TONASKET – During last week’s Tonasket City Council meeting, Josh Petker, the Supervisor of the North Central Washington Task Force (NCWTF), requested a letter of support from Tonasket to strengthen the Task Force’s bid for crucial funding.

The NCWTF is a federally-funded multi-jurisdictional Narcotics Task Force. The NCWTF is operated by an Executive Board made up of member representatives from contributing local, county, state, and federal agencies and governments throughout the county.

The main objective of NCWTF is the control of illegal controlled substances to and from the areas of jurisdiction. According to Petker, the task force investigates upper-level dealers in Okanogan and Ferry counties, but it often travels throughout North Central Washington to purchase narcotics from suspects that supply drugs to the region. The task force also works on northern border cases involving narcotics smuggling, human trafficking and money laundering.

Petker said the long and short of it is, historically NCWTF is funded and operated off a federal grant called the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant. The Byrne Grant runs from July 1st through June 30th of each year. There are currently about 20 Bryne Grant Task Forces in the State of Washington.

“June 30 of this year, we will cease to have any grant funding and rely solely on what participating cities such as Tonasket pay into that funding. That won’t be enough for us to operate. We are actively pursuing other funding sources,” said Pekter.

According to Pekter, Okanogan County received some opioid settlement funding.

“That’s what we are applying for. It’s $300,000. We are applying for at least a portion of that funding this year to get us through. We are pursuing all avenues before we come to our participating cities to ask for more money,” said Pekter.

Pekter said there is a huge opioid epidemic in Okanogan County.

“I’m sure you’ve seen some of the cases we’ve worked on in the last two years. All of them have been within a 10-mile radius of Tonasket, directly involving Tonasket. We’ve done controlled buys here, countless. We’re talking about pounds of fentanyl in this community. We are not talking dime bags, it’s pounds. That’s where our focus is right now with the limited staffing we have,” said Pekter.

Council member Teagan Levine made a motion to authorize Mayor René Maldonado to sign a letter of support for NCWTF’s application to receive funding from the Opioid Settlement Fund. The motion was approved unanimously.

Michael Stewart, President of the Tonasket Chamber of Commerce, spoke during the Public Comment portion of the meeting. He asked to clarify details given regarding the up-and-coming Founders Day Festival.

“The chamber hosts the events for our city so we can provide the insurance for each event. We ask a business to ramrod, oversee it, step up and organize it. That’s basically what the Farmers Market is doing.”

Alexa Whipple of the Methow Okanogan Beaver Project gave an update to the mayor and council regarding work done along Bonaparte Creek in 2024.

“We wrapped a few trees on the Veterans Memorial property and worked with an adjacent land owner to take down one tree that was in danger of falling on their infrastructure,” said Whipple. She said they can provide slow devices if a culvert starts to get backed up by beavers.

“We just like to help people to know that there are options to beaver conflict when it arises. So, call on us when it happens,” said Whipple.

The meeting was advertised as a bid opening for supplying concrete grave liners to the city for the years of 2025 and 2026.

Council member Alisa Weddle moved to accept the bid for concrete grave liners for the years 2025 and 2026 as submitted by Wilbert Precast Inc. The motion was approved unanimously.

An update was given on the Perfect Passage Project.

“For those who don’t know they are working five tens. So, they are paying their guys overtime, and that’s not something we are getting charged extra for. They just want to get things done as fast as possible.” said Brian Thompson, Onsite Engineer.

Thompson said by the end of this week, the sewer bypass should be in place on First Street.

There will be parking designated at the Tonasket Eagles parking lot near the alley for patients for North Valley Hospital, clinics and Dr. Nau’s office, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Mayor Maldonado proclaimed April 25, as Arbor Day.

Okanogan County Commissioner Jon Neal was present during Tuesday’s meeting and gave a small brief to the mayor and council.

“We are looking at possibly, hopefully not but possibly, having to cut certain things this coming fiscal season. It’s not looking pretty and with the climate at the state and the feds, it’s not pretty at all. So far, we really haven’t lost any federal money but we are really questioning some of our state money,” said Neal.

Neal said the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office is doing well.

“We all could use more money and more people to do the job better but I think we’re doing well with what we have.” said Neal.

It’s spring clean-up time. The city will be picking up curbside yard debris April 7 through April 11. To get on the pick-up list, community members are asked to call Tonasket City Hall at 509-486-2132 by 4 p.m. on April 4. No late calls will be picked up. Tree trimmings need to be 4 foot pieces or less and leaves need to be in paper bags.

The next council meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 8 at 6 p.m.