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County Commissioner Melanie Bacon’s Weekly Newsletter

Thank you for reading my newsletter for the 38th week of 2026. 

  • The Regular Session of the Board of Island County Commissioners was held on Tuesday, September 15, 2026; video recording here: https://media.avcaptureall.cloud/meeting/9a00203d-e3d5-46db-80f8-ebf507e69e32.
    • We received two public comments, one from a person who wanted to make sure that the Shore Friendly program would continue after the 2020 Shoreline Master Program was adopted (it will), and another from a person concerned about a personal permit issue.
    • We approved a contract to provide funding to the Housing Authority of Island County to purchase and repair an 8-unit apartment in Oak Harbor for affordable housing. Cost: $1.5 Million; funding source: affordable housing sales tax revenue. Mark 00:08:37 in the video recording.
    • The long-awaited 2020 Shoreline Master Program public hearing was held on Tuesday. We received six public comments during the hearing itself—but we have received hundreds of comments on this over the last six-plus years. We have been working on this for the entirety of my tenure as County Commissioner (since Jan 2021); the next SMP update is “due” in 2030. I stated emphatically—and I hope the Commissioners and Planners who work on the 2030 SMP will take note—that the next SMP and Comprehensive Plan must address shoreline retreat strategies and policies in response to the impacts of climate change. Commissioner St. Clair and I voted in support of the SMP; Commissioner Johnson voted against it on principle because of her frustration with the State’s directives overriding local wishes throughout the process and in the document itself. The public hearing begins at mark 00:15:31 in the recording. The Board of Island County Commissioners is very grateful to the many members of the public who have contributed to this lengthy conversation.
    • The agenda for the Board meeting for Tuesday, September 22 is here: https://media.avcaptureall.cloud/meeting/cf763b17-97b6-41d1-84ab-bafcd5b8df18.  On that agenda: the three water system franchises shown below.
  • Budget Workshops: 
    • We held one Budget workshop this week, during the first part of the Wednesday work session, islandcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/16036/09162026-WS-Audio; we discussed WSU Extension programs, supplemental budget requests, and positions frozen in 2026.
    • Also discussed in the Budget conversation: the decision by the Board to cut our own travel allowance in 2027 by $500 per Commissioner per month, for a budget savings of $18,000 (fyi: our annual base pay, excluding travel allowance, is $125,000; since our salaries are tied to Washington judge salaries and there has been no decision published on those salaries for 2027, I do not know if we will receive any base pay increase in 2027). We started this part of the discussion at the beginning of the meeting, at mark 0:03:35 in the recording. We are not cutting anyone else’s pay in this budget; everyone else will be getting pay increases (except: as noted above, elected officials’ pay in our County is tied to Washington Superior Court Judge pay and we do not yet know if that pay will change in 2027). The County will, sadly, also be eliminating a number of positions (less than 10) in order to save additional salary dollars.
    • The Board also decided to revisit the “exempt” designation for a number of our employees. In 2026, the minimum annual salary for an “exempt” employee in Washington is $80,168.40/year. This minimum is anticipated to be increased to at least $93,000 in 2027, and the County cannot afford to move all of our exempt employees to that level of pay. A number of people will be reclassified from “exempt” to “nonexempt”, which will mean that they will receive a 2.5% pay increase in 2027 just like the rest of their colleagues but they will not be moved to the new State minimum for “exempt” employees. Under their new classification they will now be eligible to receive overtime pay, which they do not now receive as “exempt” employees.
    • I had hoped that we would be finished with Budget meetings this week, but now it looks like we will meet on this at least once more, on Tuesday Sept 22 at 1 pm to finalize the 2027 Budget, zoom info here: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/AgendaCenter – docaccess-4ad840c1f7b4ffd69a28afc1ef7c57bd.
    • You can find the most recent version of the 700+ page Budget Book here: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/231/Commissioners-Budget-Information. Note: the PDFs are updated at the end of each week after the Commissioners make changes.
  • Tentative Upcoming Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Public Hearings (held during board meetings, beginning at 10 am, unless otherwise noted):
    • Tuesday, Sept 22:         Greenbank Estates (franchise)
