Commissioners approve WDFW contract with WSU Extension Office

The Wahkiakum County Commissioners met on Tuesday, Aug. 12, where they approved a contract between the Wahkiakum WSU Extension Office and the WDFW, which will enable continued coordination of the Wahkiakum Marine Resources Committee.

Auditor Nicci Bergseng presented a contract with Easy Vote to increase the security of the county’s election infrastructure. This three-year contract would enable the purchase of specialized locks, door sensors, and other security devices to send alerts for detected tampering. The funds for these are available through the Secretary of State’s office Information Security funds.

The ferry service will be shut down for an engine replacement beginning Sept. 3 through Sept. 4. “The engine needs replacing, it's burning a lot of oil,” said Public Works Director Chuck Beyer. When asked why this replacement wasn’t done back in April, Beyer said, “It would have been considerably more expensive to do this during dry dock.” County Engineer Paul Lacey presented an agreement amendment with DOWL to change the subcontractor responsible for surveying the Right-of-Way for the Wilson Creek Bridge Project. This change will incur no cost to the county.

Earlier this summer, the Forest Practices Board voted to move forward with the proposed new rule that will substantially increase the no-harvest buffer along non-fish-bearing (Type Np) streams in Western Washington. This new rule would bypass the state’s Adaptive Management Program, which ensures forest policy is based on peer-reviewed science and is not politically motivated or overreaching. “It’s a land grab… that’s all it is,” said Commissioner Dan Cothren.

Representatives from the different cultural and historical groups across Wahkiakum have asked the county to consider implementing a Cultural Access Program (CAP) which would be supported by the further implementation of a sales tax of 0.1 percent for seven years. Though Wahkiakum has not implemented it, the measure, since July 2023, no longer needs voter approval to be passed. According to the proposal, a CAP would allow “arts, culture, science and heritage organizations to expand open public hours, offer discounted/free admission and participate in public school access programs where the funding could be used to provide transportation to school-age children…” The commissioners were immediately opposed. “I will not consider any increased tax on the county,” stated Cothren. Commissioner Lee Tischer said, “I’m all for cultural programs in the county, but the timing of this is just terrible.” Public commentator Marshall Stowe said, “We’ve seen that sales tax does not benefit the people that need it most.” Commenting on the issue as well, Puget Island’s Sylvia Costage said, “This tax can’t be used for tourism… nothing in the proposal says that you can use even a penny to promote tourism. This is to help the budget of these groups and get local schools involved.” Members of the different historical and cultural groups argued that even if this tax is not implemented, historical tourism is something the county should consider. Paige Lane said, “Can we sit around and wait for the economy to change? How are we going to move forward? We can’t rely on the timber, the fishing has gone to hell… our saving grace is cultural heritage tourism.” The final decision on what the county will do with the Johnson House will be determined at next week’s meeting.

The Wahkiakum County Fair Board held its mid-year budget workshop, where Patti Dursteler provided the commissioners with updates, although they were difficult to decipher due to arguments between Dursteler, County Treasurer Tammy Peterson, County Clerk Nicci Bergsend, and Fair Board member Kay Walters. Through the extensive back and forth, one item that came out of the discussion was the fair board will no longer be able to apply for State grants that require the county to match or are reimbursable. “The county just doesn’t have the money to put forward for those,” said County Clerk Nicci Bergseng. Dursteler had several questions about the fair’s revolving account and what she was supposed to do with the checks written out on it. Treasurer Tammy Peterson would send an email with information on what to do. There was further discussion about the budget reductions expected in the next year and the fair board’s need to initiate long-term budget planning for the 56 percent reduction in the fair budget over the next two years.