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DAYTON–Mayo, Zac Weatherford joined eight community members to discuss developments pertaining to the Community Center/Pool on January 28. The Friends of the Community Center/Pool is currently organized under the umbrella of Columbia County Community Network (ComNet), which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving as a channel to obtain grants or other funding to benefit local small groups that do not qualify for nonprofit status. The group currently has about $9,000 all received from donations. The group applied for a grant from W...
DAYTON–The Columbia County Health System (CCHS) is working on an Assisted Living project. The desire is Assisted Living, not an Adult Family Home. Assisted Living facilities are regulated by the State, Adult Family Homes are not, they are regulated by a third-party group. They have met with Blue Room Architecture, and are discussing a 16-20 resident project broken up into two adjacent "pods." The current tentative floor plan can be modified to accommodate two or more residents per unit and may i...
DAYTON–During the Columbia Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) regular session on January 21, local residents since 2010 Chuck Beleny, M.D., and his wife Darcy, presented issues with the proposed Touchet Trail and the impact on Right to Farm policies previously established in the county. He mentioned that a number of citizens have concerns over the Trail. He did some research and mentioned a "Right to Farm" policy adopted by the County (currently codified in Chapter 18.110 of Columbia County Co...
DAYTON–The Honorable M. Scott Wolfram, Superior Court Judge from Walla Walla, presided over the sentencing hearing for Benjamin Orozco, convicted last August of the July 7, 1996, shooting of Lance Terry in Dayton, which resulted in Terry's death. Columbia County Prosecutor Dale Slack gave the State's recommendation that the sentence should be at the high end. The sentencing was four consecutive sentences of: 192 months for Second Degree Murder, two separate 60-month sentences for Firearm E...
DAYTON– Due to the Martin Luther King holiday, the Columbia County Commissioners met for a lengthy regular session on Tuesday, January 21, 2020. Columbia County Associate Planner Dena Martin reported that in the “you don’t know what you don’t know” department, she and Columbia County Building Official Clint Atteberry viewed a training video on code development and enforcement for cannabis facilities to include conditional use permits. The video made the point that there are potential hazards from processing Cannabidiol, better known as CBD, w...
DAYTON–Columbia County Public Health Administrator Martha Lanman reported that the Coronavirus Outbreak, which originated in China, is now in Washington State, but has not yet come to Dayton. She reported that it is transmitted human to human, and moves quickly enough that it is difficult to track to source. The current flu shot does not cover it; and people have died. Lanman is hoping to have more information later. There have been reports that one individual from Snohomish, Wash., who just returned from a trip from China, has contracted t...
DAYTON–Two levies are up for renewal that benefit the Dayton School District; the EP&O and the Capital levies and will require a public vote. In accordance with Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 29A.04.321(2) for Special County Elections, a county legislative authority may call a special county election by presenting a resolution to the county auditor prior to the proposed election date. This election will be held on the second Tuesday in February, which for this year is February 11, 2020. The Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) Levy w...
DAYTON– Starting with the February 12, 2020 Commissioner Meeting, the Port of Columbia Commissioners will serve as follows: Earle Marvin, Chair; Dan Aschenbrenner, Secretary; and Fred Crowe, Commissioner. Executive Director of Port of Columbia Jennie Dickenson reported that the Commissioners, who serve six-year terms, elect officers in the even years. These elected officers serve two years as that officer. The three current Port Commissioners are Crowe (Chair, two years remaining of his t...
DAYTON–Charles Amerein, District No. 3 Commissioner on the Board of County Commissioners, hit the ground running as he took over as chair on January 6, 2020, replacing outgoing Chair Michael Talbot, District No. 2 Commissioner. When Commissioner Talbot was Chair, he sat in the center (with the other two Commissioners on either side) so the question was jokingly asked if they now have to switch places. It appears they decided to retain their same seat positions at the table, with Amerein at o...
DAYTON–Director of Public Works Charles Eaton presented the Six-year Transportation Improvement plan for 2020-2025 during the Board of Commissioners of Columbia County (BOCC) meeting on Monday, December 16, 2019. The plan includes three sections: Bridge Inventory, Road Revenue vs. Expenditure Analysis, and the Six-Year Plan that is submitted to Washington State Department of Transportation. Three bridges, Vernon Smith, Starbuck and Baileysburg, have been deemed structurally deficient. Funding has been received for Vernon Smith and Starbuck. T...
DAYTON–Columbia County Public Health will receive funds from two grants, and the Friends of the Golf Course is applying for a grant to fund improvements to the Touchet Valley Golf Course, County Commissioners heard this week. Walla Walla County Department of Community Health applied for and received a grant of $80,000 from Washington State Health Care Authority. This grant will be shared with Columbia County Public Health and will be used for Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention. Martha Lanman, Administrator for Columbia County P...
DAYTON–Columbia County Commissioner Ryan Rundell, Dist. No. 1, of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) for Columbia County, held a public listening session at the General Store last Saturday to hear concerns from community members. He stated he attends multiple meetings where he tends to see the same people and wanted to seek input from other citizens. The public gathering was kicked off by illustrating a comment he heard from an editor with the Spokesman–Review at the County Leaders Con...
DAYTON–Six cases of Influenza B, which is highly contagious and can only be passed from human to human, have been confirmed in Columbia County, Public Health Administrator Martha Lanman reported to Commissioners this week. This is based on data from Dayton General Hospital, discussion indicated. If there is more than 10% absenteeism, school officials alert Public Health, which in turn notifies the hospital, which in turn makes a decision about visiting people in Booker Rest Home, whether face masks will be required, etc. In other areas, L...
