TOWN OF CATHLAMET

FEBRUARY 17, 2009

COUNCIL MEETING

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CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Richard Swart

The regular council meeting for the Town of Cathlamet was called to order by Mayor Richard Swart at 7:33 p.m. Tuesday February 17, 2009.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ROLL CALL – Clerk/Treasurer Sylvia Costich

Present: Council Members Bob Rendler, Walter Wright, David Goodroe, William Talbott, Steve McNicholas 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, Wahkiakum Eagle reporter Rick Nelson, and members of the public.

ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS, DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA

Motion to approve agenda was made by William Talbott and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

VOUCHER REVIEW COMMITTEE

1. Voucher Review Committee Report – David Goodroe reported that he and Council Member Walter Wright pulled an invoice for Pro Line Sprinklers LLC as it should be billed to the County for backflow testing of their sprinkler system in front of the County Courthouse. Mr. Goodroe said that he and Council Member Wright do not have a consensus on the issue regarding EMS stipend warrants and an EMS uniform invoice and want to defer those decisions to the full Council. Council Member Goodroe stated that there has been a fundamental change in the way the stipends are being done for EMS volunteers and he does not think that the Council as a body has had a chance to look at what the new rules of the game are. Council Member Goodroe also recommended that an EMS uniform item for $6,093.70 not be dealt with tonight since the uniform allowance for this year is only $2,400, so he feels that this bears some examination. Mr.Goodroe said that the new stipend system is a very complex , it is in writing but has not been shared yet with the Town. He said they built their budget with stipends of $24,000 per year but is in the dark as to how this will play out. Mr. Goodroe recommended that this should be put over until the next regularly scheduled Council meeting once they get an explanation from the EMS command as to how this will be calculated and forecast how it will look like in the 2009 Budget. Council Member Walter Wright said he agreed with the backflow prevention voucher for the County, but that he has inside knowledge from being a member of the First Aid Division. Mr. Wright said they have done what they've done because they are trying to make sure that they have coverage on Mondays and Wednesday which are hard to cover because a good portion of their daytime response involves the Courthouse and the operation of it. Mr. Wright said that he recommends the Council approve the stipend payments and then ask EMS to come in and explain it in detail. Council Member Bob Rendler said that the Town consists of many departments and that all rules apply to all departments and if you have a budget process, it should be followed and things should be understood by the Council. Council Member Wright said that he is sure they will explain it but doesn't think the volunteers should have to wait for their stipend checks. Council Member David Goodroe said that what he looked at a couple of years ago was the concept of when do stipends turn into a payroll. Mr. Goodroe said that there's a fine line there and would like to vet the policy against that standard to see that we are not going to shoot ourselves in the foot by trying to do something that's right for our people.

2. The Voucher Review Committee for the March 16, 2009 meeting consists of Bob Rendler and Steve McNicholas. Council Member Bob Rendler suggested that a member of the Finance Committee serve on the Voucher Committee on a regular basis as they will be meeting with the Clerk/Treasurer. Motion to have a member of the Finance Committee serve on the Voucher Committee on a regular basis along with another Council Member and one alternate was made by David Goodroe and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

CONSENT AGENDA

Council Member David Goodroe asked how the Council will deal with the consent agenda with the open issue of the EMS vouchers. The Mayor said that the Council can remove some items from the consent agenda by motion.

Motion to approve the Consent Agenda with a correction involving the removal of the EMS stipend and uniform vouchers, a correction of last months meeting Minutes on page 4 where it stated that the pedestrian Bridge was located near Strong Park, when it should have been at Town Hall was made by Walter Wright, second by William Talbot . The consent agenda consists of the Minutes of January 20, 2009 Regular Meeting, Payroll for January in the amount of $28,879.32 and Vouchers for February 2, 2009 to February 18, 2009 in the amount of $37,282.87. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Motion to put the excepted vouchers over to the March 16, 2009 Regular meeting was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Bob Rendler. Motion carried 4 Yes, 1 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Member Wright cast the "No" vote.

