Congresswoman Discusses Rural Woes During Visit in Morton

MORTON — A humble invitation from East Lewis County officials to U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, garnered a personal visit from the congresswoman this week. 

With representatives from public schools, city and county government and local law enforcement officials seated around the table at Herrera Beutler’s side in the Bob Lyle Community Center on Wednesday, the conglomeration of officials engaged in a straightforward, hour-long conversation on the trials and tribulations of managing what were portrayed as cash-strapped rural governments, overextended law enforcement agencies and underfunded schools.

Much of the blame for the budget stress was placed on unfunded mandates from state and federal government. Everyone seated at the table with Herrera Beutler, including County Commissioners Gary Stamper and Edna Fund, Mossyrock Mayor Tom Meade, Morton Mayor Dan Mortensen, Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza and Morton Police Chief Roger Morningstar, appeared eager to learn about potential grant opportunities that could help bridge the gaps in their respective budgets.

Morningstar expressed his intention to apply for a Community Oriented Policing Services grant. Morningstar noted studies that show benefits to the safety and long term civic function of youths who have a community resource police officer regularly stationed in their school. Morningstar said his intention is to use the COPS grant to hire a new officer for his staff and then shift one of the existing Mossyrock officers over to a more consistent and visible role in the Morton School District. 

“I think it would be a vital resource for our department and for our area,” Morningstar told Herrera Beutler.

Sheriff Snaza delved into the myriad factors putting the pinch on his department. He said mental health issues with inmates put a heavy burden on his department, along with indigent defense costs and persistent issues with drug abuse. Exacerbating those common law enforcement problems is the fact that in recent years the U.S. Forest Service has cut positions for patrol officers to cover the vast tracts of U.S. Forest Service land within Lewis County. 

In order to cover for those losses, Snaza said he is now forced to send his deputies deep into the forest for patrols and emergency calls. He noted that his department is paid $20,000 a year for the work, but added that this year they were forced to purchase a new truck for those extracurricular offroad trips at a cost of $9,000. Snaza estimated that the remaining $11,000 will be used up in just one month of backwoods patrols.

“With just a little bit of help, imagine what we could do,” implored Snaza.

Mossyrock Mayor Tom Meade noted that his city is facing massive infrastructure upkeep issues for water and sewer systems. Meade said that the city recently found it is being required to replace a relatively modern wastewater treatment plant at an estimated cost of $9 million even though he says the facility is still in good working order.

Herrera Beutler expressed her empathy with the city’s plight, noting that in her experience federal and state agencies with seemingly similar agendas often wind up passing the buck back and forth and leaving a trail of confusion in their wake. 

“I asked the EPA what was going on and they have no idea what the Department of Ecology is doing. They are on their own train to lala land,” said Herrera.

Public school administrators from East Lewis County also highlighted ongoing problems with funding and student tracking. It was noted that students who enroll in the federal Job Corps program are counted as dropouts against the public high school where they previously attended. Inconsistent funding issues that arise from transitional students who only live in the school district for part of the year was also blamed for complicating matters in the small school districts.

At the meeting’s conclusion Herrera Beutler came away with an overflowing notebook and a renewed appreciation for the efforts of small town and rural county officials. 

“It’s always humbling. I think the big takeaway is that if the feds can’t provide funding for some of these things, then they should at least do something to change the mandates,” Herrera Beutler said. 

She noted that she is still committed to attaining access to Community Development Block Grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that several Lewis County towns lost access to when they were deemed to be “too affluent” by federal government data. 

Herrera Beutler pointed out that the data used in those studies had a margin of error around 90 percent. She said she is working on a way to fix the data so that towns that are currently excluded may reapply for the grants. One idea that she proposed is to allow the communities to conduct their own verifiable census in order to prove they are not too affluent for government funds. 

Herrera Beutler said the plan would provide reimbursements to cities for the cost of the study if they were able to prove that the previous numbers were inaccurate. However, at this time, she said that she still feels as if she is “fighting HUD” on the issue.

Herrera Beutler cited the Forest Service land patrols as another area where she would like to see Lewis County get some relief. It is her belief that the economic woes of the Forest Service that led to the discontinuation of those patrols by USFS agents are self-inflicted due to the agency’s reluctance to cut enough timber. 

“I’ve been pressuring the Forest Service to work under the current law but to harvest responsibly,” said Herrera Beutler, who blamed undermanaged federal timber thickets for the severity of recent wildfires in the region. “Perhaps then we can even get the Forest Service to be less chincy about supplying an officer.”

The congresswoman also expressed optimism that local communities will be able to make good use of the COPS program in order to add police officers to their departments and a steady presence in schools so that students will be able to begin building positive relationships with police officers on a daily basis at a young age.

“These aren’t people to be afraid of. These are people you should trust. Maybe that will be helpful later on when they hit a rough stretch,” said Herrera Beutler in regard to law enforcement. “The relationship shouldn’t be adversarial.”

Pleased with the way the cordial public meeting turned out, Herrera Beutler was full of praise for Lewis County before she left Morton.

“This is a very unique county. They do a lot of work and ask for so little,” said Herrera Beutler. “No, they didn’t make a list of demands today, but my takeaway is that I have a lot of work to do in order to help ease the burden.”