Hello Friend: 

We continue to be busy as the county campus opened for in-person meetings and appointments earlier this month and Council has started holding hybrid council meetings. It’s been great to get to return to events like groundbreakings and tours and seeing people in person again! We have all been through a lot these past 16 months and we still have a bit to go before we’re completely out of the COVID woods.

Though the county has reached almost 70% of residents who have initiated vaccination, there are concerns about the slow emergence of the Delta variant. In light of raising case counts, hospitalizations, and the delta variant, Health Officer Chris Spitters recently joined other public health leaders in urging folks to wear masks in public indoor spaces regardless of their vaccination status. The best way to eradicate both COVID and any associated variant is to get vaccinated and close that door of opportunity.  

In this newsletter I’ll share more about the recent events and tours I’ve been able to go on. I’ll also share information about vaccination opportunities, opportunities for you to provide public comment on several county matters, and local area events. 

I sincerely hope that this email finds you safe and well. If you haven any questions or if I can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at megan.dunn@snoco.org or my aide, Paula Rhyne, at paula.rhyne@snoco.org. You can also call the office at 425-388-3494 and leave a message and we will get back to you asap. 

Be well, 

Megan 

Over the month of June, all but one of the County’s Mass Vaccination sites have demobilized. The last mass vaccination site that is still up is at Ash Way Park ‘n Ride, but they will be wrapping up soon as well. Currently, they are only providing second-dose Pfizer vaccinations through the end of the month. You can drive-thru or walk-up at this site. Appointments are suggested, but not required.  

With the demobilization of the mass vaccination sites, the county is shifting focus to community-based vaccination clinics or encouraging individuals to go to their primary care provider or local pharmacy to get their vaccination. If you are part of an organization who would like to host a vaccination clinic, there are several ways that you can make a request: 

• Through the Washington State Department of Health Car-A-Van mobile vaccination program 
• Through the Snohomish Health District Point of Distribution (POD) Mobile Clinics 
• Through the Vaccine Equity Partnership supported by the Providence Institute for a Healthier Community.  

Vaccines are safe, effective, and free. Please get yours today! 

As part of the Federal American Rescue Plan Act, Snohomish County will be receiving $160 million to help address COVID-related needs in our county. This money will be received in two installments and must be allocated within three years. We are planning to use the first installment to respond to the current immediate needs of people and businesses and the second installment will be used for long-term recovery planning.  

Over the past few months the County Executive has been working with his team to put together an allocation plan. This plan has been put together with careful input from local mayors, tribal leaders, human services providers, and community leaders. In a previous newsletter I shared the work that I have been doing over the past 15 months to host a County and Human Services Providers call to help with information sharing and coordinating resources. As a result of these calls, the county heard from the people and organizations in the area working directly with our marginalized and vulnerable neighbors and have allocated a substantial portion of the ARPA dollars to support the recovery of individuals and households impacted by COVID-19. This funding includes access to benefits and enhanced senior services, enhanced early learning services, childcare for essential workers, food security, behavioral health services, housing stability, and other support services.  

Other ARPA response “buckets” include money for economic and workforce recovery, public health, and county operations. The county is working hard to take a strategic and holistic look at how to best spend the dollars that the county will be receiving. We are in deliberations now to finalize details on this first allocation of funding and I will be prioritizing small business resiliency, our human service response, and making sure we have an equitable recovery. If you have priorities that you would also like to see included, please feel free to email the whole council at contact.council@snoco.org so that we all can keep your thoughts and concerns in mind. 

Earlier this month I joined Senator Maria Cantwell, State Senator Marko Liias, Mayor Mike Nelson, and other local officials to tour the Meadowdale Beach Park and Estuary Restoration Project. The park currently has a culvert that goes under the railroad track which connects Lunds Gulch Creek to Puget Sound. The culvert would often flood and it was a difficult passageway for both beachgoers and the salmon that use this stream to spawn.  

The project will remove the culvert and open up this waterway underpass to restore it close to its original condition. Other ecological improvements include enhanced creek and pond habitats and shoreline restoration. Construction is currently underway and expected to be completed in spring of 2022. There are a lot of partners who came together to fund and provide permits for this restoration project and I’m grateful for all of the hard work that is going into this project.  

Here’s some pictures from the tour: 

Another tour that I recently was able to go on was at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club. My aide, Paula, and I met up with Executive Director Bill Tsoukalas, Unit Manager Shawn Sanchey, and Administrative Assistant Diane Prouty for a tour and to hear about the great work that they’re doing in the community.  

