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.
01.30.23 AM - BOCC
Meeting Highlights:
Commissioners discuss aquatic projects in Forest Service cuts. Commissioner Branch points out that the best time to have such projects included is during scoping.
Naomie Peasley, Fairgrounds Manager, update the commissioners. They discuss moving ahead with the race horse barns project, the newly installed floor of the Annex and how to develop plans for dealing with buildings damaged by the winter weather. The bathroom in the RV park has been demolished and rebuilding will start soon.
Pete Palmer, Planning Director, says the “Tunk thing” is now off her desk (referring to last Tuesday’s public meeting about the Tunk Valley rezone), and the office is now dealing with lots of public information requests for documents between the Planning Department, the BOCC and the Planning Commission.
Maurice Goodall, Emergency Management, tells the commissioners that the snow pack in approximately 100% of normal for this time of year and that the prospect for flooding is the spring is small.
Commissioner Hover tells the other commissioners about a recent conversation with the Mayor of Conconully. The town is trying to build a new fire station/community center paid for with two grants and $400,000 in bonds. After they received the bids, they realized they’d be $2,000,000 short. The mayor was asking Commissioner Hover for help in obtaining money from the state legislature. The commissioners discuss the situation. Commissioner Hover says he personally might support using some the $3,000,000 the county is hoping to receive to buy new radios needed for emergency communication.