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.
12.01.2025 Mon AM BOCC
Meeting Highlights:
Laura Sorensen, Chair of the Fair Advisory Committee, tells the commissioners that she’s considering having kids’ games, such as a pie-eating contest, a watermelon contest and a dunk tank, going all day long to keep the children entertained.
Pete Palmer, Planning Director, tells the commissioners that the Planning Commission recommends the county adopt a policy on county-owned drones. Maurice Goodall, Emergency Management, says he owns a drone and uses it on the job. He agrees that the county should have a policy and recommends checking with the Sheriff’s Office and other counties to see what their policies are.
Lauri Jones, Administrator of the Public Health District, and Jill Gates, the District’s Fiscal Coordinator, say that the project to remodel their offices is do-able with a low bid of $1,348,000. They could use discretionary funds and the flexible funding within their grants to supplement the ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) and bond money. As soon as Public Health and Public Works agree to the terms of the lease, they commissioners will accept the bid.
Josh Thomson, County Engineer, tells the commissioners about alternatives to the gas tax being considered by Washington State to raise money for road construction and maintenance.
Meeting adjourned for lunch at 12:05.