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PRESENT: Mayor Bob Jepsen; Council
Members Kay Robinson, Tom Wolff, Marian Murchison, Skip Matthews,
Cindi Doherty, Tim Van Cleave; City Manager Jerry
Breazeale; Public Works Director Craig Canham; City Attorney Bill
Kuhn; MCSO Deputy Randy Rayburn, Fire Chief Rusty Estes.
VISITORS: Dave Sykes, Linda Corbin,
Tina Bowles, John Bowles, Chris Hughes
1. GENERAL BUSINESS
A) Call
to Order. Mayor Jepsen called the meeting to
order at
B)
Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Jepsen led the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
C) Announcements:
City Manager
Breazeale announced that
Manager
Breazeale reported that Judy Buschke has signed the acceptance of
election (by write-in) to the City Council
D) Approval
of Minutes of
Tom Wolff
clarified that the vote recorded on page 5, ¶ 9C, stating that
the City Council had voted approval of payment of $500 for meals
for the 2003
Kay Robinson
noted a typographical error on page 5 –
“discussing” should read “discuss.”
Skip Matthews
moved to approve the minutes of the November 12, 2002, City
Council Meeting as corrected, second by Cindi Doherty . MOTION
CARRIED with one abstention (Kay Robinson abstained due to
absence from the meeting on November 12..
E) Report from the Planning Commission: December meeting cancelled.
F)
Correspondence: City Manager Breazeale presented the
following correspondence:
Letter from League of Oregon Cities regarding directory and
mailing list updates.
Letter from
the
2. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE
PUBLIC
A)
Oral communications from the public not on the agenda
Chris Hughes,
Oregon Drinking Water Program, presented the technical and
managerial aspects of the capacity assessment report, which must
be passed in order to qualify for state revolving loan funds.
In summary, the City of
City Manager
Breazeale reviewed the history of the Corbins actions to
partition their property to allow their daughter Tina Bowles and
her husband to erect a modular home on a section of their
property. Mrs. Corbin and Mr. and Mrs. Bowles were present
to express their concern that they had not been provided
sufficient information to allow necessary work to be done to
allow sewer and water service to be provided to the property.
At the time that the Planning Commission had approved relief from
the requirement to construct a through street to City standards
there had been no discussion of the need to extend the sewer and
water lines. Engineering requirements of installing the
needed service have made it impossible to do the work to this
point with the funds which they had borrowed. Manager
Breazeale stated that the City is asking the Corbins to pay for
the necessary work from the 6” main to the property line.
The extension necessary is for the Bowles service but does not
preclude development beyond their property line.
Tom Wolff
declared a possible conflict could arise on his part because of
his own anticipated development project.
City Manager
Breazeale noted that it might be possible to go ahead and do the
work and allow the Corbins to pay the City back over time,
essentially lending them the money for the necessary work. City
Attorney Bill Kuhn said that the danger in that scenario in
bending the rules. Future property owners might not be
aware of all the mitigating circumstances which led to that
decision.
Public Works
Director Canham noted that all costs to run this service will
come out of the Public Works Department budget and that
ordinances require that the City run the service to the corner of
their property.
Mayor Jepsen
noted that the Council is bound by the ordinances and suggested
that the Corbins go back to their bank for the additional funds
needed.
John Bowles
reported that the house is on the site and they have to have the
service.
Tina Bowles
strongly suggested that in the future, the City provide a
complete packet of all
ordinances and requirements when someone requests a variance or
other relief.
(Councilman Tim Van Cleave joined the
meeting.)
B)
Request for animal permit from Kenneth Collins,
Motion to
approve animal permit by Tom Wolff, second by Cindi Doherty
. MOTION CARRIED.
3. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None
scheduled
4. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE
MORROW
A)
Activity report:
Deputy Rayburn
reported that he and Public Works Director Craig Canham toured
regional skateboard facilities and returned with video,
information and grant forms from several cities. It was the
consensus of the Council that the skateboard project should proceed.
Manager Breazeale reported that City-County Insurance had said
any increase in the City’s insurance for such a project
would be minimal.
B) Police Commission – Next meeting December 26th.
