REEVES RETIRES AFTER 20 YEARS AS COMMISSIONER

DAYTON - Columbia County Commissioner Charles "Chuck" Reeves will attend his last meeting as one of the top elected officials in the county on Dec. 31. After 20 years of attending meetings and making decisions, Reeves is looking forward to "just a regular full-time work week."

"You just get tired," he said. "I have things I want to do, and I just don't have time to do them."

Reeves, who owns and operates the Dayton Veterinary Clinic with his wife, Kennie, began his Columbia County political career in 1995. After two decades, the 66-year-old veterinarian is retiring next week.

"Things have changed in terms of the political climate," Reeves said. "I'm hoping that maybe as a retired commissioner, or private citizen, I can make my voice heard."

Most frustrating to Reeves has been the relationship between the state government and counties. "It's just one of those things," he said. "You don't say 'I'm mad and so I'm going to quit.' You just say, 'I need to quit.' And that's what I'm doing."

Reeves explained that he has watched the legislators in Olympia gradually lose touch with the people in rural communities such as Columbia County. "So much is happening at the Olympia level that makes it difficult for us," he said.

As an example, Reeves said he is still "frosted" about the tax breaks Olympia approved for the local wind turbine projects. The whole issue, however, started in 1982, he said, when a former county commissioner traveled to Olympia and secured additional funding for counties who receive little sales tax revenue to help fund local government.

"But of course, the new legislators forget why those programs were first put into place," Reeves said. And it gets worse. More and more, counties are being asked to furnish programs that were once the province of the state, he said, such as mental health, substance-abuse counseling, and much of the work now being done by the county treasurer, auditor, assessor, and the local courts.

"But somehow along the way they forgot they should be helping us pay for these things," Reeves said. As another example, he explained that while Columbia County's prosecutor and court system are required to handle state fish and wildlife violations, the county receives no money for this service. Any fines or fees collected go to the state, he said.

"It gets frustrating after a while," he said. "And I don't see a lot of that changing."

Despite the many frustrations of his position, however, Reeves has enjoyed many successes. In his first year in office, he and his colleagues were able to contract with the city of Dayton to combine the Dayton Police Department with the Columbia County Sheriff's Office to create a single law enforcement entity.

"It has been a real positive thing," he said. "I think everybody who knows what it was like before agrees that this way is not only cheaper but also more effective. And the two entities really didn't cooperate very well together actually."

The development of the local wind farms was a second major highlight of his career. "The wind turbines have been a polarizing issue over the last few years," Reeves said. "But they have been a boost to employment in the county, and some farmers out there are doing quite nicely with that supplement to their income. There's been a lot of people who have stayed in Dayton for the jobs who would not have otherwise. It makes a difference."

After the first of the year, Reeves said he'll continue his busy life as normal - but without trying to balance politics into the mix as well. He and his wife will still be operating the vet clinic, and he'll travel as usual to Davenport once or twice a week to the livestock auctions where he assists with vaccinations and other regulatory work required for moving cattle between states. Reeves is also active in the community through Kiwanis, the Liberty Theater, singing, church and other areas of interest.

"I think I'm still going to be pretty busy," he said.