Harrington news

Harrington Opera House Society

Billie Herron called the meeting to order on October 3, with Carol, Linda Wagner, Karen Robertson, Ed and Bunny Haugan, Mark and Sheryl Stedman, Marge Womach and Gordon Herron present. Following minutes and treasurer’s report, mention was made that architect Sue Lani Madsen has not submitted the completed blue prints but has committed to doing so in the next three to four weeks.

The building committee reported that the railings for the center stage stairs were nearly complete and would be ready before the wedding rehearsal, the venue’s next scheduled event. Concern was shown for necessary winterization, projects which would include the lobby door, Art Room door and the installation of a ceiling fan in the Art Room.

The next rummage sale will likely be at the Santa Day event. Discussion was held regarding the success of the Needhams event and their desire to be scheduled for next year for the Friday of Fall Festival. All comments regarding the Gala Event were positive, with it deemed a good success in spite of the small audience. Special appreciation was granted Stacey Rasmussen for the stenciling of the souvenir glasses for the Gala Event, “Harrington Opera House, est. 1904.”

The Opera House is deemed ready for the Strite wedding October 8. The next event, October 22, will be John Nilsen at the piano. Scott Kirby’s event is November 19. Both will have prepaid tickets. No details were given for the Santa Event and an inquiry was made regarding a potential 25th Anniversary Event at the New Year.

An informal request had been received regarding the rental of the piano. The consensus seemed to be that one could not rent the piano without renting the auditorium, and that HOHS already has a policy on the rental of the room. No decision was made since no formal request had been received. Discussion was held regarding the potential selling of T-shirts, sweat shirts or note cards. Herron announced that the piano tuner is coming October 19. The next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. November 7 in the Art Room. With the busy summer season ending, it is hoped that more from the community will turn out to attned the Society’s meetings.

The Harrington Historic Preservation Commission met Tuesday, October 4 at city hall for its monthly meeting, with chairperson Celeste Miller, Anita Harman, Aileen Sweet, Lindsey Harder (by phone) and Marge Womach attending. Harder reported that her work on the Time Line project needs a few corrections and then to be assembled. No progress has been made on the brochure project. The Harrington pillars project is in a waiting phase. Miller reported that she had emailed Michelle at CPS requesting a letter from the owners stating that they want the pillars removed from CPS property, as per previous statements.

Anita Harman attended the Ritzville training meeting. She also went on their walking tour and acquired handouts, brochures and books. She shared some of their information with the meeting and introduced the topic “Demolition by Neglect,” which is what people say of the building losses in Sprague. Harman gave two copies of the book “Startup Wisdom, 27 Strategies for Raising Business Capital,” by Maury Forman and Jordan Tampien for the Harrington Public Library to loan to interested parties. The next meeting will be November 1.

The Harrington Chamber of Commerce met Wednesday noon, October 5, at city hall with the following present: Cassandra Paffle-Dick, Paula Pike, Bunny Haugan, Sharon Nighswonger, Tim Tipton, Summer Clarke, Heather Slack, Kathy Hansell (Rural Resources) and Mark Stedman (county commissioner). The general consensus was that the beer garden for the Fall Fest was successful, and the intent is to have it again next year. Cassandra noted that there was a good response for clean-up day prior to the Fest. Other discussions included vendors, sending early notices for calendars and the need for fund-raisers for the budget. Hope was expressed that other businesses in town would begin to attend Chamber meetings. Stedman’s presence was to promote the voting for the levy, which would aid the county in providing more sheriff’s deputies.

Santa’s Picture Day was set for December 3. Plans for it include Christmas bags, which Pike offered to take care of. Concern was expressed that the Chamber meetings are too compact to include both normal Chamber business and the event planning which, if held in separate meetings, would allow better planning. In January the Chamber will begin to organize for Cruisin’ Harrington Day.

Several postings have announced a public meeting to be held October 6, a Thursday, at 6:30 p.m. at city hall to provide information to the citizens of Harrington of the Second Street Reconstruction Project from Sherlock (SR 23) to Adams Street. Mayor Dillon Haas turned the meeting over to Bo McCanna of the Belsby Engineering firm with all councilmen present (Richard Becker, Mike Cronrath, Peter Davenport, Levi Schenk, Justin Slack), Bunny Haugan, Scott McGowan and the following citizens: Mitch Mattoon, Paul Charlton, Mike Hoob, Nathan Luck, Crayton Oestreich, Beth Oestreich, Trudy Waggoner, Linda Wagner, Leonard Robertson, Nancy Egnew, Glen Egnew, Stacey Rasmussen, Jeremy Sewall and Marge Womach. Maps showed the tentative plans of Belsby Engineering, which McCannna described beginning with the south end at Adams Street and continuing to the north, noting current sidewalks, driveways and storm drains. He said existing driveways and sidewalks on private property would be maintained or extended where necessary. City sidewalks will be a part of the project on both sides of the street. The project would be funded by a Transportation Improvement Board grant which, according to their specifications, included the interjection of swales on both sides of the street, tentatively about 10 feet wide. Belsby had photographs of swales in Airway Heights, but the concept was met with good-humored resistance by seven property owners who noted that the swales are on city property but were to be maintained by the property owners.

Property owners would be responsible for the expense of putting in a watering system to the swales and mowing them, unless they opted for rock rather than grass on the swales. In that case they would be responsible for weed control and debris collection. Part of the purpose of the swale is to promote the conveyance of storm water in a controlled rate with grass to filter and remove pollutants, thereby assisting the water treatment system. With swales there is no expense for piping to handle the runoff.

Also at issue were that two of the property owners had previously paid for asphalt to be poured from the road to their property; no mention was made of reimbursement or leaving it intact. Tentative measurements were given for the width of the swale, the road and the parking area. Open discussion was allowed as McCanna went through the various portions, and at the conclusion of his presentation the citizenry were allowed final comments.

Mayor Dillon Haas deferred responding to questions on making changes in the grant. He will speak with Gloria Bennett, the representative with the Transportation Improvement Board and call another public meeting when she is able to provide answers. The greatest concern seemed to be finding an alternative to the swales or locating a different grant that did not require swales.

The City plans to replace water and sewer lines before the start of the actual street construction, provided the funds are available for the amount of pipe that would be needed. Belsby’s timing on this project is to begin in April when the weather breaks with the goal of completion being July prior to harvest. The meeting concluded with appreciation shown by the citizens for being given the opportunity to express questions and opinions.

Thirteen women from the Harrington Church of the Nazarene went to the Armstrong’s cabin at the river on Friday evening through Sunday afternoon for their annual women’s retreat. Additional women dropped in on the group for lunch and devotions on Saturday.