How do you mitigate political indifference? We in Snohomish County are faced with the siting of a 70 million gallon per day sewage treatment plant.
When built, whom do you call if it breaks, leaks, spills or even smells? Who controls the plant? King County does, that’s who. Does anyone really believe that King County will care what happens after it’s built? Will they make upgrades, speedy repairs? I don’t think so.
Why? Because we don’t vote for them. And the care and concern to Snohomish County residents was amply illustrated last Dec. 10, when we spoke before the King County Council and they went to lunch. When money gets tight, as it is now, the money will flow to King County – where the votes are.
How did we get here in the first place? A few communities’ sewer districts made contractual agreements with Metro. And now King County issues maps claiming the areas – almost like an extension of King County boundaries – using “service area” as a justification.
This is annexation by proclamation – they just don’t use the word.
King County has no legal right to extend either its power or boundary into Snohomish County. Their current actions will set a dangerous precedent. Today it’s a sewage plant – tomorrow it will be a King County dump in Maltby – perhaps even a King County jail in Lynnwood (to service northern King County and Lynnwood, you know).
At issue here is the concept of service area. We all know about contract cities -Woodway is an example- where most of the community services are contracted to a neighbor community to the benefit of both. None of these cities give up their rights to govern or their responsibility to protect the people.
The same is true here. The elected members of the Snohomish County Council, have the responsibility to protect the citizens of Snohomish County. We call upon them to stop this illegal annexation of parts of Snohomish County.
Edmonds
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