Dunes
City Council
Approved MINUTES
July
14, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Printable file
1.
Call to Order
Mayor
Rebecca Ruede
called the meeting of the Dunes City Council to order at
7:02 pm
.
2.
Roll
Call
Roll Call was taken
by Fred Hilden,
City Recorder
.
Present:
Mayor
Rebecca Ruede
, Councilor
Duke Wells
Councilor
Troy
Sathe
,
Councilor
Richard Anderson
and Councilor Ed Scarberry.
Absent:
Councilor President Jamie Mills
was absent and excused.
Also
Present: City Recorder
Fred Hilden
and several citizens.
3.
Pledge of Allegiance
All
who were present stood for the Pledge of Allegiance.
4.
Approval of the Agenda
Councilor
Anderson
moved to approve the agenda.
The motion was seconded by Councilor Sathe and passed unanimously.
5.
Consent Agenda
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
explained that there is a revised Bills of the Session, which was emailed
out to all councilors. Councilor
Koehler requested that the Bills of the Session be pulled from the consent
agenda. Mayor Ruede announced
that consideration of the Bills of the Session would be moved to new
business. A
motion to approve the revised Consent Agenda was made by Councilor Scarberry,
seconded by Councilor Wells, and passed unanimously.
6.
Announcements / Correspondence
Mayor
Rebecca Ruede
announced that the artist of the month is photographer Jim Buch and
encouraged everyone to have a look at his photography.
Mayor
Ruede reminded everyone of the West Lane Emergency Operations Group
presentation on emergency management information is scheduled for July 21st
at
6:00 pm
at City Hall.
The
Mayor also announced that additional volunteers are needed to fill two
Communication and Education Committee positions and one Revenue Committee
position.
Mayor
Ruede was pleased to announce that Ralph Farnsworth has loaned the City a
new microscope to be used by the water testers in evaluating water samples
for various algal blooms. She
stressed that the use of the microscope was a loan to the City.
On
the subject of algal blooms, the Mayor reminded councilors that in their
discussions with the public and press that they should be careful not to
refer to algal blooms as “toxic” as, to the Mayor’s knowledge, there
has never been a toxic algal bloom in
Dunes
City
.
7.
Citizen Input
There were no
citizens requesting to speak under citizen input.
8.
Committee/Commission Reports
Mayor’s Report
– Mayor Ruede spoke of change, and specifically with regard to reducing
staff at
Dunes
City
. She encouraged improved
efficiency and to look upon the change in a positive manner.
Communication
& Education Committee Report – Councilor
Richard Anderson
read the written Communication & Education Committee report into the
record. He also reported that he
met with the Florence Chamber of Commerce and Mayor to discuss the
possibility of teaming up on some grants to help with education committee
activities.
Councilor Koehler
asked what mailing list was used, as he, as well as others, didn’t receive
a copy of either the flyer or the newsletter.
Recorder
Fred Hilden
explained that since the prior mailing list was unavailable from the prior
Communication and Education Committee chairman, at the recommendation of
Councilor Koehler, the septic database mailing list was used, which is all
Dunes
City
property owners. Renters would
have to be added to the mailing list, which can be done, but
Dunes
City
has to be notified.
Conservation
Committee Report – Councilor
Richard Anderson
reported there were no complaints in the shoreland zone this past month.
Community Center
Report – Councilor Wells stated that he will be working on the south
end of the building to replace a rotten board next week.
Ordinance Review
Committee – Prior to the meeting, Councilor Mills had submitted a
written report of the Ordinance Review Committee for the record.
Parks and
Recreation Committee Report – Councilor Koehler read the written
report of the Parks and Recreation Committee into the record.
Revenue Committee
Report – Councilor Scarberry reported that there was no quorum at the
scheduled Revenue Committee meeting so no business was conducted.
Road Commission
Report – Councilor Sathe read the Road Commission Report into the
record. He announced that the
Road Commission will decide what projects will be done in the coming year at
their next meeting on Monday, July 18th at
6:30 pm
.
Councilor Koehler
asked Councilor Sathe if it were possible to put more information in the
minutes of the meeting, as Councilor Koehler is having a hard time
understanding what was discussed. Councilor
Sathe responded. Mayor Ruede
suggested that since it appeared to be a question of procedure, that
Councilor Koehler discuss the problem with staff and Councilor Sathe at
another time.
Site Review
Committee Report – Councilor Wells reported that the Site Review
Committee did not meet as there was no business to be considered.
Water Quality
Committee Report – Prior to the meeting, Councilor Mills submitted a
written Water Quality Committee Report for the record.
Planning
Commission Report. City
Recorder
Fred Hilden
referred the Councilors to the written Planning Commission minutes included
in the packets and indicated that the Planning Commission discussion of
issues appears later on the agenda.
Emergency
Coordinator Report – City Recorder
Fred Hilden
reported that
Dunes
City
finally has a printed tsunami inundation map.
He distributed copies of the map to the Councilors present and to be
passed around the audience.
City Recorder
Report – Mr. Hilden presented the written City Recorder Report.
9.
Public Hearing
Buckskin
Bob
Road
Vacation Petition. Mayor
Ruede announced the continuation of the public hearing to consider a citizen
petition for vacation of a portion of
Buckskin
Bob
Road
and inquired as to whether City staff had further information to present.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
reported that according to the City Attorney, the Council can approve all of
the requested vacation, a portion of it, or not approve any of it.
City Record
Fred Hilden
stated that this hearing has been properly noticed according to law.
Mayor Ruede opened
the public hearing at
7:30 pm
and asked for public input in support of the vacation petition.
Richard Bailey,
Dunes
City
resident, one of the petitioners, thanked the neighbors that had supported
the petition and thanked the Road Commission for their dedication, time and
diligence. Finally, he thanked
Dunes
City
staff for all of their help and patience throughout the process.
Mayor Ruede invited
public input in opposition to the petition.
No one came forward.
Mayor Ruede asked if
there were any questions from the Councilors.
Councilor Sathe reported on the findings and recommendations of the
Road Commission. Councilor Wells
expressed his opinion in support of vacating just section 2 (referring to
the map). Councilor
Anderson
asked how the danger trees will be addressed.
Councilor Sathe reported that the dead cedar trees are in the Dunes
City right-of-way and Dunes City will have to remove them ourselves if the
vacation of section 2 is not approved. If
it is approved, the petitioners have agreed to remove the trees at no cost
to the City. Councilor Scarberry
asked why the vacation of the section 1 piece was not recommended.
Councilor Sathe indicated that section 1 piece is much larger and, if
approved, would render it impossible to run utility lines of any kind as
well as limit
Dunes
City
’s access to the lake.
Hearing no further
comment, Mayor Ruede closed the public hearing at
7:35 p.m.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
added that the City Attorney investigated the nature of ownership of the
property and found that
Dunes
City
’s interest is only an easement and, consequently, the City cannot request
compensation for the vacation.
Councilor
Sathe moved to vacate section 2 only and that the property owners pay all
expenses and remove the dead trees at no expense to the City.
Councilor Wells seconded the motion.
The motion passed unanimously.
Ordinance No.
