TOWN OF CATHLAMET
December 21, 2009
COUNCIL MEETING
CALL TO ORDER – Mayor
Pro Tem David Goodroe
The regular council meeting for the Town of Cathlamet was called to
order by Mayor Pro Tem David Goodroe at 7:00 p.m. Monday, December 21, 2009.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
ROLL CALL – Clerk/Treasurer
Tina Schubert
Present: Council Members Bob Rendler, David Goodroe, William
Talbott, and Steve McNicholas.
Absent: Walter Wright was excused.
Also present were Town Attorney Thomas Doumit, Clerk/Treasurer
Tina Schubert, Mayor Elect George Wehrfritz, Council Member Elect Ruth Doumit,
Municipal Services Clerk Kerrie McNally, Public Works Superintendent David Vik,
G&O Engineer Ken Alexander, Wahkiakum Eagle reporter Rick Nelson Assistant
Fire Chief Fred Johnson, Captain Beau Renfro and members of the public.
ADDITIONS,
CORRECTIONS, DELETIONS TO THE AGENDA
Mayor Pro Tem David Goodroe requested that the item #13 D,
the Appointment of a new Library Board Member, be removed from the agenda until
the next meeting.
VOUCHER REVIEW
COMMITTEE
1.
Voucher Review Committee Report – Bob Rendler reported
no errors and accepted the vouchers.
2.
The Voucher Review Committee for the January 19, 2010 meeting
consists of Walter Wright and David
Goodroe. Ruth Doumit will be the
alternate.
CONSENT AGENDA
Council Member William Talbott asked for the November 30,
2009 Special Meeting Minutes to be amended to state that the meeting had been
held outside in the rain.
Motion to approve the
Consent Agenda as amended made by Bob Rendler, second by Steve McNicholas. The consent agenda consists of the Minutes of
November 16, 2009 Regular Meeting, Special Meeting Minutes of November 30, 2009,
Payroll for December in the amount of
$ and Vouchers for December in the
amount of $ . With no additional changes to the consent
agenda the motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
CITIZEN’S
PARTICIPATION
None
PROCLAMATIONS and
PRESENTATIONS
Mayor Pro Tem David Goodroe presented a plaque thanking retiring
Council Member William Talbott for his service to the Town of Cathlamet.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
None
ORDINANCES
Motion to approve
Ordinance No. 524; Regarding the Need for Performance Bonds and Insurance for
Town Hall Employees who Handle Town Funds for the first reading was made by Bob
Rendler and seconded by William Talbott.
Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
Motion to approve
Ordinance No. 525; Correcting Ordinance No 494 for the second, third and final
reading was made by William Talbott and seconded by Bob Rendler. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
Motion to approve
Ordinance no. 526; Adopting the Budget of the Town of Cathlamet for the Fiscal
Year ending December 31, 2010 for the second, third and final reading was made
by Bob Rendler and seconded by William Talbott.
Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
Mayor Pro Tem David Goodroe stated that Ordinance No. 527; Amending the 2009 Budget of the Town of
Cathlamet, was
not needed because all changes were within the current budget.
Motion to approve
Ordinance No. 528; Amending Ordinance No. 496 to Change the Regular Meeting
Place of the Town Council for the first reading was made by Bob Rendler and
seconded by William Talbott. During discussion it was decided to hold the
January meeting at the new location, 25
River St... Motion
carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
RESOLUTIONS
There was no action taken on Resolution No. 275-09; A
Resolution Adopting the Interlocal Agreement with Wahkiakum County for
Comprehensive Plan Compliance due to the fact that WA State has just pulled
funding for this project.
Motion to approve
Resolution No. 276-09; A Resolution Establishing the Town's Facility Use Policy
was made by was made by William Talbott and seconded by Steve McNicholas. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions. Council
Member McNicholas asked that there be language added to the Resolution stating
that the Town may not preempt a previously scheduled private event on Town
property unless it is a declared emergency. It was agreed by consensus to add
the language.
Mayor Pro Tem David Goodroe asked District Court Judge
William Faubion to administer the Oath of Office to Mayor Elect George
Wehrfritz and Council Members elect Ruth Doumit and Bob Rendler.
NEW BUSINESS
Mayor Pro Tem Goodroe asked the Council if there would be
any objection to having Item #13 C taken at this time because of the distance
that the presenter had traveled and the potential for a long meeting. The Council agreed by consensus.
