Not sure where this is going, so. I'm not sure
either. So the rules of podcasting are don't
worry about what you say. No one's listening.
Remember that. Nobody's listening. Before that,
I like to ask some stupid questions. I'm good
with that. Welcome to County Connection. the
official podcast of the Washington State Association
of Counties, where we dive into the legislative
issues shaping the future of our communities.
From budgets to public safety, infrastructure
to elections, we'll break down what's happening
in Olympia and how it impacts counties from across
the Evergreen State. Stay informed, stay engaged,
and join us as we amplify the voice of Washington's
39 counties. Welcome back, everybody, to the
County Connection podcast. This is Paul Jewell,
the government relations director for the Washington
State Association of Counties. And I am here
today with a very special guest. We're actually
not in our normal studio, which is kind of fun.
But we did bring our really good recording equipment
because it's a very special guest. And we wanted
to make sure that we captured everything perfectly.
Skagit County Commissioner Lisa Janicki is here
in this makeshift studio today. I think it's
a Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken. Commissioner
Janicki, so good to see you. Thank you. It's
good to be here in Spokane. I have been trying
to get you on this podcast for a while now, and
you have been avoiding me a little bit. Absolutely.
So you admit it freely. I... It's not my comfortable
space. Nobody likes to be recorded, but I'm so
grateful that I was able to capture you here
at the conference. For those of you who are going
to be listening later, we are on day two of the
County Leaders Conference in Spokane for 2025.
So that's where we're doing this recording. I've
been trying to get you to come to Olympia to
do a podcast, and you were so uncommittal that
I made Mitch bring the equipment here. Because
I knew you would be here. I was like, there's
no way Commissioner Janicki is going to miss
the conference. And I figured I could rope you
in, and here we are. So I was successful. It
was successful, and I'm glad. I'm glad we're
finally sitting down. Yeah. Well, thanks for
joining us. It's great to talk to you. We just
got out of kind of a nice little recognition
ceremony. Spoiler alert, I'm not going to tell
anybody what that was about. If they weren't
at the conference, they'll have to find out for
themselves, but maybe we'll get into that a little
bit later. But you're an interesting story. You're
an interesting individual, I think, to a lot
of our members, and frankly, one of the most
respected county commissioners. I think I can
fairly say that. You've served as president of
the association. You've served on the Forest
Practices Board for years, which is a thankless
position and a very difficult one. You just got
off of the Board of Natural Resources after a
couple of years on that. And you have a lot of
history with forestry and different things. But
before you were county commissioner, you were
also part of your family's business. In fact,
a major part of it. I think you were the chief
financial officer, if I'm not mistaken. Now,
when were you elected first as a county commissioner?
Election in 2014. So 2014. So it's a big decision
for most people. Well, there's a few people that
maybe it's not as big of a decision for, but
I think for most people, it's a really big decision
to go from kind of the private sector to putting
your name on a sign and actually running for
office and making that transition from, you know.
probably a pretty comfortable place. I mean,
I'm assuming it was a pretty comfortable place
for you working in your family's company to becoming,
you know, one of the three county commissioners
for a pretty important and pretty good sized
county in Washington state. Can you take us back
to 2014 and how you came to that decision and
what you were thinking and what it was like?
Yeah, certainly. Working for family businesses,
it's a very protected environment. You know,
our Janaki family is a big family in a small
fishbowl of Cedro, Woolley. But I would, you
know, read the news, watch local government progress.
And it always kind of made me crazy that planning
and budgeting was always a one or two year. budget
cycle. And there was never enough to do replacements
of core systems. So there was always this process
of having to go to the legislature before anything
major could be done. And I remember sitting across
the desk from my mother -in -law. I worked really
closely with my mother -in -law. Congratulations.
I don't think a lot of people would say that
they have worked really closely with their mother
-in -law. Our desks were nose to nose. And so
as we were running the finances of, there are
multiple Janaki family businesses, but when I
was 23, Janaki Logging was the big company. When
I left, Janaki Industries was the big company.
