Island County commissioners took a step toward approving a new fee on county property that would fund two conservation districts.
The three commissioners unanimously approved a motion to instruct the county prosecutor to draft the necessary ordinance to implement the special assessment of $5 per parcel plus 5 cents per acre. But the ultimate passage of the ordinance may not be a slam dunk.
Island County Clerk Sharon Franzen has decided to retire from her elected office Dec. 15, a little over a year before her term is over.
“I had made it very clear that I was going to retire next year at the end of my four-year term, but several factors caused me to leave earlier than planned,” she said.
Island County is facing a $1.4 million deficit next year, according to county Budget Director Elaine Marlow.
Like most jurisdictions in the state, the recession has hit the county hard. County commissioners were forced to undergo two rounds of budget pairing over the last year, cutting $4 million and laying off dozens of employees.
A 19-year-old Oak Harbor woman was charged with felony assault for throwing a knife out a bedroom window at her drunken husband, court documents state.
Prosecutors charged Megan Roberts in Island County Superior Court Oct. 12 with assault in the second degree with a deadly weapon. It was filed as a domestic violence crime.
Police say a 31-year-old former Oak Harbor resident turned himself in after admitting to molesting a pre-teen girl, court documents indicate.
Prosecutors charged Joshua Lawrence, currently a Marysville resident, in Island County Superior Court Oct. 16 with three counts of child molestation in the first degree.
A 32-year-old Oak Harbor man who got tasered on the buttocks while fighting a police officer was sentenced this week.
Under a plea bargain, Travis McKinney pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court Oct. 19 to fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest.
The judge sentenced McKinney to 365 days in jail, with all but 20 days suspended. Court documents indicate that the 20-day sentence may be converted to electronic home monitoring.
Langley resident Patricia Sylvester went on an emotional roller coaster ride in Island County Superior Court Monday.
Sylvester, 49, was on trial last week on a vehicular assault charge in connection with a head-on collision on Cultus Bay Road Oct. 3, 2008, that left a man with a collapsed lung and three fractured ribs.
A backlog in permits at the Island County planning department is costing jobs in tough times by delaying builders by weeks or even months, and some aren’t happy about it.
People drove as far as 25 miles to a county commissioners’ meeting in Coupeville Wednesday night to protest a proposed $5 assessment on parcels of land that would fund the two conservation districts that serve Island County.
Sprinklers saved an apartment complex from flames Monday night, according to the Oak Harbor Fire Department.
Battalion Chief Ray Merrill said a resident of Oak Bay Station, an apartment complex next to the Roller Barn, was packing to leave and set a box of pots and pans on the stovetop.
A 23-year-old Oak Harbor man is accused of stealing his parents’ car, speeding and rolling the car while driving three teenagers home from a party Aug. 10, according to court documents.
Prosecutors charged Garry Hibbard in Island County Superior Court Sept. 28 with taking a vehicle without permission and four counts of reckless endangerment.
A 24-year-old Oak Harbor man is accused of smashing a bottle of Jack Daniels over another man’s head and stealing his marijuana, court documents indicate.
At a meeting with Island County commissioners Wednesday, county Assessor Dave Mattens outlined “a whole slew of concerns” with the conservation district’s proposed special monetary assessment.
“I’m trying to get out in front of this train wreck,” he said in an interview afterward. “I’m quite supportive of the conservation district’s mission, but there are a lot of unanswered questions.”
