GOLDENDALE — One advantage of the new workshop-in-the-morning format for Klickitat County Board of Commissioner meetings is the chance for all attendees to hear a report from Zak Kennedy, a lobbyist representing a number of rural counties, port districts and agricultural interests. One of his items at yesterday’s meeting was about a bill that has unintended consequences.
“The sneaky one here is 5635,” he said. “This was specifically tailored towards septic systems causing an algae bloom on Newman Lake. The problem is it catches every single lake around. And the question that we’ve asked is, if there’s a small community septic treatment or sewage system that services everybody at the end of a lake, does that still count here, and what does that look like? What burden does it put on our small sewer districts?”
Kennedy also reported on Senate Bill 5098. “It’s talking about expanding gun-free zones to anywhere where children may be present or playing,” he said. “The problem is they’re not real specific about that, but they do give a list that they say is non-exhaustive. So they say parks, they say fairgrounds, public areas. I mean, you can extrapolate that out a really long way, even to maybe a public street.”
He did say that a Republican senator was able to attach an amendment that exempts all concealed-carry permit holders, a carve-out that could negate the effect of the ban.
In another report, Jail Administrator Bill Frantz told commissioners about a massive price hike in the cost of prisoner meals.
“In December, Aramark increased our meal cost from $2.95 to $7.25,” he said. “That’s a 246% increase. Our average population in 2023 was 33 per day. We do three meals a day. That’s roughly 36,135 meals. At $7.25, it’s a $261,980 bill. I budgeted for $165,000, which would have been appropriate if we didn’t have that 246% increase from Aramark.”
In response, Frantz is preparing a request for food service to be made at the jail or delivered to the jail. If your business can provide 100 meals a day, every day, to the jail in Goldendale, Frantz would like to hear from you.
He also said that the jail needs some sort of in-cell monitoring. Rather than cameras, which tie down personnel to watch them, he suggested sensors from a company called Reassurance Solutions.
“It detects lack of movement,” Frantz said. “If we put a person in a cell and there’s no movement for a period of time, it’ll alert an officer. It also assesses respiration and heart rate. We can set those thresholds with our medical provider. If they exceed or go below that threshold, the web-based technology alerts our staff in the booth that this is happening.
“Imagine one officer is in court, one officer is doing a booking, and we have a person detoxing in a high-risk or need cell. If their heart rate drops below a specific number, it’ll alert us to go check on them.”
The jail would need seven monitors, one for each of the three acute needs cells and four for transition cells, two male and two female. Such a system, he said, could be installed for $44,000. After speaking to the county’s risk management pool, Frantz reported it’s willing to provide $25,000, bringing the out-of-pocket cost to the county down to $19,000
By doing so, the risk pool is reducing its own risk, hoping it’ll never again have to pay out a claim like the $2 million settlement in the death of Ivan Howtopat last year.
It would also satisfy the first non-monetary item required in the agreement that settled the case: “Klickitat County will commit to developing policies and procedures in accordance with applicable standards for (1) screening and monitoring inmates for behavioral and medical health risks; (2) screening and monitoring inmates for opioid withdrawal; and (3) suicide detection and prevention.”
Of note in the afternoon session, bidding opened for the second phase of development at the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport, which is jointly owned by Klickitat County and the City of The Dalles. The six bids ranged from a high of $3,358,870.83 to the apparent low bid of $2,270,426.05 from Crestline Construction in The Dalles.
Under the consent agenda, commissioners approved:
• A master service agreement with Right Systems Inc.
• A Washington State Department of Commerce form coordinating with the State’s Associate Development Organization for Klickitat County.
• A reappointment to the Klickitat County Veterans’ Advisory Board.
• An update to the existing Memorandum of Understanding with the Washington State On-site Sewage Association to add testing for pumpers/technicians and level 2 installers.
• Advertising to fill a vacant administrative assistant position for the Senior Services Department in White Salmon.
• An agreement with the Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities of Southwest Washington to provide resource services through 2025.
• An agreement with the Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities of Southwest Washington to provide its Tailored Support for Older Adults service through 2025.
• A Washington State Association of Counties Energy Audit Grant Agreement.
• An interlocal agreement with the City of Bingen.
• A supplemental agreement with GN Northern, Inc. for on-call geotechnical engineering services.
• A request for a temporary credit card limit increase.
• An ordinance amending Klickitat County Code Title 21, in relation to flood damage prevention.
• A resolution appointing a commissioner to collaborate with Republic Services.
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