Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 788
Emergency repairs only, in 2021 DAYTON—The Board of County Commissioners approved and adopted several resolutions presented by the Public Works Director Chuck Eaton at their December 11 meeting. Resolutions include the County Arterial Preservation Program, the Annual Construction Program, The Capital Facility Plan, and the 2021-26 Six-year Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP). Eaton said 31 projects, a higher number than usual, are listed on the TIP. The increased number of projects is due to d...
Budget includes water/sewer utility rate increases DAYTON—The Dayton City Council adopted the 2021 City Budget at their meeting on Tuesday, Dec.1, and Mayor Zac Weatherford presented the following: Built into the Budget are proposed water and sewer utility rate increases for all service types. The average residential customer will see an increase in their utility bill of $10.65 each month. Weatherford said the City Council delayed an increase in these rates in 2020 in exchange for deferring c...
DAYTON—Jennie Dickinson, the Executive Director for the Port of Columbia, is on the board for the Palouse Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RTPO). She is asking the community to provide input to a Regionwide Active Transportation Plan being developed by the RTPO. Dickinson said the RPTO is developing a website for the Regional Active Transportation Plan. The site will include maps of city sidewalks, showing gaps to fill to connect walking routes. There will also be maps with r...
DAYTON—For the past few months, Columbia County Health System (CCHS) CEO Shane McGuire has been talking to the Hospital District Board of Commissioners about five small works roster1 projects that could improve the hospital’s ability to treat COVID-19 patients and help the Health System with its response to a potential surge of COVID-19 in the community. Cost for the five projects is estimated at 1.1 million and are listed below in order of priority: 1. Upgrade the currently undersized hospital...
I am an eastern Oregon gal and my most precious holiday memories are the times spent at my grandparents’ homes in the farming community of Keating, east of Baker City. In the 1960s, we didn’t have many real toys to play with. What was lacking in material wealth was made up for by using our imagination. Playing “store” with my brother, Jim, in my grandmother’s country store on Hwy. 86, and looking for Easter eggs my uncle hid in a haystack on Easter Sunday, are two of my favorite memories....
DAYTON—WSU Extension Agent Paul Carter is retiring, effective Jan. 4, after over fifteen years of service to Columbia County. Carter came to Dayton in April 2005, as a 52-year-old college graduate, from southern Indiana. He said he was looking for an Extension position somewhere in the west. He found that opportunity in Columbia County. “For me, it could not have turned out better, one of my passions is farming, and this position has given me the opportunity to be very close to that occupation a...
DAYTON—The Dayton School District board of directors will meet on Friday to determine whether students can safely return to in-person learning on Dec. 7. The board met with Superintendent Guy Strot and Columbia County Public Health Administrator Martha Lanman over the weekend and decided the District would remain in distance learning mode this week. The board agreed to switch students to remote learning on Monday, Nov. 23, because of an uptick in COVID-19 in the community. On Wednesday, Nov. 2...
DAYTON—On Sunday, November 22, the Columbia County Public Health Department reported sixteen new positive cases of COVID-19; two cases are associated with Dayton schools. Dayton schools were closed on Monday, and the Dayton School District board of directors met Monday evening to discuss next steps. It was decided to move to distance learning on Tuesday and re-evaluate the situation over the holiday weekend, as more data becomes available. On Monday, November 23, there were 26 tests pending r...
DAYTON—Mason Finney, a senior at Dayton High School and the ASB public relations manager, spoke at the Dayton School District board meeting last week. Finney said the middle school and high school students have voted for their choice of DW Athletic Combine mascot, and the ASB counted the ballots last week. The ASB is organizing the process under the direction of HS/MS Principal Kristina Brown. The top two votes will be selected, with a final vote sometime in the New Year. Finney also d...
DAYTON—An employee working in the Booker Rest Home tested positive for COVID-19 last week, which led to mandatory testing of all staff and all residents on Friday, November 20, and again the following Monday. Columbia County Health System CEO Shane McGuire said the recent uptick of positive cases in the community would place an additional strain on the ability to protect nursing home residents and other vulnerable populations. On Sunday, the Columbia County Public Health reported 16 positive c...
DAYTON—A new five-year Interlocal Agreement (ILA) with the County for Law Enforcement, Dispatch, and District Court services was the main topic of discussion at the Dayton City Council meeting last Thursday. According to the ILA terms, the City will pay the County an additional $200,000 for those services, beginning on Jan. 1, 2021, with rates adjusted annually. The total amount paid to the County will be roughly half of the City’s $1.2 million Current Expense Budget. Because of the inc...
DAYTON—One hundred and nineteen people placed bids during the online silent auction for Brix and Brew Home Edition. Chamber manager Molly Weatherill-Tate said over $24,000 was raised during the event, held from Oct. 30 through Nov. 7. The one-and-a-half-hour live auction took place on Zoom the evening of Nov. 6., featuring Mike Himmelberger as the auctioneer and Betty Lou Crothers as his “sidekick.” Emily Davis played the part of Vanna White. The event took place in front of a winery scene...
