Greetings Dr. Velazquez, Mr French, (cc of this message to related agencies, legislators & bcc to the 100+ resident contact list) At this week's 2/11/26 PFAS Task Force meeting, many of us were alarmed to learn of the scarce response to the Navigator job announcements and the too thin responses by filtration contractors. A new approach must be initiated. The county's solicitation approach is inadequate in serving constituents at the high level required for this immense task of providing safe drinking water to the West Plains. We must be able to expect subject-interested and qualified candidates. Two Solutions: Readvertise the unfilled Navigator position(s) - increase the pay and enable a college-accredited Internship. Send announcements to all area universities with environmental, geosciences, engineering, and project management programs. All have pertinent departments: EWU, WSU, Whitworth, Gonzaga, UW, and the Community Colleges of Spokane - post in student & employment areas; always there are qualified students needing to earn paychecks and college credits. Resend the RFQ to all related contractors between Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Boise, Cd'A, Eugene, Portland, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, Bellingham. Send to state Depts of Health, Ecology, and FAFB civilian recruitment offices. There are always experienced folks looking to relocate, or the ability to assess a new region for relocation. This is an opportunity to learn about the geology, hydrogeology, water supply, and our aquifer systems. This solicitation process has dragged on for too long. In an effort to speed up this process, we had already surrendered the requirement for competitive bidding to obtain the best possible prices for these systems. This RFQ approach has come up nearly empty-handed. We are NOW willing to wait. Task Force Co-chairs Velazquez and French are asked to redo this process. Please hasten to reconfigure & redistribute the two announcements, allow 4-6 weeks response, and provide constituents the necessary confidence that our health, safety, and welfare are topmost in this effort, along with the most cost effective use of taxpayer dollars. Competent Navigators & Competitive Prices = More Filtration Systems Installed with fewer errors. Please use Reply All so all will benefit by your response, ASAP. Thank to All. JE McHugh Palisades Neighborhood | West Plains