Senator Patty Murray announces contribution to community center
Brandy Slagle
Staff reporter
Battle Ground City Council and community members applauded U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s announcement that $400,000 of government funding would be earmarked for the construction of a new community center in the mid-county community.
Local officials, civic leaders and business owners gathered in the Battle Ground Community Center Meeting Hall Aug. 7 in Fairgrounds Park to visit with Murray.
Clark County Commissioner Betty Sue Morris strewed rose petals toward the senator in gratitude for Murray’s efforts.
Morris said she had always been impressed with how much “heart” Battle Ground has among its citizens.
“It’s truly wonderful,” she said. “You don’t need a community center to be connected to the community in this place, but it makes sense that you should have a new place for people to gather.”
Morris said the a new community center would be a way to bring new Battle Ground residents “into the fiber of the community.”
Murray is chair of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, which contributed to her ability to obtain the funding for the new community center.
Administrators from Loaves & Fishes were also present at the community meeting. The nonprofit senior meal program has pledged to contribute $100,000 in construction funds, providing the center includes a commercial kitchen where they could serve hot meals to north Clark County senior citizens five days a week.
Joan Smith, executive director of Loaves & Fishes, said she hoped that bringing the senior meal program to Fairgrounds Park would provide opportunities for seniors and youths to make intergenerational connections.
“This way kids can see seniors and hopefully realize they are a lot more than nursing home material,” she said.
Murray said she approved of the idea of blending the generations in one place and commented on how much she enjoyed the skatepark, located near to the site where the community center would be built.
“I think it is a great example of diversity in the community,” she said.
Murray said she was delighted by the plan to construct the center, which could create more jobs for the community.
“It is delightful, and I am thankful for the invitation to be here today,” she said.
The earmarked funds must be signed and approved by President George Bush.
Smith said Loaves & Fishes’s contribution would primarily be raised through grants and fundraising efforts.
Marlene Brown, co-chair of the Battle Ground Rose Float Committee, said her major concern was that the new community center would be able to accommodate float construction.
“There are a lot of codes we have to make sure are met,” she said. “We have to be able to get rid of all the paint and we use welding supplies.”
The meeting hall used by the rose float committee for construction would be demolished in order to make room for the new community center. Brown said that the group had obtained storage space from Rick Lewis at Battle Ground Bicycle for the float after the Lion’s Den was demolished.
Brown said it would be great if the new community center also had space to display some historic materials on the rose float that have been saved since 1955.

Fire District 5, Marty James seek new trial
Bill Myers
staff reporter
Clark County Fire District 5 and its administrator, Marty James, want a new trial following a June 15 jury decision in Clark County Superior Court that orders them to pay more than $3 million to women who claimed they were victims of sexual harassment and/or a hostile work environment.
Vancouver attorney Richard Matson filed a motion for a new trial July 3 on behalf of the District and James.
The motion contends that during the trial, the plaintiff’s attorney made an improper inference about insurance which signaled to jurors that a settlement would not diminish fire protection services. The motion also claimed that awards were excessive because of passion or prejudice, and that “substantial justice” was not done.
Portland attorney Thomas Booth, responding July 3 on behalf of plaintiffs Sue Collins, Helen Hayden, Valerie Larwick and Kristy Mason, said there is no basis for a new trial and contended that the word, “insurance” was not mentioned at trial.
A hearing on the post-trial motions is scheduled Aug. 27.
Women claimed pattern of sexual harassment
In a complaint filed in February 2005, Collins, Hayden, Larwick and Mason alleged that James, a District administrator who oversees a Northwest Regional Training Center operated by District 5, fostered and maintained a sexually-hostile workplace by “frequent and continuing words and deeds” that were demeaning and offensive.
The women also contended that James said their complaints would be futile because of his control over the District commissioners.
The complainants contended that James’ actions were tolerated by District supervisors and contributed to a sexually-hostile workplace. They said the Northwest Regional Training Center had no employee manual, no job descriptions, and lacked policies to protect female employees from harassing and oppressive actions.
In their complaint, the women blamed the District, James and the City of Vancouver (the City employed Collins while she was assigned to the training center and paid one-half of Mason’s salary), for breaching their duties. They alleged damages, both economic (lost wages, pension benefits) and non-economic (emotional distress) for failures to maintain a safe work environment, failing to supervise managerial employees, and failing to prevent threatening, intimidating or retaliating actions against them after they opposed a hostile workplace.
A 12-person jury agreed with the women. Their verdict ordered the District and James jointly to pay $461,250 to Collins, the City of Vancouver to pay $78,875 to Collins, the District and James jointly to pay $600,000 of a $950,000 award to Hayden, with the District to pay the balance, the District and James jointly to pay $875,000 of a $1.5 million award to Larwick, with the District to pay the balance, and the District and James jointly to pay $250,000 of a $465,000 award to Mason, with the District to pay the balance.
James, a Brush Prairie resident who serves as a commissioner for Clark County Fire District 3, is still employed at the District where he has held supervisory positions since 1975. Contacted July 26, James said District commissioners based their decision to continue his employment on an investigation of about three years ago. He said he could not comment further.
District 5 board of commissioners chairman Conrad Geiger said commissioner Bob Torrens handles inquiries about the lawsuit. Torrens could not be reached for comment.

