Commissioners act on varied business

Wahkiakum County commissioners acted on a variety of business issues when they met Tuesday.

Commissioner Dan Cothren gave an update on efforts to place sand on eroding Cape Horn and Puget Island beaches.

Two agreements are tied up in reviews in the Seattle office of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Cothren said.

He and Portland Corps officials have voiced frustration with the amount of time the agreements have been under consideration, Cothren said. Cothren and Cape Horn residents entertained a visit from a staff member of Senator Maria Cantwell last week, and they've sought help from Cantwell and other elected officials in expediting the review process for documents, which are the memorandum of understanding between the county and Corps to set up a 10-year program and the right-of-entry permit which will allow dredging crews to work on private property along the shoreline.

"This is the biggest hurdle," Cothren said. "Once we get this done, you'll see things move real fast. We have to have the right-of-entry forms early on in case some folds don't want to participate."

In other business, commissioners approved A $15,293 addition to the cost of the courthouse telephone upgrade project.

County 911 Coordinator Beau Renfro said they'd encountered missing parts to the upgrade.

"Like any large scale project, there are unforeseen items that come up during the installation, and we have run into several items," he said.

These include:

--Additional network wiring for the prosecuting attorney's office and the commissioners meeting room;

--The system needs an additional 18 licenses for voice mail capacity, and

--The sheriff's office logging recorder can record eight channels but needs to be able to record 17 channels.

Commissioners approved the change orders which will bring the total cost of the project to $153,441.53 plus sales tax.

Commissioners also approved a $750 payment to Diking District 5 for work done on a dike protecting Skamokawa.

A landowner notified the district about concerns over erosion in Middle Valley, and the County Road Department assisted the district in addressing the problem. The payment compensates the district for delivery of large woody debris and root balls used to stabilize the dike. The road crew installed the material under supervision of the diking district.