McDonald Commentary: Steam Train Owes Existence to Dedicated Volunteers

It’s sad to see turmoil surrounding the Chehalis-Centralia Railroad and Museum, a treasure in the midst of the Twin Cities created through thousands of hours of dedicated work by volunteers over more than three decades.

Without the old-timers who spent every weekend driving to Morton to restore the old locomotive, we’d have no steam train drawing visitors to Lewis County for the Polar Express, Santa Trains, Harvest Run, Mother’s Day dinner trains, and other seasonal excursions.

Earlier this month, Randy Mueller, Port of Chehalis CEO, sent a letter alleging mismanagement of the organization by those in charge after they missed deadlines for filing paperwork with the state departments of Revenue and Labor and Industries. The port owns the 10-mile rail line used by the steam train for excursions, and a study it commissioned showed the CCR&M benefits the local economy by more than $800,000 a year.

“For the port, we can only say that something needs to change with the management of the CCR&M for us to continue working with the group,” Mueller wrote in his Sept. 6 letter. “The current situation is simply unacceptable. While we would rather have a community asset generating tourism dollars and entertaining families, the option of simply shutting down the rail line for good will be the one taken by the port if we don’t have complete confidence in your operation.”

Bill Thompson serves as the nonprofit’s president and his wife, Wanda, as secretary and treasurer. She fell behind on paperwork after suffering a medical emergency, which Mueller acknowledged in his letter while criticizing the lack of adequate backup for such an eventuality.

Like most nonprofits, the steam train relies heavily on volunteers.

I’m not involved in CCR&M, but it seems it would be more beneficial for government officials to serve as mentors to assist steam train volunteers in accomplishing necessary tasks rather than issuing threats and ultimatums.

Too Little Too Late?

During the summer of 2017, the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce launched an effort to fix what it considered mismanagement of Lewis County by promoting a home rule charter and election of freeholders to reorganize the county’s government.

The group proposed increasing the number of elected commissioners from three to five, reducing their salaries from the more than $100,000 in pay and benefits they receive now, and hiring a professional county manager.

In February, working under a political action committee called One Lewis County, the group submitted 1,721 valid signatures to place the home rule charter question before voters in November.

In March, Lewis County commissioners determined that the freeholders tasked with creating a charter would be elected from 15 specific geographic sub-districts rather than simply the three commissioner districts. Freeholders would have a job to do only if voters favor creation of a home rule charter.

Later that month, Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer began holding more than a half dozen informational meetings throughout the county to explain the process.

Two months later, more than three dozen candidates filed for election to those 15 freeholder seats.

In June, perhaps to thwart One Lewis County’s efforts, commissioners hired Erik Martin, then the county’s public works director, as county manager. 

One Lewis County remained quiet most of the summer, and little was heard about the upcoming election of freeholders and the proposed home rule charter — until it filed a lawsuit this month challenging the constitutionality of creating 15 subdistricts.

Why did it take so long for the group to challenge the upcoming election? And what’s it matter whether the freeholders are elected from three commissioner districts or 15 sub-districts?  That is, unless One Lewis County had a slate of freeholder candidates whose plans were thwarted by creation of the smaller subdistricts.

A Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled late last week that the home rule charter will appear on the Nov. 6 general election ballots along with the names of freeholder candidates, despite the legal challenge, because it’s too late to review the merits of the case before ballots are sent out.

If voters reject the home rule charter, is the question of how freeholders were elected moot? Or will One Lewis County begin its efforts again? The next court hearing on the issue is Nov. 1.

Does Lewis County have management issues? Possibly. Is the home rule charter the answer? I’m not convinced. We have elections: If we don’t like what’s happening, vote out the incumbents.

•••

Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at chaptersoflife1999@gmail.com.