CITIZEN’S PARTICIPATION

None

PROCLAMATIONS and PRESENTATIONS

None

PUBLIC HEARINGS

None

ORDINANCES

Ordinance No. 513; an Ordinance Amending Cathlamet Municipal Code Section 13.20.070 Relating to the Collection of Water and Sewer Charges for the first reading was put off until the March meeting in order to look at questions regarding the quasi-judicial proceedings and other technical issues.

Ordinance No. 514; an Ordinance Relating to the Operation of the Cathlamet Public Library was also put off until the March meeting due to some questions that needed to be answered prior to the final draft.

Council Member David Goodroe asked why the $5.00 sewer increase was listed as a surcharge on his water bill. The Clerk/Treasurer explained to him that it needed to be listed separately so that the payments will go to the correct fund. Mr. Goodroe asked if Kerrie McNally had been having any problems related to it being listed in this way. The C/T said that initially there had been a few calls but had tapered off.

RESOLUTIONS

Attorney Tom Doumit read Resolution No. 263-09; a Resolution Authorizing a franchise agreement between the Town of Cathlamet and Charter Communications. Mr. Doumit pointed out several proposed changes to the agreement from the original and took several questions from the Council related to some other items. Mayor Swart asked the Council if they would mind waiting on this Resolution until the March meeting so that changes recommended by the Town Attorney could be incorporated into the agreement. The Council agreed by consensus and the Resolution was held over.

Attorney Doumit read Resolution No. 264-09; a Resolution Adopting the 2008-2014 Water Plan. Motion to approve Resolution No. 264-09 was made by Walter Wright and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Attorney Thomas Doumit read Resolution No. 265-09; a Resolution Authorizing Application for Federal Grant Funds for a new Waste Water Treatment Plant. Motion to approve Resolution No. 265-09 was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Walter Wright. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

1. The Planning Commission update on the Zoning Ordinance revision was not discussed due to the fact that the PC had been unable to meet due to lack of a quorum.

2. Mayor Swart told the Council that the energy audit had occurred last Wednesday and that he is awaiting the report and will report the results back to the Council at the next meeting

3. Council Member Steve McNicholas presented information regarding location of mail boxes on Town Streets. Mr. McNicholas suggested grouping the mailboxes five feet from the corner of the streets. The Postmaster is in favor of cluster boxes which cost about $120.00 per family and that this is too expensive to expect people to pay for in these tough economic times. Council members discussed various aspects of box types and locations. Council Member David Goodroe said that it sounds like the Council is trying to solve a problem that has not been compelling to any of the people involved. Mayor Swart thanked Mr. McNicholas for his work on the subject and said that even though this is not an issue at this time, it might be worth taking under submission for the future.

Council Member McNicholas presented some proposed changes to help solve the problem at the bottom of the post office driveway where it meets River St. Mayor Swart said that the City of Astoria has signs which limit the height of vehicles parking in spaces that could impair the visibility of traffic. With no objection from the Council, the Mayor directed Public Works Superintendent David Vik to proceed with signs similar to ones produced by the City of Astoria in the border parking spaces along with a line on River St. with the word "Stop" painted on it.

Council Member McNicholas said that he has looked into the Butler Street parking situation

and in speaking with people, they do not see it as a problem. Mr. McNicholas suggested that

the current rules are left as is.

4. Mayor Swart asked Gray & Osborne, Inc. engineer Ken Alexander if he would mind having

his report taken out of sequence due to the length of the meeting. Mr. Alexander said that he would appreciate it and reported that:

· the Greenwood Reservoir will be having a warranty inspection sometime this spring.

· regarding the Waste Water Treatment and conveyance system - the USDA Rural Development is looking for projects to apply for and that G&O will be happy to help with any applications.

· that the SR-4 Water Main replacement is moving forward and that Hampstur Corporation has been hired to survey the area and is already working on it. The same goes for the Columbia St. Water Main replacement.

