We are now coming to the end of the first week of February, a month recognized nationally as Black History Month. This week, the City Council started its participation in this national month of recognition by issuing a proclamation urging all Islanders to join in this observance. Also, the City’s Race Equity Advisory Committee hosted a special event on Feb. 4 entitled “Courageous Conversations,” a public conversation around race equity and what that looks like in our community. A recording of the event is available on the City’s website.

Next week, the community is invited to attend an online event during which City Manager finalist Blair King will answer questions from the Council and community. The event will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 10 from 6 – 7:30 p.m. and can be viewed on the City’s website or on BKAT. Please submit questions by 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 8 by sending an email to citymanagersearch@bainbridgewa.gov. Read more about Mr. King on the City’s website.

At the study session this week, the Council received a briefing on the status of the work of the Green Building Task Force. In order to pursue some of the task force’s recommendations, Council directed staff to consider lobbying the legislature to allow the City to mandate an energy code that is stricter than the state’s energy code. The Council also heard an update from the Climate Change Advisory Committee, including a status on the work related to the Climate Action Plan.

As you look ahead to next week, I encourage you to attend the virtual event with Mr. King and to provide feedback to the Council. We value your input regarding this important choice.

For more information on some of next week's topics and other items, please see below.

The next step in the City Manager Search process is a community online event scheduled for 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10.

The finalist, Blair King, will answer questions drafted by Council and the community in advance of the Zoom event. Interested community members can send questions to citymanagersearch@bainbridgewa.gov by 5 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8 for consideration.

Following the open house, the Council plans to meet in Executive Session. Final steps in the process will be scheduled for a public meeting at a date later in February.

A recording of the open house will be available following the event at bainbridgewa.gov/1250.

The Bainbridge Island Community Pharmacy, in coordination with the City, Bainbridge Prepares and Bainbridge Island Fire Department, administered second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine this week for people who received their first doses Jan. 4-9. The pharmacy did not receive any first dose vaccines for appointments this week.

If the Bainbridge Island Community Pharmacy receives vaccines next week, information on scheduling an appointment will be posted on the City's vaccine page and an alert will be sent through the City's Nixle emergency notification system. Sign up for Nixle at nixle.com or by texting 98110 to 888777.

It is important that you go to the same provider/clinic for your first and second vaccinations. Second doses are allocated to providers based on the initial dose count they received. If too many people go to different providers for their second dose, it makes it very difficult to keep track of the proper doses needed for each second dose clinic.

Any updates will be posted on the City’s vaccine page at bainbridgewa.gov/COVIDvaccine.

The Virginia Mason Bainbridge Island Medical Center is providing on site vaccinations through February, but they are not making any new first dose appointments. If you already have a scheduled appointment, the medical center will honor that. If you received your first dose at Virginia Mason Bainbridge Island, they will coordinate your second dose as well.

The message below was included in the Feb. 2 Kitsap Emergency Operations Center bulletin.

Kitsap Public Health District leadership provided an update on COVID-19 response and vaccine rollout Tuesday to the Kitsap Public Health Board. A recording of the meeting is available here.

A few highlights from the presentation included:

The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) continues to make progress with our COVID-19 vaccine distribution and administration efforts.

As of Feb. 1, 773,346 people have received the COVID-19 vaccine, which is more than 60% of the 1,160,850 doses delivered to providers and long-term care programs across the state. Currently, Washington is averaging 27,902 vaccine doses given per day, inching closer to our goal of vaccinating 45,000 people per day. Those numbers can be found on the DOH data dashboard under the vaccines tab and they are updated three times per week.

This week we also have data to showcase how effective the state’s mass vaccination sites have been. As of today, more than 20,000 people have received a COVID-19 vaccine at one of the state’s four sites. The locations in Spokane, Ridgefield, Wenatchee, and Kennewick opened on January 26.

We are still in a place right now where demand for vaccine greatly outpaces the amount of vaccine we have available. This week, more than 600 facilities requested more than 358,000 first doses of vaccine. Our first-dose allocation from the federal government was only 107,125 doses, which is less than one-third of what providers asked for.

We also had more requests for second dose allocations than our allocation from the federal government. Our total state allocation for second doses was 58,725, and providers requested 14,000 more than that.

Click here to continue reading the full update, which includes an explanation on the allocation process.

Click here for a list of vaccine locations across the state.

We'd like to remind everyone that the City's COVID-19 drive-thru test site will not be operating today (Friday, Feb. 5). The test site will now operate on Mondays and Wednesdays to allow emergency management staff and volunteers to focus on COVID-19 vaccine distribution in our community.

The test site will continue to operate by appointment only 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and will offer 52 appointments per day.

The test site will be closed Monday, Feb. 15 in observance of the Presidents Day holiday.

Get more details on the City's COVID-19 test site page at bainbridgewa.gov/COVIDtest.

The drive-thru community COVID-19 test site at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds is changing operating times on Saturdays to 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. beginning this Saturday, Feb. 6. Other hours of operation are Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This site will be closed on Monday, Feb. 15 to observe the Presidents Day holiday.

The COVID-19 test site, located at Kitsap Conference Center at Bremerton Harborside Parking Garage, has changed hours of operation from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays.

For more information on all Kitsap County community-based COVID-19 test site locations and hours, visit kcowa.us/covidtesting.

