In concert with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Pierce, Mason and Snohomish Counties, King County has called a Phase 1 burn ban to take effect at 8:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 15, 2010 and will run through September 30, 2010. This burn ban applies throughout King County in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas.

Forest and yard debris burning is not allowed under a Phase 1 ban. This burn ban does not apply to federal forests or national parks, although these jurisdictions may have similar restrictions in effect.

This Phase 1 burn ban still allows recreational campfires in approved fire pits. However, campfires and fire pits are allowed only if they are located on private land with the landowner’s permission and if built according to the specifications below. These fires must:

• Be built in a metal or concrete fire pit, such as those typically found in designated campgrounds;
• Grow no larger than three feet across;
• Be located in a clear spot free from any vegetation for at least 10 feet in a horizontal direction, including a 20-foot vertical clearance from overhanging branches; and
• Be attended at all times by an alert individual with immediate access to a shovel and either five gallons of water or a connected and charged water hose.

King County Fire Marshal Jim Chan, in announcing the burn ban stated, “With local temperatures rising, we have called this burn ban to protect public health and safety during the summer months. This ban will be in effect throughout the summer and will be lifted on September 30, 2010.”

… Dep. Hancock presented me with his formal request to step away from the White Center storefront position. He has personal reasons why this is a positive move for him at this time. He has shared some of those reasons with me and I support his decision. It is his choice how he shares those reasons with others. I am asking my command staff to work with him regarding his next assignment within the precinct. He is not being terminated from the Sheriff’s Office, nor is there any such consideration.

In talking with Jeff it had been our plan to accompany him to the UAC meeting on July 1st for him to present news of this change but it is clear there is some information of this already within the community, so I wanted to at least share this much.

Jeff has served in a very stressful and challenging environment for 3 years. I have seen the good work he has done and the relationships he has built, and he is to be commended for all of his efforts. I know that makes his decision all the harder for him and the community. But allowing him to move away from this assignment is the right thing to do.

We are in perhaps the most difficult times I have experienced in over 3 decades of serving our communities. We have had staff reductions across our agency in the unincorporated areas and are facing more. As you know this necessitated putting all of our storefront deputies back in regular patrol functions, at least temporarily. We face critical budget decisions as an agency and are unsure of the future of the storefront positions. This is simply the reality of our present circumstance .

We have always felt strong support from our North Highline community and it is my hope that will not change. Very good, dedicated deputies continue to serve the community. You shared your concerns about a noticeable growth in criminal behavior in the area. We will continue to do what we can to address those concerns as best we can.

Major Graddon

James G. Graddon
Chief of Police – City of SeaTac
Precinct Commander – King County Sheriff’s Office
Southwest Precinct

As noted in Major Graddon’s e-mail, this is expected to be part of the agenda for Thursday night’s NHUAC meeting (7 pm at North Highline Fire District HQ) – the new agenda’s not online yet but you can watch the NHUAC site.

Monday, June 28
King County Flood Control District Executive Committee – 9:30 a.m. (Committee will meet in the Southwest Conference Room, 12th floor, King County Courthouse)

Executive Committee members are scheduled to discuss and possibly recommend to the full Board of Supervisors:

· Resolution to approve 2010 Hazard Mitigation Plan

Briefing:

· Vegetation Management on Levies – Next Steps

Metropolitan King County Council – 11:00 a.m.
– Councilmembers will recognize the O’Dea High School Baseball Team for winning the 3A State Championship
– Councilmembers will recognize the Renton/Skyway Boys & Girls Club for winning the 2010 Honor Award for their MicroSociety program

Councilmembers are scheduled to discuss and possibly act on:

· A motion requesting the United States Congress to allocate one of three space shuttles the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is taking out of service next year to the Museum of Flight (Motion 2010-0299).

Note: Former astronaut Dr. Bonnie Dunbar will attend

Tuesday, June 29
Environment and Transportation Committee – 9:30 a.m.
Committee members are scheduled to discuss and possibly recommend to the full council:

· A motion expressing support for development of a bike sharing program in King County (Motion 2010-0356).

Budget and Fiscal Management Committee – 2:00 p.m. ***Special Meeting***
Committee members are scheduled to discuss and possibly recommend to the full council:

· An ordinance directing the submission to the qualified voters of King County at a special election on November 2, 2010, a proposition authorizing an additional sales and use tax of two-tenths of one percent for criminal justice, fire protection and other general governmental purposes subject to certain property tax levy limitations with proceeds split sixty percent county and forty percent for cities; limiting the use of county tax proceeds to criminal justice purposes; limiting collection to a maximum of three years (Ordinance 2010-0352).

· An ordinance directing the submission to the qualified voters of King County at a special election on November 2, 2010, a proposition authorizing an additional sales and use tax of one-tenth of one percent for criminal justice, fire protection and other general governmental purposes with proceeds split sixty percent county and forty percent for cities; limiting the use of county tax proceeds to capital and financing costs for new facilities at the King County Youth Services Center, as well as costs to maintain and operate current and new facilities at the King County Youth Services Center (Ordinance 2010-0365).