B)
Code enforcement :
Deputy Rayburn
showed video of two properties, Looneys and Nashes which he
recommended be subjected to Nuisance Abatement proceedings.
Skip Matthews
moved to initiate Nuisance Abatement proceedings against the two
property owners, second by Kay Robinson. MOTION CARRIED.
Deputy Rayburn
reported that an abandoned vehicle cleanup has been scheduled for
the weekend of January 18th and 19th.
Torgensons will set up at the City corporation yard to accept
junked vehicles and they will be available to pick them up at the
owner’s property. Torgensons will dispose of the
vehicles at no cost to the owners.
Deputy
Rayburn reported that City Attorney Bill Kuhn had written to
Cheryl Alston regarding removal of her dead trees by December 27th.
City Attorney Kuhn pointed out that the City’s cleanup
ordinance does not specifically include trees. He said that
it would be necessary to postpone further action until the
necessary publication, public hearing and modification of the
ordinance could be accomplished.
5.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR:
A)Public Works
Director Craig Canham presented his activity report.
B)The next
Utilities Commission meeting will be November December 19.
C)The next Parks
and Lands Commission Meeting will be December 30.
D)
Additional Discussion:
6.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FIRE CHIEF:
Fire Chief
Rusty Estes presented the year end activity report for the Fire
Department.
7.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CITY MANAGER:
A)
Manager Breazeale presented the financial statement.
B) Resolution
No.514-2002, a resolution approving accounts payable for payment.
Motion to
approve Resolution No. 514-2002 , a resolution approving accounts
payable for payment by Kay Robinson, second by Cindi
Doherty . MOTION CARRIED.
C) League
of Oregon Cities Request for Additional Contributions for PERS
Cost Containment:
Tom Wolff moved
to approve payment of additional contributions to PERS for cost
containment as requested, second by Cindy Doherty. MOTION
CARRIED.
D) Baker
/Morrow Partnership.
City
Manager Breazeale reported that all funds in the Baker/Morrow
Partnership have been allocated for this year. He further
reported that the partnership may be threatened by the
legislators who want to take funds from the partnership and give
them to the government for redistribution.
E) Work on flood issues.
City Manager
Breazeale presented email records of his correspondence regarding
attempts to get the City’s flood plain map redrawn.
F) Resolution
No. 515-2002, A Resolution Establishing Policy for Maintenance of
Sewer Services Within the Limits of the City Right of Way.
Motion
to approve Resolution No. 515-2002, A Resolution Establishing
Policy for Maintenance of Sewer Services Within the Limits of the
City Right of Way by Tom Wolff, second by
Marian Murchison. MOTION CARRIED.
G) Resolution
No. 516-2002, A Resolution Canvassing the Results of the November
5, 2002, General Election for the Mayoral and City Council
Positions and Declaring the Results.
Motion
to approve Resolution No.516-2002, A Resolution Canvassing the
Results of the November 5, 2002, General Election for the Mayoral
and City Council Positions and Declaring the Results by Skip
Matthews, second by Tom Wolff. MOTION CARRIED.
H)
Water System OECDD Grant and Loan Award:
Motion by
Marion Murchison to accept the grant and loan award offered by
OECDD for the water system improvement project, second by Tom
Wolff. MOTION CARRIED.
I)
Downtown Development Plan
The November
19th meeting was well attended and the
report from the consultants will be forthcoming.
J)
Goal Setting Session for 2003.
The City
Council goal setting session for 2003 was scheduled for January
14th,
8.
COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY
City Attorney
Bill Kuhn reported that he had participated in communications
with the golf course regarding their use of water, had written
researched the matter of removal of dead trees under the Nuisance
Abatement ordinances and written to the subject land owner.
9. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR/CITY COUNCILORS
A) The
Beautification Commission meeting will be December 12.
Tom Wolff noted
that the new garbage cans are an attractive asset to
B) The
next meeting of the Heppner Housing Authority will be January
27th.
C)
Additional Discussion.
Cindi Doherty
reported that the
Tom Wolff asked
the Council members to familiarize themselves with the
County’s ATV park program to facilitate future discussions
about the project.
Meeting adjourned