City of Winlock
Regular Council Meeting
April 28, 2014
Page 22
CITY OF WINLOCK
CITY COUNCIL
Regular Council Meeting – 6:30 p.m.
April 28, 2014
1. CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Dowell called the Regular Council Meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Council Members present: Barbara Pedersen, Sarah Gifford, Jerry Rader, Sam Patrick and Aaron Mummert.
Employees present: Theda Curry, Clerk Treasurer; Terry Williams, Chief of Police; Gregg Robinson Public Works Superintendant and Erin Hillier, City Attorney
2. DETERMINATION OF QUORUM
There was a quorum present.
3. FLAG SALUTE
Mayor Dowell led the flag salute.
4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Councilor Pedersen made a motion to approve the Agenda, Councilor Mummert second, motion carried.
5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
April 14, 2014 – Regular Council Meeting
Councilor Rader made a motion to approve the minutes from the Regular Council Meeting held on April 14, 2014, Councilor Pedersen second, motion carried.
6. OLD BUSINESS
1. Water Leak Detection Update
Mayor Dowell stated, “The water leak detection has been completed for the city. Numerous places have been identified. The biggest one is a fifteen gallon per minute just up the road here. We have bids in for...that is actually number six on the Agenda but we do have a couple of bids in. We can take care of that when we get to it. I just wanted to let you know that there are numerous leaks. We have identified it and we are going to get this one fixed just up the road here within the next week or two.”
2. Pump Station Property Acquisition
Mayor Dowell stated, “We are still in a holding pattern waiting on Fannie May to release the property and then we can move forward from that.”
3. Public Works Sing Purchase Update
Mayor Dowell stated, “The Public Works sign purchase, we are still waiting on them to come in.
4. Wastewater Treatment Plant Parts Update
Mayor Dowell stated, “The part that came in two weeks ago was the wrong one. The right one came in now. They are going to install it I believe at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. The brushes you guys authorized the purchase of, they are being welded on to the screw and that will be delivered…they are trying to schedule that up so that will be delivered within the next week, we are hoping.”
5. Update on Park Caretakers
Mayor Dowell stated, “I believe the trailer is in. There was a problem with the electrical portion of hooking the trailer up.”
Ms. Curry stated, “When they took the singlewide out to put the RV in they changed the wiring so it had to be changed back and I guess there was some damage to the old wiring. It was about three hundred dollars worth of materials.”
Mayor Dowell stated, “The city paid the three hundred dollars in order to get the wiring harness hooked back up to support the singlewide.”
Ms. Curry stated, “I think they are right down to the wire. I think they are just waiting for inspections.”
Mayor Dowell stated, “I have not been out there in a couple of weeks. From what I hear they were putting the skirting on and so everything should be good to go just as soon as soon as they finish their inspections.”
Councilor Pedersen asked, “How did it get damaged?”
Ms. Curry stated, “They changed it from a hookup for a singlewide to a hookup for an RV. When they went to change it back, they found that there was some damaged old wire. It had nothing to do with the caretakers.”
7. MAYOR/COUNCIL COMMENTS
Mayor Dowell stated, “We are looking into potentially getting a bailey bridge so that we can put it across Fir Street. Not necessarily open it up to vehicle traffic, but it will at least allow the people to walk across it. If we allow people to walk across the Bailey bridge, now we are not sure if we have to make it ADA compliant or not. Depending upon how far out the Bailey bridge goes into the intersection is whether or not we will be able to make it ADA compliant if it is even required. That is something that I think Gregg Robinson and or Terry were checking into. We are also looking into buying a more permanent fence. I have not presented that to you guys yet but that will be in the next packet. We are getting quotes on six foot by twelve foot cyclone fence panels that we will put up to block it off. It will be a more permanent thing since the bridge is going to be closed for an extended period of time.”
8. PUBLIC COMMENT – NON AGENDA ITEMS
There was no public comment on non-agenda items.
9. AGENDA ITEMS
1. Richard Oxford – Abandoned Water Sewer Connection – 109 Laurel Avenue
Mr. Oxford stated, “I was just wanting to see if there is any kind of change we can do to it. I am just buying the property on an owner contract so pretty much this six thousand dollar hookup fee is going to kill the deal for me. I have already got money. I got the electrical inspections going. My power is going to be hooked up within the next week. I literally found out about your guys six thousand dollar hookup fee. I have never heard of it before. It smacked me in the face, hard. I guess if I could pay the revenue that was lost over the ten years it would be five months. If there is some way to make payments to it or a waiver for it. Pretty much nobody is getting any money out of it right now. I will start paying the water bills as soon as I can get water hooked up. Most of the other cities around, there are a couple cities that do have fees. They start somewhere…Napavine has nothing. Toledo they are putting in a new water sewage plant so they have a fee, which is $229.00 a month. After a year if you do not pay it every month then you have to pay a nine thousand dollar fee. Chehalis has a fee of $70.00 per month and then after two months they will pull your meter. After they let that $71.00, build up over time so if it gets above their hookup fee then it adds up they will let you pay their hookup fees. Castle Rock is nothing. Tumwater is nothing. Rochester, I called, I literally could not get an answer out of the lady so I have no idea what they have there. Longview, Kelso, Kalama, everything going north there is no fees. I really had no idea about this fee. I was wondering if there is anything that can be done about it.”
Councilor Pedersen asked, “And you are buying this on an owner contract?”
Mr. Oxford stated, “Yeah and literally I sold a hotrod to buy this. If I had known about this fee I would not have sold my car.”
Councilor Pedersen asked, “What about the owner?”
