Vacancy opens on White Salmon’s City Council

Planning to move out of the Gorge soon, Ransier resigned from his position, effective May 1. He served on the CityLab Board, the Community Development Committee and oversaw the Heritage Month program, stamping his tenure with two final presentations on Arab American culture and mental health awareness.

“I really appreciate your thoughtful approach to decision-making and the issues you’ve been willing to take on — it seems like you’ve taken on the hardest issues,” said Councilor David Lindley. “I don’t know how many times [your Heritage Month presentations] challenged my assumptions, made me think about something more or stirred emotions.”

Mayor Marla Keethler and the other councilors echoed Lindley’s sentiments, and the city is accepting applications to fill Ransier’s vacancy. To learn more about eligibility requirements and how to apply, visit www.whitesalmon.gov and click on the news section, or find the announcement on the VoyentAlert! app.

Ransier’s term runs through this calendar year, and council plans to fill position four during a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday, April 30 in the White Salmon Fire Hall. Council also hopes to take action on the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan, which Ransier and the CityLab Board heavily contributed to, during that meeting.

The lone business item was an agreement with Partners of Rural Washington (PRWA) to become part of a pilot program along with the City of Bingen, an opportunity given to only six communities statewide. The program revolves around rural development, and PWRA will provide no-cost technical assistance, such as accessing state money, for the duration of a shared project. Council unanimously passed the agreement, as did Bingen’s City Council a day prior.

In the consent agenda, council approved a contract extension for Interim City Administrator Paul Koch through the end of July, and another contract for Rowan Fairfield, White Salmon’s new city planner, who will start on May 1.

As the Washington State Auditor’s office identified deficiencies in the city’s internal financial reporting for fiscal year 2023, which the agenda packet said “stemmed from gaps in technical capacity and the complexity of evolving reporting requirements,” council also authorized services with an outside accounting firm in the consent agenda.

“This would be the extra support needed to ensure that the city is doing all that we possibly can to not have those audit findings while we are securing and other avenues of revenue for infrastructure projects,” said Jennifer Neil, the city’s new director of finance and operations.

At the top of the meeting, Mike Shannon, director of the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Replacement Project, updated council on funding and next steps for the new bridge, which you can read about on Columbia Gorge News’ website. There was just one public comment voicing opposition to council’s March 5 decision to rescind an amendment that would’ve loosened off-street requirements for residents constructing accessory dwelling units.

Lastly, in her report to council, Keethler noted the city is working to schedule a final open house for the White Salmon Bluff Connector Trail, which does not have construction funding secured, and is still waiting to hear from Columbia Area Transit on whether its weekend service will be available this summer depending on grant funding.

The city is also hosting a wildfire preparedness meeting for community members on Monday, May 5 from 6-8 p.m. in the White Salmon Fire Hall.