The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON-2016 was an eventful year in Dayton and for Columbia County.

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Among the top stories were passage of the Dayton School District capital projects levy and maintenance and operations levy, after their failure in 2015. The four year $1.46 million M&O levy was approved in February.

The M&O levy provides 25 percent of the district's budget, and helps support athletic programs, and food services. The levy will be used not only for ongoing maintenance and repairs, and to counter the effects of inflation associated with personnel costs, supplies, and other operating costs, but will be used to hire a K-12 school counselor in the fall of 2017, which is high on the district's list of priorities.

The first collection of the capital levy will be in the spring of 2017, and those funds will be used to make necessary repairs to the aging school facilities, including installing security cameras, making repairs to roofs, improving the irrigation system, installing exterior doors, and replacing the asphalt at the bus loading zone and on the elementary playground. Upgrading the school's outdated communication system is also high on the list. Funds are also included in the capital levy for ongoing technology improvements.

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Groundbreaking for the Dayton General Hospital renovation and enhancement project took place on June 9.

Phase I of the renovation project included creating a new, and larger, physical therapy dept., with the addition of a therapy pool, creating a new pharmacy, and a new gift shop, all of which are on schedule to be completed by the end of 2016.

The therapy pool siding and interior painting, and final inspections of the rehabilitation area will take place during the last week in December.

Phase II will begin in January, with demolition scheduled for the laundry and radiology departments on Jan. 11.

Voters approved a $5.5 million dollar bond for the hospital renovation project in 2014. The hospital renovation and enhancement project consists of four phases, and total project completion is expected by the end of 2017.

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In June, 2016, the Port of Columbia and a new rail operator reached a three-year lease agreement for maintenance and operations of the rail lines, so that Columbia County products can once again be shipped to distant markets by rail.

Frontier Rail, LLC, will begin making repairs to the eight rail bridges, and the 39 miles of track between Dayton and Walla Walla, and help to develop a customer base.

The Port of Columbia has been awarded two rail bank grants, one in 2015 for bridge repairs, and another in 2016 for rail siding at the Blue Mountain Station.

Currently, the rail operator is in the process of gathering estimates and awarding contracts for those projects.

The Palouse and Coulee City Shortline, under former rail operator WATCO, made its last run in 2012.

The newly named Columbia/Walla Walla Shortline will be operational in June 2017, according to Port officials.

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The Dayton Development Task Force, a member of the Washington Main Street Program, has been hard at work in 2016.

The DDTF has received funding and completed several projects in the Main Street corridor, through utilization of 2016 B&O Tax Credit Funding.

Snapdragon Floral and Gifts, the Hammerdown building, Chief Spring's Pizza, and the Liberty Theater Annex have all received upgrades to buildings and facades through the B&O matching fund program.

Funds from the B&O Tax and Utility Tax credit program helped with the design and construction of the new public restroom at Caboose Park, which opened adjacent to the Dayton Historic Depot in time for Mule Mania over the Memorial Day weekend.

The DDTF is also working on a regional wayfinding signage project to install seven signs in downtown Dayton, which will include a visitor kiosk with maps, and six pedestrian signs to direct visitors to local attractions.

A master plan for Caboose Park and the Commercial Street corridor has also been developed by the DDTF in 2016.

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The Blue Mountain Regional Trails – Ridges, Towns, and Rivers plan to create a regional network of non-motorized trails got underway in 2016.

The cities of College Place, Dayton, Milton-Freewater, Waitsburg and Walla Walla have joined forces with Columbia, Umatilla, and Walla Walla counties, county health departments, the Ports of Walla Walla and Columbia, the Walla Walla Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the Community Council of Walla Walla to kick off the development of the trails plan, which will span all jurisdictions.

The BMRT-RTR has recently been awarded a grant from the National Park Service for technical expertise and support, to help prepare a blueprint for the project.

The trails plan was inspired by the Community Council of Walla Walla's 2015 study on enhancing outdoor opportunities, and by citizen input through several locally held community conversations.

A trail planning meeting will be held at 5:30 on January 30, at the Best Western Hotel, in Dayton, to receive citizen input into regional trail locations.

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A county fairgrounds facilities planning committee formed in September of 2016 to investigate revenues, expenditures, and trends for fairgrounds facilities, and to increase utilization of the facilities for additional community functions. The 2016 Dayton Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet in November was the first event to be held in the newly renovated Fairgrounds Pavilion.

County planning assistant Meagan Bailey is at the helm of the committee, which has been meeting since September, 2016.

Bailey will be presenting Phase I results for review when the committee meets next at 5:30 in the Youth Building, at the fairgrounds, on Jan. 18.

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The county's new transfer station is up and running in 2016, after a fire in July of 2015 destroyed most of the operational equipment and seriously damaged the main building.

P.O.W. Contracting in Pasco was awarded the contract to build the new $430,000 facility, which was completed in November.

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Also noteworthy in 2016 is the addition of a 30,000 square foot building at Seneca Foods, Inc, to help with additional seed storage, due to the doubling of seed production at the Seneca facility in 2017. An additional thirty full-time employees will be hired, and a second shift will be added, according to Chris Shires, director of seed operations.

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Not all of the events that took place in 2016 were quite as uplifting as those above.

In August, the City of Dayton filed a temporary restraining order against Columbia County, and the county prosecuting attorney, to compel the PA's office to continue providing municipal prosecuting services, per an interlocal agreement between the city and the county.

County Prosecuting Attorney Rea Culwell refused to provide some municipal services after the county disagreed with disbursement of funds her office received through a state office of crime victim advocacy grant.

Early in August, Culwell asked the commissioners for permission to use the grant for salary increases and increases in hours for some of her staff.

The county commissioners initially agreed to some of Culwell's request, but stated that salary increases for county employees would be addressed during the 2017 preliminary budget talks.

Courtesy Photo

The Port of Columbia reached a three-year lease agreement with Frontier Rail, LLC to make repairs to tracks between Dayton and Walla Walla.

In November, the city dropped its lawsuit against the county and the PA and hired its own prosecuting attorney.

The county is on the monetary hook to provide the city with prosecutorial services and will pay the city about $2,000 per month for those services, until a new interlocal agreement can be negotiated in 2017.

The county must also pay for its own legal representation to the tune of around $15,000, all of which has added to some 2017 budget woes for the county.

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Also in 2016, the City of Dayton's two local register historic districts were dissolved, at the request of property owners in the South Side local register historic district, and in the Washington Street local register historic district.

The districts were formed in 2009, but were unpopular with the majority of property owners who viewed them as an infringement of their individual property rights.