The INDEPENDENT, October 18, 2007
Page 13
Banks City Council agrees to spend money on play equipment
Banks City Council ap-
proved spending $29,619.30
on playground equipment at
their October 9 meeting. Of the
total, $24,629.50 is for the
equipment and $4,989.80 for
freight and installation.
The play set that was ap-
proved is configured to appeal
to the widest age group, with a
structure that includes a giant
wave climber link, incline cos-
mix climber, zip slides, and
slides and climbers to accom-
modate 5 – 12 year olds of all
skill levels.
While Councilor Craig Stew-
art was attending the annual
League of Oregon Cities Con-
ference, he was approached by
Doug Buell, a representative of
GameTime, a playground
equipment manufacturing com-
pany. Buell provided informa-
tion about a grant that is avail-
able to smaller communities in
an effort to lessen childhood
obesity, nationally, by providing
exercise playground equip-
ment.
GameTime has earmarked
approximately $1 million na-
tionwide for qualifying small
communities to purchase Pow-
erscape equipment at a 50 per-
cent discount. The grant pro-
gram will end November 30,
2007, and is on a first come,
first served basis. “The faster
the city acts, the more apt we
are to procure the funds; once
the money is gone; it is gone,”
Stewart said.
Council has been working on
the park improvement project
for some time, with a Parks &
Recreation Master Plan adopt-
ed last April. The 2007-2008
budget provides for a transfer
of $30,000 from the General
Fund to the Parks Fund to pur-
chase playground equipment,
which leaves limited resources
for installation, excavation, and
bark chips.
Councilor Short commented
that having the playground
equipment purchased and in
storage will generate a lot of
momentum. Council expressed
optimism that the Banks com-
munity would step forward to
donate extra funds and volun-
teer their time and talents in or-
der to prep and install the struc-
ture.
The Banks Chamber of
Commerce discussed the ven-
ture at their last meeting, and
has received calls from local
excavators willing to donate
their time and equipment.
Mayor Branstitre told Buell
not to expect a check tomor-
row, however; there will need to
be some budget shuffling.
City Attorney Jim Lucas in-
troduced two representatives
from Verizon, David Mielke
from Texas and Gene Eng of
Beaverton, who appeared to
answer any questions the
council may have about their
franchise agreement. Banks
has been negotiating a fran-
chise renewal agreement with
new terms; all parties were
happy to report that they have
entered into a new 15 year con-
tract. Mielke hopes to appear at
the next council meeting to seal
the deal.
Lucas had little to report on
an agreement between the city
and NW Natural Gas. Lucas
said they “guarantee that they
will have something back to us
by next month; they are work-
ing on 30 franchise agree-
ments; however, I feel like they
are only working on 29.”
Communication between Lu-
cas and Swatco has been pro-
ductive, with little remaining to
be negotiated. Consumer rates
will remain the same.
Mayor Branstitre stood in by
proxy for Laura Reisinger, a
senior at Banks High School,
who has collected signatures to
have the state consider chang-
ing the intersection on Hwy 47
and Verboort/Perdin Road, af-
ter the death of a recent class-
mate. The mayor says that City
Manager Jim Hough and For-
est Grove City Manager
Michael Sykes have been in
communication and both would
like to see a change. Hough
and Reisinger will attend the
Northwest Committee of Trans-
portation in November, a meet-
ing that helps ODOT develop
priorities
on
intersection
changes.
Denise Holmes, Banks Li-
brary Director, gave a demon-
stration on how to use the Li-
brary website (http://www.wc-
cls.org). New features have
been added as part of the user-
friendly update. Photographs
featuring Washington County
are displayed and change each
time a new link is looked at.
Holmes said that there are sev-
eral more downloadable audio
book titles available, as well.
Councilor Brian Biehl asked
Holmes about a complaint he
Please see page 14
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