Kitsap County Commissioner Patty Lent, (District 3), in her role as Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC) western district president, will deliver the call to order message at the opening ceremony of the WSAC Western District Meeting In Kelso June 9-10. Her message: “Don’t try to tackle the world’s problems, or even the problems of the entire state. Do what we as western Washington county officials can do in our own region to improve the quality of life here.”
   “One size doesn’t fit all counties,” says Lent. “Regulations that are meant for counties in Eastern Washington may not work for us as they don’t have our same problems. Western Washington officials need to work on their own set of needs.”
   Lent sees the greatest priorities to be water, the quality, availability, and low dissolved oxygen situation in Hood Canal; Unfunded mandates handed down by the State, which in 2004 alone, cost taxpayers in Kitsap County more than $3 million; homelessness, including creating affordable housing, tax incentives for the elderly, and serving the rising number of vagrant teens; and mental health treatment.