Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2015)
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015 THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 5 Local City Council hears from citizens about marijuana odors • GRAFFITI ORDINANCE GETS 2ND READING, LANGRELL AND KEE END MEETING IN SQUARE-OFF BY GINA K. SWARTZ Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com Mayor Mosier called to order the regular session City Council Meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. Coun- cilor Lewis led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and invocation followed by roll call administered by Julie Smith, Management Assistant, filling in for an absent City Recorder Luke Yeaton. All Councilors were present with the exception of Councilor Downing. Public Works Direc- tor Michelle Owen, City Manager Mike Kee and Police Chief Wyn Lohner were also present for the meeting. Council first directed its attention to the consent agenda with Councilor Abell making a motion to accept and Councilor Thomas second- ing the motion. Council voted to unanimously in favor. Mayor Mosier called for citizen participation— there was none, allowing Council to move on. Sam-O Swim Center Discussion Owen updated the Council on what transpired at the last Sam-O Swim committee meeting held just the night before. She advised that the committee felt that simply replacing the showers was only the tip of the iceberg of what needed to occur there. She stated that the com- mittee felt there were ADA projects to be completed, not that they are not in compliance with ADA regulations but there are changes that could be made to benefit the com- munity at that level. Randy Daugherty has garnered support of six citizens willing to pledge $500 each to get the show- er replacement project completed by February 1. Gary Dielman addressed council as well, as one of those that has pledged money toward the fix. He stated if Council chose not to move forward with the shower replacement im- mediately and let the com- mittee address their other concerns another time, he would be withdrawing his pledge. In his opinion, the show- ers have been leaking and in a state of disrepair for far too long and found it disgraceful to reside in a City that was allowing this. “Finally after dragging Ms. Owen in the men’s locker room to show her how bad the leak was, they’ve gotten a little better. But frankly, I’m ashamed,” he said. Owen said she was look- ing at the shower options as the committee had di- rected her to do, but since that directive just came the evening before, she had not had time to research as needed. She suggested that she could do that and get back to the committee quickly to make a decision and get the ball rolling. Ordinance #3346 Graf- fiti Ordinance Second Reading Much discussion was had regarding the graffiti mat- ter among Council. Augenfeld feels this ordinance needs to address public art as well, while Langrell questioned the need for the ordinance at all. He feels that property owners should not be held responsible in any way, as it is not their fault. His opinion is that the police department should do a better job at locating those responsible instead. After a lengthy and heated discussion, Mosier called for a motion to have a second reading. There was none. “Hearing none, the mo- tion fails,” she said. Kee asked for direction from the Council on the matter, to which another discussion ensued where Mosier reminded her fel- low councilors that the amendment in the ordi- nance was to simply give another avenue for busi- ness owners to use before being cited. Abell then made a mo- tion that was seconded by Councilor Lewis to hear a second reading. Council Voted 4:2 with Langrell and Augenfeld against the second read- ing. Passing this time, the ordinance was read for the second time by title only. Resolution #3763 Con- nect Oregon Grant Owen again addressed Council regarding the grant. She stated the Air- port Commission had iden- tified a plan to improve the apron at the airport. Right now the project is only in the design phase, but the FFA is willing to fund a large portion of that recon- struction project. Connect Oregon is grant funded by Oregon Lottery dollars that could be used to meet the 10% the FFA is requiring. The grant application for Connect Oregon is due No- vember 20, and as part of that grant application they request acknowledgement that the public body, in this instance the Council, is in support of the project. “What I have before you is just a resolution of sup- port,” said Owen. This grant would al- leviate the City’s need to spend any dollars on the reconstruction project. Owen also mentioned increasing tanks at the airport for gasoline citing the need for the increase as difficulty splitting deliv- eries with neighboring airports and the increase for demand as seen with the increase of air traffic this summer with firefight- ing efforts. Owen indicated this as beneficial to the City as the airport could sell more fuel and the City could see more revenue from the gas tax. Lewis motioned to ap- prove the resolution with a second by Augenfeld. Council voted quickly and unanimously to approve the resolution. “Can’t they all be that simple?” said Mosier. The Council then moved on. New Street Closure Re- quirement Discussion Chief Lohner addressed Council stating he had been contacted in the past by business owners who were unaware of street closures, and felt it had adversely affected their business because they were not able to plan around it. Lohner is suggesting a change be made in the application to close a street for an event that would require the event organizer to notify business own- ers before even submit- ting the application to the police department, which currently requires a three- week advance notice. Council agreed this was a good idea and did not necessarily need to be done face-to-face—an email or phone call could suffice. Abell asked if there was some type of list that could be accessed. Lohner offered to create and maintain that list. Marijuana Odor Dis- cussion Since the legalization of marijuana, there have an increased number of informal complaints from people who have come into contact with officers in the field, in reference to the odor of marijuana. Lohner said, “Just to clarify, this is not the burning marijuana, people smoking it, but growing it. When they (plants) start to bud out, the odor coming from those buds can be fairly overpowering.” Lohner said he brought this discussion before Council for informational purposes only, to see if the issue was something they wished to look at further, or construct an ordinance. Several citizens ad- dressed Council concern- ing the matter. First to speak was Rodney Shaw. Shaw said, “The first thing I’d