10A | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2020 | SIUSLAW NEWS
DUNES from page 1A
The council then moved on
to adopting their policy hand-
book, which updated policy
regarding weapons on city
hall property.
“As you will recall, there
was some concern about the
provision for immediate ter-
mination if an employee was
to bring a weapon into city
hall,” Mills said. “I have done
some research on it and you’ll
see in tonight’s packet the pro-
posed language, which brings
it in compliance with what
state law says. It provides an
exception for those who are
police officers or have con-
cealed carry permits.”
The council passed the
handbook revisions, which
included a host of updates
including closing Dunes City
Hall on President’s Day, was
passed unanimously.
After establishing a time-
frame for setting city goals,
which will be discussed and
adopted in the upcoming
March council meeting, an
update was given on the city’s
plan to purchase Rebecca’s
Trail.
“To let you know, every-
thing is moving forward,”
Mills said. “There have been
a couple of hiccups, but we’ve
dealt with them. It is in escrow
and it is anticipated to close
[later this month].”
At that point, the council
discussed revising flood dam-
age prevention code.
“This amends language to
reflect current federal and
state laws, rules and regula-
tions,” Mills reported.
The changes have been in
the works for some time, with
FEMA approaching Dunes
City back in 2016, request-
ing “participation by the city
in revisions to the flood in-
surance rate map, regarding
regulations flood plain man-
agement in an effort to meet
court-ordered mandates and
a lawsuit filed against FEMA,”
she explained.
The lawsuit was brought
on by multiple organizations
such as the Northwest Envi-
ronmental Defense Center for
failure to consult on certain
species listed as endangered
in the State of Oregon with
the respect of implementation
of a national flood insurance
program, according to Mills.
To comply with the rul-
ing, FEMA had to redraw the
floodplains, which local mu-
nicipalities have been doing
for the past two years.
“Because flood prevention
codes are land use codes,
amendments of those codes
must first go to the citizen ad-
visory committee for review
and comment, and then we
heard public hearings before
the planning commission and
city council,” Mills said.
The Dunes City Planning
Commission and Citizens
Advisory Committee final-
ized the map and were now
presenting it to the city coun-
cil for approval.
However, Councilor Tom
Mallen objected, stating that
the council had just received
the information and that he
still had questions regarding
the insurance.
Through a long and some-
times tense discussion on
the matter, Mallen’s concerns
were boiled down to an is-
sue over government control
over small municipalities like
Dunes City.
“So FEMA is telling Dunes
City that they will not issue
flood insurance unless we
pass this?” Mallen asked.
“That’s correct, they will
discontinue. We will not be
qualified,” Mills said.
The revisions to regulations
were multiple, the majori-
ty of which were dictated by
FEMA.
“We’re not allowed to
change any of it, and we tried
to change some of the lan-
guage,” Mills said. “Trying to
correct the grammar ended
up coming back — ‘No, you
gotta put it back the way it
was.’”
However, the city was es-
sentially being forced to adopt
the measure.
“If we don’t adopt it by (the)
deadline, they will discontin-
ue covering the residents of
Dunes City for flood damage.
They won’t issue flood insur-
ance anymore, at least for five
years. We won’t be able to ap-
ply again for five years. That’s
the problem with the dead-
line.”
“FEMA is telling you that
they will not issue flood in-
surance if we don’t pass this,”
Mallen restated.
“That’s correct, they will
discontinue. We will not be
qualified,” Mills replied.
There was discussion on
whether or not that was true,
with particular confusion re-
garding an individual’s rights
for insurance.
Mallen, who felt the coun-
cil had not received enough
time to read the 30 pages of
revisions that were handed to
them, requested that the issue
be tabled until the next meet-
ing.
However, tabling the dis-
cussion could have put the city
at risk of missing the deadline.
“We can try, but if there’s
any changes, it has to go back
to the planning commission,”
Mills said. “Because it’s a land
use issue, it has to go back to
square one.”
And going back to square
one would take time, perhaps
missing the June deadline.
“Where I’m coming from,
it seems to me that FEMA has
the upper hand in this and is
saying if the citizens of Dunes
City want to be able to get
insurance through them, we
have to abide by their rules
and regulations,” Councilor
Sheldon Meyer said. “I’m not
wild about that, but there’s a
lot of other rules and regula-
tions we have to abide by. And
putting the citizens in jeopar-
dy of not being able to be in-
sured, I don’t want to face that
lawsuit.”
Councilor Duke Wells
agreed that FEMA was exert-
ing control over Dunes City.
“The issue I’m hearing from
Tom, which I agree with, is
that FEMA is telling us exactly
what to do and how we’re go-
ing to do it,” he said. “We’ve
had the state come down and
tell us we have to have build-
ing inspectors. And then we
had the Oregon Marine board
tell us what to do. This isn’t the
first time the government has
told a little place like us what
to do.”
“We have in the past said
‘no,’” Mallen said.
Wells replied, “And that af-
fects us, this affects the citizens
here. That’s the difference.”
But Wells still wasn’t sure
if the changes would indeed
affect insurance holders, and
asked for the discussion to be
tabled so the council could
have more time to review.
Considering the dangers of
missing the deadline, and that
any revisions would most like-
ly not be able to be approved
in time, the rest of the council
voted in favor of passing the
floodplain code, with Mallen
dissenting.
After the discussion, the
council moved on to establish-
ing a fleet safety program, an
insurance requirement for the
city’s two vehicles. The pro-
gram laid out safety protocol
for the drivers of city-owned
vehicles, though there were
a few of the provisions that
Councilor Susan Snow ques-
tioned. Listed under “minor
violations” was speeding “up
to 20 miles per hour.”
“I really think that 20 miles
over the speed limit might not
be minor,” Snow said. “I also
believe texting violations are
a major violation, not a minor
one. It can lead to death.”
The council voted to update
the program to make speed-
ing above 10 miles per hour
a major violation, along with
texting while driving.
The council then moved
onto an update of public works
by Mills.
“Trees, trees and more
trees,” she said. “It got to where
every time I would go home at
night, I’d have to get another
tree out of the road in order to
get home. It’s been pretty bad.”
Mills did report that she
had been working with some
volunteers to remove trees off
the right-of-way on Parkway
Drive, where they fall freely
due to the trees being “mostly
dead.”
Then, in her administrators
report, Mills informed the
council that if a deer dies in
a yard in Dunes City, it is the
owner’s responsibility to dis-
pose of the deer. The owners
are allowed to bury the ani-
mals, but if it’s a recent death,
she suggested homeowners
contact Dunes City Hall.
“We will notify an individu-
al we know that can use that as
a food source for animals that
he is caring for,” she said, stat-
ing that the individual will not
take deer that had died from
illness. “We don’t want to feed
sick deer to animals.”
Finally, Mills closed the
meeting with an update re-
garding the spread of trash in
the neighborhood by bears, an
issue that is exacerbated by lo-
cal Airbnbs and other vacation
rentals.
“You come, you stay, you
put your garbage in the trash,
and they tell you to take the
trash out, which you do,” Mills
said. “Chances are pickup is on
Thursday and you’re putting
it out on Monday. It’s a good
chance it will end up strewn
over the place.”
She suggested that owners
of vacation rentals invest in
locks for their garbage cans.