Harrington news

The Harrington City Council met March 14 with the full council present (Peter Davenport, Michael Cronrath, Levi Schenk, Jeremy Sewall and Justin Slack), as well as Mayor Dillon Haas, clerk Bunny Haugan, maintenance supervisor Scott McGowan and visitors David Michaelsen, Nathan Luck, Cherie MacClellan, Marge Womach and Ted Axelson.

Michaelsen, Senior Meals cook, took the floor to address security issues at the Memorial Hall, stating that six times he has found the building not secured. Other issues were footprints on clean floors and failure to turn down the heat. He informed the council that he had spoken with a locksmith locally and received an estimate of about $200 for four locks with keys that could not be copied. He left the meeting immediately after making his comments and before hearing the council’s discussion. McGowan suggested using the same locksmith in Spokane that they have been utilizing. Council approved a motion for the mayor to select a vendor and obtain new locks and keys.

Mayor Haas opened the public hearing on the zoning variance request by Nathan Luck in Block 18 on Lots 7 and 8. Three neighbors expressed support for the proposed building project which will be a 30- x 50-foot pole building with an attached lean-to. Luck stated that he had spoken to Randy Behrens, an elder of the United Methodist Church which abuts the alley west of the proposed building. Behrens approved the structure. Luck’s property is zoned limited commercial, which essentially means limited noise and pollution. The building would be situated about 8-10 feet from the alley and set back 15 feet from the side street (Alice). The motion “to allow the variance for a 14-foot side wall with appropriate peak height” (about 19 feet) was approved by a vote of 4-1-0.

The regular meeting was then opened, and the minutes and bills were approved. The Harrington Historic Preservation Commission had requested taking a hiatus from their regular meetings. For several years, a member of the city council had been appointed to attend meetings of the Commission and keep the council apprised of their activities. That member was Terry Howe, and when she ceased being on the council, no one had been appointed to replace her. Justin Slack volunteered and was appointed to fill that void. One of the present problems is the requirement that annual reports be turned in to the state, which is difficult when the commission has nothing to report.

The mayor reported on the Growth Management Act, stating that we are currently in compliance and that he needed authorization to sign and return the Growth Management application in order to apply for grant funding. Council voted unanimously to authorize the mayor to move forward.

The mayor reported on the Small Water System Management Plan after having met with a Rural Communities Assistance Corporation representative gathering information for the city to be eligible for grants. Haas and McGowan are working through a checklist and will give an update at next month’s council meeting. This should be helpful for completing Community Development Block Grant applications.

Progress has been made on what had been a Transportation Improvement Board street lighting project with McGowan and fellow crew member Keith Stai replacing one of the present light fixtures with an LED light, which also entailed removing the ballast. This was accomplished successfully. The new LED light is a white light, not orange as the original lights were. At this point those attending the council meeting went out to the sidewalk to view and compare the old light across the street with the new light directly by city hall. McGowan explained to the council how easily the change was made and that this first replacement took longer than subsequent ones. The mayor calculated the potential savings at $150 per month once each of the fixtures is converted to LED. The maintenance crew will begin by replacing burned out lights with the LEDs and expects to have a great start by Fall Festival this year. The whole project is to be completed a year later.

Discussions were held regarding the Capital Improvement Plan update for which the mayor shared data with the council in their pre-meeting packets which included Resolution No. 92-93, the Six Year Street Plan dated October 1993. In addition the packet included a Preliminary Capital Plan showing project type, year of completion, funding source and cost. Project types included Water System, Sewer System, Street System, Storm Sewer System and Solid Waste.

A brief maintenance report by McGowan stated that he and Stai were working on the “lift basket.” In fact, they are building one. When questioned regarding his testing for Level 2 qualification, McGowan said he is still waiting to be given a test date. The meeting adjourned at 10:15 p.m.

Another portion of the council members’ packets included correspondence from the City of Harrington to the Pollution Control Hearings Board regarding the $6,000 fine incurred for failure to submit mandated data for September, October and November of 2017. According to Mayor Haas following the meeting: “The appeal is currently in process. It was not rejected. The final determination is reserved for the very end of such a process, though many cases end in settlement. If the process is seen through, the waiting period will be a number of months. The news at this time would be that the appeal has been accepted, and the City is following through with the appeal process.”

The Harrington Golf and Country Club has set aside Saturday, March 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. as their Clean-up Day. All members of the community are invited to join in and each is asked to bring their rake and gloves to clear branches, pine cones, leaves and debris from the winter season. Join the fun and begin getting in shape for the active summer season that awaits us.

New regular hours for the Post and Office are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For additional hours, contact the owners, Heather and Justin Slack.

The Lincoln County EDC’s Social Media Bootcamp is Saturday, March 24, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Harrington Opera House auditorium. Sunday, March 25, at 1 p.m. at the Catholic Social Room is the retirement of the 2017 Harrington Royalty and introduction of the 2018 Princess Harrington. The Seattle Shakespeare Co. will present Romeo and Juliet Tuesday, March 27, at 1 p.m. in the Opera House.