TOWN OF CATHLAMET

SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

COUNCIL MEETING

CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Richard Swart

The regular council meeting for the Town of Cathlamet was called to order by Mayor Richard Swart at 7:00 P.M. Monday September 17, 2007.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ROLL CALL – Mayor Richard Swart

Those Council members present were David Goodroe, John Hannah, William Talbott, Walter Wright and Danielle Erickson. Others present were Clerk/Treasurer Virginia Welker, Acting Town Attorney Fred Johnson, Wahkiakum Eagle reporter Rick Nelson, and many citizens and Fire Department/EMS personnel.

PUBLIC HEARINGS

PROCLAMATIONS and PRESENTATIONS

ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS, DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA

An Executive session was requested by Mayor Richard Swart to discuss land and potential litigation following the regular meeting of the Town Council meeting. The session is expected to last for approximately 20 minutes.

Council Member David Goodroe requested that Authorization to Transfer $19,275.30 from Current Expense Cumulative Reserve to the Fire Department Cumulative Reserve until reimbursement is received from the United States Department of Agriculture grant for equipment purchases be added to the Agenda as New Business Item 12-6.

Motion to approve the Agenda as amended was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Danielle Erickson. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

CITIZEN’S PARTICIPATION

Citizen William Schwarze told the Council that the Town Ordinance regarding hedge requirements was not being enforced. Mr. Schwarze said that he had previously addressed the Council with this subject more than nine months ago. The Mayor responded that several of the residences Mr. Schwarze had reported have complied with the ordinance.

VOUCHER REVIEW COMMITTEE

The Voucher Review Committee for the October 15, 2007 meeting consists of David Goodroe and William Talbott. John Hannah will be the alternate.

CONSENT AGENDA

David Goodroe made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda, second by William Talbott. The consent agenda consists of the Minutes of August 20, 2007 regular Meeting, August 27, 2007 Special Meeting, Vouchers for August and Treasurer’s report for August 2007. With no changes to the consent agenda the motion carried Yes 5, No 0, Abstentions 0.

ORDINANCES

Acting Town Attorney Fred Johnson read Ordinance No. 495; an ordinance Amending CMC 2.05 Relating to Elected Officials Compensation for the second, third and final reading. Motion to approve Ordinance No. 495 for the second, third and final reading was made by John Hannah and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions

RESOLUTIONS

Acting Town Attorney Fred Johnson read Resolution No. 250; a Resolution Regarding the Services of Richard O. Avalon, D.O. Motion to approve Resolution No. 250 was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Mayor Swart read Resolution No. 251; Authorizing a $10,000.00 Loan from Current Expense to the Cathlamet Fire Department. Motion to approve Resolution No. 251 to be repaid by December 31, 2007 was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

