After the storms: County Council Town Hall to review response to flooding and severe weather

January 28, 2009

Summary

Reaction, clean up and future of regional flood control

Story

The snow is gone and the waters have receded, but the damage caused by the January floods and December’s heavy snowfall lingers throughout King County. On Wednesday, February 11, the Metropolitan King County Council will go to one of the communities impacted by the winter storms for its first Town Hall meeting of 2009 and discuss the County’s response to the winter weather emergencies.

The Town Hall, a special meeting of the Council’s Committee of the Whole, will be held at the Tolt Middle School Multipurpose Room, 3740 Tolt Avenue, Carnation. The public is invited to meet with Councilmembers at an informal reception starting at 6:00 p.m. The Town Hall will begin at 6:30 p.m.

“At the Council’s Town Halls, Councilmembers meet directly with citizens to discuss issues impacting the lives of King County residents,” said Council Vice Chair Bob Ferguson, Chair of the Committee of the Whole. “This Town Hall meeting is an ideal chance for me and my colleagues to hear from the public about the impact of the recent winter storms, examine the County’s response, and determine how we can improve.”

“After touring flooded homes in the Snoqualmie Valley, and being snowbound during the holidays, I heard and thought of many ideas about how we can be better prepared for winter weather emergencies,” said Councilmember Kathy Lambert, who is hosting the Town Hall in her district in Northeast King County. “I know that many residents in the Snoqualmie Valley still are cleaning up after the flood disaster earlier this month. I look forward to learning more from the experts, our citizens, about how the county can improve the preparation for disasters and better coordinate recovery efforts, as well as what was successful.”

The public and Councilmembers will hear presentations from:

• Mark Isaacson, Director, Water, Land and Resources Division, King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks;
• Robin Friedman, Director, of King County’s Emergency Management Division;
• Debbie Arima, Manager of King County’s Department of Transportation Roads Maintenance Section.

Presenters will take questions from the audience and Councilmembers will take public testimony on any issue at the end of the program.

More about Town Halls
Town Hall Meetings are part of Councilmembers’ initiative to “get out of the courthouse” and into the communities they serve. In 2008, the Council held Town Hall meetings in Kent, Burien, Shoreline, Federal Way, Downtown Seattle and Covington. Since 2007, more than 3,100 people have attended County Council Town Hall Meetings.

Each Town Hall is a special meeting of the Council’s Committee of the Whole, the only standing committee on which all nine members serve. It considers legislation and policy issues of interest to the entire Council.