· An ordinance directing the submission to the qualified voters of King County at a special election on November 2, 2010, a proposition authorizing an additional sales and use tax of two-tenths of one percent for criminal justice, fire protection and other general governmental purposes, with proceeds split between the county (sixty percent) and cities (forty percent), subject to a requirement to appropriate certain unincorporated area property tax revenues for criminal justice purposes; limiting the use of county tax proceeds to criminal justice purposes; limiting collection to a maximum of three years (2010-0367)

Environment and Transportation Committee – 6:30 p.m. *** Special Meeting: McMurray Middle School, 9329 Cemetery Road, Vashon, WA 98070 ***

Committee members are scheduled to hold a public workshop and discuss:

· An ordinance relating to adopting the shoreline master program (Ordinance 2009-0609).
· An ordinance relating to comprehensive planning and permitting (Ordinance 2010-0163).
· An ordinance relating to development processes and requirements (Ordinance 2010-0164).

The public will have an opportunity to provide testimony.

Wednesday, June 30
Committee of the Whole – 9:30 a.m.
Agenda TBA

With King County’s general fund facing a $140 million deficit over the next two years and public safety services in jeopardy, the Metropolitan King County Council today unanimously approved a financial and performance audit of the Sheriff’s Office called for by Councilmember Larry Phillips. The audit will be conducted by the King County Auditor’s Office with scoping and preliminary work to be completed in 2010, and the full audit due in 2011.

“The Great Recession has reduced funding for criminal justice programs at a time when families can least afford to pay more taxes to make up the difference, so we must seek every efficiency possible in the Sheriff’s Office to reduce costs and maintain vital public safety services,” said Councilmember Larry Phillips. “Through an audit of Metro, we were able to find enough savings to offset transit cuts for two years. We don’t anticipate similar monetary results through this audit, but every efficiency counts.”

The audit will review regional and local law enforcement services in comparison to the state mandated levels of regional and local law enforcement services and any applicable benchmarks.

“Auditing the Sheriff’s Office is a proactive step towards creating a more efficient King County government,” said Council Vice Chair Jane Hague. “A similar performance audit of Metro last year allowed us to prevent cuts in service. Hopefully we can do the same thing here, so we can maximize the amount of service for each taxpayer dollar. In this economic climate our constituents expect us to keep all options on the table when it comes to saving money.”

“Our top funding priority has been to preserve our public safety system, but we need to make sure we are doing it in the most efficient way possible,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, chair of the Government Accountability and Oversight Committee, which directs the work of the Auditor’s Office. “Sheriff Rahr has done an admirable job of keeping our citizens safe, but now with declining resources, that task becomes even more challenging. Our criminal justice system – including the sheriff, courts and jails – now is 76 percent of the general fund. Our Auditor has the expertise to advise us about how to stretch every dollar to its capacity, so this is a good time to apply that capability to the Sheriff’s Office.”

The Executive previously proposed sending to voters the option to offset criminal justice cuts by raising $47 million in 2011 through a two-tenths of one percent local option sales tax. This proposal did not garner the six Council votes needed to make the August ballot, but Councilmembers have not ruled out sending a criminal justice revenue proposal to voters in November after more work has been done to lower county costs.

Criminal justice officials have warned that the roughly 10- to 15-percent reductions that will be needed to close the $60 million general fund gap for 2011 could lead to the elimination of about 80 Sheriff’s Office positions—in addition to the 96 positions cut in the last three years—and would reduce basic law enforcement services.

Monday, June 7
Metropolitan King County Council – 11:00 a.m.
Councilmembers are scheduled to discuss and possibly act on:
· A motion authorizing the Council Chair to enter into a contract for an independent consultant to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of the Wastewater Treatment Divisions’ productivity initiative (Motion 2010-0302).

Councilmembers are scheduled to hear public testimony on:
· Executive’s proposed 2011 Sewer Rate and Capacity Charge (Ordinance 2010-0262). The public hearing will begin at 1:30 p.m.

Tuesday, June 8
Environment and Transportation Committee – 9:30 a.m.
Briefing:
· Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program (Briefing No. 2010-B0112).

Committee members are scheduled to discuss and possibly recommend to the full council:
· An ordinance adopting the 2010 King County Open Space Plan: Parks, Trails and Natural Areas (Ordinance 2010-0270).

Discussion only:
· An ordinance relating to adopting the shoreline master program (Ordinance 2009-0609).
· An ordinance relating to comprehensive planning and permitting (Ordinance 2010-0163)

(WCN note: The agenda also includes the Evergreen Pool agreement – read the legislation here)

Law, Justice and Health and Human Services Committee – 1:30 p.m.
Briefings:
· Reorganization and Consolidation of King County Sheriff’s Office Operations (Briefing No. 2010-B0104).
· Update on Regional Jail Planning (Briefing No. 2010-B0116).

