Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
The Goldendale City Council dealt with several subjects in a 40-minute meeting last night. That included an update from the Mid-Columbia Housing Authority, which serves Wasco, Sherman and Hood River counties in Oregon and Klickitat and Skamania counties in Washington. Executive Director Karen Long said the agency provides several key services to Goldendale
04 21 26 Long :17 “Here in Goldendale, we serve about 110 households. Our average payment is between six and seven hundred dollars per household per month, so it’s about 60 to 70 thousand dollars that’s going directly to private landlords in the city of Goldendale every single month.”
The agency owns 24 properties with 435 low-income housing units in its five-county service area, but only 7 units in Goldendale. Jonathan Lewis, who is Goldendale’s representative on the Housing Authority board, said they hoped to add to that total, as large-scale county developments on the horizon will exert tremendous pressure on the local housing market:
“We could see steelworkers at a pumped hydro place taking up all the affordable housing in Goldendale pretty quickly and driving the costs up. So looking at some resources that we have to try and get in front of that is super important.”
The Authority also offers first-time home buyer education, one-on-one counseling, limited down payment assistance, foreclosure counseling, minor home repair programs, and community land trust models for homeownership. That last program reduces cost to the homebuyer by having a public trust own the land, so that they buyer only pays for the home.
In other business, Fire Chief Noah Halm reported receiving a new grant.
“We were awarded a little over $16,000 for outfitting our humvee that we’re getting put together. So that will purchase a pump, a tank and a hose reel.”
And Police Chief Mike Smith had a mixed report. On the positive side, they were able to fill the last opening in the department with a new hire, who will be able to start once he’s completed the state academy training.
On the negative side, A lucrative deal for a new patrol car announced at a previous meeting fell through because the chief had to wait for council approval for any expenditure over $50,000. With the delay let the dealer sold the car to another city. Originally, Smith announced that another city had ordered the car, with $10,000 worth of additional equipment, but it had arrived in the wrong color. It happened to be the right color for Goldendale, and the city could basically get the car without paying extra for the pre-installed equipment. But the delay allowed another city to swoop in and steal the deal before last night’s council meeting. Councilors did approve the purchase of a regular price Ford police interceptor without the additional equipment for $60,000, and promised to have the ordinance committee consider raising the discretionary spending limit for the chief.