I am a Clallam County resident at least 18 years of age. I testify under oath, that I am a witness to and affected by increasingly unsafe conditions in and around public spaces in my community. Unsafe conditions include, human excrement on sidewalks, unsanitary and biohazardous waste in public restrooms, massive improper disposal of discarded sharps or hypodermic needles and drug paraphernalia such as glass pipes and drug testing strips. These public spaces include but are not limited to, children’s parks such as Dream Park or Erickson’s Playfield, adjoining public sidewalks and alleyways to westside Safeway, Discovery Trail, Downtown Waterfront District, public streets in neighborhoods and within county managed streams and rivers and their outlets to public beaches.

These conditions present an immediate and ongoing threat to public health, safety, and the environment, including risk of:


• Needle-stick injuries


• Transmission of bloodborne pathogens


• Contamination of land and/or waters of Washington state


I testify that these public health and safety conditions are a result of repeated accumulation of biohazards in public spaces; this is an ongoing condition leading to this petition within the past 8 years. I have observed one or more of these bio-hazardous conditions going about my daily business in the above listed public places, or I have directly been affected by them through volunteer clean-up.

In light of the current opioid crisis and the illegal fentanyl trafficking, I, being a member of this community, demand a complete reevaluation, an immediate investigation, and a comprehensive regulatory policy overhaul of Clallam County Board of Health policies.

Whereas overdose deaths in Clallam County are still up over 3X since 2018 (from 8 to 25), whereas over 12,000 improperly disposed needles have been voluntarily collected in public spaces, not including the unreported amount collected by city staff from their managed facilities between calendar years 2024-2025; whereas Clallam County is listed by NASEN (North American Syringe Exchange Network), in this petition’s featured photo, as “NB” or “needs-based” distribution; whereas indiscriminate distribution of drug paraphernalia has resulted in increased crime of sex and drug trafficking, visible on the streets within Clallam County and the City of Port Angeles; whereas the City of Port Angeles is in process of proposing a minimum of 1% tax increase to fund 2 more Port Angeles Police Officers due to this increased crime, whereas the Clallam County Board of Health has prioritized distribution quotas over legal operational and regulatory controls; whereas the Clallam County Board of Health has repeatedly failed to mitigate foreseeable risks of Syringe Services Programs (SSP), resulting in costly environmental impacts and a severe health and safety crisis across city and county jurisdictions;

I require an immediate elimination of biohazardous sharps, environmental, and public nuisance violations resulting from failed public health policy. Failure to adequately investigate and remediate these conditions will result in further action, including: Formal administrative appeals, civil claims for public nuisance and negligence, and escalation to state and federal oversight bodies.

Strict Board of Health regulatory policy must include, but is not limited to these three categories: Distribution Accountability Measures, Geographic Impact Controls, and Operational Compliance Requirements.

1. Distribution Accountability Measures

I request Clallam County Harm Reduction Health Center:

-Offer services from a "qualified licensed health care provider" at every visit;

-Exclude minors (all participants under 18 years old) from the SSP;

-Enforce resident identification checks through a database, or state medical and identification cards;

-Implement reasonable tracking or accountability systems such as serial numbers on sharps or barcodes for scan upon return;

-Create measures designed to reduce uncontrolled proliferation of sharps such as one-to-one sharps exchange policy;

-Register and permit operations of all facilities with a qualified licensed health care provider, as well as a City of Port Angeles permit fees which will cover mitigation expenses

-Shut down and Eliminate all mobile dispensaries

2. Geographic Impact Controls

I request Clallam County Harm Reduction Center:

-Implement retrieval and mitigation programs that include, but are not limited to routine, scheduled sweeps of high-impact areas and rapid-response cleanup protocols; (if the Board of Health does not know where those high impact areas are located, they can start by asking the Downtown Waterfront District and the City of Port Angeles)

-Identify and monitor high-concentration zones such as Tumwater Creek and state protected lands

-Create targeted mitigation efforts in those environmentally sensitive areas

3. Operational Compliance Requirements

I request Clallam County Harm Reduction Center:

-Provide written mitigation plans addressing PAMC, CCC, WAC’s and RCW’s as a condition of continued operation;

-Engage in periodic reporting to the City of Port Angeles demonstrating compliance to Port Angeles municipal codes and shared foreseeability impacts with city managed services.

I attest that the information provided herein, and the requests for immediate investigation, and comprehensive regulatory policy overhaul of the Clallam County Harm Reduction Center administrative practices, is to the best of my knowledge, submitted in good faith for the protection of public health and safety.