The Friday Harbor Town Council met on December 18, and even though the meeting itself ran only about an hour, it covered a lot of ground. This was a year end wrap up meeting, and in that short window the council closed out 2025 business and made a series of decisions that will carry forward into 2026.
Mayor Raymont Jackson presided for the final time. He opened with remarks marking the end of his term. The Town Administrator followed by presenting plaques of service to Mayor Jackson and to Councilmember Turnage, who was also attending his final council meeting.
Council approved four resolutions from the consent agenda in a single motion. These included a records digitization contract not to exceed $50,000, a new agenda management software contract costing $16,058 in 2026 with an ongoing annual subscription of $13,583 after that, a $1,375 website accessibility change order, and a $39,071 asbestos abatement contract at the Public Works Building. Taken together, those resolutions approved roughly $106,500 in near term spending, while also adding a recurring software subscription cost to the town’s baseline budget.
The consent agenda also included approval of multiple warrant batches covering payments already made between early March and mid November of this year. When those warrants are added together, they total roughly $2.4 million.
These were not new spending decisions. The work had already been done, and the bills already paid. Council’s role at this point is to certify that the payments were legitimate town obligations. A significant portion of those payments relates to sewer and wastewater system work, including treatment plant upgrades, engineering and design services, construction progress payments, utilities, and ongoing operations. The rest reflects routine town operations across multiple funds, things like power, fuel, legal services, supplies, and professional services.
After the consent agenda, the Director of Information Technology presented his 2026 budget request. He did not state a dollar amount during his presentation, but the 2026 budget documents show the request totals $500,000 for overall town IT upgrades. This request sits on top of the department’s regular operating budget, rather than replacing it.
His message was straightforward. This was not about expanding services. It was about keeping existing systems running and reducing risk. He explained that town technology supports nearly everything the town does, from payroll and public revenues to water, wastewater, public works, and emergency response.
He described aging systems, single points of failure, and gaps in disaster recovery. He talked about risks like ransomware, unauthorized access, service outages, and emergency repairs. If funded, he said the work would modernize systems, strengthen cybersecurity, protect wastewater control systems, and improve backup and recovery.
He also talked about secure remote access. The point there was simple. Better monitoring means staff can respond faster during storms or emergencies without always having to physically go to facilities. He gave an example of a remote pumping station that used to lose communication during bad weather and required overtime call outs. After recent upgrades, that station now stays online, even in severe conditions.
He argued that addressing these risks ahead of time avoids much more expensive problems later.
Council then opened the public hearing on the 2026 utility ordinances. One person stood for public comment.
She introduced herself as Patty Garcia and explained that while she does not live within town limits, she lives on Pear Point Road and receives her water from the Town of Friday Harbor. Rate increases, she said, affect her just as directly as people who live in town.
She shared some family history on San Juan Island going back to the early 1950s and described hauling water to a small cabin and bathing on the beach. Over time, she said, her family joined the Pear Point Water Users Association and eventually connected to town water.
She noted that the association funded and built its own infrastructure, including fire hydrants, and later transferred that system to the town at no cost. She said many people on Pear Point are not wealthy and that their land is often their only significant asset.
She told council she now lives on Social Security and a pension, and that increases in her water bill are difficult to absorb. She said she appreciates being notified when the town suspects a leak, because she cannot afford to lose water she is paying for.
She ended by saying she wants to stay where she is as her water bill had doubled and thanked the town for reduced rates.
After closing the public hearing, council voted to adopt the utility ordinances. Water rates increase by 13 percent, sewer rates by 3 percent, stormwater rates by 25 percent, and refuse rates also increase. Council also approved higher utility connection fees for 2026, with total connection costs for a typical in town single family residence approaching $50,000 before permits.
Council then adopted the 2025 budget amendment and approved the full 2026 annual budget. With that vote, they approved a 2026 budget totaling roughly $47 million across all town funds, according to the budget documents.
The Town Administrator’s report followed. She had nothing further to report beyond noting an executive session, the contents of which are not public. The meeting then adjourned.
I know I have raised this concern before, but watching this meeting brought it right back into focus for me.
What keeps standing out is the scale of our town government compared to the size of the town itself. We continue to add systems, upgrades, vehicles, facilities, and now a significant IT investment, all of which seem sensible on their own. But, taken together, they reflect a pattern where government keeps responding to government, creating more layers, more complexity, and more cost.
Those costs do not stay abstract. They show up in utility bills, fees, unintended consequences, and the growing difficulty of simply staying here.
From my perspective, this keeps reinforcing the same underlying question. How much government a town this small can realistically afford, and whether keeping this extra layer of municipal government in place continues to make sense for the people who live here.
This meeting also marked a transition. There is a new mayor and a new council member coming in, and with that comes an opportunity. I hope this new leadership is willing to grab the reins and slow these bureaucratic horses down, and to push back when government starts responding reflexively to other layers of government instead of to residents. If that happens, maybe the conversation about disincorporation becomes less urgent. But as long as that pattern continues, I do not see it going away.
Before I end, a personal note. My heart is with Kevin Nash as our entire family mourns the sudden loss of his sister, Kay Nash, and with those in her inner circle who were family in every way that mattered. Kay was one of a kind, a bright light, a true Friday Harbor legend, and those lucky enough to be close to her carried something a little brighter with them.