210, An Ordinance Amending Title 14 of the Dunes City Code of Ordinances by
Addition of Chapter 141 Entitled “Septic System Maintenance” and
repealing Ordinance No. 203.
Mayor
Rebecca Ruede
announced the purpose of the public hearing and asked if any of the
Councilors have any actual or potential conflicts of interest concerning the
matter. Councilor Scarberry
reported that he had received his letter from the City instructing him to
have his system inspected and pumped, but does not believe that it would
constitute a conflict of interest.
Councilor Koehler
asked for a clarification as to what would constitute a conflict of
interest. City Recorder
Fred Hilden
reported that a conflict of interest means the potential for financial gain
or loss as a result of the outcome of a piece of legislation or ordinance,
however, if the ordinance is of a nature that affects all property owners
equally, as this ordinance and ordinance 211 do, then there is no conflict
of interest.
Mayor Ruede
explained that each ordinance needs two readings and read the appurtenant
Council Rules sections regarding requirements for reading in full or by
title only. The Councilors
confirmed they had received copies of the ordinances prior to the hearing.
The City Recorder confirmed that all notice requirements had been
met.
Councilor
Duke Wells
moved to have Ordinance 210 read by
title only. Councilor Sathe
seconded the motion.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
raised a Point of Order and explained that this motion does not determine
whether you support the ordinance, but that you are trying to save time by
allowing it to be read by title only, rather than in full.
Councilor
Koehler voted nay and consequently, reading in full was required.
Mayor Ruede asked Councilor Koehler to read the Ordinance into the
record. Councilor Koehler
refused, claiming it was not his responsibility.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
read Ordinance No. 210 into the
record in full.
Mayor Ruede opened
the public hearing on Ordinance No. 210 at
8:02 p.m.
Mayor Ruede explained that each
member of the public will be given three minutes in which to speak.
Referring to the signup sheet, Mayor Ruede called upon Del
Riesenhuber, who passed on commenting at this time.
Darlene Beckman
also passed on commenting at this time.
Keith Hull,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr. Hull
stated that his concern about this change from the previous ordinance is
that the time interval will be harder to keep track of and harder to
enforce. A vacation home could
suddenly be occupied full time and it would be too hard to keep track of.
Susie Navetta
passed at this time.
April Dumas,
Dunes
City
resident: Mrs. Dumas
presented written testimony. Due
to time constraints, only a portion of her concerns were expressed verbally.
Mrs. Dumas is concerned about the drinking water sources for
Dunes
City
residents. She cited the Lane
Council of Governments’ Source Water Assessment done in 2002 and suggests
that
Dunes
City
needs to develop a safe drinking water plan, based upon recommendations made
in that LCOG Source Water Assessment. Such
a plan should be based upon a community protection process.
The assessment should recommend routine water testing be done and
tracked. And it should include a
mandatory schedule of septic system maintenance.
Mary Jo Leach
,
Dunes
City
resident: Mrs. Leach
stated the committee did a great job on re-writing the septic ordinance.
In her opinion, both 173 and 203 had problems – 173 was ambiguous
language and 203 was not administered properly, so the result was people got
inspected but not pumped or pumped and not inspected.
This proposed wording to try and clean it up was a good idea.
Mrs. Leach’s concern is that she was told that her neighbor was not
in compliance but he’s not on the database as non-compliant.
She is also concerned about not getting complete reports – what are
the numbers? How many are in
complete compliance? How many
are in partial compliance? How
many haven’t complied at all? What
is the status of the whole process? That
information should be provided. Everybody
should do a little – and it works.
John Stead
,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr. Stead
asserted that it is important to remind ourselves that our City fathers
decided that the majority of
Woahink
Lake
should be within the confines of
Dunes
City
so we could manage the lake more effectively.
They could have drawn the boundaries around the lake, but they
didn’t. The Water Quality
Committee was created, according to our Comprehensive Plan, to maintain
water quality. The Committee has
a duty to investigate water quality issues and make reports and
recommendations for investigations to the City Council.
Ordinance 203 says all systems will be inspected by March 12th.
What happens if some of the inspections are not completed?
As of
November 11, 2010
, the report to the Council said 300 properties had not yet been noticed and
348 properties were not in compliance. The
report through September, 2009 said there were 812 records in the City’s
database, but the report in November of 2010 said there were 786 records in
the database, including vacant lots. And
we had a grand total of 564 notified and 464 that have completed.
We need to ask ourselves how amending this ordinance will help to
improve water quality. How will
it help to prevent blue green algae from appearing in
Woahink
Lake
? We recently had a blue green
algae report and, luckily, it was not cyanobacteria.
This had never happened before. These
ordinances are proposed to be effective next year.
There is ample time for review and consideration.
The Water Quality Committee briefly reviewed the ordinance at its May
18th meeting and no recommendations were made at that time.
Mr. Stead recommend that the City take some time to seriously study
this issue, as he sees no reason to hurry.
Paul Floto,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr. Floto
stated 203 has two separate interesting problems.
One, it has
Dunes
City
duplicating the responsibilities of the County, which costs money to the
City and costs money to the citizens. Second
is the one-size-fits all mandatory inspections every five years does not
adequately protect the lake when someone has a small tank for a large number
of people, and over burdens residents who have a large tank or are seasonal.
Anyone who supports 203 shouldn’t be objecting to this because this
provides better protection than 203 because people with small tanks and
large numbers of people will get inspected more often and those with large
tanks and only occasional use won’t get inspected as often, which will
save the City money. Mr. Floto
doesn’t’ know why anyone is objecting to this.
Council Koehler was
recognized to ask Mr. Floto a question.
Councilor Koehler asked Mr. Floto to elaborate on his statement that
Dunes
City
is duplicating
Lane
County
efforts. Mr. Floto explained
that
Lane
County
has primary responsibility for issuance of permits for new systems and
inspecting systems in the event of problems.
Some
Dunes
City
systems may have been installed before the permitting process was adopted,
but 203 has already resolved that. A
system is either functioning or it fails.
If it fails, everyone knows about it.
If a system is working, pumping it just creates more sewage that has
to be disposed of somewhere else, and if it ends up in Florence’s hands,
it gets spread up in our watershed and washed back down into the lakes, so
it causes more pollution going into the lake.
Del Riesenhuber,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr.
Riesenhuber agrees with the concept of making an amendment to do away with
the mandatory five year inspection. He
thinks it was an arbitrary thing and doesn’t really apply in a lot of
cases. What he does object to is
that there are other items in 203 that this Ordinance repeals, and suggests
that it is inappropriate to repeal 203 in its entirety, but simply to modify
the parts of 203 that provide for the mandatory time period.
He disagrees with the last comment of the last speaker because his
family has owned the property since 1960 and the County has never inspected
it. The only inspection it has
ever had was the one required by
Dunes
City
.
Roseanne
Kirkpatrick,
Dunes
City
resident: As Mrs.
Kirkpatrick understands it, if this passes and a system passes and it is
good, then you may not have to have it inspected again for 5 to 10 years if
the inspector recommends it based on the number of people and how much water
you use. Certainly, someone who
lives alone wouldn’t have to have their’s inspected as frequently as,
say, someone with kids who does a lot of laundry.
