Commissioners OK bill for assessor 2-1

By a 2-1 vote, Wahkiakum County commissioners approved payment of a $7,720 bill for a contractor's assistance to the county assessor's office.

The payment went to Hagen and Son, LLC, for services dating back to July, 2011. Assessor Bill Coons used the firm to provide assistance in getting valuations done by deadline.

Commissioners paid the bill unhappily. They and Coons had gone back and forth last year over funding for extra help, and when the commission refused to give Coons the funding he wanted, he said he would engage a contractor.

Prosecuting Attorney Dan Bigelow said the contract is legal; state law gives the assessor authority to hire a contractor to assist in getting appraisals done in time to meet statutory deadlines. No other elected officials have that authority, he said.

Commissioners had pulled the voucher for the payment from their list of vouchers to pay and held a discussion on it on Tuesday. Coons was on vacation and missed the meeting, but Cathlamet attorney Tim Hanigan attended the meeting to observe for Coons.

Commissioner Lisa Marsyla had a list of objections to paying the voucher. She said she had learned that the Hagen and Son business was incorporated at the end of 2011, just in time to cover the expense. The local person who Coons employed did clerical work, and Marsyla questioned whether that type of work met the statutory language.

Bigelow responded that the statutory language is loose and allows a lot of leeway in interpretation.

Commissioner Blair Brady commented that he wished Coons were there to answer questions. "Did the backlog get resolved?" he asked. "Is this going to come up every year?

"This extra $7,000 is coming out of somebody else's mouth."

Auditor Diane Tischer commented that Tuesday was the last day to pay vouchers on the 2011 accounts, and Bigelow recommended paying immediately to avoid interest charges.

"I move we pay it," Brady said. "I don't like it."

Board Chair Dan Cothren seconded the motion. He said he was unhappy that Coons had gone around the commission's will to employ the clerk.

"We have the responsibility for the budget, and this takes away from that," Brady said.

"This is a situation he inherited (when Coons took office at the beginning of 2011)," Bigelow said. "We knew it was a mess. It would be hard to argue that he'll do it continually."

"I've had enough," Marsyla said. "He is all about the fact that he wants extra help. He's not a team player. He never gives us alternatives."

Cothren said he would vote to pay the voucher because of Bigelow's recommendation, "but I'm ticked off with the whole thing," he said.

He called for the vote; he and Brady voted for the motion to pay, Marsyla voted against it, and the motion passed.