After some reluctance over the years…Hood River County is joining with the Area Commission on Transportation that also includes Multnomah…Clackamas…and Washington counties.  The panel is an off-shoot of the Oregon Transportation Commission…and County Commission Chair Ron Rivers says Hood River County had been reluctant to join because of a good working relationship with the Oregon Department of Transportation, and a fear of getting lost behind the three larger metropolitan-area counties.  Rivers says the makeup of the voting members of the group is such that he no longer has that concern.  But he adds not being a part of a group can leave Hood River County on the outside looking in when it comes to state funding.  The other three counties had also never formed an area commission.  Rivers says by-laws are being set up to determine how the commission will operate.