Keath Huff of Utilize I.T., Inc. gave a brief presentation
on the computer technology services that his company provides and answered
questions from the Council. Mayor Pro
Tem Goodroe asked Town Attorney Tom Doumit to review the proposed service
contract and have it ready for approval at the January Council meeting. Motion
to authorize the Town Attorney to draft a contract with Utilize I.T., Inc. for
computer information technology services and maintenance was made by Bob
Rendler and seconded by William Talbott. 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1.
Council Member
had been provided copies of G&O engineer Ken Alexander's monthly
report. Mr. Alexander reported on four
projects that G&O is assisting the Town with. He stated that work on the Boege
Rd and SR 4 water main extension was moving ahead in spite of being a little
behind schedule because of the weather, that the STAG grant funding for the new
WWTP should be released before the end of the year, that the Columbia Street
water main replacement project should begin in early January and the water
treatment plant pump replacement projects is also on track.
2. Mayor Pro Tem Goodroe reported that the Town
had received the energy efficiency grant
from the Department of Energy. Motion to submit the documents needed to
accept the energy
efficiency
grant was made by Bob Rendler and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried
4
Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Mayor
Pro Tem Goodroe noted that there is currently not a representative of the Town
of Cathlamet on
the Wahkiakum County Planning Commission.
It was determined that there should be someone representing the Town on
this panel. It was mentioned that Public
Works Superintendent David Vik is a member of the P.C. but that he represents Puget Island,
not the Town.
2. It was agreed by consensus to reduce the
sewer rate for Howie's Corner by one unit.
3. Motion to approve the annual
contract with the LCEDC was made by Bob Rendler and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 3 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
2.
The appointment of a new Library Board Member was taken
off the agenda until the January meeting because the member with the expired
term is on vacation and was not present to re-apply for the position.
3.
Mayor Elect
George Wehrfritz told the Council that he was scheduling a meeting with John
Blumthal of Architects Without Borders to examine the Town Hall building to get
ideas on a possible master plan to make better use of the building. Mr. Wehrfritz told the Council that
Architects Without Borders is a worldwide organization that provides pro-bono
assistance with architectural design.
Mr. Wehrfritz indicated that he had contacted staff and Library Board
members to be present at the meeting so that they could convey their opinions
and ideas to Mr. Blumthal.
6. Council Member Steve McNicholas reported that
he has been in communication with the Mayor Elect regarding a possible
participation of the Town of Cathlamet with Wahkiakum County in a security agreement with
Northern Star Natural Gas regarding the possible construction of the LNG plant
at Bradwood Landing. Mr. McNicholas
reported that there was quite a package from Citizen James Reed that contains
some concerns about the project. Mr.
McNicholas stated that Mr. Reed is probably one of the finest experts in this
field and that he had managed one of the largest LNG plants in the world. Mr.
McNicholas read part of the report that stated that it is likely that service
companies will wish to establish service centers to support the terminals and
that careful consideration should be given to where such facilities should be
located. It is equally likely that local
response teams, such as Police, Fire and medical services will not appreciate
the extent to which their resources will be required. Reimbursement contracts rarely offset the
commitments that local municipalities and other governing authorities
experience. Mr. McNicholas went on to say that we feel that it's necessary for
this Council, the new Mayor elect, all of us to be involved and that the Fire
Department is already involved and that these meetings should be open as far as
the security agreement being drawn up which is being funded by Northern Star,
and that Northern Star has nothing to do with the ships bringing in the LNG
until the ships stop at Bradwood Landing, but that there will be services,
tugs, guard boats and where will these boats be stationed. We have limited
space on our waterfront and we want to be careful how we allocate that space
for further growth. Mr. McNicholas said that we are talking about this Waste
Water Treatment Plant moving it so we have this space to build condominiums or
whatever, homes that might end up there, but if we end up with all this
waterfront, doing something else with it, without fitting it into our Master Plan. We know there are zoning laws and we want to
be included. Mr. McNicholas said that he
took the Town Attorney, and County
Prosecutor to talk to a
maritime attorney about it. He said that he has had no feedback since that
meeting, but that he has heard that the security agreement with the County is
proceeding. Council Member David Goodroe said that the security agreement is to
base the river born security services. The ships by requirement of the Coast
Guard, will escort the LNG tankers from the bar to the terminal. The LCEDC
started this process about four and a half years ago to provide family wage
jobs for this county. Mr. Goodroe said that this would provide from eight to
ten jobs in the county and that this process has been going on for a lot longer
than the Eagle reported. Mr. Goodroe said that he had met with Michael Sparks,
the V.P. of Northern Star about three years ago. Goodroe said that he appreciates the lack of
disclosure but they pull it behind the veil of national security. So if you're not
ready to sign non-disclosures and the security clearances are not in place then
they don't want to discuss this in public because it does involve national
security. Mr. Goodroe said that what he
has read in Mayor Elect George Wehrfritz memo is that they have not disagreed
with having Town officials on the negotiating team. Mr. Wehrfritz said that he
spoke with the Commissioners last week and that we know so little about what's
being discussed , that it's hard to know, but appears there could be a conflict
with the Town's Master Plan. Mr.
