1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,560 I always try and go with something premeditated. 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:03,640 Oh, premeditated. 3 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:04,760 I've heard that about you. 4 00:00:04,760 --> 00:00:07,640 I wanted to see the Constitution 5 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:10,280 and I actually leaned on the glass and got reprimanded. 6 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:11,120 Oh, I'll bet you did. 7 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:14,720 It was hard to read without getting close. 8 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:15,560 What did they tell you? 9 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:17,240 Did they say, hey, lady, back off. 10 00:00:17,240 --> 00:00:18,840 Ma'am, ma'am, don't touch the glass. 11 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:19,840 I was like, okay. 12 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:23,760 Welcome to County Connection, 13 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,320 the official podcast of the Washington State Association 14 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,000 of Counties, where we dive into the legislative issues 15 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:30,960 shaping the future of our communities. 16 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,400 From budgets to public safety, infrastructure to elections, 17 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:36,920 we'll break down what's happening in Olympia 18 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,040 and how it impacts counties from across the Evergreen State. 19 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,680 Stay informed, stay engaged, and join us 20 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:45,880 as we amplify the voice of Washington's 39 counties. 21 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:49,400 All right, welcome everybody 22 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:51,960 to the County Connection podcast. 23 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:53,960 I'm Paul Jewell, the government relations director 24 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:56,400 for the Washington State Association of Counties 25 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,760 and your host on the County Connection here today 26 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:01,160 and every day. 27 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:02,600 It's a gorgeous day in Olympia. 28 00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:04,040 It is Thursday. 29 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,080 I think it is March 6th, if I'm not mistaken. 30 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:09,480 And I am honored to be joined today 31 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:12,680 by not one, but two local heroes. 32 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:15,880 That's my pet name for county commissioners 33 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:18,240 because you guys are local heroes. 34 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:19,520 You know I have the greatest respect 35 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:20,840 for the work that you do. 36 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:24,200 You're some of the most dedicated public servants out there 37 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:26,600 and probably in my opinion the most important 38 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,480 on a government level. 39 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:32,280 I have Jefferson County Commissioner, Heidi Eisenhower. 40 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,240 Almost butchered your name there, sorry Commissioner. 41 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:36,520 It's okay, Paul. Heidi Eisenhower 42 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,120 and Clallam County Commissioner, Mark Ozais. 43 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:43,000 What's nice about you guys is you are not seat mates, 44 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,000 but you are colleagues from bordering counties 45 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:46,880 out on the peninsula. 46 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:47,720 How are you guys doing? 47 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:49,080 Commissioner Eisenhower, how are you? 48 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,400 What brings you to Olympia today? 49 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,480 Well, the legislative steering committee, Paul. 50 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:54,800 Oh, of course, I've heard of that. 51 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:56,680 And it's my first year being 52 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,040 on the legislative steering committee. 53 00:01:58,040 --> 00:02:00,680 So feel like we're still drinking from the fire hose. 54 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:02,720 I appreciate it every week that our report 55 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:06,080 on the number of bills we're gonna talk about gets shorter. 56 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:07,480 Yeah, we appreciate that too. 57 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:09,320 Doesn't weigh two pounds anymore. 58 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:10,800 Are we halfway through the session now? 59 00:02:10,800 --> 00:02:13,160 Almost, almost. Not halftime yet. 60 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:16,360 Next Wednesday is process-wise halfway through. 61 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:18,400 I haven't counted the days lately, but we're getting close. 62 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:20,920 So, you know, we've been down here talking 63 00:02:20,920 --> 00:02:23,040 about issues that matter to our communities 64 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:24,560 and then also shared issues 65 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:27,080 that the county's family are working on. 66 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:28,560 Well, I'm glad that you're here 67 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:30,920 and thanks for joining us today on the podcast. 68 00:02:30,920 --> 00:02:32,520 Is this your first podcast ever? 69 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:34,000 You're kind of on the radio at home 70 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:34,920 from time to time, aren't you? 71 00:02:34,920 --> 00:02:37,120 We have a weekly, the county commissioners 72 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:41,000 in Jefferson County have a regular weekly radio show 73 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:45,400 every Friday from noon 1230 to 1255. 74 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:47,720 And it's called County Connections. 75 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:49,440 Oh, really? Yeah. 76 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:50,600 That's hilarious. Yeah. 77 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:53,960 So you're probably better at my job than I am at my job 78 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:55,040 on this podcast. 79 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,120 Now I feel a little nervous being in your presence. 80 00:02:58,120 --> 00:02:59,880 I, in your presence, I didn't know that you were 81 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:01,040 on the radio that much. 82 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,000 Well, you were a county commissioner once too, Paul, 83 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,640 and you have more experience at that than me. 84 00:03:04,640 --> 00:03:06,160 So back at you. 85 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,920 Well, no one would know that this is your first year 86 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:10,600 on LSC because you're doing a great job. 87 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:11,440 Thanks. 88 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:13,320 Commissioner Ozaias, what brings you to Olympia today? 89 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,960 I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's also LSC. 90 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:18,720 It is also LSC. 91 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,720 And what I would say about LSC is obviously 92 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,280 that's a very legislative policy focused group, 93 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:30,960 but it is also a rare opportunity to get together 94 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:32,200 with colleagues. 95 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,160 For many of us, this can be a pretty isolating job, 96 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:39,400 particularly for a member of a three, a three person board. 97 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,200 And so the opportunity to get down here 98 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,920 on a semi-regular basis and have conversations, 99 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,600 learn from each other is to me equally as helpful 100 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,320 as all of the focus on the legislative work that we do. 101 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:54,760 Yeah. 102 00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:58,360 That old saying leadership is lonely is really true. 103 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,440 And you find that out as a county commissioner. 