The ReflectorServing North Clark and South Cowlitz counties, Washington February 3, 2016TheReflector.com

PRSRT STDU.S. POSTAGE PAID

BATTLE GROUND, WAPERMIT #1

CHANGE SERVICE

REQUESTED

IN Your paper thIs week

Unlikely dancing pair to perform at Horse Expo

Horse Corral, C1

thIs week’s CoNteNts

Vitals �������������������������������������������a5sports �����������������������������������������B1legals �����������������������������������������B3Classifieds ������������������������������B10Horse Corral / Horse expo �����C1Companion pets �������������������������C6Home & family ����������������������������C7opinion ����������������������������������������C8Happenings ������������������������������C10Calendar ����������������������������������C11tHe Big game �����������������������������C12

The ReflectorP.O. Box 2020, Battle Ground WA 98604

50¢

THE NEWCHEVY SILVERADOAT BUD CLARY CHEVROLET

CH

5453

04 A

S

PeaceHealth believes in you and offers a variety of weight loss services to support your healthy changes. Learn more at peacehealth.org/weightloss.

Believe you can lose the weight.

CH55

3494

AS

Superintendent says it’s time to ‘set the record straight’JOANNA MICHAUDstaff reporter

Almost six months into the 2015-2016 school year, contract ne-gotiations between the Battle Ground School District and the dis-trict’s teachers have still gotten nowhere.

On Jan. 29, district of-ficials released a message to the community from Superintendent Mark Hottowe, along with a chart showing compar-isons between the com-pensation proposals of the two different groups – the district and the Battle Ground Education Association (BGEA).

In Hottowe’s letter to the community, he starts out by saying that he has contemplated com-

municating his personal opinion surrounding the “stalled” negotiations be-tween the school district and BGEA teachers. He

stated that thus far he has refrained, in the spirit of not engaging in debate or argument, or making dis-

BGsD, teachers still making no progress in contract negotiations

New language details tribe’s responsibilities for sewer litigation costs and more KELLY MOYERstaff reporter

LA CENTER – The city of La Center and the Cowlitz Indi-an Tribe are one step closer to completing an intergovernmen-tal agreement detailing a host of issues related to the tribe’s new reservation land, located directly west of the city’s I-5 boundary.

On Jan. 22, city leaders sat down with tribal representatives and city attorneys to go over the intergovernmental agreement line-by-line, discuss proposed language changes and take ques-tions from city councilors.

At the heart of the agreement is the fact that the Cowlitz Tribe is forging ahead, despite one re-maining legal challenge in feder-al court, with its proposed casi-no-hotel complex on the Cowlitz Indian Reservation. To accom-modate the anticipated casino traffic, the tribe plans to revamp the interchange at I-5, with a full realignment of Paradise Park Road inside La Center’s city lim-its and, eventually, install a traf-fic signal to help direct traffic at the intersection of La Center and Paradise Park roads.

The tribe has agreed to pay for all costs associated with the Par-adise Park Road improvements,

to “design and construct the realignment to meet appli-cable city roadway design standards” and to reimburse the city for costs related to the planning and engineering plan review and construction inspections required for the road improvements.

Much of the meeting was spent discussing language tweaks to the agreement – in-cluding the fact that the city attorneys have removed lan-guage that made Minit Man-agement, the owners of the Shell gas station, which will be directly impacted by the Paradise Park Road improve-ments, third-party members of the agreement; opting instead to enter into a separate agree-ment with Minit Management.

Daniel Kearns, the city of La Center’s attorney, told city councilors that the tribe has agreed to not seek any land east of the freeway, within the city limits.

But some councilors wor-ried that this was not enough, and said the city needed to po-sition itself to take advantage of the business opportunities that could follow the construc-tion of the massive casino-ho-tel complex.

La Center Mayor Greg Thornton said he is worried that the city will have “some serious issues with revenue streams” once the casino

Cowlitz tribe, city of La Center close in on agreement

THE COWLITZ TRIBE is forging ahead, despite one remaining legal challenge in federal court, with its proposed casino-hotel complex on the Cowlitz Indian Reservation near the La Center I-5 interchange.

