New Chief of Police sworn in July 9

At Monday night’s Town Council meeting, Mayor Doug Plinski administered the oath of office to Odessa’s new Chief of Police, Helen Coubra, who comes to the town from the Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s office, where she served as Deputy Sheriff.

Once she had taken her oath, Coubra administered the Police Officer’s oath to Bryce Peterson, then gave a brief summary of her law enforcement career.

Coubra began her law enforcement career in 1986, and said that her first significant role was with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, where she was in charge of felony investigations. She investigated all major crimes, including rape, child abuse, armed robbery and one homicide, which was solved. She received an award from then Washington State Attorney General Christine Gregoire for her work on the homicide case.

From Douglas County, Coubra moved to the Tacoma Police Department, where she continued to investigate major crimes before being appointed to field training of officers. Not only was she in charge of training officers, she also trained others to do the training. She was appointed to the Washington State training board and was certified for the national board.

Coubra said that she has always taken a special interest in domestic violence and rape crisis centers, where care for victims is the focus.

Following her service in Tacoma, Coubra went to the Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s Office in Cathlamet, where she remained until deciding to return to Eastern Washington.

Candidate presentation

Mark Stedman, candidate for Lincoln County District #1 Commissioner attended the meeting, saying he wanted to know what challenges Odessa faces. Stedman made a brief presentation about himself, including his service in public education and his desire to continue to be of service.

ADA Mitigation Plan

Council members approved Resolution 2012-6, the town’s ADA Mitigation Plan.

Public Works

New Public Works director Jerry Monroe reported that the pump from town well #3 is still down but ought be repaired this week by Dickerson Pump of Spokane.

Monroe also reported that the town has received AWC (Association of Washington Cities) grant funding of $1,000 per water treatment pump station, a total of $4,000.

The bathroom in the shop building is currently being prepared for an upgrade to ADA accessibility and will be completed prior to Deutschesfest.

Monroe and Plinski both spoke to the pothole patching plan, which has been modified due to the current shortage of manpower on the town crew following the resignation of Roger Sebesta. Plinski said the crew will begin prepping potholes for patching until enough have been prepared to use up a truckload of asphalt. The the compound will be ordered from and installed by Quality Paving of Moses Lake. Monroe and Plinski said it will take a month or two to complete the job.

Monroe also reported that it will be a few months before he or town employee Rod Webster will be able to be trained on how to rebuild the grinder pumps used in the sewer system. Ten pumps have been sent instead to the manufacturer for rebuilding. Plinski expressed the hope that 10 pumps will be enough for any needed replacements before Monroe and Webster can be trained to do the rebuilding themselves, hopefully over the winter. Plinski said a new grinder pump costs about $1600 and a rebuild costs $700. There are 167 pumps “in the field” and 26 in stock, only one of which is currently in working condition.

Monroe added that “Roger is going to be missed. His many years of experience were really impressive.”

At the conclusion of his report, Monroe added that any council member who wants to observe the work at the treatment plant or the pulling of a grinder pump was welcome to do so.

Fire Dept.

In the absence of Fire Chief Don Strebeck, it was noted that the town had received a good response to the letters sent out to property owners regarding fire hazards posed by overgrown vegetation. As of Monday, town employees had not had to clean up any yards.

Police Dept.

Peterson presented a summary of the last two weeks’ dispatch calls, which included three false alarms, vandalism to a school bus and a complaint about noisy pet birds.

At the end of his report he added “I’m glad to have Helen here. I’m proud and honored to be working under anyone with such a wealth of experience.”

Council reports

Councilwoman Marlene Kramer advised that she will be continuing to monitor the progress of new plantings at the cemetery chapel.

Councilwoman Lois Harp reported that problems with the slide pool pump last Sunday had been repaired right away, thanks to the town crew. It was also noted that the pool had been rented for a birthday party Saturday night, and that it had gone well.

Mayor’s report

Plinski reported that he is continuing to work with USKH, the town’s contracted engineering firm, to come up with solutions to the airport expansion project, which has been stalled for some time now. The town’s budget of $22,000 for the project was based on historical funding levels of 95% from the FAA and 2.5% from WASDOT, leaving 2.5% for the town to pay. Unfortunately, due to cutbacks at the federal level, the FAA has reduced their funding level to 90% of the total project cost. Plinski says he believes WASDOT will still fund the 2.5%, but the town would still have to fund the remaining 5%. He added that he and Lisa Corcoran of USKH have agreed to use grant funding obtained last year to pay for the engineering portion of the project, after which the actual implementation may depend on available funding.

Plinski also spoke to the 4th Avenue renovation project. A complete rebuilding of the stretch of 4th Avenue from the school to Alder street has been estimated at $1.2 million, and funding from the state for next year will be limited to $300,000 to $700,000. Plinski said that estimates to pave a 24 foot wide road with gravel up to the curbs could be done within that funding limitation. He added that he is encouraging residents to continue to write letters, although he said that letters stressing the need for the resurfacing project would be more helpful than those criticizing the maintenance. He added that all letters will be included with the funding request, but that letters documenting safety hazards, vehicle damage or injury might be more helpful in obtaining funding for the project.

Plinski added that 4th Avenue will be included in the pothole patching project, and that the town has already budgeted for replacement of the old water main beneath the street.