like to point out is taking us back to when we Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press Public Works Director Michelle Owen and Baker City Police Chief Wyn Lohner. were first having these dis- cussions about the dispen- saries in Baker City. On two different occasions, Mayor, you told the medi- cal community that it was not the Council’s inten- tion to restrict the medical community as far as their abilities to grow. “We took you at your word on that. If we’re going to start dealing with offensive odors, I happen to live across the street from the fair grounds and I have to put up with some very offensive odors. But I don’t complain about it. I just deal with it. If you put an odor ordinance in, you’re going to be pulling more away from those that need it because you’re go- ing to restrict more grow- ers from being able to help needy patients. “We let diesel trucks come into town and just idle—that odor is offen- sive. People within our city limits raise chickens— that odor is offensive. So, I don’t think that we can really discriminate against marijuana users simply on odor.” Next to speak was Carol Free. “Just a pleasure to be back,” she began. “You all know me well. I’m a grower and I was robbed this summer, so I only stunk for a while. I did go to all my neighbors behind, front and to the side. The majority of my neigh- bors are retired, widows, grandmothers, that came to my house to my grow. They were all okay, not offended. “Let’s just educate our neighbors, show them it’s not a fearful thing, the smell thing. It’s almost appalling and joking. It’s ludicrous. I have a daughter-in-law that is so deathly allergic to mint, and she lives next door to a mint field. As it grows, her eyes swell shut, but that is somebody’s crop. I personally like the smell of pot. Skunks are all over Baker. A lot of people find that smell offensive. What are we going to do? Go on a skunk rampage? And capture all the skunks? Not everything in this town is going to please every- body. I think we all need to learn to live all together, and accept each other, a lot of things bother me but why can’t we just live in peace in the this commu- nity. This is just ridiculous and hateful and mean.” After Carol Free spoke, she left the room and, Al Free spoke, reiterat- ing much of what Carol said, but asking Council, “Where will it all end? There are 10,000 people about in Baker City and some smell and some stink and we’ve just got to learn to live with each other. You can make your blood alcohol and you can measure noise, how are you going to measure the stink? How can you sub- jectively say that the stink that citizen A makes is any better or worse than the stink citizen B makes? In conclusion, I would like to say I don’t need no stink- ing ordinance, I don’t want no stinking ordinance, I will not obey any stinking ordinance!” Free then went on to personally attack Lohner, claiming he had a personal vendetta against marijuana. Mosier smoothly interject- ed, asking Free to allow others to speak as his time was up. Next to speak in support of an ordinance were Jared and Tricia Wood who both said that they and family members were suffering from respiratory issues due to the growing of marijua- na in the neighboring yard. Corrine Vegter also spoke out against the odors. All three mentioned sell- ing their property to move away from the odor, but none felt they should be punished by other property owners, or as in Vegter’s case a renter, simply due to this issue. Council took both sides under advisement to ad- dress at a future meeting. Lohner said he would speak with other munici- palities such as Pendleton and Medford that have passed ordinances concern- ing marijuana odor to see how those ordinances are working and what they entailed, and report back to Council his findings. City Manager Recruit- ment RFP Review As of Tuesday, Kee said there had only been one RFP received regarding manager recruitment. The closing date to accept those RFPs was Friday so he hoped more would come. He asked Council if three would be willing to look at those proposals and score them along with two staff representatives. City Manager/Director Comments Owen had no additional comments. Kee stated his- torically Council only met once in December because of the holiday season and asked if Council wanted to do the same this year. Council agreed they did. Council Comments Abell mentioned the feasibility study being con- ducted at the Crossroads Art Center. She urged her fellow councilors to attend one of the outreach meet- ings. Lewis mentioned she would like to see the Council participate in more work sessions, and posed the question of exposing our youth more to City Government as done in the past. Langrell then addressed Kee, directly calling for him to answer why, in Langrell’s opinion, Kee refused to follow City Ordinances in regard to the double billing of city water and sewer regarding his neighboring property owners, considering the outcome of Langrell’s recent lawsuit against the City over that same matter. He asked for Kee to report those reasons to the City Council. Kee replied that he did what he believed was directed by Council. A debate ensued as to if direction had been given during executive ses- sion, as decisions are not made in that forum. Langrell and Kee argued at length over the matter with Kee finally telling Langrell he worked for all seven councilors not just one, and if it was the direc- tion of the Douncil, the whole council, he would fulfill Langrell’s request. Mosier finally broke into the argument and adjourned the meeting. OTEC ready for D.C. Youth Tour applicants If you are a current high school student in your junior year with a sense of adventure and a curios- ity for electric coopera- tive history, your Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative (OTEC) is looking for you! OTEC is seeking student applicants for a one-week, all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 2016 Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour. The trip will be held from June 9 – June 16. Those selected to at- tend the Youth Tour will join approximately 2,000 high school students from across the United State to learn about electric cooperatives, issues in renewable energy, energy efficiency and climate change legislation that face their communities and the nation. Youth Tour recipients also visit the historic sights of the nation’s capital, learn about American history, U.S. Government and visit with Oregon’s congressional delegation on Capitol Hill. To download an ap- plication, visit www.otecc. com and click on the “Community” tab. The application deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, January 15, 2016. For more information on the Youth Tour visit www. youthtour.coop.