Kitsap County Commissioners sent a letter this week to Gov. Jay Inslee in response to the Healthy Washington – Roadmap to Recovery plan, conveying their frustration over its inconsistencies, the regional approach being used, Kitsap’s designation and the metrics applied that are required to move from Phase 1 to Phase 2.

In the letter, Commissioners request the State move Kitsap County to the Puget Sound region of its phased recovery plan, which includes Snohomish, King and Pierce counties, and advance the county to Phase 2 as were those counties Jan. 28. Commissioners also ask that metrics be revised to better reflect the public health conditions for communities of all sizes. Kitsap County is currently designated in the Northwest region with Clallam, Jefferson and Mason counties.

Read the Commissioners’ letter here.

A subcommittee of Sustainable Transportation Task Force members will host the final sustainable transportation online session next Friday, Feb. 12

The topic is related to successful sustainable transportation systems in North America and worldwide and will begin at 9 a.m. A link to the Zoom meeting will be posted on the Sustainable Transportation Plan project page.

The session is one of four events hosted by the STTF subcommittee to help the project team identify future projects, policies and programs and begin to evaluate and prioritize those items.

The Wyatt Way Reconstruction and Safety Improvement Project continued to make progress over the last two weeks. The contractor removed asphalt at the intersection of Wyatt Way and Madison Avenue for the roundabout island, and completed the concrete footing for a retaining wall along Wyatt Way that will facilitate the new sidewalk in that location.

Over the next two weeks, the contractor is expected to begin the stormwater and water line installation on the east side of the Wyatt Way-Madison Avenue intersection that will eventually tie in with the City’s planned drainage work farther east on Wyatt Way. Once that work is completed, the contractor will begin the remaining concrete curb and sidewalk work.

The existing detours will remain in place through the remainder of the major construction work, which is expected to wrap up in March.

At this week’s City Council meeting, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) project managers presented the plan for a key project for the State Route 305 corridor on Bainbridge Island. Beginning this summer, WSDOT crews will begin construction of two modern roundabouts; one will be located at the intersection of West Port Madison and the second will be constructed at Adas Will Lane.

The project will work as a system to address significant safety issues at the Adas Will, Agatewood and Port Madison intersections, which have a high rate of vehicle crashes.

As part of the improvements, Agatewood Road will become a right in/right out intersection. A right in/right out intersection limits access to right turns off SR 305 and right turns onto SR 305. Drivers exiting Agatewood will use the northern roundabout at Adas Will to turn around and proceed south. Southbound drivers wishing to turn left onto Agatewood will use the Port Madison roundabout to turn around to proceed onto Agatewood.

In addition to the roundabouts, the project includes safety improvements for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders. Each roundabout will incorporate a 10’-wide multi-use path on both sides, as well as dedicated transit stops and improved crossing locations.

At both the Adas Will and Port Madison roundabouts, WSDOT will be revegetating the right of way as mitigation for the trees that will need to be removed at each location.

More information on the project can be found on the project website here.

Watch the Feb. 2 presentation here (click on Item 5 A).

Below are some of the topics to be discussed during the Feb. 9 City Council meeting.

If you would like to receive the City Council agenda by email when it's published, sign up on the Council Agendas webpage.

A public participation meeting on the Wintergreen Townhomes proposal is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 25 at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.

A public participation meeting provides an opportunity for the community to learn about a project. The Wintergreen Townhomes proposal is a 74-townhome long subdivision proposal that incorporates affordable housing (as defined in the Municipal Code) on two lots totaling 2.94 acres. The project site is located at 1332 Wintergreen Lane.

Learn more about the project proposal here.

Below is an update on the implementation of the Climate Action Plan The information was submitted by Michael Cox on behalf of the City's Climate Change Advisory Committee.

Going forward, we plan to include regular updates in this e-newsletter on the status of the CAP implementation and ways that you can help with these efforts to achieve our goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 90% by 2045. Learn more about the CAP here.

The Climate Change Advisory Committee (CCAC) and the City have been busy creating a framework for implementing the Climate Action Plan (CAP) that was approved by the City Council in November 2020. A few of the highlights include:

In addition, the CCAC presented an update to the City Council this week on its work to develop a recommendation about ways to seek a local offset of the amount of carbon that would have potentially been eliminated over time if the Council decided to pursue LEED silver certification for the Police-Court facility. This work is ongoing and the CCAC suggested that the City consider hiring a consultant to support development of options.

The CCAC also presented its 2020 accomplishments and a draft 2021 workplan to the Council.

Please plan for delays related to annual work at the SR 305 Agate Pass Bridge during the last week of this month.

It's anticipated there will be 30-minute delays from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 22 to Friday, Feb. 26.

The City is providing some context and background related to the Jan. 29, 2021 printed edition of the Bainbridge Review and the article headlined, “BI shoreline suit reaches U.S. Supreme Court.” The Bainbridge Review published this article without seeking comment or a response from City staff and officials. Based on the headline, which appeared on the first page of the printed paper, some readers may believe that the U.S. Supreme Court will consider the merits of the City’s 2014 Shoreline Master Program; that is not what is before the High Court.

Rather, for clarification:

The City expects that it will receive notice later in February related to PRSM’s request for review by the U.S. Supreme Court. If the U.S. Supreme Court accepts PRSM’s request for review, the High Court will not be deciding on the merits of the Bainbridge Island Shoreline Master Program.