Hazardous waste, MARS report

GOLDENDALE — At Klickitat County Commissioners’ June 9 morning workshop, Public Works Director Jeff Hunter told commissioners that businesses designated small quantity generators of hazardous waste will no longer have disposal costs covered by a grant from the Washington’s Department of Ecology.

“They said, ‘We’re not paying for the businesses anymore,’” Hunter explained. “They’re still paying for the household stuff, but if we don’t take the businesses out, they pay for nothing. We had three choices. One, not provide any place for them, which I don’t feel is a very good option. Option two is the county picks up the cost, which I don’t think is fair either to the rest of the taxpayers, or, three, we let them pay the actual charges.”

And Senior Services Director Sharon Carter told commissioners someone had siphoned about a quarter tank of gas from one of the buses parked at the Pioneer Center in White Salmon.

“That’s why we have usually tried to get locking gas caps on,” she said, “but with the newer buses, they’ve not been available right away. The other drawback potentially with locking gas caps is sometimes people will bypass and cut the fuel line, and then you’ve got a lot more expensive repair than if they’re siphoning gas.”

Herlihy thanked

The morning session was bookended with a pair of executive sessions — one to evaluate the performance of an employee and one to consult with legal counsel.

The formal afternoon session included thanks and best wishes to Doug Herlihy, the expert pilot who is leaving the county after 20 years.

“I just wanted to thank you for the support that you guys have given me and through flying for Sheriff Mays, Sheriff McComas and Sheriff Songer,” he said. “Not to be self-aggrandizing, but I did fly 1,471 hours for the county and my dear wife has paid me my dues to do that.”

Herlihy, a former National Transportation Advisory Board investigator and longtime expert witness in plane crash lawsuits, paid all his own expenses, donating his time for search and rescue, fire-spotting, finding illegal marijuana grows and the like. Sheriff Songer and others called him Air One and described his help as “invaluable.”

Mount Adams Resource Stewards

The main agenda item was a comprehensive presentation by Jay McLaughlin, Mount Adams Resource Stewards (MARS) executive director, who detailed his organization’s work in community-based forestry, wildfire mitigation through prescribed burning, and their role as a significant local employer.

“We’ve completed about six different acquisitions, McLaughlin said, “with our first back in 2011 and we own a little over 1,800 acres at this point in time.”

He also shared that MARS has grown over the years.

“For better or for worse, Mars is now the largest employer in Glenwood,” he said. “I think we’re at 38 or 39 right now, at what used to be the Bureau of Indian Affairs Ranger Station there in Glenwood.”    

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