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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (July 21, 2005)
The INDEPENDENT, July 21, 2005 Page 13 Nuisance code enforcement, Sunset Speedway are council topics Banks City Council ad dressed numerous issues and heard reports on several sub jects at their July 12 meeting. Mayor Mike Lyda and council m em bers Brian Biehl, Teri Branstitre and Pete Edison at tended. Council member Kirk Andrews was absent. Marshall Decker, W ashing ton County Code Enforcement Officer updated the council on actions taken to abate the pub lic nuisance at the Wilkes and Parmley apartments. Decker ci ted and fined owner Thomas Lepshat for one day. Lepshat paid the $494 fine, but the build ing remained unsecured and problems continued. Decker then cited the owner for 10 con secutive days of code viola tions; arraignment for that cita tion is scheduled for July 27. Decker explained that, in other cases, fining owners for multiple days has been successful in motivating them to correct the problem. “I have no mechanism to compel him to abate the nui sance. I can only make him un comfortable," Decker said. A neighbor of the apartments said that people were continu ing to access the vacant apart ment at night and that there was garbage on the premises. Council directed the public works department to securely board the windows and doors of the open apartment. The city will also ensure that garbage pick up continues. Attorney Jim Lucas is pursuing a lien against the property to pay for prior abatements. Council continues to work to ward adopting a chronic nuisance ordinance which would grant the city more power to enforcing abatements. Councilor Branstitre expects to present a draft at the next meeting. Mayor Lyda said “I don’t know if we have the cure...It’s a slow process. That’s why we are working toward a chronic nuisance ordinance.” M ayor Lyda reported that Sunset Speedway’s temporary business license had expired June 30. No application for ex tension had been received by the city and no one represented the speedway at the council meeting. He reported that the speedway had been diligent in attempting to comply with is sues that have put their opera tion in question. They have been ending races by the re quired time, are attempting to measure noise levels, and are in the process of addressing land use concerns with Banks city planner KJ Won. The speedway has hired a civil and an environmental engineer to look at land use issues. Lyda felt that Sunset Park needed to be apprised of the situation because it affects the park. Sunset Speedway is a part of Sunset Park, so land use issues and business code violations also impact the pri vately-owned park. Council de cided to send a letter to Sunset Speedway and Sunset Park re garding the expired business li cense and will continue to mon itor the situation. The city is submitting a pro posal to repay nearly $60,000 of federal COPS grant funds over a five year period with no interest, beginning in Decem ber. Council will continue to ex plore the appeals process, however. Congressman David Wu is assisting the city in this appeal. Looking into possible legal issues, Lucas said, “We need to get this straight with them because of future federal funding.” The repayment is re quired because a COPS grant for police services from 1995 to 2001 was disbursed incorrectly. Lyda said, “The money wasn’t spent in the wrong places, but it was out of compliance with the terms of the grant.” Jolynn Becker was sworn in as the city’s new recorder/trea- surer. Her start date will be de termined pending termination of employment at her previous County seeks volunteers to work with Elder Safe Washington County is look ing for volunteers who are inter ested in helping seniors by working with the Elder Safe Pro gram and the Sheriff’s Office. Elder Safe volunteers pro vide emotional support and vic tim assistance to people 65 and older who have been victims of crime. Volunteers are provided a 40-hour training in victim services and the criminal jus- tice system. After the training, hours are flexible and will be tailored to volunteers’ interests and abili ties. Retired bankers, account ants and attorneys are espe- n u -I r Oak Village Laundromat 4 ¡um bo Washers t\ cially encouraged to consider this opportunity. Applications are due by Sept. 1 for the next training in October. Call Maxine Leagjeld at 503-846-2773 for a packet. É BANKS M IN I STORAGE Pay 1 Full Month and get l 1 Full Month FREE* j Move in Truck Available Air-conditioned Easy Access with Check us out and you'll want to check in! Ample Parking ★ Special available fo r new customers on located next to Jim's M arket at the junction of Hwy 47 & Hwy 6 Main Street, Banks • sizes up to 10 K 10, fo r a limited tim e only. Gates O p erate D aily 7 AM - 9 PM Office Hours: Mon-Fri 10 A M - 6 PM S a t8 A M -N o o n j 140 E O ak W at , B anks • 503-324-0552 job. Becker will replace Debo rah Deegan, but will work full time instead of half time. Council also swore in Wash ington County Sheriff’s Depu ties Jim Berning and Al Roque. The two officers police Banks through an agreem ent with Washington County. Swearing them in as Banks officers al lows them to include enforce ment of city ordinances. Deputy Berning reported that, because Banks was the only area town to have a large fireworks display this year, traf fic and safety issues were huge. He was on duty the fourth of July and did what he could to direct traffic and police the park, but received numer ous com plaints later. Two W ashington County deputies happened to be going through town that night and stayed to direct traffic after the show. Congestion was severe. He suggested that Sunset Park needs to have a plan in place when they host big events. Council added that the large turnout had not been expected. On a positive note, Berning not ed that Greenville Park was peaceful on the holiday. Public works supervisor Tim Grossnickle reported that the exterior of the new public works building is com plete. He is working on an agreement with DaySpring Christian Church and Big Horn Logging to ad dress the repair and paving of the driveway and parking lot shared by the church, the li brary, the public works building and Big Hom Logging. The park ing loi does not drain properly, leaving the handicapped spaces under water at times. Also, the cinder block garbage area blocks views of pedestrians. Repair and paving of the lot will be combined with work on Market Street for a cost savings. G rossnickle also reported that someone broke into Well Number 1 on June 25 and stole about $2000 worth of Water Department tools and metal. W ashington C ounty S h e riff’s Department was notified. Two more locks have been installed to prevent future break-ins. Grossnickle added that moving into the new public works build ing will secure city property bet ter in the future. The council currently has two vacancies. Applications from in terested individuals are being collected. The mayor will review applicants and nominate re placements. Council will then need to approve his appoint ments. Appointments may be made at the next council meeting. Council also adopted an or dinance amending the Banks comprehensive plan to update the city’s long term commercial and industrial land needs.
