Stromberger running for LC Commissioner

Alan Stromberger of Sprague is a Lincoln County rancher heavily involved in several civic, business and governmental organizations. He raises hay and grain on his property along Crab Creek and rents out his cow pasture to the Farm Burea.

Due to his civic activism and the many personal contacts he has established, both locally and in Olympia, Stromberger said, his phone starting ringing as soon as retiring commissioner Dennis Bly announced that he would not be seeking re-election. Friends and acquaintances urged him to enter the race. Since the issues and projects in which he was already involved were for the most part also Lincoln County issues, he acquiesced and threw his hat into the ring for LC Commissioner, Position #1.

Stromberger is currently vice president of the Washington Association of Conservation Districts, and is in line to become its president in 2014 (unless he resigns to become a LC Commissioner). He has been a long-time member of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers, an active member of the Washington State Conservation Commission for 18 years and fire commissioner for Lincoln County Fire District #1 for more than 20 years.

As district fire commissioner, he was instrumental in obtaining a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) grant for $1 million to build an emergency response center at Sprague to service the I-90 corridor that is included in the district. The center is to include several bays for both fire trucks and ambulances, office space, meeting rooms and classrooms.

The FEMA grant required a one-third match or approximately $300,000 in local funding. Stromberger’s efforts to raise those funds produced $200,000. A Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for another $100,000 fulfilled the requirement. More fundraising ensued, however, after actual project costs were pegged at $2.1 million. It is expected that soliciation of construction bids for the facility will go out in July.

Another important issue for Stromberger involves water, and he supports efforts to rehydrate the Lake Creek system. A pilot project is needed now, he says, to prove that rehydrating the lakes in the system will lead to replenishment of the Odessa area sub-aquifer. He also supports the efforts of the Groundwater Management Area (GWMA) and wants to see funding of that organization continue so that the data collected, the hydrologic models created and the effort already made to understand the geology and hydrology of the area are not wasted.

Although Stromberger enjoys his involvement in the organizations he belongs to, he says he is willing to give up many of those other activities in order to concentrate his energies on Lincoln County. The issues will certainly overlap, but, if elected, he says he will devote himself fully to the job of county commissioner.

Stromberger has been married for 27 years to his wife Sharlene, who works as the head cook at the Sprague School District. The Strombergers have four children, the youngest of whom graduated from Ritzville High School just this year.