DAYTON–Commissioner Mike Talbott, District No. 2, steps down as Columbia County Board of Commissioners Chair after Commissioner Charles Amerein, District No. 3, was selected to fill that position for 2020. The position does not impose more power than any other commissioner, it is only to preside over the meetings. “Being Chair is a little different, but the Chair does not have any more power than other Commissioners,” said Talbott. “We just run the meetings and try to be fair.” “The Chair gets to sign more stuff,” said Amerein. In addition,...
DAYTON–The Port of Columbia Commissioners approved a resolution to support the continued operation of dams within the Federal Columbia-Snake Rivers System during the December 11 meeting. They found that due to their importance for irrigation, flood control, recreation, cargo transportation, and renewable, low-cost energy, they were an economic asset. This is based on the Port of Columbia operating very well used Lyons Ferry Marina on the Snake River, and Lower Snake River Dams enabling irrigation for over seven million acres of farmland that p...
DAYTON–Biker B’s, a company that sold homemade soaps and other bath products, asked to be released from their lease space effective December 31, 2019. When the Port let it be known that space became available, they received two good requests to occupy the space. The Port decided to allow Mike Collins, owner/proprietor of Bard & Bee Meadery. (“Mead” is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, or sometimes with various fruits, spices, grains or hops.) The two-year lease will start February 1, 2020. Collins stated he has bee...
DAYTON–The Columbia County Planning Commission has had a vacant position, Seat 1, since last April. At the Columbia County Board of Commissioners (CCBOC) meeting held Monday, December 16, William E. Carter was appointed to fill that vacant position. At the same meeting, Charles Reeves, who is currently Vice-Chair, Seat 5, District No. 3, was re-appointed for another term. In other areas, for the Affordable Tax Credit (Washington State Substitute Bill 1406), Dena Martin, Associate Planner for Columbia County, reported that a draft ordinance h...
DAYTON–Ashley Strickland, Columbia County Emergency Management Director, is looking for ways to attract employees to work for the County. He reported that every employee on the salary schedule in his department, which is basically 100% funded by external grants (and not from "current expense"), was all on the same "step" within the schedule, and those employees had not been given any sort of step raise or merit raise. There was no mechanism in place to give any type of merit or longevity r...
DAYTON–The County Commissions heard concerns about Fairground fees and Golf fees for 2020 in a special meeting held Monday evening, December 9. These proposals will be considered at the next public hearing on Monday, December 16, 2019. Due to the addition of administrative fees, the fees will be increased 10% to cover this. The increase comes with concern due to the course having deteriorated some due to the water loss. It was also proposed to adjust the golf daily fee from $22 to $25. However, the adult annual fee will be $395. A comparison w...
OLMPIA–The Washington Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (WACME) wants all counties in Washington State to have a separately elected Coroner/Medical Examiner. Counties with smaller populations can elect a part time Coroner/Medical Examiner. Currently fourteen counties (to include Columbia County) allow the Prosecuting Attorney to serve as Coroner. This practice has drawn scrutiny in numerous studies and is rejected in National standards. WACME is offering the following options for achieving these objectives of an elected C...
DAYTON–Columbia County Health System (CCHS) presented a major concern about some bad debt that was written off from patients from Texas during last week’s meeting on December 3. During October 2019, Columbia County Health System approved $28,118 in bad debt write offs from a number of patients. Of this amount, approximately $5,000 was from two patients from Texas. Although many Texas license plates have been observed on autos at PacifiCorp’s Marengo I and II repowering projects, currently contracted out to Vestas, a company headquartered in De...
DAYTON– The Columbia County Commissioners adopted three standard year-end resolutions during a regular meeting held on December 2. 2019-56 – The Basin Disposal rate for 2020 is $94.10 per ton. This is for delivery to Columbia County Transfer Station for landfill. By contract, Columbia is required to bill at the same rate as Walla Walla. When the contract comes up for renewal (possibly 2023), this option will be revisited. 2019-57 – Under the provisions of Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 36.75.270 and RCW 46.44.080, Roads under the control of C...
DAYTON–Both the City and County have opted in to adopt legislation at a future date for sale/use tax allocation for affordable and supportive housing in response to Washington State Substitute Bill 1406. Dena Martin, Associate Planner for Columbia County, reported that the opt in choice is to allocate a portion of sales and use tax already collected to be used locally for affordable or supportive housing. She stressed it will not increase current sales/use taxes because this will come from sales/use tax already collected. The County would r...
DAYTON–The Port of Columbia adopted Resolution 2019-06, Levy Certification, authorizing the Port to increase its levy rate by the 1% allowed by State law. It is estimated it will bring an additional $4,125 total in additional revenue to the Port. Executive Director Jennie Dickinson stated that the wind companies will contribute about $2,000 of this amount. The remainder of the increase, when spread over the number of homes and properties, is estimated to be minimal. The Port also adopted its 2020 budget. Revenues from (primarily) Port Levy, L...
DAYTON–U. S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-5th, visited the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to hear concerns and how new regulations, policy and sanctions are affecting this area last Monday, November 4. Below is a brief discussion on the topics touched on during the hour-long meeting. The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, a law originally signed by President Obama in 2014. The law was recently supplemented with two additional laws; and Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers is f...
