HEADLINES & HISTORY SINCE 1879 Goldendale, Washington
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
Vol. 145 No. 37
$1.00
County budget could be tight in 2025 RODGER NICHOLS FOR THE SENTINEL
Group meets to attempt creative district for city JORDAN MAYBERRY FOR THE SENTINEL A town hall meeting was held at the Goldendale Public Library on September 5 to formulate plans to seek Washington State Arts Commission approval to designate the city of Goldendale as a creative district. A creative district is a new program passed by the state to encourage creative activity in designated areas for the sake of economic development and community cooperation. With a head count of roughly 30 attendees, turnout far exceeded the expectations of the commission. Sandra Choate, Chamber of Commerce board member, introduced the origins of this project, dating back to the downtown mural projects. “We started the Art of The Heart project a few years ago when we wanted to do the Four Corners project downtown, with the murals and the mosaics [on each of the corners of Columbus Avenue and Main Street], and we wanted to do even more from there,” she said. “We had this vision of getting Goldendale designated and certified as a creative district from the Washington State Arts Commission. It all got sidetracked for a while. After the big art project downtown, we thought, ‘What would it take to get certified and become a creative district?’” Choate said they bounced ideas around for a while, then finally she called the commission in Olympia to ask how to become a creative district. The woman on the phone said, “I’m going to help you do this.” The Washington State Arts Commission, based in Olympia, introduced legislation in early 2017 to start the creative district program, which was enacted in May of that year. The program began in January of 2018, and the first district was established in the following December. Since then, numerous districts have been established in communities across the state. The program overview states, “The Creative Districts program works to help communities in Washington thrive. Its purpose is to help communities strengthen their creative sector, diversify their economy, and enhance their quality of life. A Creative District is a geographically defined area of cultural and economic activity. It’s an exciting place to live, work, and visit. It’s the heart of a community—a place for people to gather and enjoy the arts and culture a community has to offer.”
The manager of the Washington State Arts Commission, Annette Roth, presented the program at the Goldendale town hall. Roth described the function of a creative district as being more than just the arts; it includes a wider net of creative activities, many disciplines of which are economically productive. “There are many other things that exist in a community that are creative; so for example, app or software developers, graphic designers, specialty food manufacturers, craft makers, blacksmiths, people who make jewelry and clothing–all of those things are in the creative sector and a lot more,” she said. Questions and concerns were answered in the town hall, a major one being that of the possibility of gentrification if a creative district were to be implemented in Goldendale. Roth addressed this concern: “One of the things we encourage folks to do is to look at it from a ‘value space perspective.’ If you were to ask 20 people who live in Goldendale why they live there and why they love it, you’re going to get some different answers, but a lot of those answers are going to be the same. You don’t necessarily have to see your creative district as a way to attract other people, and to attract other businesses, or get people from the west side to move to the east side, for instance. There are some districts who don’t want that; their focus is, ‘We have these people in our community already, so how can we help to support them better?’” Roth added that a successful creative district may draw new people in to the town but with the intent of the new contributors being like-minded with the existing community. “The folks who would come would be people who hopefully have a similar outlook and have a similar ‘vibe’ to those in Goldendale and want to contribute to the community in a positive way, and not just take it over.” Economic concerns were addressed as well in regard to the State of Washington: “[The Washington Arts Commission] has a pretty strong relationship with the Department of Commerce. They do have what is called the creative economy sector.” There are a number of economic sectors, “whether that be aerospace, biotechnology, life sciences, and so on. The creative sector in Washington State is enormous; it makes up 10% of GDP, over $120 billion to the economy. There are
See District page B1
County commissioners to hold town hall meeting The Klickitat County Board of Commissioners will host a live town hall meeting on September 26 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Klickitat County Services Building located at 115 West Court Street, RM 201, Goldendale. To join via Zoom, you can use this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/586587651. Alternatively, you can use one of the call-in numbers below with meeting ID number 586 587 651: (669) 900-6833, (346) 248-7799, (929) 205-6099, (253) 215-8782, (301) 715-8592, or (312) 626-6799.
Klickitat County’s 2025 budget may be a tight one. That’s what the first pass at the numbers showed at the September 3 County Commissioner meeting. Fiscal Services Manager Jennifer O’Neil estimated expenditures of $67,780,087 and revenues of just $62,998,000, representing a shortfall of $4,782,087. She reminded commissioners that this was a statutorily required preliminary budget and that she had made conservative estimations in putting the document together. “The budget that’s presented before you assumes a one percent property tax increase,” she said. “It assumes an 18 percent decrease in the landfill as it’s trending right now. It assumes a decrease in sales tax as well and interest earnings.” In discussion, she said she’d put in $2.4 million for the operation of the Sheriff’s Department but hadn’t added in anything for improvements because those costs are not as yet known. But it was the presentation of the preliminary budget and its indicated shortfall that could have more reaching impact. Anderson said commissioners face some tough choices in balancing the 2025 budget but
tried to reassure voters. “One thing I think everybody should know,” he said, “is that no matter what, we will be able to provide for this year. We’re not in a situation that other counties are in because we do have cash reserves, and because we’ve been doing that for a long time and building up our piggy bank one year at a time.” That brought this response from Commissioner Dan Christopher: “Being a fiscal conservative, I believe you live and balance your budget out of your checking account, not digging into your savings account because you refuse to cut HBO from your cable bill. If you can’t afford your cable bill, you need to cut HBO from your cable bill before you get into your savings account to pay for it. The savings account is emergency reserve.” Chair Lori Zoller said she wanted to start the budget process by focusing on what there is to work with. “I can’t start anywhere till I’m standing on firm ground on all the revenues,” she said. In other actions, commissioners took the final step to alleviate concerns about battery storage safety issues by enacting a pair of resolutions. One was enacted interim zoning controls regarding the bulk
See County page A8
NEW LAW REQUIREMENTS: Above, the transgender flag. State law now requires public school districts across Washington to make broad accommodations for transgender students. The policy is being implemented at the Goldendale School District.
