County names fish board rep

Wahkiakum County commissioners appointed a citizen representative to the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board and acted on other business at their meeting on Tuesday.

The fish recovery board evaluates projects that would enhance runs of salmon and steelhead in the lower Columbia region and channels state and federal money into them. Each member county has two representatives, an elected official and a citizen.

Hank Johnson, Wahkiakum's citizen representative, recently retired from the board, and commisisoners had three applicants to fill the spot--Irene Martin, Skamokawa, Poul Toftemark, Rosburg, and Olaf Thomason, Puget Island.

Commissioners interviewed the three last week and said they'd make a selection this week, which they did, by consensus.

Commission Chair Blair Brady said he favored Toftemark, a member of the Grays River Habitat Enhancement District board of directors and a regular visitor at fish recovery board meetings.

Commissioners Dan Cothren and Lisa Marsyla favored Martin, who has participated on salmon and fishery boards and panels from the local to the federal level.

"All the candidates were impressive," Brady said. Cothren and Marsyla agreed.

Brady said he would notify the fish recovery board of the appointment and ask that Toftemark be recognized as the county's alternate, if by-laws allow alternates.

In other business:

--A resident of the Eagle Pointe neighborhood, a federally funded housing development for senior citizens and operated by the Longview Housing Authority, asked commissioners to intervene on behalf of the residents.

The speaker said property managers are ignoring tenants' rights, keeping poor records of rent payments, and treating the residents in a high-handed fashion.

Commissioner Marsyla asked the residents to set up a meeting so she could hear the grievances and act as an ombudsman. Brady said he would raise the issue with members of the housing authority's board of directors.

--Commissioners authorized Treasurer Paula Holloway to spend an extra $1,000 on extra help. Holloway asked for $3,000 saying that a variety of issues, especially conversion to new computer software, have caused her to go through the $3,000 included in the 2010 budget for extra help in her office.

Commissioners Marsyla and Cothren said they didn't want to increase funding for Holloway's extra help, for they feared it would cause other department heads to bring similar requests. However, they agreed that the software conversion was an arduous task and added that the office needs to have adequate staff to collect taxes, a major revenue source for the county.

--Dian Cooper, executive director of the Family Health Clinic, reported her agency is making progress with its acquisition of the county's Wahkiakum Family Health Clinic.

Her agency has seen a $25,000 net loss so far this year, she said, but that's somewhat expected, and the trend is to be breaking even in three months.

The clinic has a doctor on duty, and the agency's medical director is also working over a day at the clinic. They had hired a physician's assistant to work in the clinic, but that person has asked to work part-time in a different area, so the agency is recruiting another physician's assistant.