Wehrfritz said that according to Jim Reed's memo, there will be a need for
secure moorage and where will it be? in the marina? or on the waterfront?
Security for the escort vessels, security for the tugboats. We can't let them
sit tied up to the dock. They've got to be manned and secured. Is that what the
Town wants to do with its waterfront? Mr. Wehrfritz said that according to Jim
Reed's memo, the footprint across the river is far too small which will bring
more metal buildings along our waterfront for the operations. Lastly, Mr.
Wehrfritz said that he feels that the Town of Cathlamet should be held harmless from any
litigation that might arise from any deal since we are not part of the
negotiations and that we should know the details to know what kind of policies
to make. Mr. Wehrfritz said that the urgency is a result of the plan to hold a
private meeting on January 21, 2010 and there has been some talk around town
that they are close to a deal with the County but so much has been discussed
behind closed doors. Council Member Bob
Rendler said that he agreed with much of what Mr. Reed had written and finds it
astounding that the Town has not even been seated at the table. Mr. Rendler said that with his background in
LNG, Mr. Reed would be a great negotiator for the Town. Council Member Goodroe
said that he has talked to the principals negotiating on the County side and
that the Commissioners really know very little more than we know because the
negotiations are privileged between the Sheriff's Dept. and Northern Star
because of Homeland Security issues. He
said that he doesn't even think they've seen the crafted document. I've talked
to the Sheriff and in his words they are very close to a deal. He said that at the last public meeting they
were very close to a deal but the language got changed between that meeting and
the subsequent draft went out which is why they've called the meeting on the
21st of January. So Northern Star's people will be coming out to sit down at
the negotiating table to hammer out those differences. Council Member Goodroe said another
observation that he has about issues that have been raised include that the
Town has its own laws and zoning codes that we can enforce, so we have some say
in that. Mr. Goodroe said that whether
the plant gets sited or not, it's always been his personal belief that if
there's an economic benefit to the residents of the County we should try and
make that happen. Since we don't have a
dog in the fight over sighting the plant we ought to figure out the benefit of
the plant if it is sited and if it's not sited, no harm no foul. A woman from
the audience requested to speak and said that Port Commissioner Brett Deaton
had told her that the available area in the marina is marginal now with the
tugs that come in and would have to be dredged.
She said that Mr. Deaton said it is not navigable for the bigger boats
that will have to come in with the ships.
Mr. Goodroe said that the security boats are a lot smaller. Council Member McNicholas said that there has
to be some way that the town can speak with Homeland Security and that if this
is so secret, then it is too damn big for us.
Mr. Wehrfritz said that he has spoken with Jim Reed, who is out of
state, who said that he is not sure that this agreement that's keeping everyone
from talking is really a security agreement at all. He said that he feels that
this is a non-disclosure agreement that's been developed by Northern Star and
that it is very surprising that this is such a National Security concern.
Council Member Goodroe said that the Sheriff said that the Coast Guard is
involved in this and that they are the ones who did not want any details of the
level of security that was going to be provided to the boats leaked to the
public. Ken Alexander, a former employee of Homeland Security, said that the
Coast Guard has the jurisdiction over how the security gets set up. Assistant Fire Chief Fred Johnson said that
the Cathlamet Fire Dept. has been involved with this project for about five
years and that he thinks we are getting a lot of things mixed together, and one
of them is the emergency response plan which the Fire Dept. has been involved
in. Mr. Johnson said that then there is the agreement with the Sheriff Dept is
working on and he does not understand why the Town wants to get involved
because if you are talking about liability, you are inviting liability by
getting involved. They were negotiating
with Clatsop County and that this agreement is just to provide services that
meet the Coast Guard standards and then there is the third issue regarding the
land use If somebody wants to come in
and build a building in Town of Cathlamet, they are going to have to meet the
land use. He's not really sure why the
Town would want to get involved in the County negotiations. Mr. Johnson said that he has read the
agreement and that it is not a non-disclosure agreement. You have to sign under
penalty of federal law that you are not going to disclose the information to
the public. Mr. Wehrfritz asked Mr. Johnson if he had signed the agreement and
he said "Yes". So, Mr. Wehrfritz said that the Town is involved. Mr.
