[Skamania] 📧 The "Idiots" Email & Rec Parking Chaos - Skamania BOCC 5/19

In this episode, we dive into a tense Skamania County Board of Commissioners meeting from May 19th. What was supposed to be a standard leadership handoff with the Friends of the Columbia Gorge quickly turned into a public confrontation over leaked emails, aggressive public relations tactics, and the ongoing struggle for our local tax base.

In This Episode:

• A severe 21% cut to local public health funding handed down from the state.
• Exploding recreational traffic and dangerous, unsanctioned parking at Highway 14 boat launches.
• A major missing detail in the environmental review for the Storedahl Quarry expansion.
• The finalization of redline updates for county zoning rules under the Gorge Management Plan.

Resources & Links:

• Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com
• Skamania County Agendas and Zoom Information: https://www.skamaniacounty.org/
• Skamania school district hails long-awaited reauthorization of Secure Rural Schools fund

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

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey there, and welcome to the audio briefing of the Scamania Dispatch. I'm glad you're here. Today we're unpacking the Scamania County Board of Commissioners meeting from Tuesday, May 19th, and it was a busy one. Let's get right into it. We're going to have to start with a pretty tense exchange between county and regional conservation groups. Outgoing Friends of the Columbia Gorge Executive Director Kevin Gorman was there to introduce their new executive director, Gabe Schoships. But what started as a polite introduction quickly escalated. Commissioner Rob Ferris took the opportunity to confront the organization over recent public relations tactics. Ferris demanded the removal of what he characterized as an aggressive video from their social media pages, then publicly called out a recently exposed email chain. In that leaked email, apparently, the lead lawyer for Friends of the Gorge explicitly referred to the Scamania County Commissioners as, quote, idiots, unquote. The commissioners argued that these marketing campaigns have manufactured a false public narrative, one that makes it look like the county is actively trying to defund the Gorge Commission. And beneath the name calling is a very real structural issue. Commissioner Ace Lecki pointed out that every time this lobbying group acquires profitable private land for its land trust, it shrinks the county's already limited tax base. While both sides did agree to keep an open dialogue moving forward, there's clearly a severe lack of trust in the room right now. Turning now to our public health and safety, Olympia is sending some financial headwinds our way. The state notified the county of a $293,000 cut to our Foundational Public Health Services funding. That's nearly a 21% slash to the budget and takes effect on July 1st. Commissioners were incredibly frustrated, pointing out that the state seems to be rating fully funded pension plans to balance its own budget while leaving rural counties high and dry. But there is some good news here. Our local health department staff are creatively shifting resources within the existing federal grants to absorb the blow. Because of this hustle, they don't expect any immediate loss of staff or public services, and that's pretty good news. Moving out to the river, we have a major capacity crisis on our hands. During public comment, local residents Mitch and Stacey Patton warned the board about escalating safety hazards at boat launches. It's no longer just an issue with commercial guides. It seems like there's a massive wave of recreational users coming in for the season. Visitors are now parking dangerously along the shoulders of Highway 14, creating serious hazards for everyone. This has triggered a mandatory multi-agency stakeholder response, so expect to hear more about the enforcement and parking solutions soon. A quick look at infrastructure to wrap things up. The county noted that about 150 people attended a recent open house for the Stordal quarry expansion. But Commissioner spotted a massive blind spot in the draft environmental study. The state hasn't accounted for what those heavy quarry trucks will do to the already deteriorating conditions on Highway 14 West. It's often tough to know that all trucks, every single one, has an impact on the condition of the roads and how often they'll need to be kept up. So the county is vulnerable here, and they're looking for answers from State Transportation Department. Also, Public Works just finished the red line updates for Title XXI, ensuring our local zoning code finally aligns with the updated gorge management plan. Looking ahead for what's next for you to keep an eye on, mark your calendars for June 17th. That's when multiple agencies are sitting down to figure out this boat launch parking crisis, and expect a public hearing soon to finally adopt those Title XXII zoning updates. You've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, home of the Schmania 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 SkmaniaDispatch.com to sign up for our newsletters. You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.comslash open gorge. Join the conversation and share your thoughts on today's episode. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll talk to you next time.