8 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016
Local
City Council ratifies employee labor contract
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
L-R: Councillors Richard Langrell, Loran Joseph, Mayor Kim Mosier, Mike Downing, Daniel Lowe, Jim Thomas and Public Works Director Michelle Owen.
• FORMER HEALTH
DEPARTMENT
DIRECTOR ROBIN
NUDD JOINS CITY
STAFF
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Tuesday evening saw the
first regularly scheduled
City Council meeting for
the month of September.
Mayor Mosier called
the meeting to Order
with Councilman Joseph
leading the Pledge of Al-
legiance and delivering the
invocation.
Julie Smith, City Record-
er conducted roll call with
all councilors present.
Mayor Mosier called for
a consent of the Agenda,
which consisted of approv-
ing the minutes from the
August 23, 2016 regular
City Council meeting and
approval of a liquor license
for Baker City business
Zephyr.
Councilor Downing
moved to approve with no
corrections or additions.
A second was heard by
Councilor Lowe. Coun-
cil voted unanimously in
favor.
Mayor Mosier called
next for Citizen Par-
ticipation. Seeing none the
Council moved forward
with the meeting after
Mayor Mosier stated as a
reminder, “to those watch-
ing on the television or the
internet, anyone can come
and speak to the Council
about anything that isn’t
on the agenda during any
meeting.”
Boards and Commis-
sions appointment: Parks
and Recreation Advisory
Board
Julie Smith addressed
Council advising that there
was just one application
for the currently vacant
seat, that Jeff Nelson had
filled until his term had
expired July 1, 2016.
Smith stated that Nelson
had not submitted his ap-
plication for reappointment
immediately “to allow for
opportunity for others to
come forward.”
Upon failing to receive
any other interest Smith
said she contacted Nelson
who said he would be
happy to reapply.
“His application is before
you tonight for consider-
ation,” she said.
Councilor Lowe moved
to appoint Mr. Nelson to
the board saying, “He’s
done a very enthusiastic
great job.”
Councilor Downing
seconded the motion and a
unanimous vote was cast
by Council to reappoint
Nelson to the board. Nel-
son’s new term will expire
in three years.
Mayor Mosier extended
her thanks for Nelson’s
willingness to continue to
serve on that board.
Ordinance #3350 Char-
ter Franchise Agreement,
Amending Ordinance
#3349
City Manager Warner
addressed Council advis-
ing that Ordinance #3349
inadvertently contained
wording in the Franchise
agreement previously ad-
opted identifying Charter
Communications as pro-
viding telecommunication
services, when in fact they
will are providing Cable
network services.
Amending the particular
wording in the agreement
will not change any other
part of the agreement.
However, the amending
of this Ordinance #3349 to
Ordinance #3350 requires
three readings before adop-
tion. Councilor Downing
made a motion to hear a
first reading of Ordinance
#3350. Councilor Lowe
made a second followed by
a unanimous Council vote.
Warner then read the
Ordinance in its entirety
to Council who, upon a
motion by Councilor Lowe
and a second by Councilor
Thomas, all voted to accept
this first reading.
Mayor Mosier then said,
“If there is a motion to
have a second reading, by
title only and that motion
carries, we could do that
tonight. Is that correct?”
Warner answered that
was in fact correct.
Councilor Thomas made
a motion with a second by
Councilor Downing for a
second reading of the Ordi-
nance by title only, with all
councilors voting in favor.
Warner then read the
Ordinance by title only
with a motion to accept
being heard by Coun-
cilor Thomas, seconded by
Councilor Joseph.
A unanimous vote passed
the motion.
A third reading is
planned for the next Coun-
cil meeting.
Ratification of AFSC-
ME (American Federa-
tion of State, County and
Municipal employees)
Local 2175 BCEA (Baker
City Employees Associa-
tion) Labor Contract
Warner advised a tenta-
tive agreement has been
reached and the proposed
contract was before the
Council.
Warner noted he had
provided this information
to Council highlighting
changes so that Council
members could go through
the contract in their own
time consider the informa-
tion and ask any questions
that they may have.
