Year: 2021

As promised in last week’s blog, I want to give you a glimpse into some amazing people who serve our residents. Last weekend we held a virtual celebration for the people who graciously volunteer their time and talent to support County programs. In pre-pandemic times this was one of my favorite celebrations and allowed me to personally thank folks who give many hours of service to our community out of the goodness of their hearts. This year, because we couldn’t gather in person, we created a compilation video that highlights a few of the groups and individuals who were recognized for their outstanding volunteer work.  Check out the video below: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q93XNvFqOLM[/embedyt] My thanks to Chair Young for taking the time to lend his support and congratulations to our volunteers.…

  Last Friday was a great day in Pierce County!  Not only did we continue getting vaccines into the arms of our residents, but we held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Crisis Recovery Center (CRC) in the Parkland/Spanaway area. For those of you who’ve been with the County awhile, you know that we’ve been working on this for about the last four years or so as part of our focus on bolstering access to behavioral health care. As with other initiatives, COVID took its toll on this project and slowed us down significantly.  Perhaps that’s why everyone associated with making the new CRC possible was nearly giddy at Friday’s ceremony. A small, social distanced group gathered at the CRC in beautiful weather and we livestreamed the event.  If…

When I look back on the last year, COVID had a lot of control over our lives.  It controlled where we worked, how we interacted with family members and friends, where our kids went to school, how we shopped, and more.  We had to react and respond to the virus. As I mentioned at this year’s State of the County address, COVID may have been in charge during 2020 but it’s time for us to take back control and begin to safely restart, recover, and reform our county. If you didn’t have the opportunity to watch the State of the County on Wednesday, you can watch the replay here: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl2me9dgpIs[/embedyt] Also, Governor Inslee announced yesterday that our state is moving to Phase 3 on March 22.  With that move,…

    On Tuesday, I attended Tacoma-Pierce County Habitat for Humanity’s “Changing Lives Lunch-IN” virtual fundraiser.  One of their engagement activities displayed an image of a house with the words “Home is my _______.”  COVID has certainly expanded the answers to that question. For most of us, our homes became a refuge, a remote office, a classroom, a gym, and a safe place to isolate. At the same time, COVID-induced job losses have put incredible stresses on household budgets.  Far too many residents are seeing their rent or mortgage payments piling up.  The prospect of losing their home is looming, and terrifying. That is why I am so proud of Heather Moss and our Human Services team.  In 2020, they used federal CARES Act funding to provide rental and mortgage…

  Have you seen the recently released movie, “One Night in Miami”?  It was directed by Regina King and tells the (mostly) true story of an evening in the 1960’s when Muhammed Ali (then Cassius Clay), Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Malcolm X were together. You can check out a preview here: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZprXMxKg--w[/embedyt] For those too young to recognize these names, Ali was one of the best heavyweight boxers in history.  Sam Cooke was an amazing R & B singer best known for the ballad, “You Send Me.”  Jim Brown was a fierce running back for the Cleveland Browns and held the NFL rushing yards record for many years until it was broken by Walter Payton.  And, Malcolm X was a human rights leader, a minister, and a spokesperson…

  The song “Let It Snow” starts out, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful…” and we did see some amazing snow totals across Pierce County a few days ago.  While most of us stayed safely at home building epic snowmen or videoing puppies in the snow, our Planning and Public Works Team was on the job – and the roads - 24 hours a day! My thanks to Bruce Wagner, Maintenance Manager with Planning and Public Works, for the fantastic work his team did over the long snowy weekend.  Between the Road/River Operations Center command teams, the road supervisors who constantly monitor the road conditions, our snowplow drivers, the mechanics who keep everything running, and the logistics folks who make sure we have plenty of salt, it takes many people…

I’ve had the privilege of writing in this blog about important African American Pierce County residents that have made powerful contributions to our lives close to home and beyond. I have shared the fascinating story of Dr. Nettie Asberry who founded the local chapter of the NAACP in 1913, the beginning of a long and illustrious civil rights legacy. She was also an accomplished musician and earned her doctorate in an era when advanced degrees were unusual for women, especially women of color. Another icon in Pierce County is Harold Moss. I’ve written about him a couple of times, including last fall when we sadly lost him at the age of 93. He made his mark in so many ways, but he was especially relevant to us as the Pierce…

  An African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.”  Over the last four years we’ve seen how effective we can be when we join with our local partners to tackle regional challenges. For example, you may recall that a couple of years ago the City of Seattle announced plans to impose a $275 per employee head tax on large employers. Here in the South Sound, we wanted to send a different message - that Pierce County welcomed new and expanding businesses that brought family-wage jobs to our residents. We gathered mayors from across the County to create a $275 tax credit for businesses that created new family-wage jobs.  We announced it at a joint news conference with many…

So, I recently learned that while those of us in the U.S. say we are eager to get our vaccination “shot,” our friends across the Pond in Great Britain say they can’t wait to get a “jab.”  Either way, I’m excited that we are getting more vaccines into arms! Thanks to some terrific work by our Department of Emergency Management (DEM), the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, and their community partners, lots of County residents got their “jab” this week.  We opened two mass vaccination events last Tuesday and Thursday and have another planned for Saturday in Gig Harbor. These events take a huge amount of organization and coordination.  Each one includes a multi-step process to confirm eligibility, accept appointments, identify a host site, arrange for security and traffic control, as…

There’s an old saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”  And, there is some truth to that.  Despite any number of obstacles, it seems that some people can find a way to break through and get things done. That’s especially true here in Pierce County. For example, I had a chance to join Economic Development in a socially distanced lunch last week.  I wanted to thank them for the myriad of ways they’ve supported our struggling businesses through the pandemic. Over sandwiches, each one answered three questions from their work in the last year: What’s the funniest thing that has happened? What is the most meaningful thing? And, what lessons have you learned? I found their answers to all three questions to be fascinating. As the team faced roadblock…

  Four years ago, I had the privilege of being sworn in as Executive for the first time. Hundreds of guests joined me in a large conference center.  It was festive, loud and lively. Fast forward four years and this week’s swearing-in was small, socially distanced, masked and brief. Despite the difference in the two events, I was honored and humbled to be chosen by our voters to serve our residents for four more years, and grateful for the opportunity to share the ceremony with a few guests. You can watch the entire ceremony below, but I will give you a brief summary of my remarks. [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFKzo8SSJdM[/embedyt] After a welcome from City of Sumner Mayor Bill Pugh and a blessing from Pastor Aaron Stewart, retired Judge Frank Cuthbertson administered…

In the midst of the most divisive time in our history, the Civil War, after the bloodiest battle in our history, with over 50,000 combined casualties, President Abraham Lincoln delivered a 271-word address at the dedication of the National Cemetery in Gettysburg.  His speech was exceptionally powerful and memorable, including one phrase that made an indelible mark on our collective consciousness, that our government is “of the people, by the people, for the people.” Governing of, by and for the people is true at the national and county levels.  The people of Pierce County choose our elected leaders, and our entire county team - both elected and not - exists to deliver key services for the people of our county.  And we must carry out those responsibilities with the utmost…