Town Council

City councilwoman Lois Harp gave a report about a committee meeting on how to implement Initiative 502, legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. She said that Lincoln County will be allocated two stores which can sell marijuana. The number is based on population. Which towns will have a store will be decided by the state liquor control board. Only two possible locations in Odessa are far enough away from the school, library, ball field, etc., to be possible locations, near the old Water West property and near Walter Implement.

There is no assurance that Odessa will have a store, but Mayor Doug Plinski compared this time to the legalization of alcohol after prohibition ended, saying that if Odessa doesn’t have a marijuana store, we might miss out on tax revenues. He iterated that the laws governing the use of marijuana are similar to those governing the sale and use of alcohol. He said that in order to receive a license to open a marijuana store, the owner must not have committed a felony in the past.

He emphasized that the town should aim to be in compliance with the state law and take the safest course of action, avoiding lawsuits. The vote count for all the towns of Lincoln County on Initiative 502 was read out to make sure everyone was aware that approximately half the citizens of Odessa voted for the Initiative. Odessa citizens voted for the Initiative in greater percentage of the vote than many of the towns in the county, although the county as a whole had a close vote..

City Fire Chief Don Strebeck reported that there were no problems over Deutsches Fest weekend. He mentioned that no outdoor wood fires are allowed during Fest.

Several council members mentioned that Fest-goers came to fest after hearing about it on the radio, channel 93.7, a country music station with hosts Jay and Kevin. Kevin (James) is from Harrington. They wanted to thank the hosts for giving Fest so much publicity. Other anecdotal evidence of a successful weekend was given by members who were in the biergarten and saw lots of people raise their hands when asked who was there for the first time.

Public Works

Public Works director Rod Webster thanked the school kids for their help in cleaning up after Fest and said what a huge help they were. He said Landon Lobe washed the sewer pipes, so there were no backflow issues.

Webster said Odessa would do best to have a concrete pit for drying solid waste, because we have many days of sunshine here, so the waste could be processed without using any energy. He said he is researching grants and loans for taking care of the needs of Odessa including the pit.

Webster reported two people fell on sidewalks over the weekend, one in a residential area and one downtown. Both required ambulance service. The mayor said that upkeep of sidewalks and trees is the responsibility of the property owners. The city can repair and then put a lien on the property, but they don’t want to do that. One-fourth to one-half-inch ridges are the most dangerous problems on a sidewalk. Lois Hubbard mentioned that sidewalks around trees can become uneven if the area is not properly prepared before planting.

There was some vandalism at the waste treatment plant this weekend which is now under investigation, so details were not available. Public Works is now in the process of changing locks at the site. The investigation is being conducted by the Department of Ecology and the Department of Health.

Councilwoman Lois Hubbard reported that she had been to Sprague to see the damage done to their downtown buildings by the storm on September 15. The buildings in Sprague were built around the same time as the ones in downtown Odessa and are brick with the same type of construction, meaning the different businesses share walls and roofs. She said the wind had blown down the building on the east end of the north side of the street in Sprague and reduced it to rubble. It was reported that the mayor of Sprague, Mike Evans, said the buildings on the north side of the street were decomposing and fell in a domino effect because the end buildings couldn’t support the middle load-bearing walls. He said the north side of the street may just become a park because of the damage to the structures. One end of the block was still intact, but two or three sections had been pulled down.

Hubbard said she was concerned about the downtown district in Odessa and that some of the buildings had broken bricks which need to be replaced and other places needed to be re-grouted. For the building she owns, which houses Schmidt Insurance and Experience Quilts!, she paid $10,000. for brickwork repair just on the front and side of the building. She said she thought the buildings in downtown Odesa are at risk and that the owners depend on their neighbors to protect them. It was also mentioned that some of the bricks in the old Empire Electric store were working loose.

There was no police report, because both officers were busy.