County board issues criticism of wildlife chair

Get a grip, Wahkiakum County commissioners have in effect told Washington Governor Christine Gregoire.

The board of commissioners voted 2-1 Monday to send the governor a letter criticizing comments from Miranda Wecker, chair of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission at an October 12 meeting in Cathlamet.

In other business Monday, commissioners voted 2-1 to purchase a flood insurance policy for the county fairgrounds.

Commissioners Dan Cothren and Blair Brady voted to send the letter; Commissioner Lisa Marsyla voted against it.

"I'm not against sending it; it's just not worded the way I wanted," she said. "It's not my style; that's not how I get people to do what I want them to do."

The letter claims that Wecker said the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Commission is biased toward sport fishermen because there are so few commercial fishermen, that she fails to consider consumers' interests, and that she doesn't represent the interests of southwestern Washington.

The comments came at a meeting involving commissioners from Wahkiakum, Pacific and Clatsop counties. The officials are banding together to present unified comments on fishery allocations for the lower Columbia.

"We are writing to you," said the letter to Gov. Gregoire, "for clarification regarding whether these are the directions your administration is fostering and supporting, or whether the WDFW commission and in particular, its chair, are operating on another agenda which has no basis in legislative mandate.

" . . . we register a strong protest regarding the way in which our counties' economies and our citizens are being treated by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Commission, as outlined by its current chair."

Commissioners from the other counties have been invited to sign the letter, but those signatures are still coming in. Marsyla said last week that she wanted to send the letter, edited to her satisfaction, signed by all commissioners. However, Brady and Cothren said they wanted to send the letter as soon as possible so that the governor could act on it before the next meeting of the Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Commissioners also voted 2-1 to authorize Public Works Director Pete Ringen to purchase flood insurance for the contents of fairgrounds buildings.

The county sustained losses of $6,015.74 in last winter's flood and snow disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and the Washington Emergency Management Division are reimbursing the county $5,263.78 for the loss, but the state agency is requiring the county to obtain commercial flood insurance for the next 25 years. Ringen reported a policy is available for $300 per year.

Marsyla objected to the policy as presented, saying county officials don't know how much the flood insurance will finally total after 25 years, and the expense could be cost prohibitive compared to the actual loss.