The Okanogan County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on March 21, 2005, with Chairman Mary Lou Peterson, Commissioner Andrew Lampe, Commissioner Don Hover and Brenda Crowell, Clerk of the Board present.

Discussion – Title II – Conservation District
Laura Clark stated that the Conservation District is wanting to apply for Title II funds to develop a Fire Plan for the south valley area. Commissioner Hover stated that a county wide plan is being developed. She pointed out that the county wide fire plan may not be as detailed although there would be overlapping items. Commissioner Peterson suggested that she meet with Ted Murray who could can assist her in coordination. Commissioner Peterson stated that it all has to work together.

Discussion – Update - Prosecutor
Karl Sloan discussed various issues including coroner training and the status of several murder cases that are pending. Karl explained that a peer review rated the county’s Taskforce very high. However, there are cuts that may reduce funding for the Drug Taskforce.

Resolution 33-2005 – Supplemental Appropriation – Elections
Commissioner Peterson opened the hearing to address a supplemental appropriation to the Elections budget. Commissioner Peterson called for public comment and no comments were given. Commissioner Hover moved to approve Resolution 33-2005, supplemental appropriation to the current expense elections budget in the amount of $128,773. Motion was seconded and carried. (attached)

Resolution 34-2005 – Supplemental Appropriation – Sheriff
Commissioner Peterson opened the hearing and noted that no public are present for comment. Commissioner Hover moved to approve Resolution 34-2005, supplemental appropriation in the amount of $825,892 to the current expense sheriff’s budget. Motion was seconded and carried. (attached)

Resolution 35-2005 – Supplemental Appropriation - Sheriff
Commissioner Peterson opened the hearing and noted that no public were present to comment. Commissioner Lampe moved to approve Resolution 34-2005, supplemental appropriation in the amount of $168,985 to the current expense Sheriff’s budget. Motion was seconded and carried. (attached)

Discussion – Nightly Rentals – Commissioners
Commissioner Peterson explained that this meeting is for informational purposes and is not a public hearing.

Marianne Morris gave a brief history of the nightly rental ordinance. Prior to that date citizens were given an opportunity to apply for a nightly rentals. Those people who had pending water issues were allowed to continue their permit. As of today no new nightly rentals are being permitted.

JJ Bellinger stated that the Health District is one of two public health agencies that licenses nightly rentals. Anything under 2 bedrooms the county handles, and anything over is handled by the State Department of Health. One problem in the Methow is that there is currently a moratorium on water rights. In order to get a permit you need to have an approved source of water. If you are already on a public system, the county’s requirement is satisfied. If there is a hot tub or pool there are additional regulations. There are also some new regulations up and coming for bed and breakfast. The situation with water is that when a new system is approved, use is still regulated by the state. Regarding the single connection level the issues are still trying to be worked out. If nothing comes of that, the Health District is still trying to accommodate water approvals by some means.

Paul Waterstrat and Wendell stated that there are no planning or water restrictions in any of the rest of Okanogan County.

Bradley Duda commented that he has been renting and has a tax ID, paying taxes and has a Class A water source. He had originally been told in 1994 that he could rent the place, but after he finished the building in 1996 was told it was too late to get a nightly rental permit.

Nancy Bartley built a cabin about 5 years ago and at that time did not intend to rent the place. Her husband suddenly died and she was saddled with mortgage payments. When she inquired she was shocked to find that even though the place across the road could rent their building, she could not, even though it met all the conditions. She was faced with no options but to rent it out even a few nights a month to pay the mortgage. She reported on the amount of economic contributions to the valley by her renters. From her stand point it is frustrating not to be able to rent the place out legally.

JJ explained that she would not have a problem getting a state permit only with the zoning ordinance.

Ken Westman stated that he has battled nightly rentals for the past 20 years. He noted that he had to jump through a lot of loops to obtain his permit and cost him quite a lot of money in legal fees. At the time there were many rentals that were using a 5 gallon can for a water supply. He doesn’t see any reason to change the law. It isn’t fair to the people who built the motels and hotels to have unpermitted rentals not paying taxes, etc.

Kurt Jacobson has been renting the cabin out for 20 years, well before the change in the ordinance. The rentals provide for retirement income. If they had to cease renting the housekeeper would loose her job. He feels that it provides tourism and improves the economy in the valley. They would like to be permitted. He feels it is discriminatory to restrict it to PD’s. Willing to pay tax and permit fees. Commissioner Hover asked why he didn’t get the permits before. He explained that they felt they were or should be grandfathered in.

