Klickitat County Commissioners need to listen to constituents

To the Editor:

Too many times, elected servants believe they have become owners and can do whatever they want for whoever they want. In this case, constituents become victims of policies and decisions that are not what concerned citizens wish or agree with.

For example,  just to name a few, Klickitat County has had time and time again, overwhelming citizen testimony on different issues, and the Board of County Commissioners does the exact opposite.

In June 2021, a Solar Moratorium was voted down after a vast number of citizens wanted it kept in place. The changing operation of the jail was strongly opposed by the citizens at the hearing and public comment at the weekly meetings. Made no difference that the County Board of Commissioners pushed it through, and the increased cost has been growing and stretching the county budget to the max.

Then you have the Battery Storage System Facility, which is a known danger and has many issues that need to be addressed and ordinances that need to be put in place. But the commissioners are more interested in not getting in the way of the state bureaucracy or developers.

The citizens' safety concerns they couldn't care less about. Greg Wagner has been the one who has done an unbelievable amount of hours doing research on solar and other related issues that are before the Board. Presenting them with Washington Revised Code Violations and failure to follow the proper legislative process, but that doesn't faze them. They're in charge, so shut up, sit down, and pay your taxes.

The Board of Commissioners is not the only elected servant that has been obedient to the special interests and developers. We have questionable permits being given out and special tax considerations to wind, solar, and special interests. Stronger citizen oversight is what is needed to enforce the elected servants to do the will of the people.

Delmer Eldred -Goldendale Wa.