Budget and Fiscal Management Committee – 3:30 p.m. ***Special Meeting***
Committee members are scheduled to discuss and possibly recommend to the full council:
· Executive’s proposed 2011 Sewer Rate and Capacity Charge (Ordinance 2010-0262).
· Ordinances relating to the provision of regional animal care and control services (Ordinances 2010-0325, 2010-0326 and 2010-0327).

Environment and Transportation Committee – 6:30 p.m. ***Special Meeting Time***
Councilmembers are scheduled to hear public testimony on:
· An ordinance relating to adopting the shoreline master program (Ordinance 2009-0609).
· An ordinance relating to comprehensive planning and permitting (Ordinance 2010-0163).

For more information on the Shoreline Master Program and the King County Growth Management Comprehensive Plan, go to:
www.kingcounty.gov/council/issues/comprehensive_plan.aspx

Wednesday, June 9
Committee of the Whole – 9:30 a.m. ***Special Meeting Location*** Committee will meet in the Southwest Conference Room, 12th flr., King County Courthouse

Agenda TBA

King County Ferry District Executive Committee – 1:30 p.m. ***Special Meeting Location*** Committee will meet in the Southwest Conference Room, 12th flr., King County Courthouse
Committee members are scheduled to discuss and possibly recommend to the Ferry District Board of Supervisors:
· A resolution relating to cash management and approving the “King County Ferry District Cash Handling Policy.”

Regional Policy Committee – 3:00 p.m.
Briefings:
· Overview of State-Mandated County Service (Briefing No. 2010-B0114).
· Update on Animal Care and Control Services in King County (Briefing No. 2010-B0115).

King County’s Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) is helping citizens in unincorporated King County to prepare for an earthquake emergency with free home earthquake retrofit permits on homes that meet specific criteria.

DDES Customer information Bulletin #50, Obtaining A Voluntary Home Earthquake Retrofit Permit, is available online here and outlines criteria for securing a free retrofit permit from DDES. In general, the homes must:

o be of wood-frame construction;
o have a light-weight roof;
o not be irregularly shaped;
o have a reinforced concrete foundation;
o not exceed two stories in height; and
o be on a relatively level lot.

Free earthquake retrofit permits at DDES can usually be issued over the counter if a complete application has been submitted. (Homes that do not meet these criteria can still secure an earthquake retrofit permit, however the process involves more review time and permit review fees are charged.)

“I hope more people will take advantage of this important program,” said DDES Director John Starbard. “Our region dealt with the impacts of the Nisqually earthquake in 2001 and, although that event was not of the same magnitude as more recent international earthquake disasters, modern building codes minimized the physical and economic damage of the 2001 quake for the benefit of the entire region.”

The biggest point from Captain Cole: “The crime rate in White Center the last few years has gone down dramatically.” This point has been made before, but hearing it again had new meaning for some of the people most closely involved in the issue of potential northern North Highline annexation, as claims of WC crime woes have come up at recent public hearings. One success cited by the captain – “The gang unit has saturated the area on Friday and Saturday nights.” For March overall, he said, most of the crime in the unincorporated area was gang-related, but it was an “excellent month” overall.

Also, he noted that White Center storefront Deputy Jeff Hancock is back on patrol for a few months because of some staffing challenges – including the annexation that took effect the day of the NHUAC meeting: “As of today, seven deputies are now Burien police officers,” he noted. He says KCSO is reorganizing its precincts this summer to deal with challenges; when that takes effect July 1st, he says, Deputy Hancock (and the two other KCSO storefront officers who also have been moved temporarily to patrol) will be back to his regular role.

Now, on to the recap of the Tuesday burglary arrests – we’ll do our best to transcribe the story as the captain told it, quite energetically at that:

“The couple came home, to find a couple of miscreants in their belongings – one in a pickup, one in a shed, but they’d been in their house – the back door was forced open. They noticed these things before they found the people (responsible). While they’re looking at the truck, one guy pops up – they chased him – the woman, with her legally owned pistol – the guy grabbed his samurai sword, and off they went. Unfortunately, they didn’t take the time to call 911. So we get a call about a crazy woman with a gun and a guy with a samurai sword. They were the first people we came across … but the guy with the sword had collared one of the suspects. Meantime, the second suspect, they thought had a shotgun – we took that seriously, so we had like 25 helicopters and 100 police cars surrounding the block [including mutual-aid responders from Seattle PD] … Turned out the guy had gotten out of the perimeter before we set it up. …

“The suspects were in their young 20s, and they had quite a plan. They’d broken into another house up the street and staged it so they would meet up somewhere … Our detectives did a fantastic job. They contacted two more suspects in Seattle later that evening. (The burglary) looked really bad but in reality, we got the guy’s stuff back – the victims were at the precinct (Wednesday) to sort through (recovered loot).”

Captain Cole thought at least one of the suspects already had been charged; we’ll be checking with the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to find out more.