WHITE SALMON — With no business items on its March 19 agenda, White Salmon’s City Council met briefly last week to hear updates from department heads and fellow councilors, along with a few presentations.
Mayor Marla Keethler formally introduced Jennifer Neal, the city’s new finance director, to council. Then, Chief Mike Hepner of the Bingen-White Salmon Police Department gave Officer Will Sauter a Life Saving Award for preventing a fatal fentanyl overdose in February. Prior to the meeting, however, council held a workshop to address the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Plan.
“It was my idea to call for a workshop, mainly as, hopefully, a reset,” said Councilor David Lindley. “It seemed like we had entered a bit of unproductive dialogue and an impasse.”
As previously reported by Columbia Gorge News, council deliberated on the plan, which offers several priority recommendations to guide White Salmon toward net-zero emissions by 2050, during its Jan. 5 and Feb. 5 meetings. At both, the core issue was whether to remove the future recommendations (formerly called the strategic focus areas), a section that undergirds the priority recommendations and offers many other climate solutions related to facilities and buildings, transportation, energy independence and resilience, water and governance.
“The discussion forms around whether one council can predetermine what another council does, and if you look at it in reality, we do this all the time,” said Interim City Administrator Paul Koch. “You adopt a master plan, you adopt a strategic plan, and future councils may accept that, or they can change it.”
The city attorney had previously argued the opposite — that the future recommendations are essentially a mandate for following councils — and should be included as an appendix to avoid possible liability if not achieved. Keethler, who was absent from the workshop along with Councilor Jason Hartmann, further noted the city simply doesn’t have the capacity to pursue each action during the Jan. 5 meeting.
Formerly at a stalemate, Councilors Lindley, Patty Fink, Ben Giant and Jim Ransier all agreed to incorporate the future recommendations into the broader plan, which is a visionary document rather than a prescriptive one, written by the CityLab Board.
“I firmly believe there is nothing binding about a recommendation,” said Lindley. “The definition is a suggestion or a proposal as to the best course of action. I don’t hear anything tying hands there.”
Council also reintroduced specific priority recommendations that had been removed and tweaked the language of others, including:
• A suggestion to review opportunities for energy efficiency and resilience at the Well No. 1 Booster Station, the city’s largest electricity user.
• Broadening the city’s grant-seeking efforts to encapsulate the resources necessary to reduce emissions.
• Net-zero/near-net-zero building standards for all new city-owned and residential structures, along with electric vehicle charging-ready infrastructure. Green building certifications, such as LEED or Energy Star, are not essential.
• Exploring an energy audit program so residents can assess the efficiency of their homes.
With its April 2 meeting canceled, council plans to formally take action on the emissions reduction plan during its April 19 meeting, which begins at 6 p.m. in the White Salmon Fire Hall.
In other matters of note, Keethler announced the city is closing in on a candidate for planning director, and that Carl Trabant is now heading White Salmon’s Planning Commission, with Erika Price as the vice chair, both of whom are currently serving. White Salmon is also hosting its city-wide garage sale from April 11-13.
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