104 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,880 Real good leadership is even lonelier, that's for sure. 105 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,240 So having the opportunity to engage with your colleagues, 106 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:11,960 maybe even just commiserate every now and again 107 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,560 can be very, very rejuvenating. 108 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:19,520 Well, it's half commiseration and half learning, I think, 109 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,520 and a little bit of humor mixed in every once in a while 110 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:23,000 as well. 111 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:25,680 But I find almost all county commissioners 112 00:04:25,680 --> 00:04:30,960 to be community minded, problem solving, practical people who 113 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,400 want to figure out how to make things work better. 114 00:04:33,400 --> 00:04:37,040 And to me, that makes for a great group of people. 115 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:37,960 Yeah, I agree. 116 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,840 Well, I really mean it when I say you guys are local heroes. 117 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:43,000 I don't think most people really understand 118 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:44,760 what it takes to be a county commissioner. 119 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:46,800 A lot of people don't even understand 120 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,920 what it takes to run a county. 121 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,640 I gave a presentation, just a little story, 122 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:53,520 a little while ago in front of a group 123 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,520 where I asked who in the crowd could name the eight things 124 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:57,880 that the county did for you. 125 00:04:57,880 --> 00:04:58,760 Oh, you guys were there, weren't you? 126 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:00,200 I think we were both there, Paul. 127 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:02,360 Oh, jeez, I don't even need to tell you the story. 128 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:03,920 But of course, it was a trick question 129 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,600 because there's like 85 things your county does for you. 130 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:07,680 Don't worry, you were great. 131 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:08,320 Oh, thank you. 132 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,600 I appreciate it. 133 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,760 It's just an example of how little people really 134 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:15,560 know and understand about county government 135 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:16,400 and what counties do. 136 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,880 On that note, I just would say I studied politics and government 137 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:21,200 starting in seventh grade. 138 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,360 I think was the first class that I took all the way 139 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,760 through college, had a degree in politics and government. 140 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:31,120 And I don't recall county government being mentioned 141 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:31,920 once. 142 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:32,840 Yeah, isn't that amazing? 143 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:34,800 In all of those years, and considering 144 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:36,400 that county governments are really 145 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,400 the primary implementers of state and often 146 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:43,040 federal legislation, it's just remarkable to me 147 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,000 what an oversight that is. 148 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,840 Well, yeah, there's such big regional governments too. 149 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:50,440 All the services they provide to both residents 150 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:52,280 in incorporated areas, so in cities 151 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:53,920 and outside of those areas. 152 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:59,240 It's kind of amazing that they don't get the airplay, I guess, 153 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,560 or maybe the pages in the civics textbooks. 154 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:05,520 But I think some of it's because they're 155 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,080 very different from one side of the country to the other. 156 00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:11,000 And we're about to talk about that a little bit. 157 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,200 But also, county governments are just unique. 158 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,520 They don't have that same exact formula 159 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,240 of legislative, executive, and judicial branch 160 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:21,240 that you see at the federal and the state level. 161 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,560 And really, almost at the city level more so. 162 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:26,680 Counties are kind of an amalgamation 163 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:28,920 of those different separations of powers 164 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:30,960 embedded in different offices. 165 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,000 But this is not a county government 101 show. 166 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,080 As you know, we focus a lot on what's 167 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:38,800 going on legislatively here at the County Connection 168 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:40,880 podcast, especially this time of year. 169 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:42,920 And mostly, we're talking about state legislation. 170 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:44,360 But you guys are here to talk about something 171 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:45,280 a little different. 172 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:47,920 You all just got back from Washington, DC, right? 173 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:48,640 We did. 174 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,280 We just got back from the NACO Legislative Conference. 175 00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:54,080 NACO is the National Association of Counties. 176 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:56,360 I was just going to tell you to tell people what that is. 177 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:58,200 Anytime you use an analogy of this show, 178 00:06:58,200 --> 00:06:59,560 you've got to explain what it is. 179 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:00,640 Legislative Conference. 180 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:04,800 And I went back concerned about secure rural schools 181 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:06,600 and payment in lieu of taxes, which 182 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,440 are funding programs that deliver money to the counties. 183 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:13,920 Let's quickly tell people what payment in lieu of taxes 184 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:15,240 is on a federal level. 185 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:19,240 So payment of lieu in taxes goes to counties 186 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:22,560 that had a reduction in revenue based 187 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,720 on the loss of timber revenue due to the Spotted Owl 188 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:27,440 decision. 189 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:29,680 Well, actually, so that was more SRS. 190 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:32,400 So that's the Secure Rural Schools funding. 191 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:33,840 That money can be used for schools 192 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,000 and for transportation projects primarily. 193 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,600 But it was nice to have Paul Jewell in your pocket. 194 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,000 Well, I'm here to help, Commissioner. 195 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:42,360 But that's the money. 196 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:44,560 And it's really easy to confuse PILT and SRS, 197 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:45,840 because they're really two programs that 198 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:46,880 are joined at the hip. 199 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:48,480 And they're intended. 