DAYTON–Charles Amerein, District No. 3 Commissioner on the Board of County Commissioners, hit the ground running as he took over as chair on January 6, 2020, replacing outgoing Chair Michael Talbot, District No. 2 Commissioner. When Commissioner Talbot was Chair, he sat in the center (with the other two Commissioners on either side) so the question was jokingly asked if they now have to switch places. It appears they decided to retain their same seat positions at the table, with Amerein at one end.

Amerein smoothly assumed the leadership position, with his first official issue being a Public Hearing regarding adopting a County Ordinance on the complex issue of Sales and Use Tax Credit for Supportive and Affordable Housing. Washington State Substitute House Bill 1406, passed in 2019, authorized this credit for local governments. The purpose of the Ordinance is to add a new Chapter 3.150, Sales and Use Tax-Credit Against Prior Tax, to the Columbia County Code. Before adopting this into County Code, the County was required to file a Resolution of Intent, which was done in November, 2019, with Resolution 2019-50. The deadline for adopting the ordinance is July 27, 2020, but Columbia County wants to get in early because of an elaborate process for notification and implementation with the State. The credit is good for 20 years. There is a "cap" on the amount of the credit; the cap is the amount of sales tax collected in calendar year 2019.

The amount of the credit is .0146% of sales tax revenues each year (limited by the cap previously mentioned), but does not increase the sales tax rate. There are a variety of complex scenarios for how the funds can be split between cities and counties depending on what hurdles are jumped. Since the City of Dayton is also opting in to this credit, the credit will be split at .0073% for City of Dayton and .0073% for Columbia County.

The funds can be used for acquiring, rehabilitating, or constructing affordable housing. Additionally, in a small county such as Columbia, the funds can also be used for rental assistance.

The County Commissioners passed Ordinance 2020-01 to add Chapter 3.150 Sales and Use Tax Credit Against Prior Tax to the Columbia County Code.

In other areas, Charles Eaton, Columbia County Public Works Director, presented three Resolutions:

2020-01 to Adopt 2020 to 2025 Facilities Capital Approvement. This ordinance covered many projects that were proposed and selected. The selected projects include: Replacing Youth Building HVAC and remodeling the kitchen; replacing Courthouse HVAC, purchase and remodel a permanent facility for Public Health; Pavilion Restroom remodel to include ADA accessibility. This resolution was adopted.

2020-02 US 12 Whetstone/Turner Road Intersection Improvement. Washington State Department of Ecology has an issue with water runoff for this project. The County currently has funding of about $692,000 for this project. Possible options are: 1) pull the project from the State and proceed at the County level, with the State building their portion, and the County finishing the rest; 2) design a "pervious" pavement which would allow water to pass through a permeable substance. This option would release the County from the water treatment requirement. It is easy to do but would cost about $80,000 more to do. This resolution was approved to authorize the BOCC Chair and County Engineer to sign an agreement with the state.

2020-03 Authorized funding of $26,000 from the Washington Department of Agriculture for the Fairgrounds Restroom Improvement Project. This resolution was approved.