As you will recall, at the end of the 2008 session, the legislature gave $100,000 to the Higher Education Coordinating Board to convene the interested parties in the region and develop a consensus recommendation for a permanent site for a UW North Sound branch campus.
The Everett Herald reported this past Sunday that the HECB has retained the services of Bill Wilkerson to carryout their consensus-building task for a North Sound campus location. Wilkerson is well-known in Olympia circles, having previously served as head of the state fisheries department and as the former executive director of the Washington Forest Protection Association. The HECB is surely counting on his many years of experience negotiating a bevy of contentious fishing and timber disputes to help bring the Snohomish, Island and Skagit county participants together on this issue.
Wilkerson’s contract runs through November 30 and a report to the legislature is due December 1.