Hood River County Commissioners did not formally reach a consensus on a property tax rate for a five-year public safety levy to be placed on the May ballot during a worksession on Monday, but discussions indicated three of the five commissioners leaning toward a rate of 83 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.  Chair Mike Oates along with Les Perkins and Karen Joplin expressed their lean toward 83 cents, which Sheriff Matt English outlined would allow them to increase their roster of patrol deputies to 14 and give the department a better chance of reaching 24-hour coverage.  Rich McBride and Bob Benton were still leaning to a 78-cent rate, with McBride expressing his concern that if the rate is too high for taxpayers, they will be facing cutting one-point-five million dollars from the County’s 2020-21 budget.  Administrator Jeff Hecksel says staff will bring two drafts of the measure to their January 21 meeting to be voted on, one for each rate.  The 78-cent would eventually provide for 13 patrol deputies, not quite enough for 24-hour coverage.

 

The Dalles has reached the final list of five communities being considered to be featured by the “Small Business Revolution” program on Internet streaming services.  Deluxe Corporation, a small business financial services company that is behind the program, made the announcement this morning.  The other four towns to make the final round are Benicia, California, Fredonia, New York, Livingston, Montana. and Spearfish, South Dakota.  Online voting is now underway and will continue through next Tuesday.  Those wishing to vote can go to lovethedalles.com to link to the ballot website.  People can register one vote per unique email per device per day.  The “Small Business Revolution” program and Deluxe Corporation will invest $500,000 to improve six small businesses over eight episodes during the fifth season of the program, which is distributed on Amazon Prime and Hulu.

The Dalles City Council decided to send proposed changes to the municipal charter to voters in May.  Most significant of the changes would be to increase the Mayor’s term from two years to four, and eliminate zones for Council positions and make them all at-large.  Councilor Rod Runyon said the charter committee that worked on the revisions felt the mayoral term needed to be extended because of how the budget process works, noting by the time a mayor gets to a second budget cycle, they are already at the end of the term.  Mayor Rich Mays emphasized he did not take part in the committee deliberations on the charter, but added he concurred with that view.  After a suggestion for the public for term limits, Runyon noted they had minor discussions about that topic, but did not include it in the revisions.  The charter changes will be on the May 19 ballot.

The Hood River County Commission is holding a worksession this afternoon as they try to reach consensus on a plan for seeking a public safety levy on the May ballot.  The 3:30 worksession in the County Administration Building is intended to develop a final rate and other details to allow County Administrator Jeff Hecksel to bring back a draft to vote on at the panel’s January 21 meeting.  The Commission has until later in February to file a measure for the ballot, but Hecksel said the board’s February session is just one day before that deadline, a major reason for wanting to finish this month.

 

The Port of The Dalles and a group of supporters are working on a long-discussed plan for a dog park.  The park is proposed for a spit of land between the cruise dock and the Marina along the Riverfront Trail.  Port Executive Director Andrea Klaas says the piece of land is about five acres in size, and a group of supporters attended a recent Port meeting.  Klaas says dog park supporters will come back to the Port board with a plan next month.

Boys Basketball

Parkrose 73, Hood River Valley 64

The Dalles 47, St. Helens 45

Seton Catholic 79, Columbia 31

King’s Way Christian 80, Stevenson 41

Horizon Christian 51, Mitchell-Spray 37

South Wasco 88, Condon-Wheeler 54

Sherman 67, Ione-Arlington 49

Sherman 57, Echo 30

Perrydale 47, Dufur 37

Bickleton 61, Klickitat-Glenwood 34

Yakama Tribal 112, Klickitat-Glenwood 12

Yakama Tribal 88, Lyle-Wishram 22

Naches Valley 69, Goldendale 38

LaSalle (Yakima) 74, Goldendale 29

 

Girls Basketball

Hood River Valley 46, Parkrose 31

St. Helens 57, The Dalles 44

South Wasco 54, Condon-Wheeler 33

Damascus Christian 42, South Wasco 35

Perrydale 41, Dufur 17

Echo 54, Sherman 24

Ione-Arlington 39, Sherman 25

Naches Valley 50, Goldendale 33

LaSalle (Yakima) 69, Goldendale 22

 

Boys Wrestling

The Dalles finished fifth at the Bob Beisell Dual Meet Invitational at Forest Grove.  The Riverhawks nipped Roosevelt 36-34 in the fifth place match.  Mauricio Carrera won three matches on the day for The Dalles.

