Councilmember Nehring's March Newsletter

February was a busy month at the Snohomish County Council. While we continue our work to address the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown, we are also moving forward with other initiatives in the community. In this month’s newsletter, I will provide an update on the RAP Program, our Broadband Action Team, and a town hall with Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair. 

RAP Program 

We continue our legislative advocacy in Olympia to ensure continued funding of the Regional Apprenticeship Pathways (RAP) Program. We have met with legislators from both parties in the House and Senate about the request and have received very positive feedback so far. We will continue to monitor the budget proposals out of each chamber and let you know what happens as the session progresses.  

Broadband Action Team 

We are excited for our first Broadband Action Team meeting to take place this Thursday, March 4th. Our group of stakeholders from education, healthcare, local government, business, and other communities will discuss strategies for expanding broadband access to more residents. In my next newsletter, I will provide you with an update from that meeting and our work moving forward.  

In the meantime, I would recommend completing the broadband survey from the State Broadband Office. It can be found at this link. The results of this survey will help us identify the gaps in broadband access and set us up for future project funding requests.  

Additionally, earlier this week we heard about Comcast’s announcement to invest $7.6 million in broadband infrastructure in rural Snohomish County. This investment will help bring needed access to areas in North Snohomish County, including Sisco Heights, Burn Road, and Frontier Air Park. We hope that our Broadband Action Team efforts will result in more exciting announcement and investments like these. 

Town Hall 

On Thursday, February 25th, I joined Island County Commissioner Janet St. Clair for a virtual town hall for the Stanwood-Camano area. Commissioner St. Clair hosts these town halls monthly and I thank her for inviting me to participate in this event.  

At the town hall, we discussed the SWISS group of counties and our work to advocate for our shared priorities including broadband access, behavioral health resources, and transportation needs. We fielded questions from the audience and had great conversations about issues facing residents in Northwest Snohomish County. We also presented Michelle Ballard with the “Hometown Hero” award for her work at the Community Resource Center of Stanwood Camano. Michelle’s work has helped many of our neighbors through difficult times and we appreciate her dedication to our communities.  

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 425-512-4810 or Nate.Nehring@snoco.org.