200 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,360 So SRS is really for US Forest Service lands, 201 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:52,920 for counties with US Forest Service lands, 202 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:56,600 because it's supposed to help replace revenue that 203 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,240 was lost due to less timber harvest because of things 204 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:00,520 like the Spotted Owl. 205 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:03,720 Right, versus PILT, which is payment in lieu of taxes 206 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,680 to make up for non-taxable federal lands 207 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:08,400 within your jurisdiction. 208 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,280 But they're very, like I said, they're super close related. 209 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,440 And they have not reauthorized PILT, or I'm sorry, 210 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,320 SRS this year. 211 00:08:16,320 --> 00:08:18,560 So you were back there chatting about that, 212 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:20,400 or that was something you were really interested in. 213 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:24,000 Yeah, I mean, it's good to have examples in your pocket. 214 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,640 And I said, well, in our county, we 215 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:29,600 use Secure Rural Schools fund to chip seal our roads. 216 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,840 So there's a rivalry between ourselves and our one town 217 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:33,560 in our county. 218 00:08:33,560 --> 00:08:34,560 We are a small county. 219 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:36,080 We have Port Townsend. 220 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,760 And people say, well, the county roads are in OK shape. 221 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:41,120 What's wrong with the city roads? 222 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:43,000 And I say, about Secure Rural Schools, 223 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:44,680 we need to keep that funding coming, 224 00:08:44,680 --> 00:08:47,360 because otherwise our county roads are 225 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:48,560 going to look not so great. 226 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:49,880 Right, that's why they're in good shape, 227 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:51,840 is because you get that extra funding. 228 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:55,480 When I was back at NACO for PILT, 229 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:57,480 we mentioned its payment in lieu of taxes. 230 00:08:57,480 --> 00:08:59,440 One of the NACO legislative folks 231 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,120 called it pennies in lieu of trillions. 232 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:02,880 Did you hear that? 233 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:04,600 No. 234 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:06,600 Which I thought is a really good description. 235 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,240 Because really, because of those federal lands 236 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:11,240 and the large amounts of them in many of our counties 237 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:13,520 in Washington state, that's all non-taxable. 238 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:15,960 And in the county where it's more extreme, 239 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:17,480 like in, say, Schamania County, it's 240 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:19,840 like 90% to 95% of their land use. 241 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:21,560 97%, I heard. 242 00:09:21,560 --> 00:09:22,560 That's amazing. 243 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:23,400 That's amazing. 244 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,200 And in both Clallam and Jefferson Counties, 245 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:30,480 Olympic National Park would be the most significant chunk 246 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:34,560 of federal land and certainly very impactful. 247 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:40,240 And to speak to the importance of SRS being reauthorized 248 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:44,200 and refunded, in addition to being 249 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,000 able to support roads and other things, 250 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:51,840 it's often local jurisdictions that aren't only building roads 251 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:54,560 but maybe providing fire service or rescue service 252 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:56,480 or other things to those federal lands. 253 00:09:56,480 --> 00:09:58,400 And so having some revenue source 254 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,120 that would allow us to support the service 255 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,280 provision that's required for those federal lands 256 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:06,400 is pretty important. 257 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:07,200 Yeah. 258 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,440 So PILT and SRS funding and reauthorization 259 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:13,880 were part of the legislative platform 260 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:15,880 for the National Association of Counties, which 261 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:17,680 is great for us here in Washington state 262 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:19,340 and most Western states, because that's 263 00:10:19,340 --> 00:10:21,040 a big issue for us locally. 264 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:22,480 What were some of the other issues 265 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:26,280 that you guys thought had particular pertinence 266 00:10:26,280 --> 00:10:28,000 to Washington state and some of the work 267 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:29,200 that we're doing as counties? 268 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,760 It's a little hard to answer that, really, 269 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:36,680 because things are not normal in Washington DC right now. 270 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:39,440 And so we certainly were there talking 271 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,440 about legislative priorities and other broad legislative 272 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,320 priorities for the National Association of Counties. 273 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:50,920 And for us, include investments in emergency management 274 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:57,960 and concern about the farm bill and what kind of programs 275 00:10:57,960 --> 00:10:58,680 are there. 276 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:00,320 For example, how well will SNAP benefits 277 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:01,800 be supported in the farm bill? 278 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:03,080 So there's a lot of- 279 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,600 OK, though, Commissioner, you said SNAP benefits. 280 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:08,160 And that doesn't mean just regular, when we say SNAP, 281 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,880 we're not just going, yeah, we're not talking about that. 282 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:11,960 So what does SNAP mean? 283 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:16,280 That stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. 284 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,920 OK, so we're talking like food benefits for DD families. 285 00:11:18,920 --> 00:11:20,000 Right, exactly. 286 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:23,320 And which is often an integral part of the farm bill, 287 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:25,400 I assume, because of the connection 288 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:30,320 to agricultural products that create the food that 289 00:11:30,320 --> 00:11:31,920 produce that assistance. 290 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:34,080 So is there a question as to whether or not 291 00:11:34,080 --> 00:11:37,560 that's going to be continued as part of the farm bill, 292 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:39,600 or if they're going to continue those benefits 293 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:40,920 or reduce those benefits? 294 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:45,120 Or if you've been watching the news lately a couple of weeks 295 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:47,960 ago when the big shakeup happened 296 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:52,560 and there was that freeze on all future, 297 00:11:52,560 --> 00:11:56,080 or temporary freeze on all government funding 298 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,360 from the federal level, one of the things that came out 299 00:11:58,360 --> 00:11:59,840 was these SNAP benefits. 300 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:03,080 And some families at least made claims. 