Pictured, from left to right, is the 1A state champs Columbia High School Knowledge Bowl team: Kristina Barkhimer, Travis Rodgers, Milo Hoppus, Anders Daly, Garrett Kock, Jack Cieloha and Advisor Omar Sankari. Mayor Marla Keether designated May 9, 2025, in the team’s honor during a recent city council meeting. Nathan Wilson photo
Pictured, from left to right, is the 1A state champs Columbia High School Knowledge Bowl team: Kristina Barkhimer, Travis Rodgers, Milo Hoppus, Anders Daly, Garrett Kock, Jack Cieloha and Advisor Omar Sankari. Mayor Marla Keether designated May 9, 2025, in the team’s honor during a recent city council meeting. Nathan Wilson photo
WHITE SALMON — In the main order of business, White Salmon’s City Council chose a new seatmate during its May 7 regular meeting and also delayed signing off on a franchise agreement with NW Natural, the city’s natural gas provider.
Moving out of the Gorge soon, former Councilor Jim Ransier stepped down from his position in April, and four residents applied to temporarily fill his post, which ends later this year: Kate Bennet, Jill Catherine, Morella Mora and Doug Rainbolt. Mayor Marla Keethler asked each candidate the same six questions during separate, 15-minute interviews, then council stepped out into executive session to privately deliberate on their answers and qualifications.
Morella Mora, White Salmon City Council position 4
With Councilor Jason Hartmann absent, they unanimously selected Morella Mora to serve.
“Although I’ve never put my hat in for something like this, I do believe that I can give representation and voice to certain community members that have for a long time been underrepresented,” said Mora during her interview.
A first-generation immigrant from Venezuela, Mora runs her own consulting company, providing leadership coaching, mediation and crisis management services throughout the Gorge. She also works as a community organizer and program director at Comunidades, an organization seeking to improve Latino civic engagement in the pursuit of environmental and social justice. In that position, she’s learned how to build coalitions, listen to community concerns and developed a pulse for issues the local Latino population finds pressing.
“It’s really a pipeline for what the community needs and what the community desires,” Mora said of city council’s role. “We would have the function of translating that into actionable initiatives and bringing whatever information we could to the table, and being as collaborative as we could.”
Mora identified affordable housing as the city’s most dire problem, relaying her experience of moving five times over her last two years in White Salmon. She sees many other working-class folks struggling with the same issue and understands the disruptiveness of housing instability.
“It’s very encouraging to see four people step forward, very qualified individuals. I’m sitting here tonight having been run twice but never have endured what you just did in a public forum and being drilled with questions,” said Councilor David Lindley, a sentiment shared by Keethler and the other councilors.
Mora’s first meeting in position 4 will take place at 6 p.m. on May 21 in the White Salmon Fire Hall.
Council then discussed a new franchise agreement with NW Natural, which would make the utility the city’s sole natural gas provider for the next 10 years. Prompted by a public comment, councilors questioned the term length, the negotiation process and how the proposed agreement compared to the existing one.
“The existing agreement doesn’t expire until both sides can agree on changes, so there’s no need for action,” said resident Eric Strid during public comment. “This is an attempt to block the city from changing anything in the agreement for the next 10 years, except that 10 years is also without expiration.”
Strid was referring to section 18 of the agreement, part of which states, “In the case of any conflict between the terms of this Franchise and the terms of the City’s ordinances, codes, regulations, standards, and procedures, this Franchise shall govern.”
Legal Counsel Kelly Hickok confirmed the agreement does expire after 10 years and said a shorter term was undesirable in the interest of stability for an essential service. City Attorney Shawn MacPherson, who negotiated the agreement, was not present at the meeting and councilors sought his input to make an informed decision. As a result, they unanimously decided to delay action on the agreement until the next meeting.
Lastly, as the meeting began, Keethler and council welcomed the Columbia High School (CHS) Knowledge Bowl team, who won the statewide academic contest in March, marking a first in school history. Keethler named May 9, 2025, as “CHS Knowledge Bowl Champions Day” in the City of White Salmon, honoring their efforts and a dramatic comeback in a high-stakes, tie-breaker round.
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