Edmonds to continue participation in Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force; 2025 contribution $10,749

Chief Rod Sniffen told Committee A that the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force, formed in 1988, pools resources among local agencies and federal partners to pursue higher-level narcotics investigations and prosecutions. He described the task force as focusing on the sources and supply chains for illicit drugs rather than day-to-day street-level possession matters.

“As you know, we have our problem solving emphasis team that's doing a great job putting together cases,” Sniffen said, adding that the regional task force supplements local work by tackling larger investigations and providing specialized equipment and federal expertise. He said the City of Edmonds is currently a participating jurisdiction and that the packet provided to council includes a formula to assess contributions based on population.

Sniffen stated the city’s 2025 assessed contribution is $10,749. He explained the task force’s operating funds pay for overhead, facilities and shared equipment while participating agencies pay staff costs from their own payroll budgets. "The money that we contribute and others contribute goes to, overhead and the building that they have and some other things," Sniffen said.

Sniffen told the committee the item had been overlooked in the biennial budget because it was coded inconsistently and that the department proposes a budget amendment: shifting roughly $10,750 from the department’s overtime budget to a miscellaneous line to pay the contribution. "I'm gonna take about $10,750 out of our overtime budget and move it over to miscellaneous under administration and use that to pay this fee," he said.

Councilor Payne asked whether a recent shooting near the fishing pier would have fallen under the task force’s purview; Sniffen replied it would not because the task force focuses on drug-related investigations and no substantial drug nexus was identified in that incident. Council members asked that the interlocal agreement and the planned budget amendment be packaged together; Sniffen agreed to do so and the committee directed staff to send both items to a future consent agenda.

No formal roll-call vote was recorded at the committee. The transcript shows committee members agreed there was no objection to placing the ILA and the related budget amendment on a future consent agenda so they would travel together to full council for approval.