The 4th Street Grade in The Dalles is closed to traffic beginning Monday as a sewer line is installed.  The closure runs from Jefferson Street up the grade to East 8th Street.  It is a total closure with local access to adjacent residents only, and is expected to run through June 30.  Motorists are being re-routed via E. 8^th Street to Kelly Avenue and Washington Street.  The detour route will be signed.

Hood River County Commissioners held a nearly two-hour worksession discussing what their next move ought to be in the aftermath of last week’s defeat of two tax measures to deal with the County’s fiscal issues.  It was part critique, part discussion of next moves, and part release of frustration.  Liz Whitmore, who ran the ballot measure campaign, said the County budget committee’s decision last week to recommend using more than $750,000 in reserves for this year’s budget and not make the level of cuts that had been communicated during the campaign shocked her and undermined some of those messages, and that she would not want to have any part of another attempt.   County Administrator Jeff Hecksel told the panel the County has to stop burning cash, calling it unsustainable.  Commissioners all gave their viewpoints, with Rich McBride calling for seeking professional help in determining their next steps, Bob Benton feeling there remains an opportunity to get approval of a smaller levy and not necessarily believing cuts now would help their public message, Karen Joplin stating she heard a resounding “no” from voters even though the local option levy vote was close, and Les Perkins saying they need to pass the 2019-20 budget to provide a guide for their decision making.  Chair Mike Oates felt it was a healthy discussion that they needed to go through, even though no decisions were made.  The Commission will hold a hearing on the 2019-20 budget at its June 17 meeting.

Work will take place Sunday on two pavement preservation projects in the West 6^th Street Commercial District.  One will take place on West 6^th Street between Motel 6 and Cherry Heights Road, where traffic will be redirected to the center turn lane from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The other will be on West 3^rd Place between Trevitt and Lincoln streets, where a full road closure will occur between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.  Motorists are asked to drive with caution around the work zones while the chip sealing takes place.

Klickitat County has set an outdoor burning ban within its Burn Ban Zone 3 in the western part of the county from June 17 through September 30.  The zone includes lands between the western boundaries of Klickitat County Fire Districts #4, 12 and 15 then north on the Klickitat River to the north county line, to the west county line that are outside the jurisdiction of the Yakama Nation and the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission.  The ban prohibits the issuance of burning permits except for authorized agricultural burning.  Residential barbecues will be allowed.  Klickitat County had already established burn bans in the other two zones in the central and eastern part of the county.

The NORCOR budget committee has approved a fiscal plan for 2019-20 that includes a 9.7% contribution increase from the four participating counties.  That’s the number budget-strapped Hood River County had indicated earlier in the month it was willing to do, and Wasco, Sherman, and Gilliam counties are agreeing to do the same, but below a proposed 18.4% increase jail officials sought after seeing no increases in the last four years.  Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill says the committee-approved increase will allow the jail to maintain its current operations and gives them a little more for some of the jail’s programming.  The budget will go to the NORCOR board for approval at a meeting in June.

Oregon 59th District State Representative Daniel Bonham is expecting a bill on the long-discussed cap-and-trade carbon reduction program will move in the Legislature next week.  The Dalles Republican says it is in Ways and Means after moving out of committee on a party-line vote.  Bonham remains skeptical that the program would have much of an impact on dealing with climate change, and he doesn’t believe a jurisdiction can be found where it has.  Bonham says Republicans have offered amendments to make the program as close to revenue neutral as possible, but he is unsure whether that can gain traction.

Klickitat County Commissioner David Sauter and County Prosecutor David Quesnel went to Washington, D.C. this month to talk with Department of Justice officials about the upcoming federal case over the long-standing question surrounding the boundary of the Yakama Nation Reservation in the Glenwood area.  Sauter says they talked with attorneys preparing the federal government’s opinion in the case, noting he believes the County’s legal representation has put together a strong case through the historical record.  The case will be tried in U.S. District Court in Yakima in late July, with Sauter noting they are prepared for the possibility that this could go all the way to the Supreme Court.  The county maintains it has authority in Tract D in and around Glenwood.  The tribe considers the land to be part of its reservation within the exterior boundaries under an 1855 treaty and says the land is not subject to state or county jurisdiction.

White Salmon Spring Festival is this coming weekend.  It opens up on Friday in Rheingarten Park and continues through Sunday.  The festival’s Amanda McDonald says the Festival parade will take place on Saturday morning at 11 a.m., and they are continuing to take entries.  Forms are available at whitesalmonspringfestival.com.  Whitson Elementary School Principal Todd McCauley will be the parade’s grand marshal.  The parade will lineup at the Little League park on Main Street in White Salmon and head down Main to Rheingarten Park.

Hood River Mayor Paul Blackburn announced at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting that he will be resigning soon because he and his family will move out of state.  Blackburn says the move will occur in September, and he will resign as at that time.  Blackburn’s wife, Kristen Dillon, is the Director of Medicaid for the Columbia Gorge region and has been offered a chance to work on health policy at the national level.  Blackburn could not elaborate on that new position, saying her new employer will issue a press release in June with additional details.  In a statement, Blackburn said he had profoundly mixed emotions, saying he was honored to serve as Hood River’s mayor of the last five years and leaving will be hard, but his wife’s new job is a “real opportunity for her to work to improve our health care system on a much larger stage.”  When Blackburn steps down later this summer, the City Council will decide on a replacement.

Hood River Urban Renewal Agency board members will be asked Tuesday to formally approve bringing on a consulting firm to create an implementation plan for redevelopment projects in the Heights area, while at the same time the Oregon Department of Transportation is moving ahead with doing crosswalk modifications on 12th and 13th Streets.  Mayor Paul Blackburn says ODOT plans to reduce the number of crosswalks on those streets, but the ones that will be there will be emphasized more, utilizing parallel striping rather than horizontal.  Increased signage for the crosswalks is also planned.  Greenworks PC is the firm the URA board will be voting on to serve as the consulting firm to develop plans for Heights redevelopment.  Tuesday evening’s Urban Renewal meeting will take place during the Hood River City Council meeting at 6 p.m. in City Hall.  A community meeting on Heights urban renewal is scheduled for next Tuesday, June 4, at 6 p.m. in the Hood River Armory.