Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
At yesterday’s meeting, Klickitat County Commissioners were asked to explain why two of them wouldn’t give a second to Todd Andrews motion for a six-month moratorium on data centers:
“I believe moratoriums should be used for certain reason. If the legislature passes something and we have no time to react…I believe we have plenty of time to react right now, and we need to be leaders and do the ordinance.”
That was chair Ron Ihrig. Commissioner Lori Zoller responded
“If we decide moratorium, we have to go the route of legal counsel look at that – yes or no – wait for those answers to come back, and then if it’s yes, go ahead with the process you were going to do anyhow, which is address the ordinance.”
Both stressed that none of the data center proposals would be ready to apply before the county could create an ordinance to deal with the subject, and Commissioner Zoller added that there was both a time and expense cost to a moratorium.
And Prosecuting Attorney Rebecca Cranston announced the county had chosen local resident Larry Cantrell from a large pool of applicants for the public records officer.
“Larry started last week. We are working on getting him on all the necessary programs for public records processing. I know the departments and offices are very excited and anxious to have that transition take place, but we’re trying to make sure we have our I’s dotted and our T’s crossed as much as possible. Given the situation, we’re also exploring software, which we’ll likely be coming to you with a proposal shortly.”
Cantrell said he retired out of the military in 2015 after a 30-year career and went to work for the state as an auditor and benefits officer.
Earlier in the meeting, two different department heads at different times yesterday reminded commissioners on the value of applying for grants. Public Works Director Jeff Hunter put it this way:
“If you don’t have it, you can’t spend it. If you have it and they change their mind, it doesn’t hurt anything.”
Senior Services Director Sharon Carter added this:
“If we don’t apply for the grants and then actually get service, we’re paying taxes in for things that we’re not actually getting any benefit from.”
That’s the theory attributed to Wayne Gretzky – “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”