New Members Appointed to Brand New Kitsap County Agriculture Advisory Council

On Monday, March 23rd at 10 AM, Kitsap County Commissioners Oran Root, Christine Rolfes, and Katie Walters officially adopted the resolution appointing members to the newly established Kitsap County Agriculture Advisory Council.

Appointed members include:

District 1: Angela Cordiano, Mira Rosenkotz, Karissa Holcombe

District 2: Scott Hall, Gary Winn, Dawn Oien

District 3: Tonya Hirtzel, Christina Mayfield, Mickey Centeno Some of the Agricultural Advisory Council appointees gathered Monday morning for the adoption of the resolution.

Pictured (L to R): Scott Hall (District 2), Dawn Oien (District 2), Mickey Centeno (District 3), and Karissa Holcombe (District 1)

** Heather Cleveland, Long Range Planner, Kitsap Department of Community Development:

"Thank you to all who applied, and to Washington State University Kitsap County Extension—Jess Sappington, and Kitsap Conservation District—Diane Fish, and the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners for their support and thoughtful consideration throughout this process.

The council will advise Commissioners and county staff on key agricultural matters, including education, policy, land use, and economic opportunities, while serving as a collaborative forum to support the long-term sustainability and resilience of the agricultural community. The first meeting will be Thursday, March 26, from 5-7 PM here at the Kitsap County Administrative Building.”

** Commissioner Christine Rolfes:

“I want to thank the nine people who have stepped forward to take on this responsibility, and also to thank people like Scott Hall, who have been advocating for this council to be established for—I’m going to say a decade—but really actively for the last few years. To the best of my knowledge, since 2023, this is the first new committee that we’ve established as a Commission, highlighting the importance and the community enthusiasm for getting this work done. So I’m excited—I hope the work that this group is going to be doing over the next couple of years, perhaps longer, but at least over the next couple of years, will help set a stronger foundation for small-scale sustainable agricultural production in this county, so we can eat what we grow and learn more about it.”

** Commissioner Katie Walters:

“I feel like this is a historic moment, so thank you to those who’ve stepped up, and I look forward to the continuation of this, because it will really help advise us on aspects of Kitsap County that are what make us so special.”

** Commissioner Oran Root:

“I have to say that I look at life like a bamboo farm. If you know anything about bamboo, it takes forever to get things started—cultivation after seeding, after watering—and then all of a sudden, at the last minute, you have this upcrop of bamboo stock, but it comes in strong and heavy, and it’s really dense. And I really feel like the Agricultural Council here, with all of our new members, is that bamboo that’s going to hold this all together—their years of expertise, almost a century, it seems like, of expertise. I want to thank Heather (Cleveland) for all your work, and DCD’s work, in getting this together, because I think that’s what helps us—the advisory piece of this is what really helps us move policy, if policy is required. So, thank you to all the volunteers who stepped up—even those who were not selected because of numbers—they’re there to give their support at any given time, and they’re ready to step up, so I appreciate every one of you.”