John Hayes addressed why planned developments are permitted. At the time of the sunset clause, there was a proliferation of short plats and the rule was to protect the rural character of the Methow Valley. There was also water quality to consider. He is not for opening up nightly rentals to permitting again.

Tracy Diller stated that he has been breaking the rules and is here to let everyone know why. His house was built as a one bedroom with a loft. They pay taxes, have UBI #’s etc. He feels that this issue needs to be considered by all. Things change and he sees this as an opportunity to revisit the issue. He suggested having a trial period to determine the worth of permitting additional places.

Dick Ewing presented 6 reasons why the county should allow property owners to rent their home or guest house to recreational visitors.

Lou Childers expressed his dissatisfaction with the lack of enforcement of the county code.

Olivia Rose would like to see the law enforced before opening it up for new rentals. It took her took 4.5 years to develop River Run PUD and no profit was recognized for up to 4 years. Because they did it legally, she feels that everyone should have to do the same though a PUD or commercial property.

Walt Foster went through a lot of expense and hard work to develop his PD. The law is the law and people should follow it. There are a lot of "Johnny Come Latelys" who are hurting the existing businesses in the area.

Dennis Kanootzen of Rivers Inn Resort, he is newer to the Valley than this rule. During the process of trying to sell another piece of property that was zoned for nightly rentals it was determined that it could no longer be used for that and it caused a decrease in the assessed value. He wants the county to enforce the laws and not change it. He would not like to have an illegal activity next door in a residential neighborhood. When renting there may be renter’s who do not respect the environment etc. He would like the Department of Ecology to be able to authorize nightly rentals in areas that are zoned for such. It is not a fair process to have it being done as it currently is.

Sorenson provides housekeeping and maintenance to the nightly rentals and is concerned that they could loose their livelihood if there is enforcement of the sunset clause.

Gabriel Childers said that they have built the whole infrastructure for the trail system and open space environment. She noted that established rentals are having to lay people off as well.

Lou Childers said that tracking the number of visitor’s is the key.

Commissioner Peterson stated that she had a phone call from Burt Lake who lives in North Carolina and rents a home in the Methow Valley as well as numerous written comments from others outside the county to be included in the record. She thanked everyone for coming and presenting both sides of the issue.

Discussion – Economic Alliance
Terry Knapton and members of the Economic Alliance Executive Board

Terry introduced Ronnie Holder-Diefenbach as the newest member of the Economic Alliance. Terry explained the criteria for applications for .08 funding for emerging businesses. He presented an application from the Town of Winthrop to purchase necessary equipment to connect a fiberoptic based gigbit Ethernet Service in Winthrop in the amount of $40,000.

Rocklyn Culp explained that the $40,000 is approximately 10% of the overall cost. John Larson stated that the fiber is already in place and Homemovies.com has contracted to pull two of the fibers off their trunk for lease to the Larson business. The town would utilize the funds for the switches on the line for redistribution. John Larson explained the program being provided to the military overseas and their families. He explain that there would be a problem if even 1% of these were connected at once The existing wireless networks do not have the bursting capacity needed, however these can be used as a backup support and at the same time the wireless companies can use the fiber as backup for their systems. These two strands would provide plenty of bandwidth to support growth in the Methow.

Rocklyn Culp explained the relationship with the Town of Winthrop and Homemovies.com.

Jeff Harding explained his concerns saying that they see this as public funding competing with private enterprise. Commissioner Peterson explained the intent of the .08 infrastructure statue which provides for specific uses and anyone can apply with projects.

Steve Hardy expressed the same concern as Mr. Harding saying that this would compete with private enterprise. He is also concerned about accountability.

Terry Knapton explained the economic benefit to the Valley. Commissioner Peterson explained that the Town of Winthrop will have a contract with Okanogan County. John Larson also explained his commitment by the 6 year lease with Centurytel.

George Dale explained that there are a lot of businesses using this fiber. He also noted that these businesses also provide jobs in the community which in turn will use the private internet services. Mr. Dale explained that it is his policy to run 50% of his traffic over Centurytel and 50% from the wireless providers. Mr. Larson stated that he hopes to use the wireless providers as backup.

Commissioner Peterson stated that once the paperwork is before the Commissioners a decision will be made.

Executive Session – Personnel – Commissioners
Commissioner Lampe moved to go into executive session for 45 minutes at 4:45 PM to discuss personnel issues. Motion was seconded and carried.

Open Session resumed at 5:00 PM