With the City of Hood River’s COVID-19 emergency declaration having expired at the end of September, the focus is now on adaptions the City may need to make to its regulations until the pandemic is substantially resolved.  Assistant City Manager Will Norris and Planning Director Dustin Nilson presented to Councilors a long list of items they will be working on. from forming work groups to address the needs of the restaurant industry, evaluating the parklet program, and making City parks available for activities like exercise classes and youth activities to modifying the ordinance which requires disconnection of water service after two months of non-payment.  Norris says they are looking at changing the water service ordinance to give the staff more discretion.  Councilors gave their approval for staff to continue working on those subjects.  

Hood River City Councilors voted to change the in-lieu parking fee for residential and commercial development in the central downtown business, Heights, and Waterfront districts to a flat $3,000.  That’s as opposed to the current formula that many felt was discouraging opportunities to develop housing in the downtown area.  A first motion to make the change only in the downtown area failed, with Mayor Kate McBride saying the proposal that came out of a recent downtown parking study should make the fee the same all over the City.  Councilor Erick Haynie voted against it, pointing out the fee is significantly below the estimated cost of creating a parking space in Hood River.  The Council also approved a zone change from R-1 to R-2 for a 3.14 acre 18-lot subdivision in the area of 30th and Prospect.

The Dalles City Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday to deal with a resolution to pave the way for construction of pallet shelters for the homeless before the winter season arrives.  City Manager Julie Krueger told the Council on Monday evening the resolution will allow staff to move forward on putting the temporary shelter plan in place.  The site being considered for them is owned by the City and is near the municipal public works facility.  The Council will hold its special meeting Wednesday at noon via Zoom.  Log-in information will be available on the City of The Dalles’ website.

The White Salmon Planning Commission will conduct a hearing Wednesday on proposed amendments to City ordinances for wireless telecommunication towers and facilities.  Mayor Marla Keethler says the changes came about from citizen input while the City considered a lease option for a private company that wanted to put a cell tower on municipal land.  The public hearing will be held via Zoom, and begins at 5:30 p.m.  For log-in information, go to white-salmon.net.    

With one week to go before Election Day, Oregon election officials recommend that if you haven’t put your ballot in the mail by Tuesday, then you should deliver it to county election offices or a designated drop box.  Wasco County Clerk Lisa Gambee points out that is the recommendation they have made for all elections entering the final week.  She adds Oregonians can track their ballots through oregonvotes.org.  Gambee said every ballot return envelope has a bar code that is scanned as soon as County officials receive them.  Signature verifications are done, and if there is an issue a notice is sent the same day.  Starting on Wednesday officials begin to opening ballots and start processing and scanning them so they can have much data as possible ready for 8 p.m. on election night.  Gambee says they don’t have access to the tabulation numbers until 8 p.m. on Tuesday.  Election results are not certified for 20 days.

The Dalles City Council, Wasco County Commissioners, and representatives from other groups discussed mental health issues and how to deal with them, and there are plenty of hurdles to finding solutions.  Funding and inaction at the state level were discussed.  Mid-Columbia Center For Living board member and Hood River County Commissioner Karen Joplin said the state’s removal of intermediary mental health care 30 years ago to streamline services into the Oregon State Hospital has led to this problem.  Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill says Oregon has a broken mental health system without a continuity of care, but the local public safety coordinating council would like to create a stabilization center.  Wasco County Commissioner Steve Kramer pointed out the need to make advocacy to state legislators on this issue a top priority.

Klickitat County has started its 2021 budget process.  County Commissioners have been meeting with department heads over the last month, and their guidance to them was status quo.  Commissioner David Sauter says they weren’t looking for big cuts, and at the same time won’t be adding anything new.  Sauter said revenues from the regional landfills have come back from drops in April and May, cutting an expected drop of $1.5 million down to $800,000.  He said the County has a healthy emergency reserve, so Commissioners decided to back fill budgets from there.  

As the City of Bingen moves toward working on its 2021 budget, the impacts of COVID-19 figure to be felt.  Mayor Betty Barnes said sales tax revenues within the City are looking to be down about 70 percent.  Barnes also says revenues from building are also down, and water and sewer monies have decreased as well.  She did say they don’t have exact figures at this point, but expects to have them by their second meeting in November.

The Mt. Hood National Forest says after weeks of work, most trails outside of wilderness on the Zigzag Ranger District have been cleared of fallen logs, but visitors should continue to be aware of existing hazards such as fallen trees, hanging branches, loose rocks, and unstable slopes.  The western side of the Forest suffered extensive damage as the result of the Labor Day windstorm that brought down trees and fueled wildfires.  Numerous trails in the Mt. Hood Wilderness remain blocked or damaged.  The Timberline Trail and Pacific Crest Trail were hit particularly hard by the windstorm, with thousands of trees still down on the trails.  Zigzag District Ranger Bill Westbrook said crews have been working to clear trails, but with winter weather approaching many areas will be not cleared until late spring or summer.  Some recreation areas are open to hikers, as well as other non-motorized use, but are gated and remain closed to vehicles, including Trillium Lake and Old Maid Flat.  Campgrounds on the Forest are closed for the season.

Ballots continue to arrive in County elections offices with one week to go before Election Day.  In Hood River County 51.6% of the distributed ballots have been returned as of Monday…8,177 out of 15,833.  In Wasco County 41.5% of ballots have come back…7,560 out of 18,403.  Klickitat County on Monday reported that 23% of ballots have been returned.