Council works on water, other issues

Members of the Cathlamet town council breezed through their agenda Monday, covering topics ranging from water plant upgrades to executive sessions and racist names.

The town is without a clerk/treasurer, and the council took several steps to deal with the vacancy.

Councilmembers voted to contract with Payroll Tax Management, Inc., to handle payroll execution and reporting.

The council met in executive session at the end of the meeting, and after coming in to open session, agreed to contract with Accuity Forensics for a retainer of $5,000 and not to exceed $10,000. The Vancouver firm specializes in unraveling complex financial data, investigating fraud, and supporting litigation.

Councilmembers and staff discussed how to allocate the limited number of connections which the town's water plant can support.

The state Department of Health has said that plant capacity to draft water from the Elochoman River will handle only about 30 new connections, which could occur on either the town or Puget Island Water System, which buys water from the town.

Public Works Director Duncan Cruickshank said he had discussed the limit with Wahkiakum PUD officials, who manage the Island system.

"I have proposed 2/3 for the town and 1/3 to the PUD," Cruickshank said. "PUD Manager Dave Tramblie suggested they be first come, first served."

Councilmembers wanted to study the matter. Bernadett Goodroe asked what the historical trends have been; Cruickshank said they haven't kept records that would indicate the trends.

Councilmember Sue Cameron, who works as executive director of the county's Health and Human Services Department, reminded the council that the department has been planning a housing development combined with office space construction that could add 30 connections to the system.

The officials agreed that the town needs to move forward with expanding the water plant intake capacity which would increase the possible number of new connections.

Cruickshank said a consulting engineer has been working with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to plan the expansion and schedule construction, which should occur this year.

Fire Chief Fred Johnson suggested challenging the Department of Health, and Councilmember Dick Swart agreed.

"The Department of Health is very reluctant to be pinned down," he said. "They don't know . . . "

Cruickshank didn't like the idea.

"Having spent most of my adult life being monitored by state officials, I want to avoid upsetting them," he said. "They can nickel and dime me to death."

After more discussion, the council put the matter off to their next meeting.

"I want to discuss this with the players," said Mayor Dale Jacobson.

Town Planning Commissioner John Collier reported that the shorthanded commission (only three of five positions are filled) has been working on an update of the town's comprehensive plan.

There's a lot of tedious editing to do in order to incorporate changes in state law and regulations that have occurred over the past 20 years since the plan was written, he said. The work could be done by an intern or the Cowlitz/Wahkiakum Council of Governments, he said.

Councilmembers supported Goodroe's motion to write a resolution supporting a change in names of county geographical features that include the name Jim Crow, which have come to represent racist laws.

The county board of commissioners has discussed the issue for the past several weeks, and a Puget Island man has petitioned the state Board of Geographic names for changes.

Councilmember Ryan Smith commented he was raised in the South and was surprised to find racist names when he moved to Cathlamet.

"I don't think it reflects any of the attitudes of people in the region," he said. "I support the change."