PUBLIC COMMENT

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Mayor Swart reported that at the last meeting a petition containing 61 signatures was presented to the Council in which the petitioners requested that the use of the Fire Department siren be discontinued or that the siren be moved to the new Fire Hall location. The petition suggested that the siren be reserved for town emergencies or be tested at a regular intervals. The Mayor proposed that two people in favor of the petition and two people who are opposed to the petition be allowed to discuss their reasons to support their opposing position on the siren use. Afterwards, others may be allowed one minute to express their opinions. Mayor Swart asked for the two persons who are in favor of the petition to raise their hands and identify themselves. Citizens Jim Reed of 184 Columbia Street and Jim Morris of 140 Una Street responded to the Mayors request. The Mayor then asked for the two representatives in opposition to the petition to identify themselves. EMS representative Cynthia Faubion and Cathlamet Fire Dept. representative Beau Renfro responded to the Mayor’s request. Mayor Swart asked for Mr. Reed to begin the discussion. Mr. Reed said that he is accustomed to amplified devices having lived next door to a Mosque in N. Africa that broadcast prayers five times per day, but was in support of the petition because there are more modern devices that would be equally effective but less intrusive for the neighboring residences. Mr. Reed said that he has installed emergency sirens and communication systems in oil fields all over the world and that new technology can be equally effective with fewer disturbances. Mr. Reed said that anytime we can remove a nuisance to neighbors, we should do everything we can to remove it. Mr. Reed said that he understands there could be inconvenience to having to carry a radio etc. but that new technology has produced devices that are less cumbersome. The Mayor then called upon Jim Morris to speak. Mr. Morris said that he had worked for the City of Portland for 32 years in Environmental Services and was the emergency coordinator on a periodic basis for an area which encompassed over 100 mile radius. Mr. Morris said that the on-call employees never missed responding to any of the emergencies that came up. Mr. Morris said that this was done without the use of a siren, instead relying on pagers with buzzers. Mr. Morris said that this practice was highly effective and did not disrupt the neighbors. The Mayor then called upon Paramedic Cynthia Faubion who agreed that the siren is a nuisance, is very irritating and is not always reliable. Ms. Faubion said that she had recently missed a call due to the siren not being correctly activated and because she did not have her radio on her person. Ms. Faubion said that several months ago while the siren was being serviced, they found that they had fewer responders to incidents. Ms. Faubion explained that the radio system that the Fire Dept. currently uses is not reliable due to some areas with little or no reception, that repeaters occasionally go down due to windstorms and that the radios are cumbersome to carry. Ms. Faubion said that she asked the Sheriff Dept. dispatcher if they had received any calls from citizens who were concerned about the siren being out of commission and that she had responded that they had received the first calls in ten years from people who were fearful about the siren being off. EMS Captain Beau Renfro was the next person to speak in opposition to the petition. Mr. Renfro said that he was in charge of the emergency services for the Cathlamet Fire Dept. and said that he agrees that the siren is a nuisance but wanted to emphasize the fact that the radios don’t work very well. Mr. Renfro said that the Fire Dept. had agreed to spend $37,000.00 to do a study of the effectiveness of radios in the County and in the course of the study it was determined that the siren was instrumental in reducing the response time to incidents. Mr. Renfro said that if you forgot to turn your radio on, the second tone out of the siren occurs five minutes after the first tone out. Mr. Renfro emphasized that minutes count in emergencies. Mr. Renfro distributed copies of a report from Assistant Fire Chief Fred Johnson who summarized the report he created at the Mayor’s request. Mr. Johnson said that the last question in the survey he had conducted among those who attended the last business meeting of the Fire Dept., which asked the question of whether or not you believe the continued use of the siren is essential to the CFD ability to respond to fire or EMS calls in a timely manner resulted in 100% of the members responding yes to the question. Mr. Johnson said that he feels that the siren is still an important part of the emergency response of the department in part because the radio system does not work 100% of the time. Motion to discontinue the use of the siren except in case of actual disaster for purpose of discussion was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Council Member Goodroe said that looking at the signatures on the petition is compelling enough to take some action. Mr. Goodroe said that the citizens have spoken and that the siren should be discontinued until the activity of the committee has come back with recommendations rather than leave the siren in force while the activities take place. Council Member John Hannah, who is a member of the volunteer Fire Dept., said that he was in total disagreement with Council Member Goodroe on this subject. Mr. Hannah said that he is not allowed to take his radio to the school where he is employed and that he has been on both sides of the issue. He said that when his son stopped breathing, the siren was the best sound he had heard. Mr. Hannah said that he is a volunteer and is not paid to carry his radio and feels that the siren is necessary. Council Member Walter Wright, who is Assistant Fire Chief, said that he has lived with the siren going off for 45 years. Mr. Wright said that a lot of people have heart attacks at age 30 and above and if response is delayed by a mere two minutes, the person who is experiencing the heart attack may not survive. Mr. Wright said that until the Fire Dept. is able to experience enough call volume to justify a paid staff that can be paid to wear a pager device on their belt where they will be the initial response, he feels that the silencing of the siren would be a terrible disservice to the community by slowing down the response. Council Member Danielle Erickson said that she lives next door to a volunteer and has seen him running down to respond to the siren many times and is grateful that he is willing to do a service that she is unwilling to do at this point in time. Ms. Erickson said that she is also annoyed by the siren but would like to see what alternative recommendations are given by the committee. Council Member William Talbott said that he lives far enough away that if the television is on, he can’t hear it. He said that it does concern him that there are ninety people who have signed the petition and that he would like to see what kinds of technology that is available to replace the siren. Mr. Talbott commented that if the Fire Dept. can afford to spend $37,000.00 on a report, perhaps that money should have been spent on a down payment on a new communications system. Council Member Wright commented that recently there was a fire on Main St. and that some of the responders did not hear the tones on their radio. Wright said that the siren does make a difference. Motion carried 3 Yes, 2 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Members Wright and Hannah cast the “No” votes. Mayor Swart directed Captain Mike Wright, Gene Witham and Fred Johnson to form a committee to work on these issues and report back to the Council in October. Mayor Swart directed the committee to also determine the costs that would be associated with hiring one paramedic and one IV technician at the request of the Fire Dept.. Motion to determine the cost to hire one paramedic and one IV Tech for the Fire Dept. was made by Walter Wright and seconded by John Hannah. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Council Member David Goodroe explained to the Council that the failure of the handheld meter reader and the obsolescence of the current utility billing and financial accounting software led the Water/Sewer Committee to investigate different software programs available. Mr. Goodroe said that there have been several presentations from various companies that provide this type of software and that the Town has received proposals from both Master Meter for the handheld meter reading equipment and from BIAS for the financial accounting software. Mr. Goodroe recommended accepting both proposals. Motion to recommend the purchase of both the Master Meter handheld meter reader and accompanying software and the BIAS Municipal Financial accounting software was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Danielle Erickson. Council Member Walter Wright said that he would like to see the handheld purchase and the financial accounting software purchase be voted on separately. Motion to amend the original motion to separate the two purchase proposals was made by Walter Wright. Motion carried 4 Yes, 1 No, 0 Abstentions. Motion to approve the acquisition of the handheld meter reader, and meters was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Walter Wright. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Motion to approve the purchase of the BIAS Municipal Financial accounting software was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 3 Yes, 2 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Members Walter Wright and John Hannah cast the “No” votes.

