FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2016
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 9
Local
City: Fire prevention poster winners announced,
Harvey expresses concern over 911 contract
• DEQ
WASTEWATER FINE
AND GOLF COURSE
OPERATIONS
DISCUSSED,
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Tuesday’s first monthly
regular City Council Meet-
ing was called to order by
Mayor Mosier right on
time at 7 p.m.
Councilor Downing
Lead a very full house in
the pledge of allegiance
and invocation.
Downing said, “Tonight,
with it being Fire Preven-
tion week, I’d like to take a
moment of silence to honor
our fallen soldiers, fallen
police officers, firefighters,
EMS staff all emergency
personnel.”
Julie Smith, City Record-
er, called roll, all members
of council were present.
Council immediately
turned to the agenda.
Consent Agenda (Coun-
cil Meeting Minutes from
September 27, 2016 Big
Deal Grant HFT2 LLC –
Short Term Gallery
Baker Elks Lodge Social
Gaming Application)
Mayor Moiser asked if
there were any additions or
corrections to the agenda.
With none voiced Coun-
cilor Downing moved to
approve with a second by
Councilor Lowe.
A unanimous vote was
cast.
Citizen’s Participation
Mary Miller from the
Public Arts Commission
came forward to update
Council on the Art on Loan
Program.
She advised that the first
project had been com-
pleted Thursday, October 6
with the installation of an
interactive steel sculpture
created by Don Herman
that had been placed in
Central Park.
Miller advised Council,
“Within 24 hours it was
vandalized.”
Miller stated she called
Herman with the news and,
“He was positively gleeful
about it.”
Saying he was delighted
to know where the weak-
nesses were and immedi-
ately began formulating a
plan to repair and enhance
the sculpture.
Repairs were made and
Miller indicated she has
since seen many interact-
ing with the sculpture
including a group of
preschool children just that
morning.
Miller added that the
Public Arts Commission
does feel that this venture
has been successful and
would continue to update
Council of future endeav-
ors.
Fire Prevention Week
Proclamation
Mayor Moiser read a
proclamation declaring Oc-
tober 9th through October
15th Fire Prevention week.
The proclamation stated
that The City of Baker City
is committed to ensuring
the safety and security of
all those living in and visit-
ing Baker City.
According to the procla-
mation fire safety is a seri-
ous concern both locally
and nationally.
Homes are where people
are at greatest risk from
fire. 369,500 home fires
were responded to across
the U.S. in 2014 accord-
ing to the National Fire
Protection Association
resulting in 2,745 deaths. It
is estimated that in 1/5th of
homes with smoke alarms,
those alarms are not work-
ing.
Three out of five home
fires that involve deaths
result from fires in proper-
ties without smoke alarms.
Having working smoke
alarms cuts the risk of dy-
ing in a house fire in half.
The theme for this year’s
Fire Prevention Week is
‘Don’t wait, check the
date’ this campaign is to
prompt replacement of
smoke alarms every ten
years. “I urge all of the
people in Baker City to
find out how old the smoke
alarms in their homes are
and to replace them if they
are more than 10 years old.
And to participate in the
Public Safety activities and
efforts of Baker City’s Fire
and Emergency Services.”
She then signed the proc-
lamation and stated light
heartedly “I’m going home
and check to see if my fire
alarms are more than 10
years old.”
Chief Mark John ad-
dressed Council briefly
advising that the date of
manufacture of alarms can
be found on the back of
alarms.
John told Council, “The
Baker City Fire Depart-
ment has taken a very
active role in our smoke
alarm program, in conjunc-
tion with our State Fire
Marshall office.”
According to John,
Baker County Fire has in-
stalled 400 smoke alarms,
and they are currently
working with some local
businesses seeking contri-
butions to purchase another
100 smoke alarms to make
available free of charge to
the citizens of Baker City.
The goal for John is to
reach the 500 mark.
John said, “I think you’d
be proud to know that
Baker City is one of only
nine fire departments in
the entire State of Oregon
that has installed over 300
alarms.”
Gary Timm, who man-
ages the fire division of the
Baker County Emergency
Management department,
joined John in addressing
Council.
He told Council that he
chaired Baker County’s
interagency fire prevention
team consisting of federal,
state and local agencies
across Baker County.
He advised that they do a
lot of outreach in the com-
munity, in the spring they
gear information toward
wildland fires and in the
fall home fire safety is ad-
dressed.
Timm said, “The Fire
Prevention team decided
to do a poster contest to
help promote National
Fire Prevention Week,
which is in recognition of
the great Chicago Fires of
1871 which left hundreds
of thousands of people
homeless.
“We’ve come a long
way in fire prevention and
smoke alarms.
“We had over 100 stu-
dents county wide partici-
pate in the poster contest,
we had a lot of great post-
ers to go through.
“The review committee
was made up of federal,
state and local fire agencies
that found it very difficult
to choose but we do have
three winners from grades
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
Chief John with, L-R, Lilly Anna Wilson, Keegan Slobig and Miriam Ocampo.
4-6 and uniquely enough
all were from a single
school, South Baker. We
are honored to have not
only those students here
but lots of friends and fam-
ily too.”
Posters were designed to
help promote National Fire
Prevention Week.
Timm and John called
the winners forward to
present them with awards.
The winners were Lilly
Anna Wilson, 4th grade.
Keegan Slobig, 5th grade
and Miriam Ocampo, 6th
grade. Each received a gift
certificate to Papa Mur-
phy’s and will ride on the
Baker City Fire Depart-
ment Fire Truck during the
annual Twilight Christmas
Parade in December.
