Thursday evening, the Lewis County Boundary Review Board heard concerns about the proposed annex from the residents living in the Winlock Urban Growth Area. The hearing continued until 10:00 p.m. with many residents chiming in that they do not want to be annexed into the city. There was no decision made Thursday. The Boundary Review Board voted 4-0 on Friday to annex the UGA.
The beginning of the meeting started with Winlock City Attorney Jim Buzzard making a motion to stop the hearing. His motion was denied by the Boundary Review Board. Then they allowed each party 15 minutes to state their case. David Troyer, who is the consultant working for the city stated his case as to how the city has been working towards annexation. He stated they have all the necessary infrastructure in place, such as water, sewer and safety measures with the police department, but this is incorrect since the City of Winlock has water issues.
Eric Bernard, who represented the people spoke on the water issue, he stated, "No more water: June 7, 2022, We don't have water for any other development to start. Winlock is a huge critical aquifer recharge area. If the soil is paved over, covered up, water piped off, the aquifer will go dry. Simple: no recharge water, no aquifer water, no well water. " He also brought up development issues such as Oak Street.
Rosellen Brittain also spoke directly to the Mayor of Winlock, she stated, "We don't want you here, go back to where you came from." One after one, residents got up to speak about how they did not want to be annexed. Two city council members, Jeramy Allman and Marty Poirrier, were also in attendance with Mayor Brandon Svenson. Marty Poirier engaged the residents on Facebook during the week, calling out the residents in the UGA. Many believe Mayor Svenson had Marty Poirrier engage and harass the residents in the UGA. This did not go over well as the Lewis County News received several calls and messages asking if the city council member was just trying to harass the residents in the UGA. In previous administrations, the City Attorney has told Winlock City Council members to avoid social media.
Mayor Svenson did not speak for approximately two hours, then he stated, "I am here if anyone has any questions."
The chairwoman then stated, "It's chairwoman and who are you?" Forcing the mayor to properly address her.
Kathy Chastain was also in attendance, she stated, "Winlock's UGA will become part of the city even through, in my opinion, that 20 years after they proposed annexation they aren't ready for us. I hope and pray the costs of this annexation do not bite all of us taxpayers. The county is still processing the interlocal agreement that was signed in 2006 by Mr. Cy Myers, as they stated clearly at the beginning of the public hearing."
"The city has repeatedly in public meetings, stated they will not raise taxes," said Chastain. "I will wait patiently to see if that is true or not. The council and Mr. Buzzard on numerous occasions in meetings, and one social media vehemently stated, 'We are not suing the citizens.' Yet Friday night following the decision, Councilman Marty Poirrier admitted to me that he did not realize they were, in fact, suing us yet he admitted Friday that he did realize he sued the citizens."
"Here is the statement which followed each persons name in our lawsuit, which each council person, obviously, did not read its entirety: 'A lawsuit has been started against you in Lewis County Superior Court 345 W. Main St. Chehalis, WA 98532 by the petitioner, the City of Winlock, a municipal corporation,'" continued Chastain. "God bless Winlock."
The Boundary Review Board was unable to reach a decision on Thursday evening, due to time constraints. They met Friday evening at 5:00 p.m., deliberated and took a vote. The Lewis County Boundary Review Board voted 4-0 to annex the Urban Growth Area into the City of Winlock. The next meeting where residents will get to speak is at the Lewis County Board of County Commissioners meeting.
The City of Winlock government is on its way to annexing the Urban Growth Area into the Winlock City Limits. They won their battle but in reality they lost the war because they forgot one thing that Winlock has always been about and that's the people. They have lost the sense of community and what this community has always been about. The City wasted over $100,000 in public funds and ignored the people.