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| BUDGET ISSUES: Klickitat County Sheriff, Rick McComas, addressed the Greater Goldendale Chamber of Commerce on Monday. Lou Marzeles |
 Sheriff's office could get added budget hit
Lou Marzeles
Editor
Klickitat County Sheriff Rick McComas says his office could lose a lot more money than the five percent recently mandated to be cut in county offices by the commissioners.
Speaking at a Greater Goldendale Chamber of Commerce business luncheon Monday, McComas went over his budget by line item. "The budget for 2010, for administrative and insurance purposes, was at about $200,000," McComas said. "Patrol and civil was $2.1 million. Jail was $1.3 million. Dispatch was $0.4 million. That was a total expense of $4 million. Out of $4 million, only $700,000 is discretionary; I can actually choose how I spend that money. The rest of it is for wages, benefits, or cost of insurance, and so forth. 9-1-1, which is reimbursed by the state, was $0.6 million. Make sure we differentiate—9-1-1 is reimbursed by the state, so we don't even add it in. Our dispatch for the county was point four million. Just want to make sure I emphasize that."
Responding to ongoing requests from the county commissioners to reduce spending, McComas said his office brought the county six-figure savings. "Last year we returned to the commissioners $136,000," he said Monday. "After doing that, the commissioners have asked all the county departments to cut an additional five percent, and they suggested it would be in employee wages. Five percent was about $200,000. I returned $136,000. I think what was shared with us was that they may or may not consider whatever we returned toward what they're asking us to cut again. Technically, in 2011 I'm going to have to lose $336,000 somewhere," he said, a figure that does not accommodate the initial savings voluntarily brought in of $136,000.
If things stay as anticipated, McComas foresees consequences that could adversely affect the sheriff's office services. He addressed some cuts already in place. "We're mandated by the state to provide 24 hours of training for our employees, a minimum of 24 hours per year," McComas said. "At 40 employees, you can imagine how many hours that is and what the cost is. We generally like to provide three times that amount of training," accommodating the demands of such things as fire-arm training and emergency vehicle operation. "We've cut back on training to the point of only what the state requires us to provide," McComas went on. "Vehicles and fuels—we're changing from the SUVs, which saved us money initially in the value of them, we're now getting with our new sedans about 18 to 20 miles per gallon, in comparison to 12 to 14 miles per gallon on the SUVs. We had to do that. We put on over 400,000 miles a year. I intended on saving by changing to sedans—$40,000—and the cost of fuel just erased that for me. And then equipment; we work on industry standards on how long our equipment lasts, and the equipment that was scheduled for three-, four-, five-year change-over replacement is non-existent. We're operating with equipment that is anywhere from five to 10 years old now. We've had to cut back on that. So that's where the request is, to cut five percent. That's how we're trying to address it."
What it all boils down is that the sheriff's office is almost certainly going to have to make additional cuts. "All I can tell you at this point is that it appears there are definitely going to be cuts in services coming," McComas said. "Cuts in patrol and in community programs."
McComas also spoke of the need for deputies to have car computers, which despite an initial outlay of cash would end up saving money long-term, with deputies patrolling a county of 2,000 square miles. He indicated too that he would welcome more forthcoming communication from the county commissioners on the progress of acquiring additional emergency radio capabilities.
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Museum ready to start on expansion
With 95 percent of the funds in hand, the Board of Trustees of Maryhill Museum of Art has unanimously agreed to begin construction on the 25,500 square foot Mary and Bruce Stevenson Wing.
An official groundbreaking ceremony for the first expansion in the museum's history will be held Friday, Feb. 18, at 3:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and media.
At the Board's Jan. 22 meeting, Trustee Laura Cheney, capital campaign co-chair and daughter of museum benefactors Mary and Bruce Stevenson, urged the group to move forward with construction. Cheney's motion was unanimously approved.
While $450,000 remains to be raised to meet the project's $9.3 million construction costs, the Board and staff are confident that enough donor support and momentum exists to carry the project to completion by the target date of March 2012; the overall capital campaign goal is $10 million.
