News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
The current runaround faced by the local Regional Board of Mayors points to a structural problem we’ve tried to work around before and failed.
The RBOM, itself, was created as an end run around the reality that this is a community split by municipal boundaries drawn in a time when they may have made perfect sense but no longer do.
That group of four mayors was formed so we could have and operate a...
Reader Comments(1)
Bob VALEN writes:
Here's a further perspective. Four communities, or neighborhoods, that have a combined population of 3,378 (current Census), a distance of 7 miles or 15 minutes from the southern most to the northern most town. Today, as Scott states, 20 council members and 4 mayors for a population of less than 3,400 people. Each town competes with the others, duplicating efforts for such things as grant dollars for various and important community needs and improvements. Fire protection, ambulance and police needs are contracts or agreements between the four. This creates daily gaps of coverage while fire and ambulance services are operated by volunteers. General coordination between the four towns is nearly nonexistence. One of the four towns actually should be classified as a village according to geographic experts. Elmer City even lacks some of the attributes that comprise what a village is. This area is a population enigma, one that many embrace it would appear.
12/12/2021, 9:46 am