Changes to Committees and Sheriff services

We are currently considering changes to the committee system. Some changes are obvious and simple, while others are more complex. Here are a few highlights of the proposals:
1. Define standing committees and temporary committees
2. Eliminate Water Rights, Telecommunications, Municipal Services Agreement, Law Enforcement, Citizens Utility Advisory committees
3. Create new committees to oversee city departments such as Public Works and Emergency Services
4. Direct the Parks and Recreation Committee to focus on developing a city park and turn the recreation program over to faith based and/or volunteer groups
5. Offer training to each committee once per year
6. Decide if relatives or members of the same household should be allowed on the same committee.
7. Require committee members to be registered to vote in Cascade Locks.
What do you think of these proposals? What other ideas do you have to add to this re-organization?


The council has started the process of renegotiating the contract with the Hood River County Sheriff. Currently the Sheriff's office requires the taxpayers of Cascade Locks to pay extra for patrols in our city. The Sheriff has demanded a fee increase of more than 10 percent. We had budgeted enough to pay for three eight hour shifts before this increase. The taxpayers in places like Parkdale and Odell do not pay extra for their patrols. It appears that the taxpayers in Cascade Locks are the only taxpayers in the county that are asked to pay twice for this service. In a neighboring county with a similar population, Wasco County, the Sheriff's Office patrols the entire county including cities. The city of Maupin, less than half the size of Cascade Locks, has a branch of the Wasco County Sheriff's Office in their downtown and a deputy assigned full time.
Should we expect the Sheriff to patrol the entire county? Is this another example of Hood River refusing to extend tax payer funded services to Cascade Locks? Is it time to develop more self-sufficiency and reduce the reliance on Hood River? On the contrary, should we go ahead and pay the extra fees they demand for Sheriff services? Is three days enough? Should we consider adding more days of patrol at even greater cost to our taxpayers? Do you consider Cascade Locks to be a high-crime area compared to the rest of the county? If so, what responsibility does the County Sheriff have to providing protection services to our community?

What do you like?

Several people who have been following this blog have mentioned to me that many of the opinions expressed here are too negative or harsh. If you followed the last post, you saw over ninety posts on a wide range of issues. Many of these were critical of the city, the council in general or specific policies or council members. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the discussion.

Here's my challenge for the next two weeks: Can we take that same energy that has been so critical and apply it to something more positive? Can we have a discussion about the good things happening in our town? Specifically, what do you like about Cascade Locks? What do you like about the services the city provides? What do you like about our city government? What do you like about living here? What are your favorite things to do here?