10 years ago 1998
Two sites in north Marysville are finalists in a county search for a new 500-bed, minimum-security jail. A commission charged with finding somewhere to house Snohomish County prisoners has narrowed a list of 20 sites to three, all in north county and two in Marysvilles urban growth boundary. Marysville Mayor David Weiser was not adverse to the Marysville sites. We will work with them as best we can. We have all these new laws to put more and more criminals in jail and we have to house them somewhere, he said. All three final sites are near the Smokey Point area, including one area just north of Arlington Airport, near a mobile home park. The two on the Marysville side of Smokey Point are close to each other and Smokey Point Boulevard. Both sites are zoned for commercial use and there are no schools or churches nearby. However, the northern site is not far from a new development housing Navy families on 164th Drive NE. The proposed Snohomish site was withdrawn after heated public opposition. Additionally, the citys zoning would have required a City Council vote to change it something unlikely, according to Snohomish mayor Jeff Soth. No such opposition emerged in Marysville or Arlington. Very few people attended meetings held last summer to discuss the Arlington site, according to mayor Bob Kraski. The little public outcry so far doesnt mean the neighbors will welcome the jail. Kraski is concerned the opposition wont come out until the facility is under construction, he said. At his level, however, he expects to be able to take the Arlington site off the list. The chances of it coming here are slim and none, he said, explaining the city will hand a long list of demands to the county, including putting a police precinct office at the jail. City officials in Marysville have yet to discuss the issue, City Administrator Dave Zabell said. The city of Marysville will participate in the public comment period which will open when the country releases the impact study. City officials are considering a public meeting to help the mayor and City Council respond. It is rare for a community to welcome a jail and prisoners without at least some concern if not outright opposition, corrections manager Kathie Deviny said. However, public response to the search isnt overwhelmingly negative, she added. No one had disputed the need for the jail. The Everett jail is full and the county pays $50 per prisoner, per day to keep an average of 25 inmates at the Yakima County Jail. The county corrections department also keeps prisoners at the county fairgrounds in Monroe. We are maxed out here in Everett, Deviny said. Weiser sympathized with the countys plight. I think it is unfair for Everett to take any more [prisoners]. A county commission three years ago projected the county would need at least 500 prison beds in the next 20 years, based on population growth and sentencing trends, Deviny said. The prisoners housed in the new facility would be those the county considers minimum security. County corrections officials also hope to move the Cascade District Court and a new county sheriffs office to the new jail. After a 30-day period in which the county asks the public to comment on the impact study, a final study will be completed by the end of spring. After that County Executive Bob Drewel will choose a home for the new jail this summer. The county corrections department expects construction to begin next year.

25 years ago 1983
It seems fitting that there is a well-used typewriter in Shirley Bartholomews office high atop the county administration building in Everett. And the fact that she writes her own press releases shouldnt surprise most of the County Councilwomans constituents. She represents north Snohomish Countys first district. Bartholomews new career as a politician is only two years old, while her first profession as a radio news broadcaster spanned about 35 years here and left her anointed with high public recognition and popularity. Risking her popularity, she says, is one of the challenges of serving on the County Council, particularly when the system of government is quite new and in the midst of a sometimes agonizing reorganization of responsibilities and functions. All five on the County Council will have to weigh their popularity this year when they face the voters in the fall. Councilman Jim Haines of south county has already decided to retire, says Bartholomew, and Councilmen Don Britton and Cliff Bailey of east county will have to face each other or flip a coin as they now find themselves in the same district. Each district has about 30,000 registered voters. Bartholomew said she is undecided whether to seek re-election. The reorganization of county government is the least publicized but perhaps the most important job the Council faces, said Bartholomew. The job is about two-thirds completed, not a bad record, she notes, considering it took King County about six years to effectively transform their old commissioner form of government into a more modern and efficient charter government. While such policy chores are necessary, the County Council also has important legislative and quasi-judicial responsibilities that more frequently make the news. Reviewing the annual budget takes about half the year and is an exhausting process, she said. The budget also makes dramatic headlines when county Sheriff Bob Dodge questions the Councils decisions in a most public manner and brings along a large crowd of similarly minded supporters. Part of the sheriffs concerns, said Bartholomew, were his differences on budgeting priorities. The sheriff and the Council were also testing the still unclear waters of departmental jurisdiction. In King County the prosecuting attorney and assessor are the only independently elected department heads. In Snohomish County under the new charter the sheriff, auditor, county clerk and treasurer are also elected to office, making for occasional conflicts between the independent department heads, the County Council and the county executive. The County Council also sits as the last administrative court of appeal of land-use issues, a role Bartholomew says is her most difficult. Decisions on land, on zoning hit the pocketbook and strain the emotions of the people concerned, she said. And were in the middle and no matter what we do, half the people are going to be mad. The reorganization of county government, however, remains the Councils most challenging current task, she said. Under the old commissioners system therere five separate accounting systems used in county government, for example, she said. The public works department, the federal CETA program, the auditor, treasurer and the grants division all had different accounting systems. It used to take a CPA re reconcile the auditors and treasurers books. Establishing a Department of Finance which combined many of the auditor and treasurers functions was one of the Councils first moves. But it was a step taken after lengthy discussions with both independent department heads. Their original opposition to the consolidation was overcome and both now endorse the reorganization, Bartholomew said. The need to convince people in government of the value of reorganization has been characteristic of the Councils effort. These changes are going to make these people look good, said another Council member. But the truth of that statement hasnt made the Councils job any easier and some of the more conflicting challenges are yet to come. It should be noted that the Council receives all the reorganization recommendations from the County Executive Willis Tucker with whom most of the Council has no fundamental disagreement, said Bartholomew. Oh, we differ about a job here or there, but basically we are working to the same end, she said. Taxpayers have the right to expect efficiency.

50 years ago 1958
Members of the City Council burned the midnight oil last Monday night in a long session, as they pondered the rate structure to be applied to business houses on the financing of the sewer system and disposal plant, to be constructed during the coming year. Using, as a guide to determine classifications, the water consumption records of the 113 businesses, also giving consideration as to whether or not the water will find its way into the sewer system, the Councilmen came up with several classifications, ranging in a set of charges from $3.50 to $10 per month. Five hundred and ninety-five residences at $3 per month; schools (1,345 pupils, nine months) at 20 cents each per month, $2,421; hospital and nursing homes (34 patients) 75 cents each per month, $243; 64 apartment units, $2.50 each per month, $1,920; eight churches, $3 per month, $288; 113 businesses (rates range from $3.50 to $10) average about $5.50, $7459. Consideration was also given to selection of site for the disposal plant, which it is hoped can be located at the west end of Burke Avenue, below the hill. The property desired for this purpose is owned by Frank Tucker. Burke Avenue at the west end, terminates at the brow of a steep hill, although the right-of-way continues down the hill to an intersection with Minor Avenue, which is also undeveloped. The disposal plant site would be on lots at the bottom of this hill.