While Winlock city councilors convened on Oct. 13 for their first regular meeting of the month, the only major agenda item up for approval was a request from the Lewis County Public Utilities District (PUD) to install a new transmission pole.
Additionally, the need for maintenance and cleaning at the Winlock Cemetery was brought up by Winlock City Councilor Jodie Curtis, and the council also discussed a recent bevy of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests being submitted by two individuals following a letter from another local resident read during public comment.
While Winlock Mayor Brandon Svenson was excused from the meeting, the rest of the council was still present for a quorum.
As for the PUD request, it was to install the new transmission pole on an undeveloped portion of land just west of the train tracks on Southeast Canyon Street and east of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on Southwest Kerron Street, according to PUD utilities specialist Jon Cox.
“This is something we proposed a few months ago. We’d like to make a slight modification due to some design changes that have just happened,” Cox said. “We’re going to set a transmission pole in kind of an unimproved area of Canyon Street.”
The pole is needed to complete the transmission line loop between Henriot Road, Winlock, and a new PUD substation being built on North Military Road, which will also be vital to ensure power supply to the growing industrial area north of Winlock, according to city staff. The council unanimously approved the PUD’s request.
FOIA request discussion
As for the FOIA requests, during public comment a letter from Winlock resident Marissa Williams was read into the record regarding “what appears to be excessive and disruptive volume of public records requests being submitted to the city,” Williams wrote.
“Specifically, by individuals including Victoria Marincin and Karen Bernard. While we understand the importance of government transparency and the legal right to access public records, there is a growing perception amongst citizens that these repeated and voluminous requests are interfering with city operations, diverting staff resources and affecting the ability of city employees to carry out essential daily functions. Many residents are starting to question whether this behavior constitutes a form of harassment or an intentional obstruction of city work,” Williams added.
Marincin is currently a candidate seeking to unseat Svenson as mayor, and one of Bernard’s current active FOIA requests was recently featured in a story in the Lewis County News.
Bernard claimed she filed the FOIA after she heard several Winlock residents had their water “shut off by city error,” filed the request asking to know the total number of water service shutoffs, the reason for each shutoff, the amount owed for each shutoff and the number of shutoffs due to city error going back to January 2022, according to Winlock City Councilor Lindsey Alvord.
Because of the scope of the request, city staff had to mail letters to water customers alerting them that to attempt to fulfil Bernard’s FOIA, personal customer information including names, addresses and overdue billing notices were going to need to be disclosed.
The letter informed customers in order to have their personal information redacted, they would need to take legal action and seek an injunction in Lewis County Superior Court.
According to the story in the Lewis County News, Bernard alleged her “simple public records request” asked for no personal information, and city staff violated her right to privacy as the letters included her name as the FOIA requestor, along with a copy of the request. Per state law, FOIA requests are public record and subject to disclosure themselves.
Alvord was one of the customers who received the letter as she had her water shut off once during the time period.
“I was on vacation and thought I paid it, whatever, sh-t happens, right?” Alvord said. “... I’m not worried about me, but I’m worried about the people whose names are going to be included in that. That’s not fair, to people who have issues, maybe trouble paying their bills sometimes. If they’re renters, possibly their landlord gets a hold of this, and now all this information for three years is going to go to this lady — who does not have the right, in my opinion … People could be harassed, maybe not get their leases renewed on their rentals.”
According to Alvord, city staff had actually at least redacted addresses from documents being prepared to be released, but per state law, city staff cannot redact information from public records unless there is a specific exemption authorizing it.
Alvord offered to volunteer her own time to redact names from the records too.
Despite her offer, Winlock City Attorney Jim Buzzard advised against it.
“If the city chooses to withhold information that is not obviously private — addresses, phone numbers, other information that is private — there’s no question it should be and can be withheld. The names, not so much,” Buzzard said. “In the event that the city withholds names, then someone who’s making these requests then could make trouble for the city by initiating a public records lawsuit. And a lot of people out there do fish for that type of lawsuit, by making such massive requests and looking for a gotcha moment so they can get the $100, or more, per day fine for not answering it correctly.”
He added the city frequently mails out letters like the one Alvord received because they routinely do have to disclose records containing personal information. Bernard was due to receive the information requested in her FIOA by Oct. 20.
Cemetery needs cleaning
As for the Winlock Cemetery, Curtis brought up the issue during her councilor comment.
“I hate saying this, but I was at the cemetery about a week ago and it really isn’t looking very great,” Curtis said. “I understand there’s not a lot of staffing. I understand it’s a cemetery district. But there’s holes where somebody could trip and really hurt themselves, especially an older person. There’s places where it’s not edged properly. There’s places where it’s over-edged and needs grass planted. And I understand that the headstones are basically family property, but I know there are some that are there that are never visited that need cleaning.”
She added weeding was also needed, and wondered if there were any local volunteer groups who might be able to come help clean the headstones and perform maintenance around the cemetery.
According to Winlock City Councilor Jeramy Allman, the fact headstones are considered private property there made it difficult to organize cleaning efforts.
“They won’t touch those because of possible damage to them … I know they’ve had some groups try to clean before, and it’s a real touchy thing because you can easily damage them,” Allman said.
He added he would reach out to Lewis County Cemetery District 1 members about the issue.
