Town to lease cell tower

The Town of Cathlamet coffers could receive a big boost by year’s end.

Following an executive session at the end of their meeting on Monday, the town council gave a green light to the lease of the town’s cell tower site in Rosedale to a telecommunications company for a period of 50 years, for no less than $500,000, to be paid in full prior to December 31, 2023.

Parameters have been approved for the lease, but documents are not yet finalized.

“It is my hope that this will help with the many demands that the town has,” Mayor David Olson said.

Those demands also grew, as news of mold and leaks in Town Hall surfaced during the preliminary budget hearing, and some members of the town council continued to express concerns about Butler Street.

They were working with a $7,865,341 budget, and would learn about the half million dollar boon later in the evening.

Olson called the building toxic, and said he believed it should be discarded as soon as possible.

“If you want to be respected, you need to look respectable,” Olson said, “I always felt the town had a lot of work to do since I arrived, since I saw the quarters we’re in, borrowed council chamber and a tin storage shed for a town hall.”

“It’s up to you to decide if you want to do better than you have,” he added.

“I’m trying to work with this budget,” Town Council Member Jeanne Hendrickson said. “So here we go, we’re going to start chewing up this budget one way or another to find what we need to do. We just need more information. We don’t have money for this, and this is a higher priority than putting the reserve for the waterfront park, for example.”

The town council approved a one percent increase for the regular property tax levy, and changes to the water and sewer rates.

Water base rates for in-town customers will increase between 7-7.8 percent depending on meter size while excess usage rates will decrease seven percent. Out of town rates remain unchanged. Sewer base rates will not increase, but usage rates will go up 3.9 percent, which will equal about $0.01, according to Town Clerk-Treasurer, Sarah Clark.