Members of the Winlock City Council convened for a regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 12, and approved their side of an interlocal agreement (ILA) with the City of Vader for assistance with city clerk duties following the recent departure of Winlock’s city clerk.
Monday’s meeting was also the first one attended by newly appointed Winlock City Councilor Lonnie Dowell, who was appointed by the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners. While a quorum was present, Councilor Chuck Camps was excused from the meeting by the council and was not present on Monday.
The Vader City Council approved its side of the ILA last week. The ILA was drafted after the sudden departure of former Winlock City Clerk Maureen Crabtree, who isn’t the only city staff member who has left Winlock recently, as former Winlock Treasurer Michelle Francis resigned at the end of September.
While Francis did submit an official resignation letter, Crabtree reached out to The Chronicle in an Oct. 13 email and stated, "for the record, I did not resign. The city offered me a severance package, and I elected to accept it.”
Though it has yet to be approved by either the Winlock or Toledo city councils, another ILA has been drafted for assistance with treasurer duties with Toledo. During Monday’s meeting, Winlock Mayor Victoria Marincin thanked both of the neighboring South Lewis County communities for providing assistance.
“I very much appreciate the neighboring communities,” Marincin said.
During subsequent council discussion concerning the establishment of a city employee overpayment collection and appeal policy, Marincin added that Toledo City Clerk/Treasurer Rachell Campbell was already “auditing every (Winlock) paycheck.”
“If there are overpayments that are due, she will, by this policy, get it worked out,” Marincin said.
Upon the discovery of an overpayment to a city employee, payroll staff shall notify the employee of the overpayment within five business days, and the employee then has 20 days to either give back the overpaid funds or file an appeal for a written review of their case.
Councilors unanimously approved Resolution No. 2026-12, incorporating the overpayment policy into the city’s existing personnel policy.
Given Winlock’s treasurer issues, councilors also unanimously approved a contract with Teresa D. Johnson CPA, Inc., to provide technical accounting assistance, analyze available IRS and quarterly budget reports and make recommendations concerning prior out of balances related to cash, according to the council’s agenda packet.
Per the contract, Johnson will also “read the Dec. 31, 2025, SAO (State Auditor’s Office) report for completeness, accuracy, consistency and overall presentation, and incorporating appropriate revisions.” The contract ends on Dec. 31, 2026, and the estimated “professional fee” for the services was $31,500.
Despite the steep cost, Winlock City Councilor David Anderson supported approving the contract.
“As a businessman, I believe there’s a return on investment that we need. And when we do not pass an audit or there’s audit issues, then we’re not eligible for certain grants,” Anderson said. “If we get even one grant, that is a return on investment for the money that we would pay for the CPA.”
Anderson added he did not believe there was any “wrongdoing” from previous city staff, but “some things just didn’t get filed properly.”
Councilor Jodie Curtis requested a stipulation be added to the contract that service fees with the CPA do not exceed $35,000 “without prior authorization.”
During the meeting, Winlock Student Community Advocates (WSCA) member Rachael Moore asked for permission to decorate the famous “World’s Largest Egg” in downtown Winlock for the upcoming Halloween holiday. While in previous years the WSCA has decorated the egg for the holiday, they wanted to ensure they had approval as the egg still has its special America250 paint scheme, added this summer to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday.
Moore explained with the special paint job, they were not actually going to decorate the egg itself this year, but the stand the egg is placed atop.
“We were considering just doing (spider or witchy) legs this year, instead of trying to put something up over the egg,” Moore said.
The council was OK with the WSCA’s plans, though added they would still reach to the artist who painted the egg for their approval. Moore added they planned to put up the Halloween decorations on the Wednesday before the holiday, and take them down the day after on Sunday, Nov. 1.
With the annual Veterans Day holiday also just around the corner on Nov. 11, the council unanimously approved a resolution establishing a city-sponsored Veterans Day parade and flag disposal ceremony.
Given U.S. Flags, along with the flags of the various U.S. military branches, are displayed in Winlock, Anderson, one of three veterans currently on the Winlock City Council, stated they decided to incorporate an official flag disposal ceremony as many of the city’s flags need to be replaced.
Anderson served in the U.S. Army, while both Dowell and Camps served in the U.S. Navy.
“As far as I know, no one does flag retirement ceremonies. And the (Life) Scouts are going to lead that, because heaven forbid, I wouldn’t want a city councilman or something like that having a picture taken of them burning an American flag, and having it construed as something else,” Anderson added.
He stated attendees would also have the chance to learn how to do proper American flag retirements, which they could also do on their own at their own homes.
The new flags put up will be evaluated to see how they handle the elements in the upcoming winter before the 2027 Memorial Day holiday. Winlock Police Department, Lewis County Fire District 15 and Winlock High School flags will also be added to the flag display along Old Highway 603 in Winlock.
Winlock’s Veterans Day parade will begin at 1 p.m. according to Anderson, and Curtis added it will be preceded by a special lasagna lunch for veterans and their families at the Winlock Senior Center starting at noon.