Wehrfritz asked, "When did we say that the Town was going to be
involved?". Mr. Johnson responded that this is under the emergency
response agreement which is a distinct agreement under the first permit they
have to have an emergency response plan which involves all of the emergency
responders. Mr. Wehrfritz said that
shouldn't Northern Star have come to the Town and told them that they need an
emergency response plan and ask for the Town to authorize the Fire Dept. to
negotiate and work with us to come up with one? Council Member Goodroe said
that it involved all five Fire Depts. and asked Mr. Johnson if he actually sign
documents for non-disclosure. Mr. Goodroe said that he had heard that they
commissioned a study to study the environmental impact or the strategic impact
of emergency first responders which was commissioned from the County. Mr. Johnson said that the Coast Guard issued
the navigation suitability which is the confidential document which discusses
the risks of transporting LNG and that he had certainly been in consultation
with the former Mayor to let him know that we are involved in the
negotiations. Mr. Alexander said that
what Mr. Johnson is saying is correct and that the US Coast Guard has the
jurisdiction and that they will work with whatever contact they have in the
area of the first responders. Mr.
Alexander said that the security agreement is something that has to be put in
place in order for the operation. Mr.
Johnson said that they could hire private vendors like Columbia Security but
that the Coast Guard said that this is not acceptable and that they have to
hire commissioned law enforcement officers, which is why the Sheriff office is
negotiating the security. Mr. Johnson
reiterated that he is not sure why the Town wants to be involved in this. Council Member Steve McNicholas said that the
Town is already involved, to which Mr. Johnson replied that they are involved
in the emergency response plan, which is different than the security agreement. Mr. Johnson said that the County will be paid
for providing an array of services. Council Member Goodroe asked Mr. Johnson to
correct him if he's wrong but that the emergency response plan is basically the
F.D. and EMS requirements of Northern Star
to fund certain things so that they can feel comfortable in the role
that they have unavoidably been cast into in the event that there is an
incident at some point and so that the County can bring itself up to level of
the response needed. Mr. Johnson said
that he doesn't think that we can confuse this negotiation with the County over
there array of services with the emergency response plan. Council Member Goodroe said that he agreed
with Fred and that he doesn't see us having a dog in the fight at this point
because we have our zoning and our land use restrictions and that nothing is
going to go on our waterfront that the Town does not approve and in respect to
the liability there are state and federal laws that protect people like me in
the town and the town because we are not even party to the agreement so its probably a good idea to have an
indemnification clause from the County to the Town. Mr. Wehrfritz said that he
just doesn't know we can make policy without any information. It's obviously
the Council's role to make policy and that if we don't know what this
arrangement entails until it's made, how can we do our jobs? Mr. Goodroe said that the framework of the
security that's involved with the boats is specified by the Coast Guard. Mr. Wehrfritz asked where the boats are going
to be. Mr. Goodroe said that we'd like
to get them in Cathlamet and that they have talked to the marina and we've also
if the as part of our grand design if we get our business park at the Hancock sort
yard has a floating dock that could have them there. Mr. Wehrfritz asked about where the tugboats
will go and Mr. Goodroe said that they have spoken with Chris Doumit about the
potential for parking them near his cannery.
Mr. Wehrfritz responded "So you are creating a secure moorage in
front of the cannery and secure moorage within the marina". "I think
these are issues for the Town to discuss that's the point". Public Works Superintendent said it depends on how much we want it if now
two-thirds of the waterfront is inaccessible.
Mr. Goodroe said that you're going to get that proposed to the Town and
then it will go to the Planning Commission and it'll get blessed or it won't
get blessed, that's our fail safe. Mr. Vik said that if the goal of the Town is
to open the waterfront to the public there was talk about getting a crew boat
for the dredge tying up at the Town dock and they would have had to put up a
chain link fence, and so it made a little money for the Town but what about the
guy in the wheelchair who can't fish there anymore if we did that. Fred Johnson said that the Shoreline
Management Master Program defines what is allowed on the waterfront. Mr.
