Clark County Close Up

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1:30 A couple weeks ago approved us going out for a general obligation bond for $366 million, which would help us to remodel and expand this jail here in Clark County. It would also give us the opportunity, since the sheriff's office is in the basement of this building, to find a location for him to move to because those spaces will turn into courtrooms for us. Hi, I'm Sue Marshall. I chair the Clark County Council. The council and all of the staff in law and justice, we've taken our time to really examine what the needs are, and we've engaged stakeholders, talked to the community, collaborated with all of the law and justice and public safety departments. The council unanimously agreed that now was the time to put this forward. The problems facing, that the incarcerated community is facing, are more complex and more costly. Mental health, addiction, and mental health.

2:30 Just physical health itself. People are in the jail, you know, that's rock bottom for most people. And we're trying to address all of the needs that they have so that we're not really seeing a revolving door. We'll serve as best we can. To better understand the request for jail expansion and remodel, we took a walking tour of the current — jail facility. So again, she's got three or four or five screens that she's managing at the same time. And again, as we look at those and seeing what our staff are doing, it's improving cameras, it's improving access, it's improving the technology that — this is old technology and oftentimes it's at the end of its life. So this is our Sallyport area, right? And it's a semi-secured area, but at the same time, we have folks. And so this is often full with three police officers,

3:29 three police cars at least. This deputy right here who's waiting to take or have this person brought into the jail, right? He's been here anywhere from 20 to 30 to an hour to an hour and a half, depending on if he was the first, the third, or the fifth person. This is really the largest funnel for our public safety partners, law enforcement on the road, where they have to come here and wait. And again, it's because we have such a small space in here in the booking counters. And oftentimes, because there's a lot of processes that they're not able to see. This is our administrative segregation area and our suicide watch area. And so again, he has many inmates that he's keeping an eye on, right? So this side behind you or to this side right here is our administrative segregation. So those inmates that are problematic upstairs, sometimes because we just don't have enough bed spaces, they are brought down here because it's an extra bed, right? They're communicating with anywhere from up to 100 to 120 inmates, depending on the day of the time.

4:29 And how we've had to house people. This little microphone this officer has in front of him, he can control who he's speaking to. And so again, it really provides some disadvantage because of the remote, indirect way that this jail was built in 1984. Now most of these cells are two person cells, right? As you can see the different things about the security of the windows. And every day we come in, our officers come in, check the security of things. They look for contraband, they look for other things going on. What I would tell you is most lawyers want to have a face to face opportunity to talk to their clients. And so only having four of these rooms and the whole jail, it really prohibits a lot of that from happening. For more information about the Jail Remodel and Expansion Project, check out the website at clark.wa.gov/jailservices/jailremodelanexpansionproject.

5:29 If you'd like to learn more about the Jail Remodel and Expansion Project, check out the website at clark.wa.gov/jailservices/jailremodelanexpansionproject. Flu season is coming, but when it starts, how long it lasts, and how severe it will be can vary from year to year. Influenza can circulate at any time. But in our community, we typically see flu activity increase between October and May. That's why taking steps to protect yourself and your family before flu activity rises is so important. Influenza can be serious for anyone. But some people are at greater risks for severe illness. This includes young children, pregnant people, adults 65 and older, and people living with chronic health conditions. One of the best ways to protect yourself against influenza is vaccination. The flu vaccine is safe and is designed to reduce your risk of getting sick and help prevent serious illness. An annual flu vaccine is recommended for anyone six months or older. The vaccine is updated each year to provide protection against the strains expected to circulate.

6:28 Early fall, September-October, is the best time to get vaccinated. Getting your vaccine before flu activity increases can help provide protection throughout the season. There are also several vaccine options, including a nasal spray and formulations designed for people at higher risk. Updated COVID-19 vaccines will also be available this fall. Like the flu vaccine, they are updated to provide protection against circulating strains. National health organizations are reviewing the latest data and will make recommendations about which groups are likely to benefit most. From getting the vaccine this fall, Clark County Public Health will share those recommendations when they become available. Flu and COVID-19 vaccines are available through local pharmacies and medical offices, and it's safe to receive both vaccines at the same time. Vaccination is an important layer of protection, but everyday actions matter too. Wash your hands frequently, cover coughs and sneezes, stay home when you are sick, and keep sick children home from school, and when possible, avoid close contact with other people who

7:28 are ill. As flu season approaches, take steps now to protect yourself, your family, and your community. For more information, please visit flufreewa.org. Greg Kimsey has served as Clark County Auditor since January 1999. Earlier this year, Kimsey said he would not be seeking re-election. Recently, we sat down with Kimsey to talk about the role of the auditor and learn how his office helps ensure fair and accurate elections. Hello, I'm Jim Demmon with Clark County Close-Up. Thank you so much for being with us today. Well, I appreciate being invited, Jim. Okay, Greg, so please tell us your background. I had been working in corporate finance in Portland for many years, and then after that, I came to work here in Vancouver for a business as the Chief Financial Officer, and then at that point,

