Annual county dispatch/jail costs rising to $18,000

Much of Monday night’s town council meeting was spent discussing the proposed cost increase of dispatch and jail services from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO). Currently, the town of Odessa pays $2,500 per year for the service. Sheriff Wade Magers is proposing an annual cost of $18,000, based on several contributing factors.

Magers looked at alternate ways of calculating the billing; using number of calls, percent of usage, population, and other factors. According to his report, the $18,000 figure was the lowest, with some calculations running as high as $34,000. The entire budget for the county-wide system is $929,000, and the LCSO receives approximately $560,000 from other sources.

Odessa, Wilbur and Reardan are the only Lincoln County communities that have their own police force. All other LC towns are policed by the sheriff’s department.

Mayor Doug Plinski reported that he had asked, on behalf of the town, for a three-year incremental implementation of the increase, beginning with $6,000 for the 2012 budget.

Council members all agreed that the increase seemed extreme, and that more information was needed to make a decision, including what other communities pay for service and how those costs are calculated.

Town Marshal Mike Wren said the total number of calls to dispatch from Odessa were amounted to 258 in 2009, 211 in 2010 and 199 year-to-date for 2011. He said there were seven jail bookings from Odessa in 2010, and that this year there have been seven requests for agency assists (where the county has requested assistance from Odessa police for incidents outside the town limits.) Wren said the restitution process currently used for jail bookings does not seem to be working.

Magers will be in Odessa for the October 24 council meeting. In the meantime, the council will use the $6,000 figure for budgeting.

Resolution 2011-9

Council passed resolution 2011-9, defining a “greenhouse gas emissions” policy, now required when applying for grants to be used for street improvements, such as the community development block grant requested to repave Fourth Avenue between the school and Alder Street.

It was noted that the policy does not mandate any changes, but states a general policy of encouraging energy-efficient management.

Library report

Librarian Julie Jantz reported that the proposed budget for the library had been given to the town clerk, adding that the most substantial change from the 2011 budget included the cost of supplies to convert to an electronic checkout system in January 2012. According to Jantz, the library has outgrown its current system of using a card catalog and manual checkout.

She said the Friends of the Library agreed to fund the cost of the computer program, but that she is asking the town for the funding to re-label all the books with scannable bar codes. Library board member Lise Ott added that much of the additional cost of supplies will be offset by the reduction in costs for cards, book pockets and other items required for manual checkout.

Jantz also reported that the Washington State Library is offering each small library in the state the opportunity to have their own website. The website would be provided by the state library at no cost to the town, and could be updated locally. Jantz asked for council approval to link the library’s site to that of the town, and vice versa.

Fire Department

Fire chief Don Strebeck reported that a grant for 10 new SCBA (self contained breathing apparatus) masks had been submitted to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency). The $53,000 request would require that the fire department fund 5% of the cost of the masks and pay taxes on the purchase, but the rest would be funded by the grant. Strebeck said that the department was allowed to apply for as many masks as they had seatbelts in the trucks, thus the number 10.

Strebeck also asked council members for recommendations about the surplused fire truck, which has not found a buyer despite being posted on craigslist and listed for sale in a collectors’ magazine.

The consensus was that if the town could not get a decent price for the truck, they might as well keep it, as it could be used for parades. They agreed to ask around for available storage space.

Strebeck announced that open burning is allowed until the end of the month, but also said that citizens are required to notify him at 988-0433 if they are planning to burn.

There was some discussion of what, if anything, the council or town employees could do about unsightly yards around town, including some with extensive weed growth and another with unstacked wood lying around.

Strebeck and Plinski both replied that unless there is a fire, health or public safety hazard, there is nothing that can be done.

Public works

Public works director Roger Sebesta said that the Loy Clark crew is making progress on the gas line replacement project. If the weather stays good enough, he said, they may be able to finish up and be out of town sometime in November.

Sebesta and Plinski reported that Precision Fiberglass has submitted an estimate of $5,978.50 to repair the slide at the pool. The slide was last repaired approximately 10 years ago, Sebesta said, and continues to crack in the same place.

Plinski pointed out that there was still money in the pool budget for 2011 which could pay for the repair work. Council members voted to proceed with the repairs.

Police report

Town Marshal Mike Wren, who was unable to attend the previous council meeting, said that Deutschesfest went very smoothly, with few problems, most of which involved juveniles and included two minor-in-possesion charges. There was also one assault.

Wren commended the use of contracted security in the Biergarten, saying that there was only one incident inside, which was stopped quickly.

Recent incidents in town include a reported theft of prescription drugs from a residence and several dog-at-large citations. Wren reported that the same two dogs have been found running loose on several occasions.

Finally, Wren reported that there were two more minor-in-possession incidents at last Friday’s football game.

Council member reports

Council members Lois Hubbard and Lynn Schmidt reported the results of the recent audit of the town’s books, saying that town clerk Linda Burghard had done a wonderful job preparing the necessary reports.

According to Hubbard and Schmidt, the review only took about 30 minutes and was completed via conference call. Odessa, she said, received a “glowing report.”

Normally the town is audited every three years, but a “single audit” was necessary because in 2010, Inland Empire Oilseeds received federal grant monies in excess of $500,000. Whenever that occurs, a financial audit is automatically done. At least part of the nearly $7,000 cost will be shared by IEO.

Council members debated how to split the cost, noting that part of the cost will lead to savings for the town when the next audit needs to be done, that the cost would not have occured had not IEO needed federal funding, and noting that the town wants to encourage economic development and be as business-friendly as possible.

Burghard noted that the auditor would provide more detailed information about the cost, which would allow the town to identify the portion to be billed to IEO.

Hubbard also noted that the entire audit is available online at the state auditor’s office website.

Hubbard reported that the software system installed at the town office in March of 2010 did not include the billing system for water, sewer and garbage, as it had not been completed at the time of installation. She went on to say that even though the town had paid for the billing system and for support for the billing system, it had still not been provided by the software company. One reason for this is that the old billing system is based on a software platform so old that there is no way to convert the old data to the new system, thus requiring a lot of man-hours to enter historical data.

Hubbard suggested that she write to the company, requesting that they install the billing system as soon as possible and give the town credit for the support service payments made to date.

Finally there was discussion about the proliferation of skunks and raccoons in town this year. Council members recommended that citizens be advised to keep pet food secured and not in open areas where it might be available to wildlife.