10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2015
Local
City Council
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
“He was regretful of
having to step down and I
was regretful to accept that
resignation. At the end of
the meeting during Coun-
cilor Comments we can
discuss how to proceed,”
Mosier said.
Council then moved
on to the consent agenda
which included minutes
from regular meetings of
October 27 and November
10 and the special joint
City Council/County Com-
missioners IAMP meeting
from November 10. With
no additions or changes to
those minutes, they were
approved unanimously.
Mosier next called for
citizen participation for
anything not already on the
agenda. Judge Don Wil-
liams from Baker County
Justice Court approached
council and spoke to the
letter that was sent to him
by City Manager Mike
Kee.
He explained an agree-
ment has been in place
between the City and the
County allowing the Baker
County Justice Court to
act as the City Municipal
Court has been in place
since 1989. A 60-day no-
tice must be given before
terminating the agreement
and according to the letter
he received that was the
intention of the City.
He cautioned that the
City had better have a plan
in place to assume those
responsibilities because
the 60-day time period was
fast approaching, although
the letter that was sent to
him was not dated his court
staff had date stamped it
when it was received and
that was the date they were
working off of.
Mosier stated her under-
standing of the letter was
not to terminate the agree-
ment but to let them know
the City was exploring
other options.
Williams said he did
not interpret that from the
letter but either way the
letter would terminate the
agreement.
Kee said the letter did
state that the City’s inten-
tion was to explore other
options but understood the
agreement was in jeopardy
of expiring.
Mosier asked that this
matter be placed on the
agenda for the next City
Council meeting as quick
action was necessary.
Double sewer and
water.
Glen and Cledith Van-
denBos addressed Council
citing a recently sent a let-
ter to the Council request-
ing reimbursement in the
amount of $3038.25. That
amount is for what they
claim they paid in double
water and sewer rates from
2005 when the property
they leased, owned by Tom
and Margaret Bootsma was
annexed into the city until
2011 when the VandenBo-
ses closed their business.
They say the double
rates should have ceased
when the property was
annexed into the City in
2005 according to the Van-
denBoses. No agreement
exists to allow the City to
continue double billing
after the annex date, yet
according to the Vanden-
Boses, they were. They are
seeking compensation to
cover time they were billed
after annexation.
Mosier said the City
Attorney had advised
Council that they should
not do anything without
first discussing it amongst
themselves in Executive
Session. She also indicated
that the Council should
receive further advice
concerning this particular
case.
Councilor Langrell
voiced his opinion that
doing so was a waste of
taxpayer money and a
decision regarding the
matter had already been
made referring to his own
lawsuit that was recently
settled against the City.
Mosier asked that an
executive session be
scheduled before the next
regularly scheduled Coun-
cil Meeting on December
8. She told the VandenBo-
ses a decision as to their
request could be made af-
ter that executive session,
most likely at the regular
meeting directly following
the session.
BCViBE Grant
City Manager Kee ad-
dressed Council as to the
work they have done with
contract grant writer Kat
Davis. The idea behind this
grant process is to attract a
“creative class” aged 25-45
to move to Baker City.
The grant will pay for a
part-time project leader. A
proposal has been made to
have Mosier speak to the
Economic Development
Committee as to partnering
with Economic Developer
Greg Smith. Mosier told
council she was happy to
do this and speak for the
Council but felt she needed
their approval to do so.
Council was all in agree-
ment.
Ordinance #3347
Interchange Area Man-
agement Plan – First
Reading
Holly Kerns addressed
Council about the project,
reiterating what they had
heard at the joint City
Council/County Com-
missioner meeting on
November 10. No changes
had been made to the plan
since the last meeting.
Mosier read a statement
opening a public meeting
on the matter. No one came
forward to speak.
Kerns said she had heard
no additional comments
from the public and all
Councilors also claimed
they had heard nothing
regarding the matter. City
Manager Kee read the
ordinance in full.
Upon a motion from
Councilor Downing
and a second by Abell a
unanimous vote was cast
to accept the first reading.
Mosier said a second read-
ing could be had if Council
agreed unanimously to
hear it. Councilor Lewis
made a motion to hear a
second reading which was
seconded by Councilor
Thomas. Council voted
unanimously to have a
second reading. Kee read
the ordinance by title only
a second time. Councilor
Thomas moved to accept
the second reading with
a second by Councilor
Downing. All Councilors
voted to approve the sec-
ond reading.
