It’s not over ’til it’s over

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After six long and exhausting months on the campaign trail, it all ended this week.

With the exception of a still tight city council race, the winners in local races have been called. The campaigning is over. The signs, blessedly, will start to come down.

But don’t forget, there are two months to go before the new Clark County councilors are seated, and therefore, two months of havoc to wreak.

Here are some issues to keep an eye on in the coming months:

• The Comprehensive Growth Management Plan update is, perhaps, the biggest thing going on in Clark County. Both Julie Olson, the councilor-elect for District 2, and Marc Boldt, the chair-elect, have questioned Councilor David Madore’s Alternative 4. What’s the future of that plan? And what’s with Madore’s last-minute suggestion to change the planning assumptions, including the population projections? The council is slated to adopt its preferred alternative on Nov. 24, and frankly I wonder if there’s even enough time to adopt the full plan before the end of the year, but we’ll see what makes it through before year’s end.
• Madore’s tax proposal is still up in the air. Madore recently suggested cutting the county’s property tax revenue by 2 percent, or $1.2 million. County staff say that may lead to budget cuts, and Treasurer Doug Lasher memorably equated the cut to saving county residents the equivalent of two lattes. Heck, for the nearly $550,000 Madore spent on local races in this campaign cycle he could have just bought every one of his constituents in Clark County District 3 two lattes. I, by the way, am one of those constituents, and with as hard as this council makes me work, I could use those two lattes. The council will vote on this issue at its regular hearing at 6 p.m., Dec. 1.
• What’s going to happen with the Humane Society of Southwest Washington’s contract with Clark County? Councilor Tom Mielke, apparently forgetting how this issue went two years ago, wants to take another look at that contract. As he put it at recent meetings, he’s not so sure about “rolling over” and handing the Humane Society more money, and would like the option of housing animals in a Motel 6 as opposed to a Hilton. Oookay? This issue will likely come back in later meetings, and I’ll keep you posted. On another note, go adopt all the cats and dogs at the Humane Society because they all need homes and I don’t have the time or space to love them all.

It should make for an interesting couple of months. I, as always, will be tweeting and risking overdoses of ibuprofen and caffeine to bring you all the latest.

Thanks for reading during this crazy campaign season. I, for one, am just grateful it’s over.