Watch: 3/01 Goldendale City Council Meeting

The Goldendale City Council met Monday night and moved briskly through a moderately complex. One item was postponed. Councilors were scheduled to approve an agreement with the Washington State Department of Transportation to repave the entrance onto Simcoe Drive from Highway 97, but the state hadn’t completed the agreement in time for the meeting. Originally the deadline was set at March 4, but WSDOT agreed to postpone that the deadline to the following Monday. So city administrator Larry Bellamy made this announcement:

“Is going to have a special meeting on the 8th of March at 7 o’clock to do at least the one thing, which would be to consider and take action on whether or not we would participate in the paving project for the intersection of Highway 97 and Simcoe Drive.”

Councilors did ratify a new contract with city employees, including a two percent cost of living raise. They also affirmed the events committee’s decision regarding requests for tourism funding from the hotel and motel room tax. In previous years collections averaged $50,000 to $55,000. Due to the pandemic reducing travel, collections fir 2020 were down 20 percent. There were four applicants this year. None of them received the full amount of their request as City Administrator Bellamy explained:

“The Brighter Goldendale Christmas Committee requested $4,000; the recommendation was $3,000. Goldendale Motorsports Association would be putting on two events: the Community Days Show and Shine and the Concours de Maryhill. They requested $8,000 and were recommended to award $7,000. Farmer’s Market requested $1,500 and the recommendation was to award them $1,000 and the Goldendale Chamber of Commerce was a $35,000 request which was finally recommended at $31,000 for a total of $42,000.”

And Mayor Mike Canon announced that the city is working on a plan to allow the council to meet in person with the public attending by phone or Zoom. He said he hoped to have the announcement cleared by the legal department in time for consideration at the city’s special meeting next Monday.