Goodroe said that the Sheriff Dept. would make the decision of where to put the
security boats and that this would be a private agreement with wherever they
are trying to base them and that the other party would have a say in it and so
does the Town. It would be a private individual who would be trying to marshal
that deal through the Town. And that the Town will be in the position to say
yea or nay. Mr. Wehrfritz said that I
guess the neutral position on this is that the Town should know as much
information about this as it can know as early as it can know it before things
happens to do its job and make good decisions about how we use its waterfront
and how we use its marines and we talk about cooperating with the county and
all these other spheres so lets rebuild the Town Hall, we can bring the county
in, they can help us, in this situation we're saying wait a minute, we don't
want to be part of this. But there are
elements in the community that are part of it already, our Fire Dept. is
participating, the EDC is participating, I think our Council should think about
it. Mayor Pro Tem Goodroe said "As I see it, if there is a motion here it
would be to have Town representation in the negotiations on the 21st. Am I
reading that right?" That would be the question to Council. Mr. Goodroe said
that there will be a meeting on January 21st, the next face to face meeting
regarding the security agreement and as he understands it the Sheriff will be
there, Northern Star will be there and the Commissioners will be there and he
does not know of anybody else at this time that will be there. He said that it
is to resolve the differences between what was looked to be an acceptable
agreement and one that's now not. Mr.
Goodroe said that he would caution the Town to not come in at the eleventh hour
after many hours and years of negotiation to be cast in the role of coming in
at the last minute and dragging the agreement through the mud and trying to
solve things. It sounds like if the
County has no objections I don't think Northern Star would have any objections.
Mr. Johnson asked why we would want to become a signatory in a security
agreement, that would open us up to all kinds of liability with a gun boat
involved , I think we would want to stay away from that process as possible
because our land use decisions aren't going to get us into any maritime law
issues but if we become a signatory or participant in this agreement that's
talking about all sorts of boats running around we have the longshoreman harbor
workers act and the Jones Act and all those things and I don't see any upside
to the Town to get involved in this basically service agreement between
Northern Star and the County. Council
Member McNicholas said that in this meeting that Northern Star is going to
require in that agreement that they will be held harmless completely for
anything these gun boats do because they're not their ships. Mr. Johnson said that that is why the Town
doesn't want to get involved in that, we're just asking to be liable. Mr. McNicholas said that we are already
involved with the County
Sheriff with our law
enforcement contract with them. Town
Attorney Doumit said that our law enforcement contract with the Sheriff Dept. does
not mean that we are involved and has not encouraged the Town to become a
signatory in those negotiations. Mr.
Doumit said that the question that was put to him was should the Town be
present at the table and not necessarily become a signatory to the agreement,
and that his response was that knowledge is power and the more you can get, the
better it is even though you are not committing yourself to liability that
comes with being a signatory but to the extent that you can sit in there and
listen to those negotiations and maybe throw in a few concerns about the Town
that would not necessarily create liability for us. Council Member Bob Rendler
said that he agreed with Attorney Doumit that this affects us. Mr. McNicholas asked Attorney Doumit if that
wasn't the reason that they went to see a maritime attorney to get the opinion of
somebody with experience in these matters.
Mr. McNicholas said that he thinks the Town should have someone
representing them who has knowledge of maritime law. Mr. Johnson said that if
we are not a party to this agreement, the more we stick our nose in this issue,
the more chance we will have to get sued by someone if something goes wrong.
Mr. Johnson went on to say that through his discussions with the Sheriff, these
negotiations appear to be more about dollars and cents. Mayor Pro Tem Goodroe
agreed. Motion for the Town to be
involved with the negotiations between Wahkiakum County
and Northern Star in the security agreement was made by Steve McNicholas. Motion died for lack of a second.
Motion to authorize the Town Forester to make application for Town Timber
Harvest was made Bob Rendler and seconded by William Talbott. Motion carried 4 Yes, 0 No, 0 Abstentions.
COMMITTEE REPORTS –
ANNOUNCEMENTS – none
Council Member Bob Rendler wanted to make sure that everyone
was aware that the January meeting will be held at the River Street meeting room on Tuesday
January 19th because of the Martin Luther King federal holiday.
EXECUTIVE SESSION – none.
ADJOURNMENT – at 8:56
p.m.
David
C. Goodroe, Mayor Pro Tem Tina
Schubert, Clerk/Treasurer
