The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Wahkiakum County Commissioners met on Wednesday, November 12 for regular business.

Commissioner Blair Brady touched on the recent court decision on biosolids.

“On election day, we received notification that the appeals court ruled in ecology’s favor on biosolids,” Brady said. “There is interest from a few other counties, particularly Pacific County and Lewis County in taking this to the Supreme Court. The issue has developed away from just a biosolids issue to a county’s rights and authority issue, to where a county’s self determination is at stake.”

The commissioners approved a resolution to the Veterans’ Relief Fund that changed the amount of compensation and gave the duties of County Veterans’ Relief Coordinator to the Wahkiakum County Auditor. The coordinator will be responsible for determining eligibility, for issuing vouchers and for the record keeping of the fund.

After receiving a complaint about ADA accessibility at the fairgrounds, fair board member Valerie Antijunti suggested applying for a grant. After some discussion, the commissioners agreed that they would support any possible grant applications that would improve ADA accessibility at the fairgrounds.

The county’s health insurance had covered two of the Port District 1’s employees, but due to changes with the Affordable Care Act, the County would no longer be able to extend coverage to the port district. The commissioners agreed to discontinue coverage for the two employees on January 1, 2015, on the heels of learning that Port 1 would be getting it’s own insurance.

Commissioners passed a resolution to provide ammunition for courtroom security, with Commissioners Mike Backman and Dan Cothren voting for and Brady voting against.

“I think it’s ridiculous to buy 1000 rounds of ammunition for courtroom security,” Brady said, “when the original agreement was that they weren’t even going to have guns, they were going to have tasers. I don’t see where it’s the county’s responsibility outside of their contract to supply them with materials that normally a contractor would supply for himself, unless specifically stated in the contract.”

The commissioners also discussed how to move forward with a claim for damages after a driver, who said she didn’t see the warning signs for paint striping, drove into a paint striping area and got road paint on her car.

According to Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow, the driver was given the usual fix, a can of Goof Off, when she visited public works. She decided to visit a body shop and was advised not to use the Goof Off and given an estimate. When her claim was denied by County Commissioners, she visited another body shop and got a lower estimate, hoping to appeal the earlier decision.

Backman made a motion to pay her the lower estimate of $425 but Cothren and Brady voted again to deny Ridgeway’s claim.

Representatives from Health and Human Services requested a renewal for the Partnership for Success Grant, which according to Chris Holmes, pays for a prevention person’s salary and operational costs. The commissioners voted to approve the contract amendment for prevention services.

The commissioners will hold a budget hearing at 10 a.m. on December 1. There will be a hearing of the Annual Construction Program for 2015 on December 2 at 10:15 a.m., a hearing for the Six Year Transportation at 10:20 a.m. and a hearing for the 14 Year Ferry Program at 10:25 a.m.

Employees will work a full day on December 24 and the Courthouse will be closed for the holidays on December 25 and 26. The final regular meeting of the County Commissioners for 2014 was moved from December 23 to December 30.