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.
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“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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