Photo by Mike Schultz

Daybreak Youth Services’ staff addressed concerns over proposed facilityJC CORTEZStaff Reporter

BRUSH PRAIRIE – Staff members from Daybreak Youth Services attended a second meet-ing of Brush Prairie residents to discuss concerns over a proposed teen drug and alcohol treatment center Saturday afternoon.

Daybreak Youth Services Exec-utive Director Annette Klinefelter and Governing Board Vice Presi-

Brush Prairie residents discuss teen rehab center

SEVERAL TEACHERS who are members of the Battle Ground Education Association (BGEA) could be seen picketing on Main Street near the Battle Ground Post Office the afternoon of Tue., Jan. 26. Teachers were holding up signs that read, “Fair contract now!”

Photo by Mike Schultz

BGEA says district is trying to invoke opposition from communityJOANNA MICHAUDstaff reporter

Although Linda Pe-terson, current president of the Battle Ground

Education Association, has said she can some-what understand Battle Ground School District officials’ concern over being forced to cut the

district’s budget to better compensate its teachers, she said she still believes the district should honor those teachers.

“If you look at our (the district’s) fund bal-ance now, I remember our double levy failure, we had no fund balance, teachers had to drop TRI (time, responsibility and incentive) days,” Peter-son said. “Over the years, our fund balance has ris-en, it’s better now than it’s ever been. Nobody wants it to get to the lev-el it was at before. No-body wants to not have a healthy revenue fund balance, but if you honor the teachers this year and look at our proposal and honor what we’re asking for, you will have every

See HOTTOWE on Page A3

See BGEA on Page A4

See DAYBREAK on Page A3

See COWLITZ on Page A2

February 3, 2016 The Reflector A3News

$1.49 9

500 Gal. + . . . . . $1.49 9

300 Gal. + . . . . . $1.59 9

150 Gal. + . . . . . . $1.79 9

500 Gal. + . . . . . $1.59 9

300 Gal. + . . . . . $1.69 9

150 Gal. + . . . . . $1.89 9

CH55

2947

AS

Now OpenNow Open

(360) 723-5769 • 717 W. Main Street, Battle GroundMon-Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5 • Next to Wilco • Financing Available (OAP)

• Locally Owned & Operated• Experienced Licensed

Interior Decorator• Large Selection of Unique

Furnishings for Your Whole House

TwilighT ESG8

8” Mattress

Cooling Gel-infused visco

memory foam

MoonlighT ESG10

10” Mattress

Cooling Gel-infused visco

memory foam

MidnighT ESGC12

12” Mattress

Cooling Gel-infused visco

memory foam

CH55

3765

AS

ON SALE $399 set

Reg $599

ON SALE $599 set

Reg $699

ON SALE $799 set

Reg $999

Goodwill

BATTLEGROUND

Main St.

Above & Beyond Dentistry ~ Our plan will save you money, without compromising quality!

Always finding new ways to go

above and beyond for our patients!

The New Year Brings New Insurance Benefits!

There’s no better time than the present to start

working toward a new year of healthy, bright smiles.

Call to make an appointment today!

(360) 342-6496

CH55

3669

AS

This announcement is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy these bonds. The offer is made only by the Official Statement.

MUNICIPAL BONDS - TAXABLE INCOMEPORT OF WOODLAND, WA

LIMITED TAX GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, 2016

(TAXABLE)The Port of Woodland, Cowlitz County, Washington (the “Port”) is issuing Limited Tax General Obligation Bonds, 2016 (Taxable) (the “Bonds”) to (i) purchase an eight acre, two piece parcel of bare land;and (ii) pay the costs of issuing and selling the Bonds.

The Bonds will pay taxable interest semiannually on June 1 and December 1. The Bonds will be issued in minimum denominations of $10,000 or integral multiples of $5,000.

