[Skamania] 🏘 Food Security Hurdles & Shelter Concerns Collide - 4/14 Skamania BOCC

During the 4/14 Skamania Board of County Commissioners meeting, we learned summer road construction is officially hitting the Wind River Highway, bringing a single-lane bottleneck and detours to Carson starting this May. Plus, we're breaking down a thirty percent drop in projected timber harvests for the county, and looking at why federal food assistance rules are suddenly straining our local support networks.

In This Episode:

• FEMA relief is finally unlocked for December's winter storm damage.
• WAGAP leadership transitions and a new tribal housing partnership.
• Commissioners voice frustration over a stagnant Homeless Housing Council.
• An early noxious weed season brings temporary staff to the county.
• Celebrating twenty-five years of service from Chief Deputy Clerk Paula Diaz.

Resources & Links:

• Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com
• View the BOCC agendas and Zoom links at the Skamania County Website
• SNAP Cuts in OBBBA/H.R. 1: Billionaires Win, Working Families Lose
• 2024 Columbia Gorge Community Health Assessment

Documenter notes are available for republishing under Creative Commons license CC by 4.0. With thanks to the Columbia Gorge Documenters, powered by Uplift Local: https://upliftlocal.news/columbia-gorge/columbia-gorge-documenters/

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Transcript

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Hey there and welcome to your latest Scamania dispatch audio briefing covering the Board of County Commissioners meeting for April 14th. Let's start with the roads, because if you drive the Wind River Highway, you'll want to plan ahead. Public Works Director David Waymaier says construction on the Wind River slide area is officially set to begin on May 4th. The repairs are going to reduce traffic to a single southbound lane all the way through June. If you're heading northbound back to Carson, you'll be rerouted through hot springs. That's important because it unlocks a process for the county to secure federal repair funds, which will save our local public works budget from taking a massive hit. Turning now to the county level budget, we're looking at a pretty steep drop in expected timber revenues. The Department of Natural Resources forester George Geisler presented updated numbers showing the county's projected timber harvests dropping from roughly 600 million board feet down to 421 million board feet. Because Kemania relies so heavily on timber receipts to fund essential services, the commissioner spent time discussing workarounds. The board talked about leveraging the Good Neighbor Authority and eventually pushing for new federal legislation to ensure federal timber dollars stay right here in the county rather than getting swallowed up by broader state general funds. A quick look at our social services. We have some leadership changes and some looming challenges. Wagap Executive Director Jennifer Paletto formally announced that she is resigning her post at the end of June. I know we're very grateful over here at the Dispatch for all the work that she's put in. A successor has been hired and will start training in May. Before wrapping up her report, Paletto highlighted a new subcontract with Nichiwana Housing to provide dedicated case management for our native community members. Paletto also warned about new federal SNAP rules causing serious strain locally. Under something called the HR1 legislation, quote unquote, able-bodied adults without dependents, sometimes called ABODs, well, there's an acronym I haven't heard lately. It's A-B-A-W-D-S. Able-bodied adults without dependents, are now required to work or volunteer 80 hours a month to keep their food benefits. WAGAP estimates this impacts nearly 198 people in Scamania County. And this isn't a big county, so that's quite a lot of people. The problem is finding 80 hours of qualifying volunteer work in a rural isolated area is incredibly difficult. I know personally that I've tried to help folks find this for certain court-ordered reasons and can echo the problem. It's definitely difficult to find a consistent even one to five hours a week, let alone 80 hours of qualifying work for a month. So social workers are bracing for a potential spike in the unhoused population as people lose their nutrition access. Speaking of housing, the commissioners expressed a lot of open frustration with the local homeless housing council. During a discussion with community health director Tamara Sissel, the commissioners noted that the council has become a place to just give passive updates rather than actually taking action. The board even floated the idea of actually blowing up the entire committee structure to shake things up and force what they would call some shovel ready solutions. Before we wrap up, a quick heads up that the noxious weed season has arrived two to four weeks early this year, so the county's brought on temporary staff to handle the accelerated treatments. And finally, a quick shout out from the public comment, West End resident Stacy Patton took to the mic to express deep appreciation for Chief Deputy, Clerk Paula Diaz, who just celebrated 25 years of service. Patton praised Diaz for her enduring and genuine care for the citizens of Scamania County. Looking ahead to what's next, mark your calendars for May 4th when the Wind River Highway construction begins. And on May 13th, there'll be a community informational meeting regarding the Stordal and Sons Quarry project over at Canyon Creek Middle School. This audio briefing utilized notes with thanks to the Columbia Gorge Documenters, powered by Uplift Local. You've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, home of the Scamania Dispatch and the Click of Taddler. 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 Scamania Dispatch dot 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.