Council Member David Goodroe reported that the committee formed to consider hiring an independent consultant to determine the pro’s and con’s of the offer submitted to the Town by ICS regarding the potential waterfront development, had spoken to three consultants. Mr. Goodroe said that they are all qualified people with experience in public and private enterprises. Mr. Goodroe said that the committee recommends the company of Maul, Foster, Algoni, Inc. a team comprised of John Nelson who conducted the Downtown Revitalization study and Kevin Snyder who has done extensive work with the City of Ridgefield on the public side. Goodroe said that this company has the experience to understand the permitting processes, the utility requirements, and the agencies to get on board. Goodroe said that they have agreed to provide a “Memo of Understanding” which will specify what the Town feels the offer should include such as what the developer should pay for etc. Mr. Goodroe said that the memo would be a good starting point which would eventually lead to an effective legal document. The cost of the memo will probably cost about $15,000 to $16,000. Goodroe said that the creation of the memo will involve a number of steps including strategy sessions, community partnership briefing packets, stakeholder interviews and intergovernmental agreement development and executions to ensure that we comply with state laws, and they would then put together the Memo of Understanding with the private party. The Development Agreement would be the result of converting the Memo of Understanding to enforceable legal language and will probably be the most expensive part of the steps. The total cost is estimated at approximately $62,000.00. Mayor Swart said that he has applied for a grant from the Community, Trade and Economic Development department in the amount of $62,000 to be used as a match. The Mayor said that $31,000 will be for the state fiscal year 2008 and $31,000 for fiscal year 2009. The Mayor said that the Town should know if the grant is approved within 45 days. Motion to approve the Maul, Foster and Algoni, Inc. proposal to be reevaluated at a benchmark of $10,000 in accrued expense was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Walter Wright. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Motion to authorize $500.00 toward the National Regional Heritage Formation was made by John Hannah and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Motion to authorize paying $2,107.00 to pay National Fence Co. to rebuild the storm damaged fence at Erickson Park and then seek reimbursement from the insurance company was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 4 Yes, 1 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Member John Hannah cast the “No” vote.

Motion to authorize transfer of $19,275.00 from the Current Expense Cumulative Reserve Fund to the Fire Dept. Cumulative Reserve Fund was made by Walter Wright and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion to amend the motion to say that the funds will be returned to the Town after the USDA funds are received was made by Walter Wright and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions. Motion to approve the original motion as amended carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

NEW BUSINESS

Mayor Richard Swart said that he had spoken to a member of the WA State University Extension office who advised him that the blackberries at Erickson Park should be sprayed with herbicide after the berries have fallen and been cut back.

The Mayor said that the Greenwood Project has been completed according to the Town’s engineers. Motion to accept the Greenwood Reservoir Project was made by John Hannah and seconded by Walter Wright. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Motion to authorize Mayor Swart to send a letter to the County Commissioners requesting that they commit 2008 and 2009 tax funds collected for capital improvements at the pool as a match for a Youth Athletics Facilities grant was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Danielle Erickson. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Motion to decline request from Cingular Wireless to reduce cell tower land lease amount was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Motion to deny request from Todd Wilson to reduce his new water service installation bill in the amount of $164.59 was made by William Talbott and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 4 Yes, 1 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Member Wright cast the “No” vote.

Motion to authorize the Mayor to sign a Mutual Aid Agreement with Region IV Homeland was made by Walter Wright and seconded by John Hannah. Acting Town Attorney Fred Johnson suggested that the wording on the agreement be amended subject to editorial comments. Motion to amend the original motion subject to minor editorial comments was made by Walter Wright and seconded by John Hannah. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions. Original motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Acting Town Attorney Fred Johnson told Mayor Swart that the siren that is being billed to the PUD is located at the school, is not being used and should be disconnected. Motion to authorize Mayor Swart to request that the PUD disconnect the school siren and stop billing the County for it was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Danielle Erickson. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

MAYOR REPORT – Richard Swart

A copy of the Mayor’s report is included in the Minutes.

CLERK/TREASURER REPORT – Virginia Welker

A copy of the Clerk/Treasurer’s report is included in the Minutes.

TOWN ATTORNEY REPORT – William Faubion

PUBLIC WORKS – David Vik

A copy of the Public Works report is included with the Minutes.

PLANNING COMMISSION –

A copy of the Planning Commission report is included with the Minutes.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

PARKS & PROPERTIES – Danielle Erickson & John Hannah

POOL – Walter Wright & William Talbott

PUBLIC SAFETY – Walter Wright & John Hannah

STREETS & DOCKS – Danielle Erickson & John Hannah

WATER & SEWER – Walter Wright & David Goodroe

ANNEXATION – Danielle Erickson & Walter Wright

REVENUE & SALARIES – William Talbott & David Goodroe

Council Member David Goodroe told the Council that there will be a Budget workshop held at the new Fire Hall on October 3, 2007 at 6 p.m.

REVITALIZATION – David Goodroe & Danielle Erickson

ANNOUNCEMENTS –

EXECUTIVE SESSION –

The regular meeting of the Town Council was recessed at 10:24 p.m. The Executive Session began at 10:26 p.m. The Executive Session ended at 10:30 p.m. with no action taken.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Virginia L. Welker

Clerk/Treasurer