She asked if she was understanding correctly and was told yes.
She is also concerned about run-off from the roads, and as she
recalled, the blue-green algae on Siltcoos came after the work was done on
Kiechle Arm Road
. Mrs. Kirkpatrick indicated she
has been here since 1976 and that there were no water quality problems back
then. She stated that
Dunes
City
has more than just water quality problems.
She thinks that
Dunes
City
has lots of other issues too.
Hearing no further
public comment, Mayor Ruede closed the public hearing at
8:22 p.m.
Mayor Ruede asked if
any of the Councilors had comments. Councilor
Sathe stated he is not in favor of this Ordinance as it is not what the
citizens he spoke to wanted. Councilor
Wells stated he has 19 letters and a citizen-generated, un-official petition
of all the names of people who are against the Ordinance.
He believes the general feeling is that there is a personal and
financial burden being placed on them to maintain the water quality of two
lakes when there is a whole list of other things that happen that affect
water quality.
Councilor Koehler
stated he thinks it is the Council’s responsibility to follow the
Comprehensive Plan, especially Policy B, which says that the City shall
strive to preserve the quality of land, air and water resources in the City
and all of the development in the City shall comply with land, air and water
quality standards. Councilor
Koehler also quoted other provisions of the Comp Plan, such as waste shall
not exceed the carrying capacity of the land.
He pointed out that this is a touchy area because a lot of our areas
are undevelopable because they don’t allow wastes to percolate well – to
filter. But besides those
policies, he continued, there is policy 11, where the City shall coordinate
solid waste planning in
Lane
County
. Coordinating is important too.
The City Council approved an Intergovernmental Agreement last year.
Mr. Koehler said he doesn’t know where that agreement stands right
now, but that
Dunes
City
is supposed to protect our six miles of influence because there is a lot of
runoff that comes down into our water from that six miles of influence.
Councilor Koehler continued stating we don’t have a sewage system
in
Dunes
City
, so septic systems are our only means of wastewater treatment.
We need to protect our groundwater, lakes, and streams.
Dunes
City
has established a limit of one residence per acre.
Yes, it’s a burden like Councilor Wells stated, but think of what
the burden would be if we have to put in a sewage system.
Councilor Koehler suggested that these changes be put in one spot
where all can see what is going on in this ordinance.
Councilor Koehler expressed his opinion that it is not possible to
take a vote on it today because there is so much at stake.
It won’t become effective for seven months.
Councilor Koehler doesn’t think we need to do it now.
Councilor
Sathe moved to throw out Ordinance 210 all together.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
raised a point of order, stating
that there is no action to be taken as this is a first reading only.
Councilor Wells had
one more comment regarding section 141.050, Dunes City Responsibilities.
He pointed out that the City just went through the budget process
that cut the City’s staff by a third.
It seems to Councilor Wells that unless the City hires someone full
time to run this thing, it is never going to be right.
Dunes
City
doesn’t have the money to budget somebody to do what 141.050 says the City
is supposed to do.
Councilor Scarberry
expressed a problem for him is that the term qualified inspector is pretty
objective.
Dunes
City
has a list of people who are qualified to inspect and pump.
Then they have to give a recommendation as to time frame.
Councilor Scarberry doesn’t think using a shot-gun approach will
work. The other fact is the way
the boundaries of
Dunes
City
are drawn, you can have neighbors who are in
Lane
County
who don’t have the same requirements.
Councilor Scarberry agrees with Councilor Wells saying there are
other problems that are affecting the water.
Councilor
Anderson
stated that he believes this ordinance will just lead to more bureaucracy
and he believes in doing things as simple as possible and this would be very
difficult to do.
Mayor Ruede called a
five minute recess at
8:35 p.m.
The Mayor called the
meeting back to order at
8:45 p.m.
and announced that the first reading of Ordinance 211 was the next item on
the agenda.
Ordinance No.
211, An Ordinance Repealing Ordinance No. 203 entitled “Septic System
Maintenance” and Establishing an Effective Date.
Mayor Ruede polled
the Councilors regarding actual or potential conflicts of interest.
No one disclosed a conflict.
Mayor Ruede
explained that each ordinance needs two readings and read the appurtenant
Council Rules sections regarding requirements for reading in full or by
title only. The Councilors
confirmed they had received copies of the ordinance prior to the hearing.
The City Recorder confirmed that all notice requirements had been
met.
Councilor
Wells moved to read Ordinance No. 211 by title only.
Councilor Sathe seconded the motion.
Councilor Koehler
requested that the motion be read into the record in its entirety.
Councilor Sathe expressed concern that the effective date is not until
12:01 am
on
March 13, 2012
, and that he would like to make an
amendment to reflect that it be effective immediately, and that the
amendment be reflected in the version to come before the Council for second
reading. Councilor Wells
seconded the motion.
Mayor Ruede called
for discussion. Councilor
Koehler questioned the legalities of making such a change because the
program is currently “ear-marked” for March 13th.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
expressed his opinion that if the ordinance repealing became effective
immediately, then the affect is to repeal 203 immediately, but he would want
to consult with legal council. In
his opinion, it wouldn’t affect the action tonight as this is only a first
reading.
The
Mayor called for a vote on the motion. A
roll-call vote was requested. The
results of the voting were Councilors Wells, Sathe, Anderson and Scarberry
voting aye and Councilor Koehler voting no.
The Mayor asked the
City Recorder to read the Ordinance into the record in full.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
requested clarification that, for the record, the motion to read by title
only failed. Confirmation from
all Councilors was received by consensus.
The Ordinance was read into the record in full.
The Mayor opened the
public hearing at
8:53 p.m.
Keith Hull,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr. Hull
stated: As a resident of
Dunes
City
, I think it is my responsibility to be a good steward of the lake, and
I’m only too happy to pay the inspection fees and pay for the pumping
required. I think it is
important that we preserve these wonderful treasures.
I remember coming down from the
Portland
area in the 50’s and being amazed at how beautiful these lakes were.
In the 60’s my father had a place on Woahink and I would come up
from
California
to visit him. To say that some
how or another having
Lane
County
be in charge of maintaining our water quality is absurd.
I just can’t believe we’re going to do that.
I think it is very important that
Dunes
City
and its residents take responsibility for taking care of this valuable
resource that we have. We need
to be good stewards on the water quality in every way we can.
Susie Navetta
,
Dunes
City
resident: Mrs. Navetta
stated: Hey folks, this is your
drinking water. Just because you
don’t live on Woahink, it is still your drinking water.
It is not protected in any way.
Woahink
Lake
runs right out into
Siltcoos
Lake
– they are connected. And just
because you don’t take water from the lake and you have a well, guess
what, it ruins the groundwater, too. They
are all connected. You’d
better think about what you are doing.
Paul Floto,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr. Floto
stated: I’ve used exclusively
septic tanks since 1976 in two states. If
the system was permitted by the county’s current standards where they perk
test the ground first, they require an adequate number of feet in the leach
field, and require a large tank, you’re not going to have a problem that
is going to impact the lake in any way that I can foresee.
