Councilor Matt Little said he is experiencing ‘resolution fatigue’ but it appears a resolution on unity is going forward with the Clark County Council
Paul Valencia
Clark County Today
Once again, the Clark County Council is discussing a resolution.
The subject this time? Unity.
Last fall, the council spent considerable time coming up with acceptable language to denounce political violence in the wake of the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Earlier in February, the council voted to approve a resolution to make it clear the county does not work with federal immigration officials. During discussion of that resolution, the council specifically voted to put the word “local” in front of law enforcement, to show the council only supports “local law enforcement” but not all law enforcement. That resolution also used the word “fear” and implied that federal officials use racial profiling, are overly aggressive, and undermine public trust and community safety.
Ironically, now the councilors want a resolution on unity. They discussed a draft of the resolution during Council Time on Wednesday.
At least one councilor wondered if this was the best use of the council’s time and effort.
“I think unity is important. I’m also experiencing some resolution fatigue,” said Matt Little. “This is our third resolution on generally the same topic.”
He noted that there are several similarities in a number of the “whereas” paragraphs in the previous resolutions.
“It would be great to eliminate some of the redundancy here,” Little said.
Councilor Michelle Belkot wondered about a specific bullet point in the latest draft resolution, noting the council will review the code of conduct for councilors and members of Clark County Boards and Commissions. She wondered if that could lead to penalties, such as a councilor being removed from a board. She then asked how that would be enforced.
Councilor Glen Yung, who was instrumental in bringing up the unity resolution, replied:
“This is a resolution. This is not passing a law. This is about the intent of our council, the intent of the county, and our way of expressing to all of the people in our community that these are our values,” Yung said. “As we fill the seats on our boards and commissions, this is what we search for. It’s not about removing people. It’s about expressing our intent that we have civil conversations.”
Earlier in the discussion, Yung noted the timeliness of this resolution.
“We have had some really divisive conversations with the community in our hearing room and I really feel we all have to work past our differences and realize we’re all … people, and we all have different views and perspectives, and that is OK,” Yung said.
He added that it is not OK to believe one’s perspective is the only point of view. And for any disagreement to turn violent is “pure insanity.”
The unity resolution has been talked about since last November. Councilor Wil Fuentes noted that this draft is a community effort, with input from community members and organizations that helped create the draft.
Not every councilor was aware of that effort. Belkot asked who in the community helped with the draft.
Sue Marshall said the Southwest Washington Equity Coalition and the NAACP helped throughout the process.
To read the draft of the unity resolution, go to: https://clark.wa.gov/sites/default/files/media/document/2026-02/draft-resolution-unity-2.18.26.pdf
Marshall then asked for three “thumb’s up” in order for the resolution to move forward. She received them, and the resolution could be read at a future meeting.
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