Commissioners' Report

The Wahkiakum County Commissioners held their weekly meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 21. During public comment at Tuesday's meeting, Elochoman Valley resident Rick Selby spoke on road safety. Recently while driving, Selby struck a person riding an electric scooter who had veered over the double yellow line into his lane. Citing Washington State laws regarding pedestrians, Selby noted the person riding the scooter did not receive a citation. "Are we warning these people to commit suicide or die at the expense of the motorist," said Selby. Reiterating his point later in his address, he added, "Are we going to warn people to death?"

Noting the matter relates to the Sheriff's Office, Commissioner Gene Strong deferred to Sheriff John Mason. "I've been getting a lot of different complaints and different close calls," said Mason. "Unfortunately, this was more than a close call...We've been dealing with side by sides that have been creeping out into the areas where they shouldn't be where the speed limit's illegal for them to be on. It is a good discussion to have about what we can do legislatively to help protect the community from the situation that's going on."

Following public comment, Health & Human Services (HHS) Director Chris Bischoff presented to the commissioners a request to extend the current contract Wahkiakum County has with Clark County to provide health officers. According to the agenda, the health department "is required by State Law to have a Health Officer." Wahkiakum County, over the past few years, have used Clark County's Health Officer to fill the role. Bischoff recommended adding on another two years, and all three commissioners approved. The total cost for the two years is $41,400 and "represents an increase of $3,600."

Following Bischoff's presentation, the commissioners were presented with letters of support regarding a proposed communications tower on KM Mountain. According to the report, the emergency-services radio tower located on KM Mountain needs to be upgraded. This upgrade would involve the construction of a 195-foot tower, "increasing and enhancing the current cellular coverage footprint for the Skamokawa/KM/Grays River areas and potentially farther." The commissioners all approved the motion. Thanking the commissioners for approving the project, Wahkiakum County Undersheriff Gary Howell said, "What we're trying to do is make this where it's long-term sustainable so when it does come time we don't have to go through all the grants and all the things we've done the last couple of times. They're getting harder to find, and this system is very important to everybody in the community and all the people who pass through."

Before the meeting was adjourned, Commissioner Lee Tischer, during his report, noted he had a brief and preliminary meeting with CWCOG (Cowlitz Wahkiakum Council of Governments). During the meeting, Tischer was "looking at using the same grant that was applied for the sorting yard to put for the possibility of restoring the Columbia Saloon" on Main Street in Cathlamet. "It was so preliminary that there's not much to report on yet but it could be a step in the right direction," said Tischer. When a member of the audience noted the property of discussion was privately owned, Tischer said, "There's a lot of work to be done in the background to get approval from the owner to move forward with it."