The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current, January 15, 2016, Image 9

The Baker County press., January 15, 2016, Page 9, Image 9

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Newspaper Page TextFRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 9 Local Sumpter City Council holds January meeting • COUNCIL HEARS DEPARTMENT REPORTS BY MEGHAN ANDERSCH Meghan@TheBakerCountyPress.com Temperatures were frigid and attendees sparse at the January 12th meeting of the Sumpter City Council. All council members were present with mayor Leland Myers presiding. Minutes After opening with the Pledge of Allegiance, the council began review- ing minutes. Minutes of 11/10/15 City Council meeting and 11/12/15 Emergency Council meet- ing had been previously held for corrections. After reviewing the November 10th minutes, council member Annie Oakley stated there were some things she still wanted to see added, and pointed out where. Council voted to add the clariﬁcations. Minutes for Novem- ber and December were accepted. Bills were reviewed and approved. Sisul Engineering Myers said he has been discussing the engineering work with Joe Hitz and gathering needed materi- als to make contracts. He has talked with DEQ and IFA about plans and asked for clauses that they want included in the contracts. Oakley asked if the Coun- cil will be able to look at the contract. Myers replied that it won’t be signed until after full review before Council, DEQ, and IFA. The deadline to complete the engineering piece is 9/30/16 and deadline for project completion is 9/30/17. City recorder Julie McKinney asked how the construction will affect the City’s ability to operate the system. Myers replied that the old system will stay in place until the new is usable. OAWU Conference The Council voted unani- mously to send Utility Manager Jeff McKinney to the Oregon Association of Water Users conference in March. Attorney Discussion Myers explained City at- torney Carol Skerjanec will not take on any matters not related to the lawsuit facing the City and will not continue working with the City after the lawsuit is settled. Health issues were cited. After checking into the matter, it appears the only option in the area for someone versed in munici- pal matters is attorney Dan Van Thiel. Councilmember Robert Armbruster asked why the City terminated an agree- ment with Van Thiel previ- ously. Myers indicated it was an amicable separation and that Van Thiel is quite willing to take on the City again. Van Thiel has indicated he knows of a younger attorney at a different ﬁrm that he could probably bring along and “teach him the ropes.” Myers stated Van Thiel will not be available for too many more years, saying, “He’s older than I am.” Armbruster replied, “Holy Toledo!” drawing laughter from those as- sembled. Myers motioned to ac- cept Van Thiel as City At- torney. Armbruster asked if it would be possible to have Van Thiel come meet Council. Myers replied that would be an option. Councilper- son Cary Clarke asked if it would cost and Myers said that in the past, Council did go visit Van Thiel for a remote meeting. Myers withdrew his mo- tion and Clarke motioned that the majority of Coun- cil meet with Van Thiel at his convenience. Motion carried and Council dis- cussed what must be done to make meeting legal, including advertising it and letting everyone know what they’re doing. Utility Manager McKinney reported lots of plowing last month and good feedback from citizens. Water is flowing well. He reminded every- one that when temps drops below 20 or so, keep some- thing running. He reported no way to get into the intake at McCulley should something go wrong, but said he hopes to have his “personal sled up and run- ning soon” to be able to handle any problems. McKinney asked the Fire Department with assistance in clearing hydrants. He said he did not intend for Kurt Clarke to go out on Sunday on his own time and use his own equipment to do so, but that is what happened. McKinney stat- ed, “I want to thank him. This was huge, and he did a great job.” McKinney also thanked the Clarkes and Clarke Construction for cleaning the snow off the City Hall roof. McKinney reminded the Council of OHA require- ment for effluent meters at the water tower at the treatment plant and said their patience is running thin. Council agreed to have McKinney ask for another one-year extension and work on the problem. Myers stated they will try to have this issue on the agenda each meet- ing. McKinney stated the quoted cost is $35,000 but he is investigating other options that may be less expensive. Fire Department Re- port Fire chief Kurt Clarke reported Gary Timm of Baker County Emergency Management is working on a grant for radios. A Wildland Fire course is upcoming, location to be determined. The State Fire Marshall investigated one of their ﬁre scenes and there were a couple of ﬁre- ﬁghters without turnouts. Clarke stated everyone has now completed Fireﬁghter 1 training and knows not to do that. The department took a class on high performance CPR from Don Taggart. This is the new protocol and stats show it works very well. Planning Commission Report LeAnne Woolf reported the Planning Commission held a hearing 1/7/16 on the Lucas alley vacation request. After the hear- ing, the regular meeting opened. The Commission recommended that the request be approved. The Commission has received another applica- tion that they need to get more information on. Woolf stated there have been interchanges with a “nonpermitted project”. The Commission sched- uled a training session with Ken Hall of the Baker City Building Department to ask questions about conflicting information they’ve been receiving. They hope to be able to share minutes of the ses- sion with Council soon. Myers stated a public hearing must be held be- fore the vacation ordinance can be approved. The ﬁrst few minutes of the next meeting will be devoted to this matter. Clarke asked if he could add something to his report and thanked all ﬁremen and all auxiliary for all they do. Myers stated, “And we thank you, too.” IFA Watershed Grant Armbruster provided an update and stated he had in front of him a Sumpter Water