County Council appoints temporary hearing examiner to help with backlog

The Pierce County Council unanimously appointed Stephen K. Causseaux Jr. as Pierce County hearing examiner for at least the next six months to help tackle a backlog of cases

Causseaux is no stranger to the position, having served as hearing examiner from 1984 through 2021.

His appointment is on a six-month basis to help supplement the services currently provided by Sound Law Center, LLC.

“Yeah, just to clarify, we’re trying to fill basically a hole here because we’ve struggled to recruit for this, and so we anticipate this being a semi-short duration,” Council Chair Derek Young said during the Aug. 23 meeting.

The other major piece of legislation passed by the council was a resolution authorizing the release of funding for the Parkland and Spanaway Blue Zones Transformation Project.

The Blue Zones Project is a health and wellness initiative based on communities worldwide where people share lifestyle traits and live to 100 or more.

Pierce County is authorized to spend $1 million in the 2022-23 biennium, contingent upon a minimum 1:2 match from non-governmental sources, with county funding limited to one-third or less of the total cost – that is, with two health care systems each pledging $2.5 million.

In other business, the council approved appointments to various commissions.

Kathryn Jerkovich was reappointed to District 7 of the Pierce County Planning Commission.

Julie Collison was confirmed as a new member of the Pierce County Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission.