Commissioners handle light load of business

Members of the Wahkiakum County board of commissioners handled a variety of light business when they met Tuesday.

The commission approved a proposal from the Tsuga Artists Association to repaint an outdoor mural at the Main Street entrance to the courthouse parking lot. The paint on the mural, which depicts sights to see in the county, is flaking off the mural surface.

Association member David Goodroe said the group originally had two proposals in mind--for $1,500 members would repaint the mural close to the fashion in which it was created, and for $2,000, they would submit three new designs from which the commission would choose.

However, Goodroe added, the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce had received grant funding which will cover the cost of the project in which ever fashion the commissioners choose, Goodroe said.

Commissioners voted to allow the project to proceed and said they would like to see new designs continue the mural's themes.

Commissioners passed a resolution declaring an emergency and waiving normal bidding requirements to allow the sheriff's office to replace an aging backup power supply.

The supply failed last August, said Emergency Services Manager Beau Renfro, and it shut down the county's 9-1-1 emergency dispatching system even though the system still had a normal supply of electricity from Wahkiakum Public Utility District lines. Dispatchers followed protocol to switch calls to Cowlitz County dispatchers and were able to identify the problem and deal with it.

However, it could occur again, Renfro said.

"The system has had issues for a while and needs to be replaced," he said.

In discussion, Commissioner Blair Brady urged staff to consider how the backup supply is connected to the system.

"There should have been an independent switch that switched it over before it went down," he said.

"That's something we can look into," Renfro said.

Commissioners went into executive session to consider purchase of property near the county health department's Elochoman Valley campus but took no action.