Submitted by the League of Women Voters Observer Corps.

The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization encourages informed participation in government. The Observer Corps attends and takes notes at government meetings to expand public understanding of public policy and decisions. The notes do not necessarily reflect the views of the League or its members.

County Council Dec. 13

During Public Access Lovel Pratt of Friends of the San Juans asked that council to again include getting oil spill equipment and personnel located in the county and to support whale deterrence during an oil spill.

In their discussion of legislative priorities at the federal and state level, the council included affordable housing, health and mental health, school funding, growler noise abatement, coastal erosion, oil spill issues, and ferries.

The council approved the recommendations for the 2023 Lodging Tax Awards by 2-1 with council member Wolf opposing due to the balance of distributions among islands.

The Auditor’s Office reported on grant administration.

The council was asked to ensure that grant requests include indirect costs in the budget before approving them for submission, The Auditor’s office will be submitting a new procurement policy to meet federal standards for procurements using grant funding.

The council authorized the County Manager Mike Thomas to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to create an Opioid Abatement Council to monitor funds received from opioid settlements.

There was a ceremony to recognize county employees who had reached milestone anniversaries working for the county.