Marijuana Odor Dis-
cussion
Police Chief Wyn
Lohner said, “Two weeks
ago we began the discus-
sion regarding the odor of
marijuana and whether or
not Council would choose
to legislate any action to
regulate that odor.”
Information was brought
forth due to citizen con-
cerns and complaints that
were brought to the City
Police Department.
Lohner said it was a
matter that should be
addressed before the
beginning of the growing
season in the spring. At the
last meeting he supplied
Council with copies of
ordinances from the cities
of both Pendleton and
Medford that addressed the
concern. Lohner had also
sought public input via
the City Police Depart-
ment’s Facebook page. He
advised Council he had
just received information
from Prineville earlier that
day stating they required
all marijuana grows to be
within a closed structure
in property that could be
locked.
Mosier noted there was
one citizen that wanted
to speak: Rodney Shaw.
Shaw was heard before the
meeting began saying, “I
felt it was necessary to be
here. We are on the home
front.” He approached
Council and said, “The
new State law that goes
into effect March 4, 2016
already reduces the size
of medical gardens if you
live in a residential zone.”
Growers are allowed 48
plants but with the new
law that is being cut to
only 12. “By this action we
are already hearing from
patients that will be losing
their growers from this
law. Our Council had used
these numbers to justify
the dispensary ban. We are
seeing a lot more people
that are coming into the
medical marijuana com-
munity as an alternative
for their medical condi-
tions. Getting away from
pharmaceuticals that are
poisons. I ask you that if
you do reduce these plant
numbers where will these
patients medicine come
from, the black market?
Please look at the medi-
cal dispensary ban again,
readdress the issue so our
citizens have access to safe
tested mold and mildew
free medicine. Thank you
very much.”
Carol Free arrived late
and did not have opportu-
nity to sign up to speak,
but nonetheless was al-
lowed to address Council.
She said, “Y’all have heard
from me a million times.”
She said with a smile then
continued “The majority
of us that do grow season-
ally do grow indoors in a
greenhouse. I’ve repeated
myself numerous times, go
to your neighbors and talk
to everybody, if it’s offen-
sive you can work it out.
We are getting down to the
basics, the medical mari-
juana patients that can’t go
to a dispensary, don’t have
the ability to go to one,
they need the local growers
and those growers want to
help. Unfortunately we did
have numerous local grow-
ers that were robbed this
year and I never read it in
the paper. The police were
called and came out which
I do appreciate. I do have
a great passion for what
we do and there are lots of
medicines we can’t use.”
She cited drug aller-
gies developed from being
subjected to numerous
medical procedures for
long-term illnesses as the
reason many turn to medi-
cal marijuana. She urged
Council to “show some
compassion.”
Council discussed the
matter amongst themselves
agreeing that determining
what was an offensive odor
was subjective. Thomas
spoke of a friend who had
been a vegetarian all her
life—the smell of meat
cooking made her ill while
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Rodney Shaw testifies in opposition to any future marijuana odor ordinance
while Chief Wyn Lohner listens.
the smell of a good steak
was like Heaven to him so
he did not feel that Council
deciding what was offen-
sive and what was not was
a decision they ought to
make. They all agreed they
would need to think long
and hard about this issue.
Lohner said next grow-
ing season would be upon
them soon, and then it
would be unfair to those
growing to make an
ordinance affecting them
negatively at that time with
short notice. He noted that
waiting through a growing
season might be a viable
option as well to see how
other cities that enacted
ordinances were handling
those situations.
He stressed that when-
ever citizens could handle
an issue such as this one
amongst themselves, it was
best, as the least amount of
government intervention
possible is always prefer-
able.
Sam-O Swim
Randy Daugherty, at
the last Council meeting
proposed a solution to
the funding issues for the
malfunction showers being
encountered by the Sam-O
Swim Center Committee.
Daugherty had gath-
ered together a group that
would provide $3,000.
However they required the
City, The YMCA, and the
Sam-O Swim Commit-
tee to each fundraise and
contribute an additional
$3,000.
After contacting each
member of the committee
it was found that they all
agreed that the money be-
ing gifted and subsequently
raised to fix the showers
was only a simple quick
fix that they all felt that
replacing the leaking and
malfunctioning parts with
the similar new parts may
not be the best solution
to use those funds. The
committee all agreed that
researching other options
for the showers was still
the best option.
