The property between Hoquiam City Hall and the Hoquiam Fire Department has been declared surplus by the Hoquiam City Council, paving the way for a potential sale to the Columbia Wellness Crisis Clinic, which currently occupies the building at 615 8th St.
“The property is between City Hall and the fire station and is known to most as the crisis clinic,” said City Administrator Brian Shay. Behavioral Health Resources, which provides outpatient adult, child and family services including crisis and medication management, ended their agreement to use the building “about a year ago,” he said.
Columbia Wellness is a nonprofit organization. During discussion about the property some council members expressed concern about the type of facility as it does offer addiction and mental health services. Mayor Jasmine Dickhoff replied, “The city should encourage this type of facility. We need help in mental health treatment here and this is a small start.” The council unanimously approved the resolution.
Shay told commissioners the property itself is owned by the city, but the building is owned by Grays Harbor County.
“It is my understanding that Columbia Wellness wants to purchase the building from the county and do significant renovations,” said Shay. “Where we’re at now (after listing the property as surplus) is, if they buy the building and want to also buy the land we have the ability to do that.”
Littering ordinance update
A major loophole in the City of Hoquiam littering ordinance was closed by council members last week when they approved an update to the existing ordinance that would allow the city to cite people who are caught illegally dumping trash on private property.
“Two weeks ago somebody driving through town and throwing a cigarette butt out their car window onto public property could be cited,” said Shay. “But there was a loophole in the law that said if somebody was littering on somebody else’s private property we didn’t have the authority to write them a citation.”
Shay and Dickhoff related several horror stories at the last council meeting that drove the need for the littering ordinance update, which was unanimously approved by council members.
“There was one place where there was an unlocked garage and over several months it was filled with garbage bags,” said Shay. “Not the property owners, but somebody else. In this case, we caught them, but under the old ordinance we couldn’t write them a ticket.”
He said the city was alerted by neighbors, because anyone just passing through the area would not have noticed anything as the garage door was left closed. When the city responded, the rat-infested garage took days of work and $1,600 in disposal fees to clean up.
