[1:11] We'll call to order the business meeting
for Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. We do
[1:15] have a quorum. All three commissioners
are present.
[1:18] Becky, would you lead us in the flag
salute, please?
[1:23] » I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[1:28] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[1:34] justice for all.
[1:38] » Thank you. Kate, could you give us Zoom
guidelines, please?
[1:41] » This meeting is streaming via Zoom and
YouTube live with a link on Facebook.
[1:45] For those meeting in person, please
remember to turn on your mic and speak
[1:49] directly into the mic when talking.
For those joining us via Zoom, please
[1:53] remember to mute your phone or device
when you are not speaking. If you forget
[1:57] to mute your phone or device, we may
mute you. You may hear a voice stating
[2:01] that you have been muted. If you hear
that message, it is because we could
[2:04] hear your background noise. For
questions during the meeting, please use
[2:08] the raise hand feature found under
reactions in the Zoom viewer. If you are
[2:12] not able to raise your hand, please wait
until the commissioners ask for
[2:15] questions.
Thank you.
[2:19] Entertain a motion.
[2:23] » Madam Chair, make a motion to amend
business meeting agenda include to
[2:27] include resolution 26-385
[2:31] for distressed county zone 9 for
Chehalis.
[2:35] » Second.
>> All those in favor?
[2:38] » I.
>> I.
[2:39] » I. Motion carries 3-0.
Reva, could you give us public comment
[2:43] guideline, please?
>> Good morning. The commissioners welcome
[2:46] public comment. Public comment is
limited to 3 minutes per person. There's
[2:50] a timer in front of me. It'll be green
as you have plenty of time left. It'll
[2:55] turn yellow when you have 30 seconds
left, and it'll turn red when your time
[2:59] is up. We do ask that you please state
your name and city of residence when you
[3:03] get ready to give public comment, and we
do note that this is more of a one-way
[3:07] street. This is your opportunity to
share your concerns with the
[3:10] commissioners, not necessarily their
time to respond.
[3:14] » Thank you.
Mr. Merkle.
[3:18] » Morning. Rob Merkle from Packwood.
I'm here to give you an update on our
[3:22] property tax situation. There's some
good news, but also more to the story
[3:26] that as a tax-paying citizen furthers
our frustration with the whole
[3:29] situation.
To bring you up to speed, because of
[3:32] large increases year to year, our 2025
tax assessment resulted in us having to
[3:37] pay close to $18,000 in 2025.
We appealed our 2025 tax assessment to
[3:44] the county appeals board. We were
denied.
[3:47] We then filed the state board of tax
appeals and were granted a hearing in
[3:52] August of this year.
We submitted a lot of information that
[3:55] included case law that when applied to
our case showed that the Lewis County
[3:59] Assessor is required to provide us
with how he arrived at that assessed
[4:03] value. That was never provided.
Two days before our hearing with the
[4:08] state board, we received a telephone
call from a team from the Assessor's
[4:12] office offering us an approximate $1
million reduction in our assessed value.
[4:17] Thus, admitting by their actions that
the original assessment was wrong. The
[4:22] irony is that in the March 2025 edition
of the Chronicle, the Assessor stated
[4:26] flat out that the methods used resulted
in assessments being, quote, spot-on.
[4:32] I wish that the success of our appeal
was the [clears throat] end of the
[4:35] story, but I discovered that the county
plays by a different set of rules when
[4:39] compensating for their errors.
If a taxpayer is late on paying their
[4:43] property taxes, they are charged 9% per
annum on any over-overdue tax.
[4:50] The auditor applies state regulations
and pays an interest rate based on
[4:53] current returns of US Treasury bonds,
3.25%.
[4:58] To be clear, the county charges 9% when
the taxpayer owes the county money, but
[5:03] the county if a pound of overcharged
pays 3 and a quarter percent.
[5:09] It gets worse.
The auditor, citing state regulations,
[5:13] states that any interest paid would take
place on refunds held more than 6 months
[5:17] of a big case being settled.
Since the case was settled in August of
[5:21] 2026, we are receiving zero interest.
One would think that the same grace
[5:27] afforded the county would be extended to
the taxpayers.
[5:31] Solomon stated that unequal weights are
an abomination.
[5:37] The county has held our funds for over 1
year now. Being a retired financial
[5:41] advisor, that money would have been
invested in an index mutual fund that
[5:45] has returned 18 and 1/2%.
That results in an additional loss of
[5:50] $1,400.
This whole situation was avoidable. We
[5:54] have had to spend hours gathering
information for our appeals owing to
[5:59] have to force the issue by appealing to
the state. It was only then that the
[6:03] assessor's office by their actions
finally admitted their error.