 

Girls Wrestling

Melanie Humbert of Stevenson and Lauraine Smith of Hood River Valley each won four of six matches to have the best performances of area schools at the Kelso Girls Tournament.

 

Alpine Skiing

Sarah Davies of Hood River Valley was sixth and Lucy Booth of The Dalles 12^th in the girls’ portion of the Mt. Hood League Giant Slalom at Ski Bowl.  In the boys’ race Hugh Dalbey was HRV’s top finisher in 13^th while Henry Perez led The Dalles in 21^st.

 

It’s going to be a busy Monday for governmental meetings.  The Hood River County Commission will hold a worksession at 3:30 p.m. in the County Administration Building as it continues to hash out details of a ballot measure to ask voters in May for a levy to help fund public safety services.  The Dalles City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. in its chambers inside The Dalles City Hall, with adoption of a short term rentals ordinance that has been discussed for a number of weeks on the agenda, along with a resolution to refer to voters revisions to the City Charter.  And the Hood River City Council meets at 6 p.m. in their chambers at Hood River City Hall.  Their proceedings will include presentation of a recently completed downtown parking study including 31 short- and long-term proposed strategies for dealing with increasing demand, and potential approval of a $1.2 million purchase of about seven acres off of Rand Road for development of affordable housing.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued a $1.3 million fine to an aluminum recycler in The Dalles for multiple violations of air pollution regulations.  A statement issued Thursday by the DEQ says the fine assessed to Hydro Extrusion USA represents the largest ever issued by the agency for an air quality violation.  The DEQ statement says that in April, inspectors found that the company, which is owned by Norway-based Norsk Hydro, had been improperly melting down coated aluminum for over a year.  The Dalles facility was only allowed to melt down “clean charge” material free of grease, oil and other coatings.  Hydro Extrusion was ordered to stop processing unclean materials, upgrade its tracking programs and submit monthly reports to the state to verify it was in compliance with the law.  DEQ officials say monitoring has improved, and the company has certified with the state that it no longer processes the prohibited material.  The company did not immediately respond to a request from the Oregonian/OregonLive for comment, and has 20 days to appeal.

Swimming

Hood River Valley’s boys and girls defeated Pendleton in an Intermountain Conference dual meet at the Hood River Aquatic Center, with the boys winning 94-72 and the girls taking a 116-54 decision.  David Hecksel and Luke Southall won two events apiece for the HRV boys, while Sarah Arpag won twice for the Eagle girls.

 

Girls Basketball

Columbia 56, Seton Catholic 45

King’s Way Christian 72, Stevenson 38

Damascus Christian 54, Trout Lake 47

 

Wrestling

Culver 52, Hood River Valley 27:  Maverick Geller, Andrew McCreary, and Danny Chavarria recorded wins by fall for HRV.

The Klickitat County Board of Adjustment this week approved a conditional use permit for Columbia Cascade Housing Corporation to build a 52-unit assisted living and memory care facility on 6.1 acres in White Salmon near Columbia High School.  Klickitat County Commissioner and CCHC vice-chair David Sauter says the permit clears the way for CCHC to proceed with the project, even though there remains funding to be put together to make it happen.  Sauter it optimistic that will happen.  The proposed facility would consist of sixteen studio memory care residential units, thirty studio assisted living units, six one-bedroom assisted living units, public and private dining areas served by a commercial kitchen, lobbies, activity spaces, lounges, offices and breakroom for staff, storage and other support spaces.