8:27 I was looking for something else to do. It wasn't really a very good fit for me, so I was looking for something else to do. So then what led you to try to run for auditor back in 1999? Yeah, like I said, I was looking for something else to do. I had been poking around, looking at a couple different things, and then one day out watching my kids play soccer, a friend of mine said, "You know, the county auditor might not be running for re-election." And I thought, "I wonder what the county auditor does?" And so the more I looked at that, I thought, "You know, that seems like a good fit." Good fit for my skills and experience, been an interesting position to be in. And the public service component of it was attractive to me. You know, my prior experience had all been on the private side. And so the more I looked at it, I thought, "Yeah, I think I'll give that a shot." Wow. So for our viewers, in a concise description, what's the role of the county auditor? Sure. So that is the first, like, that was the first question I asked, right?

9:27 And it's the most common question I've received over these 28 years now. What does the county auditor do? So the county auditor is the primary financial officer, keeps track of where all the money comes from and where it all goes, reports on the county's financial condition and results to the public. So that's our financial services division. We pay all the bills, we do all the payroll, we have an audit services group within the financial services. And then we record legal documents and issue marriage licenses, so deeds of trust and all sorts of easements, all sorts of documents that get recorded. Then I serve as an agent for the Washington State Department of Licensing. So we have a licensing office for automobiles, trailers, boats, motorcycles. We have one office in the county building for licensing services, and then we have nine private businesses licensing sub-agents that we have responsibility for oversight of. And then finally, the area that gets the greatest amount of public attention, auditors say it's what gets you in the paper the fastest, we're responsible for registering people to vote and conduct all public elections.

10:27 Just, let me throw you in with this question, but what's the difference, so the treasurer, when it comes to the financial, the difference between the treasurer role and your role? So the treasurer collects the tax, the treasurer sends bills out to property owners, tells them how much they owe in property taxes, and then receives those tax monies from taxpayers, distributes that tax money out, not just to the county, but also to all the other governments in the county, so school districts and port districts and fire districts. So all of the different governments that get property tax revenues, the treasurer's office is responsible for collecting those and then distributing them to the appropriate agencies, governments in the correct amounts, and then also is responsible for investing any available excess funds that the county has, or some of these districts as well. So I think we have about a $1.5 billion investment fund that the county treasurer's responsible for managing, and then also manages debt.

11:26 Some governments issue, school districts primarily, as well as the county's debt issuance. Okay. So that's the difference. Okay. So looking back, what do you see as some of the biggest service improvements you've helped oversee over these 20-plus years? Oh, that's easy. That's easy. Okay. And very early on in the career, you know, I came into office, and at that time the office was in the old courthouse, in the courthouse building on the ground floor, and we had people coming in who were recording documents. And then they'd have to go over to the treasurer's office, down the hallway, they might have to go down to the assessor's office and do stuff, and thought, this is, why are we sending people all around for this? And then, so then the county was moving into a new building, public service center, and it seemed like a good opportunity to combine all those services into one area, and had to get a law change to allow the auditor staff to perform that administrative clerical task. But the creation of the joint office, the joint office, the joint office, the joint office,

12:26 the joint lobby, where the services from the assessor's office, the auditor's office, and the treasurer's office are available to citizens all in one location, I think is absolutely the best service improvement we've done in the county in my time in office. Close second, very close second, the expansion of the elections office work area. We've gone from seven front counter workstations for voters to 13. You might recall the last presidential election, we had almost a four-hour. I remember the line, I remember the line. Huge line. That should never happen again. In addition, expansion of the elections office work area significantly increased our throughput capacity of process ballots, so it means that on election night, the number of ballots we can report out on results, preliminary results, has increased dramatically. So our throughput's increased, which gets, people want results faster, and that's a big benefit, and then better service to citizens who are coming to vote on election day.

13:25 Okay. Let's talk about the joint lobby. Now it's been under construction, what's the latest on it? So yeah, we did a remodeling of the joint lobby, improved security, improved workspace for the staff, improved really access for citizens as well, so that's been completed, and it's definitely creating a better work environment for our staff and a better experience for our citizens. So it is open currently. Yeah. Okay. Now what's, now you talked about the county elections, so you oversee county elections. If someone isn't registered to vote, how do they register, and what are the deadlines? So if someone has a Washington driver's license or Washington identification card, they can register to vote online, and the deadline for that is October 26th, or they can mail in a form as well. In person, you can register in person until 8:00 o'clock.

