Video courtesy of Nancy Kusky of Goldendale TV. Please subscribe to her YouTube Channel.
The people spoke, and the Powers That Be listened. That was the loud and clear message from last night’s Goldendale City Council meeting. Two weeks ago, at the previous meeting, a number of citizens showed up to testify against a county proposal to close part of Grant Street to create additional parking spaces next to the Klickitat County courthouse. At that meeting, the council tabled the proposal until last night’s meeting. When the county returned, it was a revised proposal that would not require vacating Grant Street but would involve moving a sidewalk and turning a portion of the street into two rows of diagonal parking. The city voted unanimously to reject the earlier proposal and to approve the revised plan. County Engineer Gordon Kelsey summed it up this way:
“We have a one-way off of Court Street that exits onto Grant, so I think this meets most of the requirements. I couldn’t meet everything like everybody wanted, but I think this gets the majority of the things covered that were discussed last time, and we only lost 12 spaces, so that’s not too bad.”
This year marks the sesquicentennial of the City of Goldendale, founded in 1872. Part of the celebration involves opening a time capsule, as Councilor Dave Jones explained:
“The time capsule was buried in 1972 and was part of the town’s centennial celebration. It was to be opened for the sesquicentennial, which is this year. The event will be the kickoff for Community Days, scheduled for Friday, July 8 at 6 p.m. At the time capsule event, the contents of the capsule will be revealed. We will also be burying a new time capsule, and it’ll be opened 50 years from now for the bicentennial of Goldendale.”
And the council passed several money proposals. They include $977,000 for the Byers Street road and water improvement. When the bids came in higher than the engineer’s estimate, the Transportation Improvement Board agreed to add another $100,000 to the city’s grant request. Councilors also approved $10,000 for an upgraded computer system for the wastewater treatment plant, and $8,000 for commemorative coins honoring the city’s sesquicentennial. The cost of the coins will be repaid by selling the coins for a small profit.
In other news, weather permitting, on Thursday, the city will repave the part of Simcoe Street which was recently excavated to run a sewer line across the street.