Transgender policy now in effect in Goldendale schools LOU MARZELES EDITOR
State law regarding the gender of students in Washington public schools is now reflected in direction from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and in the official policy provided by the Goldendale School District. The district is required by state law to use the guidelines for transgender students as developed by OSPI. Predictably, they have sparked controversy. The law and policy are designed to prevent discrimination against transgender students, and any such students who feel they are being or have been discriminated against are advised to follow a designated complaint process. The policy begins with definition of terms; these include: • Gender Expansive: A wider, more flexible range of gender identities or expressions than those typically associated with the binary gender system. • Gender Expression: The external ways in which a person expresses their gender to the world, such as through their behavior, emotions, mannerisms, dress, grooming habits, interests, and activities. • Gender Identity: A person’s internal and deeply-felt sense of being female, male, both, nonbinary, gender-expansive, or other—regardless of the gender assigned at birth.
• Transgender: A term often used to describe a person whose gender identity or expression, or both, are different from those traditionally associated with their sex assigned at birth. • Transitioning: The process in which a person goes from living and identifying as one gender to living and identifying as another. The policy states that school employees are to privately ask known transgender or gender-expansive students how they would like to be addressed in class, in correspondence to the home, and in parent-teacher conferences. That name can be different from their legal name, which must remain confidential except to “necessary staff members.” Students are not required to legally change their names to match the name they want to be known by. Employees are advised not to disclose student gender-identity information to others unless legally required to do so or authorized by the student. Restroom/locker room access The transgender policy states that transgender students are free to use the restroom that “corresponds with their gender identity or expression. No students will be required to use a restroom that conflicts with their gender identity or expression. Any student who requests greater privacy will
See Gender page A6
Story sparks new interest in Kiwanis JORDAN MAYBERRY FOR THE SENTINEL
Following a story in The Sentinel on the Goldendale Kiwanis Club set to close at the end of September, a viral campaign launched on local Goldendale Facebook groups sparked a movement to keep the organization alive. After a unanimous vote to dissolve, the group found itself welcoming this resurgence of support that took its members by surprise. “After that article, everything changed,” said Secretary Theone Wheeler. “All of us resigned to the fact that we were closing; we had to come to terms with it. So when this rally happened, I jumped behind it.” The campaign brought a surprising jolt of life to the Kiwanis Club, leaving members with newfound hope. “There were so many comments. Nobody wants to see it go away. I was so elated,” Wheeler recalled. “It just blew up.” According to Wheeler, the campaign was primarily driven by local citizens, resulting in a sudden influx of new members. “Kathy Dollarhyde spearheaded a membership campaign on Facebook, and six new members joined, with two more coming in after that,” she said. “Carl Conroy, one of the original members, will be joining us again to help get the new members assimilated. They all rushed in, ready to become board members and everything. These people are motivated and excited. They’re ready to go, and they’re good members of the community.” This surge of support came at a critical moment. Although the club had passed the vote to dissolve, no legal paperwork had yet been sealed, leaving a window of opportunity for a revote. “This is perfect timing, because we have not filed any official paperwork with the state to dissolve,” Wheeler noted. As new board members step in, plans for a potential revote to reverse the dissolution are already in progress. “I got the support of the lieutenant governor, Richard Dean. He’s rallying behind us to do a revote and prevent us from closing,” said Wheeler. If the revote is successful and the Kiwanis Club remains operational, significant changes are anticipated in both leadership and operations. Experienced members will need to train the incoming members. “Our president, Colleen Andreotti, said she would stay on another year to train up the new members,” Wheeler shared. Many of the new members may also need to take on leadership roles sooner than expected. “Some of these new people we are going to have to nominate to elected positions, as some of the current members are going to leave.” Despite some members stepping down from higher positions, the club will retain much of its original membership, though with some shifting into less demanding roles. “We have the support, so these new people will just have to come in and get trained up and go,” Wheeler added. While a revote is not guaranteed, a convening of original and new members to overturn the motion to dissolve is becoming more likely. “Plans are coming on the 18th of September, in what is called a ‘special meeting’ to forward this motion,” Wheeler states. Momentum is now in place to keep the organization alive, and
See Club page B1