Last week City staff published a staff memo and presentation on the project page and invited feedback from the public.

Tonight the staff with begin with a presentation and responses to community questions and comments.

The long list of inadequacies of the current police and court facilities are detailed on the project page.

Public comments are taken at the beginning of the meeting, which starts at 6 pm. Guidelines for that are on the COBI website.

The House passed two bills-- one to delay the program for 18 months and another to make needed changes to it -- last week and the bills are scheduled for action in the Senate Ways & Means Committee today.

Both bills have had broad bi-partisan support, however most Democrats prefer making changes to the existing program and many Republicans would rather scrap it and start over.

Read more via KING5 and Kitsap Sun

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is withdrawing the vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard issued on Nov. 5, 2021, to protect unvaccinated employees of large employers with 100 or more employees from workplace exposure to coronavirus.

The withdrawal is effective from tomorrow, January 26, 2022.

Although OSHA is withdrawing the vaccination and testing ETS as an enforceable emergency temporary standard, the agency is not withdrawing the ETS as a proposed rule. The agency is prioritizing its resources to focus on finalizing a permanent COVID-19 Healthcare Standard.

OSHA strongly encourages vaccination of workers against the continuing dangers posed by COVID-19 in the workplace."

Washington's hospitality sector continues to remain short staffed and overworked as the country marks two years of Covid-related disruptions.

The state's leisure and hospitality business is currently still missing about 40,000, or 11.5%, of the workers it had in December 2019, The Seattle Times reports.

More from the Seattle Times 

It's been standing there since 1950 and now needs some 2022 love.

Nighttime travelers should expect some delays for one-way alternating traffic for emergency utility work from 9pm to 6am each weeknight from Monday, Jan. 24 to Friday, Feb. 11.

In addition, WSDOT crews have placed road signs along the highway that give advance notice of SR 305 Agate Pass Bridge work. Annual bridge cleaning is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day from Monday, Feb. 14 to Sunday, Feb. 20.

Please add extra travel time when crossing the bridge during the work hours. Consider postponing discretionary trips. Travel early in the morning or late in the day.

Pegasus has acquired Dude’s Donuts of Port Orchard, a specialty bakery offering 100% plant-based, gluten-free cake donuts.

Pegasus first began selling Dude’s Donuts at its original Coffee House on Bainbridge last February, and as part of the deal, will soon begin making the donuts on island daily.

Thia and Trinh Nguyen of Ba Sa recently shared family recipes for Vietnamese New Year (Tet) with the Seattle Times offshoot Pacific NW Magazine.

The Ba Sa family are welcoming the Year of the Tiger with celebratory dishes from Wednesday, February 2 through Sunday, February 6, with a traditional lion dance to bring prosperity and good luck for the year on Sunday, February 6 at 1:30pm in front of Ba Sa on Winslow Way.

Learn about the science behind Will Grant's 'fresh sourdough from the Klondike Gold Rush', as well as dough libraries, marketplaces, and 'dough nerds' in this recent Times article.

That's A Some (and Sourdough Willy's) are in the lead position, accompanied by a couple of newer pizza joints also slinging ancient sourdough starters in West Seattle's Moto and Fremont's Lupo...

Bainbridge Performing Arts presents their annual “One Starry Night” fundraiser virtually this year, with a 5-day online silent auction plus a special live-streamed broadcast event on January 29th at 7pm.

Registration is free and a limited number of VIP event packages are available for pre-order to be delivered to your door before showtime.

Join Bainbridge Senior Living for their Bainbridge Breakfast Bash this Friday, January 28, 2022.

Free breakfast sandwiches made by Chef Tamas (also of L'Atalier TR) will be available to rock your world in the Madrona House Parking Lot (8800 Madison Ave N) from 8 to 10am.

Available by reservation only, and just in time for Valentine's Day gifts, tickets are good for one flight plus chocolates at each winery...

February 11-14: Tickets and info 

Bainbridge Youth Services returns with the annual community luminaria walk focusing on mental health for youth.

In the midst of a global pandemic and, of course, the darkness of winter, BYS is inviting the local community to come together to celebrate connection and light.

Local businesses are encouraged to participate on a variety of levels:

The Reserve is hiring for a number of exciting opportunities including:

Visit the Bloedel Careers page to learn more about each opportunity.

Columbia invites you to join their team on Bainbridge Island with immediate openings for:

Featured speaker is Jennifer Filzen, owner of Rock Star Marketing in Monterey, CA.

Jennifer’s marketing agency is the category king of storytelling for the auto repair industry, and she will be sharing her marketing wisdom on topics including:

The Small Business Flex Fund provides access to working capital to those that need it most – smaller, local business and nonprofits with fewer than 50 employees and annual revenue of less than $3 million.

The fund recently announced a new $40 Million funding round of low interest loans up to $150,000 for:

To help explain Bainbridge's new restrictions on single-use plastic to consumers, COBI has begun to send out free table-tents to our local eating and drinking establishments.

If you have not yet received yours, or need some more, please come pick them up for free at the Chamber office.

Islanders are reporting already receiving their free tests from the new federal website:

Applications for free tests from Washington State opened yesterday and was depleted within a few hours - get in line for yours online:

Millions of free N95 masks are now being distributed to pharmacy and supermarket chains across America, meaning they should be coming in any day at Safeway, CVS, and Walgreens on Bainbridge. Limit 3 per person.

In today's latest Kitsap County numbers, 1,159 cases per 100,000 residents are recorded (down 10% from last week).

Island numbers have fallen more sharply, and are today at 470 cases per 100k (down 30% from last week).

Since the start of the pandemic, there have now been 1,387 total cases recorded on Bainbridge, 97 of them new over the past week.

Vaccination rates on Bainbridge continuing to lead the county - more than 99% of Islanders aged 12 and above are vaccinated, alongside 72% of 5 to 11-yr-olds.

Drive-through testing is offered 6 days a week in Kitsap County, with the Rolling Bay testing site on Bainbridge open Mondays and Wednesdays 9am-1pm

With the support of the City, County, and Bainbridge's own Breath Café, the Chamber has fresh supplies of N95 masks, disposable masks, and hand sanitizer available for free to all public-facing Island business and nonprofit organizations.

We also have free posters available to help businesses make it clear to all customers that masks are required for entry at their location.

To grab yours, give us a call, stop by our offices, or email us - we are here to help...