Public Works Superintendent David Vik said that the new meter for the Puget Island Bridge has arrived and that he will coordinate with the PUD to have it installed. Mr. Vik also said he has been informed that the City of La Center has purchased a new generator for the wastewater treatment plant and will be declaring the old one as surplus. Mr. Vik said that he is also working on getting an extension on the Strueby water rights because the Town does not have the pipes in the ground yet, but will need a check for $50.00 to be sent to the State along with the extension request. The Clerk/Treasurer said that, lacking Council authorization of an invoice, she would not be able to produce the check until the March Council meeting. The Clerk/Treasurer asked the Mayor if the Council could pass a motion authorizing her to prepare a check for the extension request for the Town Water Rights. Attorney Doumit said that he thinks that this is allowable. Motion to approve payment of $50.00 to the State of Washington Dept. of Ecology for an extension of the Town Water Rights permit was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Walter Wright. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

Council Member William Talbott said that he had visited the Town Dock to see the floating

debris and that it was no longer there. Mr. Talbott suggested that a work platform be acquired

in order to safely make repairs when needed. David Vik said that he has a boat that is

perfectly safe to use when needed. David said that he will be inquiring about getting a fir log

to attach to the dock to keep debris from accumulating under the dock.

5. The traffic signs issue had already been addressed earlier in the meeting.

6. Mayor Swart reported that T.J. Kieran had been unable to attend the meeting tonight. The

Mayor said that he has met with Chris Holmes of the County Health and Human Services

to prepare a report that is due to the Census Bureau next week regarding the homeless

people in the emergency shelter.

7. Council Member Walter Wright said that he had read an article in the Eagle about a project

being proposed for the Pacific County school districts that would place a "wind farm" on top

of Radar Ridge in Naselle. Mr. Wright said that they thought there are enough grant

opportunities available that it would cost next to nothing. The project may cost about ten million dollars, generate approximately one million dollars per year in revenue with a life expectancy of about twenty years. Council Member Wright noted that the Town already has a pretty good site for it up on the Town forest. Mr. Wright said that the first step is to document that we have a site suitable for the project and wished to ask the Council if they are interested in pursuing the idea before he begins compiling the information. Mayor Swart said that the idea is very exciting, but was concerned about how we are going to handle our current mandated wastewater treatment plant costs. To look at ten or more million for alternative energy seems ambitious to him but he wouldn't mind learning more. Council Member Wright said that he has spoken informally with the PUD Manager about this and they agreed to have a meeting but Mr. Wright wants to be sure that the Council would be interested in this before he spends a lot of time in preparation for this. The Council agreed by consensus to have Mr. Wright proceed with the project and report back to them at the next meeting.

8. Council Member Bob Rendler said that he did not have any more information regarding out of Town sewer extensions that is not already in their report that the Council received except for that the Finance Committee will get together to prepare a report for the next meeting. Council Member David Goodroe agreed and said that it boils down to dollars and annexation with respect to Rosedale Heights. Mr.Goodroe said cutting the fees for service is not in the best interest of the Town for the future development of the sewer system.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Motion to authorize the Mayor to file for the Wahkiakum Community Foundation grant application retroactively for family outreach services at the Pool was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Walter Wright. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

2. Mayor Swart said that there is no change from last year as far as Pool Advisory Committee projects recommended for 2009. The priority from the end of last season was to prepare a specification and invitation for bid to design and build a solar powered energy saving supplemental heating system for the Pool and if funds permit to paint the exterior of the bath house. Mayor Swart said that the painting of the inside of the Pool surface has been put over as being too large of a project at this time. Motion to complete preparation and an invitation for bid for these two projects was made by Walter Wright and seconded by David Goodroe. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions. Council Member Goodroe had concerns regarding how well solar heating works in this community because he has heard mixed reports.

3. Motion to authorize Mayor Swart to retroactively apply for Federal Incentive Funds for the SR 4 Water Main replacement and the Columbia St. Water Main replacement was made by Steve McNicholas and seconded by Walter Wright. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

4. Motion to allow one-time water bill adjustment for NW Properties was made by David Goodroe and seconded by Bob Rendler. Motion carried 5 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.

COMMITTEE REPORTS –

A copy of the Mayor's report is included in the packet.

A copy of the Treasurer's report is included in the packet.

A copy of the Public Works report is included in the packet.

The Mayor commended the Committees for their good work this past month and recommended skipping the Committee reports for the evening. The Council agreed.

ANNOUNCEMENTS – none

EXECUTIVE SESSION – none.

ADJOURNMENT – at 9:44 p.m.

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