Library District accuses city of violating agreement, Wasco County declares drought emergency and discusses state's denial of houselessness emergency
Wasco County Commissioners Phil Brady, Scott Hege and Steve Kramer.
By Cole Goodwin
During their March 15th, 2023 meeting, Wasco County Commissioners heard public testimony from the Wasco County Public Library board concerning alleged IGA violations by the City of The Dalles, declared a state of drought emergency, and discussed the State denying the county’s declaration of a state of emergency concerning homelessness.
Public Comment from the Wasco County Library District Alleges City Violations of IGA
The meeting kicked off with a public comment from Mary Beechler, who has sat on the Wasco County Library board for twelve years. She presented public testimony from the board to commissioners concerning alleged administrative violations of the 2010 intergovernmental agreement between the Library and the City of Dalles.
Beechler said that the CIty of The Dalles has continuously “brushed them off.”
“As a board, we’ve sought repeatedly over many years to renegotiate this IGA to no avail,” said Beechler.
Beechler noted to pressing issues that needed to be addressed concerning the library’s need to follow up on an in-depth safety inspection that was completed last year that revealed a need for a new HVAC system and a possible engineering assessment to determine the soundness of the foundation.
“We have some serious concerns, about rectifying these issues, and how they will be funded in particular,” said Beechler.
Under the current IGA, The City of The Dalles is fiscally responsible for major maintenance of the building.
“So, here we are to let you know we need your support for our County Library District in getting IGA negotiated and to help us foster open lines of communication,” said Beechler “Frustratingly we have been rebuffed again and again, over the years. The City acts as if it is the sole management of the district.”
Commissioners agreed to look into the board’s concerns and get back to her.
“I think what we have is a failure to communicate and we’ll have to take a look at your concerns,” said Wasco County Commission Chair, Steve Kramer, “We just have to move forward.”
County Commissioners then moved to declare a drought emergency and request the state to declare a state of drought emergency for Wasco County, Oregon.
As of March 2023, 23% of the land in Wasco County is in moderate drought and 49% of land in the county is experiencing severe drought. The National Weather Service’s Drought Outlook indicates that drought will remain persistent through at least May 31st, 2023.
Declaring a drought emergency allows ranchers, and agriculture workers to seek assistance from the government in subsidizing their crops and livestock.
Commissioners also adopted Mid-Columbia Economic Development District’s Wasco County Title VI Plan for transportation services at the meeting.
MCEDD also sought feedback from the County on consideration of authorizing a Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) financing programs in Wasco County, and possible administration of the program by MCEDD.
The program would allow financing to be secured with a lien on the benefitted property (Benefit Assessment Lien) with the same priority as a lien for the assessment for local improvements. The local improvement lien is an established mechanism used by municipalities for decades to finance projects that provide a public benefit such as street improvements, water, sewer and street lighting.
Commissioner Scott Hege said he felt the benefit of the program was “unclear.” Steve Kramer agreed that commissioners would need to confer with staff, and see more information in order to make a decision on the program.
Nichole Biechler, HR Director for The City of The Dalles Public Works also presented information about a Call-Back time policy for Public Works employees which defines call-back time and how and when employees qualify for overtime pay, requesting that the County continue the precedent set to honor the “call-back” one and a half rate of pay for staff of Public Works.
“We appreciate the hard work and dedication they show to maintaining our public roads during inclement weather and emergency situations,” notes Biechler.
Why was Wasco County denied their declaration of a state of emergency concerning houselessness?
During the commission call, at the end of the meeting, Commissioner Hege initiated a discussion over the fact that Wasco County had been denied their declaration of emergency concerning homelessness in Wasco County.
At this time it appears that the County had failed to qualify for the declaration on two counts but was planning to respond with additional testimony.
“We’re drafting a response,” said Kramer. “We’re still in line to get some more funding and the Governor likes what Wasco County is doing… I’m optimistic. We’ll see how things shake out. This will be a test and we’ll see what kind of grade we get at the end.”
Commissioner Phil Brady wanted to remind the community of two upcoming meetings and events:
There will be a town hall meeting at the Gorge Discovery Center regarding houselessness on April 3rd at 5:30 p.m. Meeting link: https://wascocounty-org.zoom.us/j/85758099966
Mid-Columbia Community Action Council will host their Navigation groundbreaking on March 24th, at 11 a.m. at 2205 W 7th St.
Commissioner Brady also shared that The Columbia Gorge Health Council had put together a dashboard on ColumbiaGorgeHealthyCommunity.org that provides a one-stop resource for online access to detailed information about community health indicators including demographics in the Columbia River Gorge.
During commission call, Hege also spoke to his work with Representative Greg Smith to craft provision language to allow for the same rules that apply to wind renewable energy to apply to solar renewable energy projects. In addition, Kramer shared that he was waiting for March 17th to find out which legislative bills would move forward and which would not give further updates on upcoming projects the County would be working on.
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