[6:08] We should not have had to go to such an
extent to prove ourselves in the right.
[6:12] It shouldn't be this way. We shouldn't
have to spend our golden years
[6:17] preventing this abuse.
Everett W. Lord stated, "Be fair. Treat
[6:22] the other man as you would be treated."
>> time. If you'd like to leave your
[6:27] paperwork, you're welcome to do so.
>> I'm done.
[6:30] » I I'd like to have a copy of that. Rob.
[6:35] » I've had to write all over it, so I will
send you a copy. I will email it to you.
[6:43] » All right. Do we have anyone else for
public comment in the gallery?
[6:47] Anyone online for public comment? Please
use the raise your hand feature.
[6:54] Not seeing anyone, move to consent
items.
[6:57] » Madam Chair, make a motion to approve
consent item resolution 26-382
[7:02] and the minutes from the September 1st
BOCC meeting.
[7:06] » Second.
>> All those in favor?
[7:08] » Aye.
>> Aye.
[7:09] » Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
>> Madam Chair, make a motion to approve
[7:14] deliberation items resolution 26-3
83 and 384.
[7:21] » Second.
[7:24] » Morning Commissioners, Jeff Soderquist,
Public Works Director. Here to speak on
[7:27] resolution 26-383.
This resolution is to list the bids
[7:32] received for the Tucker Road paving
project
[7:37] and recommend award to the lowest
apparent responsible bidder
[7:41] and authorize the County Engineer to
sign on behalf of the board.
[7:45] Uh we received three bids, Granite,
Lakeside, and Western United Civil
[7:50] Group, with Granite being the apparent
low at $699,349.50.
[7:59] » Any questions on this item?
>> No, ma'am.
[8:02] » All right.
Burn restrictions.
[8:11] » Good morning, commissioners. Rivel
Lester, clerk of the board, here to
[8:13] speak to resolution 26-384.
This ratifies action you took last week
[8:20] to modify burn restrictions to allow
recreational campfires in designated
[8:25] campgrounds and on private lands in
approved fire pits and to allow the use
[8:31] of solid fuel barbecues effective at
12:01 a.m. on September 3rd.
[8:39] » Any questions on that item?
Okay, it's been moved and seconded to
[8:42] approve resolution 26-383
and 384. All those in favor?
[8:47] » Aye.
>> Aye.
[8:48] » Aye. Motion carries 3-0.
>> Madam Chair, make a motion to approve
[8:52] resolution 26-385.
[9:01] » Second for discussion.
>> Okay.
[9:07] » So,
last week we
[9:11] had former Commissioner Gross come in
here and talk about
[9:14] .09
that one of their projects didn't get
[9:19] funded, whatever.
Um
[9:22] and he made a pretty compelling case
that more money needs to go over there
[9:26] and then never even hearing about the
project and then on this one, I'm a bit
[9:31] confused just even going through packet
writer
[9:34] um
with the documents. they put a .09
[9:39] application in for
250
[9:43] but were but it says 450.
Um and then is this for the sinkhole
[9:50] that has been discussed?
The North Fork, is that the same one
[9:54] that we're talking about?
>> No, this is the uh sinkhole that is uh
[10:02] just east of
uh the cannery
[10:07] and just north of the train station.
The historical museum.
[10:15] And I will note that uh there was
originally a
[10:20] an attempt to put this on our agenda
before it even came to the .09 board.
[10:25] And so
I requested that that not happen and go
[10:30] to .09 first since that is the process.
>> Did it go to the .09?
[10:35] » It did and the
uh documentation as I said was only for
[10:39] the 250,000. I'm not sure where it got
changed in there to be
[10:45] uh the
450,000.
[10:50] » Uh so I had reached out to Todd Chappet
because the minutes didn't reflect that
[10:56] there had been any discussion regarding
that and it sounds like there was a
[11:01] verbal request at the meeting. He
revised his minutes to reflect that that
[11:07] the city representatives
had
[11:11] uh requested an increase when they
presented and the .09 committee had then
[11:17] um
made a motion to approve that higher
[11:20] amount.
[11:25] » So the full .09 board
met
[11:29] discussed the project in its entirety
but then yet last minute we increase
[11:35] from 250 to 450.
>> My understanding is that the city had
[11:39] applied originally for 250,000
and then the morning on Friday that that
[11:46] group met
and the 0.09 committee met and the city
[11:51] representatives
then requested a
[11:56] the consideration for additional
funding to increase that amount and that
[12:02] is the recommendation from the 0.09
committee was to award up to 450.
[12:09] Of course that is
for the
[12:12] the commissioner's consideration.
>> Right. Did they provide any backup at
[12:16] all as far as engineers estimates?
