The Goldendale City Council met for the last time in 2020 last night. In a brief meeting lasting less than a half hour, councilors passed a 2021 budget, made adjustments to the 2020 fourth quarter budget, and postponed action on a union contract and job descriptions to a future date. Under staff reports, Chief Hunsaker reported that in 2019. the department had received 3,338 calls. With just a few days left to go in 2020, call volume had dropped to 2,792. That’s more than a 16 percent drop, which Chief Hunsaker said was caused by a drop in all activity due to the pandemic. Good news came from city administrator Larry Bellamy:
“We did receive this week a request for a new subdivision in town, that will be a housing subdivision up off 18th Street, going off towards the east of Columbus. So that’s exciting news, with more to come over the next few weeks as we begin the process of reviewing their request and their application.”
Other news – councilor Myland Walling reported that the refurbished readerboard in the heart of downtown is operational.
And Mayor Mike Canon took a moment to point out what he called “unwarranted criticism” of the Mayor and Council for going along with Governor Inslee’s restrictions to reduce and prevent the spread of COVID-19:
“There’s a lot of people that don’t think we have to listen to the governor; we can go ahead and do what we please, and that is dead wrong. There is a central Washington farm that has just received the largest workers safety and health fines in state history, and it has all to do with protecting workers and preparing workers to be able to avoid the COVID virus. That farm was fined 2 million and 38 thousand dollars. These restrictions and requirements are for your good and the good of your neighbor and your family. We need to be very serious about this and very patient, more than anything else.”
Councilors wished everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year before signing off for 2020.