[Klickitat] 🌲 Debunking Land Rumors & Tackling Childcare Costs - Klickitat BOCC 4/14

On this episode, we unpack the April 14th Klickitat County Board of Commissioners meeting, focusing on the mounting pressure facing our local emergency medical services. With 911 calls steadily rising, we look at how the county is managing the strain and why a dedicated non-emergency "day car" is suddenly on the table.

In This Episode:

• Addressing the severe childcare and preschool shortages in rural areas like Wishram and Bickleton.
• Debunking local rumors about billionaire land buyouts and identifying the county's actual major landholders.
• Construction funding updates for the Columbia Gorge Community College advanced manufacturing facility.

Resources & Links:

• Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com
• Klickitat County BOCC Portal & Meeting Agendas
• Columbia Gorge Community College Facilities Updates

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey there. Thanks for once again tuning in to the Click a Tattler Podcast. I'm bringing you key takeaways from the Clickat County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, April 14th. Let's start with local emergency response. Chief Nate Herbeck of EMS District 1 reported that 911 call volumes and hospital transfers are up 4% compared to last year. May sound small, but that kind of compounding increase really actually strains our existing fleets. So the district is actively looking at staffing a dedicated day car, quote unquote. The idea here is to handle routine non-emergency hospital transfers without pulling core emergency ambulances out of rotation. Chief Herbach also shared that a new $300,000 ambulance is set to arrive this July, and the district is bringing their financial coordination back in-house after successfully stabilizing their books with DZA, an outside accounting firm. Tuning now to a major bottleneck for our families, local child care. We've discussed this in a couple of prior episodes, and I'm really glad to see the commission keeping up with this important topic. Commissioners had a frank discussion about the extreme shortage of preschools and daycares in rural spots like Wishram, Bickleton, and Roosevelt. When state safety mandates require expensive home modifications, makes it nearly impossible for folks to open an in-home daycare on a tight budget. I actually heard this at a Mid-Columbia Economic Development Department event this past week. Because of necessary safety upgrades that might include having enough hand washing stations or bathrooms that are suitable for kids. It's difficult to take especially an existing building and convert it to daycare use, let alone to build a new one with all the proper safety requirements. So the county is planning a dedicated workshop soon to figure out how we might find some local regulatory relief to help get more providers licensed. A quick look now at land use. The board took a moment to address some persistent local rumors. If you've heard whispers that billionaire Bill Gates is buying up massive tracts of Click Attack County land, you can put that rumor to rest. Chemistry's clarified that the primary major landholders here remain Western Pacific Timber LLC and Columbia Land Trust. I actually highly recommend going onto something called Map Sifter on County website. And you can actually click around on the different parcels and see who owns each one. It's a pretty interesting way to see how public records can help us clear up rumors like this one. Finally, the board greenlit the first pay estimate of just over $80,000 for the new advanced manufacturing technology facility at Columbia Gorge Community College, officially moving that project further into its construction phase. I got to attend the opening of this a couple of weeks ago and it was really spectacular. I highly recommend anybody who's especially a small business owner or a local innovator looking to figure out how to keep manufacturing closer to home. Go over and give them a visit, give them a call, and see what kind of equipment they have on site that might fit your project. Looking ahead to what's next, National Volunteer Week is officially rolling out across the county from April 19th through the 25th, and mark your calendars for April 21st, when the board continues the public hearing for an open space application. You'll find links to the full meeting materials in the show notes. You've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, the home of the Scamania Dispatch and the Click of Tattler. We believe that informed communities are stronger communities. To support our work and stay up to date on everything happening in the gorge, head over to Schemania Dispatch dot com to sign up for our newsletters. You can also find us on Facebook, 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.