>> The only documentation that was provided
[12:22] has been attached to the
[12:27] um
>> Just to the quote?
[12:30] » Correct.
[12:33] There was also discussion about whether
or not 09 funds should be
[12:39] basically emergency infrastructure as
opposed to being planned economic
[12:44] development projects.
And I believe that there will probably
[12:48] be more discussion going forward on
that.
[12:51] Um
the
[12:54] uh
Kelly Smith Johnson for Centralia was um
[12:57] very supportive of that being used for
infrastructure uh for emergency
[13:02] infrastructure maintenance.
[13:06] » She was in support of it being used for
emergency use.
[13:09] » Yes.
>> I guess the other piece that um
[13:14] our legal team has stated is just that
we put in a policy that anything over
[13:20] 250
would have to have
[13:23] um
a more extensive
[13:26] application process instead of the short
application.
[13:30] Um
[13:32] I mean, if we start circumventing and
and doing that, I can see where other
[13:38] opportunities will rise within the
county
[13:42] declaring something a an emergency and
then for us to circumvent
[13:47] the policies that we've put in place.
And so, 450 I don't I mean
[13:52] their
their application is for 250 and to add
[13:55] another 200,000 just because
they felt that they would want the extra
[14:00] 200,000. Well,
I'd like that in my paycheck, too.
[14:10] » There's you know, for me there's just
too many discrepancies between what was
[14:14] in the minutes of the 2.571 ask and
and this appropriation for 450 as well
[14:20] as
as a very general
[14:24] um
quote for
[14:28] the work that's to be done here. I don't
see any
[14:32] real
[14:36] backup here as far as what's actually
going to
[14:39] take place other than a very
[14:43] rapidly and I understand the the issue
with that, but a very rapidly put
[14:47] together
estimate.
[14:51] Obviously, this is a it's a critical
issue. I have no doubt about that.
[14:57] And I don't want to
drag it on, but I think we need to
[15:03] to have
[15:06] some more information on this.
>> Yeah, and
[15:10] » How come we didn't we didn't discuss
this last
[15:14] last Wednesday? Because
>> Because that's not the process. It is
[15:17] supposed to go to the 09 committee
first, and that has been my consistent
[15:23] issue with a lot of these things
is that we are not following the process
[15:28] that we have put into place.
So, and I get a lot of flak for that.
[15:33] So, I decided this one at least we
didn't discuss it ahead of time.
[15:37] I took the hit for making sure that it
went to 09, but rather than being
[15:42] continually complained about as being
the anchor, said, "All right, we'll move
[15:46] it forward to the three of us."
>> Okay.
[15:50] I think what Commissioner Brummel is
referring to is we didn't even have an
[15:53] opportunity to have a discussion about
it at directors, which we normally
[15:57] would. This was added obviously today.
Um and the other thing is if this wasn't
[16:03] an emergency, then I would assume that
the people from
[16:09] Chehalis would be here to be able to
speak to this, but maybe because it was
[16:13] such short notice that maybe didn't even
know that we were doing it today.
[16:18] » They had planned to come last Monday. Um
I don't know if they knew that this
[16:23] discussion was taking place today. I
only had conversations with Todd.
[16:30] On Friday, not
>> To your knowledge, uh Commissioner
[16:35] Palloc, is there
any buy-in from the the railroad? Is
[16:39] this solely a city responsibility
because of the being stormwater, or is
[16:42] there any
uh
[16:44] match that's provided by the railroad?
>> No, currently the my understanding is
[16:49] that the railroad is just doing what
they can to not stand in the way. So,
[16:55] they'll be working on coordinating with
flagging for the trains during the time,
[16:59] but
uh there was And it was asked whether
[17:02] they were making any financial
contribution to this.
[17:06] But, as uh far as Chehalis knew and
anybody knows,
[17:10] there's been no financial contribution
by BNSF.
[17:13] » Okay.
>> And commissioners, if you would like, um
[17:18] we could invite the city to we could add
this to tomorrow's agenda. We could add
[17:23] it to next Tuesday's.
Um
[17:26] if you would like
further information, we can reach out to
[17:29] the city or invite them to
come.
[17:34] » Well, I think we need the full
documentation that we normally require
[17:37] for this kind of ask.
>> Right.
[17:42] » We
[17:45] » I'm done with questions.
>> Okay.
[17:48] » Anything else for discussion on this?
All right, it's been moved and seconded
[17:53] to approve resolution 26-385.
All those in favor?
[17:59] All those opposed?
>> I.
[18:02] » I.
Motion fails 0-3.
[18:06] Any announcements or new business?
[18:11] » Uh you guys received an email over the
weekend that we had a literal dumpster
[18:14] fire at the Centralia transfer station.
