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.
07.14.2026 Tues AM BOCC
Meeting Highlights:
A constituent of Commissioner Hover asked about a rumored list of properties being taxed as Ag Exempt. The concern was that a county would take property out of Ag Exempt status to generate more property tax revenue. County Assessor Gilman says he doesn’t know about this list, but that taking land out of Ag Exempt would not result in more tax revenue for a county. He also explained the rules about qualifying for Ag Exempt status for properties less than 20 acres vs properties 20 acres and larger, and that farmland is eligible for the Ag Exempt status whether the property is farmed by the owner or by a tenant.
Convening as the Methow Valley EMS District, the commissioners and County Assessor Larry Gilman discuss the ins and out of putting on the ballot a one-year O&M (Operations and Maintenance) levy of $0.10/$1,000 of assessed value to fund two new ALS (Advanced Life Support)
Planning Director Pete Palmer explains her concerns about cannabis growers out of compliance in the county. She hopes that the county will soon enact a new Title 19 to the Okanogan County Code and that will help the situation. The Planning Commission will discuss the issue at its next meeting in July.
Josh Thomson, County Engineer, discusses the issue of a woman who’s had cars drive up on her lawn four or five times over the years. She’d like a “Stop Ahead” sign installed on the county road that ends in a T just before her property.
Meeting adjourned at 11:26.