    • Tuesday, Sept 22:         Sunset Ridge (franchise)
    • Tuesday, Sept 22:         Park Acres (franchise)
    • Tuesday, Oct 13:           Padilla Estates (franchise)
    • Tuesday, Oct 13:           Honeymoon Bay Vista (franchise)
    • Tuesday, Oct 27:           Clinton Water (franchise)
    • Tuesday, Oct 27:           Hope View (franchise)
    • Tuesday, Oct 27:           Unit. Owners Assoc. of Utsalady (franchise)
    • Tuesday, Nov 3:            PBRS
    • Tuesday, Nov 3:            2027 Work Plan and Planning Docket
    • Tuesday, Dec 1:            Deer Lake code changes
    • Tuesday, Dec 7:            2027 Budget & Levies
  • Work Session. The agenda for the Wednesday, September 16 work session is here: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/AgendaCenter – docaccess-7fad69f534f34a3219e30a3d257ed9ed; recording is here: islandcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/16036/09162026-WS-Audio.
    • At the request of residents of the Deer Lake community, we expect to make changes to the County code regarding Deer Lake to restrict speeds on the lake during certain times of the day and regulate direction for boats moving over 5 miles per hour. There will be a public hearing on this. The draft changes can be found beginning on page 5 of the agenda; there are changes also proposed there for Lone Lake, but since no one from Lone Lake asked for any changes we are eliminating that section of the draft and will focus solely on Deer Lake. The discussion on that begins at mark 2:49:00 in the recording.
    • Our budget difficulties are caused by a combination of three things: the State increased their unfunded mandates (things we have to pay for without receiving additional State funds to cover them); there are significant increases in the costs of things we are already paying for; and we are seeing decreases in Federal and State funds to the County (example: a decrease in the amount of money we get for Public Health). An example of something which we pay a lot of money for already and will pay even more for in 2027 is our Risk Insurance. We heard a presentation by the Executive Director of the Washington Counties Risk Pool on Wednesday. The presentation begins on page 8 of the agenda; discussion begins at mark 3:01:41 in the recording.
    • The next work session will be held on Wednesday, October 7. The agenda for that meeting will be posted by Friday, October 2, here: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/AgendaCenter.
  • The Board of Heath (BoH) met on Tuesday, September 15. Agenda: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/AgendaCenter – docaccess-2ef1f0c3006d9adbf85929644416d046; recording: https://www.islandcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/16031/BOH-September-2026-Recording-mp4.
    • We approved Board of Health Resolution HD-2026-04 proclaiming September 26, 2026 as World Environmental Health Day in Island County, a day recognizing the work of Environmental Health professionals and allied fields.
    • We heard a presentation on Environmental Health and Behavioral Health Integration; this presentation starts on page 9 of the agenda and begins at 0:09:25 in the recording.
    • We reviewed the draft Strategic Plan for Public Health, beginning on page 18 of the agenda and at mark 0:34:03 of the recording.
    • We received a 6-month impact report which reflects the achievements of Public Health for the first 6 months of 2026. This begins on page 27 of the agenda and at mark 0:41:49 in the recording.
    • The THRIVE directory is a resource directory designed to help you explore services and supports available in Island County, making it easier to find information that fits your needs. I encourage everyone to check it out to see if it might include information of value to you: https://thrive.islandcountywa.gov/.
  • The Council of Governments (COG) and Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization (IRTPO) will meet next Wednesday, September 23 beginning at 9 am. Both organizations use the same zoom link, which can be found in their agendas.
  • Public Health Update:
  • I will not be hosting Monday afternoon community meetings until November (and might not be back to meetings even then), but:
    • I am sponsoring a weekly meeting for citizens to meet candidates for County offices. These are not forums or debates—each week is just one candidate talking with voters interested in hearing their message.
    • These meetings will be held at the Freeland Hall from 6 – 7 pm each Monday through October 19
    • Tentatively scheduled:
    • Monday, September 21, 6 pm: Clerk candidate Deirdre Butler.
    • Monday, September 28, 6 pm: Commissioner Dist 3 candidate Matt Van Pelt
    • Monday, October 5, 6 pm: Clerk candidate Maria Hazelo

Melanie

My fractured foot continues to heal.

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”    ~Leonard Cohen