PORT ANGELES — When a Clallam County commissioner travels next week to Washington, D.C., he’s hoping to speak with the state’s Congressional representatives about legislative priorities.
Commissioner Mark Ozias will leave for the nation’s capital on Monday, he said during the commissioners’ work session.
“The primary purpose of this visit is not legislative visits,” Ozias said. “I will be in Washington, D.C., for an annual meeting of all of the 50 state association presidents and executive directors.”
He will be traveling with Derek Young, the executive director of the Washington State Association of Counties, and the two will be working on getting appointments with Washington’s senators and representatives or their staffs.
“I don’t know for certain whether we’re going to be able to do that yet, but I wanted to see if there are any particular issues relevant to Clallam County that, if we do have the chance to meet with our reps, that you would like me to highlight or focus on,” Ozias said.
Commissioner Mike French mentioned the Hurricane Ridge Lodge and suggested continuing advocacy to get it rebuilt.
“I haven’t talked to any of our staff on Slip Point with the transfer we have in place,” French said. “I think it’s moving correctly, but I haven’t been able to talk to the sheriff or to Don (Crawford) at Parks & Facilities if there’s anything that we need to give a nudge on to any of our federal representatives. I think we’ve been working with (U.S. Sen. Patty) Murray’s office.”
County Administrator Todd Mielke mentioned he had spoken with Clallam County resident Ed Bowen about a property transfer in the Elwha watershed. Bowen said there was about 1,000 acres that is not part of Olympic National Park and is possibly related to the breaching of the dams that was transferred into federal ownership, Mielke said.
“There’s some sort of document that he infers to in about 1992 that basically issues or suggests the federal government should basically dispose of the property and evidently that hasn’t happened,” Mielke said.
Bowen is requesting, Mielke said, that the federal government surplus that property either back to the state or to Clallam County.
“He believes that there’s value to the county asking not for all of it but for part of it as the federal government disposes of the property,” Mielke said. “I don’t know the acreage specifically of the parcels that Mr. Bowen was most interested in. He did provide a list of those parcels.”
Mielke suggested discussing the matter further with U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell.
Commissioners also discussed reminding federal representatives of the FEMA applications the county has in process as well as the jail Medicaid waiver program the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department has been working on.
During the work session Monday, commissioners also discussed the process for handling the next recommendations the Charter Review Commission has made.
On Aug. 11, the Charter Review Commission voted to approve a resolution recommending the county retain a water resources specialist in the Department of Community Development. Then, on Dec. 22, the commission approved a resolution which recommended a response to land acquisitions by the state and federal agencies.
In the first quarter of the year, the county will work to schedule district town hall meetings to discuss those topics, commissioners determined.
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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
