Harrington Opera House hosting Aug. 8 event

HARRINGTON – The Harrington Opera House Society met July 12 in the lobby of the opera house. Mark Stedman and Karen Robertson offered to contact the Spokane Historical Preservation group for information regarding a structural engineer.

An event has been approved for the Aug. 8, 2021, 4 p.m., which will feature Andres Jaramillo and will be coordinated with Stephen and Becky Hardy. Hardy volunteered to pay for the piano tuning prior to the event.

Other upcoming events include the July 30-31 Christmas Rummage and activities surrounding the Fall Festival on the fourth Saturday in September. A date has not been confirmed for the Panhandle Polecats to perform in the fall.

Harrington Summer Reading Program

The second session of Tales and Tails, the Harrington Summer Reading Program, met July 15 with 16 children present. Kris Moritz led the program and was assisted by Evie Mann, Erica Bailey and Bonnie Clarke.

The highlight of the afternoon program was a presentation by Joe Noyes-Armand and Jamie, his Macaw, a domesticated long-tailed parrot. Jamie is about 6 ½ years old and could live to be about 80. These birds are noted for their brilliant plumage and harsh voice. Armand said he is retraining the bird to speak, as he did not approve of the vocabulary that Jamie had developed. He added it will be a long and difficult process to teach the bird new words.

This learning session included facts about birds all over the world including the smallest bird (bee hummingbird), the largest (ostrich), the most dangerous (cassowary) and the only known poisonous bird (pitohui).

Harrington City Council

Council met July 14, with Councilman Stephen Hardy chairing the meeting with three council members present, David Buddrius, Peter Davenport and Levi Schenk, as well as Clerk Jere Lee. The Zoom/YouTube recording left omissions at both ends of the recording. Some of the visitors were Jess Silhan, Jim Wilcox, Steve Marsh, Andy Tom, Cherie MacClellan, Joe Armand, Brett Wilday and Denisa Holling.

Andy Tom with the Waste Water Treatment Plan, gave an update on the current municipal project and the money that the city has applied for with the Department of Ecology, $1.3 million. This would be the result of the on-going discussions of the Community Development Block Grant with the goal of having Harrington's two ponds up to code.

Steve Marsh with TDH Engineering discussed the West Adams Street project and an upcoming bid decision that must be made. Davenport wanted the mayor to be involved in this decision and Hardy decided to call for a special meeting with this as the only item on the agenda. Marsh said he could return for that meeting.

Other items on the Mayor's Update list included the fire truck (which was not resolved), the 6-Year Transportation Improvement Plan which was adopted with a 3-0 vote, Code Enforcement proposals (no action taken), city parcels of land (discussion only), and city light poles (partially reimbursed by insurance).

Buddrius contributed extensive research on the topic of code enforcement with input from Wilbur's policy, thoughts from Reardan police chief Andy Manke and the suggestion that Harrington needs to strengthen and clarify its ordinances. The new City Handbook is not completed. Council did not seem to know what happened to the job applicant to whom mayor Nathan Luck had offered the Position 2 Public Works job.

A short discussion was held with Cherie MacClellan regarding street vendors, insurance and fees. During the Chamber's Vintage Country Fair MacClellan was the vendor coordinator. Council stated that since the vendors were on the street, it is a city matter, and getting permissions from anyone other than the Mayor and the Council or the Fire Commissioners for their property would be inadequate. Council was concerned about liability. The Association of Washington Cities was okay with the Chamber's assurance that the event was covered with their liability policy.

Council created an action item for the mayor to meet with Cindy Haase regarding insurance. It was also stated that the Fire Commissioner has veto power for any activity that inhibits their ability to function at or from the fire station.

Comments from the council included: "Any street closure needs to go to the mayor, and everyone needs to be on the same page. We must have a policy in place, and there are RCWs governing our streets. You can't just barricade it off, create detours, without coming to the city for a permit."

Snowbird utilities were not resolved at this meeting.

Hardy recommended that the city drop its "Zoom" subscription, as it crashes and the city has to pay for it.