These notes were taken by an Okanogan County Watch volunteer. Every attempt is made to be accurate. Notes are verbatim when possible, and otherwise summarized or paraphrased.
Note takers comments or clarifications are in italics. These notes are not the official county record of the meeting. For officially approved minutes, which are normally published at a later time, CLICK HERE.
The time stamps refer to the times on the AV Capture archive of the meeting on this date at the County livestream archive. To locate items in real time, the clock on the wall in the AV Capture screen can be helpful.
01.13.2026 Tues AM BOCC
Meeting Highlights:
The remodel of the Public Health offices will soon begin, and the commissioners discuss which offices will be moving where.
The Office of the Public Defender would like to hire Derek Reid of Spokane as an attorney to be used when there’s a conflict of interest for defendants using the current attorneys. The commissioners agree.
The commissioners have a plan to clean up the homeless encampment (first discussed on Dec. 15) and decide to waive the tipping fee for what will be discarded. CORE (Community Outreach, Response and Engagement) employees in the Sheriff’s Department are working with the few people currently encamped there to assist them.
Mike Beaver, Director of Juvenile Services, delivers the quarterly update to the commissioners. They are hoping to receive a $12,000,000 appropriation from the state legislature for a new building, and Commissioner Hover hopes to have the project shovel ready if the funds arrive.
Josh Thompson, County Engineer and Kent Kovalenko, Solid Waste Manager, update the commissioners.
Meeting adjourned at 11:40.