TOWN OF CATHLAMET

JANUARY 20, 2009

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 7:04 p.m. Tuesday January 20, 2009.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ROLL CALL – Clerk/Treasurer Sylvia Costich

Present: Council Members Bob Rendler, Walter Wright, David Goodroe, William Talbott and Mayor Richard Swart.

Absent: 0

Also present were Town Attorney Thomas Doumit, Clerk/Treasurer Sylvia Costich, Public Works Superintendent David Vik, Gray & Osborne engineer Ken Alexander, Council applicant Steve McNicholas, Wahkiakum Eagle reporter Rick Nelson, CWCOG representatives T.J. Kieran and Jennifer Keene, Library Board members Hilary Baker and Joyce Orr and members of the public.

ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS, DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA

Council Member Bob Rendler said that it appears that the Engineers report on both Resolutions was copied over in error. Mayor Swart said that they will address it when they come to it rather than amend the agenda to remove it.

Motion to approve the agenda was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

VOUCHER REVIEW COMMITTEE

1. Voucher Review Committee Report – Bob Rendler and William Talbott reported no errors and accepted the vouchers.

2. The Voucher Review Committee for the February 17, 2009 meeting consists of David Goodroe and Walter Wright. The new Councilmember will be the alternate.

CONSENT AGENDA

Motion to approve the Consent Agenda made by Bob Rendler, second by David Goodroe. The consent agenda consists of the Minutes of December 15, 2008 Regular Meeting, Special Meeting Minutes of January 15, 2009, Payroll for December 31, 2008 in the amount of $29,139.59,Claim Vouchers for December 31,02008 in the amount of $48,905.19, and Claim vouchers for January 21, 2009 in the amount of $53,771.59. With no changes to the consent agenda the motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

CITIZEN’S PARTICIPATION

None

PROCLAMATIONS and PRESENTATIONS

Mayor Swart said that the Mayor’s State of the Town address is posted on the town website for those who had not already read it. By consensus it was agreed that the Mayor need not read it aloud at the meeting.

CWCOG Senior Planner T.J. Kieran was present to discuss the 2010 Census and to explain the services available to the Town through CWCOG as the census bureau’s designee for Wahkiakum County. Mr. Kieran said that he would like to touch base on three of the services available to the Town. One of the services is the boundary and annexation survey, Mr. Kieran distributed a map of the town to the Council for their review. This map will be submitted to the Census Bureau. The second service is the PSAP program which stands for the Participants Statistics Areas Program. This program is an opportunity to request that the census bureau recognize hamlets and small villages as official designated places for the purposes of reporting. The third program is the Complete Count committee. This is basically a committee put together for the purposes of promoting the citizens to participate in the count. Mr. Kieran said that there will be a Count Committee formed in the fall. They will meet once a month between the fall and the spring to formulate the notification process and get the word out. Mr. Kieran said that for each person that was not counted in the last census, the county lost $860.00, so it is important for everyone to be counted.

Mr. Kieran said that one of the questions posed to him was “what, if any, administrative services will be necessary from the town in order to participate” and the answer is “none”. The Town may be asked to assist promoting the count. Council Member Bob Rendler asked if the Census Bureau has already hired census counters. Mr. Kieran said that his understanding is that the first round of applicants has been reviewed but he is not aware if they have completed the hiring process. Council Member David Goodroe said that he wanted to comment on the value of the census to the community. Mr. Goodroe said he has gotten into grant writing as a neophyte, and one of the pivotal things are the demographics of the community. The more complete the demographics are,the better chance we have of securing funds from the state and federal governments. Public Works Superintendent David Vik commented that he feels that the lower income residents may not be accurately counted due to the fact that they may move around more from home to home as opposed to the higher income people, which may lead the Census to depict a higher income area than it actually is. Council Member Goodroe concurred. Mayor Swart said that the town will work closely with CWCOG in this venture. Council Member Walter Wright asked if East Cathlamet meant the unincorporated area east of Cathlamet. Mr. Kieran said “Yes” that in the 2000 census there was an unincorporated area designated East Cathlamet. He said that they found that 35% of people in that area do not carry mortgages. Mr. Kieran said that this information would be helpful in trying to recruit a business, as this information would indicate that these people have disposable income.

