Vickie Raines, Chehalis Basin Flood Authority chair and Grays Harbor County commissioner, will step down from her position as chair of the regional flood authority next year but will retain her normal seat.

Raines announced that the flood authority would begin taking nominations from its members for one of them to serve as authority chair in 2026 during the authority meeting on Thursday, Nov. 20. Raines added that she would not accept any nominations for her to retain her role as chair of the authority or to take on the position of vice chair.

As she spoke briefly about her time as chair and her decision to pass on the role, Raines alluded to her more than 14 years serving as the flood authority chair and said she believes it’s time for someone else to take on that responsibility.

“I have served as chair of the flood authority since 2011 and it’s time for me to pass the reins,” Raines said. “No pun intended. Well, maybe a little bit.”

Raines added that she would wholly support a bid for authority vice chair Edna Fund to take on the chair role. Fund has served as the authority’s perennial vice chair for roughly as long as Raines has been chair. Raines also said she will retain her role on the board representing Grays Harbor County but would like another member to take up a leadership role.

“Last year, I had like nine or 10 nominations and I will respectfully decline for the 2026 year and you guys can come up with some great names,” Raines said. “All of them are great names on our board so I don’t have any concerns with that, but I just wanted to put that out there. I’m going to take a step back from that position as the chair.”

Raines has been heavily involved in the flood authority and other groups that preceded it since the beginning.

The Chehalis Basin has experienced flooding for generations, but the disastrous effects of the 2007 flood drew more focus to efforts to address the issue and led to the creation of the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority, the Office of the Chehalis Basin and a list of other groups focused on flood impacts.

Former Washington State Gov. Christine Gregoire first created a flood work group in the aftermath of the 2007 flood before creating the Chehalis Basin Flood Authority in 2010. In 2012, the Washington state Office of Financial Management began funding projects in the basin to mitigate the impacts of flooding.

That same year, Gregoire created the Chehalis Basin Work Group to consider options for flood mitigation and habitat restoration. In 2016, the Washington state Legislature passed legislation officially creating the Office of the Chehalis Basin and its advisory board, the Chehalis Basin Board.

During the Flood Authority meeting and when asked afterward, board member J. Vanderstoep remarked on the profound impact Raines has had as chair of the flood authority since he and Fund first appointed her to the position many years ago.

“The flood authority was basically broken the first few years,” Vanderstoep said. “It was not good. But when she took over, there was someone people trusted and had confidence in and obviously was interested in the public interest not playing politics …. That flood authority is a model of how government processes can work to promptly provide in this case public safety.”