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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2020)
8A | OCTOBER 1, 2020 SEAT from A1 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL distant from crosswalks on Main Street at both 10th and 14th streets. According to the 2015 Cottage Grove Transpor- tation System Plan, E. Main Street is considered a minor arterial, which is intended to provide “effi- cient through movement” for regional and local traf- fic. The cost of a traffic study was estimated in the memorandum to be $5,000 and the paint for striping $1,000. Councilor Mike Fleck said he would consider the crosswalk if a study showed it would improve safety. “But I have huge con- cerns because … it will make people feel safer about stepping off into that traffic where I think it would actually increase the risk to the pedestrian, not decrease it,” he said. Councilor Stinnett spoke in favor of the idea in addition to more traffic education. “There are many reasons to cross Main Street in that interim between the two crosswalks but no safe, official way to do that,” he said as he weighed Fleck’s concern. “I would almost rather them be embold- ened than bewildered by the lack of a way to do it safety.” Councilor Kenneth Roberts expressed his con- cern with the speed of traf- fic on that part of the road and pointed out that some- one had recently been hit in a crosswalk there. “So I think all this should be considered,” he said. “Plus I feel that in this time of COVID, spending $5,000 on a traffic study for a crosswalk that’s two blocks away from another crosswalk is just a little bit crazy.” The council voted to approve a traffic study of possible applicants ex- pressed interest at the time and two candidates ended up applying. Although councilors had decided to let the elec- tion play out rather than appoint an applicant, can- didate Ashley Rigel with- drew on Aug. 18, leaving Stinnett to run unopposed. In light of this, coun- cilors voted on Monday to appoint Stinnett to the vacant seat for the remain- der of the position’s term, which will expire Dec. 31. “I can’t see a reason not to do this,” said Mayor Jeff Gowing. “I think Jon’s a good candidate and since he is the only one applying … I think it just makes the most sense.” With the position expir- ing at the end of the year, Stinnett will be sworn in once more in January if elected in November. If Stinnett is not elected, the elected person would then fill the seat after the Gen- eral Election. City Manager Richard Meyers emphasized that the appointment does not serve as a substitute for the democratic process. “The election will still be in place,” he said. “Peo- ple will still have to vote for Jon in order to get him into office in January.” In other council news: Road Safety Councilors discussed two separate citizen re- quests to improve traffic efficiency and safety in town. One of the requests asked that crosswalk strip- ing be added across E. Main Street where it in- tersects with 12th Street in order to increase safety in crossing for pedestrians on their way to the park. The intersection is equi- the intersection with only Roberts opposing. The other citizen request originated in January this year, asking that stop signs be removed from the in- tersection of S. 16th Street and E. Madison Avenue. The request cites the lack of necessity for the stop signs at a point of low traffic as it also wastes time, fuel and causes wear and tear on vehicles. Referring to neigh- bors’ testimonies about the speed of vehicles and frequency of pedestrian traffic, Cottage Grove Civ- il Engineer Ryan Sisson recommended that coun- cilors keep the stop signs to decrease speed and in- crease safety. Following some dis- cussion, councilors voted unanimously to keep all four existing stop signs while adding crosswalks, flashing lights on the signs and double-yellow striping along S. 16th Street. 2020 Municipal Court Report Municipal Court Judge Martin Fisher presented his 2020 Municipal Court Report to the City Coun- cil. On the topic of case- loads, the report provided numbers of cases cited into court before and after Gov. Brown’s executive order on March 23, which closed most government and pri- vate facilities. Prior to the order, the court had seen an increase in citations compared to the same period the previ- ous year. After March 23, however, those numbers dropped. “It seems to be holding pretty steady,” said Fisher. “I suspect a part of that is just the lack of people be- ing out and about.” From Jan. 1 to Sept. 1 last year, 612 citations and 1,025 violations were recorded. Totals this year over the same period dropped to 548 and 894, respectively. Fisher also brought at- tention to recently passed Oregon legislation HB 4210 which has resulted in courts no longer being permitted to suspend driv- er’s licenses of people who fail to pay traffic fines. “That will — down the road, not immediately — have an extraordinari- ly significant impact on court revenue,” he said. Fisher explained that the legislation will likely have a downstream effect on traffic fine revenue. Install, Service, and Replace Pumps and Water Filtration Systems Test Water Quality And Water Flow Rate “We don’t have a way in our system to account for a distinction in fines be- tween criminal fines and traffic fines,” he said. “But just anecdotally, from what I see, the vast majority of our revenue comes from traffic fines.” Through discussion with the court clerk, Fisher said he has come to under- stand that the main moti- vator for the collection of the fines is the threat of license suspension. Fisher said the only rem- edy for this is a “somewhat tortured process” of crim- inalizing traffic violations, which he recommended against. “So I suspect there will come a day in the next year or two when people realize this is no longer a threat and we will see a cratering of court revenue,” he said. 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