So there was a big transition over that period
of time. There was a big transition, but Annie
passed away in 2013, and I remember thinking,
I've always said I'm going to run for office,
and if I don't do it now, you know. When will
I do it? So Annie was your mother -in -law. Annie
was my mother -in -law. So you guys were working
really closely. She passed away in 2013, and
that was kind of a trigger point for you. Absolutely.
Or maybe a turning point. You know, I think it
makes you realize that there's no certainty on
how long you will have to do things. Right. And
Skagit County was... poised to build their largest
capital construction project that they had done,
which is a jail. They needed to get sign off
by all four cities to approve the funding structure
for the operations of that jail. Is that the
one that we visited just like two years ago?
Yes. Okay. So just for some people who are listening,
if you were on that trip, it was one of our interim.
kind of membership trips. And we visited the
Skagit County Jail. And what was unique about
it, I think, was kind of the control room, right,
where they can see into the different pods or
the different sectors of the jail. That was a
really unique design. So that was the one that
they were, that was the project they were embarking
on at the time. Correct. Okay. And from just
having the... family business experience of capital
projects, you know, the biggest risk in a project
is at that construction phase and what's being
included and what's not being included. And,
you know, were they going to stay on budget in
the timeframe allocated? Do government projects
sometimes run over budget? It's just really tradition.
It seemed like a good time for, you know, with
a finance background to step into that. to step
into that role. That's interesting. I was wondering,
were there, so you weren't, so this became kind
of a, something that you had been frustrated
by. You saw this as an opportunity. There was
kind of a turning point in your life that maybe
said, Hey, it's time to think about what I'm
doing and what I want to do, which I think, you
know, we all have those trigger points at different,
different parts of our life. And sometimes we
pay attention to them. Sometimes we don't, I
think we're always better off when we do, but
you know, we're humans, right? So we, Sometimes
we don't. The Janneke industries is a big part
of the economy up there. There wasn't any frustration
with the government and your company that you
were looking to maybe affect as well? It wasn't
a personal thing that was driving you? It was
more of a civic duty? It was. It was definitely,
I just wanted to improve our community. Janaki
Industries is located in two different municipalities.
All their property ownership is within city limits.
In the city of Cedar Woolley? And the town of
Hamilton, a town of only 340 people. And most
of the infrastructure is up at the old Crown
Pacific site. So when you joined, did you have
ideas that you were going to run government like
a business? And how did that work out? When I
started as commissioner, one of the very first
questions that I asked, there were two questions.
I asked, Skagit County has a fabulous GIS department
and produces beautiful maps. Can I get a map
of our county that has all the parcels owned
by Skagit County, color -coded? And I was particularly
interested in the natural resource lands, the
gravel pits, the timberlands, to know that we
had plans, written plans for those properties.
And I wanted to see where there were outliers
or properties where we should be acquiring to
block up for future expansion. I was amazed and
disappointed to know there was no singular database
for that. They said, yeah, we'd make the map,
but we don't have a singular list because every
department tracked their own land holdings, real
estate holdings. Really? You couldn't even get
it from the assessor's office or the treasurer's
office? They had to accumulate it because even
the way it was sorted, even like it was all titled,
sometimes they abbreviated. you know, S -K -C
-T -Y parks. Oh, sure. It wasn't really clear.
It wasn't clear. So I asked that question, and
the second question I asked was, you know, given
that we are not that far out of a recession,
where, you know, what is the actual age of all
the buildings the county owns, and what's the
effect? effective age, where's that deferred
maintenance where we may be at the brink of losing
a particular building or mechanical units? So
this is starting to sound to me like some of
your business experience kind of working its
way in. Well, I thought it was just large organization
questions to ask. And that data also did not
exist at the time. There was kind of a gut level
feeling of where things, which buildings needed
attention or... which buildings were going to
be causing an issue. And we had this brand new
construction, the new community justice center
or the jail being built. And I am proud to say
that we now have a fully populated asset management
system with not only just the buildings, but
the floorings, the mechanical units, they all
are in the... data so that at any given time,
my facilities manager can tell me where our deferred
maintenance is and where we are at risk of losing
properties. So may I say, without offending you
in any way, spoken like a CFO. I think of myself
not so much as a CFO, but as a systems person.
What systems can we put in place? that makes
our investments back into community the most
effective and will save money in the long run.
