County to hire for community center

The Wahkiakum Community Center should soon re-open under direction of a new manager.

The center, located in the first floor of the Cathlamet library building, has been closed since the end of July when funding ended for its Americorps manager. Some programs in existence at that time have continued under direction of volunteers, but the center has been closed.

Volunteers have pressed both the Town of Cathlamet, which owns the center building, and Wahkiakum County, which has contracted with the town to operate the center, to get the center open again.

On Tuesday, county Health and Human Services Department Director Sue Cameron presented a proposal which the board of commissioners approved.

Cameron proposed hiring a part-time manager; the position would be funded from H&HS and expire at the end of January.

In the meantime, Cameron will look for other partners who can share in the cost of operation.

"It's about resources," Cameron said of the closure. The county hasn't budgeted funds for the manager but has relied on outside funding such as Americorps volunteers. Americrops didn't approve the county's application for another volunteer this year.

"I feel terrible that we've had to put the kibosh on it," Cameron said. "We don't have the resources for it."

Hiring the part-time manager would allow the county to get parties such as Lower Columbia College, WSU Cooperative Extension and the Wahkiakum Community Network involved in programs and sharing in expenses.

"It takes time to get all the parties together," she said.

The board of commissioners voted to authorize Cameron to spend $5,000 from her budget on the part-time manager.

"Let's do the short term fix and come back at budget time and look at long term," said Commissioner Dan Cothren.

"I'd be thrilled with that," Cameron said.

Cameron also said she would meet with the center's advisory committee to discuss the situation.

Volunteers present at the commission's meeting urged the county to fund long-term funding.

Also, volunteer Craig Brown urged Cameron to hire a local person rather than someone from outside the county who would have a long learning curve.