301 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:05,000 I never had a chance to verify them or not. 302 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:07,880 And I don't know why we would not believe them. 303 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,720 But they had claimed that their SNAP benefits weren't 304 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,360 being paid for, that they weren't receiving those. 305 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:15,240 Is that happening? 306 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:17,040 Is that a concern moving forward? 307 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:20,160 Are they planning to reduce the program, increase the program? 308 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:21,600 And what's the issue with that? 309 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,400 Well, I think the concern right now 310 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:29,360 is that there's not enough consistency in communication 311 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:33,760 and telegraphing potential strategy that anyone knows. 312 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:37,640 And so the sense that I got from the congressional meetings 313 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:41,680 that we had is there's just an extreme lack of communication 314 00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:44,000 and information between the new administration 315 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:45,240 and legislators. 316 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,560 So they're working very hard to try and figure out 317 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:52,680 what the priorities are and what the pathway might be 318 00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:54,920 so that they understand how to react, 319 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,960 whether that's to be supportive or to push back 320 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,840 against an important local benefit that 321 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:04,840 might be on the chopping block. 322 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:06,600 I was just going to throw in the word chaos. 323 00:13:06,600 --> 00:13:08,640 We were hearing the word chaos a lot. 324 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:10,320 Feels chaotic here. 325 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,560 We're in a state of chaos. 326 00:13:12,560 --> 00:13:16,360 The quick actions by the administration 327 00:13:16,360 --> 00:13:20,120 have really created a sense of not knowing what's next. 328 00:13:20,120 --> 00:13:22,240 And in all of our meetings, I think 329 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:23,680 we did all of our meetings together. 330 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:25,360 We heard that across the board. 331 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:27,320 Our first two meetings were talking 332 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:30,920 about some roads on the west end of our peninsula 333 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:34,760 and with staff of Senators Murray and Cantwell. 334 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:36,800 And those staff were talking about the chaos. 335 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,840 And then we actually met with Congressman Randall. 336 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:43,240 Again, chaos, a lack of knowing what's coming next. 337 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:44,920 And that felt very tenuous. 338 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,560 Yeah, talking about the meetings, 339 00:13:47,560 --> 00:13:51,080 I think hearing your impressions from those meetings 340 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,080 just in general and then specifically 341 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,000 from some of these issues is something 342 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,080 that I want to get into. 343 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:58,800 But when you talk about the chaos and the uncertainty that 344 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:02,120 seems to be pervasive right now in the other Washington, 345 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:03,580 because let's just make it clear, 346 00:14:03,580 --> 00:14:06,880 we're talking about the other Washington, not this one today. 347 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:09,320 But we heard a lot of that from the legislative folks 348 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:10,480 at NACO too. 349 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:14,240 And we're paying attention to how frequently they 350 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,680 were updating their legislative agenda. 351 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:18,960 Well, I think it was daily, actually. 352 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,360 It was moment to moment in some cases. 353 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,680 And we had brought our own legislative agenda 354 00:14:23,680 --> 00:14:25,200 and our own legislative priorities 355 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,120 and ended up pitching those into the trash 356 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,880 before these meetings because we didn't have the ability 357 00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:34,120 to update as frequently because we were working remotely, 358 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:36,000 didn't have the tools that we would normally 359 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:37,000 have back in the office. 360 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:39,080 I was in many of those meetings and I heard it 361 00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:41,720 from both sides of the aisle too. 362 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,120 Is that consistent with what you heard as well 363 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:45,800 from both Republicans and Democrats? 364 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,440 Well, I didn't meet with any Republican legislators. 365 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,080 So I was actually interested to hear more about that. 366 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:53,720 And I hope that when we have a little bit more 367 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:58,000 thorough of a debrief on these visits 368 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:01,880 that we'll learn a little bit more about that. 369 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,400 It was a challenge trying to talk about what would normally 370 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:09,520 be sort of a standard set of priorities 371 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,120 with the context of all of that uncertainty. 372 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:17,160 There were other, there were some discrete projects 373 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:19,800 that we were there to talk about and that was fine. 374 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:21,520 Well, yeah, how do you know what to ask for 375 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:25,200 if there's no predictable environment moving forward? 376 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:26,440 That makes it pretty tough. 377 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:29,760 Right, how important is this local access road 378 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:33,560 with everything else that's going on? 379 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:34,400 Right, right. 380 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:36,240 I don't know, it felt like we were a lot in a lot of cases 381 00:15:36,240 --> 00:15:38,880 responding to what we were hearing. 382 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:40,200 And what we're hearing in the news, 383 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:41,840 what we're hearing, Medicaid, 384 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:43,360 a lot of concern about Medicaid. 385 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:44,200 Yeah. 386 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:45,600 I mean, from all of our counties. 387 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:46,440 Let's dive into that. 388 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:50,080 So what's the main, cause that was a central theme. 389 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,600 Medicaid was a pretty big issue and it is something 390 00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:55,520 that is being targeted for cuts 391 00:15:55,520 --> 00:15:57,000 by the current administration, right? 392 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:58,960 They have said that they want to cut, 393 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,120 what is it, four or five trillion dollars out of the budget. 394 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:03,680 And it's pretty tough to do that 395 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:05,600 without looking at entitlements. 396 00:16:05,600 --> 00:16:07,960 And Medicaid is one of the biggest ones, right? 397 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:09,960 But Medicaid is pretty important 398 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:11,920 from a county perspective as well 399 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:14,760 from a variety of different considerations. 