If you are too stupid to pump it and inspect it, it is going to back
up into your house where it’s going to flow to the surface of your
property. You and your neighbors
are going to learn about it first.
Dunes
City
is a lot older than those county requirements.
There were homes close to the lake that had no septic systems.
They had a hole in the ground with a 55 gallon drum.
Those systems were corrupting the lake.
203 came along. All of
those systems by now have been inspected and replaced.
It is ridiculous for the City to duplicate the county and its is
ridiculous to impact people who paid the money to have an expensive
county-approved system because there were other people who, once upon a
time, dumped their waste into a hole in the ground.
I care about the water quality as much as anyone else and I would
support 210, although I think it is unnecessary for the City to duplicate
the county, but I also support 211. Either
one of them is better than 203 carrying on forever.
David Dumas,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr. Dumas
stated: The checking of septic
tanks is a good source of preventative maintenance.
In other words, it’s not that you have effluent bubbling to the top
of your property, it’s what if you have a crack in your system, which you
cannot smell because it’s underground, yet it does reach to the lake and
the water table. It is not a
thing you can recognize on your own immediately.
John Stead
,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr. Stead
stated: Some of you are familiar
with my propensity for playing by the rules.
I notice that the public notice specified what this hearing was going
to be about and that copies were going to be available at City Hall for us
to review before the meeting. This
evening the Council took action to amend one of those drafts, so that it is
different from what was available to the public at the time of the meeting.
I notice that the Council acted prior to the public hearing, instead
of after the public hearing. I
would suggest that someone should have said “point of order” like they
did earlier, but that didn’t occur. I
am troubled that we are not following the rules.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
responded that he has a letter from the City Attorney’s office stating
that how the notice was given and how the amendment was made is all done in
accordance with the Charter and state statute.
Del Riesenhuber,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr.
Riesenhuber said: Again, these
statements that the State and the County are doing these inspections and
protecting us is simply not true. Your
system is initially approved when it is installed, and it is never seen
again. My system was installed
in the 60’s, and until
Dunes
City
came along and required the inspection, nobody had ever looked at my system.
Those of us who drink water out of
Woahink
Lake
have to be extremely concerned about this septic problem.
Those who draw out of
Siltcoos
Lake
probably have a different perspective. I
am suspecting that those handful of friends over here who are opposed to
this ordinance because they don’t want to spend any money to protect their
water don’t draw their water out of
Siltcoos
Lake
. I spent $16,500 to put in an
Advantix System on my property so that I was doing everything I could to
protect the quality of
Woahink
Lake
. I was not required to do that,
but when I did my home remodel I said to myself, “This is my
responsibility as a citizen of
Dunes
City
.” I am appalled that anyone
would think that it is not their responsibility to make sure our lake is
protected. It is just so absurd
that I can’t even believe that we have this 211 on the agenda.
Darlene Beckman
,
Dunes
City
resident: Mrs. Beckman
stated: I am a citizen that
supports 211. What I have are
comments for your consideration. There
have never been any record available of any septic failures discovered by
either of the past septic ordinances. We
have been asking for statistics, but we have not received those.
I don’t think it is responsible government at all to ask the
citizens to continue these expensive ordinances when there is no actual
proof of the necessity of the inspection to start with, in other words,
there was no research done in an investigative manner that we had a problem
to start with. It was assumed,
not proven. I think it is not
responsible government to ask the citizens to continue with the ordinances
because there are no actual statistics on what we have found due to the
ordinances. Again, we have asked
a number of times how many systems were found failed due to the ordinances.
Was it one? Was it 50?
We have no record of that and no way of tracking it.
I don’t think you can ask the citizens to continue on this without
any justifiable facts and figures behind it.
I think
Lane
County
does a great job in taking care of septic systems; making sure they are
available if you have a problem. I
just don’t think
Dunes
City
needs to be in the septic business right now.
April Dumas,
Dunes
City
resident: Mrs. Dumas
added to her earlier comments: I
just had one last paragraph that I didn’t get to read into the record
earlier. The Coastal Lakes
Watershed Analysis in 1999 stated that
Woahink
Lake
is more susceptible to changes in water quality than any other lake in the
watershed and the most threatening threat to water quality is the amount of
development occurring around the lake. The
Oregon Lakewatch, in 2000, cautioned that Woahink’s continued high
sediment loading and input from septic tank drainfields will lead to
degradation of water quality.
Oregon
’s Department of Land Conservation and Development and its Department of
Environmental Quality jointly stated in 2000 that it is no longer possible
to ignore the connection between urban development and degraded water
quality.
George Burke
,
Dunes
City
resident: Mr. Burke
stated: I am also a member of
the Planning Commission. I was
on the water quality committee when the original septic ordinance was
written. Not 203, the original.
It was expanded in 203. I
am totally opposed to the amendment to make this disappear.
I think you are doing a disservice to the citizens.
The original septic maintenance ordinance was put into effect because
we knew there were 55 gallon drums within 100 feet of the lake or closer
that were acting as septic tanks with no drainfield.
And those were found during that process.
Those systems were hurting the lake.
They were hurting the outlet going into the ocean because they were
found right here in
Westlake
. I witnessed them.
I witnessed them digging them up and putting in new septic systems.
Whether you think the cost of this ordinance to the city or its
citizens is too much, and I’m a strong proponent of citizens rights and
property rights, but I believe that we needed to do the job we did during
that five year period. I am also
on the Ordinance Review Committee that submitted the last ordinance.
The original intent of the septic tank ordinance was to run for five
years, then take all that information from the citizens, what we learned --
how many systems were bad, how many were fixed, how many we didn’t
need to do anything about – take that information we’ve learned.
The Ordinance Review Committee was asked to write a new ordinance.
Duke Wells
was on the committee and worked with us for six or eight meetings.
I believe the new ordinance we came up with is less restrictive.
I also believe it is a lot more common sense.
All it does is mandate what the state laws are and what the industry
says ought to be done with the septic tanks.
One of these problems that we keep talking about is there are a lot
of half time residents. Well
there were a lot of half time residents who didn’t even know they had a
septic tank or what it was until we had the ordinance.
Those were found. Those
people didn’t know they had a septic tank.
Those people moved from metropolitan areas and got a place on the
lake. Never had a septic tank in
their life, didn’t know where it was, didn’t know where the drainfield
was, didn’t know how to take care of it, and were only here part of the
time. I think the City did a
good thing in what they did. I
think it got expanded to where it was overbearing and I think some of these
companies took advantage of the immediate workload they had, but I still
think, all in all, it is something that we needed to do in our area.
Going back, I think that the City needs to have a follow-up plan
after March of 2012, and I think what the committee submitted is a good
plan. It doesn’t mandate
anything more than what the industry has developed and recommends.
The only thing it does is reports to the City.
It will be a lot less costly to the City.
The City will charge fees to pay for its costs for running the
program. It’s a simple
computer program that flags the date when your septic tank needs to be
re-inspected. I know a lot of
people are opposed to it, but I think it is a common-sense effort.
