www.hoodrivernews.com
Port hires Genevieve C HAMBER
Scholl for new post
Continued from Page A1
G e n e v i e ve
S c h o l l tions and project man-
joined the Port of Hood agement. This experi-
River staff on Jan. 12 as ence will increase the
Special Projects Manag- Port’s productivity and
e r. S c h o l l f o r m e rl y is the ideal complement
worked from 2001 – 2008 t o o u r e x i s t i n g P o r t
as Destination Marketing team.”
Director for the Hood
Scholl had previously
River County Chamber of served as Special Pro-
Commerce, and has since jects Manager for the
served as Outreach Man- Port intermittently since
ager for the social enter- 2012, writing policy doc-
prise nonprofit Farmers uments and operation
Conservation Alliance manuals as well as grant
(FCA), also based in Hood applications. Two suc-
River.
cessful g rant applica-
This is a new staff po- tions to fund the Nichols
sition at the Port, with Basin West Edge trail
responsibilities to play a and open space develop-
lead role in man-
ment brought in
aging the Port’s
over $560,000 in
inter nal and ex-
total, and that pro-
ter nal communi-
ject will begin
cation systems
construction this
and carrying out a
spring.
variety of unique
“I am thrilled at
projects related to
the prospect of
p o l i c y d e ve l o p -
working to bring
Genevieve greater awareness
ment, project and
Scholl
legislative advoca-
to the Port’s ef-
cy, stakeholder re-
forts to support a
lationships and regional healthy economy locally
collaboration.
and throughout the
“The Port Commission Gorge,” said Scholl. “As
is increasingly engaged the development activi-
in regional economic de- ties outlined in the Port’s
velopment advocacy and 2014-2018 Strategic Plan
collaboration with our continue to unfold, it will
local and regional part- be crucial to have state-
ners. Genevieve will play of-the-art communication
a key role in these efforts systems in place to sup-
for the Port as well as im- port dissemination of in-
proving the Port’s overall formation and encourage
communication and pub- much needed public feed-
lic outreach functions,” back and dialog.” Scholl
said Port Executive Di- and her husband, Travis
rector Michael McElwee. Erdmann, have lived in
“ G e n e v i e ve b r i n g s a the Parkdale area since
b r o a d b a c k g r o u n d i n 1996 and have one son,
communications, opera- Oscar.
T IMBER
Continued from Page A1
tenth of that: $5.9 million.
What each county will re-
ceive hasn’t been broken
down by the USDA, but
County Administrator Dave
Meriwether expects it won’t
be much at all.
“Just based on the amount
for Oregon, I’m guessing it
will be in the neighborhood
of $100,000 or less, but that’s
just ballpark,” he said. “At
that level, it doesn’t make a
lot of difference (to the coun-
ty budget).”
The amount doesn’t exact-
ly come as surprise to the
county, which has seen fund-
ing from the SRSA gradually
dry up since the bill — co-au-
thored by Sen. Ron Wyden —
was signed into law 15 years
ago. By the mid-2000s, Con-
gress had fallen into a pat-
tern of having to reauthorize
the law on an annual basis,
placing those funds in doubt
as the amount disbursed has
decreased over time.
Thus, come budget time
each spring, the county oper-
ates as if it won’t receive the
money at all.
“The budget doesn’t in-
clude it, so we act like it’s
found money when we get
it,” Meriwether explained.
Which isn’t to say that less
money doesn’t impact the
county, because it does. Meri-
wether said the majority of
the funds from the SRSA pro-
vide a boost to the public
works department, allowing
the county to pay for more
road work that otherwise
might not have gotten done.
Hood River County School
District also received
$204,000 from the SRSA in
2014. The News emailed Su-
perintendent Dan Goldman
to see how the money was
spent, but did not receive a
response by press time.
At the Hood River County
Sheriff ’s Office, where their
slice of the money is re-
ferred to by the feds as Title
III funds, English said an in-
dependent budget is drawn
up each year for SRSA dol-
lars, but it’s difficult to antic-
ipate how much funding the
department will receive. Last
year, the U.S. government
sent $67,000 to the county,
which was split evenly be-
tween HRCSO and firewise
programs.
“We never know exactly
how much we’re going to get
ing him “the opportunity to
lead this great board and
great team.”
Incoming president John
Melesko also addressed the
crowd and encouraged mem-
bers to come to the board
with any questions, con-
cerns and ideas — “Come see
me down at Dougs,” he said
— and to keep doing things
for and with the Chamber.
Rep. Mark Johnson and
Mayor Paul Blackburn each
gave short speeches that cov-
ered key points of their re-
spective upcoming terms.
For Johnson, that included
work on guidelines to protect
public safety with the legal-
ization of marijuana, and
the hope that all Oregon
Chambers will come togeth-
er to support legislation to
create a new Mount Hood li-
cense plate, the revenue from
which will fund bike tourism
campaigns.
“It’s a pleasure to repre-
sent Hood River,” he conclud-
ed.
Blackburn commented on
Hood River’s “awesome
brand” and the three main
areas stemming from the
city council’s recent vision-
ing session: Obtainable hous-
ing, ongoing commitment to
ecology, and a transparent
government body. He was
also excited about the nearly
completed bathroom and
bike hub facility on State
Street — the last of the State
Street construction project
— near established down-
town bike shops. (It is sched-
uled for completion on Feb.
