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

To The Eagle,

I’ve been very outspoken for a long time about the need for the town to change its governance to allow the hiring of a professional town manager. A town manager would work closely with our competent Clerk Treasurer to oversee the daily town functions that the mayor currently does. He would report to the council and could be replaced if found not adequately performing as required. Moreover, among many other aspects, the professional town manager hired would need to have an understanding (that’s currently lacking) of: basic financial statements that our mayor currently needs to work with, the need for qualified financial projections extending out over several years. The need for a town development plan for extended time frames. The need to finally get the town’s long overdue (State required) Comprehensive Plan completed and filed in Olympia. The importance of recognizing ALL town employees/council members needing to be regularly communicated with, and recognizing the important roles they all have. If I owned a business with an $8 million budget with limited abilities to increase revenue, I’d make sure I had a strong, effective CEO in place to oversee and protect my interests. Doesn’t the town deserve the same? People push back and say the town can’t afford a town manager. I say, can we afford not to? Town taxpayers need to understand how hundreds of thousands of dollars (no exaggeration) are being spent on projects that arguably bring little to no value to our residents. The mayor recently offered to resign early and has committed not to run for office after his current term expires next year. In light of the disharmony between him and the council, why not do the right thing and resign now? Why not allow the council to function and communicate again as needed, rather than keeping them harnessed as they currently appear to be? Let’s also hope our council does their homework, talks to other communities run by town managers, and makes the necessary governance change. Otherwise, it’ll just be more of the same, and the town’s taxpayers will continue to be the losers.

Bill Wainwright

Cathlamet