King County’s legal staff stated last week that they believe volunteers with the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council (VMICC) are subject to the same liability as other elected officials. While this sounds like bad news to some of those hard-working volunteers, it could help us summon the political will to rid ourselves of the Unincorporated Area Council (UAC) status altogether.
We need to replace this ineffective system with more appropriate representation. Now is the time to find an alternative that better serves our community.
We already have some excellent local government organizations. The Vashon Island School District, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue, Vashon Park District and Water District 19 are taxpayer funded and professionally managed, with citizen board oversight. They have significant authority over well-defined issues, operate under clear rules and do a good job of meeting local needs.
Island volunteers have created some incredible non-government organizations as well. Groups like Vashon HouseHold, the Vashon Maury Community Food Bank, Vashon Youth & Family Services, VashonBePrepared and the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust all exist because a critical mass of people cared and organized to solve a problem. In some ways, these organizations represent community at its best: citizens organizing to solve their own problems, without faraway help.
These volunteers are clearly focused on narrowly defined missions. Finding board members for both types of organization can be difficult, but the work is challenging and often rewarding, and the effort of board members is respected in the community.
But the narrow focus and reliance on local volunteers also bring limitations. Organizations struggle to develop leadership skills, raise funds and effectively represent local interests with county and state government. Publicly elected positions go uncontested, which undermines democratic debate.
Vashon needs an actual local government structure to make these fine organizations’ jobs easier — and to take on what they can’t. VMICC hasn’t been able to fill this gap. The structure of VMICC consumes our energy but doesn’t enable us to plan effectively or advocate for our interests with larger government structures. How can a volunteer board, with no real authority, address the serious issues we face regarding land use, water use and long-term town planning?
A number of issues have simmered for years without coming to resolution, due to this vacuum of leadership. In Vashon Town, for instance, we have gridlock over development. Neither Vashon HouseHold nor private developers can build affordable housing, cohousing or any other kind of small-footprint, low-impact housing, due to both lack of available water and code restrictions. Bringing Vashon into the 21st century means ensuring equitable, environmentally responsible land development. That means compact, walkable housing and better use of the town infrastructure — not another green-built home on five acres.
This problem is often discussed within the Water District 19 infrastructure, but the agency exists to provide water, not to set development policy. It can’t really solve the underlying problem.
K2 is another example. The facility could be a treasure for all of us: infrastructure for education, the arts, recreation, small business, light manufacturing and community gatherings large and small. If we had a functional local government, we would have snapped up K2 four years ago. The building would be a valuable resource, instead of a white elephant over whose destiny we have little control.
All over the country, small town governments have turned empty factories into business incubators and other community facilities, coordinating the smaller groups that have a stake in the town. Here, we have a dozen or more organizations that would participate in and benefit from such a development, but we lack the central organization to bring them together.
Federal and private grants are available to address many of the needs we face on Vashon, but these are often available only to rural town governments. For example, one local group is working to develop infrastructure for electrical vehicles, but grants for public charging stations can only be made to government bodies. Likewise, seed money to redevelop K2 could likely be found — if a local government existed to apply for the funds.
How can we establish such an entity? Not by leaving the county. King County has a fundamentally effective and fiscally sound central government, providing strong services and generally sensible land-use and environmental regulations. Seceding to a different or new county would create more problems than it could solve.
Incorporating as a rural town is not presently a viable option, due to the state regulations governing such towns. Changing these regulations is possible but unlikely, making this an ineffective solution if we hope to retain control over our planning decisions.
Our problem of local representation can be solved within the King County government by demanding a new, more effective alternative to the UACs. The UAC structure is just the county’s arbitrary invention — there’s no reason the rules can’t change. We need to replace the VMICC with a smaller board and a paid professional manager who can perform many functions of a town or city manager. A smaller board is easier to fill, and a board with authority will attract a wider pool of volunteers. The manager could facilitate community discussion of contentious issues and be an effective liaison with existing organizations. Such an entity should function, at least for grant-making and certain other purposes, as a town government.
We face problems we can’t solve, and opportunities we can’t seize, for lack of a coordinating organization. It’s time to open a constructive conversation with King County. With VMICC board members resigning, we all need to step up to create a structure that enables real self-governance.
— Margot Boyer is a writer, educator and beekeeper. Bob Powell is a commissioner for Water District 19.