And I’ll let you decide, but I think a lot of things weren’t said
here. I offered to speak
earlier, but I wasn’t called upon, so I opened my big mouth and came up
here. None of us are real happy
with how this thing ended up. There
were some bad cases, but there was a lot of real good results real close to
where we all live. I think it
needed to be done, I really do. Again,
I am opposed to this amendment that repeals this ordinance immediately,
because I think this ordinance needs to follow through this five year cycle.
For all citizens of
Dunes
City
, they have to expect that everybody else is going to follow through the
same situation they were in. I
like the way it was written originally.
I think it is only fair to the people of
Dunes
City
. If you have questions on how
we got here or where we’re at, you can ask me now.
Councilor Koehler
confirmed that Mr. Burke worked on the committee to rewrite the original
ordinance that resulted in 203 in 2010.
Councilor Koehler stated that at the end there were numerous changes
and you also had input from the Water Quality Committee and the Planning
Commission and everyone else. Was
there any reason why Ordinance 210 wasn’t set up crystal clear so you
could spot those changes and additions?
Mr. Burke responded
that the committee wasn’t re-writing 203.
The Committee was tasked to write a new ordinance and that’s what
we did. Mr. Koehler asked if it
was possible for the Committee to provide a comparison summary?
Mr. Burke stated
that the task of re-writing an existing ordinance that is totally flawed in
its numbers and the way it is laid out, etc., it is just easier to write a
new ordinance. After the five
year period of the ordinance, the designers of the original ordinance’s
idea was to take all the information they learned and decide what they
wanted to do. Keep it, change it, do away with it, whatever.
Mr. Burke continued:
The other question I heard is how come we’re in such a big hurry.
This is not a big hurry. We
were tasked to do the work five or six months ago, so it took us six months
to get to this point. It has
been through the City Attorney who made his changes.
We didn’t want to bring an ordinance to the Council that isn’t
legal. So since it was the
assumption there would be something to replace 203 in March of 2012, it
takes that long to get through that process.
We aren’t hurrying anything. It
took us five or six months to get to this point and through all the
re-writes and all your recommendations and decisions, any ordinance is going
to take another three, four or five months .
Well, we’re getting pretty close.
We’ve got to have something ready.
We can’t start the process in March of 2012 to replace the existing
ordinance. I think we did the
proper time period to do this. I
think that’s the one question I heard.
Councilor Koehler
asked why the Water Quality Committee wasn’t consulted on the new
ordinance?
Mr. Burke stated
that it wasn’t in our task. Our
task was to write the ordinance. The
review process is after we write the ordinance, not before.
We came to the Council with what we felt was the best new ordinance
to replace the existing one. Now
the Water Quality Committee can report on it during this period.
They can look at it and make recommendation to the City Council.
That’s what this two month period is for - resolving an ordinance.
This is the time when all the committees can weigh in on it, if not this
month, then next month.
Mary Jo Leach
,
Dunes
City
resident: Mrs. Leach
said: I agree with
Darlene Beckman
. We need to know the
statistics. We have all done
tremendous effort here. My
system was failed when we bought it so we replaced it, and it was within 20
feet of the lake. My concern is
on this list of non-compliance that I got.
The last notice date on here is February of 2011.
Are the notices continuing to be sent out?
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
responded that yes, they are still going out.
He went on to point out that the people who got notices in May and
June, or even April, have no risk of being non-compliant, so they are not on
that list that Mrs. Leach received.
Mrs. Leach
continued. The other thing I
want to state for the benefit of Mr. Floto is that not everyone who is on
the lake has complied, so the assumption that they have is not correct.
Where are we on the process? I
think that is important. One
other comment I had is about a statement in the paper that said many people
have had systems fail after having to have them pumped too early.
I would ask, what did they do when they failed?
What did they have to do?
Councilor Sathe
stated that about half of the failures that have occurred that he has talked
to people about happened within a month after having it pumped because all
of the natural things that break everything down are removed and then all
the gunk goes down into the drainfield and plugs it up.
He went on to state that he has talked to seven people that have had
this happen since they were forced to come under the City’s program.
Mrs. Leach asked if they were then required to go to
Lane
County
and get a permit and all that for a new system.
Councilor Sathe said it wasn’t the system that failed, it was the
drainfield getting plugged up because the system was pumped too soon.
Mrs. Leach stated she would like to hear about those instances and
what those people had to do.
There being no
further public comment, Mayor Ruede closed the public hearing at 9:24 p.m.
Mayor Ruede asked if
there were any questions or comments from the Councilors.
Councilor Wells pointed out that the people who are saying that they
have never had their systems inspected are in error because every time the
system is pumped, it is inspected by a state approved and licensed pumper.
They look for cracks; they check it out; they let you know.
Councilor Koehler
stated it is unusual to hear this come up now, but he is sure it could pass
quite easily. One of the things
he did, because he works websites and was interested in septic systems and
waste, was google septic systems and waste and got six million hits.
All the things he has read from other states, lake associations, etc.
all agree with Councilor Koehler. So,
in his opinion, this ordinance is kind of in left field from what he has
seen in his life and experienced in the scientific field.
Also, Councilor Koehler pointed out, on this particular ordinance,
this is the second ordinance that was supported by Councilor Wells.
The first one was written by Jamie Mills before the first Council
meeting in January, so he expressed interest in seeing why this takes place
from one person. The idea of
septic maintenance or any involvement in the community has to do with our
taking part in a solution. If we
didn’t want to be part of the solution, we wouldn’t be a City, we
wouldn’t require regulation, and we would throw science out with the baby
in the bathwater. The problem
with this ordinance is that we will lose the Water Quality Committee.
The Water Quality Committee will not be here if this goes through.
There will be an elimination of volunteers in this City similar to
what we’ve been seeing for the last three months.
People aren’t showing up. There
isn’t a sense of community.
Mayor Ruede
admonished Council Koehler to limit his comments to the ordinance.
Councilor Koehler
continued. The ordinance has to
do with “we all get along when we all get along” and that this
particular ordinance, in eliminating water quality promotion, will create a
separation and also, possibly, legal problems for the City.
Councilor Sathe
stated from polling the citizens of this community, that if this were up to
a vote, the citizens would eliminate the septic ordinance.
10.
Unfinished/Old Business
Letter
from Mike Cocciolo regarding
Greengate Road
Gap – Councilor Wells reported on the investigation into the
issue. He expressed thanks to
all those who participated in getting the investigation and recommendation
completed. Councilor Wells read
the letter of instruction given to the committee members into the record.
Councilor Wells then read the Committee’s written Finding of Fact
and Recommendation into the record, the recommendation being that the Dunes
City Council should take no further action on
Greengate Road
.
Councilor Sathe moved to adopt the findings and recommendations of the
Ad Hoc Committee on
Greengate Road
, that no further action be taken on
Greengate Road
. The motion was seconded by
Councilor Scarberry. There was
no discussion. The motion passed
unanimously.
The
Mayor instructed the City Recorder to write a letter to Mr. Cocciolo
advising him of the actions that took place this evening.
Comprehensive
Plan & Buildable Lands Inventory Contradiction.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
read a written report on Comprehensive Plan Change Procedures into the
record. Councilor Sathe asked
the City Recorder if the way to approach this, since including the
properties that have expressed an interest in being included would require a
vote of the public, is to include them in the urban growth boundary.
