county news
may3
2018
County Commissioners Election
the storage tanks.”
Lichatowich said she sees a
bright future for Columbia County in
jobs and innovation. She noted that the
Port of St. Helens has worked with three
of its tenants - small but growing manu-
facturing companies that offer living
wage jobs, good benefits, and good re-
lationships with their employees - to ex-
pand, including Composites Universal,
RainShadow Labs, and Pacific Stainless.
She also mentioned the Oregon Manu-
facturing Innovative Center (OMIC)
being developed in Scappoose, which
will provide training internships and ap-
prenticeships in collaboration with Port-
land Community College. “Because of
the livability of our communities, I see
people and entrepreneurs coming here
and wanting to stay and grow with our
communities. I think we’re going to see
small business, industry development,
and innovative ideas here – that’s our fu-
ture.”
When asked about economic de-
velopment specifically in Vernonia, she
suggested tourism and service jobs were
helpful. She asked about the possibil-
ity of the community supporting small
business that feed into the tech industry
in Hillsboro and noted transportation
routes, lack of developable property,
high utility rates, and a lack of quality
services (high speed and reliable inter-
net) as barriers. She suggested the com-
munity work to create a list of limiting
factors and ideas of what kind of jobs
would be acceptable, which could feed
into a county-wide Comprehensive Eco-
nomic Plan.
Lichatowich said the road con-
ditions in Columbia County are “ab-
solutely terrible” and said the County
does not have stable funding to maintain
them. “Columbia County’s Transporta-
tion plan projects we have $20 million
for the next 20 years to maintain roads.
We have to figure out how to do it,
whether it’s through grants or is legisla-
tion going to be forthcoming? Through a
Comprehensive Plan we can restructure
our funding and make recommendations
on how to find money for our roads.”
When asked about the lack of
public transportation access in Vernonia
and the C.C. Rider system, Lichatowich
suggested local volunteers and car pool-
ing might fill the gap by providing rides
to those in need. When residents in the
audience reminded her that the system
is supposed to provide affordable pub-
lic access for all citizens in the County,
Lichatowich backtracked somewhat and
suggested the community develop po-
tential suggestions they could present to
the County to meet their needs. “Trans-
portation, whether it’s buses or roads, is
something that needs to be available for
everyone for health, safety, and econom-
ics. Can the community work on that?
The Commissioners may not be the best
place to look for your solution, the solu-
tion might need to come from you to the
Commissioners.”
Lichatowich said she is an advo-
cate for creating new parks in the County
and improving current parks in the sys-
tem. “I believe there is an outcry to do
that,” she said. “I think people see the
value and health benefits by having ac-
cess to parks since the forests have been
shut off. So people need access to trails
and we need more trails.” She said citi-
zens need to be a strong force and advo-
cate for funding for parks and make their
wishes known to the Commissioners.
“You can become more powerful. You
take on this challenge and then you just
grow from there by networking together
and create groups that are interested in
additional issues.”
Lichatowich said she doesn’t
think the Commissioners spend enough
time talking with each other since they
only meet officially once a week in a
public meeting; if they talk to each other
outside of a public meeting it is consid-
ered a quorum and has to be publicly
announced. “They need to spend more
time in work session so they can delve
into more ideas.” She said she would
also like to see the Commissioners leave
St. Helens and meet in the different com-
munities around the County, either in a
formal meeting or an informal setting.
Kimberly Johns – Johns is an interest-
ing character in this race with a unique
background and perspective. He current-
ly owns and operates USIA Underwater
Equipment Sales Corporation, currently
employing about 20 people manufactur-
ing and exporting diving wetsuits, wad-
ers, and other waterproof equipment for
military and public safety organizations
from a small industrial site in St. Helens.
A visit to his campaign website,
KimberlyJohns.com, provides links to
various pages which showcase his other
diverse accomplishments – college foot-
ball place kicker at Oregon State who
received several invitations for tryouts
with NFL teams; Honorable Discharge
from the U.S. Air Force; television per-
sonality and Adventure Expert on “The
Oregon Coast Show”; EMT, Staff Chief
FULL
SPORTS
PACKAGE!
3
continued from front page
with St. Helens Fire, Columbia County
Reserve Sheriff’s Deputy and Search
and Rescue team member; Dive Instruc-
tor at Reed College; and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Licensed Falconer.
Johns said he is concerned about
the polarization between the political
right and the left and said he doesn’t
want to see that happen in his own com-
munities. Johns said he doesn’t like ca-
reer politicians and is running on a plat-
form of two term limits for County Com-
missioners, and said he would also like
to see the Commissioners take a 4-5%
pay cut. “We have a two term limit for
our President and I’m not sure why we
don’t have it for Congress and the Sen-
ate. I think we should have it in Colum-
bia County. I’m also not sure why our
County Commissioner get paid $87,000
a year, plus benefits. I think that’s outra-
geous. I want to show the citizens that
I’m serious about changing how money
is spent around here.”
Johns said while he is pro busi-
ness and pro growth, he is also a sports-
man and wants to see more public ac-
cess to the Columbia River. He said he
is not completely familiar with the Port
Westward projects, but wants to see any
development there be environmentally
friendly and protect the clean air and
water in Oregon. “I will bring a busi-
ness perspective to the Board of Com-
missioners. We can be pro business and
pro industry here because we have the
State of Oregon and environmentalists
who are going to put anything we try to
do in check. The Commissioners main
job is land use - how to figure out zoning
regulations and what we can and can’t
do in the County. Let’s not impede busi-
ness from being here, but cooperate with
business to be here.”
He said local established busi-
nesses should be taking advantage of,
and participating in, defense contract-
ing; his company USIA has received $8
million in defense contracts from 2000-
2018, almost half the defense funds
spent in the entire County during that
time period. “I spent three years as a
Department of Commerce appointee and
I know how to deal with the Federal gov-
ernment and I know how the commerce
system works on the federal level and
how to funnel business here and how
to get our products exported overseas.”
He said he would like to see the County
create more SBA HUB zones and Enter-
prise Zones. “Enterprise Zones are en-
ticing and they can help a business for
a few years to get established and then
Publisher and Managing Editor
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scott@vernoniasvoice.com
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they can start contributing tax dollars
back to the community. We can’t be giv-
ing business at Port Westward a 15 year
Enterprise Zone.” He said he sees two
types of businesses, smaller businesses
like his that have a responsibility to their
employees and the local community, and
then businesses that have shareholders
who are only responsible to those share-
holders. “When businesses come to Co-
lumbia County the first thing we should
determine is if they’re about the people
of Columbia County or are they about
their shareholders who don’t live here.
Let’s attract medium size businesses that
can make it here, paying family wage
jobs.”
He said he doesn’t understand
why public safety has been such a low
priority for so long for the Commission-
ers. He has served as a Reserve Deputy
so he’s seen the dangers of not having
continued on page 5
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