Over the last two months, residents from cities across Snohomish County met on the weekends to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) and how the country may be able to implement it in order to improve work flow as well as regulate the technology and its data centers. The council members also voted to hold a public hearing on August 12th to discuss a 0.1% increase on the sales tax to create a justice fund to help the county fund its court systems.
The final report that was issued by the civic assembly had 35 of its recommendations reached with a strong consensus (over 80% of the members in favor) and 20 with strong support (50% to 75%). These recommendations primarily focused on how the council and county staff can implement generative AI into their workflows while making sure to continue to provide human oversight on the software. It was pointed out that the human oversight would require extensive training to ensure that the county staff are able to effectively utilize the tool without driving up the cost of its usage, repeatedly using poor prompts or data would make the tool more expensive than if it hadn’t been implemented in the first place.
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Because AI is such a new technology that is continuing to evolve, a major focus for the members of the assembly was to ensure that the recommendations aren’t too rigid. Any regulations that the council makes need to be flexible so that they can easily adapt to the realities of generative AI as it continues to develop.
Members of the civic assembly were chosen by a lottery based off their age, gender, ethnicity, and city of residence to ensure a multitude of perspectives were presented in the meetings. The assembly was funded through philanthropic means and not tax payer dollars – what donors donated to the assembly was not mentioned in the council meeting. While this help reduce the financial stress on the county, it also meant that the assembly members were not able to hear from county, council, or the county executive’s staff to get their input on AI and how it may or may not impact their workloads.
That was only some of the concerns that were raised during the council meeting about the process. One of the members of the assembly stated during public process that 31% of the participants in the assembly had concerns about the process that was undertaken. As this was one of the first civic assembly’s in the country that discussed AI, a researcher at the University of Washington is reviewing the assembly and its process; the final report from this researcher will be made publicly available once its completed.
While it wasn’t heavily discussed in the meeting, there are recommendations regarding the permanent regulation of data centers in the unincorporated county.
The tax increase to fund the county justice fund
As federal funding has lapsed that the county has been able to use to help cover the cost of its justice system, the council is exploring a 0.1% sales tax increase to create its own justice fund.
To prevent the winding down of critical programs, and October layoffs, the County Council will need to approve the creation of the fund and its sales tax increase by August 12th. These programs help the justice system manage its caseload and it would take time to transition those who utilize these programs to the traditional court system. As for the layoffs, these are critical staffing positions that would need to be let go and would increase the workload on those who keep their jobs.
In the past, the County Council has passed emergency appropriations to help address shortfalls in the Justice systems budget. But those have been a drain on the general fund.
Snohomish County executive Dave Sommers stated that the county is facing a $56 million deficit in its next bi-annual budget, primarily due to the cost increase wrought by inflation combined with falling sales tax revenue as the economy slows. This means that the emergency appropriations are no longer an option to keep funding the Justice system.
The county assessor Linda Hjelle addressed the council during public comment to endorse the justice fund. Her department cannot afford the budget cuts or layoffs to the staff that supports the Justice system and she made it clear that 90% of her budget is salaries and benefits.
A public hearing was set for August 12th at 10:30 AM.
Stiff opposition to Hanger 420 resuming operations in Clearview
Hanger 420 owner Patrick Gahan filed a docket request with the council to modify the zoning ordinance for Clearview that prevents another cannabis shop from opening within 10,000 feet of each other – this is the rule in unincorporated Snohomish County. He moved a new shop onto the corner of Highway 9 and 180th after The Kushry moved 1.1 mile down the road; despite the fact that his permit for business operations was denied, they had started sales until the county courts ordered an injunction at the end of 2025.
The public hearing on this citizen initiated code amendment was met with intense push back from several members of the Clearview community to a code amendment that specifically targets their community. There were accusations that Gahan and his supporters took over community meetings in the unincorporated community in order to get the local code changed so he could open his business. While there was your typical misinformation about cannabis and its users, it was pointed out that it’s inequitable if the Clearview rural zoning code is over ridden in this manner by the council but other designated rural areas are not.
County staff had pointed out at the start of the meeting that Sommers had initiated an overhaul of zoning in unincorporated Snohomish County so that the setback between cannabis stores would decrease from 10,000 feet to 2,500 feet. Because the county is limited to only 42 marijuana licences in its unincorporated areas (there are already 39 licences active) there is no chance that there will be a proliferation of new dispensaries if the code is overhauled.
In order to be efficient with staff and council time, the County Council voted 5-0 to kick this docket back to the planning department so that it can be “married” into the work that is being done on the executive’s proposed zoning ordinance overhaul. The council has until the end of they year to approve or deny the docket item proposed by Gahan.
Other news
In a 5-0 vote, the council authorized an increase in the number of full time employees as part of the 2025-2026 budget. The court has received grant funding to add several of these positions and to maintain positions that are already on staff.
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