So I came out of the private sector, too. And
when I went into public service, I had never
worked in public service at all. And so I started
I looked at things, I think, very much the way
that you did. You know, how can we build systems?
How can we make sure that we've got data? You
know, how can we plan for the future? But I also
realized and I'm sure you did as well. And so
this will be a little esoteric maybe and maybe
a little harder to talk about. But I also realize
that different parts of working through kind
of the government system and being part of that
governing body and the legislative body, et cetera,
that there are things in the business world that
just don't translate very well to public service.
You can't really run the county like a business
because it doesn't have a profit motive. It's
not as clean cut. It's really human. centered
uh even though businesses oftentimes are as well
but they're still there to make a product right
um and and also the county has to do things right
you know it doesn't choose what it can do and
what it can't do it's told what it can and and
cannot do um i'm curious you know what how did
you did you see the same thing kind of when did
you see that and how did you kind of manage through
those because there's a lot of things that admittedly
government can and should do better that are
more like a business. And I was really proud.
It sounds like you were really proud, you know,
to work on those things, but there are other
things that just flat don't work that way. And
I'm just, how did that, how did, how did you
deal with that? And how did that change your
mindset a little bit? You know, there's a, there's
a. A few things that come to mind. I realized
that having an elected prosecutor, that role
of legal advisor, counselor was very different
in government and much more of an authoritarian
position than I was used to in the private sector
where legal is actually counsels and gives advice.
And I want to appreciate that. It starts with
how can I help you, Commissioner? Well, and then
the whole procurement process. And sometimes
I think that because of the reliance on the legal
department, contracts don't always have protections
in them that if you're writing it from a business
perspective, you would have. you would have put
in. Yeah. That accountability piece is really
missing in a big way on the government side.
Whereas if that were your private company, you'd
be like, Hey buddy, get out of here and I'm not
paying you. And you're beholden to low bed. Right.
Um, so I, you know, I, I learned, you know, there's
just a lot more of that upfront work that you
have to do, um, around that. But, um, I grew
to really have an appreciation, though, of when
you have a healthy working relationship with
the prosecutor's office. It is different than
in the private sector, but it's essential because
the laws governing county are different than
private. Like you said, you don't have a choice,
right? So you've got to find a way to work together.
That can be hard. It can be hard. That can be
hard. It can be a real challenge, and it's not
as easy to solve on the public side as it is
on the private side. You know, as county commissioners
serve, and it doesn't matter if they serve a
short period or a long period, I think all county
commissioners become known for different things,
right? And sometimes it's because they choose
them, and sometimes it's because... the thing
chooses them, right? Sometimes it's a, I don't
want to say a victim of circumstances, but you
know, maybe you got into office to do a certain
thing and some major event happened and now you've
got a whole other thing to deal with, right?
It could be, you know, it could be, for instance,
it could be something like an Oso landslide or
something like that, which obviously a big tragedy
and, you know, changed the course, I'm sure,
of the work of the county for years because of
that. But one of the things that you've been
known for, there's a couple of things. you've
been known for one of them is um forestry right
and you mentioned that that was a really big
part of your business before and then it's by
the time you you talked about a transition by
the time you left the business it was a minor
part or at least not as big a part as um the
manufacturing side correct uh i'm curious um
did it choose you or did you choose it as part
of your work as a county commissioner? Because,
like I said at the beginning, you were on the
Forest Practices Board, you were on the Board
of Natural Resources. I mean, these are statewide
boards that make really big, impactful decisions
around state trust lands and also private timber
land on how it's harvested, et cetera. Did you
choose to jump into that fray, or do you think
it chose you? I think there was an opportunity
there where my skill set at the time fit a need
that WASAC had at an organization. I mean, my
general MO is not to insert myself into someplace
that I think is good, but more of a recognize
when there's a calling for certain level of expertise.
Been in a family business around timber harvest,
having watched that change, evolve over the years.
It gave me at least enough background knowledge
that I could credibly apply for and work through
Forest Practice Board issues. board who would
join me, drive with me to Olympia before every
meeting. So we had support. Well, we had the,
as Skagit County commissioners, you know, that
long history back to the Ted Anderson days of
being supported on the, with the forestry expertise.