By choosing this option
the committee understands
that they may have to wait
for a new budget cycle
to fund the project and
Daugherty indicated his
group was no longer will-
ing to make a contribution
to a project that is not go-
ing to happen immediately.
The committee hoped in
making their recommenda-
tion to Council Daugh-
erty and his group would
reconsider.
Ordinance #3336
Property Maintenance
Dealing With Graffiti –
Third Reading
After a third reading
by City Manager Kee,
Council voted to pass the
ordinance 5:1. All coun-
cilors voted in favor of
the ordinance with the
exception of Langrell who
likened the Ordinance to
someone side-swiping his
car yet receiving a citation
from the police for not
fixing the damage himself
within a predetermined
timeframe.
Lewis did note that
Augenfeld had opposed
this ordinance but felt a
separate ordinance could
address concerns he had
had better than not passing
this ordinance as it allowed
options for property own-
ers to peruse.
Resolution #3761 Per-
sonnel Handbook
City Human Resources
Manager Luke Yeaton has
been working to update the
personnel handbook for the
City. The handbook has not
been updated fully since
1984. Small updates have
been made over the years
but a complete overhaul
was necessary.
Yeaton advised Council
that sections concerning
alcohol and drug poli-
cies needed updating as
well as issues concerning
criminal history questions
and leave issues. When
asked where he received
some of the legal advice
concerning changes to the
document he stated he had
been in contact with an at-
torney representative from
CIS, the City’s insurance
provider.
Yeaton advised Council
the update also encom-
passed grammatical errors
within the document.
Council voted unani-
mously to accept the
updates to the handbook.
City Manager Recruit-
ment
A request for proposal
was sent out in order to
retain an agency to assist
in recruitment of a new
City Manager due to
Kee’s retirement. Only
one agency responded to
the RFP, Slavin Manage-
ment Consultants based
out of Arizona. They have
proposed services in the
amount of $13,800 with
an additional $7,590 for
additional expenses.
Coincidentally, Slavin
is currently assisting both
the City of Ontario and the
City of the Dalles in their
searches. Salvin estimates
approximately 90 days to
complete their search. Kee
advised council estimated
costs for staff time to
conduct all the same tasks
involved with recruitment
would cost approximately
$11,000.
Kee said what was at-
tractive about utilizing
Slavin was that they would
guarantee if the person
chosen did not stay with
the job for two years they
would assist in the search
for a replacement candi-
date for only out of pocket
expenses.
Mosier found that to be
of considerable value. Kee
then informed council that
staff had offered a revised
proposal that allowed
for staff to schedule and
conduct final interviews
and negotiate the final
contracts. This brings the
costs down to $11,760 with
an additional $5,390 in
expenses.
Mosier and the Council
were all in consensus Kee
should move forward with
the revised proposal find-
ing the cost and timeline
agreeable.
Comments
Yeaton reminded that the
Tree Board and the Parks
and Recreation Committee
have vacancies and encour-
aged interested persons to
contact him.
Michelle Owen briefly
spoke to council about
grants she is waiting to
hear on for the heating
system updates at Sam-O
Swim, one in December
and the other in January.
She said she was hope-
ful they would both be
successful and that would
mean a possibility of
moving forward with that
project as early as March.
She also spoke about
the additional UV filtration
system the city has that
isn’t used. The company
that it was purchased from
has expressed interest in
buying it back, at a fraction
of what it cost, of course.
Owen will put information
together for the next meet-
ing since Council approval
is required to liquidate any
City property. She men-
tioned snow plow routes
were available on the
City’s website for anyone
interested.
Council addressed
Augenfeld’s resignation
and how to proceed filling
his vacancy. Kee said he
felt like the process used to
appoint Lewis recently was
successful. Council agreed
they would use the system
but wanted to review the
application that had been
used as some questions
about it had been noted.
Council agreed December
31 should be the cut-off
date and that would allow
them time to review appli-
cations before the meeting
in January.
Thomas took a moment
to thank the Public Works
Department for their swift
response to an issue he’d
had recently with tree roots
growing into his piping.
Downing noted the
appointment of long-time
911 dispatcher Margaret
Sackos to the position of
temporary director as the
search for a permanent
director continues.
Lewis invited the public
and her fellow Councilors
to join her for lunch at
Community Connection
saying “They serve a great
meal.”
Mosier wished everyone
a Happy Thanksgiving and
adjourned the meeting just
before 9 p.m.