SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2019 | 11A
Community
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DUNES CITY from page 1A ing into purchasing meters
that transmit readings via
Next, the council dis- radio, allowing city staff to
cussed the possibility of the obtain meter readings.
city creating a more complete
“What triggered this con-
social media presence. While versation is that we have
the city does have a website, older residents in their crawl
it does not communicate in- spaces that can’t crawl down
formation through platforms there to get their readings,”
such as Facebook and Twit- Mills said. “It was more con-
ter. The council originally venient for our citizens, rath-
thought that by utilizing er than the benefit of the city,
such platforms, Dunes City though it makes the readings
could get more community easier.”
involvement. However, so-
However, the importance
cial media accounts can be of reliable meter readings
time consuming, particularly came to the forefront recent-
if staff has to monitor for ap- ly when the state threatened
propriate public comments. to rescind the water rights
“My concern is the cost of held by Dunes City.
man hours to try and keep
“I think the water readings
up with social media today,” are going to be very import-
Forsythe said. “It’s not easy ant for our fight for water
for a municipality to main- rights,” Forsythe said. “This
tain and update. And quite way, we’re not reliant on the
honestly, the more you do, homeowner to be there, go
the more that is expected. I’m down there, read the meter,
not big on it yet under our get it to us. We’ll be able to
circumstances, with staffing do it ourselves, rapidly.”
and budgeting issues. I’m
Some council members
reluctant to head down that had concerns with the con-
road.”
tract for the new water
Because the city already meters, however. The con-
has its own website, the tract, which would be done
council decided not to pur- through Ferguson Meter and
sue the creation of social me- Automation Group, did not
dia accounts.
go out for bid.
Finally, the council debat-
“I did research on a com-
ed the purchase of $20,000 pany on the internet and
worth of new water meters in found one that was $70 for
a discussion that dovetailed the meter, and it was inter-
into the city’s upcoming fight net capable,” said Councilor
for water rights.
Alan Montgomery, compar-
At issue was the city’s plan ing that to the quoted price
to transition from traditional of $142 for the Ferguson Me-
water meters in which resi- ters.
dents have to read and report
“I prefer using people who
the readings to the city. In- are close to us,” Forsythe
stead, the city has been look- said, stating that the City of
Florence also used Fergu-
son’s services. “I like to use
whoever Florence is using,
not because of Florence, nec-
essarily, but because of (City
of Florence Public Works
Director) Mike Miller and
the people that have to deal
with it. If we start to have
problems with a particular
vendor, they’re a wealth of
information about that ven-
dor and that equipment. We
don’t have to reinvent the
wheel.”
Montgomery later coun-
tered with, “I’m reluctant to
go into it because somebody
else is using it. With the
cloud, internet and Fed-Ex,
nothing is more than two
days away. I would do some
more research, maybe look at
a different company.”
Councilor Tom Mal-
len also had concerns with
spending city funds replac-
ing meters that may not need
to be replaced.
“I bought my own water
meter and it is installed in
my crawl space,” he said. “I
do read it, not every month,
but I do read it at least quar-
terly. I do not feel that the
city should pay for me to
get a new water meter when
I just bought one two and a
half years ago.”
Councilor Robert Orr was
sensitive to Mallen’s con-
cerns, saying, “I think there
will be individuals who re-
cently did something, like
Tom, but overall I like the
idea of moving toward this
standardization and elec-
tronic concept. I understand
what Tom is saying, and cer-
tainly don’t want the city to
pay for things that are extra.
But I think we need to look at
the broader scope.”
“Then maybe the broader
scope would be, going for-
ward, when you issue per-
mits, that they are required
to have these,” Mallen said.
“That I understand and com-
pletely agree with. And those
that are out of compliance,
whether they’re not living
here, that would comply. But
it just doesn’t make sense to
make everyone do it, even if
they are in compliance.”
While the city has been
looking at purchasing water
meters for months now, they
decided to table the issue for
another month to address
the councilor’s concerns.
However, the council did
not want to wait too long on
making a decision, consider-
ing the issues of water rights
the city will be facing.
“About the water rights
coming up, I want the res-
idents of Dunes City to
know that I believe the bat-
tle we’re going into with
the state is going to be the
biggest thing that we’ve
ever done,” Councilor Duke
Wells said. “It’s bigger than
building inspectors, bigger
than marijuana and bigger
than the septic issue we
had for years. It’s going to
be a real battle. But I truly
believe it’s one worth fight-
ing. It’s a big overreach by
the state, coming down on
us after doing 50 years of
business a certain away. It is
completely out of balance,
and I’m ready for the fight.”
fice, where he swore to fulfill seat for the next term.
all responsibilities. Sneddon
Later in the meeting, mem-
Vice Chair Bill McDougle is also running in the May 21 bers of the board read But-
led Sneddon in the oath of of- Special Election to hold the ler’s letter and voted to fill the
position, rather than leave it
vacant until it is filled in the
upcoming election.
Director Paul Burns read
a statement about Butler,
acknowledging her 12 years
of service to the district as a
director, chairman and vol-
unteer who “advanced nu-
merous causes,” including
Mike Blankenship
for technology, smaller class
Broker
sizes, the maintenance of
541 991-7826 10818 Hwy 36 – Large commercial building on
staff and in support of ath-
two city lots at the junction of Hwy 36 and 126 in
letics and academics.
Mapleton, a high traffic area. Metal building with
high open beam ceiling, 3 phase power on one
“As a longtime Florence
meter. Check with Lane County for zoning uses.
resident and business own-
Property is being sold “as is”. $65,000. #2802-
er, Tammy brought unique
18047518
skills and knowledge to the
1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200
board,” Burns read. “Those
things also brought some
of the greatest challenges
of being a board member.
With that history of the
most widespread recogni-
tion in the community, that
translated to people letting
her know what they heard
and felt more often than
probably most other board
members. She had the ear of
a large part of the commu-
nity, and that can wear on
a board member, especial-
ly when we are required to
make decisions when those
decisions are not the most
popular ones. …
“She continuously strived
to keep the focus on what is
best for the kids in this dis-
trict.”
His
sentiments
were
echoed by directors Guy Ros-
inbaum and John Barnett.
“If it wasn’t for Tammy, I
would have been lost,” Rosin-
baum said as he talked about
his first term on the board. “I
just can’t thank her enough.”
“I would second that,” Bar-
nett said. “I was vice chair
for her for two year before I
was chair, and I learned more
from that lady than (I can
say). … She will be greatly
missed.”
“She was just so wonderful
and patient in guiding us,”
Mann-Heintz added.
Rosinbaum made the reso-
lution proposing that the seat
be filled.
“We’ve got some new peo-
ple that are looking to be on
the board. It’s an opportuni-
ty to get a head start, quite
possibly,” he said. “Let’s give
the public an opportunity to
apply.”
The appointed board
member
would
serve
through June, when newly
elected board members will
be sworn in.
The Siuslaw School Board
has four open positions in
the May 21 election.
April 30 is the deadline
for voters to register. For
more information, visit www.
lanecounty.org/residents/
elections.
BOARD from page 1A
Introducing
K ayDee Butler
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