14:25 8:00 o'clock p.m. on election day. So those are the opportunities for folks. Okay. So when someone, when should someone expect the, we're recording this on August 10th, so for the general election, when should people expect their ballots to arrive? So ballots are required to be mailed out 18 days before the election, and then, you know, maybe a week after that is a reasonable time period for the post office to get the ballot to folks. So I would say, you know, the fall and the fall of 2020. The fall and Wednesday, October 22nd or 23rd. If you haven't received your ballot at that point, contact the elections office. We want to make sure everyone gets a ballot, they're entitled to vote. But we do want to encourage folks to give it a little bit of time before they get that replacement ballot. Okay. And what's the voting deadline for elections and when the ballots actually have to be received? So in our state, thankfully, thankful to a recent Supreme Court.

15:25 U.S. Supreme Court decision. We can count ballots that are postmarked on election day that were received in our office up to the day before certification. So election day is November 3rd, but they have to be postmarked election day or received in one of our 22 official ballot drop boxes by 8:00 PM election day. I really want to encourage folks to use the ballot drop boxes. If they do decide to use the post office to deliver their voted ballot to the elections office. Please, please give it to the post office at least one week before. One week. Okay. One week before. And a final option, again, I want to emphasize, encourage people to use the official ballot drop boxes. But if they're determined to use the post office and they missed that one week deadline, take it inside, get a clerk to hand stamp it so we can make sure we get that election day postmark. Okay. Can you give us an overview of the steps your office has taken to ensure elections are secure

16:24 and that all valid ballots are counted? Well, do we have a couple of hours or just a brief overview? Well, it starts with our voting system that we use. The Hart Inter-Civic Voting System has been certified by the federal government and also by the Secretary of State's office. We have a number of audits and tests in place to ensure that the voting system we're using to conduct the election is performing the way we expect it to perform. From the point where ballots are received at the ballot drop box or removed from the ballot drop box or received from the post office to us, the elections office, those ballots are controlled under a very strict chain of custody. From that point all the way through certification and beyond during the retention period. There are a number of audits and control procedures in place.

17:24 There are a number of audits and control procedures that test the voting system to make sure it's working the way it's supposed to work. All of this is observed by certified election observers from the three organizations, the two major political parties, and also the League of Voters. So anytime ballots are being processed, those certified election observers are able to come in and ensure that we're following the practices and procedures that we're required to. And then at the end of the process we have what's called the reconciliation where we're told that the number of voters who are given credit for voting equals the number of ballots that were received and also equals the number of affidavit envelopes we received. And then of course the final test that people should find reassurance about the integrity of the process, the best test of the integrity of the election process is a recount. And every one of our recounts has reaffirmed the original results and so I've been very pleased with that. And we've talked in the past, like the server that calculates.

18:23 That tabulates all the votes. It's not touched by internet. Correct. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. One of the requirements under the certification from the federal government and the Secretary of State's office is that the voting system has no connection to the internet, has no wireless transmission capability, it's all kept. Those systems are all kept under serial number security tags to limit access to those systems. Access to that voting system is very tightly controlled. Great. Thank you. So back in 2024, one of the ballot drop-off boxes in East Vancouver was set on fire. What steps has your office taken to help improve election security at those ballot drop-off box? Well, that was a very dramatic point in my career. That was something I will never forget. But yeah, we've taken a number of steps to improve security of our ballot drop boxes.

19:23 We've got a much, much more capable fire suppression system. We had fire suppression systems in those drop boxes. They had been recently replaced. They were the fire suppression devices recommended by the Secretary of State's office. They were used in Multnomah County, where their ballot box was bombed as well, and they had worked really well over there. For some reason, it didn't work well for us. But after that event, we did put a lot of effort into trying to figure out what is the best fire suppression device you can buy and install. It turns out it's a company here in Vancouver that provides them. So we've installed these much more capable fire suppression devices in each of the ballot drop boxes. We've installed these devices that will send us a text message. If the temperature inside the box, I think, achieves over 170 degrees, if the ballot drop box is moved out of a geofence area, if the ballot drop box receives an impact of a certain amount, we'll get a text message informing us of that.

20:22 Then in addition, and now video cameras are not the ultimate solution, that ballot drop box at Fisher's Landing that was bombed had a video camera on it. We can see the bad person doing bad things, but we are installing, we're in the process of installing video cameras at each of the 22 ballot drop boxes at this point. Okay. What are your plans once you leave office? Well, I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm actively working on that. I do plan to do some work with the Ruckelshaus Center at the University of Washington, work in the civic engagement area, and I've got a couple other things I'm working on. If nothing else, I plan to go into my alma mater, Sarah J. Anderson Elementary School, and help kids learn how to read. And then, you know, plan to spend a little more time in Seattle with my four-year-old granddaughter. Sounds wonderful. Is there anything else you'd like to share with viewers?

21:20 You know, serving as the Clark County Auditor has truly been the honor of a lifetime. It is with deep gratitude and appreciation that the voters have deemed it an honor to vote for me. I really appreciate it. You know, I don't know.

21:37 I don't know how many of you have ever seen me.

24:32 I know how many of you have ever seen me.