The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON— At last week’s regular meeting of the Board of Columbia County Commissioners, Emergency Management Services Director Lisa Caldwell said radio equipment malfunctions continue to cause county-wide disruptions in communication and that public safety is being compromised as a result.

The county is moving forward with a public hearing in the commissioners’ chambers on Nov. 20, at 11 a.m. regarding levy certification for the proposed one-tenth of one-percent county-wide sales tax to be used to replace the outdated equipment and to provide for maintenance of it.

The equipment would be purchased from Zetron Public Safety Solutions in the amount of $108,646.82. Caldwell said the contract amount provides for three annual payments of $39,072.72 at an interest rate of 3.895% with payments beginning in Sept., 2018, or in one year from funding, or in five annual payments of $24,401.59 at an interest rate of 3.995% beginning in Sept., 2018, or one year from funding.

Caldwell is also seeking some proposed changes to help dispatchers in the EMS department. She explained to the commissioners that dispatchers are providing a highly technical service, at a great personal cost, in the form of prolonged physical and emotional stress.

“Every phone call for them is their worst day,” she said.

She is asking the commissioners to consider a decrease in hours for the dispatchers to 36 hours a week, with four days off between shifts, giving them time to recover. This will provide the same level of coverage in the department, she said. Dispatchers would receive the same rate of pay they currently receive.

Caldwell also asked if she could purchase some office furniture to improve flow in the department.

Planning and Building Director Kim Lyonnais and County Prosecutor Rea Culwell came before the BOCC last week to address how the state Supreme Court Hirst ruling might impact permitting for new wells in Columbia County. Lyonnais said his department has two applications pending and he is seeking clarification about associated risks before permits are granted.

Culwell said the court has made a decision that is too broad and sweeping and that there could be some risks to the county, if doing business as usual.

“If you dig a well, you have to be able to stand up in court and defend,” Culwell told the BOCC.

Lyonnais and Culwell have been looking into how other counties are handling the issue, and it was generally agreed for the county to proceed cautiously with processing new well permits, until the state establishes what the Hirst decision means specifically to Columbia County.

The state has set a new fee schedule for public records requests. With that in mind, the commissioners adopted a measure to amend the county’s fee schedule in line with the new legislation.

Also last week, the county approved a revision to building codes regarding the Miller Mountaintop subdivision, and they approved the term “criminal” to be removed from code enforcement language.