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MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER 14, 1998 PRESENT: Mayor Jepsen; Councilors Matthews, McGuire, Sly, Van Cleave, Nairns, Robinson; City Treasurer, Rene’ Devin; Public Works Director, David Winters; Police Chief, Doug Rathbun; Fire Chief, Rusty Estes; City Attorney, Bill Kuhn; City Manager, Gerald Breazeale. ABSENT: None (Unless otherwise noted, "MOTION CARRIED" indicates all in favor.) 1. GENERAL BUSINESS North Central Regional Strategies City Manager Breazeale reported that a letter had been received from North Central Regional Strategies indicating that the City’s application for $10,000 for water valves to be added to the system was not funded. The City’s project was ranked ninth in priority with the projects ranking one through eight receiving funding. Should one of the projects not be able to expend the funds, the City could receive some funding for the water project. Heppner TV A letter from Heppner TV had also been received
stating that the cable company would be raising their rates for
cable effective January 1, 1999. The rate increase was accompanied
by an increase in available channels. The cable company is required
to inform the council of any rate increase. There was no action
required by Council. City Manager Breazeale explained that the ordinance had been
publicized and posted. No comments had been received regarding
the proposed ordinance. He further explained that passage of
the ordinance was crucial to operating a cross connection control
program. It gives the Public Works Director the authority to
require backflow protection on any service where there is the
potential to contaminate the City’s water system. Public
Works Director Dave Winters affirmed that the ordinance was needed
to operate the program. He stated that it is required by State
law that the City have a cross connection control program and
that an ordinance is required to implement the program. Manager
Breazeale stated that most of the language in the ordinance was
taken from the Oregon Administrative Rules of the Oregon Health
Division. Mayor Jepsen read the ordinance by title. Motion by
Kay Robinson, second by Jerri Sly to approve Ordinance No. 525.
MOTION CARRIED. Police Chief Rathbun presented a video showing the property
in question. He had shown a video at the last meeting which was
shown again. He video taped the situation after Mr. Drake was
informed of the complaints regarding the storage of vehicles
and debris on the City right of way and on his private property.
There has been some improvement, however the consensus was that
there was a lot more to be done. Some of the vehicles have been
moved and some of the construction debris have been piled up.
Mike McGuire questioned whether Mr. Drake would continue the
cleanup or if this was as far as he would be going. Treasurer
Devin mentioned that passage of the resolution would give Mr.
Drake another thirty days to complete the cleanup. Kay Robinson
moved and Loretta Nairns seconded a motion to approve Resolution
No. 349-98. MOTION CARRIED. Communications From Chief of Police Chief Rathbun reported that he had received a complaint from a citizen regarding the parking at the hospital. Since this was on property owned by the hospital, he would be referring the letter to the hospital. He has no authority to regulate parking at the hospital. Chief Rathbun also reported on a rash of vandalism that occurred last Thursday. The Chief was able to catch the young adults who denied having done the damage. One of the individuals has since confessed and now they can build the case against the offenders. The vandals broke the rear window out of the City police car. They also did damage to his personal vehicle. They are connected with vandalism in Ione, and damage to trash cans on Main Street along with destruction of the Christmas scene at the old school house in the City Park next to the Library. When asked what age group the offenders were the Chief reported that they were in the eighteen to nineteen year age group. The Chief reported that the recent auction brought in more
than $100 and the City disposed of a lot of surplus material
that otherwise would have had to be hauled off. Public Works Director Dave Winters reported that Roger Ehrmantraut had been working on installing power to the trees at the mini-park so that Christmas lights could be placed on the trees and lighted for the holiday season. The power is temporary at this point and will be made permanent later in the spring. Roger has also been placing the personalized bricks in the sidewalk to identify donors to the project. The department has been patching the pavement on Water Street with cold mix. A sewer problem on Baltimore street was attended to by the department although it turned out that the problem was on the customer side. The department helped the property owner by finding the problem and explaining what needed to be done to correct the problem. A water leak on South Main was also repaired. Jay Brown has been removing and painting the benches in the downtown area. The bench with all the names required a considerable amount of time to complete. It was painstaking work. The historical sign by Willow Creek at the mini-park has received some attention by the crew. Cribbing has been placed around the base on the creek side and fill has been added to shore up the sign base. The base has been undermined by gravel sloughing off and was in danger of loosing its support. The work by Roger should correct the problem. Dave also reported that the phone company had repaired the damage to the sidewalk at the creek where they had run their cables through. They have backfilled under the sidewalk where the gravel had washed out. A question was raised about the finalization of the sidewalks
in the downtown project. Kay Robinson commented on how nice the
downtown looked now that the sidewalks have been completed. Mayor
Bob Jepsen reported that the only part of the project that needed
repairs was the entrance to the Bank of Eastern Oregon. This
is on private property and repairs that were made to the crack
in the concrete were not acceptable to the Bank of Eastern Oregon.