This would show that we were making a stance at trying to have
buildable lands. City Recorder
Fred Hilden
explained that he spoke with Dave Perry at the Department of Land
Conservation and Development (DLCD). Mr.
Perry indicated his thought that the correct thing to do is to go back and
evaluate the buildable lands inventory.
Mr. Perry felt that at this point DLCD isn’t going to look
favorably on an updated Comprehensive Plan because the 2006 buildable lands
inventory is already five years out of date and a lot has happened with the
economy. Mr. Perry thinks the
first order of business is to go back and validate the buildable lands
inventory.
Councilor Koehler
asked the City Recorder if he was able to talk to Mr. Perry about 197.296
regarding the law that says in order to have a buildable lands inventory,
you have to have a population exceeding 25,000 or more, or the surrounding
area has to have 25,000 or more and even Florence doesn’t have to have a
buildable lands inventory. The
City Recorder responded that he did not speak to Mr. Perry specifically
about that, but that Mr. Perry did mention the fact that
Dunes
City
is outside the requirements, but that doesn’t mean
Dunes
City
can’t have one. The Recorder
pointed out that we have one and it was adopted.
Susie Navetta
, an audience member, added that it cost the City $8,000 to $10,000 to do
one. Audience member Paul Floto
disagreed, saying all you have to do is update the one you have by changing
the absorption rate. Mr. Floto
offered to do that for free with a little help from the City Recorder, but
stated that it’s a shame that the original cost the City $8,000 to do it
when it wasn’t needed.
The City Recorder
commented that he would have to look to the Planning Commission for
direction.
Planning Commission
Chairman
Lee Riechel
stated that we still have a contradiction that we need to solve.
He agreed with Councilor Koehler that we have relief of the need for
a buildable lands inventory, but at the same time we are operating under a
Comprehensive Plan that specifically calls out the numbers in the buildable
lands inventory that was done in 1997. Now
we have another one that was approved, so we need to eliminate the
contradiction. He personally
doesn’t believe the buildable lands inventory belongs in the Comprehensive
Plan. A Comprehensive Plan is
supposed to be broader than that. At
the same time, he thinks it is up to the City Council to say which one is
correct at this point in time, and which one the City will use as a basis
for deciding buildable lands for the City.
The Council needs to do that so decisions can be made.
Councilor Koehler
pointed out the 29% vacancy rate in Dunes City reported in the 2010 Census
and asked how the City can justify adding more land, adding “what is the
benefit?”
Florence
gets the tax.
Mr. Riechel
responded the benefit is being able to do a more accurate and complete
planning process when we are looking at these things.
While everyone is sitting in the middle of a housing crunch, the
average housing starts of four or five years ago was 12.
Last year, it was 11. There
is not that much difference. You
don’t see a lot of sales, but there is still a lot of activity going on. Mr.
Riechel thinks the City needs a basis and fact that is approved by the City
and DLCD for that purpose.
George Burke
,
Dunes
City
resident and Planning Commission member.
Mr. Burke stated that Councilor Koehler asked me the same question
last month, and he didn’t have the answer until he was about halfway back
to his seat. What the City gains
is controlling the land. If it
is your land, you get to control it. If
it is the county’s land, the county controls what gets built on it.
The City has no control over it.
Mr. Burke gave an example.
Mary Jo Leach
, Dunes City resident added comments regarding the drop in property
values and the large number of properties available for sale.
She thinks taking in more properties affects her property values.
She also pointed out the additional costs to the City staff time and
stated the numbers appear to be fictitious.
Mr. Reichel added
that somehow the Council got sidetracked and starting talking about the
buildable lands inventory when what is really needed is to set up a citizen
involvement program.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
clarified that Goal 1 is on the agenda under New Business.
Further discussion took place.
Councilor
Wells moved to instruct City staff to work with the Planning Commission to
update the Comprehensive Plan. The
motion was seconded by Councilor Scarberry.
The motion was discussed. The
motion passed with Councilor Koehler opposing.
10.
New Business
Mayor
Ruede brought up the Bills of the Session that had been removed from the
Consent Agenda at the request of Councilor Koehler.
Councilor Koehler asked the City Recorder about the bill from
National Photocopy Corporation being an annual payment when, in the past, it
had been monthly. The City
Recorder explained that there are two bills from National Photocopy
Corporation. The monthly bill is
for the rental of the equipment. This
annual bill is for the maintenance agreement.
Also, Councilor Koehler inquired about the postage for the mailer
that was done, asking the quantity.
The City Recorder indicated 790.
Additionally, Councilor Koehler asked about The Building Department
asking if it was unusual to pay that much when not much building is going
on. The City Recorder replied
that $2,520 is the flat fee that was approved by the Council in January.
Lastly, Councilor Koehler pointed out that the Shippin’ Shack bill
for the flyers is about two and a half times more than what Councilor
Koehler used to pay at another vendor. He
asked why. City Recorder
Fred Hilden
responded that it was because more copies were run, and it was done in
color. Councilor Koehler also
asked for clarification on the $500 septic inspection fees paid and how that
works. The City Recorder
explained that only Wally’s sends in a lump sum for 10 inspections at a
time and the City staff checks against that deposit as the inspection
reports come in. This is done
because often the property owners are out of town and unavailable to write a
check at the time the inspection is submitted.
Councilor
Koehler asked if the costs associated with the newsletter are going to be
duplicated with three issues a year, will there still be a balance left at
the end of the year as there has been in the past?
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
responded he anticipates the account to have a balance or at least break
even as has been the case in the past.
Mayor
Ruede asked the City Recorder if he knows when the copy machine agreements
are due. The City Recorder
indicated 36 months.
Councilor Sathe moved to approve the Bills of the Session as presented.
Councilor
Anderson
seconded the motion.
There was no further discussion and the motion passed by unanimous
vote.
Committee
appointments. Mayor
Ruede announced there are two openings on the Budget Committee and we have
two applicants. City Recorder
Fred Hilden
pointed out that one of the applicants, Mr. Robert Read, specifically
requested appointment to the shorter term.
Councilor Wells moved to appoint Robert Read
to the Budget Committee to serve for a term ending June 30, 2012.
Councilor Sathe seconded the motion.
There was no discussion and the motion passed unanimously.
Mayor
Ruede announced that Paul Floto has applied for the other vacant position on
the Budget Committee.
Councilor
Anderson
moved to appoint Paul Floto to the
Budget Committee to serve for a term ending June 30, 2014.
Councilor Scarberry seconded the motion.
There was no discussion and the motion passed unanimously.
Mayor
Ruede announced that
Gary Lapping
had applied for the Parks and Recreation Commission for the term ending June
30, 2014.
Councilor Scarberry moved to appoint
Gary Lapping
to the Parks and Recreation
Commission for the term ending June 30, 2014.
The motion was seconded by Councilor
Anderson
.
Discussion followed. Councilor
Koehler indicated that he has a problem with Mr. Lapping on the Parks and
Recreation Commission, which he chairs, because Mr. Lapping is not a
full-time resident in
Dunes
City
and meetings have had to be cancelled due to a lack of quorum because Mr.