The winners were then
individually congratulated
by each Council member.
Authorizing Mutual
Agreement and Order
Negotiations with DEQ
Public Works Director
Michelle Owen addressed
Council advising that it is
in the city’s best interest
to begin negotiations with
DEQ on a mutual agree-
ment and order (MAO).
Council was reminded
that the City was issued a
notice of violation from
October 2015 in which
affluent water released
exceeded allowable BOD
(Biological Oxygen De-
mand) levels.
The City was again over
that level just this past
September.
The fine for the October
2015 violation is $6,800.
The City learned of
the second violation at
a September meeting in
which a discussion was
being conducted regarding
a reduction of fine in the
October 2015 violation.
Owen stressed to Coun-
cil that what was being
requested of them tonight
was not approval of any
type of agreement it was
for approval to begin
working on a MAO that
would likely be brought
before council for approval
in roughly 60 days.
The MAO would protect
the City from any further
potential effluent discharge
challenges and protect
them from any third party
litigation, such as environ-
mental organizations, re-
lated to permit violations.
It is clear that upgrades
to the City Wastewater
system are needed.
Owen advised she is
working on a grant to get
a feasibility study done
on ways to improve our
storage, dredging of cur-
rent ponds, land applica-
tion uses and just general
upgrades to improve the
system.
After much discussion,
and clarification of what
this MOA might do for
the City Councilor Lowe
moved to approve allowing
talks of a MOA with a sec-
ond by Councilor Joseph.
The Council vote was
unanimous to allow those
talks to begin.
Owen advised Council
that they should see an
agreement somewhere
within the next 60-day
range, the upcoming
Holiday season may cause
some minor delays, that
they will vote on to ap-
prove or deny.
Councilor Lowe moved
to approve with a second
by councilor Joseph. A
unanimous vote was cast in
favor of beginning negotia-
tions.
Owen indicated those
negotiations would begin
immediately.
Golf Course Operations
Proposal
City Manager Warner
presented a contract signed
by Mike Brooks outlining
the agreement for Brooks
to run the Golf Course.
He advised Council it
was a straightforward four-
year contract and hit a few
significant points.
“The lease fee for the
golf course is set at $1 per
year,” noted Warner.
That is the same amount
as in previous agreements.
The contract also allows
for Brooks, the contractor,
to keep 33% net profit the
course makes.
The contractor pays all
operational cost except for
the capital costs for the
irrigation system and the
equipment belonging to the
City.
The City will take care of
paying those capital costs,
maintaining their assets.
The contract allows the
contractor to pay himself a
salary of up to 65,000/year.
Bill Tiedemann who has
run the course for the last
three years is retiring.
Tiedemann addressed
council briefly and com-
mended the work that was
done on this contract. After
hearing more about the
particulars of the contract
Councilor Lowe moved to
approve the contract with
a second by Councilor
Downing.
The vote to approve the
contract was unanimous.
911 Consolidated Dis-
patch Contract
At the direction of Coun-
cil, Warner has updated the
contract between the City
and County for the 911
center, that is eight years
old.
Before the Council was
the contract Warner had
prepared.
The goals for the update
were to address budget
concerns, the city funds
71% of the center, make
changes to the 911 board
including increasing the
total of the members of the
board and increase trans-
parency.
Commissioner Bill Har-
vey attended the Council
meeting and strongly op-
posed this contract stating,
“We didn’t get a chance to
sit down and discuss this.”
Several changes were of
grave concern to Harvey
including wording that
would remove his supervi-
sion of the 911 director and
place it under a revamped
911 Board.
Harvey said that one of
his main concerns is that
the 911 center staff are
county employees and
therefore his responsibility
and shouldn’t be interfered
with.
As the banter back and
for between the Council,
City Manager Warner and
Commissioner Harvey
escalated and Harvey con-
tinued to proclaim he was
never even given a copy of
the contract Councilor
Lowe stated, “You did
have Mr. Warner’s pro-
posal and you X-ed out
everything.”
After the statement
Councilor Lowe moved to
approve the changes to the
contract with a second by
Councilor Abell.
A unanimous vote to
approve was cast. It should
be noted that with the
City’s passage the contract
with the proposed changes
will then need to go to the
County Commissioner’s
for approval.
As Commissioner Har-
vey left, obviously upset
and frustrated it seemed
evident that was not likely
to happen.
LOC Conference Review
Councilor Lowe and City
Manager Warner recently
attended the League of
Oregon Cities Conference,
where they heard updates
on concerns that had been
raised at the recent City
Hall Week meetings held
throughout the State.
The LOC will be prepar-
ing to lobby these con-
cerns such as PERS and
transportation issues when
the legislature reconvenes
early next year.
Lowe stated that from
what he heard at the con-
ference many communities
are facing the same issues
as we are such as water
management and budget-
ary concerns but that he
heard several “innovative
ideas for solutions.”
The LOC also hosts
training seminars for newly
elected City Councilors
and urged any that had not
yet been and any newly in
coming elected Councilors
to attend. He said that his
experience was excellent.
Councilor Abell agreed
stating that the training
was “worthwhile.”
City Manager/Director
Comments
Warner advised council
that he and community
development coordinator
Robin Nudd were prepar-
ing for a meeting with
businesses on 10th street in
the coming days.
He mentioned a banquet
being held on Saturday
night for Crossroads Art
Center and also said that
he was going to be talking
with the food co-op about
their interest in securing
grants to complete some
upgrades they were in need
of.
With no Council com-
ments being heard, the
meeting was adjourned.