The question remains of what to do with it and who will pay for
it. As far as the State is concerned the project is completed. Fire Chief Rusty Estes reported that Life Flight donated a
GPS system for use in the rescue rig. With information from the
GPS unit the fire crews can direct the helicopter to the landing
site with an accuracy of about 100 ft. The Paul Hisler Jr. family
donated $500 to the rescue department to purchase CBs for all
the fire vehicles. They are 40 channel Uniden units. With these
they will be able to communicate with farmers in the field on
their tractors. Motion by Jerri Sly, second by Tim Van Cleave to approve Resolution
No. 350-98. MOTION CARRIED. City Manager Breazeale furnished each of the City Councilors
a list of things to consider before the goal setting session.
Breazeale expressed the opinion that if the Councilors would
spend some time thinking about how they would like to see their
community in the next five, ten, and twenty years from now, that
the work session could proceed at a rapid pace. Department heads
were asked to participate in the goal setting to get a feel for
how the Council envisioned the City and to help make the goals
realistic. Manager Breazeale reported that Mayor Jepsen has received a number of complaints regarding dogs running at large, defecating on sidewalks and causing a nuisance. The City has an ordinance which prohibits dogs from running at large and Breazeale asked the Council if they wanted the ordinance enforced. Councilor McGuire stated that dog issues come up every year. He stated that the problem is what do you do with the dogs if the owners do not comply. Currently, according to Breazeale, if the City receives a complaint regarding a dog the owner may be issued a warning. For repeated complaints, a citation may be issued. The problem is that the owner of the dog may not be known, and there is no way to notify the owner. Councilor Sly asked if the County required licenses for dogs. Councilor Robinson stated that they used to issue licenses, however they no longer issue them. City Attorney Kuhn reported that the County has the same problem as the City with the lack of personnel and facilities to enforce the ordinance. Councilor Robinson stated that the only way you are going to find the owners of the dogs would be to follow them home. Manager Breazeale stated that the City could conduct a dog control program but that it would cost the City to set up and administer. He outlined that it would require a place to confine the dogs, a means of transport, licenses, and administrative work for notification and record keeping. It would also require a means to provide for the ultimate disposition of unclaimed animals. It is possible that the sale of licenses could pay for the program, however if the majority of dogs picked up were unlicensed and unclaimed the cost may exceed the revenue received. There would be expenditures required prior to the receipt of revenues from the sale of licenses. The complaints received so far have mostly been regarding sanitation although there is the potential for a dog to attack someone or to cause other mischief. Mayor Jepsen related that this situation is most likely to develop from dogs running in packs, particularly from large dogs. Breazeale stated that establishing and administering a dog control program was primarily a budgetary issue. Council directed staff to issue a press release regarding
the current problem of dogs running at large to see if voluntary
compliance could be obtained. Should the problem continue, staff
was advised to prepare a plan and cost analysis to initiate a
dog control program. City Manager Breazeale asked the Council for authorization to apply for the new round of funding previously designated as ISTEA. These funds are Federal highway funds administered by the states. The current program is for projects that enhance the cultural, aesthetic, and environmental value of the transportation system. The minimum grant funds that may be applied for is $200,000 and requires a local match of 10.27%. This would mean that the City would have to raise $20,540 in local funds. Some of the local match could be in-kind work, however a significant dedication of funds would also be required. The City has very limited funds available through the Street Fund. One thing in the City’s favor is that the appropriation of funds would not likely occur in the present fiscal year and the City would have some time to identify and commit funds for the local match. One of the projects that could be applied for would be to extend the sidewalks along Riverside Avenue and to reconstruct the street to City Standards. This would tie in with the prior completion of the Gale Street, Hinton Street, and Riverside Avenue intersection and sidewalks. Much of the design work has already been done by Ferguson Engineering. It was felt that this project would meet the intent and purpose of the grant program. Another project considered was to extend bike lanes along Hwy. 74 from Hinton Street to the Kinzua industrial area. However after speaking with the Federal Aid Specialist with the Oregon Department of Transportation, Breazeale felt that the bike lane project would not receive priority with the agency. Breazeale stated that the project would be adjacent to Morrow County property and that the County may be a source of local matching funds. Councilor McGuire suggested that since much of the engineering had already been done if that couldn’t be used as a source of local match also. Breazeale confirmed that that would be the case. Motion by Mike McGuire, second by Sip Mathews to authorize
the City Manager to apply for grant funds under TEA-21. MOTION
CARRIED. Breazeale reviewed with Council the previous discussion as
to whether department heads should be included under the incentive
plan and receive additional pay for obtaining certifications.
