Iii. Swearing in of Mayor and Councilors

CITY OF WHEELER REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES JANUARY 15, 2013

I.  CALL TO ORDER : Mayor Stevie Burden called the January 15, 2013 Wheeler City Council meeting to order at 7:01 pm, Wheeler City Hall.

II.  ROLL CALL : Stevie Burden, Loren Remy, Virgil L. Staben, Dave Bell and William H. Mullen. Excused absence: Karen Matthews. Staff: Jeff Aprati and Lori Rieger

III. SWEARING IN OF MAYOR AND COUNCILORS:

City Manager swore in Mayor Stevie Burden.

Mayor Burden swore in Councilor William H. Mullen, Councilor Virgil L. Staben and Councilor Dave Bell. Councilor Karen Matthews to be sworn in a February meeting.

IV. CONSENT CALENDAR

A.  Additions or Deletions to Agenda: Add selection of Council President and committee liaisons before committee reports

B.  Wheeler City Council Minutes of December 18, 2012:

C.  Financial Reports for December 2012:

Bell moved to adopt consent agenda as amended. Remy 2nd motion. All for the vote 4-0.

V.  PRESENTATIONS, GUEST, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CORRESPONDENCE:

A.  Presentations: none

B.  Guests: none

C.  Announcements: none

Correspondence:

·  Manzanita Department of Public Safety December 2012 Report

VI. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS: none

Public Present: Richard Clappe, Dan Ayers and Karen Stephens

Media Present: Joe Wrabek, Headlight Herald

Selection of Council President and committee liaisons

Councilor Mullen moved to nominate Councilor Remy to continue being Council President, Bell 2nd motion. All for the vote, 4-0.

Councilor Mullen moved to nominate Matthews as liaison for the Parks Committee, Bell as liaison for the Port of Nehalem and Remy as liaison for the Emergency Preparedness Committee, Bell 2nd motion. All for the vote, 4-0.

VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS

Planning Commission- Minutes for January 2013 Planning Commission Meeting

Parks Committee – none

Visioning Committee: none

Emergency Preparedness Committee: none

VIII. CITY MANAGER & PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT REPORT

City Manager Report:

Hemlock Street has been repaired to its previous condition by replacing the gravel that had been washed out and cleaning out the partially obstructed culverts. Larger three inch rock has been used close to the large drain to guard against future wash outs in the event of another over-spill of the drain. The ultimate solution will be to pave the driveway when materials are available and weather allows.

The height restriction signs have been installed on Highway 101, immediately south of the intersections with Gregory and Rector Streets. I had a conversation with Chief Harth in Manzanita letting him know of the new signs so his officers can be on the lookout.

We have received permit approval from ODOT to paint the 101 curbs between Hospital and Hall, and Pine and Spruce. The permit expires on June 30, 2013. This is something we can tackle when weather improves.

Senator Betsy Johnson’s office is organizing a visit from the new Director of the Department of State Lands on January 23 to our area, which will include an opportunity to discuss issues of import to our communities. The agenda is still being finalized but the meetings may include discussion of ‘Rails to Trails’ and discussion of the ownership issues along the waterfront area.

There will also be a regional meeting on the proposed ‘Rails to Trails’ project convened by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department on January 25 in Banks which I will be attending. The feasibility analysis for the project is nearly complete and I believe this meeting will include discussions of where the process goes from here.

I would propose that the Council consider holding a work session to discuss Council goals for the coming year, now that the new councilors are on board.

Additionally, the Planning Commission would like to request that the Commission and Council hold a joint work session in the near future, possibly in March, in order to jointly discuss goals for the coming year and collaboratively develop an agenda. The Commission expressed a desire to revisit the subject of short term rentals, as well as the waterfront development amendments that were previously tabled.

Public Works Report:

This past year has seen a change in how our water is treated at the Foss road treatment plant facility with a successful change in the corrosion control and how these chemicals are applied. Although the city of Manzanita implemented this change it affects our costs for treatment and should result in a savings in chemicals and man hours. This change also has challenged staff to add more sampling and tests to remain compliant with county and state authorities to prove that the new process was effective in our distribution system in regards to corrosion control. Staff successfully completed required sampling and test results and has been notified by the state and county that we would return to an annual schedule for Lead / Copper tests, and Alkalinity tests that were required to be reported each month would cease.

The distribution went through “leak survey” this year and the contractor identified seven leaks in the system. All were older fire hydrants which was good news because they are fixable without excavation. All but two have been repaired in house. The two remaining will be repaired this spring. About a third of our hydrants were identified as being part of a recall list for the main stem replacement as the lubrication the factory applied had caused abnormal ware. These stems were replaced at no charge to the City.

