During their Sept. 4 meeting, White Salmon’s City Council and Mayor Martha Keethler discussed the possibility of adding more stops to the year-round weekend bus service, facilitated by Columbia Area Transit (CAT), that will improve accessibility to Hood River and begin on June 1, 2025.
During their Sept. 4 meeting, White Salmon’s City Council and Mayor Martha Keethler discussed the possibility of adding more stops to the year-round weekend bus service, facilitated by Columbia Area Transit (CAT), that will improve accessibility to Hood River and begin on June 1, 2025.
WHITE SALMON — All five members of White Salmon’s City Council, along with Mayor Martha Keethler, convened for an expedient meeting on Sept. 4, during which they updated wages for city employees to better reflect cost of living increases, and approved funding to bring year-round weekend bus services to Hood River beginning on June 1, 2025.
Under the existing agreement with Columbia Area Transit (CAT), the summer-only weekend bus service expired last Sunday. Ensuring bus transit until June 30, 2027, will cost a total of $193,000, with White Salmon providing just under $7,400, the City of Bingen just over $2,200 and a grant covering the rest.
Like this summer, buses will come to White Salmon and Bingen six times a day, but councilors debated amending the terms with CAT to provide additional bus stops, particularly at the Hood River Aquatic Center.
“It’s the number one spot that I’ve heard that people would like to get to directly from our community,” said Councilor Patty Fink. “If we want transit service, we have to advocate for it.”
“I had a conversation with the CAT executive director, and they’re focused on the grant as written,” said Mayor Keethler. “They really are trying to focus these main connection points to then have people access the larger network that already exists.” Keethler also noted the City of White Salmon did not conduct a formal process to determine which additional stops the community would prioritize.
In 4-0 vote, with Fink abstaining, city council moved forward on their original agreement with CAT.
Each year, the council revises wages for city employees to account for increased cost of living based on data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI), a measure of the average change in prices for basic goods and services paid by consumers. Councilors unanimously passed a resolution providing a 4.0% raise instead of a 3.5% raise, which more accurately reflects the CPI.
Just three community members offered their thoughts during last week’s public comment period, and all pertained to the proposed viewshed ordinance, designed to protect public views from Rheingarten Park by limiting the height of 6 properties along NW Lincoln Street and N Main Avenue to 681 feet above sea level. The White Salmon Planning Commission will host another public hearing on the viewshed ordinance at their next meeting on Sept. 11.
Mayor Keethler began the meeting with several updates, noting that many community members have complained about the city’s new online permit application center and about the cost of water. Furthermore, Keethler reported the shelters for White Salmon and Bingen’s six bus stops will be coming soon, and that the White Salmon Fire Department celebrated its 100th anniversary last Saturday. Clerk Treasurer Stephanie Porter also said the city has drafted amendments to its water leak grievance policy, a hot topic at city council’s last meeting.
This Monday, Keethler traveled to Washington, D.C., and participated in discussions about the Hood River-White Salmon bridge replacement. Returning to their normal bi-weekly schedule, city council’s next meeting is on Sept. 18.
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