Indications of interest are currently being taken.For more information or to request a copy of the Preliminary

Official Statement, please contact:

Investment Banking Phone: (206) 682-6261 or (800) 543-3332

Member SIPC

CH55

3827

AS

paraging remarks. Hottowe has decided, how-

ever, that he cannot keep quiet anymore.

“It has become clear to me that the union is not forthcom-ing with accurate or complete information that would allow a listener to fully understand why we have not reached an agree-ment,” Hottowe wrote in his message, a copy of which was emailed to The Reflector. “It is time to ‘set the record straight.’”

Hottowe continued by giving a summary of the negotiations between the district and the bGea, stating that the district has been negotiating with the bGea since the spring of 2015. Hottowe said the state legislature increased the district’s funding by $11 million, including a 3 percent cost of living adjustment (COLa) for state-funded staff, health and retirement increases, expansion of full-day kindergar-ten, class-size reduction, and in-crease to materials, supplies and operating costs (MSOC).

according to the district, the state allocated the new money to specific expenditures, many of which had requirements to access. In the end, Hottowe said only $1.56 million was avail-able for discretionary allocation. Of these funds, approximately $400,000 was allocated to the Public School employees as-sociation to increase pay for classified employees in a multi-year contract. In September, the district offered $1.1 million to increase the salaries for certifi-cated staff in time, responsibil-ity and incentive (TrI).

This offer was made by the district in September. The bGea did not accept the of-fer. Hottowe states in his letter that after further negotiations, the district increased the offer

by an additional $1.1 million over two years for a total offer of $2.205 million in TrI time. Hottowe said that this addition-al $1.1 million requires the dis-trict to cut the current budget by $284,000 and next year’s budget by an additional $821,000 and “constitutes the the largest sin-gle raise of certificated salaries in recent history.” The bGea again did not accept this offer.

Hottowe said that on Jan. 25, leaders of the bGea submitted a proposal asking for a total of $6.1 million to meet their de-mands. He said this includes $3.7 million in additional TrI time, $1.1 million in “addition-al extended days,” $807,000 for longevity pay and $420,000 for additional primary school coun-selors. In addition, the bGea proposal includes lower class size language.

“If we had the resources, I would gladly support the union’s current proposal,” Hottowe wrote. “Our teachers are worthy of every advantage we can offer. unfortunately, if we made the decision to support this proposal, we would have to make serious cuts to a budget that barely meets our ongoing needs. I cannot in good conscience recommend this level of cuts to our school board, knowing full well the long-term financial damage this would have on the district’s ability to meet the community’s needs.”

Hottowe pointed out in his

letter that the union is “fond of comparing us (the district) to ev-ergreen and Vancouver schools.” He said this comparison doesn’t work, as the battle Ground School District is “unique.” Hottowe said the battle Ground district has the lowest class size in the region, and that they have some of the best staffing ratios for special education, counsel-ors, psychologists and nurses that are “well beyond the the state’s funded staffing levels.”

Hottowe said these addition-al staff members provide “out-standing” resources and sup-ports for the district’s students and families that can’t be found in surrounding districts.

“This comes with a hefty $17 million price tag that comes di-rectly out of local levy dollars,” Hottowe said. “The union wants to compare us to surrounding districts without regard to the fact that they do not have this heavy burden. To free up reve-

nues that could be redistributed to fund the $4 million difference between the district’s current offer and the bGea proposal would require us to reduce our unfunded staffing by almost 60 full-time teachers.”

“I do not recommend we cut current staff and supports to meet the $6 million request,” Hottowe continued. “rather, I propose that we take responsible and appro-priate steps forward, continuing to expand services, provide more educational opportunities and improve facilities while main-taining proper fiscal responsibil-ity to our community.”

Hottowe ended his letter to the community by stating that he finds himself in an “uncom-fortable situation.” He said that in his 40 years in education, he has always developed positive and nurturing relationships with staff and the community.

