2021 Sequim Legislative Policies

Human Services • Provide Additional Support for Human Services – The City of Sequim continues to make strategic investments in critical human services helping the community respond to COVID-19. As reopening occurs, the true economic impacts of this pandemic will be revealed. Additional significant support will be needed to address issues like childcare, housing, and food insecurity. The needs are likely to outweigh resources available locally to support them. Additional State support is needed.

• Fund Mental Health Services – Due to nearly constant State funding reductions, the mental health system in rural areas features many gaps through which people with mental illness fall. Our Police Department consistently responds to some of the same individuals with mental illness. These individuals are not in a severe enough state to be involuntarily committed yet are a significant drain on resources due to not having a sufficient support network. We encourage the State to appropriately fund mental health services to support individuals with varying levels of mental illness. Providing this funding would be far less costly, far more effective, and an overall better option for the people involved than having responding officers repeatedly contact these individuals and having higher cost jails serve as a de facto mental health system.

• Housing – Allow all cities in the ability to implement a multifamily tax exemption (MFTE). Current law only allows the county seat and cities above 15,000 in population to use the exemption. This creates situations like Sequim’s, where Sequim is prohibited from using the MFTE but Port Townsend, its comparable sized neighbor with a population of 9,665, is able to use it because Port Townsend is a county seat. Port Angeles, Sequim’s other neighbor, is also able to use it as a county seat and a city with 19,710 residents. Sequim’s recent housing study indicated that Sequim’s housing shortage is comparable to its neighbors but as a small city, Sequim is afforded fewer tools to deal with its shortage.

• Rural Hospital Support - Support Rural Hospital Funding – Rural hospitals have suffered as a result of the cancellation of elective surgeries due to COVID-19. State support to help our local health care system remain strong and stable.

Public Safety • County EOC – The City of Sequim supports the efforts of Clallam County and City of Port Angeles to build or acquire an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to replace the current Clallam County EOC located at the Clallam County Courthouse.

• Support Preparation for the Cascadia Quake and Emergency Management funding. - Properly fund public education and other preparedness measures, such as pre-stockpiling food.

• Fully Fund of crime labs in Washington State to address backlogs and reduce wait times. Fund the regionalization of crime labs and pilot projects. Provide support and resources for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls native justice programs.

Public Works • Increase Purchasing Limits - for equipment, supplies services, or materials unrelated to a public works project from the current $7,500 (requires 3 quotes) and $15,000 (requires formal bids).

• Support Carbon Reduction and Resiliency in Small Cities – Provide additional funding and support to allow small cities to access funding available to larger cities to reduce carbon emissions and improve resiliency. Specifically, small cities could use help purchasing alternative fuel vehicles for car and truck fleets.

• Dungeness Off Channel Reservoir - Continue to fund the Streamflow Restoration Grant Program resulting from ESSB 6091.

• Reduce Solid Waste Going to Landfills – Increase state and local agency funding to support a reduction in solid waste going to landfills, allowing for more recycling and reuse of items currently in the waste stream. Incentivize new recycling markets in our state and region.

• Eliminate the provision that requires a vote to renew a voter-approved Transportation Benefit District, as well as Eliminating the number of renewals – Eliminate the provision that requires a voted Transportation Benefit District to be renewed by vote every 10 years as well as eliminate the limit on renewals. Sequim has an existing voter-approved TBD, representing approximately one third of its street budget. Sequim renewed its TBD in 2018 with an effective date of 2020.The City would be satisfied with removing the cap on the number of renewals as an interim step. Sequim would lose its TBD in 2030 if this did not occur. Sequim’s TBD raised $5.5 million since 2011, benefitting Sequim’s residents with street improvements and maintenance.

• Municipal Water Rights – ESSB 6091 provided funding for projects relating to streamflow restoration and mitigation options for municipalities and other providers. Sequim supports continued funding of this grant program for projects like the Dungeness Off-Channel Reservoir, adopting legislative changes to support out- of-kind mitigation, and retaining sufficient State agency staffing to allow these important projects to continue.

General Government • Public Records Reform - Allow agencies to recover staff time incurred in compiling and redacting public records, unless the requestor is certified as indigent. The State Auditor’s Office report on public records demonstrates the staggering amount of uncompensated time agencies are spending on fulfilling public records requests. Requests are becoming larger and more complex, which places additional strain on agencies. Further, the strict liability nature of the Act sets agencies up for failure. Transparency is what is important; requestors who have the ability to pay should be required to do so. Doing otherwise creates requestor “hobbyists” who are looking for “gotcha” documents and then use that to extract money from the “offending” agency. In addition, the amount of personal information on a public employee available to anyone upon request places public employees at a profound risk for identity theft. Case law has made it clear that rates of pay, publicly paid fringe benefits, vacation and sick leave, are all available to the general public. When that information is coupled with the amount of other information generally available without the need to make a public records request, public employees face an increased risk of identity theft. Agencies should also have notice and the opportunity to cure a defect in production prior to filing of a lawsuit under the Public Records Act.

• Amend Publication Requirements - Allow publication on city websites, including through press releases to satisfy public notice requirements rather than requiring publication in an entity’s newspaper of record. This saves taxpayer money and provides more timely notice.

• Amend Joint and Several Liability for Government – Governments would still be fully liable for their acts, but not for the acts of others. Some state agencies refuse to change the boilerplate provisions in their contracts; Page 2

these provisions require the contracting agency to indemnify the state agency in full even if the State is responsible in some way.

• Unfunded Mandates – The City of Sequim urges you to remember local government when you are passing Legislation and to avoid passing unfunded mandates on to us.

Other • AWC Priorities – The City supports the priorities of the Association of Washington Cities.

• Municipal Research Services Center (MRSC) – Protect MRSC’s funding. MRSC provides important research and analysis for jurisdictions across Washington State and is of particular value to smaller jurisdictions. We rely on their services to make up for insufficient staff capacity or expertise that many smaller jurisdictions, including Sequim, may experience.

• Black Ball Line – Financial support is requested for the regionally owned Black Ball Ferry Line which supports nearly 1000 jobs in Clallam County and has a financial impact of over $64 million annually in the County. The MV Coho sailing between and Port Angeles is an iconic image of the region. Other important factors in your consideration of financial help for the Black Ball Ferry Line include the fact that Black Ball carried over 450,000 passengers which resulted in approximately 30% of the overnight stays in our area. These passengers purchase lodging from hotels and motels, B&B’s, purchase food and beverages, go to our museums and our scenic attractions. The Black Ball Ferry Line brings many tourists to the area. Black Ball has been operating for over sixty years without a subsidy and carries millions of dollars of commercial goods between and Washington. Support of the Black Ball Ferry Line is vitally important for our entire region.

Sequim will provide bill language for any requested bills.

Page 3