Examiner The Whidbey
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Thursday, February 26, 2015
clean water
Town swaps member on transit board By Jessie Stensland Co-Editor
County sheds light on septic maintenance importance
Jackie Henderson’s first meeting on the Island Transit board was an eventful marathon session in which the board adopted new routes, purchased new buses and rejected a headhunting proposal. Henderson replaces longtime Island Transit member Bob Clay on the board of the recovering agency. She is a member of the Coupeville Town Council and the director of the Island County Human Services. The Coupeville Council appointed Henderson to serve on the transit board this month. Both Clay and Henderson asked to be appointed; Mayor Nancy Conard had to
By Janis Reid Staff Reporter
Getting people to inspect their septic systems has been an ongoing struggle for Island County. It’s one that the law doesn’t necessarily incentivize. When the county first implemented the law in 2009, it could have cost a homeowner around $250 for an inspection, $62 to submit the results and up to $20,000 in repairs or replacement if problems were discovered. If the county finds a resident to be noncompliant, however, they are only issued a $25 fine. With the county’s limited staff and resources, enforcement was a problem, according to Keith Higman, the county’s public health director. “The system hasn’t created a great incentive for compliance,” Higman said. Today, things are a little different. The $62 fee was removed in recent years and the program has continued through Clean Water Utility funding. In addition, the county now has access to federal rebates, grants and loans to assist — and incentivize — homeowners to take a real look at their septic systems. To get the word out, a community meeting was held last week at the Captain Whidbey Inn focusing on the Penn Cove watershed to encourage people to both think environmentally and comply with the law. The county served Penn Cove mussels, in part to drive home the point that clean water is essential for a healthy ecosystem. “We hoped people would make that connection,” said Ruth Piccone, Island County environmental health specialist. Identified as one of the county’s high-risk watersheds, Penn Cove is a body of water with low-dissolved oxygen, making it sensitive to pollution, Piccone said. This hyper-focus on Penn Cove was made possible by a $60,000 area-specific feder-
VOL. 20, NO. 29
See Board, page 8
Town hiring for planning director job By Megan Hansen Co-Editor
Janis Reid photo
Eugene Thrasher, with the Island County Beach Watchers, discusses how water quality can affect the quality of sea life at last week’s open house at the Captain Whidbey Inn. Septic system owners in the Penn Cove watershed are being offered a rebate to help pay for inspections. al grant applied for by Higman’s staff and awarded to high-risk watersheds. Due to the sensitivity of Penn Cove and its 1,177 septic systems, the money is intended to pay for up to $300 of a resident’s inspection. “It’s limited and we want people to take advantage,” Piccone. “The money will run out.” In addition to the Penn Cove-specific money, the county also has access to grants and loans county-wide to assist residents in caring for their septic systems. The county has more than 27,000 known septic systems with a 21 percent compliance rate, Piccone said. The endangered Penn Cove watershed has only a 16 percent compliance. South Holmes Harbor and Maxwelton watersheds are also high-risk areas, although
the county has yet to gather hard compliance numbers on them. While the county has previously focused on overall compliance, they are taking a step back from that and simply trying to get people to see what’s going on with their systems.
See Septic, page 8
The Town of Coupeville is seeking applications to fill a full-time planning director position. The first screening of applications will be March 12 with selection hopefully in April, Mayor Nancy Conard said. In late 2014, Town Council approved a budget addition for a full-time employee position for the planning department. Currently, the town contracts for services and current Planning Director Bridgett Smith comes in an average of three days a week. Because the position is changing to an employee status, the town must seek applications. Smith has been encouraged to apply
See Job, page 8