Hood River City Finance Director Will Norris told City Councilors on Monday that the City’s financial health is recovering well after COVID-19 had negatively impacted reveunes.  Norris says the first quarter fiscal report shows an estimated pandemic total revenue loss of $1.83 million has been almost completely offset by American Rescue Plan Act funds.  He adds many revenue streams have returned to normal.  Norris noted current projections show the City would end the fiscal year with an ending fund balance of a little over $4 million, primarily thanks to the federal recovery funds.

Wasco County Commissioner Scott Hege says he sees the County’s role in doing community outreach surrounding Mid-Columbia Medical Center’s proposed concept of building a new hospital campus at Kramer Field and constructing a new athletic complex on 35 acres of former Northwest Aluminum land will be focused on Kramer Field.  Hege points out there are a lot of moving parts in MCMC’s vision, and a number of different parties involved that have to be considered.  The Wasco County Commission will discuss how to do community outreach on the subject at a 1 p.m. meeting Wednesday, with log-in information available on the County website.  Hege emphasizes even when the Strategic Investment Program deal that would make the 35 acre property available goes through, any movement on development would still be substantially down the road.    

The Oregon Department of Transportation is shifting its scheduled rock blasts for the Mitchell Point Tunnel on the Historic Columbia River Highway Trail from Tuesday and Thursday to just Wednesday this week due to the Veterans Day holiday.  Crews will do rock blasting and rolling slowdowns between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesday.  During the work, travelers on Interstate 84 in both directions between Cascade Locks and Memaloose State Park will be slowed down to create a 20-minute window where no traffic is near the blasting site.  The regular Tuesday and Thursday schedule should return next week.

Hood River County has moved to the top of the state in the percentage of people 18 and older who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.  According to Oregon Health Authority, 82.8 percent of Hood River County residents over the age of 18 have received at least one dose.  Washington, Multnomah, and Lincoln counties are the others currently above the 80 percent mark.  Wasco County is at 70.6 percent, Sherman County at 65.5 percent, and Gilliam County at 48.9 percent.

The Next Door is developing a program to train Spanish-speaking community health workers and others in mental health issues so they can help their clients.  Alisha Swift says Valle de Verde, or “Green Valley,” will have a 12-module curriculum developed by The Next Door staff including suicide prevention, stress in arriving in a new culture, coping, and general mental health topics.  Swift said they are targeting community health workers for the program that will be done in Spanish, but it will be open to anyone who speaks Spanish.  She adds the program is still being refined after it was tested internally within The Next Door.

The Dalles Police Department says a scam that has re-surfaced has been targeting citizens that are supportive of the police department and other law enforcement organizations and causes.  In a statement, the Department says the solicitations are worded in a way that makes the reader think The Dalles Police Department and/or other police organizations are somehow a part of the solicitation and receiving benefits.  The Dalles Police Department says it will not solicit for money by way of a mailers, newspaper articles, emails or phone calls for benefit of the department.  The department has participated in various fundraising activities for causes outside of the department but they can easily and always be verified by any member of the department.  The Dalles Police Department strongly encourages any citizen that is solicited in this kind of way to contact the department for guidance.

Hood River County officials have begun to explore the long-discussed concept of an Odell urban unincorporated community boundary.  The County has looked at this in the past, but a state rule prohibits an urban unincorporated area within ten miles of an established urban growth boundary such as Hood River.  County Commission Chair Mike Oates says the continued housing issues in the Hood River Valley has led them to revisit the issue, with county and state officials meeting recently to discuss the subject.  Oates did say two other areas in Oregon have received exceptions from the Legislature, and the County is asking the Department of Land Conservation and Development to consider it. Oates added County Commissioners will discuss the subject at an upcoming meeting.

Clean-up of the Port of The Dalles Marina in the wake of July’s major fire has been completed.  Port Executive Director Andrea Klaas says there were no major surprises in the process.  Klaas says the next step is to plan for replacing the docks lost in the fire.  She says the timeline on getting that done will be lengthy, with parts probably requiring a year to arrive.  Klaas says there were also electrical, water, and sewer systems that were lost in the fire.

The Hood River County Health Department on Tuesday will conduct a clinic to administer doses of the Pfizer Pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to children age 5 to 11.  It will be from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Health Department office on 1109 June Street.  This clinic will be conducted on a drop-in basis, with no appointments needed.  North Central Public Health District has scheduled vaccination clinics for those 12 and up on Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Sherman County Fairgrounds in Moro, and on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. at the Ft. Dalles Readiness Center.  To make an appointment for those events, call 541-506-2600 or go to ncphd.org.  And Klickitat County has scheduled a COVID-19 vaccine clinic on Wednesday from 10 a.m.to 4 p.m. at the County Fairgrounds in Goldendale.  Go to klickitatcounty.org or call 509-773-4565 to get an appointment, but walk-ins are welcome.

The Port of Hood River says planned 30-minute total closures of the bridge to allow for helicopter service to an overhead utility line have been pushed back from this Wednesday to November 17.  There will still be three closures of the bridge at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 12:30 p.m. on November 17.  Intermittent, single-lane closures for the semi-annual maintenance and repair welding to the steel grate bridge deck began today and will continue through November 24.  Flaggers will be on the bridge directing traffic around the moving work zone.  Motorists should expect delays of approximately 15 to 25 minutes throughout the day, depending on traffic volume.