[Klickitat] ⚽️ Parks Improvement Dreams - Goldendale Sept '26 Round-up

Goldendale's City Council heard its first comprehensive parks plan in 26 years, then tabled it until the mayor is back. Plus the mayor's ask for data center impact fees, the end of the Kiwanis Club, and a police chief who wants one court for every case. And before all that, the Timmerman curse.

In This Episode

• Cabinet of curiosities: the Timmerman curse
• The parks plan, its $2.8 million wish list, and the splash pad
• Data centers, impact fees, and what the county can actually do
• School pickup and the towing grace period
• One court, one prosecutor
• The Kiwanis Club folds, and the downtown flags
• Free CPR classes and Maryhill at 100

Resources & Links

• Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.com
• The Timmerman story, from HistoryLink: https://www.historylink.org/File/7808
• The 1888 fire, from HistoryLink: https://www.historylink.org/File/7802
• Our Klickitat County commissioners round-up on data centers: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/between-budget-gaps-data-centers-klickitat-bocc-8-19-9-15/
• RCO's planning requirements for park grants: https://rco.wa.gov/recreation-and-conservation-office-grants/grant-requirements/planning-requirements/
• Goldendale agendas, packets, minutes and meeting video (the full parks plan is in the September 21 packet): https://www.ci.goldendale.wa.us/your-government/city-council/agendas-minutes