Warner advised, “This is
a three-year contract. The
employees will continue
with the same insurance
package and we would
fully fund the health sav-
ings account. The wages, at
a 1.25% increase per year
and there were salary steps
based on yearly satisfacto-
ry performance evaluations
that did not change.”
Mosier confirmed with
Warner that the salary step
information was the same
as it had been in the past
with no changes and that
the 1.25% increase was
automatic and equivalent
to a cost of living increase.
“And salary steps are only
given with a satisfactory
performance evaluation,”
he reiterated.
Some discussion was had
over initial considerations
to search out lower cost
insurance plans and the
way the city contributes to
health spending accounts.
Warner advised that
what they had before them
was what all parties had
agreed on to be the best
plan of action.
The employees had origi-
nally wanted with a 1.5%
wage increase with a fully
funded HSA.
The City had wanted to
lower contributions to that
account over the next two
years.
The decision to continue
to fully fund the HSA and
only allow a wage increase
of 1.25% in lieu of 1.5%
only made an estimated
approximately $100 differ-
ence per employee that the
City was willing to accept.
“It was basically a push,”
said Mosier in regard to
fully funding the HSA,
versus lowering the yearly
wage increase amounts, to
which Warner agreed.
Mosier said what she
liked best about the whole
deal was “that it is a
three-year contract” so
negotiations would not be
an issue that would need to
be considered for the next
three budget cycles easing
that burden.
Councilor Lowe moved
to ratify the purposed labor
contract with the BCEA.
A second was heard by
Councilor Downing. Coun-
cil voted unanimously to
accept the contract.
Mayor Mosier noted a lot
of work had gone into the
matter and gave her thanks
to these involved in reach-
ing an agreement.
2016 Pipe Burst Con-
tract Award and Cured in
Place Pipe Bid Award –
Storm water/Wastewater
Public works director
Michelle Owen addressed
Council first regarding the
pipe burst contract.
She began by stating,
“Pipe bursting sounds a
little more dramatic than it
really is. We’re not really
exploding anything.” In
the pipe bursting process,
a slightly larger pneumatic
head is pushed through
existing pipe breaking it up
and new pipe, in this case
a plastic pipe is attached
to the pneumatic head and
thus set in place as it is
pulled along. This process
does not require trench-
ing however once the new
pipe is in place crews
must expose each lateral
service connection in order
to reconnect to the new
pipe. Pipe bursting is an
excellent solution for the
re construction of pipelines
that are difficult to replace
through conventional
means.”
The area that is proposed
for this project is located
in a narrow alley north of
Nevada Avenue between
Fourth St. and David
Eccles Road.
Owen indicated that pipe
bursting has not been done
in Baker City before but
has become very common
elsewhere.
Because it’s not common
in the area there are few
companies that do this type
of work.
Owen advised that this
project was listed in the
Capital Plan and was bud-
geted for.
Only one contractor had
replied to the request for
quotes Cascade Pipeline
Corporation.
They have visited the
project site, reviewed the
scope of work and pro-
vided a bid of $23,549.
Mayor Mosier asked, “Is
there a reason why only
one replied?”
Owen advised the reason
she believed only one
response was received
was that this wasn’t a
common practice in our
rural area but there were
many contractors in more
urban areas providing this
service.
Mosier also expressed
concern about how the
users of the City utilities
would be impacted in that
area as work was being
done.
Owen stated they would
be working with affected
customers and did not
believe they would be im-
pacted for a prolonged pe-
riod of time. She said, “It
will be a full day though,
for sure.”
She explained. Yet
indicated they would try
to make it as minimal as
possible.
Once the details were
more clear a plan would
be developed and commu-
nications would be made
with customers.
Councilor Lowe made a
motion to award the con-
tract to Cascade Pipeline
Corporation, Councilor
Joseph made a second.
Council voted to award the
contract in the amount of
$23,549 to Cascade Pipe-
line Corporation.
Next Owen spoke about
the cured in place pipe bid
award.