Council mulls administrator
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
The Woodland City Council effectively slammed the door Aug. 6 on the city’s hiring an interim city administrator.
Mayor Doug Monge originally placed on the agenda a discussion of hiring an administrator for the remaining five months of 2007, but as the meeting began, he asked that the item be removed from the agenda.
Monge said that the press of other business had prevented him from preparing information that he wanted to present to the full council.
Council member John J. Burke, however, insisted that the issue remain on the agenda.
“Since it’s already on the agenda, I’d like to see the council vote on whether to keep or remove it from the agenda,” Burke said. “We’ve already shot it (an administrator) down once this year in the budget.”
The council voted unanimously to keep the issue on the agenda.
Monge also asked that a vote to accept the concept of a city administrator be taken as part of the consent agenda. The consent agenda is composed of routine items that can be approved as a package.
When the consent agenda was considered by the council, member Jim Tone made the motion to consider the administrator form of government separate from the consent agenda. He then made a motion to approve an interim city administrator.
The council voted unanimously against the motion.
“Council has said we don’t like the idea of an administrator for 2007,” Tone said. “I’m not sure why we are pursuing this. It hasn’t been to the personnel committee.”
Tone is the council member on the city’s human resources-government standing committee.
Monge has said in the past that he believes the work of the city has reached a level that a paid administrator is needed.
He asked the council during the 2006 budget deliberations to approve funds to hire an interim administrator, but the council refused to budget the money.
An administrator works for the mayor.
Burke has said that the city does not need an administrator and he has said that if a professional is hired, the council should consider a city manager who works for the city council.
Burke has also said that a vote of the people of Woodland would be necessary before the council could adopt a city manager form of government. No vote is needed for the city to adopt a mayor-administrator form of government.
Monge said after the meeting that he plans to put funds for a city administrator on the 2008 budget.

Volunteers honored for life-saving efforts
Alice Perry Linker
staff reporter
Premature baby does not survive
The hours of training paid off when five Woodland Fire Department volunteers arrived at the scene of a premature birth in late July.
EMT responder Shane Orr was experiencing his first birth.
“You train for it,” he said. “It’s like CPR. You just do it.”
Firefighters and EMTs rarely are called on to deliver babies in the field, but the July 29 birth was the exception.
“You’re never really prepared until it comes,” said Woodland’s emergency services coordinator Paul Aldrete, who was experiencing his second delivery. “It’s exciting and scary.”
The mother was only 16 years old, and the baby came 15 weeks prematurely, said Fire Chief Tony Brentin during a city council meeting ceremony Aug. 6. When the tiny infant arrived, he was not breathing and had no heartbeat. The American Medical Response (AMR) ambulance paramedic took the lead in trying to resuscitate the baby boy.
Working with the Woodland volunteers, the paramedic successfully inserted a breathing tube and restored breathing and heartbeat, while the EMTs were traveling by ambulance to Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital. Aldrete, who responded as a Woodland volunteer, is an AMR employee and he drove the ambulance, freeing up the paramedic and a technician to restore the baby’s life.
“We thought the baby was stillborn,” Aldrete said, “but he began crying, urinating, breathing immediately. That was a good sign.”
When they arrived at the hospital, the baby was breathing and had a heartbeat, Aldrete said.
The baby’s extremely young age and the immaturity of his lungs were too much for the boy to overcome, and he died 36 hours later, Brentin said.
Woodland Fire Department personnel and volunteers did not learn of the death until shortly before the Aug. 6 council meeting.
The news saddened the volunteers.
“We just found out that he didn’t make it,” Aldrete said.
“It’s hard,” Brentin said. “But the deck was stacked against him at 15 weeks premature. They (volunteers and paramedics) gave him his best chance.”
Woodland’s volunteers and the AMR personnel were commended by the staff at Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital, Brentin said.
“They did outstanding work under difficult circumstances,” he said.
The volunteers who participated in the rescue effort are, in addition to Orr and Aldrete, Battalion Chiefs Kenny Bjur and Bruce Summers, and firefighter-EMT Matt Patching.

