Residents ask Yakima County commissioners to review Valley Regional Clean Air Agency governance and staffing

Yakima County residents Jean Mendoza and Nancy Lust used the public-comment period at the April 22, 2025, Yakima County Board of Commissioners meeting to ask the board to review governance and staffing at the Valley Regional Clean Air Agency.

"The Clean Air Agency is on life support and needs your help," Jean Mendoza, a White Swan resident, told commissioners, listing what she described as a set of legal and operational concerns and asking the commissioners to schedule a work session to gather information and hear from the public.

Mendoza said the Clean Air Agency's five-member board currently has only four members and that the Yakima City selection committee had not filled a vacancy that she said should have been addressed earlier. Mendoza also said the agency has six employees, "and there should be a minimum of 10," that meetings have been short, and that the agency has not responded to public requests. She told the board the agency faces litigation over a landfill permit, a backlog of permit applications, high staff turnover, an unresolved whistleblower complaint, staff performing work beyond their qualifications, missing reports from monthly board packets, and outstanding recommendations from the Washington State Auditor's Office and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Mendoza referenced a state code she described as "RCW 78.15 0.202," saying it requires a selection process to begin four months before a scheduled vacancy; she asked the county to "spend some time gathering information on the viability of the Clean Air Agency in accordance with the law." Mendoza closed by asking the commissioners for a direct answer to her request.

Nancy Lust, a Yakima resident who said she lives near the Rocky Top Environmental Landfill, also spoke during public comment but defended the agency's recent reappointment of a board member. "You recently reappointed Dr. Steven Jones to that seat," Lust said, adding she agreed with Jones's public remarks that he intends to bring "a practical science based opinion" and to avoid "stifling agriculture in the Yakima Valley." Lust criticized Mendoza and others she said had helped close legacy dairies and said those closures harmed local businesses and jobs.

Lust read portions of Dr. Steven Jones's remarks and described Jones as a "staunch advocate for agriculture," saying she supported his reappointment and asked commissioners to treat stakeholders as partners in problem solving.

The board did not record any formal action or direction in response to the public comments during the meeting. Commissioners continued with the agenda after public comment; the consent agenda was approved by motion and voice vote during the session, but no vote or commitment to schedule a work session on the Clean Air Agency was recorded in the meeting transcript.

The two public commenters asked the board to act in different ways: Mendoza requested a formal information-gathering work session and raised multiple operational and legal concerns; Lust defended the board's recent personnel decision and urged inclusion of agricultural stakeholders. The transcript does not record any reply from the commissioners addressing Mendoza's request for a specific yes-or-no answer.