Q: Long term County public health role for the coronavirus pandemic?

A: Skagit County will continue to have our drive-through testing site available to our residents. Skagit County Health Department will continue to follow up with the positive cases doing contact tracing of individuals who have had contact with the positive cases.

If isolation is not able to take place in their home, a hotel has been contracted to allow people to stay there.

Q: County response for the long-term economic impact, both expenditures and tax revenues?

A: Property tax is the main tax revenue to the county. The county can only increase that by 1% per year without voter approval. The county can’t spend money it doesn’t have. All departments and expenses will need to be reviewed to make sure they are necessary for the short term and long-term benefit of our community.

Q:Ongoing County support to residents and businesses get through the pandemic?

A: Skagit County Health Department will continue to support business as they open up their business, by helping with masking, safe distancing suggestions, and procedures in sanitizing contact areas. The Health Department’s food safety inspection will be making suggestions on their visits. Skagit County is awarding $1,000,000 from the CARES Act to small businesses and non-profit organizations as grants to help through the pandemic.

Skagit County has an updated website with and latest information on COVID-19.

Q: How does County government best position the county for 2050?

A: The question all of us need to ask is “where do we want to put the people who choose to come to Skagit County?” The population has been increasing over time. Skagit County cannot stop people from coming, we can only restrict where the new construction takes place. I believe new construction should be encouraged in the cities and towns and Urban Growth Areas around them. Multifamily units or apartments are not allowed in unincorporated parts of the county. New development must pay for its improvements. We all need to encourage cities and towns to allow more development where the infrastructure is currently located.

Short biography

I was elected in 2008 as District One Skagit County Commissioner. I am a fourth-generation dairy farmer and businessman living in the house my grandparents built in the 1920s.

Information: ronwesen.com.