Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
Yesterday’s meeting of the Klickitat County Commissioners was mostly routine. Planning Director Scott Edelman said the Planning Commission would have a recommendation for the Commissioners on the critical areas ordinance after their April 21 meeting, and reported this on the solar and battery energy storage system, otherwise known as BESS ordinance:
04 025 Scott :15 “The project advisory committee had our second meeting on March 26. It’s going much slower than we had hoped, but for all good reasons. This isn’t a rubber stamp committee; this is a committee that digs in, and is very intelligent in looking at it, so this is going to take longer than expected.”
And Economic Development Interim Director Richard Foster said recent events on the political scene have had the wrong sort of trickle down effect:
04 02 25 Foster :22 “Reductions to the strategic reserve fund, elimination of state support for Washington small business development centers, elimination of the small business training programs, reductions to the small business resilience network program, reductions to tourism programs, reductions in regional manufacturing and pre-development programs, reductions in….(fade)”
Nevertheless, he said, that would not stop them doing everything they could to boost economic prosperity.