Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
The highlight of The Dalles City Council was not one of the main items on the agenda. It was instead, part of Mayor Rich Mays’ goal to give recognition to outstanding people in the community. This choice was one of his best, and a standing room only crowd showed up to honor Corliss Marsh. Mayor Mays noted that she had served on the library board since she was appointed in 1999, and also supported the Friends of the Library, the Library Foundation and taught at the library. And he listed the many more ways she served the community:
“The Columbia Gorge Habitat for Humanity, The Dalles Farmer’s Market, The Floozies, the Senior Center Board, The Columbia Gorge Community College Foundation, the Wahtonka Free Pantry, the Community Backpack, the NORCOR Resource Coalition, and her church. She has served on the city’s budget committee and interview panels. Through her quilt-making, she has brought comfort to patients at the Celilo Cancer Center, to babies, to veterans and to hospital patients.”
The crowd jumped to its feet and sustained a full minute standing ovation.
True to her tenacity, Corliss had one reply:
“You forgot the mahjong (laughter) I want to make The Dalles the mahjong capitol of the world”
And if anyone can do it, Corliss can.
The majority of the meeting was devoted to two items. The first was an appeal from a determination that the man had junk in his yard and was required to clean it up. Otherwise, the city would hire a crew to do it and bill him for that cost. Ultimately, the council voted that there was a nuisance and gave him three days to complete the cleanup.
And the second item was a report on the city streets, which are deteriorating faster than the city can repair them, at the same time as the prices of all the supplies and equipment needed to do so are rising dramatically. Public Works offered several scenarios to raise the extra funds, and the council asked the staff to bring back several proposals with costs attached.
And City Manager Matthew Klebes reported that the dog license response has been good:
“Thus far, and this is since the effective date of the license requirement July 1st, we have 288 licenses, and we have generated approximately $11,000 in license fees. These fees support the animal control program, and most notably, our partners at the Columbia Gorge Humane Society.