Divided Oakridge City Council rejects supplemental budget for 2021-22 and chooses new city engineer

By MARK HOWARD/For The Herald –At the end of a long, sometimes heated discussion that resulted in a council member leaving the Zoom meeting Thursday night, the Oakridge City Council voted three-to-two against adopting the 2021-22 supplemental budget offered by City Administrator Bryan Cutchen.

Opposition came from some citizens and council members who questioned why public safety fee funds were deposited into the city’s general budget rather than being allotted specifically for public safety. Cutchen explained that it’s more efficient to deposit those funds into the general budget rather than to put them into the fire department’s emergency services and transfer them into the general fund to give half to the police.

“Revenue comes into the general fund, and it gets distributed,” he said. “We will account for every dollar we take in in the emergency services fee and ensure that money is directed toward public safety.”

Council member queries budget cuts

Councilor Dawn Kinyon challenged cuts to the public safety services budget and questioned the integrity of the agreement that the level of public safety for the community would not be compromised. Cutchen reminded her that the council had agreed upon a number and it was understood there would be cuts to the budget. He said the original deficit was around $500,000 and the expected revenue from the $22 monthly fee would only be about $159,000.

“I said they would receive the same level of public safety. I did not say the funding would be exactly the same,” said Cutchen. “You haven’t given me the resources to keep the funding exactly the same.”

Mayor Kathy Holston offered her perspective.

“The proof of this will be: Are our services being maintained? Are we giving our community the services they have had in the past, and [are we] able to continue doing the same? It’s going to be tough,” she said. “We all knew that negotiating down the amount that was acceptable to the council would result in continued cuts.”

Disgruntled councilor leaves meeting before the budget vote

Just before the council voted on the budget, Kinyon once again pointed to public safety budget cuts and insisted that the supplemental budget was flawed.

“I think this is a poorly written supplemental budget,” said Kinyon. “We’re being asked to violate our own ordinance, and I’m not willing to do that.”

When the mayor asked Kinyon why she believed it would violate an ordinance, Kinyon attempted to validate her claim.

“Our ordinance states that we are going to be providing, or that we need this fee for public safety, and we’re not transferring any money from the fee to the fire department number one, which is public safety,” said Kinyon. “We would be doing our community a disservice by using that money for general fund expenses which is what this supplemental proposes.”

In response, the mayor repeated what Cutchen had already explained about the city’s commitment to maintaining public safety at the same level and admitted her frustration over council members’ refusal to acknowledge that commitment.

“There is no underhanded thing going on. There is no money being scraped someplace else. All the departments are being asked to reduce. Our city administrator has gone above and beyond to try to make reductions in every area in city expenditures,” Holston said. “And yet we don’t acknowledge that. And we don’t even agree that he’s even doing that, which creates an illusion in the community of distrust.”

After arguing that she was cut off by the mayor, Kinyon said she voted nay and left the Zoom meeting. Councilor Audy Spliethof tried to get Kinyon’s vote counted but was denied because she wasn’t present for the vote.

It was about 9:30 p.m. when the council finally voted. Councilors Melissa Bjarnson, Spliethof and Michelle Coker voted against the budget. Councilor Whitney and Mayor Holston voted for it.

Council rejects committee recommendation, chooses new engineer

Members reasoned it was time for a change before the council voted four-to-three to give Civil West the contract for city engineer in opposition to a city committee’s recommendation to keep Curran-McCleod. Before the vote, Mayor Holston listed reasons not to change engineers.

She explained that of the three choices, Curran-McCleod was: the least expensive; the only one that didn’t charge for travel expenses; has the most knowledge of Oakridge systems; was recommended by the committee; has a good working relationship with city staff; and has demonstrated a dedicated commitment to Oakridge. She argued against incurring more costs when the budget is already strained.

“We are looking at going with a new engineer who we know will have longer times because they will have to get up to speed on our systems,” she said, “as well as charging us travel expenses and whose fees are higher than the fee schedule for Curran-McCleod.”

Keg & Cask granted rental fee waiver at new fundraising venue

After deliberation, the city council voted to waive the $200 building rental fee for the Keg & Cask Festival fundraising event that annually helps the Food Box program of the Upper Willamette Community Development Corporation. The event that is normally an August street fair was canceled last year because of the pandemic and was canceled this year because of nearby wildfires. It was moved to Nov. 6 and, because of predicted rain, will be held at the former public works shop at 47899 Highway 58. Keg & Cask chair Amy Kelley explained that the bands and volunteers will occupy the building and there will be tents set up to cover participants and vendors.

She described her objective:

“I’m on a mission. We didn’t have one last year, and the Food Box needs this money this year, so I’m trying to salvage anything we can,” she said. “That was the best space for parking and to set up our tents.”

Oakridge, Westfir to join forces and share costs

The council approved the Westfir police and fire protection intergovernmental agreement that will incorporate additional Westfir public safety fees of over $18,000 into the public safety budget. The agreement was amended to account for low-income families exempt from the fee after Westfir officials raised objections. The Westfir City Council is expected to review the amended agreement at its November meeting.

At the Westfir council’s Oct. 4 meeting, Oakridge officials sought to renegotiate the agreements in which Westfir would pay the larger city about $57,000 this year for police, fire and ambulance services. Oakridge wants to increase that amount to create fairness for Oakridge households and businesses that will soon begin paying a temporary $22-a-month public safety fee, collected from each water customer, to maintain current services.

The increase proposed by Oakridge’s Cutchen was $24,640. He computed it by multiplying Westfir’s 140 water meters by $22.

Westfir councilors, while supporting the idea of their city paying more for Oakridge services, said that number was too high because it didn’t account for low-income Westfir residents who would be exempt from the monthly fee if they were living in Oakridge.

Council approves new member for library board

The council voted unanimously to appoint Jessica Atkins to the library board. Atkins said her motivation for applying at the library is sentimental.

“I’m a big fan of the library here. I think it has a lot of room to grow, and there are a lot of beautiful things happening there,” she said. “And I’m a long-time reader and a lover of books.”

Mark Howard is a graduate of the University of Oregon, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in cultural anthropology. Besides reporting and writing, he produces video and audio stories and is an experienced photojournalist.