400 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:16,920 So what is kind of going on with Medicaid? 401 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:21,200 What were we advocating for and what did you hear back? 402 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:26,200 Well, we were advocating for retaining funding, 403 00:16:26,360 --> 00:16:28,160 robust funding for Medicaid. 404 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,320 Because especially in rural counties like ours, 405 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:34,680 it really affects the citizens who need support the most 406 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:35,960 for healthcare. 407 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,480 And I think that Apple Health in Washington State 408 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:40,480 gets a lot of support through Medicaid. 409 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:41,320 Yeah, they do. 410 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:42,560 So it is Medicaid. 411 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:45,560 So we're talking about, I don't know how many millions 412 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:46,880 of people in Washington State. 413 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,320 I think I saw some number of 53 million nationally 414 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:52,720 that would be impacted by a reduction in Medicaid 415 00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:55,520 because we pay for basic healthcare. 416 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:59,360 And any reduction to Medicaid would be concerning 417 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:01,080 for a number of reasons. 418 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,640 Certainly in a lot of rural areas, 419 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:08,520 hospitals have a significant portion of their constituency 420 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:10,120 that are on Medicaid. 421 00:17:10,120 --> 00:17:12,920 And so that makes up a big portion of the revenue 422 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,520 as it were for that supports local hospitals 423 00:17:15,520 --> 00:17:17,680 and puts rural hospitals at risk. 424 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:21,800 But the other thing that I imagine being potentially 425 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:23,880 low-hanging fruit on the chopping block 426 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,240 would be Medicaid to support programs 427 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:28,800 like we've been working so hard to advocate for 428 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:30,600 to allow Medicaid to be billed 429 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:32,120 for certain healthcare services 430 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:36,800 when someone becomes incarcerated in a county jail, 431 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:37,640 for example. 432 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,160 And when anyone gets booked into a county jail, 433 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:44,480 the burden of their healthcare costs 434 00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:46,840 is borne by local taxpayers. 435 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:48,720 It would be great for a lot of reasons 436 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:50,520 to be able to bill Medicaid 437 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:53,240 if they're already Medicaid eligible for those services. 438 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:57,320 And we've been working across the state 439 00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,360 to implement some changes like that. 440 00:17:59,360 --> 00:18:01,280 A number of counties, including Clallam, 441 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,880 are leading the way to figure out how to make that work. 442 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:06,000 Just for this year, 443 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,560 we've got about a million dollars worth of revenue 444 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:10,120 built into our budget 445 00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:12,960 with the expectation that that program is gonna continue. 446 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:16,080 So if that's the type of cut that's made, 447 00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:17,800 it's gonna have significant impacts, 448 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:20,560 not only to the individuals who are on Medicaid, 449 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:23,000 but to local government funding as well. 450 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:24,600 So this is a really interesting topic, 451 00:18:24,600 --> 00:18:28,040 and I think it threads into a lot of different things. 452 00:18:28,040 --> 00:18:29,360 When you talk about the chaos 453 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:31,120 that's happening in the other Washington right now, 454 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:32,840 and then you're having these meetings with legislators, 455 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:37,840 and you wanna do things like advocate for pre-adjudicated 456 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:43,440 or pre-sentencing at least, right? 457 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:45,000 That was the proposal that we wanted to say is, 458 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:46,960 look, when people come into our jail, 459 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:48,560 yes, they've been arrested, they've been detained, 460 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:50,000 but they're not sentenced yet. 461 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,720 So they're innocent until proven guilty. 462 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,280 Why are they losing their benefits, 463 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,600 and why are we having to cover those, right? 464 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:58,280 And so we wanna advocate for that, 465 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:03,280 but if what's on the table for chopping is basic benefits, 466 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:06,000 how do you advocate for something extra 467 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,000 when you should be probably putting your efforts 468 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,840 into saving what you have, right? 469 00:19:10,840 --> 00:19:14,200 And when you talk about how critical that is 470 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:15,720 for some of the rural hospitals, 471 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:18,600 and many of those are considered critical access hospitals, 472 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:20,680 which I know is a designation 473 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:22,160 based on the services they provide 474 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:25,920 and the distance between medical care facilities, right? 475 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,000 Their charity care line is already pretty significant, 476 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,840 and it affects the rates that they charge to private pay 477 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:35,520 and other people who have insurance. 478 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:37,640 You add a bunch of people now 479 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:39,760 who have lost their Medicaid coverage, 480 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:41,880 and those hospitals could go under, 481 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:45,080 which would severely hurt communities. 482 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,480 Did you guys talk about that with the representatives 483 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:50,920 or the senators, and what did they say? 484 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:52,800 Yeah, we did. 485 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:56,080 I think that the legislators that Heidi and I met 486 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:58,960 would specifically have a pretty good understanding of that, 487 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,120 so we didn't have to work too hard to reinforce that point, 488 00:20:02,120 --> 00:20:05,480 but at a minimum, we wanted to keep that 489 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:07,000 on their radar screens and make sure 490 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,120 that they're thinking about what the specific impacts 491 00:20:10,120 --> 00:20:13,520 to individuals and systems in our county 492 00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:14,640 and our region would be. 493 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:15,800 Yeah, yeah. 494 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:17,120 Did you hear the same thing, Commissioner? 495 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,800 Yeah, because I was in all the same meetings with Mark. 496 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:21,920 But I wanted to shine a little bit of a light on- 497 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:23,400 That makes it easy. 498 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:25,680 On the farm bill issue, right? 