Councilman Nehring's September Newsletter

Dear North County Neighbors,

I hope you are enjoying the last days of summer as we get closer to fall. In this month’s newsletter, I will highlight my recent ride-along with the Sheriff’s Office, an update on one of our chronic nuisance properties, the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Centennial Trail Connector, a meeting on broadband with FCC Chair, and the Evergreen State Fair.

Sheriff’s Office Ride-Along

On the ground experiences are critical to understanding the job that our County employees are doing. This is especially true for our Sheriff’s Office personnel. With the recent calls to defund the police across the country and new anti-police legislation, the job we ask our law enforcement officers to do is becoming significantly more difficult. 

On Friday, August 20th, I participated in a ride-along with Sgt. Navarro and Deputy Stephens of the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office from 8:30pm-3:30am.

While on the ride-along, we talked about many of the challenges facing our communities and the ways that the Sheriff’s Office is working to keep us safe. One of the biggest takeaways I had from our conversations and this experience is the consequences of recent police reform laws on our law enforcement personnel. 

One of the specific examples of these impacts is the new restrictions on police use of force and how that is affecting their ability to assist social workers responding to mental health crises. The partnership between law enforcement and social workers is critical when addressing the mental health and substance abuse issues in our communities. This strategy has been shown to be effective right here in North Snohomish County but these new restrictions on police put that success in jeopardy. I hope that the legislature will revisit these “reforms” in the next legislative session to ensure that we have the tools to keep our communities safe moving forward. 

I appreciate the time that Sgt. Navarro and Deputy Stephens spent with me and their dedication to the communities they serve.

Larson Road Nuisance Property

On Wednesday, August 18th, I joined our Nuisance Properties Team at one of our chronic nuisance properties on Larson Road. The Nuisance Properties Team consists of staff from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, Code Enforcement, and the Snohomish Health District. Residents in the Silvana area are very familiar with the property we visited just off of Pioneer Highway as it is among the worst in the county. 

This property has been host to squatters, drug use, stolen property, dilapidated cars and RVs, and multiple health code violations. Many attempts have been made over the years to address the issues on this property. 

During our visit to the property last month, the Sheriff’s Office made multiple arrests of suspects with outstanding warrants. The individuals squatting on the property were also offered services, but unfortunately none of them were willing to receive help. 

This property is one of many owned by banks which makes it very difficult to hold the property owner accountable for the condition of the property. We are pursuing multiple legal avenues to get this property (and many others) addressed but it takes many resources and a lot of time to come to a resolution for the neighbors of these blights. Despite these challenges, we will continue to work on this important community issue. 

Centennial Trail Connector Ribbon Cutting

The City of Marysville recently completed the Bayview/Centennial Trail Connector project. This project, which was supported by Snohomish County, created a connection to the Centennial Trail from Marysville. The trail is designed for walking, biking, hiking, skateboarding, and horseback riding. 

By making this connection, Marysville residents will have a new pedestrian access to the popular Centennial Trail. I was honored to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony on August 20th. I joined other local and State elected officials as the City officially opened the trail.

This new trail will provide great access to recreation for years to come.

Broadband Meeting with FCC Chair

On August 27th, Councilmember Sam Low and I joined Congresswoman Suzan DelBene for a conversation about rural broadband with Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The meeting, held via Zoom, included select broadband stakeholders sharing their collective goal of expanding reliable broadband access to residents and businesses across our region.

Councilmember Low and I highlighted the work of the Snohomish County Broadband Action Team (BAT), created in 2020, to bring internet access to rural parts of the County. 

BAT is a collaboration of community leaders in education, healthcare, business, first responders, local government, and broadband providers who focus on developing strategies for expanding broadband within Snohomish County.

It was an honor to join Congresswoman DelBene and Acting FCC Chair Rosenworcel to discuss opportunities to expand internet access to rural communities in Snohomish County and throughout our region. I look forward to continuing this work moving forward.

Evergreen State Fair

The Evergreen State Fair is back after being cancelled last year. The Fair, which started last Thursday, has exhibit animals, fun rides, great food, entertaining shows, and many vendors. My family and I went on opening day to see all of the awesome things the Fair has to offer again. 

The fair runs through Labor Day (except for Sept. 1st) so make sure to stop by sometime before it’s over! Parking is free to visitor this year, too! To learn more about the attractions and shows, visitor evergreenfair.org. 

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.

Sincerely,

Nate Nehring
Councilman, District 1

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