in Seattle and across the country, it is important that we support our law enforcement personnel against the increased violence we have witnessed against them. That is why I was proud to support Resolution 20-020 at the County Council which affirmed the Council’s support of our Sheriff’s Deputies and Law Enforcement Officials following the ambush and shooting of two deputies in LA County. The resolution, which was introduced by Councilmember Sam Low, passed unanimously on September 16th. Our law enforcement officers work every day to keep our communities safe and calls for violence against them or anyone else have no place in civilized society. You can read the full resolution at this link.

Nuisance Properties Ride-along 

I have always felt it is important for policymakers to be in the community, on the ground to see how policies are working and how to improve our response to community issues. As part of this effort, I went on a ride-along with our nuisance properties team in North County on September 25th. This team is made up of representatives from the Sheriff’s Office, Human Services, Code Enforcement, and the Health District. We visited a number of nuisance properties and discussed some of the challenges this team has with addressing community nuisances including squatters, drug abuse, and property crimes.  

One of the properties had been a nuisance for several years and has now been cleaned up thanks to the great work of the nuisance properties team. Squatters were removed and the property has been completely rehabilitated and recently sold. This property is one I visited with the team a couple of years ago. As a follow up to that ride-along, I introduced an ordinance which provided our nuisance properties team with greater tools for addressing these properties. I am pleased to see the results of their efforts and that the ordinance we worked on is helping to make our communities and neighborhoods safer. 

SR-529 Project Update 

The state’s Connecting Washington transportation package (passed in 2015) funded a project to add a brand new interchange with north and southbound ramps from I-5 to SR-529 as well as a northbound peak-use should lane between Marine View Drive and SR-528. Recently, Snohomish County and City officials became aware that Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) was considering postponing the project due to state budget shortfalls. City of Marysville officials worked with other stakeholders in drafting a letter urging WSDOT to keep the project on schedule. I signed on to that letter on August 24th and we learned on September 2nd that WSDOT was able to find a way to keep the project on the original schedule. This was great news. I appreciate the work of all the officials who signed on to the letter and WSDOT for working with us on this critical project. You can read that letter by clicking on this link. 

Rural Broadband  

Rural broadband access has been one of my priorities since joining the County Council. The COVID-19 pandemic and expansion of remote working and learning has highlighted the need for expanded access now more than ever before. I recently met with executives from Ziply Fiber (which recently acquired Frontier Communications) to discuss the need for expanded rural broadband access in North Snohomish County. I was please to hear that Ziply leadership recognizes the need to expand service to underserved areas and has plans in the works to do just that.   

To help identify areas of focus for this effort, I would encourage you to complete Ziply’s short form to let them know that there is interest in your area for reliable broadband. You can access that survey at this link. 

Executive’s Proposed Budget 

As I have mentioned before, the County’s annual budget process begins with the County Executive delivering his recommended budget to the County Council. Earlier this week, Executive Somers delivered his budget recommendation. In his budget address, Executive Somers talked about our early actions to cut or slow spending in light of the economic downturn and resulting decrease in revenues. The proposed budget takes a similar approach to limit discretionary spending in 2021.  

I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Snohomish County Council to review the proposed budget in detail, make potential changes, and ultimately adopt the budget in mid-November. You can review the Executive’s Proposed budget by clicking on this link. I would welcome your feedback and ideas on the budget. To share your thoughts, you can reach out to me directly at nate.nehring@snoco.org or you can email all five councilmembers at contact.council@snoco.org.  

Online Budget Tool 

I believe transparency in government is critical to building trust within the community. To that end, I have worked with staff in the County Council’s office to develop an interactive online budget tool on the Council’s webpage. This tool allows members of the public to access data about the County’s budget broken down by each fund. The first version of this tool is now live on the County Council’s webpage and can be accessed at this link. 

This version of the budget tool compares the original 2020 adopted budget to the 2020 budget revision which the County Council adopted earlier this year. The budget revision cut spending as a result of the decreased revenues we anticipated for the year. In this tool, you can compare what was originally appropriated to each fund with what it was lowered to as a result of the mid-year revision. This tool is intended to allow members of the public to see how we budget at Snohomish County. If you have any questions about the budget tool or anything you see in the budget, please feel free to contact me.  

I send out monthly newsletters to keep you informed of my work and how I am representing you on the Snohomish County Council. As always, please do not hesitate in reaching out to me if you have any questions or concerns at nate.nehring@snoco.org or 425-388-3494.