22 – see page B7 for a photo of
the work in progress.)
The Walker Family —
Eric, Trisha and Abby, 15 —
until the spring,” English
said. “We certainly use it
sparingly since we know it’s
finite. We’ve seen our Title
III money drop significantly
over the past several years.
“Obviously we’re going to
take whatever we can get be-
cause we need it,” he added.
And there are strict para-
meters to how those funds
can be used. English ex-
plained that HRCSO can only
spend the money to reim-
burse personnel after a
search, to repair and main-
tain equipment, and to buy
equipment during a search
operation. English said he
was looking for ways to both
find more funding and ex-
pand the way in which it is
used. He noted that as more
and more people come to the
county to recreate, the need
for search and rescue mis-
sions and the money to fund
them has increased as well.
“It’s an immediate need
that will never go away that’s
only increasing in our coun-
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Hood River Weather Forecast
Date
Forecast
Mostly Cloudy
56° / 43°
Thurs. Jan 29
Partly Cloudy
51° / 40°
Partly Cloudy
52° / 37°
Sat. Jan 31
Partly Cloudy
50° / 39°
Sun. Feb 1
Showers
52° / 43°
Fri. Jan 30
received the Don Benton
Award for their volunteer
work with the chamber over
the course of 2014. The New
Business of the Year Award
went to Laughing Mountain,
a small business collective
located on May Street. Mem-
ber of the Year went to
Aaron and Suzanne Baum-
backl, owners of Solstice
Wood Fire Café.
Full Sail Brewery received
the Business of the Year
award for the many local jobs
created by the company as
well as the 300-plus commu-
nity organizations it regular-
ly supports. Accepting the
award on behalf of Full Sail
were Lisa Merkin, Sandra
Evans and Angie Walker.
The evening ended with
the crowing of the prom king
and queen — honors given to
King Kelly Govro, of Servpro
Hood River, and Queen
Luann Taylor-T rotebas,
Goodwill Boutique Manager
— and dancing.
Photos by Trisha Walker and Chelsea Marr
AWARD winners at the Chamber’s Membership Appreciation Dinner Friday were, at top, Full Sail Brew-
ery, Business of the Year, accepted by Lisa Merkin, Sandra Evans and Angie Walker; above, Eric and Tr-
isha Walker, Volunteers of the Year (not pictured, Abby Walker); and left, Prom Queen Luann Taylor-
Trotebas, Goodwill Boutique Manager, and Prom King Kelly Govro, of Servpro.
ty,” English said.
Though Hood River Coun-
ty has managed to do with-
out, other counties that rely
more heavily on the SRSA
payments are in a worse situ-
ation. Meriwether said coun-
ties in the southwestern re-
gion of the state have been
the ones most notably hit
and have had to drastically
cut both non-essential and
essential county services.
In the Gorge, Skamania
County is impacted especial-
ly hard as 80 percent of its
territory is comprised of na-
tional forestland and all but
12 percent of its land is tax-
exempt, according to the
county’s website. In October,
the Skamania County Board
of Commissioners passed a
strongly-worded resolution
declaring a state of emer-
gency due to the economic
situation. The resolution
also lambasted the federal
government for its “misman-
agement” of federal forests
and for not creating a system
that allowed for the annual
reauthorization of the SRSA.
For 2015, Skamania Coun-
ty budg eted to receive
around $1.55 million from
the SRSA and other federal
forest funding, but added
language to its budget reso-
lution that the county’s
board “reserves the right to
supplement the 2015 current
expense budget to balance
the lack of, or timely receipt
of, these funds in order to re-
duce expenditures.”
The Enterprise reported
last week that due to the re-
ductions in funding, Skama-
nia County had planned to
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Puzzle on Page A2
L ICENSED & C ERTIFIED
Humidity 87%
Wind Speed E 4 MPH
UV Index 1 out of 10
Actual High / Low
AGRIMET HOOD RIVER OR
Lat: 45.6842 Long: -121.5181 Elev: 510
http://uspest.org
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
Jan
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l
Rain
WEEKLY SUDOKU
Intro to Yoga
Today’s Forecast
Mon. Feb 2
close the Underwood Com-
munity Center, and may sell
the building in order to re-
coup the loss. Closure of the
facility was planned at the
end of this week.
The future of SRSA may
look grim long-term, but
there is a chance of reautho-
rization for this year.
Though the SRSA failed to
make it through Congress
this past fall — whose fault
that was depends on which
political party you talk to —
both Democratic and Repub-
lican legislators, including
Re p. Gre g Walden, have
voiced support for extending
SRSA during the first quar-
ter of 2015.
Gentle, beginner-level class.
Tues. & Thurs. - 3:45-5:00 pm
Daytime / Overnight
High / Low (°F)
Today Jan 28
P
A9
Hood River News, Wednesday, January 28, 2015
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50/37
48/33
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59/41
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46. Winds light and variable.
Updated Tuesday, Jan 27
at 10:30 a.m. PST
Data from www.weather.com
HOOD RIVER
3140 W. CASCADE •541-386-1123