Assistant Fire Chief Fred Johnson asked Mayor Swart if item 13 #5 could be taken out of order so that he may return to a training session. Mayor Swart agreed to the request. Mr. Johnson said that the Fire Dept. is continuing to make progress towards repayment of the $25,000 loan from the Fund 107 Current Expense Cumulative Reserve to Fund 108 Fire Department Cumulative Reserve. Mr. Johnson asked the Council for more time in which to repay the loan since the deadline of 12/31/08 had passed. The Clerk/Treasurer reported that the balance is $20,443.25 plus $16.80 accrued interest as of December 31, 2008. Council member Robert Rendler asked how long the loan could continue. Clerk/Treasurer Costich replied that three years will be up August 2010. The State Auditor’s staff inquires about inter-fund loans that have been outstanding for a period of time. During the current audit, they have asked about the intent of the Town to pay back this loan versus it being a permanent transfer of funds. Motion to extend the repayment date of the $25,000 loan from Current Expense Cumulative Reserve Fund 107 to Fire Department Cumulative Reserve Fund 108 from 12/31/08 to 6/30/09 was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Bob Rendler. David Goodroe inquired as to how active was the campaign to solicit donations. Fred Johnson gave some examples of the donations being pursued. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Mr. Johnson said that the Planning Commission had not completed their review of the zoning ordinance revisions. Mayor Swart suggested that the item be carried over to the February meeting in order to give the Planning Commission more time to examine the details.

PUBLIC HEARINGS

None

ORDINANCES

None

RESOLUTIONS

Mayor Swart discussed the content of Resolution No. 262-09 with the Council. Gray & Osborne, Inc. engineer Ken Alexander explained that the three projects were selected due to the ease of the getting them into the “pipeline” for the proposed Economic Stimulus Funds program. Mr. Alexander said that the two water line projects are needed to reduce leakage and provide fire-flow and the pumps replacement would increase the capacity of the treatment plant. Mr. Alexander said that the town water plan has also been approved by the Dept. of Health and needs to be adopted by Resolution following a Public Hearing. Motion to approve Resolution No. 262-09; a Resolution Authorizing three capital project engineering proposals for water main and pump replacements in the amount of $101,079.00 was made by Walter Wright and seconded by David Goodroe. Council Member David Goodroe said that he has been inundated by the “stimulus package buzz” and the information he has been given by the legislature is that they are looking for things tied to jobs. They don’t want to buy pumps. Mr. Goodroe suggested that the town hold off on the purchase of the new pumps due to the possibility that there will be so many requests for the funds. Mr. Goodroe said that he has no problems with the two other projects because they will involve the labor costs of workers putting the pipes in the ground. Public Works Superintendent David Vik said that the purchase of the new pumps would help to protect the town’s water rights. Council Member Bob Rendler said that the town would go ahead with the water main replacement even if there were no funds available from a stimulus program. Mr. Rendler said that he did not think that the town would lose its water rights that quickly if the town did not have the new pumps. Council Member Walter Wright asked if the town had a breakdown of the current pump, would we be able to do fast engineering and put in a new system or would we have to replace with an old system equivalent. This would waste money by not bringing it up to new standards. Mr. Alexander said the only thing to be concerned about is that sometimes things change, models change slightly and we have to go back and prepare new sets of specifications, but that would be relatively easy to do and in answer to Council Member Wright’s question, yes we could do it in an emergency situation. Mayor Swart asked Mr. Alexander to comment on Mr. Goodroe’s observation regarding the State’s “shovel ready” view. How much labor is involved in the pump project? Mr. Alexander replied the biggest cost for the pump replacement would be for the pumps rather than the labor. Motion carried 3 Yes, 1 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Member Goodroe cast the “No” vote. Mr. Alexander noted that there had already been a Public Hearing on the proposed Water Plan at the March 2008 Council meeting but was unsure whether it had been adopted by ordinance or resolution. David Vik said that he did not think it had been adopted and it was suggested that the Minutes of the March 2008 meeting be reviewed to see if any action had been taken.

