GOLDENDALE — “This must be Dallesport Day,” said Klickitat County Commissioner Chair Lori Zoller at the May 21 meeting. as seven of the 11 people who commented were from the Dallesport/Murdock area.
Their concerns centered around their local wastewater treatment plant, which they say hasn’t been operating as it should. Several people said Klickitat PUD, which has been in charge of operating the county-owned plant for a number of years, has fallen behind on maintenance, does not keep a staff person on site and has been reactive to problems rather than proactive to prevent them.
In response several years ago, local citizens formed the Dallesport Community Deliberative Assembly (DCDA). At the May 21 meeting, Leo Walton, representing the DCDA, cited a 2022 BOCC workshop held at the Dallesport Community Center to discuss plans when the bonds that built the treatment plant were paid off.
“The commissioners at that time,” he said, “Dave Sauter, Jacob Anderson and Dan Christopher, each stated that the county was in a financial quandary, and the only option the county had to minimize the issue, was to turn over the ownership of the facilities to Klickitat PUD.”
The group is opposed to that transfer, and Walton said the DCDA accumulated a list of 17 reference documents, totaling approximately 12,000 pages. The committee also produced a 46-page written report to accompany a PowerPoint presentation, and Walton presented a copy to the commissioners.
Anthony Rizzi of Dallesport/Murdock said that the day’s agenda included a supplemental budget that which featured a $500,000 new expenditure to fix problems at the plant. He said he knew the county did not want to keep ownership of the facility, but that Klickitat PUD wouldn’t accept title until the current problems were fixed.
“They’ve been the one maintaining it,” he said, “and they have been doing a very bad job of it. That’s why it’s in such bad disrepair that it needs a half a million dollars to fix it.”
At a scheduled Dallesport sewer rate increase hearing later that morning, the actual amount needed was revealed as $2 million.
Robert Brown, a member of DCDA, said in late November or early December commissioners voted to open up the Operations and Maintenance contract for the treatment plant. Dallesport has a water district that would like to add the treatment plant so that control would be in local hands.
“The BOCC instructed the public works director to create a requirement for a proposal document so the bidding process could proceed,” he said. “It was expected to be completed by the end of first quarter of 2024. It is now well into second quarter 2024. To my knowledge, this document currently does not exist, so the bidding process has not been established. Has the BOCC voted to delay or cancel the bidding process, and I am just unaware? Or is the public works director defying the BOCC?”
His concern was heightened, he said, with news that one of KPUD’s most experienced treatment plant operators had just retired. The utility was already stretched thin, he said, with only a crew of a half-dozen people to cover more than a dozen facilities.
All were concerned about a hearing to increase Dallesport sewer rates scheduled for later that day, noting that last year the increase had been 25%.
In replying to public comment, Anderson noted that the county did not want to be responsible for owning the treatment plant and would indeed have to invest the money to bring its equipment up to current standards.
“I think there’s a little bit of feeling that the work that’s going to happen at the treatment plant is devious and we’re cleaning up something that’s behind,” he said. “But I believe that the facility has been operating as it should because you guys can flush your toilets.”
He said that in addition to weekly, monthly and annual scheduled maintenance, in time comes heavy maintenance, as parts and machines reach the end of their useful life.
“The community has been paying rates lower than the average rates anywhere else,” he said. “You all, technically, should have had higher rates for the last 20 years so that we could save money for these heavy maintenance projects that are upcoming.”
Klickitat County taxpayers and revenue from the landfill have been subsidizing the Dallesport wastewater system for the last 20 years, he said, and previous boards had sized the wastewater treatment plant to meet the needs of a growing community. Unfortunately, the community did not grow at the pace anticipated.
At the public hearing, commissioners voted to raise rates 5% starting June 1. Public Works Director Jeff Hunter said, “This is not bad maintenance. It’s replacing worn out stuff that’s past its life.”
The new monthly sewer rate for Dallesport will be $64.22 a month.
In other actions in the morning session, commissioners approved the consent agenda, which included:
• A resolution awarding Historical Grant Preservation Funds: $1,207 to the Alder Creek Pioneer Association and $1,000 each to the Twin Bridges Historical Museum and the West Klickitat Historical Society.
• Notice of Public Hearing from Public Works on June 4 at 1:30 p.m. in the Commissioners Meeting Room to revise and extend the Klickitat County Six Year Transportation improvement Program for 2023-2028.
• A resolution temporarily closing Sundale Road County Road from May 28 through Aug. 30 from Mile Post 0.00 to Mile Post 3.54.
Commissioners traveled to Stevenson in the afternoon for a work session with the Skamania County Commission.
Following separate morning sessions, Klickitat County and Skamania County Commissioners met in a joint afternoon session on May 21. Skamania County hosted the meeting from the courthouse in Stevenson.
No decisions or actions were taken as a result of the meeting, other than to meet again in a couple of months. Topics of discussion included the new state law requiring all counties to have a separate coroner’s office by Jan. 1, the Columbia River Gorge Commission, Washington State’s listing of the Western Grey Squirrel as endangered, the carbon tax, accounting software and fire risk maps.
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