I couldn’t believe what was happening as I sat in the recent Clark County Commissioners meeting. Commissioners David Madore and Tom Mielke have maintained their belief that they value the recommendations of staff and listening to the voice of citizens. Yet, when staff recommended The Columbian be designated as the newspaper of record for legal notices and supported their recommendation with convincing analysis of uses and costs, Madore and Mielke decided to ignore the facts and selected the Reflector. This was done despite the testimony of citizens that this was not a reasonable choice. There were no speakers who supported this decision.
The Reflector is a great weekly newspaper serving the smaller communities in North Clark County. However, they cannot be considered a newspaper with countywide readership. This limited readership base, coupled with it being a weekly instead of a daily publication, will provide scheduling challenges for notices of public hearings and could delay the addressing of emerging issues by the county.
There was no evidence presented that this choice was financially preferable to staying with The Columbian. Rather, this decision had all of the appearances of a vindictive reaction to The Columbian’s criticisms of Mielke and Madore. So much for transparency, citizen’s voice and responsible decisions. Unfortunately, there is no mechanism for citizens to challenge this decision.
Charlie Roe
Vancouver