Resolution No. 263-09 was put over to the February Council meeting because there were revisions needed in the contract.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

1. The Planning Commission update on the Zoning Ordinance revision project was put over to the next meeting.

2. Mayor Swart handed out copies of the 2007-2008 PUD Interlocal contract to the Council. Council Member Wright objected to not getting the contract sooner so that he had time to examine it. Mayor Swart responded that he had just received it at 1:00 p.m. that afternoon. Motion to approve the Interlocal contract was made by Bob Rendler and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 3 Yes, 1 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Member Wright cast the “No” vote. Council Member Wright asked if the new meter had been received yet for the Puget Island Bridge and expressed his dismay with the fact that it is still not functioning properly and the PUD is not being billed for the actual water that they are receiving.

3. The Mayor informed council of final exit conference date and time and asked if anyone other than the Finance Committee, Goodroe and Rendler, would be attending. If so, he needed to post a special meeting notice. Answer was no. Mayor Swart provided the Council with a re-cap on the teleconference with the State Auditor regarding the Fire Department and EMS funds. The Mayor reported that the tenor and tone of the teleconference was very different from two years ago. In the prior two audits, for the past four fiscal years, they have been leaning harder on the Town to correct various accounting and reporting issues. Mayor Swart stated that the State Auditor’s staff spoke highly of Sylvia Costich’s work to restate 2007 and bring everything into compliance with audit expectations. The Mayor wanted to commend the staff for their work. The accounts receivable operation that Kerrie McNally runs for utilities and other funds is deemed to be super. Mayor Swart expressed his appreciation for the efforts of the staff and asked council to join him in thanking them.

4. Mayor Swart told the Council that he has requested that the PUD conduct an energy audit of the Town Hall and Library. Motion to approve projects #2 and #3 of the proposed energy efficiency projects involving replacement of the flagpole light and lighting for the pedestrian bridge near Strong Park was made by Bob Rendler and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Member Goodroe asked what was happening with the heat pump replacement in the Library. The Mayor reported that the Town received three bids and we need to go back and be more specific in what we want. All three bids covered a wide range of activities. This is on the list of things to do. Library Board member Hilary Baker said that the motion sensor light at the entrance to the Library was not functioning properly and asked if it could be repaired. Council Member Bob Rendler asked Public Works Superintendent David Vik to adjust the light.

5. Due to a pet medical emergency, the Deputy Clerk’s reports regarding the Ordinance No. 494 revision project and the excise tax correction projects were not available. Mayor Swart said that he would send the Council an email updating them on the progress of the projects.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Motion to approve the one-time water bill adjustment for Mrs. Mary Thomas was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

2. The Council agreed to email their comments on the Mayor’s proposed Goals and objectives for 2009 to the Mayor after they have reviewed them.

3. a. Council Member Walter Wright said that he had not had an opportunity to discuss the mailboxes on the street issue with the Postmaster yet. However he said that in past discussions, he was told that the Post Office would prefer them on the corners of the streets. Now individual mail boxes are showing up in the middle of the block. Mayor Swart suggested that this issue of parking and mailboxes should go to the Public Services Committee should go to Bill and the new council member.

b. Council Member David Goodroe said that there is still floating debris under the town dock which needs to be removed before any damage occurs. Mayor Swart said that he will assign the issues to the Public Services Committee consisting of William Talbott and the new Council Member. Mr. Goodroe asked where the new benches for the Dock were. David Vik said that they are at the Public Works shop but need some assembly before they can be placed at the Dock.

c. Mayor Swart asked Council Member Walter Wright for a list of signs that need to be replaced or placed. Mr. Wright said that there should be a “No Parking” sign placed on Butler Street. Mayor Swart asked if Mr. Wright would give his list to the Public Services Committee.

