GOLDENDALE —Klickitat County Commissioners received word from Lobbyist Zak Kennedy that things could get even worse for Washington state finances at their April 22 meeting. He said the state’s attorney general was suing Adams County for cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by checking information about prisoners in their jail against a federal list and notifying them of the results.
“The Federal Department of Justice just came out backing Adams County in this little tiff here in Washington State,” he said. “I’m bringing this up, because it really, really seems like the actual federal government may consider pulling Washington State’s and any funding grants, matching funds, things like that, which would take things into a bigger death spiral.”
Department of Corrections Chief Bill Frantz reported that he had previously been short two employees, but now he’s lost a third to a year in the military. When Chair Ron Ihrig said that meant he’s lost a shift, Frantz outlined how tough the situation was.
“What that means,” he said, “is that our officers are working a lot of overtime. They’re still not calling in sick unless they’re very sick. They know their colleagues want days off. They know they have family plans. And so, if they call in sick, the shift goes vacant, which isn’t an option. You can’t have one person in a jail and take people to court. You can’t have one person in a jail and do emergency transports. Yesterday I had to transport to Spokane and back. And we have another one scheduled this week.”
Frantz said he would advertise for casual workers, though he needs full-time people, with the hope he could persuade some casual workers to stay.
Bob Songer, Klickitat County sheriff
Sheriff Bob Songer repeated his message from his last appearance before the commissioners that he was releasing a copy of the investigative report on the suicide death of Ivan Howtopat in the Klickitat County Jail, conducted by the Skamania County Sheriff’s office. The nine-page report of the investigation, he said, completely cleared his office from any wrongdoing in that death. The report itself did not assign any blame or specifically state there was no wrongdoing. What it did say in response to “Changes requested” was a terse “None.”
The sheriff also repeated his supplemental budget request for $382,020 transferred to the new jail budget.
“Please return the defunded money,” he said, “so I can hire the three vacant deputy positions. These are not additional positions; if I am able to fill the three vacant deputy positions, it will bring us back to our manpower level of 2023 and 2024.” He added that even if it returned to that level, the sheriff’s office would still be understaffed. “By defunding the sheriff’s office, you’re risking the deputies lives, and the citizens’ lives out there, because we’re shorthanded and we’re going to get some deputy killed or hurt. This is nonsense.”
County officials say the only funds transferred directly from the sheriff’s budget to the new jail budget was the salary of the jail administrator, approximately $135,000, which, prior to the transfer of the jail, funded Jail Administrator Loren Culp.
And Songer confirmed at his meeting with the commission last month that he had funding for 14 deputies and three sergeants. That is the amount of manpower he had in 2023 and 2024, confirming he does have the funds to hire those three positions.
Where, then, does he get the figure of $382,020 and why is he calling it a defunding?
Songer had asked for the 2025 budget to fund two new deputies, above and beyond the 14 deputies and three sergeants, which commissioners said they couldn’t do, due to the massive budget shortfall; and Songer confirmed at that time that he still had two positions open that he had not been able to fill.
At the same time, commissioners appropriated $200,000 to defray transition costs in shifting control to a Department of Corrections.
The 2025 budget had moved $135,000 directly from the sheriff’s budget to the jail budget, but it took with it the responsibility for funding the jail administrator position. The sheriff seems to be considering that the commissioners “defunded” his department by choosing to fund jail transition rather than two new deputies.
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