499 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,200 Before I went to D.C., I was hearing about this idea 500 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,280 of potential tariffs and the impact to potash 501 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,000 coming from Canada to our farmers in the U.S. 502 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:37,280 I don't think the scale of farmers that operate 503 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,520 on the Olympic Peninsula are really concerned about potash, 504 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:41,360 but- 505 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:42,600 Okay, before you go any further, 506 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,720 I'm worried that our listeners don't know what potash is. 507 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:47,640 When you talk about pot in Washington, 508 00:20:47,640 --> 00:20:49,880 it can mean a whole lot of things, but we know- 509 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:50,960 It's a soil supplement. 510 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:51,920 It's a soil supplement. 511 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:52,960 What's it derived from? 512 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:53,800 You tell me. 513 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:54,620 I'm trying to- 514 00:20:54,620 --> 00:20:55,800 Not ash, and it's not pot. 515 00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:58,680 Yeah, I actually don't know. 516 00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:01,600 But I know they do use it as a fertilizer, right? 517 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,160 Yes, it's a fertilizer. 518 00:21:03,160 --> 00:21:04,360 And it comes out of Canada? 519 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,400 Yes, a lot of it comes from Canada. 520 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:08,600 I don't know the percentage, but a vast majority 521 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:11,680 of what comes to the U.S. in terms of potash. 522 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:12,520 Thank you, Mark. 523 00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:14,680 I see him asking the Google gods. 524 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:15,760 He's got his handy little iPhone out. 525 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:17,120 That's the nice thing about a podcast. 526 00:21:17,120 --> 00:21:18,560 You can just pop out your smartphone 527 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:19,400 and answer your own questions. 528 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,800 But I would say that in the time that we were gone, 529 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:24,360 I wanna tell a really long story. 530 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:25,200 I'm not gonna do it right now. 531 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,720 So in the time we were gone, this whole tariff idea 532 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:28,560 got some- 533 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:29,400 Mojo. 534 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,280 Mojo, right? 535 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:35,880 And by the time I landed, I have a home flock of chickens, 536 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:37,840 quite a large home flock, but I sell eggs 537 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,120 to colleagues and neighbors. 538 00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:40,960 Are you getting rich on eggs right now? 539 00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:41,800 I'm not. 540 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,520 I try to just cover the cost of the flock. 541 00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:46,760 So we've been selling our eggs for $5 a dozen, 542 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:48,680 which I know is not very much money 543 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:49,520 with the current cost of eggs. 544 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,640 Can I get 12 dozen, please? 545 00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:56,640 And on the flight home, I learned that when we were gonna 546 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:00,800 have to raise our price of eggs, $2 a dozen, 547 00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:02,880 because we were gonna be getting our feed through our friend 548 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:07,200 who's actually a scale farmer, and he has some poultry, 549 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:08,600 and we're getting our feed through him. 550 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:11,320 And the tariffs, the Canadian tariffs, 551 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,720 the tariffs on goods coming from Canada, 552 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,560 we're gonna increase the cost of the organic feed 553 00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:22,000 that we get from Western Canada by 25%. 554 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:22,840 Oh, wow. 555 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:27,760 And so that was gonna cause my tiny little egg hobby 556 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,120 to go off the charts. 557 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:31,160 So I went back and I updated the Post-It note 558 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:33,600 on the refrigerator in the county office and said, 559 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:35,240 eggs are now $7 a dozen. 560 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:36,080 Oh my, wow. 561 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:36,900 Still a good deal though. 562 00:22:36,900 --> 00:22:38,920 All because of a potash tariff. 563 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:43,360 Well, but that's a really good example of how something 564 00:22:43,360 --> 00:22:45,800 that a lot of people may not be familiar with, right? 565 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:50,160 Can be actually an integral part of a system, 566 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:52,960 and it can have a really big significant impact 567 00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,520 on kind of the inputs that go into that system 568 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:58,480 that spit out a product that at the end, 569 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:00,280 now you're gonna end up paying a lot more for. 570 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:01,680 And it feels like, sorry Mark, 571 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:03,560 it feels like they're not thinking about this. 572 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,320 And I'm not trying to be like doomsday or anything, 573 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,000 but it feels like there's not a lot of, 574 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,000 what is this gonna impact? 575 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:12,480 What actually is, what impacts are gonna be caused 576 00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:13,840 by this shift? 577 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,000 And I feel like that is something that's been frustrating. 578 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:18,000 Yeah, yeah. 579 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,280 I was just gonna note that one of the more interesting 580 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:22,680 sessions to me at the conference, 581 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:27,240 there was a panel of a handful of locally elected 582 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,760 Canadian officials, essentially some of our peers 583 00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:33,240 and colleagues to the extent that there's parallels. 584 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,400 And they really spent a lot of time talking about 585 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:39,520 all of the ties that our countries have, 586 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:42,920 just things small and large, 587 00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:46,680 and trying to remind the audience how important it is 588 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:51,040 for us to try and be thoughtful about the deep connections 589 00:23:51,040 --> 00:23:52,120 between our countries. 590 00:23:52,120 --> 00:23:52,960 Yeah. 591 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:54,000 What'd you learn about POTUS, Mark? 592 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,080 It's an or that's mined and that I wish 593 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,400 Commissioner Swanak were here to tell us more. 594 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:00,920 He probably would know more. 595 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:03,640 Well, thanks for joining me today. 596 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:05,800 I know there's probably a lot more to talk about 597 00:24:05,800 --> 00:24:08,000 and there were certainly a lot more issues 598 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:11,800 that NACO brought up that they wanted us to kind of mention. 599 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:15,160 Commissioner Ozai, it looks like you got something 600 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:16,040 that you wanted to add. 601 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:18,360 Yeah, I just wanted to add something. 