Adams County Commissioner District 1

"Adams County had really kind of sat on the sidelines of the state and federal funding game for a long time, and we have sort of rolled up our sleeves and got involved in seeking federal and state funding for different infrastructure projects around the county, and we've been successful in finding funds for a couple of bridges and working on funds for four more," Blankenship said. "We found some funds for several miles of roads, although the public works guys have been pretty good about finding money to do projects like that."

"We have gotten some federal money and some state money to try and make improvements in the jail," he said. "We're working with an architect now to find out what we can actually accomplish with the funding we've got, now that we know how much money we've got to work with."

We've established better communication among all the offices in the county," he said. "All the electeds get in the same room once a quarter, and we sit down and hash out all the issues we've got in face-to-face reporting from all department heads who come to see us personally in the courthouse, either monthly or weekly."

"It's sort of a self-directed criticism here," Blankenship said. "A lot of things have been talked about in this campaign that I think are a reflection on how maybe we could be better at letting the public know what we're doing. I think in the absence of some information, folks have filled in things that maybe aren't particularly accurate and I guess we could be better at that."

Blankenship said there were some items he still wants to accomplish for Adams County,

"I want to see the jail back open," he said. "It's just not a good situation all the way around for public safety and for the efficient and normal operations of the criminal justice system."

"I want to see all the bridges that we need to build, we need to replace over the East Low Canal to facilitate the Odessa groundwater replacement program and start restoring the level of that aquifer so that the water supply of several of the towns here in the county can get back where it needs to be," Blankenship said.

Blankenship said he would like to support repair or replacement of local county roads.

He also mentioned development of broadband internet in the county.

"We got a half million dollar grant from the State of Washington to do fiber to the homes and businesses for every address in Ritzvile, every address in Lind, and a fairly significant area of the unincorporated areas south and west of the City of Othello. The town of Washtucna got their own grant and they're doing their own project. The county is now trying to determine how to best go about acquiring some of the federal broadband expansion and development program dollars to get more service out to the less populated areas of the county. That's the next step."