4. Mayor Swart introduced Mr. Steve McNicholas, the only applicant for the vacant Council position. The Mayor asked Mr. McNicholas if he is a registered voter in the town or has ever been convicted of a felony. Mr. McNicholas replied “Yes” to the residency question and “No” to the second question. The Mayor then asked Mr. McNicholas if he would make a statement as to why he is interested in joining the Town Council to which Mr. McNicholas replied that he is interested in what is going on in the town and feels that his past experience would make him a good candidate. Motion to close the selection process and appoint Mr. McNicholas to the Council was made by William Talbott and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions. Mayor Swart then administered the Oath of Office to Mr. McNicholas.

5. Item #5 had already been discussed out of order.

6. Mayor Swart told the Council that there are two private partners interested in the new Wastewater Treatment Plant project. The companies are Veolia and Ecology Associate Advocates. The Mayor gave a summary of the meeting held January .and said that he intends to do some research on what other communities have done in terms of design, build, operation and the financing that has been done. Mayor Swart said that it looks like the town will be responsible for coming up with its own financing proposal.

7. Motion to approve the re-appointment of Chris Doumit to the Planning Commission and Diana Zimmerman to the Library Board was made by Bob Rendler and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

COMMITTEE REPORTS –

Mayor Swart’s report is in the packet. Mayor Swart said that the Town is just beginning to get into the current fiscal year because 2008 must be closed out within twenty days of the beginning of the new year, which is today. He asked the Clerk/Treausre if she had any comments. Clerk/Treasurer Costich said that the report she handed out was the budget as of what has been entered to date for 2008, which included all invoices received to date. She has not done all of the accounting entries yet for December. She said that when she closes out December she will provide the completed reports to Council. In response to Council Member Wright’s request to receive reports by email, she can put the budget report in a pdf format file and email to Council. The report will still be printed out and included in the packet. Council Member Bob Rendler said that this report is important enough that the Council should receive it in advance. Ms. Costich responded that she was just able to complete the report for this meeting and print it out at 4:30 this afternoon, due to the year-end processing and weather issues.

There was no Attorney report available.

The Public Works report is in the packet.

The Mayor said that since there are a lot of issues which fall into one committee or another, he would propose that we keep the Committee Reports in the agenda as an option, but have the different committees prepared to comment on various agenda items as needed. The Committee Reports were dispensed with for the evening by a consensus of the Council.

Motion to appoint Walter Wright as Mayor Pro-Tem for the period of January 1, 2009 to June 30, 2009 was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Bob Rendler. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Mayor Swart assigned the new Council Member, Steve McNicholas, to the Public Services and Public Safety Committees.

GENERAL DISCUSSION & ANNOUNCEMENTS –

Council Member Walter Wright said that he thought Public Works did a superb job during the inclement weather. Mr. Wright noted that Terry Vik had helped clear the snow away from the front of the Fire Department bays etc. The Mayor asked if there was a motion to authorize the Mayor to write a commendation for all the staff for their good work during the snow event. Motion to authorize the Mayor to write a commendation to all staff who performed well during during the snow event was made by Walter Wright and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Council Member Wright said that he was very interested in Veolia presentation where they spoke about energy facilities and wondered if they should be contacted to see about getting a money making operation up here on the hill with a windmill. Council Member Goodroe said that the PUD had looked into it and identified the problem with windmills would be the infrastructure. Mr. Goodroe said that the cost to hook up with a windmill would run about 1.5 million dollars.

EXECUTIVE SESSION – none.

ADJOURNMENT – at 9:30 p.m.

Richard A Swart, Mayor Sylvia G. Costich, Clerk/Treasurer