š§ 2025 Year-end Pathfinding for Klickitat BOCC: 12/30-31 recap
Klickitat County closed out 2025 with a hiring freeze, budget adjustments, public defense contracts, and groundwork for major 2026 decisions on housing, energy, infrastructure, and emergency systems. Hereās what changed, and what to watch next.
š Klickitat County Board of Commissioners
Year-End Meetings: December 30-31, 2025
Klickitat County closed out 2025 with decisions that underscore a clear theme emerging across the year: stabilization under pressure. Inflation, staffing constraints, aging infrastructure, and long-delayed policy updates are now converging, and the Board is shifting from short-term fixes toward structural reset.
š¼ Governance & Staffing
The Board formally implemented a selective countywide hiring freeze, signaling a cautious approach to 2026 budgeting while departments absorb inflation-driven costs. Commissioners emphasized this as a multi-year stabilization strategy, paired with ongoing departmental consolidation under the new County Administrator structure.
The Board also unanimously appointed Rebecca Cranston as Klickitat County Prosecuting Attorney, effective January 6, 2026, filling a key leadership role as legal and land-use issues intensify.
šµ Budget Adjustments & Fiscal Management
Two budget actions closed the year:
- Approval of Supplemental Budget 2025-4, recording a $49,410 energy audit grant for Buildings & Grounds (budget-neutral)
- Authorization of internal fund transfers to cover wages and benefits without increasing total expenditures
Commissioners reiterated a focus on three-year budget planning, acknowledging that inflation has reshaped baseline costs faster than revenues can adjust.
āļø Criminal Justice & Public Defense
After recessing the prior dayās discussion, the Board approved the 2026-2028 Indigent Defense / Public Defender contract, completing one of the more complex negotiations of the year. Commissioners framed the agreement as necessary to maintain constitutional services amid rising personnel and contract costs.
āļø Context: Why Prosecutors Are Leaving, and Why Public Defense Costs Keep Rising
Klickitatās year-end changes in the Prosecutorās Office and public defender contracts are part of a bigger statewide squeeze on rural criminal-justice staffing.
Why the Prosecutor churn matters
In late 2025, Klickitatās longtime Prosecuting Attorney announced his resignation, citing concerns about victim privacy in law-enforcement communications and describing a broader staffing and resource strain inside the office. He also pointed to recruitment challenges after prior reductions in prosecutorial staffing and investigator support.
This fits a statewide pattern: rural counties increasingly face ālegal desertā conditions, where itās hard to recruit and retain attorneys of any kind, both public defenders and prosecutors. This is because travel time, workload, and pay competitiveness all work against small jurisdictions.
Why public defender contracts are getting so expensive
Washingtonās public defense system is funded largely at the local level, and coverage varies widely by county, sometimes described as ājustice by geography.ā Counties are reporting that shortages and higher contract rates can lead to delays in appointing counsel, raising both legal risk and operational costs.
State support exists, but itās limited relative to county obligations. For example, the Washington Office of Public Defenseās Chapter 10.101 āpublic defense improvementā funds show Klickitat receiving $21,894 in 2025 and $46,530 in 2026. This is helpful, but small compared to the full cost counties face for indigent defense services.
The local tension
Taken together, Klickitat is trying to keep two constitutionally required systems staffed at the same time:
- a prosecutorās office that can retain experienced attorneys, and
- a public defense system thatās increasingly priced like a scarce specialty service.
Both of these are critical to ensure the community's constitutional legal rights are not hypothetical, but a promise kept. Thatās why appointments and multi-year public defense contracts are showing up as recurring ābig-ticketā governance items: this isnāt just a Klickitat issue, itās our local manifestation of a statewide crisis.
š§ Infrastructure & Public Safety
Public comment reflected appreciation for recent road safety improvements in the Snowden area, including new reflectors, while also calling attention to unmet needs such as centerline striping and curve safety.
Commissioners acknowledged that road safety, emergency communications, and wildfire readiness will remain persistent priorities in 2026, even as costs continue to climb.
š§ Looking Ahead
As 2025 ends, several major policy efforts remain in motion:
- Solar & Battery Storage Ordinance (legal review pending)
- Short-Term Rental regulations (public process early 2026)
- ADU reform workshops
- 2026 GMA Periodic Update outreach
- Long-term radio and 911 system replacement planning
Rather than sweeping resolutions, the final meetings of the year reflected something quieter, an intentional reset, with groundwork laid for difficult decisions ahead.
š Join the Next BOCC Meeting
š Typically Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m.
š» Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/586587651
š Dial-in: 1-346-248-7799 | Meeting ID: 586 587 651
āļø Written comment: bocc@klickitatcounty.org (by noon the day prior)