[Skamania] 🌶️A Spicy Mayorial Email - North Bonneville May ‘26 Round-Up

Welcome to the May municipal round-up for the North Bonneville City Council and Planning Commission. In this episode, we unpack a highly misspelled email reprimand from the Mayor that exposes deep friction over meeting decorum, and we look at a massive new energy infrastructure project making waves at the state level.

In This Episode:

• A clash of operational styles on the City Council
• Updates on the Cascade Renewable Transmission (CRT) project
• A "hard reset" on city finances following state audits
• The Planning Commission advances the Critical Areas Ordinance

Resources & Links:

• Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com
• View meeting agendas and minutes at the North Bonneville City Website
• Track the CRT project at the Washington State Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) Active Projects page

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Transcript

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Hey there, and welcome back to the Scamania Dispatch Audio Edition. Today we're diving into the May Roundup for the City of North Bonneville, looking at both City Council and the Planning Commission. And if there's one overarching theme for North Bonneville right now, it's growing pains. The city is trying to usher in an era of strict legal compliance and professionalization. They're trying to get their administrative house in order, but as we saw this past month, the day-to-day execution of that goal remains highly informal and honestly a little bit messy. Let's start with the city council and a dispute over meeting decorum that spilled out into the public record. Back during an April special meeting, Councillor Margie Lee made a joke on the microphone regarding a resident's physical stature, specifically his height, just before he gave a public comment. During that same meeting, she also repeatedly interrupted candidate Ted Salka during his formal interview for a vacant council seat. Mayor J.B. Tennyson was not happy, and he has had enough. He sent an official email reprimanding Counselor Lee for her behavior, calling it rude and unprofessional. But here's where the clash of styles really shows up. The mayor's written reprimand, which is a permanent public record, contains severe spelling and grammatical errors in almost every sentence. It paints a fascinating picture of the current council. You have an administration that desperately wants a highly procedural, strictly professional environment, but it seems like they're currently struggling with the basics of professional communication. And the push for procedure is very real. At subsequent meetings, Councillor Jeff Blakely successfully read parliamentary rules into the record to reinforce strict agenda setting processes. He also introduced a proposal to shift public comments so that they might happen right before specific action items, instead of lumping them all at the beginning of the meeting. The goal there is to make sure that input is fresh in their minds when they actually cast a vote. Also of note on the council, Jeff Flakely was formally appointed as mayor pro tempore, and Ted Salka, the candidate who was interrupted, successfully appointed to the vacant city council seat regardless. So, moving over to regional energy news, we need to talk about the Cascade Renewable Transmission Project, or, as you might have heard it around town, the CRT. This is a massive piece of energy infrastructure, and it just received a finding of significance, which triggers a massive state environmental review. Because of the scale of this project, which is expected to span for over 100 miles of the Columbia River, the regulatory focus heavily shifts away from local city councils, even though some portion of it will be crossing through North Bonneville, and moves up to the state level, specifically to the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or FSEC, one of the other bodies we cover here, over at Scamani Dispatch and as part of the Open Gorge podcast. This state body is actively working to align state and federal environmental reviews, and they are preparing formal consultations with tribal nations. But Scamania County does have a voice at the table, especially since this project will be crossing through its lands. Asa Leckey, the Scamani County Board of County Commissioners member, has been officially designated as the Scamania County representative on the FSEC Council for this specific project. So if you were looking to weigh in on the scope of that environmental review, that just wrapped up on June 1st. But we do always recommend that you send in any kind of public comments or keep that kind of pressure on if you want focus on particular areas throughout the entirety of this process. I would say it's never too late to make yourself heard. So a quick look at the city finances. The city clerk and a consulting CPA are initiating a hard reset of the internal cash handling procedures, and they are developing a comprehensive master fee schedule. Why the sudden overhaul? It's a direct response to historical and recurring findings from the Washington State Auditor's Office. State audits are no joke. If a city racks up too many findings, it can jeopardize access to state grant money or cause insurance premiums for that town or county to spike. So, centralizing all those costs into a master fee schedule is a smart move to build a defensible paper trail. Finally, let's check in on the North Bonneville Planning Commission. The biggest item on their plate is the Critical Areas Ordinance, which is the primary legal mechanism that the city uses to balance economic development with environmental protection. The Commission unanimously approved the draft amendment for the ordinance, advancing it to a state environmental review phase, also known as CEPA, SEPA. Interestingly enough, they held a public hearing on this back in March, and it received zero public comments. Advancing this document without public opposition removes a major hurdle for the city, but the state could still identify blind spots before it gets fully adopted. We'll try to link to that so you can take a look for yourself. Also on the transparency front, city staff announced a joint open public meetings act training, usually called OPMA, for both City Council and the Planning Commission. Staff gently remind commissioners that all their communications, including personal texts and emails related to city business, are subject to public disclosure laws. We've been through this in a couple of other episodes around the Gorge Commission, where similar issues are coming up. Again, this fits perfectly with the city's current push to reduce liability and tighten up the ship. So, what's next on the radar? At the City Council meets next on June 9th at 7 p.m., they will hold a continued public hearing for the Critical Areas Ordinance. So recruitment is currently open to fill North Bonneville's Council vacant seat number three, so put in your applications. You can find all links to the Raw meeting documents, agendas, and public comment instructions in the text version of this newsletter. You've been listening to a production of opengorge.org, 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 ScamaniaDispatch.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.