‘Flood’ of record requests

GOLDENDALE — During the morning workshop session of the Klickitat County Commission’s Jan. 20 meeting, Public Works Director Jeff Hunter added a concern to his regular update.

“We are getting a flood of public records requests,” he said. “A lot of them are the same we got six months ago. Somebody thinks it’s just fun to penalize us.”

He said that the requests were so numerous that he had to assign one full-time staff member to deal with them. “Legitimate ones are fine,” he said. “We don’t have any problem with that.”

But Hunter added that he believed one individual was doing it to circumvent making title reports and another out of spite. Members of the Rajneesh commune used a similar tactic to harass Wasco County in the early 1980s.

Community Development?

County Administrator Robb Van Cleave said staff was considering “Community Development’ as the title  for the new department he created. The move combined the Planning, Building, Economic Development and Code Compliance departments under Planning Director Scott Edelman.

“Scott’s already got the team lined up and everybody’s working hard,” he said. “There is a lot going on, and we’re right in the middle of a bunch of it.”

Edelman told commissioners that the next phase of the comprehensive plan update would focus on empowering local communities to define their own “character areas,” “place types,” and vision, using a workbook approach to ensure consistency while respecting local uniqueness.

Afternoon session

In the formal afternoon session, commissioners agreed to raise some fees for the health department, which hadn’t been increased since 2014.

Public Health Director Erinn Quinn said inflation in those dozen years had risen 37%. She also noted increased state requirements. “Something that maybe took 10 minutes five years ago is now taking 20 minutes,” she said. “There’s more paperwork, more overhead.”

She said the increases were needed to make the department self-sustaining. They don’t take place until March 1 this year.

During public comment period, Dr. Vern Harpole reported that his nonprofit group had received a grant to install electric vehicle charging stations in the heart of downtown Lyle.

“When we got our first bill from Klickitat PUD, it was  $2,000 for $50 worth of electricity,” he said.

He said that plugging in an electric vehicle generates a demand charge, as if it were a large pump or motor, but the subsequent charge is minor. 

“The DC fast chargers, they want to open up the pipeline,” he said, “but then they just use a little trickle.”