So, I did ask Rocky to come here and
[18:19] give an update on that. And that we were
notified
[18:22] at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, I
believe,
[18:25] uh is when dispatch received the phone
call
[18:28] about the fire. So, we do have pretty
significant damage. We are up and
[18:31] running at about 50% capacity right now,
but Rocky's got some more details.
[18:36] » Yeah, thank you. Rocky Lions solid waste
manager. Yeah, so
[18:39] um
5:30 a.m. Centralia dispatch, Riverside,
[18:43] Chehalis fire, and some other outlying
smaller county fire apparatus showed up
[18:49] to the
middle of the two commercial or the two
[18:53] bays. Room was on fire as well as the
tractor trailer and the trailer full of
[18:58] garbage.
Um it was quickly extinguished enough to
[19:03] where there wasn't any
active fire. Um we did spend
[19:08] the entire day removing and
separating and cleaning and things like
[19:13] that. As of now, the the main damage is
affected on the equipment room was a
[19:19] total loss everything that was in it all
of the tooling air compressors bench
[19:23] grinders vices those types of things is
completely gone.
[19:28] The tractor that was affected may be
able to be repaired. It's being sent out
[19:32] to to get looked at. One of the
the trailers was a Lemi trailer. It has
[19:37] been moved off to the side and they'll
assess that on their own.
[19:41] Had a city of Centralia inspector come
out and deem it okay for us to use one
[19:46] side Sunday after the fire.
He did come by this morning and allow us
[19:50] to open up to both sides as well as
someone from our engineering group went
[19:54] over and checked it out. Um
and deems it safe.
[19:58] So while we're rebuilding and working on
things, I had when anticipate probably a
[20:03] couple of days to get caught back up. We
do have some logistics to work through,
[20:09] but all in all very very thankful for
very swift response as well as the help
[20:14] on a weekend
from the city of Chehalis, the city of
[20:19] Centralia, as well as public works team.
We had some people from public works
[20:23] come in facilities.
It was a really really awesome group
[20:27] effort to see everybody come together to
make something happen in order to turn
[20:30] around and open the next day on such an
extensive situation. So believe the
[20:36] source of the fire potentially could
have been fireworks that had been dumped
[20:39] there it
um
[20:42] probably intently but accidental fire is
what caused the situation. So some more
[20:47] investigating to go and but I'll keep
you updated.
[20:51] Any questions?
So a lot of electricals damaged in there
[20:55] to get um
our scale readouts up with the machines
[21:01] up on top
along with lights and our fans. So the
[21:05] entire
north half is right now completely
[21:08] de-energized.
Um going to be quite a bit of re-running
[21:13] wire and conduit uh to get just the
um
[21:18] main solid waste operations back up and
running on the north side.
[21:22] So, part of the what Rocky's got going
right now is we're dumping on both
[21:27] sides, but then everything's getting
shoved to the south side to then get
[21:31] loaded into the trucks.
Um
[21:35] As we work through the evaluations, it
sounds like we can likely get the north
[21:40] side open back up and get operations,
but we're going to have to run some
[21:43] temporary power to get the scale
readouts and everything working again.
[21:47] Um and then it'll be a matter of
uh permanent repairs and restoration of
[21:52] that equipment room and getting those
tools replaced.
[21:57] » That compressor isn't isn't necessary
for the operations portion of
[22:03] » No, the trucks can
>> Yeah, the the compressor was just
[22:06] running air to the the trailers to keep
them the axles down so that we had
[22:10] accurate weights on them. But, other
than that, no. Okay.
[22:15] And we do have another air compressor
that is um able it's on wheels. If we do
[22:20] need it for any reason, we do have uh a
couple extra auxiliary ones around.
[22:26] All right.
>> So, yeah. I guess just a reminder to
[22:29] please be patient with us while we get
back up and running.
[22:32] Already made significant work just in a
couple of days.
[22:35] So, um
I know there was a bit of a backup when
[22:38] I was out there this morning, uh but
just a reminder for the public to please
[22:42] be patient.
[22:45] » Can we do a press press release on that?
And then
[22:50] can we coordinate with
Rocky or Karen or
[22:54] » Yeah, we can get that out. Put a post on
our Facebook page and as well as the top
[22:59] of our solid waste um page on the county
website that there is that we have, you
[23:03] know, had a fire and there's some damage
and we're operating, so expect long
[23:07] delays.
[23:09] » I'd be happy to work with you on
something to send out.
[23:13] » Thank you.
[23:16] All right.
>> Anything else for announcements or new
[23:18] business?
For calendars?
[23:23] Anything from the press?
>> Move to adjourn.
[23:26] » Second.
>> We are adjourned.