Klickitat County Commissioners met yesterday. Some technical troubles in the early going forced them to take a recess to reboot their streaming equipment. That may be why the public comment section, usually a lively session featuring a dozen or more people, was limited to just four commenters.
Two items of interest to the citizens were touched on by Public Works Director Jeff Hunter, who updated commissioners on a number of projects around the county:
“Fair went well. It was busy, but it did go well as far as our side of things. Jail vents – the work has started, and we’re about a third of the way done. So we’ve been working through the Sheriff’s Office, working through that.”
Speaking of the jail, HR Director Robb Van Cleave said his department would be setting up interviews for the new jail director position.
“We have six applications to date, where we’ve had 1,270 people actually click on the posting and review it. So it’s getting a lot of reviews, just not a lot of applications, though I expect we’ll get more towards the end of the posting period. But it has been up for 23 days.
He said a five-person panel will do the interviews. It will include the three commissioners, Van Cleave as HR director, Jose Briones, the consultant sent by the insurance company, and White Salmon Police Chief Mike Heppner.
And after all the changes in recent months, commissioners have agreed to a public town hall meeting, Thursday, September 26, both by Zoom and in person at the Commissioners’ meeting room, starting at 6 p.m. The public can comment on any topic that interests them, and there will be no moderator screening questions. The hours are listed from just 6 to 7 pm, but if there’s enough interest, commissioners say they will be extended.