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San Juan County, Lopez Solid Waste District approve 2025–2035 interlocal agreement
Summary
After weeks of negotiation, the Lopez Solid Waste Management Board and San Juan County each approved a 10-year interlocal agreement to govern operations at the Lopez Island transfer station and related facilities.
San Juan County Council members and the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District governing board approved a 2025–2035 interlocal agreement that outlines the county's relationship with the Lopez solid waste managing board and updates standard legal boilerplate and a license-to-use framework.
County Manager Jessica Hudson told the council the draft had been reviewed line-by-line in weekly meetings with district representatives and that the Lopez managing board signed off on the agreement at its March 19 meeting. "We really scaled back much of the pieces in there that were of concern to the different of the starters," Hudson said, adding the updated draft limits perceived county infringement on local management.
The agreement replaces earlier interlocal arrangements governing the Lopez facility that had been in place for roughly 13 years with several previous extensions, Hudson said. She recommended that the council adopt the resolution approving the 10-year renewal, and council members voiced support for preserving local management and continuity of services.
Public comment included a mix of historical context and criticism. Longtime Lopez resident and former managing-board member Dan Host described community-funded repairs and equipment purchases the island made when the facility was first established and urged the council to ensure the agreement protects local control. Kevin Sterling, a San Juan County property owner, used the public comment period to describe personal impacts from prior assessments and urged attention to affordable housing concerns; those remarks were not tied to a formal action.
The Lopez Solid Waste governing board first moved to adopt the resolution during its special meeting; the motion passed by voice vote and the board adjourned. Later in the same session the San Juan County Council moved, seconded and approved adoption of the 2025–2035 interlocal agreement by voice vote.
The agreement's major updates cited at the meeting include the new 10-year term (2025–2035), updates to license-to-use language comparable to county recycling-center arrangements, and other boilerplate legal updates. County staff said the draft reduces language the district found intrusive and that the county will return for subsequent implementation steps as required under the agreement.
No ordinance number, resolution number or explicit funding changes were listed on the record; council and board approval was recorded by voice vote and exact roll-call counts were not specified in the public transcript. The county manager identified district representatives Ricardo Stewart and Ross as principal contacts during negotiations but did not provide text of any specific contractual amendments beyond the time frame and boilerplate/legal updates.
The governing board and council expressed the intent that the agreement preserve Lopez Island's long-standing local management of the facility while providing updated legal language for the county's oversight role.
