Goodroe, Cameron join Cathlamet council

The Cathlamet Town Council added two new members last Monday evening.

Two spots were unclaimed in last year's elections, and they've remained empty ever since.

Filling the positions are Bernadette Goodroe, widow of former Councilmember David Goodroe, who died last fall, and Sue Cameron, director of Wahkiakum County Health and Human Services.

Cameron commented that she has been a county commissioner in Tillamook County Oregon, and would recuse herself in votes that might involve county business that might be a conflict of interest for her.

The council took initial steps to prepare for a potential harvest of timber from timberlands.

Forester Bill Olsen presented a report showing two parcels that could be put up for sale this year. He suggested putting the parcels up for bid so that they could be logged when the market is highest later this year or in 2017.

He asked the town to pay for a surveyor to mark one property line that he hadn't been able to find.

He also said the town should put out requests for proposals for pre-commercial thinning by crews using herbicides, and spraying recently logged areas that were replanted last year to kill broadleaf plants and allow fir trees to grow quickly.

Olsen's contract with the town expired at the end of February, and the council approved a 90-day extension of the contract so that they could start on his recommendations and also put out a request for proposals for forestry services.

Wahkiakum PUD Commissioner Bob Jungers and town Public Works Director Duncan Cruickshank presented a proposal from PUD General Manager David Tramblie to establish a recharging station in Cathlamet for electric vehicles.

The PUD doesn't have legal authority to undertake such a project, Jungers said, but it would be willing to work with other entities such as the town, Wahkiakum County and Port District 1 who might be interested.

After an executive session to discuss details with Attorney Heidi Heywood, the council voted to approve changes to the contract with Wahkiakum PUD to provide water to the Puget Island Water System.

Mayor Dale Jacobson said he would ask the council to consider rescinding a resolution passed months ago during negotiations to stop providing water to the Island system when the contract expires sometime around 2030.

"That carried things too far," he said. "We don't need that kind of brinkmanship."