“I believe in solving prob-lems, never walking away from

an issue,” Hottowe said. “While I certainly may have had a few detractors, I have been known as a positive and effective leader with integrity, vision and passion for students and staff. I now find myself embroiled in a situation that goes against every fiber of my being. It is important for the community to understand that this ongoing conflict is not reflec-tive of all teachers in our district.

“I am committed to our teachers and their great work, and I continue to advocate for them on a local and statewide level,” Hottowe concluded in his letter. “I do believe our edu-cators need additional resourc-es, but I will stand firm on the principle that I must take all aspects of our district and com-munity into consideration when making major financial deci-sions. I look forward to a time when we can move past con-tract negotiations and get back into our normal routine.”

HottoweContinued from page A1

Edt. 1/28/2016

BGPS and BGEA Contract Negotiations Comparison

$1,384,000$936,411

$1,384,000$936,411

$1,196,036 $1,196,036

$420,000 $420,000

$807,000 $807,000

$821,000

$2,809,233

$0

$1,000,000

$2,000,000

$3,000,000

$4,000,000

$5,000,000

$6,000,000

$7,000,000

2015-16 District Offer 2015-16 BGEA Proposal 2016-17 District Offer 2016-17 BGEA Proposal

Additional Compensation Proposals

Additional TRI -15-16 Additional Extended Days Primary Counselors Longevity Additional TRI 16-17

Difference of $3.96 Million

2015-16 2016-17

Difference of $1.97 Million

Total – $1.38 M

Total – $3.35 M

Total – $2.20 M

Total – $6.16 M

Calculations are based on an average per diem rate for certificated staff.

The proposals defined above are in addition to current salary and staffing levels of BGPS teachers, which includes 14 TRI days, three district -directed start-up days and up to 20 extended days (depending on position).

THIS GRAPHIC, sent out by Battle Ground School District officials on Fri., Jan. 29, shows what the district says is a comparison between the two different compensation proposals from the district and the Battle Ground Education Association (BGEA).

Graphic provided by Battle Ground Public Schools

To read all of Superintendent Mark Hottowe’s message to the community in its entirety, visit The Reflector website at www.thereflector.com. There are two different versions of Hottowe’s letter – his full explanation of what the district says is going on and Hottowe’s community letter.

at a glance

dent Tom Skoro spoke at the reg-ular meeting of the Greater brush Prairie Neighborhood associa-tion. The pair spent more than an hour answering questions in an attempt to ease tensions over the proposed treatment facility.

Daybreak plans to purchase the church in order to expand its current Clark County operations,

which currently includes a 16-bed facility for boys in Vancou-ver. The proposed facility would more than double the nonprofit's capacity in Clark County.

after conversion, the building would house and provide addic-tion treatment for 20 boys and 20 girls ages 12-18, with spaces re-served for treating local children. With more than 11,000 kids in need of treatment across Wash-ington state, the facility would be a small first step toward al-

leviating “a tremendous lack of treatment capacity,” according to Daybreak staff.

But conflict arose in the small community late last year after the Clark County Council voted to approve an emergency ordinance that changed the scope of Day-break's operations with the church.

under current regulations, the facility is allowed to open with 10 treatment beds, which is inade-quate for Daybreak's needs. The or-ganization is seeking a conditional use permit to allow it to operate the full 40-bed facility as planned.

but many brush Prairie resi-dents fear that allowing Daybreak

DaybreakContinued from page A1

See DAybReAk on Page A4

A4 The Reflector February 3, 2016News

single teacher working twice as hard for our next levy.”

“We’ve done this together be-fore, but the fact is that the mon-ey (the $11 million from state funding) came in and they (the district) decided how to spend it, and they did not consider any proposal coming from the teachers before they earmarked the money,” Peterson continued.

Peterson said she was con-fused and alarmed by the chart sent out by the school district on Jan. 29, comparing the two sides’ compensation proposals. She said she was confused af-ter seeing it because she doesn’t know where the district got the numbers used, and she said the numbers are not accurate.

