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.
07.08.2025 BOH
Meeting Highlights:
• Foundational funds will be less than anticipated. Engineer and architect fees for
planning the public health remodel are through the roof
• Commissioner Hover wants to dig into Big Beautiful Bill money to save the country’s
385 rural hospitals ($10 billion over five years)
• Medical Officer Jim Wallace unclear about how cuts will be felt, Hover proposes
sending an email invitation to Rep. Newhouse to visit county hospitals; a quarter of
operating budgets could be affected. Board member and North Valley staff member
Mariann Williams says staff shortages to blame for increases in wait times since
Covid, wonders if proposing good cash rates to Canadians near border for some
procedures could help fill the coffers
• North Valley CEO John McReynolds says 20 %-30% of county hospital patients lack
coverage; hospital aready writes off millions a year as charity care, in other two
facilities numbers even higher; Commissioner Neal reminds them cuts not scheduled
until January 2027
• Medical Officer reviewed applications for opioid settlement money, appreciates
county’s distribution process, $1,200,000.00 to start with and at least $600,000 a year for
three more years
• Public Health Director Lori Jones says overdoses up, 43 calls last year compared to
125 in first six months of 2025, trainings for highly efficient drug Naloxone being
offered to law enforcement and city employees
• Community Health Nurse Krisha Warnstadt announces food assessment meeting
July 22nd in Colville; Okanogan, one of 30 rural counties in the sate, considered one
of 13 “frontier” counties, an even smaller designation