Bill shared that this Boys & Girls Club has been a big success due in part to their strong relationship with the Tulalip Tribe and is a model for other Boys & Girls Clubs across the state and nation that are on designated tribal land. We heard more from staff about the hard work they did to shift their programs during COVID and help with childcare for our first responders and frontline workers. Paula and I were both so impressed with the amazing work that they do to provide care for kiddos in the area. We were both also floored with the new “Teen Center” that had everything a teenager could want including snacks, a dance floor, video games, and beanbag chairs! 

Here’s a couple of pictures from the tour: 

I recently had the opportunity to take a tour of the construction area of the expanding Imagine Children’s Museum (ICM) in Everett. This museum was a family favorite of ours when my kids were younger. I’m glad to see that they have used their time during the COVID closures to work on expanding their footprint and provide even more learning opportunities for children.  

The expansion will include a Woodlands Adventure and Canopy Gallery, a Puget Sound Ecosystem Gallery, Engineering Gallery, and a third floor multi-purpose auditorium and eating space. ICM has provided so many special experiences to so many families and children in the area and this expansion will more than double their operating space, and memories too, I’m sure!  

The rest of the museum is open during construction but folks are required to reserve an admission time. Here’s a link to their website with more information.  

Snohomish County is now accepting applications to serve on the North Central (Mukilteo) Ferry Advisory Committee. Members are appointed to a four-year term and will provide local perspectives and recommendations to the Washington State Department of Transportation. 

Advisory Committee Members will meet quarterly to discuss any issues or logistics regarding the new terminal and surrounding area, and then provide feedback to WSDOT staff. Applicants should have an active interest in issues pertaining to ferry service, use the ferry themselves, or have a business that is impacted by the ferry terminal or ferry schedules. Applicants should also live near the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal. Applications can be submitted online or to receive a paper application, please call 425-388-3699. 

Over the last decade, Everett residents have seen a lot of changes to the waterfront and Port. Most notably was the closing of the Kimberly-Clark Paper Mill located just south of where Naval Station Everett now stands. In 2012, the 700 employees at the mill received a lay-off notice and the factory was eventually demolished. The land on which the mill stood was terribly contaminated to the point where weeds couldn’t even grow in the remaining dirt.  

Over the years, the Port of Everett has been able to purchase the property and take on the enormous environmental clean-up efforts. I recently attended the Norton Terminal Groundbreaking Ceremony marking the end of the environmental clean-up and the beginning of constructing an industrial center as part of their Mills to Maritime initiative. This new industrial center will provide almost 1,000 family-wage jobs to people in our region and will be a huge step towards the revitalization and reimagining of Everett’s waterfront. 

Here's a picture of myself and Port of Everett CEO Lisa Lefeber at the event:

Every ten years, a Redistricting Commission is put together to review and adjust the boundaries of the Snohomish County Council Districts. The State and County requires the districts be contiguous, as compact as possible, to the extent possible coinciding with natural boundaries, and with consideration to communities of related and mutual interest. It’s this last part where you come in!  

The commission asks that the public shares if there’s a local group like your neighborhood associations, school districts, homeowners associations, etc. which should not be split up when boundaries are drawn. There are several ways that you can get involved to provide this input: 

• Attend (or virtually attend) a public Districting Commission meeting. The next one will be August 18 at 4p. You can either join via Zoom, or in-person at Council Chambers on the 8th Floor of the County Admin building. To join via Zoom, use this link: https://zoom.us/j/98357673390, or call in to the meeting at 1-253-215-8782, Meeting ID: 983 5767 3390.  
• Email - Comments can be emailed to districting@snoco.org 
• Mail - Comments can be mailed to Snohomish County Districting Committee, c/o Snohomish County Council, Attn: Debbie Eco, Clerk of the Committee, 3000 Rockefeller Ave., M/S 609, Everett, WA, 98201 
• Newsletters - Sign up for the our 2021 Redistricting e-newsletter on the website at: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/5773/Districting-Committee.  

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. It’s important to me to keep you updated on my work at the County and updates from my district. If you are in need of any assistance or if there is any county information that I can help to provide, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at Megan.Dunn@snoco.org, or with my aide at Paula.Rhyne@snoco.org. You can call our office as well at 425-388-3494 to leave a message and we’ll return your call.  

Stay Well, 

Megan