The chart shows the district’s offer of $1.38 million in addi-tional TrI for 2015-2016, com-pared to the bGea’s proposal of $3.35 million broken down into $807,000 in longevity, $420,000 for additional primary counsel-ors, $1.96 million in additional extended days and $936,411 in additional TrI. This chart shows this as a $1.97 million be-tween the two proposals.

The second half of the chart shows the district’s offer of $2.20 million in 2016-2017, made up of $821,000 for ad-ditional primary counselors and $1.38 million in additional TrI. The bGea’s proposal of $6.16 million for 2016-2017 is shown, broken into $2.80 mil-lion for additional TrI in 2016-

2017, $807,000 for longevity, $420,000 for additional prima-ry school counselors, $1.19 mil-lion in additional extended days and $936,411 in additional TrI for 2015-2016.

a post on the bGea’s Face-book page, posted the evening of Jan. 29, states that “Mr. Hottowe’s emailed chart has caused a great deal of confu-sion among bGea members.” The post goes on to state that on Mon., Jan. 25, in response to members’ concerns about pay-roll schedules, it was decided to propose a new combination of TrI days paid quarterly and extended days paid monthly. both would be protected under the proposed contract language. The post says the change does not alter the amount of new compensation for 2015-2016 in the earlier bGea proposal.

according to the Facebook post, another question that has come up is how they got to a two-year proposal.

“That time-frame was first presented by the district when they divided our one-year com-pensation proposal into two years,” the post states. “The bGea proposal for a second year would increase TrI pay by another 5 percent of your annu-al base salary per your place-ment on the state salary chart. It may be helpful to understand that all proposals given by the district have never gone above $1.3 million for 2015-2016. The amount set aside for educators in the second year is even less.”

More of the Facebook post reads: “Longevity, primary

counselors and class size re-main absent from the district’s proposal. On Monday, bGea’s counterproposal again included those three items as well as the revised language on compensa-tion. This proposal was present-ed to the district at 3:45 p.m. but not discussed as negotiations were suspended at 4 p.m. in ad-vance of the 4:30 p.m. school board meeting. The bGea ne-gotiation teams’ expectation was the district would provide a response at our Feb. 12 negotia-tion meeting as per past practice and agreed upon norms.”

“Mr. Hottowe’s chart is de-signed to provoke opposition from the community by displaying the high price tag without any context reflecting the sheer size of our teaching staff. battle Ground has 856 educators. Nor does it reflect the district’s rejection of longevity pay (rather than time) or primary counselors, which research proves is a necessary component in to-day’s schools. What Mr. Hottowe fully fails to include in his charac-terization of our proposal is small-er class sizes, which would be well-received by the community.”

Peterson shared that this was her first year as the BGEA president, as well as her first year participating in tradi-tional bargaining, since the district had been using the In-terest-based Negotiations with the former superintendent.

“I did not expect that it would be this divisive,” Pe-terson said. “I had expected that the district, in light of the mistrust and the ques-tionable retirement of our

past superintendent, that the school board and our new su-perintendent would work to re-build not just the relationship with the community, but also with bGea. With the additional money that came in, I was very optimistic that the educators in the district would be part of the conversation. We were not part of the conversation in the begin-ning, we are definitely not part of the conversation now, I don’t understand that.”

Peterson said well over 100 teachers attended the Jan. 29 regular school board meeting and addressed the school board members and Hottowe during the citizen’s’ comments portion of the meeting. after the meet-ing, a message was posted by the bGea on their Facebook page, critical of Hottowe and school board members. The post first states that board President Mon-ty anderson “scolded” Stephan “Cash” Henry (a bGSD teacher) for telling Hottowe he was not a man of his word for not honor-ing his commitment to the so-cial and emotional well-being of his teachers.

The post continues: “Mr.