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey there, and welcome back to Open Gorge. I'm glad you're here. Before we get to the meetings, another selection, this time a very foreboding one, from our Gorge Cabinet of Curiosities for this Halloween month. A story that takes place not only in Goldendale, but has to do with a doomed man's curse. On April 6, 1888, Goldendale held the only legal execution in Clickitac County's history. The condemned man was Henry Timmerman, convicted of murdering William Sterling, a freight driver headed home to Walla Walla, out in the Horse Heaven Hills. More than 3,000 people came to watch. Timmerman rode to the scaffold in the wagon, sitting up in his own coffin, reportedly smoking a cigar. He climbed the steps on his own and tossed the cigar butt into the crowd. People fought over the pieces as souvenirs. His last words, quote, All I can say is that if you ever get caught in a scrape like this, don't let them take you alive. He said he was innocent to the end, and local tradition says he made a prophecy. Goldendale would burn. A little more than a month later, on a Sunday in May, many people were out at a picnic when a fire broke out downtown. There was no water system back then, only wells, and the fire burned too hot for anyone to get close with a bucket. Seven whole blocks burned, including the county courthouse, and the county's earliest records with it. Two years after that, someone dug up Timberman's grave and dumped his bones in the little Clicketat River. The skeleton washed back up on the bank, and he had to be buried all over again. Let's hope his prophecy was buried too. Now, on to September's business in Goldendale. Goldendale's City Council met twice in September. Both meetings were short. Together, about half an hour of business. But the big item was a big one. Goldendale has a new comprehensive parks plan, the first one since the year 2000. On September 21st, the plan got its public hearing. Nobody spoke, not in the room and not online. But the council stopped. Mayor Dave Jones was homesick, so Mayor Pro Tem Daniel Clevidence, who was chairing, recommended waiting so the mayor can present it himself. The council agreed. Resolution 760, which adopts the plan, was tabled to October 5th. So why does park's plan matter? Mostly money. The State Recreation and Conservation Office, RCO, won't take applications for its main park grants unless the city has a current plan. And a plan counts for six years from the day it's adopted. The mayor said it plainly on September 8th. Adoption would make the city more eligible for these grants. So here's what's in it. The city has five parks and trails Econe Park, Little League Park, World War II Memorial Park, Little Hornybrook Park, and about five miles of trail on Observatory Hill. The County Parks and Rec District has the pool and Little Clickatat River Park that helped write that plan. The city asked people what they wanted. 20 came to a public meeting on October of 2024. 75 answered a survey that November. The pool was the clear favorite. 62 of the 75 were really happy with it. Little League Park was the least liked, 29 unhappy, 9 happy. The plan itself calls it, quote, in very poor shape. The number one request, a splash pad, which is a favorite in many parks all over the gorge. The plan says unfortunately that's, quote, not feasible in the scope the public demands, unquote, then puts one on the list anyway. I guess it's important really to dream big. $750,000 in 2032. Altogether, the city's lists come to about $2.8 million over six years. The first projects in 2027 are smaller. Trail science on Observatory Hill, youth sports fields, the World War II park courts, restoration along the Little Clickatat River. The parks district adds $4.5 million more, most of it a permanent building, to replace the pool's inflatable dome. And who keeps all this up? One public works employee out of nine is dedicated to parks. The plan is honest about the gap. It says grants matter here because of who lives here. Median household income in Goldendale is about $41,000. Statewide, it's $99,000. One park's project is nearly done. The pickleball courts at World War II Park, paid for with a $15,000 gift from Cypress Creek Renewables. The pickleball courts will be getting their stripes on September 8th. A little aside here, as your editor, I actually live in Underwood, Washington, and I've volunteered in the past helping my parks district, that's Underwood Parks and Recreation, to be able to apply for some of those state RCO grants to refurbish our different sports courts. So if you're any good at writing or you want to loan a little bit of time, and even if you live in a different town, I would suggest you reach out to the parks department and offer some of your skills. It was a wonderful experience to get to work together with the parks district here in my community and to be able to see the fruits of our labor together as parks get redone and they join other independently funded projects like our new playground. It's really rewarding, and anybody can do it. I firmly believe that these are the kinds of projects that let every person take pride in the place that we live, and it's more accessible to help out than you might think. For any questions about that, reach out to me at schemania dispatch at gmail.com. Now we're moving back to data centers. None of the data centers proposed in Clickattack County will be inside Goldendale, so none will come before this council. But Mayor Jones went to the County Commissioner's workshop on them anyway. His reason, quote, a big project like that will have impacts on the city, on our police department, our public works, our roads, everything else, unquote. His asked in the city's minutes is for impact fees and community benefit agreements, if the county allows data centers. That's the first position on data centers this mayor has put on the record, and the words he chose matter. In Washington law, impact fees belong to counties and cities that plan fully under the Growth Management Act. Hikatat County's own planning department has written that the county chose not to. So the county does have other tools. It can attach conditions under state environmental law, it can sign development agreements with the landowner, and state law allows voluntary payments for impacts a project causes. What nobody answered on the record is whether any of that money would ever reach Goldendale. For police calls and roadware, inside a city these projects sit outside. Over to the police department now. Chief Mike Smith reported 348 calls and 10 arrests in August. Five of those arrests were for domestic violence assaults. Overall, the number of calls is down from July's 374. School pickup was the longest talk of the month. Counselor Clevidence asked whether the school district had answered the city about buses and pickup. Mayor's setting up a meeting with the new superintendent, the primary school principal, and the chief. And he invited the council's traffic safety committee, which is Clevidence and Counselor Steve Johnston. Now here's what you should know if you drive your kids to school. Police spent the first two weeks of school educating parents. Now they're towing the cars left in the loading zones. So if you have questions, please go ahead and reach out. It sounds like a really unpleasant way to start one's day. On September 21st, the chief brought a new idea. He asked the Click-Attack County prosecuting attorney, Rebecca Cranston, whether her office could take on Goldendale's misdemeanor cases too. Goal, in his words, quote, one court, one prosecutor. The city would still pay. She has for a couple of weeks to see if she has the staff. If you've been following these episodes for a while, you know that capacity for our court system in Click-Attack County has been stretched really thin, so I'll be also curious to hear whether or not some of these creative ideas work out. Now some news that'll make a lot of people in town sad. Counselor Theon Wheeler reported that the Kowanis Club of Goldendale is dissolving October 1st. We tried for two years to keep it alive, she said. Quote, we've tried two years to keep it alive, she said, but there's only four of us running the whole show, and it's just too much, unquote. The club has been around since 1982. Whatever money has left will buy books for every school in the county. And here's the gap. The Kiwanas put up the American flags downtown for holidays, communities, and the rodeo. No other group has yet stepped up. Longtime volunteer Jack Sutton will keep trying to do Broadway himself and add Main Street, but he said that's all he can do. Quote, hopefully somebody will step up and volunteer, the chair said. If that's you, now you know. Please speak up and lend a hand. A few quick ones before we go. Fire Department is offering free CPR, first aid, and Narcan classes through a grant in Goldendale and around the county. I highly recommend taking these. These are really important as they're skills that can be useful not only in your household, but whenever we're out and about with our neighbors. Dates are on the department's Facebook page. Mary Hill Museum of Art turned 100 years old. Councillor Brian Paul helped with parking and security at the celebration on September 19th. The mayor read a proclamation there. And the council dropped a closed session from its September 21st agenda. The agenda said it was about the legal risks of a proposed action. It didn't say what action that was. Here's what's coming up. October 5th, the parks plan came back with the mayor. Early November, the city expects to hear on its two state grant applications for Mill Street and Railroad Avenue. And sometime soon that meeting between the city and the school district on pickup. For the full park's numbers, you know, in case you're thinking of volunteering with grant writing, the law on impact fees, and all the links, you can check out the written edition at SchemaniaDispatch.com. 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. Supported work and stay up to date on everything happening in the gorge, head over to schemania 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.