And then the board of natural resources, I, you
know, that became kind of a natural. I think
progression of putting my name in the hat and,
um, I was, I was happy to be selected and then
even, you know, further understand, you know,
how divided our state is over the whole concept
of harvesting and, um, responsibility to beneficiaries.
Where do you think we're going? Um, you know,
I, I'm sure you were, uh, I'm, I'm not talking,
I'm not asking your age under any circumstances,
but I'm sure, you know, with your progression
of your company, you were, um, You had to have
been in the forestry business during the 90s
and the 80s during the forest wars period, right?
And that whole thing, I was a very young man
at the time and wasn't involved in it, but even
I remember it and certainly have studied it.
And we've gone through this progression, and
now it feels like we're getting even more polarized
again around forest management and forest resources
issues. Do you think we're headed backwards,
or do you think... Is this just a blip in the
radar? If you had a crystal ball with your vast
knowledge and experience, what do you think is
the future for forestry in Washington? It looks
pretty grim right now. The infrastructure that
it takes just to produce... The lumber we need
to build houses in Washington State. Which are
important. Absolutely. That's a high priority
on most people's list. Now, what did you tell
me once it takes three full log trucks? Two log
trucks. Two full log trucks to build one house.
A 1 ,600 square foot. Single -family residence
is approximately two trucks of wood. That's an
interesting. That's an interesting visual And
I don't think most people would realize that
it's I mean it's and everything it takes to grow
that And to harvest that and to mill that into
product and then to actually sell it and then
build a home two full trucks of wood one house
That's correct. That's crazy The part that is
But that is just frustrating though is to walk
into a local building supply shop and finding
stickers on OSB or other, um, would, you know,
uh, lumber packages that are not just from outside
Washington state, but are outside our country.
So how is it that Washington state has, is importing,
um, lumber for houses? So I worry about that.
I worry about that. We are, we are part of the
reason, um, housing prices are driven up. Let
me touch on that last part, though, is a big
part of why we're importing lumber because we
also export a lot. A lot of, and my understanding
is that a lot of the privately harvested timber
on private land, not state and federal lands,
because they can't be, those logs, raw logs cannot
be exported, right? It's illegal. They can be
manufactured into products and then exported.
But raw logs themselves that a large company
like warehouser for instance or others might
harvest on their lands those can go right on
right on ships and and be exported to other countries
are we are we importing a lot because we export
so much or do you think that that's not really
a factor we are importing because we're not producing
enough in the state bottom line bottom line okay
and um and so the you know the and then the secondary
issue which may take decades to actually manifest
is that overstocked forests are more likely to
burn. And the west side of the state, they don't
worry about it as much as on the east side. But
that's changing a little bit, isn't it? Yeah.
I mean, we've all driven through areas that have
burned and sometimes burned twice or three times.
You've got air quality issues. We all know what
the outcome of that is, and the environmental
impact of having an entire forest burn is avoidable.
We've come so far, and we've made so many changes,
and I think it's fair to say that Washington
State's forest management policies or forest
practices rules are world -class. head and shoulders
above almost any place else, if not any place
else, as far as protective of the environment.
Why is it still so controversial here? I think
there's a block of people who believe that even
the good work that was done with forest and fish
agreements wasn't enough. The buffering of non
-perennial streams, that is the most recent restriction
on growth, will just continue to take bites from
the apple until there's not enough apple left
to, there's not going to be enough of the forest
left to harvest. You cannot keep cutting away
chunks and expect... there to be an economic
way to actually harvest the wood that we need.
Yeah. Well, it's certainly going to be a topic
of conversation, I think, for a long time. And
our members, as you know, are polarized over
the issue, just like the rest of, it seems like,
the community, if not the world. Let's change
subjects, because I think there's no doubt that
you have been seeing as a leader amongst your
peers on forest management issues. And a lot
of people, you know, have really leaned hard
on your knowledge and experience there to represent
us on a statewide level. And, you know, we all
owe you a debt for that. So thank you. Thank
you so much for your service there. You know,
Paul, but I don't want to set that bar so high.
