GOLDENDALE — It didn’t take long for the new Klickitat County Commissioners to make a sweeping change. The Jan. 7 meeting was the first of the year, and the first for a new lineup that saw Todd Andrews and Ron Ihrig take the place of Dan Christopher and Jake Anderson. Last year’s chair Lori Zoller took the gavel only long enough to supervise election for chair and vice chair. Ron Ihrig picked up the gavel, and Todd Andrews became vice chair.
Ihrig, who served as a commissioner more than 20 years ago, wanted to change the meeting schedule to a pattern he was familiar with from that previous service. After some discussion, Andrews made the motion:
“I’d like to make a motion,” he said, “to change Tuesday’s start time to 9:30, and that is for workshops, and that will currently continue to be up here, and Zoomed. And for us to start having meetings every Thursday downstairs in the Mt. Adams room, starting at 9:30 for workshops that will not be Zoomed.”
Commissioners emphasized that no votes could be taken, nor any decisions made in the workshop sessions. They are open to the public, though there will be no public comment. Decisions and public comments would be reserved for the working meetings, on Tuesday afternoons.
With two new commissioners on board, meeting twice a week every week could be helpful getting them up to speed, but not hosting Thursday meetings on Zoom is a departure from 2024, when workshop sessions were broadcast.
The schedule change starts immediately, though the very first Thursday workshop on Jan. 9 was scheduled to be available on Zoom.
Planning department gives update
Planning Director Scott Edelman discussed with commissioners how to proceed with appointing volunteers to a County Solar and BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) Ordinance Project Advisory Committee, and to fill positions on the county planning commission.
Applications for the advisory committee can be found on the county website.
Edelman also reported on the Monroe-Wilson rezone in the Snowden area, which drew what he called “quite a bit” of local opposition. He said opponents had not appealed the decision locally, but had taken it to the state’s Growth Management Services agency. But the agency referred it to the county, where it was denied, because Klickitat is not a growth management county.
The Growth Management Act of 1990 requires counties of more than 50,000 population to follow their requirements, which include fully planning for the whole county and designating urban growth areas. Counties under 50,000 were allowed to opt in, and 10 of them did so. Klickitat and Skamania counties are among the 11 counties that did not, and are only required to plan for critical areas and natural resource lands.
He also noted a public hearing Jan. 21 on a floodplain ordinance update required by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, on pain of losing flood insurance for the whole county.
He said the goal was to wrap up the process in a single meeting ahead of a Feb. 14 deadline.
“There should be nothing controversial,” he said. “It’s adopting the required new ordinance here’s nothing we can really do about any of it.”
The new ordinance sets up a “no net loss” requirement. Any construction in a floodplain area would have to be offset by excavating elsewhere to create an equal amount of floodplain.
That night will also feature the first hearing on changes to the critical areas ordinance.
He also told commissioners that the department had received state grants to update the county’s comprehensive plan and to do ordinances for solar and battery energy storage systems.
Though he said funding to create a solar ordinance came from a pro solar funding source, Edelman said, “When we applied, I was very careful to indicate that we’re not just trying to promote solar. What we’re trying to do is streamline those kind of applications where they are appropriately located and sited within the community and meet the standards that we’re proposing.”
He told commissioners the Energy Facilities Siting Council (EFSC) can “walk all over” the current restrictions fairly easily by saying there’s not enough background to explain the prohibitions.
But if the county adopts certain standards, EFSC would have to address them in their review, lengthening the process and encouraging applicants to apply through the county instead, which gives the county more local control.
Other department reports
County Jail Superintendent Bill Frantz gave a short report in which he said the transition from the sheriff’s office had gone smoothly, with only a few minor hiccups, primarily uniforms and patches. He also supplied some statistics.
“We had 504 bookings in 2024 in the jail,” he said. “There were 396 different individuals, so some people were booked more than once.” He gave the average daily population for the year as 34.
Economic Development Specialist and Natural Resources Project Coordinator Keaton Curtice reported on a number of areas, including an update on the 55 cabins at Northwestern Lake — which stopped being a lake when Condit Dam was removed in 2011.
Public Works Director Jeff Hunter reported that Bingen and White Salmon got a $450,000 in grants to pay the county to make street repairs.
“In Bingen, we’re doing Humboldt Street, grinding and repaving,” he said, “and Franklin Street we’re repairing and repaving. In White Salmon we’re doing Dock Grade. We are going to crack seal it, patch it, chip seal it, and then fog seal it.”
In addition to department reports, commissioners spent some time assigning committee memberships and liaison responsibilities.
Consent agenda
Under the consent agenda, commissioners approved:
• A contract with Chris De Villeneuve for expertise and technical guidance on behavioral health services and designated crisis responder services.
• A resolution appointing Commissioner Ron Ihrig to the Klickitat County Public Corporation, effective Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2028.
• A resolution appointing Andrews to the Klickitat County Public Corporation, effective Jan. 1, 2025, through Dec. 31, 2028.
• An amendment to resolution No. 10824 certifying tax levies for Fort Vancouver Regional Library Levy Certification.
• A memorandum of understanding with Mt. Adams Institute to provide $10,000 for grant writing services provided through the Washington State Department of Commerce.
• A memorandum of understanding with Mid-Columbia Economic Development District to provide $21,868 for grant writing services provided through the Washington State Department of Commerce.
• A request from Klickitat County Sheriffs office for a one-time credit card limit increase from $2,000-$6,000 for repair expenses of the OSPREY. State of Washington Boating program will be reimbursing KCSO $4,000.
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