Protection and Wa- tershed Management Plan which he could hand out to the rest of the Council. He said after talking to DEQ and others, he was referred to a lady in Portland who created the draft project scope with a very speciﬁc six-step procedure. After studying the situa- tion, she is highly conﬁ- dent that funding would cover achieving the goal of having a Sumpter Drinking Water Protection Plan in place. The plan in its imple- mentation phase would include collaboration between City personnel, EOU interns, and regional solutions DEQ staff. IFA Grant Application Myers stated they are working on preliminary reviews and putting con- tracts together. Based on preliminary engineering reports, the estimated cost of the project is $375,000, 50% to be a grant and 50% loan. He has spoken with Shannon Bailey of IFA and she is working on ﬁnding additional grants for the project. Superintendant’s House Woolf read a letter from Sumpter Valley Commu- nity Volunteers, requesting Council reconsider taking over the Superintendant’s House. Council previ- ously voted to do so, and then changed their minds after election of a new mayor. SVCV suggested the house could be used as exhibit and ofﬁce space for the Sumpter museum and space for community gatherings. Visitors to the area have expressed inter- est in donating to the work of restoration, and SVCV has members willing to contribute to restoration efforts. SVCV would also suggest utilizing the build- ing for their central ofﬁce and storage space. Ambruster asked if issues of structural soundness hadn’t previously caused some skepticism. Kurt Clarke stated there is some “underfloor stuff” that needs to be addressed, and a couple of ADA is- sues, but that the upgrades needed turned out to be considerably less than originally thought. Myers asked Council members to gather infor- mation on the issue and stated they will try for a decision next meeting. Roster Council voted to accept submitted Fire Department roster (for insurance com- pensation purposes). Bill dispute Myers stated from the beginning of the City sewer system being Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press Utility Manager Jeff McKinney giving his report to Council. Meghan Andersch / The Baker County Press Fire Chief Kurt Clarke addressing Council during his report. installed there have been problems with restaurants not regularly inspecting and cleaning grease traps. Myers said he received a call from Ron Borello, expecting to have part of a bill for pumping his tank waived. Myers said the tank was “this deep with solid grease” indicating a measurement of about six inches. Myers stated that City ordinance is very clear that restaurant owners are to in- spect grease traps and keep them clean and keep grease out of the interceptor tanks. He said that when grease is that deep, it indicates that traps have not been inspected or checked for several years (the restau- rant in question is now under new ownership). He said it would be up to Council to approve waiving the bill or standing behind it. Clarke said he did a lot of research into the issue, and was willing to work on waiving part of the bill, until he found this has been an ongoing issue since 1996. After further discussion on the same themes, the Council voted to uphold the bill. Resolution 322 Myers announced he would open the meeting to public discussion for any questions concerning the proposed charter. He ex- plained the charter is based on the League of Oregon Cities model and follows all current laws. Rella Brown apologized for not coming to the town hall meeting on this subject and asked if there would be someone she could take her questions to so as not to use up all Council’s time. Jeff McKinney asked what the timeframe is for getting this on the May ballot. The deadline is March 28th. Mike Hobbs he has heard a lot of confusion over the vagueness of the proposed charter and cited for ex- ample a paragraph under the public property section regarding condemnation. After discussion, Council found the concerning paragraph was one that had not been updated from the 1972 charter and was included in the new charter for clariﬁcation purposes. Council was of consensus to remove the paragraph. Dick Brown asked if the charter is like an outline rather than a list of speciﬁc duties. Clarke explained that is the case, with city ordinances existing to cover speciﬁcs. Rella Brown suggested getting something out to the public that explains the charter doesn’t cover every little detail may help to put minds at ease. Myers stated there is a forward that goes with the charter explaining that, and agreed it might be wise to distribute. Hobbs stated if it is sent out, he will also put it on the Post Ofﬁce bulletin board. Myers then closed the discussion and returned to the regular council meet- ing. Public Input Hobbs handed out information to Council and asked if they would be willing to consider the feasibility of looking into something like Sumpter Valley Days. He said he believes the town has much more it can offer. Myers responded that there is a situation that needs to be taken care of before Council can address this request. Jim Sheller, Grooming Chairman for the snow- mobile club, reported that they are pushing 900 miles on the cat already this season. Last year only 480 miles total were groomed. Sheller said just this week, they have 200 miles of freshly groomed trails, and the grooming is the best he’s seen in years. Jeff McKinney asked how fast the cat trav- els. Sheller said with the groomer on, it’s about eight miles per hour and a gallon of diesel per mile. He said they groom as far as Anthony Lakes and In- dian Rock lookout and that he believes Sumpter has some of the best groomers around. McKinney made mention that the groomer is made available to search and rescue members. Rella Brown thanked Woolf for everything she does for the City, including bringing back the Around the Water Tower commu- nication, all her work on the Music in the Meadow celebration that had to be cancelled this year due to wildﬁres, and the work on the City charter. Kurt Clarke thanked Woolf and thanked Sheller for smooth trails. Dick Brown thanked McKinney for keeping their road clear.