I don't feel like an expert. I think it's incumbent
on, you know, elected officials and... folks
working in government to know enough to ask good
questions. We have to bring intellectual curiosity
to the table no matter what that topic is. So
I don't have to be the expert. I need to know
who to ask. I need enough of that vocabulary.
And to be able to pose and get the right information
in front of me to make good decisions. But I
don't consider myself an expert. Well, that is
a great message. And I think that anyone who
spent any time in a leadership role in county
government. can certainly relate to that because
there's so many things that you deal with, right?
Let's talk about IT. You think about that. What
county commissioner is an expert in IT, yet we're
dependent on making sure that our county isn't
hit by ransomware or that we've got adequate
protections in technology, that we've invested
in the right places. You have to be able to ask
a lot of questions. And I'm sure you'd never
built a jail before, right? I mean, a construction
is a construction is a construction project.
That's not true. We know that's not true, right?
But there are fundamentals and you know when
to ask the right questions and who to rely on
as experts. Well, and that, you know, I just
have to tell you a funny story there because
I was a brand new commissioner as... as the sheriff's
office was coming forward presenting information
on the new jail and they had they wanted to show
the commissioners how they had balanced the budget
that they were within the bid and and so they
put up on the screen their their schedule of
where the The condensed budget was, and this
was all the hard costs. So the actual construction
contract, here are all the soft costs, meaning
the engineering and the contingency fund and
the furniture and fixtures. And I remember asking
the jail commander, I said, and where is your
tab three? And he said. What is tab three? Hard
costs, soft costs. And I'm like, I want to see
the things that you've cut out of that budget
to present to me a balanced budget. But when
construction's underway, we'll come back in as
contract changes. He goes, oh, you mean the ad
alternate schedule? I'm like, oh, the ad alternate
schedule. Show me what got cut out of this budget
to make it balanced. Yeah, no kidding. Because
they've always got them. Oh, yeah. They've always
got them. And there is a little gamesmanship
on, you know, when do the commissioners make
those decisions about what comes back into a
project versus the team of interest, in this
case, in the sheriff's office. I always found
that having our... Because we built a jail, too,
and we built a sheriff's office, did a remodel
project, and we did some other projects. But
I always felt, I always believed that having
our own project manager that we hired, the board
hired, to oversee the project was a big help.
A big help because they got in early. They got
to see some of that stuff. They told us what
was coming, what wouldn't be coming, et cetera.
And I never wanted the architect to be the project
manager. And I certainly didn't want the other
department to be the project manager because
I felt like we never really knew what was going
on. So a good lesson for those of you out there
who might be building projects at some time in
the future. That project did come in under budget
and on schedule. Which is hard to say most of
the time. So congratulations. The other thing
that I think a lot of your peers have looked
to you as, and maybe not just you, because I
know this is a big issue and has been, and Skagit
County has been a big leader in this issue with
some of your colleagues, both present and in
the past, and that's behavioral health issues.
And so mental health, substance use disorder,
things like that. You've been a big leader there.
Skagit County has been an innovator. We had a
chance to visit some of those facilities up there.
And in fact, there was a really nice presentation
yesterday where some of your folks got to shine
a little bit. There was a video with you, and
I know you have a personal story there. Is that
your passion project as part of your... 10 -year
career as a county commissioner, would that be
the thing that you would point to as the thing
that really drove you or what you really enjoyed
working on or what you're most proud of? It certainly
isn't. I mean, the jail was important, but no
one wants to point to that and say that was my
passion project. The North Star collaboration,
more than the actual facility that was constructed,
I think one of the accomplishments that I would
point to in that when I came into county government,
it was very much the county took care of this
stuff, the cities took care of this stuff, and
there was very little crossover and there was
a lot of mistrust or distrust between cities
and county. Being able to say that we have convened
all four cities, their councils, their mayors,
and the county commissioners multiple times in
this past year to discuss not just the Star Centre
that is opening, but how to coordinate our funds
for 1406 and 1590 monies. How do we all have
eyes on the 110th Behavioral Health? and allocate
those monies to the projects that have already
been prioritized. And then how can we... to coordinate
our opioid settlement monies. You know, that
is all part of this interlocal that is being
signed now is this isn't just a one -time thing
for a construction project, but this is hopefully
a way of thinking that moves Skagit County with
our limited resources for any one jurisdiction
being able to look across. And it's literally
right now a spreadsheet up on a wall that says
Mount Vernon wants to fund this and Cedar Woolley
will fund this and Anacortes and Burlington have
preferences here. And then the county will fill
in some of the blanks. But we've already agreed
on what are those priority projects. When you
say the North Star Collaborative, what you're
talking about, just for people who maybe haven't
heard of it and some of our listeners, I think
you described it well, but just to be really
clear. You worked really hard to get not just
the county, but all the cities within the county
to essentially. pull together and row in the
same direction around mental health services,
around behavioral health services in your community.
