Communities, Front Page, Oakridge/Westfir

City Council praises work done to date, though still figuring out how to move forward

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Oakridge City Hall Herald Photo

By GARY CARL/ For The Herald — Oakridge City Council meeting Thursday, December 16. 2021

Mayor Holsten called the meeting to order at 7 pm and asked Police Chief Martin to lead the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag. City Recorder Jackie Simms then called the roll. All councilors were present.

There were no additions, corrections or adjustments to the agenda except 10.1.3 the “National Forest Grant”, was deleted and deferred for future discussion; and 10.1.4 the Osprey Disc Golf Course had not been sufficiently posted and therefor was not discussed or moved on at this time.

Mayor Holston thanked Lynda Kamerrer & Gary Carl for their donation of this year’s Christmas Tree.

She commented on how much the community enjoyed the “Tree Lighting” event.

Holston also thanked the Red Cross & Commissioner Heather Buch for participating along with the Oakridge Fire Department in distributing smoke detectors to various homes In Oakridge. Holston reminded citizens that there are free smoke alarms available for residents and anyone interested should check the City’s web page for details.

Holston then asked Councilor Hollett to comment on the “Light Parade”, since Councilor Hollett had been the coordinator for this event.  Councilor Hollett thanked all who participated in the Light Parade, pointing out there were some new groups this year including “Side-by-Sides” & the Girl Scouts.

At this point Councilor Coker was excused from the meeting.

Item 8.2 “November Financial Report” was not discussed because there was no one to give the report.

BUSINESS FROM THE CITY COUNCIL:

There was no City Administrator update since the CA is on vacation.

There are currently two searches by the city:

  1. There is a posting for a Finance Director.  There are no applicants for this position at this writing.
  2. An RFP (Request for Proposal) for a City Engineer of Record. This search is currently open and does not end until the end of this month.

Councilor Kinyon asked about the “Safety Fee” not being included with the water bills.  She thought that these separate fees would be included with the water bill mailing.  Ms. Simms explained that this isn’t possible since the bills must be printed and mailed separately.   They have completed the data entry and the bills will be mailed out on December 22nd.

Councilor Kinyon requested that the council review this process at a future meeting.

Mayor Holston reminded citizens that applications for a “Fee Waiver” are available on the City’s website.

Councilor Kinyon had some questions for the Finance Director but since he wasn’t available, she proposed sending him an email.  She asked how long the current Finance Director would be working for the city.  Mayor Holston said that the Finance Director was going to remain working for the city until the end of February and was slated to leave at the same time as the CA.

Next, the Council took up 10.1.1 which was a request for a fee waiver, submitted by Councilor Hollett, for the use of the Greenwaters Community Building.  Her request was for the Eugene Performing Arts Center, who hopes to be offering dance classes to the children in Oakridge.  The dance classes are to be offered every Wednesday & Friday, January through June 2022.  While the lost revenue from rental is estimated at $1,840, there was no consideration to the cost to the city for operating the building for example: (i.e.: heating the building, opening and closing, routine custodial services).  Presumably these costs will be absorbed by the community at large, meaning all the citizens of Oakridge.  Furthermore, there was no discussion regarding the cost per child to be charged by the Eugene Performing Arts Center and/or whether there would be a sliding scale for the fees being charged to lower income families.

The council voted in favor of Councilor Kinyon’s motion to allow the fee Waiver amended by Councilor Bjornson to allow the fee waiver, and transfer the costs from TRT funds.  All councilors voted in favor except for Mayor Holston who voted against.

10.1.2. A change order was submitted for the installation of signage by Alpine Stream Construction in the sum of $24,500.  The change is necessitated by the previous omission of mounting hardware and installation of cultured stone at the base of each sign.  All funds for the design, construction and installation of signage have been funded by a grant.  The additional costs were recommended by Robeart Chrisman, Public Works Director, as being reasonable and necessary.

The council voted unanimously to approve the work change order.

10.1.3    National Forest Grant.   Temporarily Withdrawn.

10.1.4    Osprey Disc Golf Course.  Tabled due to insufficient notice.

10.2       Community Services update:

Counselor Whitney reported on activities of the Community Services Committee.  They have been exploring the possibility of electric car charging station(s) at Banner Park.  Also, Lynda Kamerrer has been working on a design for Banner Park which has grown out of her permaculture class.  Jason Nehmer is suggesting an expansion of the number of disc golf baskets at Osprey Park. Eugene Cathcart is working on a new pump track at Diamond View Park. The committee is applying for grant funds for the canal trail to expand the local trails system.

10.3       Police Department update:

367 calls for service in November. A meeting was held with LRAPA to talk about smoke enforcement & smoke education.  Shop with a cop has been a big success this year.

10.4       Fire Department update:

Red Cross is working to get smoke detectors out into the community.

10.5       Public Works update:

Our I & I (inflow and infiltration) infrastructure is deteriorating quickly. To improve hillside drainage maintenance, public works is planning to institute bioswales to prevent polluting the river. The four broken windows at the WAC have been repaired. Public works got the heat running at the WAC, but it’s going to be very expensive. They also installed the donated Christmas tree at Banner Bank Park for the Tree Lighting program.

We are NOT ready for large scale snowstorm emergency. The city doesn’t have the equipment nor the personnel.  They are trying to find a large generator for emergencies. A grant for the purchase of the generator has been secured through what was a very competitive grant process. Very few of the grant applicants were accepted due to the complexity of the grant application. However, the CA’s resolve ended with Oakridge being awarded sufficient funding for the badly needed emergency backup generator.

15. Work session – city administrator recruitment:

The Council spent time discussing the wording for the “position description” and timeline for recruiting a city administrator to replace Bryan Cutchen. Cutchen has given the city his resignation, effective the end of February 2022.

The Mayor & Councilor Hollett met with Brenda Wilson, Executive Director of LCOG in an effort to determine the process and steps necessary for recruitment of a City Administrator.  LCOG is committed to helping the city as they work through the process.  There are several options the council has with regard to locating and hiring a new CA.

16. Public comment:

The mayor opened the meeting for public comment at which time Sissy Cutchen, the City Administrator’s wife, offered her unabashed opinion regarding the city council and particularly counselor Kinyon.  Ms. Cutchen’s remarks can be visited in another article reported in the Highway 58 Herald reported by Dan Rea and can also be accessed as public record via the city’s website.

Gary Carl is a graduate of Penn State University with a degree in Journalism. He later graduated from the University of Oregon Law School and practiced Law for several years before being appointed Justice of the Peace for Lane County. He is a former Oakridge City Councilman. Gary retired in 2012 and lives in Oakridge with his best friend and companion, Lynda Kamerrer.

 

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George Custer lives in Oakridge with his wife Sayre. George is a former smokejumper from his hometown of Cave Junction, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. and ran a construction company in Southern California. George assumed the volunteer duties as the Editor of the Highway 58 Herald in 2022. He loves riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, building all things wood, and playing drums on the weekends in his office.

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