Hottowe is holding us hostage. He refuses to bargain Longev-ity, Primary counselors, and class size. He is stalling and keeping his teachers in an anx-ious state. He believes we do not have it in us as educators to increase our visibility, our voices, our concerns for our stu-dents. He is hoping to wear us down and prove we do not have it in us to continue to do the job of teaching and still make the needs of our schools and students known. I believe Mr. Hottowe’s dismissiveness is dis-respect. you don’t show respect by wearing your teachers down to the point of submission.”

When asked if bGea mem-bers had plans to vote again on a possible strike, Peterson said they have not voted on whether or not to strike again, and cur-rently have no plans to hold a vote. She said this is because af-ter talking with many commu-nity members and parents, those people were “blown” away by what was going on.

“We’re going to work on ways to get information to our parents (so they know what’s going on),” Peterson said.

BATTLE GROUND MINI STORAGE1611 SE GRACE AVENUE • 687-1775

moving boxes and suppliesavailable

Main St.

199th St.

142Ave

So.Grace

TRUCK RENTAL—Local & One Way

• 7 Sizes from 5'x5' to 10'x30'• Coded Entry - 7 Day Access• Resident Manager

CH53

7819

lm

Brad’s Carpet Cleaning(360) 953-1483

Residential Carpet Cleaning Specials:$99 Living Room, Hall & 1 Room

$119 Living Room, Hall & 2 Rooms$139 Living Room, Hall & 3 Rooms$159 Living Room, Hall & 4 Rooms

“A Job Well Done Is A Job Done Well”Brad Piesch, Owner

$159 Living Room,

“A J W DDone Is A Job D I A

Using the industry’s best selling

truck-mount steam cleaner!

CH52

5636

arcpointlabs.com/VancouverCAOHC# 488430

Hearing Conservation ExamsIntroductory Price - $35

NOW OFFERING

Promotional Rate Ends 2/15/16M, W, TH 9am-5pm & Fri 9am-3pm

Mention Promo Code HEAR2016

CH55

3771

AS

Weather alertsschool closures

visit TheReflector.com

CH55

0718

AS

RSVP today! Call 360-891-5777

Better care can mean better quality of life.

OPENHOUSEJoin us for the new Battle Ground Dialysis open house.

© 2016 DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc.  10610-11348-400

THURSDAY, 02/18/2016 :: 4:00 P.M. - 7:00 P.M.

BAT TLE GROU ND DIALYSIS720 W Main Street , Ste . 112Battle Ground, WA 98604

DaVita.com

CH55

3328

AS

ConCeal CarryPermit Class

oregon-Utah(valid in 35 states)

Saturday, February 27 • 1 pm & 6 pm

Utah/OR: $80Oregon only: $45

Battle Ground BeSt WeStern1419 W. Main St., Battle Ground

FirearmTrainingNW.com • FirearmTrainingNW@gmail.com

Shaun Curtain 360-921-2071 CH55

3673

aS

BGEAContinued from page A1

to turn the old bethesda Slavic Church into a drug and alcohol treatment center will diminish property values in the area and could attract crime. Some resi-dents plan to contest the organi-zation's conditional use permit during a hearing scheduled for March 24. a petition to stop the facility has collected more than 200 signatures.

Other residents were more

open to the idea and tried to con-vince their neighbors to be more understanding.

Klinefelter and Skoro spent several minutes answering ques-tions written on index cards be-fore engaging the residents in di-rect conversation.

residents on both sides of the issue talked about their concerns and the reasons for their position. While mostly civil, the discussion did include some heated moments. Opponents were skeptical that Daybreak could maintain control over the children and feared kids may escape and commit crimes in brush Prairie in an attempt to get away from the facility. Some feared the facility may attract the drug trade.

residents took no direct ac-tion on the issue at Saturday's meeting, but the association did vote to elect a new president and secretary who have been vocal opponents of the facility.

DAYBREAK YOUTH SERVICES Executive Director Annette Klinefelter addresses a gathering of Brush Prairie residents during a meeting of the Greater Brush Prairie Neighborhood Association Saturday afternoon.

Photo by JC Cortez

DaybreakContinued from page A3