602 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:20,800 I don't know if this will be a bright spot, 603 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:22,200 but it's a potential bright spot. 604 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:24,240 One of the other things that we were there to talk about 605 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:28,560 was how effective direct distributions to counties 606 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:32,400 and local governments as what happened with ARPA 607 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,640 are as opposed to dollars funneling through state agencies 608 00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:38,600 and then down to local governments. 609 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:40,480 Okay, when you say ARPA, you mean the? 610 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:45,480 The American Rescue Plan Act, which was the COVID, 611 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:49,880 one of the responses to COVID. 612 00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:54,680 And that was very unusual in that the federal government 613 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,760 just issued allocations to counties and cities 614 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,560 over a certain size and we had broad flexibility 615 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:04,920 with regard to how to spend those dollars. 616 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:07,720 And so that was such an effective program 617 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,040 because it allows every community to be responsive 618 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:15,240 in a very short, quick period of time 619 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:17,400 based on what their community's needs are. 620 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:22,400 And I'm at least a little bit hopeful that that message, 621 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:28,320 because it reduces bureaucracy, it reduces overhead, 622 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:32,200 might be actually a message that might get some traction 623 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:33,480 with the new administration. 624 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,140 Yeah, that's something that we always advocate for 625 00:25:36,140 --> 00:25:38,400 just because it gets more direct service dollars 626 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:42,320 to actually be in projects on the ground, 627 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,600 providing for residents in the way that it was intended 628 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,920 rather than just kind of caught up in administrative costs. 629 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:51,480 When you're passing it from agency to agency to agency 630 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,240 to finally getting it to where it needs to be, 631 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,380 that's a whole lot less efficient 632 00:25:56,380 --> 00:25:58,920 than it is to just go direct to whomever that provider 633 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:00,680 needs to be in giving those dollars directly. 634 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,880 So hopefully that message resonated 635 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:04,500 and it's something that we always advocate for 636 00:26:04,500 --> 00:26:06,080 on the local level too with the state. 637 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,240 So, well, Commissioner Eisenhower, 638 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:13,240 was this your first legislative conference with NACO? 639 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:15,040 Or had you been there before? 640 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:15,880 My second. 641 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:16,700 Oh, it was your second? 642 00:26:16,700 --> 00:26:17,540 My second. 643 00:26:17,540 --> 00:26:19,800 So was it as good as your first one? 644 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:22,120 Did you feel like you got just as much out of it? 645 00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:25,240 Each time you do something, you learn a little bit 646 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:27,640 about how to really make it more effective. 647 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:31,600 And this time, I focused on getting meetings with staff 648 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,920 who were the office, the Congress person or the senators 649 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:37,200 to lead on the issue. 650 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:41,200 And so we, Mark and I both met with Senator Murray 651 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,880 and Senator Cantwell's staff who would be able to give us, 652 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,600 shine the most light on the roads on the West End. 653 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,440 We have roads failing going into the whole rainforest, 654 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,320 the Hall of Mosses and the Quinault entrance 655 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:56,760 to the National Park. 656 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:58,360 You're talking about Olympic National Park 657 00:26:58,360 --> 00:26:59,840 for everybody who's listening. 658 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:03,760 So we met with natural resource staff and budget staff 659 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:06,880 and it was really a good use of time to meet 660 00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:10,040 with those subject matter experts in the office. 661 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:13,200 And I think in the past, I was more maybe starry-eyed 662 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:16,440 about meeting with the Senator or the Congress person. 663 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,360 But this time I was like, no, we gotta meet, 664 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:22,840 the rubber's gotta meet the road after we leave here today. 665 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:24,860 So that's how people feel when they meet with you, right? 666 00:27:24,860 --> 00:27:26,120 The first time they're thinking, okay, 667 00:27:26,120 --> 00:27:30,280 this is a local hero, this is a local elected official, 668 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:32,240 this is a famous person, right? 669 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:34,720 Local and it's easy to get caught up in that. 670 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:36,200 But the second or third time, 671 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,360 they just wanna call you by your first name 672 00:27:38,360 --> 00:27:40,800 and ask you why you're not getting it done, right? 673 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:42,920 Usually I call the county commissioners 674 00:27:42,920 --> 00:27:44,760 the complaint department. 675 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:45,600 Well, that's probably what you are. 676 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:47,760 We get the most constructive feedback 677 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:49,640 of anyone in the county, I believe. 678 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:52,100 So it's funny you mentioned the Hall of Mosses 679 00:27:52,100 --> 00:27:53,220 in Olympic National Park. 680 00:27:53,220 --> 00:27:56,040 I've been there before, but only once when I was a kid. 681 00:27:56,040 --> 00:27:59,920 And I remember it being kind of awe-inspiring 682 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:01,880 and a little disorienting, 683 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,040 because after a while, 684 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:05,840 you get into the Hall of Mosses a little bit. 685 00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,120 If there wasn't a path, you'd turn around 686 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:09,760 and you'd be like, okay, this is cool, 687 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:11,720 but now it all looks the same. 688 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:13,300 And there's a lot going on here. 689 00:28:13,300 --> 00:28:14,560 Which direction do I go? 690 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:15,680 And I'll be honest with you, 691 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,120 this was my first NACO legislative conference. 692 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:19,200 I'd never been before. 693 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:20,760 I never went as a county commissioner. 694 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:22,280 And I had never gone to staff 695 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,200 because generally it's gonna right in the middle 696 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:27,040 of our legislative session, which makes it really tough. 697 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,720 And I have to say, I felt at first a little bit like 698 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:32,960 my first time at the Hall of Mosses. 