Ellensburg Community Morning Show, Tuesday, August 25th

In Cle Elum, they turned the first dirt last week on forty-one new affordable homes. HopeSource and city officials held a groundbreaking for Teanaway Court on North Short Avenue — a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom units for households earning up to sixty percent of the area median income.

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NEWS

There's smoke in the valley again today, and there are now two fires in the mountains northwest of us. The Three Queens Fire, burning six miles east of Snoqualmie Pass, has grown to about six thousand seven hundred acres. Federal fire reports put containment at thirteen percent, with close to nine hundred people assigned to it. The fire started July 16th from lightning and has been working through steep timber above Lake Kachess. And a second fire, the King Fire, was spotted August 19th near the Pacific Crest Trail in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, about eight miles northeast of Snoqualmie Pass. As of Sunday night it covered roughly seven hundred acres with no containment. Crews and helicopters from the Three Queens Fire have been shifted over to work it.

Because of those two fires, the weather forecast, and the fact that there aren't many ways out of that country, the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office has expanded a Level 1 "Get Ready" evacuation notice along Salmon La Sac Road north of Davis Creek, on the west side of Lake Cle Elum. Fifteen roads and forest service roads are covered, including Salmon La Sac Road, Lake Forest Drive, Lava Lane, and Newport Creek Drive. Level 1 doesn't mean go. It means know your plan, pack a bag with what you'd need and what your animals would need, figure out now how you'd move livestock, and if you've got kids or older folks in the house, think about leaving early rather than late. For evacuation level updates by text, send the word FIRE-two-six to 8-8-8-7-7-7. The countywide burn ban is still on in unincorporated Kittitas County, and the Cle Elum Ranger District closures are still in place through the end of October.

Up in Cle Elum, the city has finally sent its bankruptcy plan to court. At a special meeting last Thursday, the city council voted unanimously to approve a Chapter 9 Plan of Adjustment and gave Mayor Matthew Lundh and the city's lawyers authority to finalize and file it. The city was up against an August 21st deadline from the federal bankruptcy court in Eastern Washington. Council members spent more than two hours behind closed doors on the draft before coming back into public session to vote, and they released no details of the plan itself. Councilmember Steven Harper said there is, quote, light, finally, at the end of the tunnel. The plan is Cle Elum's strategy for restructuring what it owes — a debt now around twenty-six million dollars to City Heights Holdings, and still climbing with interest and legal fees. That debt started with a twenty-two point two million dollar judgment in a lawsuit City Heights filed over a 962-home development and a twenty-five year agreement the city signed with the developer back in 2011. In late 2024, a King County judge sided with the developer, finding the city had repeatedly violated the contract. Settlement talks failed, and the council voted to file for bankruptcy in early 2025.

Also in Cle Elum, they turned the first dirt last week on forty-one new affordable homes. HopeSource and city officials held a groundbreaking for Teanaway Court on North Short Avenue — a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom units for households earning up to sixty percent of the area median income. HopeSource CEO Susan Grindle said the first families should be moving in by 2028, when construction wraps. The project also includes a child development center with room for sixty-six kids. Mayor Matthew Lundh said the day was about recognizing everything it took to get there. Money came from the state Housing Trust Fund, a federal Housing and Urban Development grant, Kittitas County, Enterprise Community Partners, and Blue Ridge Cascade.

And here in Ellensburg, the downtown trash cans are about to start telling you where you are. The city council approved an agreement last week with the Ellensburg Downtown Association to wrap the new downtown garbage cans in sepia-toned historic photographs of Ellensburg — old storefronts, rodeo and ranching pictures, university scenes. Arts and Economic Development Manager Kelle Vandenberg told the council the photos would turn the cans into small public history displays, and that Fast Lane Signs here in town will make the wraps. It's also a fundraiser for the downtown association: two hundred fifty dollars buys one side of a can, seven hundred fifty gets you all four, with the sponsor's name along the bottom. The association hopes to have some of them up in time for PLACES 2026, a statewide historic preservation conference coming to Ellensburg in early October.

Here's what's happening around town today.

The Master Gardeners hold their plant diagnostic clinic at 11:30 this morning at the Armory. If something in your yard is dying and you can't figure out why, bring a sample.

And the Beading Beauties beadwork circle meets at 6 o'clock tonight at the Kittitas County Historical Museum.

Looking ahead — open mic night is tomorrow at 6 at Valo Cellars. And Saturday brings the Ellensburg Farmers Market downtown at 9 in the morning, with the Kittitas Café summer concert series that afternoon at 5, featuring Under the Covers.

A couple of notices. The Kittitas Valley Memorial Pool and Fitness Center closes Monday for its annual two-week maintenance shutdown, and reopens September 14th on the fall schedule. Starting September 1st, the Cle Elum Transfer Station on 50 Number 5 Mine Road switches to a new entrance off State Route 903, with one-way traffic through the yard and exit at the old entrance — the county says that should stop the backups onto 903. The city is taking applications for two openings on the Parks and Recreation Commission. And the Adult Activity Center still needs volunteers for the Senior Lounge at the Kittitas County Fair over Labor Day weekend. Two-hour shifts, and you get a free pass into the fair.

WEATHER                                                                                          

The forecasted high today in Ellensburg is 94 degrees with a low tonight of 61 degrees. Patchy smoke this morning, clearing after about 2 o'clock, with clouds building through the afternoon. The sunset is at 7:55 p.m. Winds are calm this morning, turning southeast around 5 miles an hour this afternoon, then northwest around 6 this evening. No rain in the picture. The Washington Department of Ecology has an Air Quality Alert up for Kittitas County through noon tomorrow because of wildfire smoke. Fine particulate could reach unhealthy levels, especially overnight and early in the morning, so check your local monitor before you go out and take it easy on hard outdoor work.ht.

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH AT THE FISH OPEN TABLE?

The FISH Open Table lunch today is ground beef gravy, served with mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, a roll, and apple sauce. The senior lunch is open to all seniors age 60-plus from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Ellensburg Open Table at 204 North Main Street, and from 11:30 to 1 at the Upper County Senior Center in Cle Elum, where the menu is a little different. Lunch is free, donations are welcome but not required, and prior registration is necessary. The community lunch for anyone needing a hot meal is from 1 to 2 p.m. at the Ellensburg Open Table.