Lapping was out of town. Councilor
Sathe indicated to Councilor Koehler that since it is his committee,
Councilor Sathe will not vote for the appointment if Councilor Koehler
doesn’t want Mr. Lapping on the committee.
Councilor Koehler indicated he cannot have a committee member that
doesn’t show up half the time. Mayor
Ruede expressed her opinion that during her service as Chairman of the Parks
and Recreation Commission, she found Mr. Lapping to be a very diligent
committee member. He always
advised as to when he needed to leave, as did other members of the
commission. He made it a
practice to pick up trash in the neighborhood on his daily walks and in the
Mayor’s opinion, she sees no reason why he shouldn’t be appointed.
Councilor Koehler agreed that Mr. Lapping does good work, but
Councilor Koehler is anticipating a lot more committee work to be done
during the winter months when Mr. Lapping is gone.
Councilor
Anderson
confirmed Mr. Lapping is a hard worker and he would love to have him on his
committee.
Councilor
Sathe asked Councilor Koehler if he could find somebody else to serve on the
committee that will be here. Councilor
Koehler indicated that yes, he could.
Councilor
Scarberry stated that it was mentioned several times during this meeting
that
Dunes
City
has a hard time finding volunteers to fill committee positions.
He pointed out that we have an application before us and we need to
appoint him.
The motion passed on the following roll-call
vote: Councilors Wells, Anderson
and Scarberry voted aye and Councilors Sathe and Koehler voted no.
Mayor
Ruede instructed City Recorder
Fred Hilden
to contact all of the new appointees and advise them of their appointments.
Audit
vs Review for Fiscal Year 2010-2011.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
reported that the versions of ORS 297.435 that the Budget Committee was
operating under at the time of establishing the budget was a 2009 version.
ORS 297.435 has been changed by the legislature and is established by
expenditures only. The City
Recorder read the provision into the record which allows a City to do a
review instead of a full audit when total expenditures exceed $150,000 a
year, but do not exceed $500,000 per year. The
City Recorder is now asking the Council as to whether they still wish to
proceed with a full audit, or if they want to do a review only to save the
City $5,330.
Councilor Sathe moved that the City do a
review instead of a full audit for this fiscal year.
Councilor Wells seconded the motion.
There was no discussion and the motion passed unanimously.
Memorandum
Regarding Standing Commissions and Committees.
City Recorder
Fred Hilden
reported that this memorandum was submitted by Councilor Mills and
essentially read the memorandum verbatim into the record.
Mayor Ruede asked if the councilors had had an opportunity to
adequately consider this or if they would like to continue this to a future
meeting where Councilor Mills can be present and give input.
Councilor Wells moved to table the issue to a later date.
Councilor
Anderson
seconded the motion.
There was no discussion and the motion passed unanimously.
Councilor
Anderson
suggested the Council have a work session to discuss this question.
Goal
1 (Comprehensive Plan & Citizen Involvement Program.
Planning Commission Chairman
Lee Riechel
came forward and presented background information.
Mr. Riechel encouraged the Council members review the Planning
Handbook in the office, which sets out the state’s requirements for
citizen input. The document
presented to the Council this evening is based upon the state’s
requirements and process. This
will be a change to Goal 1. of the Comprehensive Plan.
The request is for the Council to understand what this planning
process is and then to give direction to the Planning Commission and Staff
to put together a ordinance for a citizens involvement program and a
resolution to amend the Comprehensive Plan.
Councilor
Koehler asked what is wrong with the way the Comprehensive Plan is written
now?
Mr.
Riechel explained that the Comprehensive Plan does not well define the
functions of the CCI. The
citizens involvement in any of our activities may involve a group of
volunteers and may involve elected and appointed officials, but it may also
involve outside appointed experts to do a certain task.
There is nothing in the Comp Plan that addresses that.
The CCI that we use now makes it extremely hard to get anything
accomplished because the vote changes from meeting to meeting, depending
upon who shows up. That slows
down the process and may never result in any action being taken.
We can set it up that way, but we don’t have to set it up that way.
Mayor Ruede asked if examples from other small cities had been
investigated. Mr. Riechel
indicated he thought Lisa Ekelund had done some research along those lines,
but that nothing was really applicable to
Dunes
City
.
Councilor
Koehler doesn’t see the necessity of amending the Comprehensive Plan when
it sounds like it is more of a question of changing ordinances to reflect
the procedures. Mr. Riechel
responded by saying that may be a possibility.
Perhaps the City could pass a resolution that identifies an
administrative procedure that details everything we want to do as far as
committees, committee reviews, committee appointments, etc.
Mayor
Ruede asked if a resolution would satisfy Goal 1?
Mr.
Riechel explained that from the information obtained from DLCD, once you
have a Goal 1 specified in an approved Comprehensive Plan, you’re pretty
much free to do whatever you want to implement that, so there is a
possibility that we could tie things down and still be within the
Comprehensive Plan.
Councilor Sathe indicated he would like to
see it in a resolution form, rather than a memorandum, and moved that the
Staff go ahead with the Planning Commission to make the memorandum into a
resolution form so the Council can act on it.
Councilor Wells seconded the motion.
Councilor
Koehler asked Mr. Riechel how well the CCI has been used in the last six
months. Mr. Riechel did not know
as he had not been involved in one because one hasn’t been defined for the
work that the Planning Commission is doing.
He explained that the Planning Commission is taking a big chunk of
the Code and reviewing it right now. While
it is a public meeting and open,
Dunes
City
has no rules and regulations on how to provide for public involvement.
Mr. Riechel would like to see a policy on public involvement before
the Planning Commission gets more deeply involved.
Councilor
Koehler asked who is going to be writing the resolution.
Mr. Riechel indicated due to the cut in Staff, it is going to have to
be a joint effort between Staff and the Planning Commission.
Mayor Ruede asked Councilor Koehler to be a part of that process.
He agreed.
Mayor Ruede called for the question.
The motion passed by unanimous vote.
12. Unscheduled
Items Not Listed on the Agenda
Councilor
Sathe brought up an issue involving the
Dunes
City
boy, Trevor Denning, who was recently seriously injured.
He explained that citizens in the City of
Florence
have been holding several fundraisers for him.
He stated that Trevor is paralyzed from the waist down.
A number of contractors have volunteered to do work to make
modifications to his home here in
Dunes
City
to account for the disability and make life easier for him.
Some of the contractors came to Councilor Sathe and asked if the City
would donate the permit fees so they can do the construction.
Mayor
Ruede responded that she had asked the City Recorder to look into the
legalities of the City donating its fees, as well as how much we might be
talking about. The City Recorder
reported that he received the plans on Tuesday.
The permit fees have been calculated to be $1,024, which does not
include the
Dunes
City
surcharge or the 12% state surcharge on the four permits.
According to the building official,
Dunes
City
has the right to waive permit fees, so as far as the surcharge goes, 12% of
zero is zero, there is no state surcharge.
If the Council wants to waive the permit fees, the permits would all
be done at no charge. If the
Council wanted to include something for the inspections that will have to be
done, the City could charge them for that, although inasmuch as the City is
currently on a flat rate with The Building Department, LLC, there is no
incremental expense for doing those inspections.
