Among the agenda items approved by Winlock City Council members during their Monday, March 9, regular meeting, was a motion to officially accept and publish a job listing for the Winlock city treasurer position.
The motion came after Winlock City Treasurer Jill Davis submitted her resignation letter to the city earlier this month, with her last day being this upcoming Friday, March 13.
Councilors also finally voted and ended up rejecting a motion to renew the city’s membership with the South Lewis County Chamber of Commerce by a vote of 3-2, after previously tabling the issue during both of their regular February meetings.
During public comment, Tana Morehead, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Field Operation Center West, announced SBA loans were available to help residents throughout Southwest Washington still struggling to repair flood damage from December’s storms.
Treasurer resigns
Davis gave her final treasurer’s report at the beginning of Monday’s meeting.
“I just want to say thank you to council. I’ve worked with most of you guys for the past three years. I also want to say thank you to former Mayor Brandon (Svenson), who gave me the opportunity to come here. I appreciate all the support and guidance you all have given me working with everybody, working with the finance committee. Winlock has some of the best staff around here. We have lots of good people. We have good times. We have supportive staff. So, it was a very hard decision for me to move on, because of the staff,” Davis said. “But the time has come.”
She stated she would still be available throughout the rest of the week for daily financial and payroll duties, along with a Wednesday meeting with Washington state Auditor’s Office staff to “button up the last bit I can for the audit,” and another meeting with possible future financial consulting for the city with Teresa D. Johnson, CPA Inc., also known as TDJCPA.
“I’m trying to leave the best I can for everybody, so, if you have any questions, reach out to me before Friday,” Davis added.
“We wish you the very, very best,” Winlock Mayor Victoria Marincin said, before thanking Davis along with the rest of the council.
During her own report following Davis, Marincin thanked Davis again along with the rest of city staff for her work with the city.
“Much of their work happens behind the scenes, such as Jill’s. And it’s important the community knows how much effort goes into serving Winlock,” Marincin said.
According to the council’s agenda report containing details of the city treasurer job listing, the salary for the new treasurer will be a full-time position earning between $4,940 and $6,146.40 a month, depending on experience.
SBA flooding assistance
As for the flood damage loan assistance from the SBA, Morehead explained Lewis County was one of the counties in the region declared eligible for the SBA’s Disaster Assistance program, which provides low-interest loans to recover from declared disasters.
Many counties throughout Southwest Washington experienced flooding events during severe winter storms which hit the region from Dec. 5 to Dec. 22.
“Survivors can apply for disaster assistance for business and home. And that would include renters as well. For businesses, also nonprofit organizations, churches and soforth,” Morehead said.
She provided councilors with informational packets detailing interest rates and applicant requirements. She added the first payment on the loan isn’t due until 12 months after it is first issued, and asked the council to share the information she provided on the city’s website.
To apply for an SBA Disaster Assistance program loan, visit the SBA’s website at https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance. For more information, email Morehead at tana.morehead@sba.gov.
Following the meeting, Morehead told The Chronicle she planned on visiting other local municipal governments throughout the Lewis and Thurston county areas and beyond affected by December’s flooding to inform them of the loans too.
Chamber membership renewal rejected
Concerning the rejection of renewing the city’s membership with the South Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, councilors had debated both sides during their previous two regular meetings in February.
It was first tabled for more discussion on Feb. 9, before councilors were forced to table it on again on Feb. 23 after both motions to approve and reject membership renewal died in a 2-2 vote tie, as previously reported by The Chronicle.
On Monday, membership renewal, which would have cost the city $137, was rejected by a vote of 3-2, with Councilors Alishia Hornburg and Jess Bowers opposing the motion to reject — even after Marincin announced an unnamed individual called her prior to the meeting and informed her, “a $100 donation, or a payment in full for this,” had been offered if the council approved its membership renewal.
“That doesn’t mean you have to join. You still have to vote, one way or the other,” Marincin added.
Despite this, Councilor Jeramy Allman maintained his opposition to renewing the membership, expressing concerns about what were, in his opinion, local political issues the South Lewis County Chamber of Commerce was involved with.
“The fee that we see right now is a pro-rated fee because they’re trying to get everyone on one billing cycle,” Allman said. “I’ve talked to other businesses, and they’ve been asked not to show up to (Chamber) meetings anymore. They’re still a member, but they’re asked not to show up. They don’t treat all of their members quite well.”
Last month Allman also expressed concerns about the South Lewis County Chamber’s connection to the Lewis County News with the newspaper’s editor also being a chamber board member.
Councilor Jodie Curtis, who previously abstained from voting on Feb. 23 leading to the deadlocked votes, also questioned if membership was a good idea for the city.
“I actually spoke with a manager of a business, and that person has been with the chamber for years and has never once had anything special done for them or anything mentioned,” Curtis said.
Allman conceded many Winlock businesses were current South Lewis County Chamber members, but only two of them in the downtown area.
“To me that’s a little bit of a problem, because there’s quite a few businesses down this street, and they don’t want to be part of it,” Allman added.
Councilor Chuck Camps added he understood the value of businesses being a part of the South Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, but felt the city itself had more than enough exposure online simply through a Google search.
Aside from many businesses in South Lewis County, several other local government agencies are South Lewis County Chamber members still including both the Winlock and Toledo school districts and the cities of Napavine, Toledo and Vader, according to its website.
To learn more about the South Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, visit https://www.southlewiscountychamber.com/.