699 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:35,840 That was a big hotel and there were a lot of people there. 700 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:37,680 There were thousands of county commissioners 701 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:39,040 from across the nation. 702 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,440 It was a little overwhelming 703 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,440 to kind of get my bearing a little bit. 704 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,760 But after a little while, 705 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:48,920 I just kind of figured it's like any other conference, 706 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:50,160 just a little bit bigger. 707 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:51,600 But I found it to be really valuable. 708 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:52,840 What'd you think, Commissioner Ozais? 709 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:54,960 Yeah, I find it to be really valuable too. 710 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:59,960 And I was one who really questioned for a number of years 711 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:04,700 would it be worth it to my county taxpayers 712 00:29:04,700 --> 00:29:08,740 and to this association to send me to Washington, DC 713 00:29:08,740 --> 00:29:11,940 when all of our legislators and senators 714 00:29:11,940 --> 00:29:15,380 have local staff people who are great and responsive. 715 00:29:15,380 --> 00:29:18,040 And there is zero doubt in my mind 716 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:19,500 that it is incredibly valuable 717 00:29:19,500 --> 00:29:23,380 because there are staff members who serve in Washington, DC, 718 00:29:23,380 --> 00:29:24,700 have different expertise, 719 00:29:24,700 --> 00:29:28,260 different technical areas of specialty 720 00:29:28,260 --> 00:29:33,020 and often really appreciate having the chance 721 00:29:33,020 --> 00:29:35,900 to build a little bit more familiarity with the district. 722 00:29:35,900 --> 00:29:38,540 They might not be so familiar with the district itself. 723 00:29:38,540 --> 00:29:42,140 And so everything happens in this business 724 00:29:42,140 --> 00:29:45,060 based on relationships and taking a few minutes 725 00:29:45,060 --> 00:29:48,740 to try and build those relationships with staff members, 726 00:29:48,740 --> 00:29:50,260 make sure you have a connection 727 00:29:50,260 --> 00:29:53,940 to the appropriate expertise for whatever your issue is, 728 00:29:53,940 --> 00:29:55,460 is incredibly valuable. 729 00:29:55,460 --> 00:29:59,040 Well, these legislators back in DC, 730 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:00,660 they really rely on their staff. 731 00:30:00,660 --> 00:30:02,920 I think much more so than local 732 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,060 or even state legislators do. 733 00:30:05,060 --> 00:30:08,400 And a lot of times their staff is not from Washington, 734 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:09,480 it's locally, right? 735 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:10,640 Or it's from other parts of the country. 736 00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:14,860 So hearing from you guys about local issues 737 00:30:14,860 --> 00:30:17,300 and that specific local knowledge 738 00:30:17,300 --> 00:30:19,520 helps them make better decisions 739 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,720 and helps them better advise their elected official 740 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:24,980 that they work for who is familiar 741 00:30:24,980 --> 00:30:26,260 with the local area. 742 00:30:26,260 --> 00:30:29,780 But it's easy to kind of lose perspective 743 00:30:29,780 --> 00:30:31,540 when you're all the way on the other side 744 00:30:31,540 --> 00:30:33,300 of the country sometimes, that's for sure. 745 00:30:33,300 --> 00:30:35,500 And you're trying to make deals, right? 746 00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:36,660 You're trying to make deals 747 00:30:36,660 --> 00:30:39,380 and sometimes you can forget about some of the details 748 00:30:39,380 --> 00:30:40,220 that are really important. 749 00:30:40,220 --> 00:30:42,180 So those local connections 750 00:30:42,180 --> 00:30:43,700 and those local visits are really key. 751 00:30:43,700 --> 00:30:45,660 So it sounds like you guys would do it again. 752 00:30:45,660 --> 00:30:46,500 Yeah, I would do it again 753 00:30:46,500 --> 00:30:49,260 and I would just say that my first legislative conference 754 00:30:49,260 --> 00:30:50,100 that I went to, 755 00:30:50,100 --> 00:30:51,820 I formed some friendship with commissioners 756 00:30:51,820 --> 00:30:54,660 from around the state who I don't see. 757 00:30:54,660 --> 00:30:56,500 They're not on LSC either. 758 00:30:56,500 --> 00:30:58,540 And so I see them at the legislative conference. 759 00:30:58,540 --> 00:31:00,900 And so commissioner Burroughs from Stevens County 760 00:31:00,900 --> 00:31:05,160 and I went to dinner like three years ago, two years ago. 761 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:08,180 And it was like, again, there we were together 762 00:31:08,180 --> 00:31:11,060 and a friendship was formed years ago 763 00:31:11,060 --> 00:31:13,540 that is still enduring. 764 00:31:13,540 --> 00:31:16,100 And I hear you guys and maybe commissioner Fuller 765 00:31:16,100 --> 00:31:18,360 had an opportunity to go out to another, 766 00:31:19,460 --> 00:31:22,500 shall we say social opportunity 767 00:31:22,500 --> 00:31:24,340 where maybe there was some wine involved. 768 00:31:24,340 --> 00:31:26,580 Yeah, but I was the good influence 769 00:31:26,580 --> 00:31:29,460 and I said, let's not get the second bottle of wine guys. 770 00:31:29,460 --> 00:31:31,940 So sometimes I can be sensible. 771 00:31:31,940 --> 00:31:32,780 Good for you. 772 00:31:32,780 --> 00:31:33,620 Good for you. 773 00:31:33,620 --> 00:31:35,100 Commissioner Rosias, any final thoughts? 774 00:31:35,100 --> 00:31:37,700 Well, if you have not been before, 775 00:31:37,700 --> 00:31:40,260 I also would certainly recommend attending. 776 00:31:40,260 --> 00:31:43,460 And if you take a few minutes ahead of time to try 777 00:31:43,460 --> 00:31:46,580 and get some visits lined up for yourself, 778 00:31:46,580 --> 00:31:47,980 in addition to what you're doing 779 00:31:47,980 --> 00:31:49,980 on behalf of the association, 780 00:31:49,980 --> 00:31:52,400 that's a really great way to take full advantage 781 00:31:52,400 --> 00:31:53,240 of your time there. 782 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:55,820 Well, that's really good advice. 783 00:31:55,820 --> 00:31:58,300 Last thought, my best outcome of this trip 784 00:31:58,300 --> 00:31:59,740 was getting to know Mark better. 785 00:31:59,740 --> 00:32:01,220 Oh, likewise. 786 00:32:01,220 --> 00:32:03,580 Yeah, we teamed up for all those meetings 787 00:32:03,580 --> 00:32:05,820 and had a really productive time together. 788 00:32:05,820 --> 00:32:08,060 And we are neighbors on our peninsula. 789 00:32:08,060 --> 00:32:11,120 And I think that will endure our good work together 790 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:13,340 will lead to good stuff in the future. 791 00:32:13,340 --> 00:32:14,480 Well, that's great to hear. 792 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:15,900 Counties that are next to each other 793 00:32:15,900 --> 00:32:18,180 that share borders, share a lot of interests. 794 00:32:18,180 --> 00:32:21,540 And so having good relationships between colleagues, 795 00:32:21,540 --> 00:32:23,780 not only is better personally for you, 796 00:32:23,780 --> 00:32:26,760 but is also better for your residents 797 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:28,620 and better for the regions that you guys serve. 798 00:32:28,620 --> 00:32:30,380 So good for you. 799 00:32:30,380 --> 00:32:31,860 Welcome back. 800 00:32:31,860 --> 00:32:33,000 I'm sure you're a little tired. 801 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:34,300 I know I'm a little tired. 802 00:32:34,300 --> 00:32:35,620 There's always kind of that jet lag 803 00:32:35,620 --> 00:32:37,080 coming from the other side. 804 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:38,180 I hope you can get some rest 805 00:32:38,180 --> 00:32:40,060 and I hope you get a chance to see your families 806 00:32:40,060 --> 00:32:40,880 this weekend. 807 00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:42,980 Don't worry, Paul, when the time changes this weekend, 808 00:32:42,980 --> 00:32:44,500 it'll fix everything for us. 809 00:32:44,500 --> 00:32:46,980 I don't believe you, 810 00:32:46,980 --> 00:32:49,500 but we're gonna call that the last word. 811 00:32:49,500 --> 00:32:51,860 Thank you so much for joining me today, 812 00:32:51,860 --> 00:32:54,460 Commissioner Ozayas and Commissioner Eisenhower. 813 00:32:54,460 --> 00:32:55,300 Great to see you. 814 00:32:55,300 --> 00:32:56,620 Great talking to you. 815 00:32:56,620 --> 00:32:58,100 Hopefully we can have you back again, 816 00:32:58,100 --> 00:32:59,300 but until then, take care. 817 00:32:59,300 --> 00:33:00,140 Thanks, Paul. 818 00:33:00,140 --> 00:33:00,960 Thanks, Paul. 819 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:03,980 Thanks for tuning in to County Connection. 820 00:33:03,980 --> 00:33:05,740 Stay in the loop by subscribing to us 821 00:33:05,740 --> 00:33:07,500 through your preferred podcasting app 822 00:33:07,500 --> 00:33:10,820 and following us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. 823 00:33:10,820 --> 00:33:12,180 And don't forget to join the hub, 824 00:33:12,180 --> 00:33:14,380 your go-to source for the latest news and updates 825 00:33:14,380 --> 00:33:16,820 from the Washington State Association of Counties. 826 00:33:16,820 --> 00:33:19,700 Until next time, stay connected and stay informed.