DAYTON-The Town That Still Believes still does, but because of the COVID-19 situation, things will look a little different this year. Instead of the usual Christmas Kickoff over Thanksgiving weekend, Dayton Chamber Manager Molly Weatherill-Tate and her assistant Lauren Parsons have been working on plans for Believe! A Small-Town Celebration. This year, the Dayton Chamber will not be able to hold the indoor Festival of Trees; however, they are offering local businesses the loan of one of the...
DAYTON—Columbia County and the City of Dayton have reached an agreement regarding the terms of an Interlocal Agreement (ILA) for Law Enforcement services, Emergency Management/Dispatch services, and District Court services, which the County provides to the City. County and City officials, and their legal representatives, spent all day last Thursday working out the details. The meeting was presided over by Walla Walla Attorney Michael S. Mitchell. Last year the County requested a substantial rais...
DAYTON—After several years of wrangling with Medicaid managed care organizations for underpayments to the Hospital District, Molina Healthcare has come through with a substantial payment. CCHS CEO Shane McGuire told the hospital board of commissioners, at the end of October, about a $524,000 payment to the Health System from Molina Healthcare. Kudos go to Cheryl Skiffington, the District’s Revenue Cycle Coordinator, and Wendy Wilkins, who has been contracted to negotiate and maintain payer con...
DAYTON— In March of 2018, Columbia County, the City of Dayton, and the Town of Starbuck entered into interlocal agreements for the 2019 Regional Comprehensive Plan Update, with Columbia County taking the lead. The County Planning Department was recently notified about being selected to receive an Award for Excellence in Planning in the 2020 Washington State Awards Program from the Planning Association of Washington (PAW) and the American Planning Association. The letter reads: “The jury was imp...
DAYTON-Mandi Wendt has announced the closure of the Weinhard Café and Bakery. Wendt said in a Facebook post, there is more to running a small restaurant than just serving people. The time spent planning the menu, cleaning, maintaining the building and equipment, and doing the book work is enough to make a person question why anyone on earth would want to. "I can tell you why a person wants to do it, though. It is because they love doing it," she said. "After seven years of ownership, my love...
DAYTON—There are six new cases of COVID-19 since Tuesday, October 29, as reported by Public Health Administrator Martha Lanman to the County Board of Health on Monday. She said the six cases in Columbia County are from two different sources and are unrelated. There were 13 tests performed over the weekend. Lanman said she and Dayton School District Superintendent Guy Strot have agreed to allow in-person instruction at school to proceed. “We feel like the kids are safer in school,” she said....
DAYTON-Columbia County Emergency Management Director Ashley Strickland usually devotes ninety percent of his working time to the E911 Dispatch Center and the remaining ten percent to emergency management. That went out the window during the first six months of the year. He found himself spending only ten percent of his time with the Dispatch center, and the other ninety percent in emergency management, all because of the February flood and the COVID-19 pandemic. "The county has a responsibility...
DAYTON—Only the top seven applicants out of a field of thirty have been chosen to receive funding from the Washington State Public Works Board for their broadband projects. The Port of Columbia was not among them, having ranked in the middle of the field at number twelve by the board last Friday. “What this shows is there is a huge need for better broadband service and not enough funding to go around,” The Port’s Executive Director Jennie Dickinson said Dickinson said the Port’s applicati...
DAYTON—Dayton School District Superintendent Guy Strot talked about the effect the COVID-19 challenge was having on staff and students when he addressed the school board at last week’s meeting. He said he is very proud of the staff and students in the elementary school and in the middle and high schools for following the rules and following the District’s Reopening Plan. The teachers are doing an amazing job of “soldiering on” during this stressful time. There is a good working partnersh...
DAYTON-Since he was hired in Dec. 2018 as the Columbia County Engineer and Public Works Director, Charles Eaton finds himself wearing more hats than ever. His responsibilities include multiple departments within the Public Works Department. Operations is responsible for county road maintenance. Engineering is responsible for designing or improving projects, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) services responsible for mapping, and Equipment Replacement and Rental (ER&R) responsible for...
DAYTON—County Treasurer Carla Rowe presented the third-quarter financial statement to the Board of Columbia County Commissioners last week. She provided them with the following predictions based on various sources, including the Dept. of Revenue, the Municipal Research and Services Center, and webinars regarding banking environments, investment bond market, and government publications. Financial recovery from the COVID-19 impact to counties is not expected to occur until the latter part of n...
DAYTON—Mike Ferrians has resigned as the manager of the Liberty Theater. Management of the theater will be by committee, for the time being, according to Dave Molesh, Touchet Valley Arts Council President. Molesh said Ferrians resigned on Sunday of last week and the executive board met to discuss theater operations two days later. The theater has been closed since March due to the COVID-19 restrictions, and no live productions are planned for this year. Molesh said the production of Nana Goes t...
DAYTON-Trina Cole, Administrator for the City of Dayton, told attendees at the city council meeting last week about plans for city and county representatives to enter into mediation over the terms of the Interlocal Agreement for Law Enforcement, Dispatch Services, and Court Services, the County provides to the City. County Commissioner Ryan Rundell, who was at the meeting, said a location had been identified and the date is set for Nov. 5. During the council meeting concerning an application to...
