GOLDENDALE — Two controversial items on the Klickitat County Commissioner’s agenda May 7 were postponed to later dates by unanimous vote. Commissioner Dan Christopher, who had been away the previous two meetings, cast his vote by zoom. He apologized, saying he was “sicker than a dog,” and he often had to mute his microphone due to coughing.
Not surprisingly, one of those items concerned the county jail and a request to spend $26,538.46 for seven electronic bracelets, described by San-Francisco-based vendor 4Sight Labs, Inc., as “a combination of ruggedized biosensors, mobile apps, control dashboards, analytics reports and cloud services that continuously monitors people from the moment of their arrest, through transport, processing and detention.” The system, dubbed “Overwatch,” tracks the subject’s heart rate, oxygen level, and temperature in real time “for safety alerts and quick intervention.”
The item was originally scheduled as one of the 11 items on the consent agenda, but at the request of Commissioner Jake Anderson, it was pulled from the automatic approval at the beginning of the meeting and rescheduled for the afternoon session. Anderson questioned whether the county should be spending money on something new for the jail when its future is undecided.
Chair Lori Zoller reported that the IT department had concluded their systems would not run these bracelets and it would take “quite a heavy lift and new equipment to set something up.”
Christopher said that the state risk pool had already approved the use of such devices for multiple counties, and that if the county turns down the matter once it’s brought to their attention, it could risk additional liability. “I think it would save lives,” he said.
“Even if the board was planning on defuncting the jail in three months, I think, for risk of litigation, it would behoove us to have them in place for three months,” he added. “Whether we could transfer them off to NORCOR is a different story.”
But he also had some questions about the bracelet’s function, wondering if they have to be charged, and if that meant that only half of them could be deployed at a time.
All three agreed that they would postpone a vote until the May 15 meeting, expecting to hear both from the vendor, and further information from the IT department.
Most controversial was a request for a franchise agreement from Carriger Solar, LLC. That’s the same company that has plans to build a large solar farm in the county. The county previously enacted a moratorium on solar farms larger than one acre, much smaller than the Carriger proposal. That did not deter the company from applying for a 50-year franchise agreement to set up a collector system, i.e. power poles and lines, in the county-owned right-of-way along a one-mile stretch of Knight Road.
The public hearing on the request drew a number of people, most of whom opposed the agreement, saying that it would give the company “a foot in the door” to advance its cause.
The county does not charge franchise fees, prompting others to wonder why, with a budget crisis looming, the county didn’t take advantage of this revenue option.
In the discussion, it was revealed that the company could apply for a permit without entering a franchise agreement.
Public Works Director Jeff Hunter said that these agreements protect the county, because they require, if the road needs to be changed, that the company move the poles at their own expense.
In response to the revenue question, he said that King County had won a Supreme Court case allowing them to charge franchise fees to both public and private companies: “That means you can charge the PUD, you can charge water companies, internet service, and anybody else that’s in our right of way.”
He cautioned commissioners that all those charges would likely be passed on to consumers. He also said he had sent a seven-question document to the prosecuting attorney’s office for review.
Commissioners voted to postpone the issue for two months to gather more information, particularly from the prosecuting attorney.
In other business, they moved to allow new lower speed limits. On McGowan Road it would be 30 mph, with 25 mph for North Murray, Major Creek Road, Popular Street and Vineyard Road.
The county had received a grant to strengthen protections for ballot drop boxes and make them ADA accessible. She said the new location for the Goldendale box will be in the well-lighted parking lot behind the courthouse, in view of a camera. Voters will be able to drive right up and drop the ballot into the box without having to get out of the car.
Hunter told the commissioners, “Be sure to do an article in the paper so everybody knows that box is moved.”
Other potential good news came from Emergency Services Director Jeff King, who noted the president had signed a disaster declaration April 29 for the January storm that caused so much damage in Washington State. The bill specifies the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and 16 counties, including Klickitat and Skamania, can apply for FEMA aid.
King said he hoped that meant the recovery of much of the $570,000 cost to the county and $300,000 for Klickitat PUD.
Items approved in the consent agenda included:
• Memorandum on a public meeting May 14 at 1 p.m. in the commissioner’s meeting room on the Bingen Point Business Park Shoreline Development Permit and Shoreline Conditional Use Permit.
• Notice of a public hearing on a Dallesport sewer rate increase to be held May 21 at 1 p.m. in the commissioner’s meeting room.
• Resolution establishing a burn ban on Zone 1 in Klickitat County starting May 20.
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