The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council voted unanimously to continue on as a community advocacy group for White Center and the rest of North Highline in 2012 and beyond on Oct. 6.

“I think we have a purpose in this community and we should continue on,” NHUAC councilmember Ron Johnson said.

The Council’s funding and contractual relationship with King County will officially end on Dec. 31. The county is developing a new system for community engagement with Community Service Areas (CSAs) that is still in the works.

Although the council agreed to stay together regardless of their relationship with King County, they also voted unanimously to propose an extension of the NHUAC contract into 2012 to the county, so they can help in advocating for the annexation of White Center/North Highline to Burien. Burien City Manager Mike Martin said the city is not allowed to take a stand on annexation, only provide information.

According to King County’s Growth Management Act, “urban unincorporated areas are to be annexed to cities, which are appropriate providers of urban services.” Based on the county’s interest in getting North Highline into a city, the NHUAC feels they have a shot at continuing on with funding.

The council agreed, based on their lawyer’s advice, that carrying insurance (required by the county) is unnecessary if their contract ends.

NHUAC President Barbara Dobkin, looking back on the years of service UAC volunteers have put in, addressed county representatives at the meeting.

“All the UACs have a history of people with many volunteer hours,” she said, “and there is a history on this council of people with knowledge and people who have devoted a lot of time and energy to the councils and now the county, I feel in a sense, they’re kicking us to the curb without any recognition for all the years of work.”

Rose Clark, speaking for herself and not the rest of Burien’s City Council, said “It seems a very unhandy time to disband this council in particular because in Burien we depend on these folks for communication … if this goes away it handicaps Burien’s ability to reach the people.”

Community Service Areas to replace UACs
King County Rural Economic Strategy Coordinator Julia Larson spoke with the council about the process of replacing unincorporated area councils with community service areas.

Larson said the conversion to CSA’s is still in the development stage and she anticipates a plan will be implemented in late spring of 2012. With the UAC system dissolving on Jan. 1, that means a gap at the start of the new year with no system in place for unincorporated area citizens to interact with King County.

It’s possible, Larson said, that UAC-like groups will be a part of the new CSA system.

According to Larson, one very likely element of CSAs is the county will (according to Ordinance 17139) “identify a single staff contact from county government for residents in each unincorporated community service area familiar with that service area’s community for the purpose of facilitating service delivery between unincorporated areas and the county.”

The boundaries of these new CSAs is still up in the air as well. A county rep accompanying Patterson said it is possible unincorporated areas will be clumped together based on similar traits, including geographic, social and demographic characteristics.

Larson said there would be upcoming opportunities for unincorporated area citizens to help shape the CSA system.

“It seems that in the process of improving public engagement (King County is) really cutting off a big portion of it” NHUAC President Barbara Dobkin said.

“As I said, we really don’t know what’s going to happen,” Larson said. “We don’t know if we are going to have UACs with the new CSAs or UAC-type organizations … at this point we are just trying to get input. The structures for how this is going to happen are not in place.”

Annexation
Burien City Manager Mike Martin said the Burien City Council’s vote of intention to move forward with the annexation of White Center and the rest of unincorporated North Highline “was a real historic moment I think at council.”

“It’s not a complicated process, it’s just tedious,” he said, adding, “Our job is not to advocate, we are not allowed to do that, we come up and give information and talk to people just like we did with the first annexation (of Boulevard Park)."

In setting a rough timeline for the process, Martin said the biggest step was Monday’s Burien City Council vote to move forward. Next is the technical process of defining boundaries of the annexed area with King County, then holding public meetings in North Highline to explain the process (likely in January or February, 2012), setting a date for North Highline residents to vote on annexation, and, if it passes, setting a date for implementation.

In the meantime, the City of Burien will be ironing out the details of the sales tax credit they receive for annexing White Center – a perk the city says is vital in making the process economically viable for Burien.

“We have an element in our community that is anti (annexation), most of our community has been silent” Burien Councilmember Rose Clark said at the meeting. “I think we are in a good position to move forward and many of us made a commitment that if the financials didn’t work out we would not proceed – something most of our community understands and hopefully there is an element of trust there.”

Assuming everything moves forward as planned, Martin said the annexation process will likely be finalized sometime in 2013.

As a final note, Martin took a moment to squelch the rumor circling that annexation of North Highline will increase his salary.

“There is this whole conspiracy theory that I’m going to get rich off annexation,” he said. "Frankly, I’m not as concerned with my salary as my pension at this point.”

The latest on White Center’s storefront deputy
KCSO Capt. Joe Hodgson said interviews with six potential candidates for the position wrapped up on Oct. 6 and they are now in the final decision process.

“I think we can anticipate having a decision before the end of next week,” he said.

NHUAC voted to submit a letter recommending the Sheriff’s Office select Jeff Hancock for the position. Hancock was the storefront deputy up until King County cut the position and the NHUAC agreed he was the best candidate to “hit the road running,” as Liz Giba put it.

Hodgson said a “very optimistic” date for implementing the deputy is Nov. 1. He was pleased with all candidates’ interest in working with the multicultural community that makes up White Center.

Final notes
Dobkin said King County Councilmember Joe McDermott plans to move forward with the one-year moratorium on dance clubs in White Center even though Club Evo’s owners have not filed an appeal in the wake of their permit application getting denied. She said the King County Council will have a presentation on the moratorium on Oct. 24 at 1:30 p.m. in the council chambers.

On Oct. 21 at noon, Evergreen High School’s new track (paid for by the janitor and millionaire Tyrone Curry, Sr.) will be dedicated.

Correction made on 10/8: Julia Larson's name was incorrectly printed as Julia Patterson.