"There is a tremendous amount of community support and enthusiasm for the expansion, so we know we'll get there," says Maryhill's Board of Trustees president Jim Foster. "But in order to take advantage of some existing gifts and pledges, we need to move forward now."
Two pledged gifts in particular require the museum to begin construction sooner rather than later. A $1.5 million grant from the Washington State Building for the Arts fund requires construction to commence before July 2011. The offer of $500,000 of support from Cannon Power must be used while the company completes projects currently underway in Klickitat County.
"We are still fundraising to meet our total $10 million campaign goal. Once construction is underway, we are confident that donors will step up to help push us past the goal line," says Foster.
Starting the project now allows the museum to lock in favorable construction bids and is good timing from a practicality standpoint – excavation will be complete and mechanical systems in place before fall weather hits.
One recent bit of good news has provided another incentive for donors to make a gift now – a matching grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. For every $2 raised, the Murdock Trust will contribute $1 to the project up to a total of $400,000.
"Murdock's gift comes at a critical point in the campaign and presents an incredible opportunity to leverage $800,000 toward our fundraising goal," says Colleen Schafroth, Maryhill's executive director. The museum has launched an online portal at www.maryhillmuseum.org/expansion/ where donors can contribute directly to the campaign and to the Murdock Trust match.
The expansion will be managed by Milt Ketchum of Sherman County, Ore. and constructed by Schommer and Sons Construction of Portland. At the Jan. 22 Board meeting Schommer and Sons announced that they would contribute in-kind services valued at $50,000.
Maryhill Museum of Art will remain open throughout construction; dates for the 2011 season are March 15 – Nov. 15, 2011.
Project Highlights:
Designed by GBD Architects of Portland, the 25,500 square foot Mary and Bruce Stevenson Wing will allow Maryhill to meet a number of strategic objectives as it serves growing audiences from throughout Oregon, Washington and around the globe.
Key features of the new wing include: a dedicated art education center to accommodate Maryhill's wide range of public programming; a centralized collections suite for improved storage and to give curators and researchers more efficient access to the museum's world-class collections; an outdoor plaza where visitors can better enjoy Maryhill's extraordinary setting and growing collection of large-scale sculpture; and, a new café with terrace seating and stunning views of the Columbia River Gorge.
To date, Maryhill has raised $8.88 million of the campaign goal of $10 million in cash gifts, bequests and pledges. The campaign was jumpstarted with a $2.6 million gift from Mary Hoyt Stevenson and further enriched with a $1.5 million award from the Washington State Building for the Arts fund and a $400,000 matching grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. Additional funds come from the museum's trustees, members and friends, as well as regional foundations and businesses.
For more information on the new wing, including schematics and contribution information, visit www.maryhillmuseum.org/expansion.html
Going, going, gone?
The Columbia Gorge Aluminum Company, the last entity to hold title to the old aluminum plant on SR-14 outside Goldendale, wants to level what remains of the plant to the ground and use it for backfill.
The Klickitat County Planning Department has issued a Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance to the Columbia Gorge Aluminum Company in response to its request to remove four aluminum reduction cell rooms and the concrete foundations and floors. Cell room 35, the casthouse, and the maintenance shop are indicated to be among the final phase of demolition. The determination means the county sees no significant detrimental impact to the demolition of the plant. The Planning Department determination stipulates that the proposal is to maintain compliance with the Klickitat County Critical Area Ordinance and the work plan completed by Elder Demolition, and that any additional permits are to be secured from federal, state, or local permitting agencies prior to implementation of the proposal.
Public comments on the determination can be sent until March 4. Appeals will also be accepted. Appeals have to say specifically any basis for the appeal and errors to be addressed to the county commissioners. In order for the appeal to be accepted, the completed appeal form and appeal fee of $175.00, made payable to Klickitat County Planning Department, must be filed with the Board of County Commissioners and the Klickitat County Auditor by March 3. For more information, contact Curt Dreyer, Planning Director, at 773-5703.
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