Thank you to The Chronicle for covering the June 9 Winlock City Council meeting. Your June 13 article quoted Mayor Brandon Svenson stating road projects on the six-year State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) list were those “city staff could secure grant funding for.”
To clarify for residents: The city was unable to secure grant funding for any of the 2025 projects.
As a mayoral candidate, I asked specifically about 2025 STIP funding and learned that no projects have committed funding except the Hotel Hole in the ground, which lists $760,000 in City of Winlock funds.
Critical questions that remain unanswered: Does this amount include property acquisition or legal fees? What are the costs for stormwater work, which the mayor dismissed with the comment “the engineers will handle it?”
While the STIP format is state-mandated, Winlock can and should do better by clearly distinguishing between eligible and funded projects, providing complete cost breakdowns for city-backed projects.
Regarding the vacant hotel property, I strongly encourage the mayor and city council — if they acquire the site — to promptly list it for sale to private developers who can transform it into a revenue-generating asset for our community.
Winlock’s limited resources would be better invested in essential services and infrastructure rather than maintaining another city-owned property.
Victoria Marincin
Winlock
