Council moving forward with wastewater project

DAYTON-The City Council began the reviewing process for options to consider for the County Law Enforcement, Dispatch and Court services contract; working through next steps with the Wastewater Treatment Project; reviews a letter of support for county-wide flood hazard mitigation plan and invitation to legislators for a Touchet River Levee on-site visit; approved part time planner job description and other city business was conducted at the March 14 meeting

Councilman Nysoe of the finance committee suggested that the Safety Committee reviews the options for services of law enforcement, dispatch, and court services that the City currently contracts with the County for due to the increasing impact on the annual budget. Mayor Zac Weatherford added that when the original contract was negotiated to pay 100% of the CPI, it had been at 1-2% for several years. Then last year it rose to 4% and now this year it is over 8% at around $700,000. The City Council passed a raise in utility tax to 12% to help pay for the services.

Nysoe affirmed, "The contract that we have with the County could break the City. We just don't have the revenue to keep meeting the obligation of the contract." He went on to suggest they break the contract, Me made a general reference to an RCW that requires the County Sheriff to provide law enforcement services to the City. Mayor Weatherford affirmed his statement that law enforcement must be provided for the City should they opt out of the contract and that something needs to change, or the City will go broke. He suggested to approach the County Commissioners and negotiate that the city only pay a portion of the CPI instead of 100%. Renegotiations should begin in 2024.

County Commissioner Ryan Rundell responded by reminding Council that the contract is for more than just law enforcement but also dispatch and municipal court services, He agreed that the RCWs state that the Sheriff would have to process felonies, but the City would have to contract with the jail, dispatch, either create or contract with a court to have a municipal court, find indigent defense attorneys, a prosecutor, as well as consider many extra costs. The level of service would be greatly reduced.

He said the best place to address these issues is at the quarterly meetings between the City and County. He stated, "I see us as a symbiotic pair. We are a family, so let's sit down and have the hard conversations even if we totally disagree. We can walk away friends. The best people you need to talk to are these department heads who are at those quarterly meetings. The Commissioners do have the final say as far as contracts and things like that, but I would be hard pressed to go straight up against those departments heads when they say they need that." The next quarterly meeting is next month.

Weatherford told Council that the land purchase agreement has not been sent back to the City from the property owners for the Wastewater Treatment Project. Jim Su'euga from the Public Works Committee said they have been touring other wastewater treatment facilities to make informed decisions. A workshop is schedule for March 20 for Council to discuss the next steps for the project.

The mayor said the city staff has drafted a letter of support for the Columbia County Comprehensive Flood Hazard Management Plan update proposed by Columbia County for funding through The Flood Control Assistance Account Program Planning Grant. This would update the 2002 county-wide plan to address all basins utilizing the Dept of Ecology guidebook.

The goals are to achieve healthy, natural flood plain function, restore a natural sediment transport regimen, reduce flood risk for people in cities, sustain and improve quality of life for the Columbia County residents, and increase stream flow habitat water use monitoring to support better water resource management and adaptive management. Other letters of support have been sent from other entities. A tour is schedule for April 27 at 10am at the Touchet River Levee with a work group from various entities and Councilman Su'euga has invited six legislators.

A job description was approved by Council for a part-time City Planner. The mayor told them that they have tryed to fill the planning position for some time and have received several applications and completed some interviews. He would like to offer the position to one candidate, but they would like to work part-time. The current opening is a full-time planning position with benefits. Mayor suggested creating another part-time planning position that is paid hourly and exempt from most benefits and that they still could advertise to fill the full-time position. He suggested they could still contract with the County and AHBL, Inc. as needed.

Public Works Director Ryan Paulson told Council that they have plans to begin chip sealing some streets. Parts for repairing the current wastewater plant are expected. They will begin work on the Commercial Street Corridor Plan. He is also working with the Community Task Force on several projects including the four corners at Main and Second Streets by replacing the plywood covers where there are missing trees with some art or another tree. He will be adding lighted crosswalks to the five existing on Main Street and that $40k can be paid within budget for one to two crosswalks. Nysoe commented to Paulson about the number of dilapidated buildings around town that need to be taken care of some, for-safety reasons. Paulson acknowledged that he needs to work with County Building Official Clint Attebery to enforce codes and prioritize those that are safety hazards.

Tiger Deui of the Parks and Recreation Committee met with local athletics program organizers on February 21 and March 7. These included the Snake River Little League, Blue Mountain Girls Softball Association, the soccer league, and the Dayton School District Athletics Department. He said they had a productive joint meeting where they shared their plans for maintenance and use of grounds and fields. He suggested they hold an annual meeting, Clerk Misty Yost suggested that the City Parks Comprehensive Plan needs to be reviewed and updated.

Teeny McMunn told the mayor and fellow council members who are up for election this year that they need to decide if they are running for their position around the second week in May. The council members whose terms are ending are for Position 1 Jim Su'euga, Position 4 Dain Nysoe, Shannon McMillen for Position 5, and Kyle Anderson for Position 6.