GOLDENDALE — During an update on the county jail at the Klickitat County Commissioners meeting last week, Administrator Bill Frantz shared an example of one of the problems faced by the staff when an inmate comes in with prescriptions:
“They had over five prescriptions in one bottle,” he said. “[Staff] had to separate out each [different] looking pill, identify those pills, reach out to the pharmacy and the medical records to be sure they have prescriptions for them, get permission from our PA (physician’s assistant) to issue those pills. That was over an hour and a half. Then we have to verify when they leave, they actually have the same pills. We have to count them again.”
The good news, he said, was that one of his staff had researched online and found a machine that will count the pills quickly for them, and had reached out to the county’s insurance pool, which said it would pay $5,000 of the $6,500 cost.
In the afternoon session, the county prepared the way to dissolve the Klickitat County Public Corporation. It was originally established in the 1980s as a way to promote economic development. It sold revenue bonds to help fund projects like Rabanco’s landfill, an upgrade at the former aluminum smelter and the Mercer Ranch. Commissioner Lori Zoller reported that as of Jan. 31, the fund contained $121,144.68 and had earned $12.15 interest for the whole year of 2024.
“It looks like the last real business of the public corporation appears to have been in 2018,” said Auditor Heather Jobe. “It paid for some economic development travel, letting a commissioner travel to some solid waste meetings. It hasn’t really done anything since 2018. I am of the opinion that it’s redundant in terms of KCPEDA [Klickitat County Public Economic Development Authority] and the economic development department.”
Commissioners were ready to vote dissolution on the spot, but staff suggested it would be better to prepare a formal dissolution ordinance for approval on March 18.
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