Most of the assets in the distribution system are in fair to good shape. Booster Pump number one failed once this year, and E&C Electric was called in to replace a relay. The Reservoirs were pressure washed and all surfaces inspected. Since the city has changed its source of water from surface waters to the well heads the common silt found has been greatly reduced and the need to dive in the tanks for cleaning has been reduced. I was able to visually inspect the inside of Vosburg reservoir this past year with the water level down and based on that observation and with past records of inspections by Liqui-Vision Diving Services done in 2008 believe that this not be needed in the next year or two. I spoke with Dan Weitzel about Manzanita’s schedule for reservoir cleaning and he said because of the water source that cleaning wasn’t as critical. Dan also said that a biological contamination event would be the one reason for concern. I believe that the only pressing need at the reservoirs is the two old chlorinator buildings that house the electrical panels supplying electricity to our control stations at each reservoir. They both are in very bad disrepair and do not supply a dry environment for these panels. Both Reservoirs now have a 2” hydrant available for distributing water in case of an emergency.

The distribution system saw two major water mains break this past year and several small leaks. On January 20th the 8” main line from the booster pumps to Gervais Reservoir separated from a repair fitting. This event took place because of heavy rains and already saturated soils that moved separating the piping from a fitting that had been utilized for repairs in the past. On Oct. 8th the same thing occurred behind Virgil Stabens house on 3rd Str. The water loss estimated for these two events is around one million gals. The January event had a larger loss of water due to the event happening very early in the AM and was exacerbated by the ability to find the location of the leak in the dark and was not found until hours later in the daylight. The October event was aided by a citizen reporting water was “shooting out of the ground” and the response time was just after the SCADA system had alarmed out because the location was known. In both cases there were several repair fittings found in a short run of piping, in fact the 3rd Str. break had five fittings within 40 lineal feet of pipe. Water service was interrupted twice during this event as emergency repairs were done first and two days later service was interrupted again for a more permanent fix by replacing all five repair fittings with new pipe and two fittings. Most of the small leaks found were due to water meter installation that have galvanized pipe joined to brass causing electrolysis to compromise the steel pipe. Many are found in the Wheeler Heights area and I have been changing these out any time a meter needs attention or when a leak appears. One other smaller leak was on Marine Dr. which occurred during the 4th of July weekend and repairs were not attempted until the weekend was over so as to not interrupt water service during a peak business period.

City Planner Report: none

IX. PUBLIC HEARING: none

X. GENERAL BUSINESS:

1.  Old Business

a.  Sharing of cost for survey of Rising Star property: City Manager recapped the situation, in which it was discovered that the City’s previous LID sidewalk project buried established survey monuments on the property. Property owners are requesting that the City share half the cost of a new survey for their upcoming building project. Remy moved to allow City of Wheeler to authorize payment of half the cost. Bell 2nd motion. All for the vote 4-0.

b.  Update on selection of City Engineer: Update from City Manager – City has identified PACE Engineering and HLB Otak as top finalists – will call references and continue analysis, bringing a proposed contract to the Council by the next meeting

c.  Update on TCCC grant application for centennial art project: Update from Mayor Burden. Create summer art camp for Tillamook County kids to design/create centennial installation of art approved by city committee and have a dedication towards the end of the summer for 100th Year Celebration. Grant decision should be available before next meeting.

d.  Report on SCA grant application: Harder to get grants due to number of recipients being cut in half. Grant submitted was not approved and was explained to us via email. Rated low on traffic counts and population increase. Choices of roads were not in that bad of condition compared to others. Adding safety precautions scores higher. Also marked down due to the amount of grants we have been given in recent years.

2.  New Business

a.  County offer to remove tsunami siren in front of City Hall: County has decided to discontinue sirens that are owned by them. The county has offered to remove city-owned sirens/poles at no cost to cities; Manager states at this time the City of Wheeler is not qualified to operate siren and City would have to absorb maintenance costs. Councilor Mullen stresses the need to have redundant emergency notification systems and that he doesn’t approve of pulling the siren. Remy moved to accept the county’s offer to remove Wheeler’s tsunami siren at no cost, Bell 2nd motion. Vote: Remy yes, Mullen no, Staben yes, Bell yes. Vote passed 3-1.

XI. MAYOR & COUNCILOR COMMENTS

Workshop set March 7, 2013 at 2:00 pm for Council goal setting. Joint workshop with Planning Commission to discuss land use goals for the year suggested for March 28 at 6pm

City Manager to contact CARTM with regard to corner in newsletter.

XII. ADJOURNMENT: 8:26 p.m.

XII. EXECUTIVE SESSION none

______

Stevie Burden , Mayor Jeff Aprati, City Manager

Lori Bennett, Transcriber

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