Harrington council holds two public hearings

HARRINGTON – The Harrington City Council met at Memorial Hall on April 18 with Mayor Nathan Luck leading the meeting. Also present were council members Stephen Hardy, David Buddrius, Peter Davenport, Levi Schenk and Justin Slack; clerks Janice Cepeda and Cynthia Silhan; Public Works Director Scott McGowan and visitors Steve Marsh (via Zoom, representing the engineering firm TD&H), engineer Andy Tom, Jess Silhan, Joe Armand, Randy Behrens and Cherie MacClellan.

Luck opened two separate public hearings for the purpose of discussing Community Development Block Grants. Andy Tom reported on the status of the last phase by saying, "Harrington should be in good shape with the Dept. of Ecology" and on the current phase by expanding on the status for the new grant for bringing the City of Harrington up to code with its two ponds. He said upkeep costs and maintenance hours would be reduced. Andy Tom provided council members a handout in their preview packets. The mayor closed the second public hearing at 7:45.

Luck opened the public meeting on the notice of intent for USDA Rural Development. Steve Marsh made a few brief comments regarding the loan/grant for the wastewater system plan. He said, "Essentially, this is the $30,000 search grant we're looking for to do your water system plan, and one of the requirements in order to submit the application is to have a public hearing and that's what we're doing, and this will be the last piece of funding for the water system plan." There were no questions from the council or the public, so Luck then closed the public hearing.

Luck provided background on the vote to be taken regarding Resolution 225-2021, saying that the council had voted on it previously but without actually stating the resolution number. Councilman Hardy added, "This resolution is packaging together the garbage change and the water rate change, which in our last meeting was done as two separate votes." The vote was taken and the resolution passed 3-2 with Davenport and Buddrius voting no. Buddrius asked what recourse citizens would have if they objected to the rate increase, "pay or disconnect?" Council agreed. Hardy said that if citizens wanted to know, they could ask the city clerk.

The mayor announced the resignation of Janice Cepeda as the city clerk and thanked Cynthia Silhan for filling in. Cepeda, now employed by the Lincoln County Economic Development Council, offered to come in to help Silhan whenever she could.

Luck introduced the Town Square Utility Agreement written by the committee for the Town Square Project. The committee offered to pay for parts, with the expectation that the city would pay the water and sewer fees. Luck asked McGowan to estimate the length of time for public works to finish the installation of water and sewer lines to the square. McGowan replied that it would be less than eight hours. No vote was taken.

Junk Vehicle Ordinance

Councilman Buddrius began discussing the Junk Vehicle Ordinance update that was initiated by former Mayor Haas and the current status of the process the City needs to follow to make the ordinance work. The Lincoln County Sheriff suggested to Buddrius that the city contact the district court clerk so that the court would recognize Harrington's code enforcement officer and the city's policy regarding civil infractions. No action was taken, and the conversation shifted suddenly to Buddrius's work with the Mayor and Schenk on the potential sale of the Mack fire truck. They discussed advertising options and whether to put a minimum sale price on the item. Hardy expressed his preference for not having a minimum price since the truck has no value to the city. McGowan said he had received a bid of $2,500 for the fire truck.

Dept. of Ecology fine

Davenport discussed the commitment by Casie Monge to submit a letter to the Council detailing events leading to the fine levied against the city by the Dept. of Ecology due to her failure to meet the deadline for submission of a report. She has told the council that the state changed the form, and she did not have adequate time to respond prior to leaving on vacation. Mayor Luck assigned Davenport to obtain that letter from Monge. Davenport has said he is anticipating getting a refund from the state.

Councilman Slack said he had not received a treasurer's report yet in 2021 and didn't know if anyone else had. Previously, he said, the Treasurer had submitted a report every month for inclusion in the council packets but that this was not now occurring. The discussion then moved to the "Annual Report" which is due in six weeks on May 31. Luck stated that last year the council extended the deadline but that he hoped not to have to do that this year.

After more than an hour and a half, Council opened the session for public comments. Behrens began with questions regarding Resolution 225-2021, which raises inactive rates. When the Mayor responded with the council's reasoning for the increase, Behrens responded, "That does not make a lick of sense, Nathan." He added that it cost him $417 a year more now for going south. According to the explanation, there is a revenue shortage in the garbage column, not in the water and sewer accounts, which are the accounts the council is targeting for increases. Hardy then provided another explanation, "We were looking to address the perpetual buildings remaining empty for years." He went on to say that it is cheaper for the city if the system is being used. The more material that runs through the system, the cheaper it is for the city. He also added, "We are open to amending this."