Washougal councilwoman questions appointments

Washougal City Councilwoman Michelle Wagner said during the Council’s Oct. 14 meeting that she believes the city of Washougal did not adequately advertise for open positions on the City’s planning commission.

Before the Council voted to confirm the re-appointment of Washougal Planning Commission members Mike Lamb, Jim Reinhart, Meridee Pabst and David Szyplinski, Wagner told the Council that she intended to vote against the proposal.

“My understanding is that this didn’t go out to the public,” said Wagner, the only one of the seven councilmembers to vote against the reappointments. “I talked a lot (with Camas Planning Development Director Mitch Kneipp) about this, that he has a good group of people constantly coming up. But just from a procedural standpoint, we have a process, and I just don’t think it can be arbitrary, not doing the process for seeking a vacancy. I would have liked to have seen something ‘normal.’ We have a process and a procedure, and I think we should follow it.”

Kneipp told the Council that “there wasn’t a specific announcement” for the Commission vacancies.

“We have a continuous recruitment for volunteers through our website,” he said. “The public is made aware of that continuous volunteer effort through social media and by our communications coordinator. But there was not a specific announcement of any vacancy.”

Washougal Mayor David Stuebe agreed with Wagner.

“We have to make sure we do our due diligence and make sure that we do advertise and make it a big deal, because then maybe we’ll get more people interested in volunteering,” Stuebe said. “I do know (the commissioners have) done a great job, and I appreciate their dedication to what they’ve been doing for our city.”