For the last seven years
the Public Works Depart-
ment has been lining
wastewater and storm
water pipes throughout
Baker City.
The project currently in
the works involves por-
tions of Cedar, Colorado,
Tracy, Main, 3rd, and “H”
Streets. Three bids were
received by the August 24,
2016 deadline.
Planned and Engi-
neered Construction, Inc.
(PEC) out of Helena, MT.
submitted the lowest bid
at $148,850 – under the
$166,783 that was bud-
geted for the project. Baker
City has contracted with
PEC for these types of
projects before in 2010,
2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015
as Owen states, “With
much success.”
Owen asked Council for
their approval to award the
bid to PEC.
Councilor Lowe moved
to award the bid for
$148,850 to PEC. Coun-
cilor Joseph seconded
the motion followed by
a unanimous vote by the
Council.
City Manager/Director
Comments
Warner told Council he
had been on the job now
for three months and felt
he was settling in well.
He spoke to successes he
felt he’d already had, for
example, helping to settle
a few neighbor disputes
and getting Ordinances in
place. He also commented
on the success of getting
Albertsons to return to the
community, saying it was
“a real benefit.”
He expressed his excite-
ment to continue to work
with the YMCA and our
community to come to
a resolution concerning
the management fee that
the YMCA had requested
of the City at the last
council meeting. He also
mentioned an upcoming
meeting in October with
the DEQ and that he hoped
would offer the begin-
nings of a plan in water
management that would
begin to evolve. Council
was advised that for some
time the Red Cross had
been housed in the base-
ment of City Hall, at no
cost to them and that their
lease was coming due for
renewal, and unless he
heard concerns he would
be renewing that no cost
lease.
Owen brought attention
to the street repairs and
overlays the City has been
working on in partnership
with ODOT.
She also noted the Sam-
O Swim Center’s annual
maintenance closure was
underway and that the
heating system replace-
ment was moving along
well, the shower replace-
ment was happening as
planned and so far, every-
thing was progressing on
schedule.
Warner then mentioned
that it was “City Hall
Week” and Baker City
would be hosting an event
Friday from 9:30 a.m. to
1:30 p.m. where topics
such as PERS, taxes, and
transportation would be
among what would be dis-
cussed in a small intimate
setting.
Similar events are hap-
pening throughout Oregon
Cities all week.
Council Comments
Councilor Thomas
reminded Council that the
Oregon Trail Interpretive
Center was hosting a cast
Iron cooking competition
on Saturday October 8.
He stated there would
be room for eight teams.
If interested contact the
Interpretive Center.
Councilor Abell added
that also on October 8
Taste of Baker would be
happening from 4 p.m.-7
p.m.
Councilor Thomas
stated to Warner that he
should mention his new
employee.
Warner replied, “Robin
Nudd is joining the City as
my executive assistant. She
recently has worked for the
County and I’m happy to
have her.”
Last week’s newslet-
ter from Warner clarified
that Nudd will fill the new
combined role of Commu-
nity Developer.
After that, Mayor Mosier
adjourned the meeting.
Free osteoporosis seminar to be held Sept. 27
Did you know that one
out of every two women,
and one in four men, over
the age of 50, has low bone
density and is at risk for
bone fracture associated
with osteoporosis? Or that
anyone over the age of 40
can start experiencing bony
changes in their upper back
that lead to the appearance
of forward head posture?
How can you prevent
low bone mass (osteope-
nia), or help yourself avoid
further progression of os-
teoporosis? Attend a semi-
nar Tuesday, September
27, 6 p.m. at the preschool
area of the YMCA Fitness
Center in Baker City.
Presenter Kim Zinn, DPT,
ATC is a physical thera-
pist and certified athletic
trainer at Saint Alphonsus
Rehabilitation Services
(STARS) in Baker City,
OR. She received her Doc-
torate in Physical Therapy
from Pacific University in
2004.
Her undergraduate
emphasis was in Sports
Medicine as she earned a
Bachelor’s degree in Exer-
cise Science in 2001.