And homelessness. And homelessness. And not only
do they agree on the strategy and whatnot, but
you're sharing resources and you're collaborating
on and figuring out who can do what pieces. And
I think you described it as... What was it that
you said yesterday? And I can't remember if it
was in the video or if you said this live, but
you said, we all have a card. And individually,
our cards aren't that impressive. But if you
put them all in the middle of the table, they
create a winning hand. And that's a great analogy.
I thought it was a really great analogy. And
I think that a lot of other communities can relate
to that. You know, it's really a cultural norm,
strangely enough and unfortunately enough. Local
governments just don't get along with each other,
whether it's a city in the county or whatever.
And so to come around, to really coalesce around
a subject like this, which is really, really
hard. right behavioral health and homelessness
these are hard issues nobody wants to pay for
them but we all need them and they're a huge
need in our community that's growing and we've
seen you know what happens when there aren't
supports in place in all walks of life right
and so to be able to take a leadership role and
change the cultural norm around you know the
isolationism and the siloism and the pointing
fingers and the laying blame and setting all
that aside and working together is a remarkable
achievement. One, one that I think, you know,
Skagit County should be, you know, held up as
a, as a really good example. And I think a lot
of that is because of you. At least I hope it
is. I mean, I'm going to give you credit right
here on this podcast, so I hope you take it.
You know, it, it, I'm. I love being a part of
it, but it wouldn't happen without everyone else
willing to have those tough conversations and
staff being able to support consistently that
group. North Star, the mayors, and I have been
meeting monthly for over three years, and so
the work that has been achieved, is very much
a collaborative effort. I will miss being able
to, you know, to have those sit -down conversations.
We have some task force that were identified
as priority areas, but, for example, co -response.
So the municipal police departments, our county
sheriffs. A small outreach team that is in the
city of Mount Vernon that the county has helped
fund for a number of years. That whole program
is going to expand because the commissioners
just adopted the 2015 one tenth money, not because
we just want. you know, law enforcement to grow.
But because there had been this much work, so
much work done with that co -response team. So
we are going to add two more co -response units
that will be right along with our cities. We
have four mental health professionals doing right
alongs with deputies right now. It solves, doesn't
solve, solve isn't the right word, but it addresses
such a deep need in our community. And when we
are ignoring where the county or city, you know,
geographic line goes and recognize that people
move across those lines, we better serve our
community. It doesn't matter whose jurisdiction
they're in. They need help. Yeah, and that's
a really great way to look at it. A couple of
things that I just want to follow up on. You
mentioned the 2015 one -tenth money. So for people
who are listening, 2015 was a house bill that
was passed in 2025 that authorizes a new one
-tenth of 1 % for law enforcement and other related
services. And so Skagit County is taking advantage
of that. I just wanted to make sure people understood.
Thank you for the background. Yeah, what it was
you were talking about. And then the North Star
Project itself, if somebody wants more information,
is there a website? Is there information? somewhere
that they could you know maybe do a little reading
on or a little background information on um there
is a there is a website for north star i don't
know what that i i'll bet it has north star somewhere
in the yeah you'd probably just google like north
star skagit county you know it comes up it comes
up and it has some of those um those stories
and it has the priorities and then um if you
Something else I want to follow up on that you
just mentioned that we haven't even talked about
yet. You gave it up. If you were Taylor Swift,
they'd call it an Easter egg that your fans would
have to pay attention to. But you said, I'm going
to miss having these conversations. You're retiring.
