The Mt. Adams Park and Recreation District’s four remaining commissioners have elected to take their case for funding to the Klickitat County Board of Commissioners, in the aftermath of the district’s third levy defeat in six years. Picture was taken last year during a MAPARD meeting.
The Mt. Adams Park and Recreation District’s four remaining commissioners have elected to take their case for funding to the Klickitat County Board of Commissioners, in the aftermath of the district’s third levy defeat in six years. Picture was taken last year during a MAPARD meeting.
The Mt. Adams Park and Recreation District’s four remaining commissioners have elected to take their case for funding to the Klickitat County Board of Com-missioners, in the aftermath of the district’s third levy defeat in six years.
According to draft minutes of the MAPARD Board’s Nov. 22 meeting at Bingen City Hall, the commissioners agreed to an approach offered by Chairperson Laura Mann, of Bingen: a last-ditch appeal to the county to fund the district at the of $125,000 per year as discretionary spending “in support of community health and well-being.”
Commissioners Lloyd DeKay and Laurie Stanton, of White Salmon, and Vern Harpole, of Lyle, “agreed to first attempt [Mann’s] approach before year-end.”
The action plan approved by the MAPARD Board called for Mann and Stanton to schedule a meeting with County Board Chairman David Sauter (R-Lyle) “to discuss the possibility of the County providing funding to support MAPARD.”
Mann told The Enterprise on Tuesday that they met with Sauter informally recently to discuss how the county might fund MAPARD, how the district boundary might be reduced and focused on areas that have supported MAPARD historically, and, in general, to gauge his interest in making parks and recreation a county priority.
“Our point to [Sauter] was that parks and recreation is a service to county residents, and we’re asking the county commissioners to look at it that way,” Mann said.
MAPARD commissioners plan to make a formal funding presentation and appeal to the County Board in advance of the county’s Dec. 6 public hearing on its 2017 budget. The hearing is at 1:30 p.m.
“Based on the results of this approach, MAPARD Commissioners will reconvene before year-end to determine a follow-up course of action,” the Nov. 22 draft minutes read.
Mann said a meeting has been tentatively scheduled for 5 p.m. on Dec. 14 at Bingen City Hall.
Results of the 2016 General Election were certified on Nov. 29. MAPARD’s Proposition No. 1, a property tax levy to fund staff and programs, failed because it didn’t receive at least 60% Yes votes.
On Nov. 22, commissioners Stanton and DeKay also proposed actions for MAPARD.
Stanton proposed dissolving MAPARD, while DeKay proposed that the four commissioners, “(who are all appointed, not elected) simply resign, leaving the District as a legal entity for others to take up until Klickitat County Commissioners decide to dissolve the District and write-off the accumulated election debts of the District.”
The minutes note that if Mann’s “approach is unsuccessful, or if support is offered that is inadequate, Commissioners will consider [DeKay’s] proposal.”
In the final analysis, the MAPARD commissioners opted for Mann’s approach to pitch parks and recreation to the county as an essential public service.
Three weeks ago, DeKay responded to an e-mail request for comment on the apparent failure of the MAPARD levy. He said, “I’m personally not optimistic [about MAPARD’s future], but I’m willing to explore reasonable options that don’t involve ‘continued spinning of our wheels.’”
Stanton expressed a measure of optimism in an e-mail, whether MAPARD continues or not.
“Speaking solely for myself, I hope to continue to work on projects desperately needed in our community; focusing on after school and summer programs for kids, specifically STEM, sports, and environmental stewardship related activities,” Stanton said. “I'd like to work with established organizations to secure grant funding for a variety of activities and facilities. These MAPARD commissioners are ‘doers,’ and we all will continue working hard within our communities one way or the other, I am certain.
Stanton added, ”The past three years that I've been involved with MAPARD have been the most meaningful, exhausting, exciting, and heart-crushing...which tells me we're on the right track.”
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