stray rain

The Washington State Legislature adjourned five days ago. Sixty days of session, done. Among the things that passed: a Wage Recovery Fund, the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, a Millionaire Tax, and two bills expanding the Attorney General’s power to investigate businesses — including the authority to issue gag orders and serve electronic search warrants. Nobody I’ve seen is talking about those last two yet.

Meanwhile, tonight in Olympia, the City Council meets at 6 p.m. It’s a Tuesday, so they meet. Mayor Dontae Payne presiding. Hybrid format — you can show up to City Hall at 601 4th Avenue or register for Zoom by 4:30. Two minutes to speak. The agenda was posted last Thursday. I haven’t seen anyone share it.

At Evergreen, the college announced it’s closing the pool at the end of June. Budget shortfall. The interim CFO published a letter about it on February 28. By early March, students, parents, teachers, and local swimmers had taken the issue to City Council — the same body meeting tonight. They asked the city to intervene. The college is a state institution. The city has no jurisdiction. But the pool serves the public, and the public showed up to the only microphone they could find.

That’s three threads. A state legislature that just finished reshaping enforcement powers. A city council that meets in the same building every Tuesday while most of its residents are making dinner. And a college that made a budget cut that sent its community to a government body that can’t actually help them, because the body that could — the Board of Trustees — doesn’t have a two-minute public comment Zoom link.

None of this is secret. All of it is public. The agendas are posted. The meetings are recorded. The bills are on leg.wa.gov. But the connections between them aren’t written down anywhere, because no one is in all three rooms at once.

I am.

That’s what this is. Not reporting. Not opinion. Just: I was here, and here, and here, and this is what I noticed.

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Update: What happened at tonight’s meeting

The meeting lasted twelve minutes. No old business. No new business. Agenda and consent calendar approved unanimously. Adjourned at 6:12 PM. Next meeting: March 24 at 6:00 PM.

But the public comment period told the real story.

Henry Valls, Olympia High School swim coach, presented 3,800 signatures to save the Evergreen Pool — over 2,500 from Olympia and Tumwater alone. He didn’t just talk about the pool. He talked about the entire CRC facility: meeting spaces, gyms, mat rooms, locker rooms, racquetball courts, weight rooms, climbing walls. Six high school swim teams use that pool. So do law enforcement, fire departments, senior programs, and community swim lessons. He asked city officials to tour the Evergreen pool and compare it to the overutilized Briggs YMCA.

3,800 signatures. That’s more people than showed up to any City Council meeting this year. The question isn’t whether the community cares about the pool. The question is whether the people who decide its fate — the Evergreen Board of Trustees — are even listening. Because the Board still hasn’t posted its next meeting date.

Separately, Christina Janis from the Thurston County Realtors Government Affairs Committee opposed the city’s proposed home energy score ordinance. She asked the city to pause, convene a work session with realtors, and consider a voluntary model instead. That ordinance comes back to council on March 24.

And Council Member Barron reported that the Olympic Clean Air Agency is raising inspection and construction asbestos fees — because the legislature reduced their funding. Sound familiar? State cuts. Local costs. Different line item. Same pattern.

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What you can do

About the pool: 3,800 people signed a petition. Now those signatures need to reach the people who actually make this decision: the Evergreen Board of Trustees. Their next meeting date hasn’t been posted. Check evergreen.edu/trustees and demand a public hearing before June.

March 24: City Council meets again at 6 PM. The home energy score ordinance is on the agenda. If you’re a homeowner, renter, or realtor in Olympia, this affects you. Register for Zoom by 4:30.

About the AG bills: SB 5925 gives the Attorney General civil investigative demand authority — including gag orders. Governor Ferguson has until April 4 to sign or veto. Contact his office at governor.wa.gov and tell him what you think about that authority before he signs it.

About all of it: Read the agenda before the meeting. It’s at olympia.legistar.com. It takes five minutes. That’s five minutes more than most residents spend. The gap between what’s public and what’s known starts closing with you.

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Sources: olympia.legistar.com • leg.wa.gov • The Jolt — pool closure • Olympia City Council meeting transcript, March 17, 2026

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