One of the questions that arose was whether subordinates would
achieve higher compensation than the department head if they
qualified for the maximum number of certifications under the
plan. Breazeale reported that under the current pay scales no
subordinate would surpass the department head by qualifying for
the maximum available incentive pay. There would be more than
$100 per month difference between any department head and the
next highest paid employee. Councilor McGuire asked if there
were any incentives for department heads. Breazeale replied that
under the current proposal, if department heads were not included,
there would be no incentives. Councilor McGuire stated that although
the chances of any employee getting all of the listed certificates
was small, $100 per month more for a department head did not
seem like adequate compensation for the additional responsibility
that went along with the position. Public Works Director Dave
Winters, speaking for himself and not for any other department
head, said that he felt that responsibility for having that training
comes with the position. He felt that it would be in his benefit
to get any additional training that he could. It would be a benefit
to his department to have additional employees certified. Chief
Doug Rathbun asked if this program would affect the normal merit
increases available through the evaluation process. He was answered
that it would not. He then stated that he would be all for the
program. Dave Winters stated that Doug would agree that having
his officers more qualified that it would be to his advantage.
Breazeale stated that should employees in a department increase
their level of training and knowledge that the department heads
should be recognized for that. Councilor McGuire stated that
the City would benefit as a whole if the employees are more knowledgeable.
The consensus of the Council was to bring the proposal back to
another meeting for approval.
Mayor Jepsen referred to a couple of items from past meetings. One being a letter to be sent to the Sheriff regarding the transporting of prisoners. Breazeale responded that Attorney Bill Kuhn did in fact prepare a letter to be sent to the Sheriff from City Council. The letter is currently in draft form. Breazeale stated that he and Chief Rathbun were to meet with the Sheriff during the week regarding a number of issues, and did not want the letter to be sent until he had a chance to visit with him personally. If the meeting is not productive, the letter should be sent. Jepsen then referred to the cleanup of the Heath property and asked Mr. Kuhn how that process is proceeding. City Attorney Kuhn reported that Ms. Heath had contacted him about moving the vehicles. He indicated to her that she could have more time. She has been making payments on the cost of the cleanup. Chief Rathbun stated that she had already had a number of extensions on the vehicle removal, and that maybe we should go ahead and remove the vehicles. Attorney Kuhn expressed his reluctance to remove the vehicles since the ordinance is not specific about vehicle removal. He stated that he would like to change the ordinance to make removal provisions of vehicles on private property more explicit. Councilor Robinson asked Mr. Kuhn how long would that take. Mr. Kuhn reported that he could have the changes by the next meeting if Council desired. Mr. Kuhn stated that he would send a letter to Ms. Heath informing her that the City Council had inquired about the removal of the vehicles and that she had promised to get rid of them. The letter will indicate that he would like to be able to report to the Council in January that the vehicles have been removed. Attorney Kuhn brought up the subject of a right of way that
has been partially vacated. The right of way in question was
that of Morgan Street which extends across Morrow County property
from Riverside to the highway. The museum organization is interested
in removing the remainder of the street which has never been
built, but has right of way reserved on the map. Mayor Jepsen
stated that he was familiar with the street right of way and
indicated he was not in favor of removing the right of way until
necessary as it was a potential bargaining chip with the County.
Bill Kuhn stated that the museum group is having trouble getting
permits for doing anything inside the building with the right
of way shown in existence. The Mayor stated that the proposed
extension of sidewalks along Riverside would be on County property
and we will need their cooperation. There is also a piece of
City property that overlaps County that needs to be cleared up.
The County has not been cooperative in the past on the issue.
Attorney Kuhn asked that the Mayor handle the issue and determine
whether or not to proceed with the vacation. Mayor Jepsen reported that there were only two vacancies in
the building. A new manager has been hired and has moved in to
one of the apartments. She will be helping with the management
of the apartments and taking some of the load off JoyceKay Hollomon
who has been doing all of the management recently. Mayor Jepsen suggested that he would like to appoint Cyde Estes to the Planning Commission. He has asked her if she would be willing to serve and she stated that she would. Motion by Mike McGuire, second by Kay Robinson to ratify the Mayor’s appointment of Cyde Estes to the Planning Commission. MOTION CARRIED. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:23 PM. |