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Sheriff and prosecutor urge adding hearing-examiner option for dangerous-animal determinations
Summary
Cowlitz County sheriff and prosecutor reported they spoke with the county's hearing examiner, who is willing to take dangerous-animal hearings; the board was told an ordinance amendment and possible contract addendum would be needed to implement the change.
Cowlitz County Sheriff Bridal Thurmond and a prosecutor's office representative, Jason Loreen, told the commissioners they had discussed adding dangerous- and potentially-dangerous-dog appeals to the duties of the county's hearing examiner, Mark Scheidmeier.
Thurmond said he and Loreen met with Scheidmeier, who currently hears planning and health-and-human-services appeals and indicated he was willing to take dangerous-animal cases. Scheidmeier's contract has a current annual cap of $20,000, which the parties said historically has not been reached.
Loreen described the policy trade-offs between in-person and virtual hearings. "People when they're in person have that feeling of being heard, whereas over Zoom, it's really impersonal," Loreen said, and he recommended offering an in-person option for due-process reasons, particularly because criminal consequences can attach to later proceedings after an initial dangerous-animal determination.
Scheidmeier currently bills $250 per hour under the county contract; the sheriff's office estimated travel and hearing time can make a single in-person hearing costly (the office noted roughly $250 one way or $500 round trip in travel in discussion). Commissioners and staff discussed the option of consolidating multiple hearings on the same day if that would reduce travel costs.
Staff recommended a narrow set of changes: amend county code section 6.13 to permit the hearing examiner to hear appeals related to dangerous-animal determinations, and, if the board chooses, add an addendum to Scheidmeier's contract to explicitly cover those duties (including any earmarked funding or hourly-billing arrangements). The prosecutor recommended retaining in-person hearings where possible to protect due process and noted the hearing-examiner model remains independent and defensible on appeal to superior court.
Commissioners directed staff to prepare an amended ordinance for the board's review and to leave the contract terms available for future adjustment as needed. No formal vote was recorded in the transcript; staff said they would prepare the ordinance amendment and bring it back to the board.
The sheriff estimated the county typically sees about five dangerous-animal situations a year that might require hearings; staff said hearings could be combined into single sessions if the board wants to limit travel costs.