Woodland Fire will not replace station
A plan to replace the Woodland Fire Department fire station on Lewis River Road has been put on hold indefinitely.
Fire Chief Tony Brentin told the Woodland City Council Aug. 6 that the department, like about 20 others in the state, was not able to complete a required application by the deadline. The grant, a hazard mitigation grant, was to be used only to replace the existing building.
The $1 million federal grant would have included $125,000 in city money to match $750,000 in federal dollars to replace the station at 1711 Lewis River Road that sits in the flood plain. Most of the money was to come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The city had hoped to put the replacement building on its property at 300 E. Scott Ave. where a combination police-fire station is planned. The facilities committee is researching ways to pay for a building; and council member Marilee McCall, a member of the committee, indicated that discussions had begun on how to incorporate the FEMA-funded fire station with another building.

Fire District 1 to ask for new levy
Cowlitz County Fire District 1 east of Woodland will ask voters to approve a new levy in the Aug. 21 primary election.
The tax rate of 84 cents per $1,000 of property value was set in 1981. The district is asking voters to increase the rate to $1.35 per $1,000, or $270 annually for a $200,000 home.
Fire Chief Eric Dehning said the increase would give the district the money to add self-contained breathing apparatus for volunteer firefighters. The district also needs to pay for communications equipment and additional training for volunteers, he said.
“Since 1981, fuel costs, energy prices and general operating expenses have increased,” Dehning wrote in a press release.
State law limits the increase in levy rate to 1 percent annually, and Dehning said the increase in the district’s overall property value has caused a nearly 16 percent decrease in the tax revenue.
With about 37 volunteers, District 1 serves a 35 square-mile radius outside of the Woodland city limits.

Woodland schools to lose three to retirement
Debbie Deans, principal at Woodland Intermediate School for 10 years, has retired.
Deans, a graduate of Woodland High School, began her teaching career in Woodland in 1975 as a classroom teacher. She became a vice principal before being named principal in 1997.
Also retiring is Teresa Bombardier, media specialist for the Woodland High and Middle School libraries. Bombardier worked in the district for 30 years.
Ron Boswell, Woodland Primary School custodian, has retired after 18 years with the district.

Candidates may use municipal
e-mail addresses when filing for office
Alice Perry Linker
taff reporter
Citing a misunderstanding, a state Public Disclosure Commission spokesperson recently contradicted a previous statement that state law prohibits candidates from using municipal e-mail addresses when filing with elections offices.
“The instructions don’t tell them (candidates) not to use” taxpayer-supported e-mail addresses when filing as candidates with elections offices, said Lori Anderson on Aug. 6.
The issue arose when the Clark County Elections Web page link “Candidate Details” listed the city’s e-mail address for four incumbent Woodland candidates. The Reflector asked the Public Disclosure Commission spokesperson about the legality of using a city e-mail when filing a candidacy with the elections office. Anderson said at that time that using a city e-mail when filing is not legal, and a Reflector story quoted her comment.
“I thought we were talking about the Voters Pamphlet,” she said Aug. 6. “The statute says not to use public facilities to assist candidates. We do not say not to use a city’s e-mail when making a declaration.”
In state jargon, “declaration” means filing as a candidate with an elections office.
Four Woodland incumbents, including incumbent Mayor Doug Monge, who are candidates for city positions, used the city’s e-mail when filing their candidacy with county officials.
“It (the story) was a blurring of apples and oranges,” Monge said in a Aug. 7 interview. “Filing a candidacy is different from a campaign. One is a state record and the other is a campaign.”
Commenting on any potential damage to the candidates’ reputations, Monge said, “It’s hard to unring the bell. People who believed the first story are still going to believe it is illegal.”
Monge said that he has established a separate Web site for his campaign.
“I never use city facilities during a campaign,” he said.
The Public Disclosure Commission’s Lori Anderson said the state “needs to decide” if using a publicly owned e-mail “is something you see as assisting a candidate. Absent something in the instructions we wouldn’t make a big deal of it.”
Next year the commission may look at whether using public e-mail addresses and phone numbers is assisting a candidate, she said.
“Last year some candidates for judges used their office phone numbers on their declarations. It’s obviously confusing,” she said. “We need to put it in the instructions. We may change those instructions next year.”
Clark County Elections Supervisor Tim Likness said the county elections office “takes whatever they put down. We don’t have a clear direction on that,” he said.
The county elections office relies on the Public Disclosure Commission to provide information about what is improper or proper conduct for candidates, he said.
Candidates for public office may not use taxpayer-supported e-mail addresses, phone numbers or physical addresses on campaign literature or in the Voters Pamphlet, Anderson said.
In Woodland, Monge is being challenged by three candidates, City Council Member John J. Burke, Chuck Blum and Walt Hummel, in the Aug. 21 primary election. The top two candidates will vie for office in November.
Incumbent Council Member Marilee McCall is being challenged for Position 3 in the November election by Gene L. Silvey. Aaron Christopherson and Al Swindell will compete for Position 4, and incumbent Jim Tone is running unopposed for Position 5.