Wahkiakum County Commissioners' report

During their meeting Tuesday, Oct. 28, the Wahkiakum County Commissioners had plenty of new business on their agenda. The first item was a claim for damages sustained by John Dent’s 2020 Toyota Tundra in the amount of $3,409.32. The truck was damaged while on the ferry, and the total included $2,988.81 in auto body damages and $420.51 paid by Dent for vehicle rental. The motion to approve was seconded and voted unanimously. The commissioners were then presented with Amendment No. 6 to the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board Interlocal Agreement between Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis, Skamania, and Wahkiakum Counties. According to the agenda, Wahkiakum “adopted the first interlocal in 1999” and that was expected to “sunset” in 2002. Due to the fact that the sunset clause has since been removed, the agreement “has been extended several times.” Amendment No. 6 extends the agreement another five years through Dec. 31, 2030. The motion to approve the amendment was seconded and voted upon unanimously in the affirmative. Public Works Director Chuck Beyer then spoke before the commissioners regarding proposed equipment rental rates for 2026. Beyer announced the rates would not be raised “due to budget constraints.” Voting unanimously, the commissioners adopted Resolution No. 25 to establish the 2026 equipment rental rates.

Engineering Technician Benjamin McClain spoke to the commissioners about changing the name of Barr-Durrah Road to Barr Road. With the name on file being Barr-Durrah Road, the public hearing was presented asking that the name inconsistency be corrected “to minimize cost and confusion.” According to the packet, such an inconsistency “could pose problems in the future with regard to grant funding.”

A motion “to approve the updated operations and maintenance agreement for the East Fork Deep River self-regulating tide gates” was presented. According to the agenda, CREST (Columbia River Estuary Study Taskforce), on behalf of Wahkiakum, “successfully applied for and was awarded a Salmon Recovery Fund Grant” for the tide gates. As a result of receiving this grant, Wahkiakum “is required to have an operations and maintenance agreement for the tide gate operations.” The motion was voted on and approved unanimously by the commissioners.

Health & Human Services (HHS) Community Services Manager Julie Johnston presented before the commissioners regarding the approval of Amendment No. 3 to a contract between Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities of Southwest Washington (AAADSW) and HHS in the amount of $16,291. The contract would provide ADRC (Aging and Disability Resource Connection) services from Jan. 1, 2026 to Dec. 31, 2026. The amendment was proposed, seconded, and voted on unanimously by the commissioners. Johnston also presented before the commissioners a contract between CHOICE (Community Health Organization Improving Care and Equity) and HHS “to become part of the Community Care Hub and provide services for Wahkiakum County residents” beginning Nov. 1, 2025 and running until June 30, 2026. According to its website, The Community Care Hub is “a unified network of community partners that connect people in need with the services they deserve.” The contract was voted on unanimously and approved by the commissioners. Finally, HHS Finance and Budgeting Manager Michelle Collupy presented before the commissioners regarding a signature of approval for the “Business Process Automation Agreement with Freedoc.” According to the packet, Freedoc “is a company associated with Laserfiche that digitally scans and stores documents for ease of access for companies that have the need for diminishing the amount of paper documents.” The amount for the automation is $10,778, which “includes the configuration of the custom metadata fields, training, and increase of $5,000 in the annual fees.” Wahkiakum County Clerk Beth Johnson said, “We use a different program that’s outdated and just had a significant annual price increase, so we would really love to have this product as well. It would simplify things. Just a one-software product versus the two we currently have.” With the portion of Tuesday’s meeting being just for the approval of the Freedoc agreement, the commissioners unanimously approved the amount of $10,778 for the Business Process Automation.