[Klickitat] 🚨 The High Cost of the County Jail - Goldendale March '26 Round-Up

In this episode, we are looking at the Goldendale City Council's March 2026 meetings, and unpacking a major financial threat quietly draining the city's public safety budget. We break down how a cascade of controversies and ongoing mismanagement at the Klickitat County jail, including a recent two-million-dollar wrongful death settlement, is forcing local municipalities to foot the bill for extreme medical clearances just to process standard arrests.

In This Episode:

• Escalating issues with the county jail contract
• The tightrope of state road funding: why the city used stop signs instead of lowering the speed limit on twenty-first street.
• Distributing over one hundred thousand dollars in lodging tax grants for local tourism.
• Securing multi-year contracts for the city's police and municipal employees.

Resources & Links:

• Read the full written Klickitattler at skamaniadispatch.com 
• Review the full March 2 and March 16 Council Packets at the City of Goldendale Website.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey there, and welcome to another municipal roundup. Today we're heading over to the Goldendale City Council to catch up on what happened in March. And the biggest story of right now is actually a financial warning light blinking on the city's dashboard. If you live in Goldendale, your local tax dollars pay for a dedicated jail budget. That budget is currently set at $40,000 for the year, but it is taking an absolute beating right now, and the reason why all traces back to the Click Attack County Jail. Here's what's happening. The county jail is currently reeling from a cascade of expensive controversies. We're talking about a recent $2 million wrongful death settlement, roughly $192,000 in unpaid hospital bills, and horrific incident in 2023 where a Goldendale police officer discovered a county inmate suffering from severe neglect. Following these costly civil rights lawsuits and medical failures, the county facility, until recently operated under Sheriff Bob Songer's administration, has adopted a rigid policy of liability avoidance. We actually know how bad this is getting because of a hot mic moment captured before the council meeting even started. Goldendale Police Chief Mike Smith was caught on audio expressing sheer frustration at the county's shifting goalposts. He noted that the jail uses, quote unquote, any little issue to refuse booking. In his own words, the chief said the county now demands, quote, I want an X-ray, I want a CT scan, I want all this stuff done, end quote, before they even process someone. It is really vital to understand that this is not standard correctional practice. Under normal operations, jails only require a hospital clearance if a suspect has suffered obvious physical trauma, is actively overdosing, or is having an acute medical emergency. Think about, say, if somebody was in a car accident before they come into booking. By applying this extreme medical threshold to standard nonviolent arrests, the county administration appears to be weaponizing a basic safety protocol. This kind of practice suggests they turned it into a tool for liability avoidance. It might be a deliberate strategy that builds a financial wall around the county facility, forcing local police departments to pay the staggering admission cost. It means your local Goldendale police officers may be forced to act as medical transport. The unbudgeted costs of the county's insolvency are being passed directly onto the city. Just recently, a single medical bill for a city inmate hit $10,000. Because the city recently separated its jail budget into its own line item, these massive cost overruns are now glaringly obvious, showing how the county is quietly draining municipal public safety budgets. Moving over to transportation, the council finalized some changes to how you drive through town. Following a public hearing where no citizens objected, the council officially adopted ordinance number 1552. This drops the speed limit on North Columbus from 30 miles an hour down to 25. The new speed zone stretches from the bridge overpass at the Little Click-Tat River all the way to North City limits. But managing traffic safety isn't always as simple as changing a sign. Over on 21st Street, the council took a totally different approach. Instead of dropping the speed limit there, they decide to install stop signs at Benson Court and Chatfield along with a flashing speed sign. Why the difference? It all comes down to state grant money. The city relies on funding from the State Transportation Improvement Board, often called the TIB, to maintain local roads. If the council simply lowered the speed limit on 21st Street, it could have violated the terms of those state grants and jeopardize future funding. So they use physical traffic calming measures instead. It's a great example of the tightrope that small towns have to walk to keep state money flowing. A quick look at economic development and administration before we wrap up today. The city approved the distribution of $100,900 in lodging tax grants. That money comes from a tax on hotel stays and has been used to promote local tourism. It will be split among nine different local groups. The vote wasn't unanimous. Council members Lauren Meager and Steve Johnson voted against it, but it did pass. The council also locked in some long-term stability by authorizing new multi-year contracts for both Municipal Employees Union and the Uniformed Police Officers Union. Speaking of the police force, they also recently utilized a federal grant to process a new hire and purchased roughly $9,400 in new body cameras and tasers. Looking ahead, the city is exploring the logistics of hiring a dedicated animal control officer to address ongoing community complaints. They're also preparing for a presentation from legal consultants on how the city can legally oversee the placement of new 5G cell nodes on city infrastructure without violating federal telecommunications laws. The Goldendale City Council met next on April 6th at 6 in the evening. You can attend future meetings at City Hall or join remotely via Zoom. You've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, the home of the Skmania Dispatch and the Click A Taddler. We believe that informed communities are stronger communities. To support our work and to stay up to date on everything happening in the gorge, head over to schmania dispatch.com to sign up for our newsletters. You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.comslash opengorge. Join the conversation and share your thoughts on today's episode. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll talk to you next time.