Board keeps existing chair for continuity, confirms assignments and committees for 2025

The Skamania County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 25, 2025, selected its chair and vice chair for 2025 and approved commissioner assignments to standing committees and department oversight.

The board voted to keep the existing chair for continuity during the new commissioners' first year and named Commissioner Nichols as vice chair. During the voice vote on reorganization, one commissioner said, "I will abstain," and the clerk recorded the motion as carried.

Commissioners reviewed a tentative list of committee and departmental assignments. Among the assignments noted on the record: public works was assigned to Commissioner Ferris; probation, human resources, community events and recreation, and senior services were allocated among commissioners as indicated on the worksheet circulated at the meeting; several commissioners volunteered as alternates for outside boards including the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Commission and the Pacific Northwest Recreation Advisory Committee. The board also discussed a request that may come from Cascade Columbia Housing for a county representative on its governing or advisory body.

The board approved the assignments by motion and voice vote. Commissioners discussed practical details for oversight, including which commissioner would be the primary approver of timesheets for departments under commissioner oversight and how that approval would work in absences.

No ordinance or policy change was adopted; the action was an annual organizational vote and assignment approval recorded in the meeting minutes.