Mr. Oxford stated, “The owner had no idea about it. I have tried to pull records of anything showing that there was anything ever sent out. There are no copies. Literally, it is a six thousand dollar piece of paper. There are no copies of it. I cannot get a copy of it. It is lost, not found, never sent, I do not know. I was asking for the previous owner and the previous owner before that. There is nothing. I am not saying that it was not ever sent it is just that is an important piece of paper saying that you are going to loose your water rights. The owner now had no idea about it. Literally, when we looked at the meter the power was the major thing to me. I called the power, had everything, and got that rolling. I never even thought about the water. He is paying his water bill. Two years ago, it was subdivided. It was all one property up until about two years ago. Two years ago, I do not have the exact date but it was subdivided out. It had a boundary adjustment line. The warehouse right behind Laurel he owns as well and that was all one parcel until two years ago. It was recorded at the county two years ago. He had it recorded the end of 2011. It is kind of dates and there is nothing, you guys did not even have anything on record in you guy’s courthouse until I came in and started poking around and going hey, I know it is done. Mike Parish had it all done. He has got papers. That is when it was found out that it was done from you guys. There is nothing on title reports.”
Councilor Gifford asked, “And there is nothing in the past meetings either, past minutes?”
Ms. Curry asked, “For what, the boundary line adjustment?”
Councilor Gifford asked, “The Board would have had to of voted on that right to consider it to be abandoned?”
Ms. Curry stated, “No, it is two years.”
Mr. Oxford stated, “There has been no service since 2003. It has been a little over ten years.”
Ms. Curry stated, “It is in the ordinance. After two years it becomes abandoned.”
Mr. Oxford stated, “I guess I would see if it would be like I guess two hundred dollars a month and you would add up to that six thousand somewhere along the line. Every other city has it to where sooner or later you are going to pay that hookup fee whether the monthly fee add up over time. This just kind of smacks me in the face. I have no problem paying the lost revenue. Even at today’s price, I will pay the lost revenue, which would be five months. I am just kind of stuck in the mud.”
Councilor Mummert asked, “What is five months?”
Mr. Oxford stated, “It would be ten years of no service. The lost revenue for the city would be one month every two years.”
Ms. Curry stated, “It would be one billing cycle.”
Mr. Oxford stated, Yeah, one billing cycle so it would be…did it say one billing cycle or one month?”
Ms. Curry stated, “It is one billing cycle.”
Mr. Oxford stated, “So it would be ten months.”
Mayor Dowell stated, “One billing cycle covers a two month period.”
Mr. Oxford stated, “Okay, so ten billing cycles. That part I don’t have any problem paying.”
Mayor Dowell stated, “It would still be the five. One billing cycle is a two month every two years. If it has been abandoned…I talked with you in the past and you told me you would be willing to pay the five billing cycles that would cover the ten years of lost revenue.”
Mr. Oxford stated, “It would…there is lost money. Do not get me wrong. There is like lost money there. Six thousand is just kind of a kick in the teeth. It is kind of…gees.”
Mayor Dowell stated, “I do know that members of the Council are trying to get to a position to revise or repeal and replace this ordinance. That takes time. I know you are looking to move in June.”
Mr. Oxford stated, “The end of June.”
Mayor Dowell stated, “Depending on how fast they can get the…
Mr. Oxford stated, “I will go knock on doors and get signed petitions. I do not have a problem doing the footwork if that is what it takes.”
Mayor Dowell stated, “I don’t think we need petitions or anything. You are more than welcome to do that but I do not think we need petitions in order to change a city ordinance.”
Mr. Oxford stated, “I know there are others. I put a thing on Face Book and a lot of people took it every which way. I was trying just to stick to that and I did not want to get all sideways about it. I guess the biggest thing is you know if someone passes and cannot get in the house for two years. Then all of a sudden they get everything situated and they move in the house and if they are like anybody else if they aren’t going to get the water turned on they are moving.”
Mayor Dowell asked, “So what are you asking of the Council right now specifically? Like I said, I know that they are you know…”
Mr. Oxford stated, “If I can just pay the lost revenue and just get the water turned on is what I would like.”
Mayor Dowell stated, “That is not my call. Per our city ordinance, you cannot. It is supposed to be the whole thing. That is why we are trying to change the ordinance. If you can wait until the ordinance gets changed.”
Mr. Oxford asked, “A time frame on that?”
Mayor Dowell stated, “However fast the Council moves on that. I do not have…gathering information takes time. Sending it to the Lawyer takes time and money. That is where we are at.”
Ms. Hillier stated, “If I could add a little bit of information. This is an issue that is coming up for the city but it has come up for a lot of our other cities recently, Chehalis, Tenino and other ones. They have all looked at their ordinances. Most of them are consistent with state statute that requires four month of delinquency before a meter can be pulled. At that point, most cities that I have researched have ordinances that state that in order to get that hooked back up it is not just simply a reconnection fee. It is a new service, which also gets in to several thousand dollars because it has been delinquent for so long. I know that cities often purge records after a period of time. I am not sure if that happened in this case. The City Council is the only…the governing body is the only body that can make any adjustments to those fees and usually cannot waive base rates whatsoever. They can look at interest and penalties but it is all basically controlled by ordinance until that changes.”
Mr. Oxford stated, “I guess it would be nice to see what cities. I know going south there is nothing. I know a couple of cities; they could not believe the ordinance. They were laughing. That was at City Hall when I was calling and explaining the story and it was just like that is ridiculous.”
Ms. Hillier stated, “If you are within the jurisdiction though you are subject to that code. That is what is in place for all of the residents here. You find that often when a home is in foreclosure and you purchase it at a tax sale. Sometimes you will have a disconnection. It is the policy of the state and the cities to if you are going to purchase property you do your due diligence to research that property. Granted, utility leans do not show up on title searches usually.”