Mayor
Ruede stated it seems to her that this is an opportunity for the City to
show its support for this young man who has had a life altering experience.
Councilor
Koehler would like to see this issue on next month’s agenda as a
legitimate item. There is a need
in the community to communicate things that may not be so nice to hear and
to give people information about the hazards that allow people to take on
these injuries so as to avoid others suffering the same result.
He also suggested that the Communications and Education Committee and
webmaster collaborate to find some way to make the information known about
the hazards of what caused this young man’s malady.
A
discussion was had regarding the urgency and necessity of having a special
meeting for this issue. City
Recorder
Fred Hilden
suggested that a motion be made to allow Staff to hold permit fees in
suspension until the next council meeting.
Councilor Sathe moved to allow Staff to hold permit fees in suspension
until after the next council meeting. Councilor
Anderson
seconded the motion.
No further discussion was had and the motion passed unanimously.
13. Executive Session
Mayor
Ruede announced there is no Executive Session scheduled.
14.
Adjournment
There
being no further business to come before the City Council, Councilor
Anderson
moved to adjourn the meeting.
The motion was not seconded and no vote was taken.
Mayor
Ruede adjourned the meeting of the Dunes City Council at 10:40 p.m.
APPROVED BY THE DUNES
CITY
COUNCIL
ON THE 11th DAY OF AUGUST
2011.
[ Signed copy available at City Hall ]
Rebecca Ruede
, Mayor
ATTEST:
[ Signed copy available at City Hall ]
Fred Hilden
, City Recorder
Communication & Education Committee
Report to Council
July 14, 2011
The Communication and Education Committee met
but lacked a quorum. We had a
good discussion. We still need
new members on this committee.
We sent out the Scotch Broom flyers to all
Dunes
City
property owners. Thanks to
Mary Jo Leach
and
Sally Hilden
for hours spent preparing flyers for mailing.
The News Letter was printed, assembled and
prepared for mailing with many hours of volunteer work from Councilor Jamie
Mills,
Mary Jo Leach
and
Sally Hilden
. It should be received by everyone before the Council meeting.
The Communication and Education Committee
will meet when we can get a quorum together.
Dick Anderson, Chairman
ORDINANCE
REVIEW COMMITTEE REPORT
JULY
14, 2011
The Ordinance Review Committee met twice in
the month of June.
The recommendations made by the City Attorney
regarding the draft Septic Ordinance were considered.
The draft ordinance was finalized and submitted to the City Council
with a recommendation of approval.
Work began on the Septic Evaluators and
Inspectors License draft ordinance.
The committee still awaits the
recommendations from the City Attorney review of the Code Enforcement
Ordinance.
Discussions were had regarding the need to
standardize the language for the formation of committees.
The committee sent written request to the City Council for
identification as to which committees it desires to continue and which are
no longer needed.
Review of the proposed fee and deposit
schedule submitted by staff was begun and will continue at the next meeting
scheduled for Monday, July 25th, at 9:00 a.m.
Council President Jamie Mills
Parks and Recreation
Report 7-14-11
The Parks and Recreation Commission met on
June 20th
Susie Navetta
was officially welcomed as a new member.
We discussed problems with the signs in three
locations with the contractor. Photos and improvements will be added to the
kiosk. The balance that is due the contractor by the City will be considered
in a cost equation versus new signs. Taking time in the approval processes
was recommended for future bids as well as a greater number of bids. Artists
in the community will be contacted for their ideas.
We reviewed our duties as per Ordinance 104
and talked about the direction and clarity that the Comprehensive Plan gives
to our duties.
We reviewed the eight RV and motel businesses
visitor’s use in our area. Helping local businesses with mutual promotion
would also help recreational interests and the City. Adding hospitality
information at the kiosk was advised.
Overgrown grass in
Byrd
Park
was cut, yet unknown to us, someone over-cut the trees. Trimming trees for
visibility that will enable safety and visibility is a future project.
Gary
Lapping
will help with that. Redesigning the tire swing will also be considered.
Articles for the newsletter and website will
be considered for the future.
The warning signs that Mimi Tizzard had worked
on previously regarding wild animals cannot be included on county right of
ways. Other ways to include these signs include posting by local property
owners, the website and newsletters.
My thanks to all our Commissioners for their
input and support.
Our next meeting will be 7-25-11 at 4:00 p.m.
Revenue Committee Report to Council
July 14, 2011
Ed Scarberry
Our meeting for June 23, 2011 at 3:30 pm was
not held. There was no quorum of the members present.
All June 23 agenda items were pushed forward
to the July 28th meeting
Road
Chairman's Report to City Council
July 14, 2011 ~ Prepared by
Troy
Sathe
, Road Chairman
The Road Commission
met on June 20th at 6:30 pm at
Dunes
City Hall
. All members were present except Mike Smith who was excused.
Commissioner Curran
and Commissioner Tucker gave a report on road ownership.
The Road Commission
approved the bid from Gary Baker to revise the Master Road Plan.
The Road Commission
discussed 2011-2012 road projects and will decide on the priorities at
July’s Road Commission Meeting.
The Road Commission
did some tree clean up in the right-of-way on
Wright Road
and took care of a dead tree on Little Woahink Drive.
The
next Road
Commission meeting will be at 6:30 pm July 18th at
Dunes
City Hall
. Anyone with interest in the roads please attend.
Thank you,
Troy Sathe
, Road Commission Chair
City Recorder Report to City Council
July 14, 2011 ~ Prepared by Fred Hilden
During June the 2011-2012 Fiscal Year Budget
was completed and adopted by the City Council. Fiscal year end for 2010-2011
was also completed and I am pleased to report that we will complete the year
more than $62,000 under budget in Materials and Services and approximately
$12,000 under budget in Personal Services, even considering nearly $6,000
for severance expense for the Planning Secretary.
A substantial amount of time was spent on the
final two Road projects for the year with the Fir Lane Drainage and Master
Road Plan Update projects both being let. Leisure Excavating was awarded the
Fir Lane Drainage project and as of June 30th, their work is nearly
complete. Gary Baker of Archetype Consultants was awarded the Master Road
Plan Update project and will begin the project by conducting a work session
to determine the changes required.
Bills of the Session are more than $10,000
higher than Receipts of the Session this month as several budgeted annual
expenses come due at this time of year. The severance layoff expense also is
a major contributor to the difference. As of the preparation of Council
packets, no invoice was available from our City Attorney, Speer Hoyt.
The primary challenge facing staff at this
time are how best to restructure work load without a Planning Secretary.
Haley Nelson will pick up most of the routine tasks of issuing building
permits and scheduling inspections, as well as assisting the Planning
Commission wherever possible. We are budgeted for 111 hours per week (2.78
full time equivalent employees) and currently operating at 85 hours per
week. It seems obvious that some additional staff will be needed to keep
from going backwards with our accomplishments.
Finally, with the staffing changes we have
undergone this month, we need to update job descriptions and finalize a pay
scale matrix for City Council approval.
Respectfully submitted,
Fred Hilden
City Recorder
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