I am retiring. We haven't said that yet in this
podcast. So you gave up. You gave up the ending.
You're retiring. And so when you say you're going
to miss it, it's because you're... You're crossing
off the days. We're almost to Thanksgiving, and
your term's going to end at the end of the year.
That's correct. And you didn't run again. Well,
and I'm actually retiring a year before my term
is up. Oh, so you're retiring early. I am retiring
early. So there'll be an appointment process.
There will be. So speaking of that, I'm going
out on a limb here, okay? So you're retiring.
It's going to be an appointment process. I've
seen your husband hanging around these county
functions pretty recently over the last couple
years. Mr. Janicki, he's here right now at the
County Leaders Conference. One might speculate
that there could be another Commissioner Janicki
coming along. Is Mr. Janicki prepping to succeed
you in the Commissioner's chair? Four years ago,
I asked him that question if he wanted to run,
and he's a civil engineer, and so some of his
expertise, and he's the forestry guy for real.
But no, I think there are things that we want
to do together. Our 11th grandchild is on her
way. 11th, wow. And all those grandkids live
within 15 minutes of my house. Oh, that's so
fortunate. And I just don't have the time. I
don't have enough time as commissioner to really
be there for their events, their middle -of -the
-day school. So there'll be no dynasty in the
county commissioner's chair in Skagit County
related to the Janicki's? You know, it's a big
family. I can't speak for all those nieces. Our
Christmas party for the family Christmas party
is 80 people. Oh, that's a big family. Yeah,
so we had to move it into an off -site location
because nobody's house can handle 80 people eating
dinner. Nobody wants to prepare their house,
much less clean up afterwards for 80 people.
Well, Commissioner, it's been a real pleasure
chatting with you. I think you've had a great
career. I think that you're going to be missed.
I think a lot of our members are going to miss
your counsel, your mentorship, and your leadership.
And I think your community is going to as well.
I'm sorry that Mr. Janicki is I was really hoping
that I was going to break. I was that was going
to be a breaking news story. I was like, man,
I wonder if this is happening. It was actually
just a conspiracy theory that I was going to
throw out there. And I was surprised that you'd
actually talked about with them a little bit.
I'd like to just add one more piece to this.
If if there is something, some legacy that I
have left. for that next generation of elected
officials. I really hope that I have modeled
for other women who are interested in serving
their community through an elected office that
they can see, you know, I consider myself an
introvert. I don't like to be put in front of
everyone, but there's so much good work that
has to be done. You know, I saw that on the County
Road Administration Board when I served there
and watching, you know, women commissioners come
on to that board is, I think, just a great opportunity
for us to kind of exercise that. Our areas of
expertise can translate to a lot of the needs
of the county organization. And I think the challenge
for women is always how to be credible, assert
your intellectual curiosity again, how to be
a strong female leader without being considered
That B word that is often applied to women. Right.
And so I'm just I'd love to see that next generation
of women stepping into elected office. Right.
Right. No, that's a that's a great message and
a great legacy to leave behind. I hope that you
look back on these years and value them highly.
I think I think you should. I know that. I oftentimes
get a chance to talk with elected officials who
have retired, and some feel very differently
about their service. But there's a few out there
that really deserve to feel great about what
they've done. And I think anybody who gives their
heart into it and does it for the right reasons
and has the opportunity to really affect change
on a meaningful level in their communities really
deserves the ability to feel. very good about
what they've done. And I know you're one of those
people. Thank you. And I hope you won't be a
stranger. And I hope that, you know, we can call
on you every now and again and say, hey, what
about this timber issue? And what about that
behavioral health issue? You'll be open to that
a little bit, right? While you're fishing in
Alaska, maybe? Well, yes, that too. There's that
fishing. Keep the cell phone in your back pocket,
Commissioner. I will. All right. Take care. Thank
you, Paul. Thanks for tuning in to County Connection.
Stay in the loop by subscribing to us through
your preferred podcasting app and following us
on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. And don't
forget to join The Hub, your go -to source for
the latest news and updates from the Washington
State Association of Counties. Until next time,
stay connected and stay informed.