Promises, promises
Watness proposes these initiatives at the county, state and national levels:
That the county promote planned unit developments for workforce housing. An inventory of potential sites would be sought, but an obvious site is in Stabler at the Wind River Business Park.
That the county approve multi-use developments for housing, retail and production.
That the county support the efforts of the Port of Skamania County to develop its Cascades Business Park property in North Bonneville.
That the county build on the Good Neighbor Authority agreement with DNR and USFS. The effort will eventually bring more dollars into the county than the USFS has ever been capable of providing while addressing the worst, longest ongoing environmental disaster of the past 300 years – the neglect of the forests.
Tired yet?
Good.
That the county seek a gorgewide compact to encompass all emergency services, transportation issues and financing, schools and other organizations – where it makes sense,
The gorge commission will be folded into the Greater Agreement as the planning agency it has always been.
Only the five counties along the river, and the treaty tribes, would have representation on the Greater Gorge compact advisory group.
County governance
Skamania County faces several daunting issues in the coming few years.
Veteran employees will be aging out. Their institutional knowledge needs to be learned by younger employees for continuity.
The county courthouse is a 60-plus year old building with aging infrastructure that would cost millions of dollars to renovate. In the next 10 years, the county will need to construct a new facility. However, it has little money for the initiative.
The county needs to expand its natural resources staff which works alongside DNR and USFS to prepare for timber harvesting throughout the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
The Wind River Business Park in Stabler and the Cascade Business Park in North Bonneville are ripe for economic development. But both have lingered for decades without much action. The county needs a better strategy to enhance both properties,
The county must update its Comprehensive Plan which is woefully out-of-date.
The costly, multi-year effort would put the county in better position as it seeks grants and loans from the state and federal governments, particularly for the business parks.
Housing. Build more, talk less.
State legislative initiatives
Many things affecting county governance comes from the state legislature. This applies to port, city and school governments, too.
It’s imperative that the county protect its interests while also feeding off the Mother’s milk of state and federal programs.
It’s not an easy balance to accomplish. Legislation comes down that ofttimes imposes additional responsibilities on local governments. That may cost money to implement.
But the county also receives a lot of revenue from the state government. The highways and roads are an example of the state’s investment in Skamania County’s infrastructure.
Only an idiot would say they want smaller government if they were seeking the office of county commissioner. The county is dependent and interdependent on the state and federal governments.
So, what to do? Well, don’t give up is one suggestion. Another is to lobby for things that would be helpful to the county’s bottom line. Here’s an idea or two to ponder:
- Enact legislation that would require recidivist public records requesters to pay a penalty when found by a court to have frivolously peppered governments with unnecessary, time-consuming and unproductive records requests.
- Enact legislation requiring the Secretary of State to establish a public records mentor office for local governments. The office would answer all public records requests, prioritizing and sorting for efficiency. A surcharge could be placed on legal document filing by attorneys at law.
- Lobby the states of Oregon and Washington to begin negotiations over a Greater Gorge compact that would create a gorgewide governing body. The GGC membership would be the five counties and treaty tribes of the great river gorge. The gorge commission would be folded into the regional agency.
- Require the state Department of Natural Resources to increase the number of timber stands managed by the county’s natural resources office under the existing Good Neighbor Authority with the federal government.
- Require any legislation which burdens counties with additional enforcement requirements to be accompanied by a grant program to pay the implementation costs.
Federal legislative initiatives
Skamania County is dependent on the federal government at many points. The county commission needs to be diligent in holding the federal government responsible for the promises it has made going back to the creation of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest right on up to the Columbia River Gorge Commission. The county can and should press these initiatives for the good of its citizenry, economy and environment.
- Press Congress to approve a Greater Gorge compact. The five-county, five-tribe council of governments would plan transportation projects for the region, manage school districts under one administrative office akin to ESDs in Washington, create mutual accreditation programs for fire, EMS and hospital districts, and
- The SRS Act is a cop-out, handout by Congress to ameliorate its mishandling of the economic engine of the timber industry. The county commission needs to work to supplant the Secure Rural Schools Act by increasing the timber harvest on the GPNF to bring revenue directly to the county,