--- date: "2019-04-10" title: "Council Meeting Minutes 2019-04-10" source: "2019-04-10-minutes-council-monthly.pdf" --- City of Prairie City Council Meeting April 10, 2019 1. Attendance 2. Mayor Jim Hamsher 3. Councilor Phippen 4. Councilor Georgia Patterson 5. Councilor Tisha Packard 6. Councilor Scott Officer 7. Councilor Chase McClung 8. 9. Visitors 10. Carlos Bortell 11. Luanne Bortell 12. Anna Bass, Solutions CPA 13. Dan Becker 14. Marin Rynearson, Fire Chief 15. Carole Garrison 16. Katy Nelson 17. Joseph Mecham 18. Dennis Scott 19. Frances Preston 20. Scott Fairly, Business Oregon 21. 22. Mayor Hamsher opened the regular council meeting at 6:00pm and roll call was taken. Councilor 23. Primozic was absent. 24. 25. Visitors: 26. Mayor Hamsher called on Scott Fairly from Business Oregon who is here to address the council about 27. the funding regarding the Faiman Water Project. Scott said that when they do these types of funding 28. programs, they have to write up a staff report and the Business Oregon staff report did not reflect the 29. USDA grant of $1,000,000. Scott said that going forward, he wanted to explain how the funding will 30. work between Business Oregon and the USDA, so that the City and Business Oregon are on the same 31. page on how these funds will be blended together. Scott said that they will have to amend their record 32. keeping to reflect the current status quo regarding funding. Scott said that Business Oregon offered the 33. City a $550,000 grant and a $950,000 loan and that loan is at 1.76% interest and the payoff for the loan 34. is going to be $41,000 a year. Business Oregon will allow the City to use USDA funding to pay the total 35. of the loan of without penalty to the City. Scott said the tricky part to the grant is Business Oregon will 36. not write a check for the total amount of the grant, it has to be matched with loan funding, and how it 37. works is the City will borrow a loan dollar and the City will receive a grant dollar. The City will have to 38. borrow $550,000 in loan funding to receive the $550,000 in grant funding. The City will use $272,000 39. of the USDA funding to help pay for the cost incurred that the Business Oregon loan and grant could not 40. cover. At the end of the project the City will have a total of $222,000 left in loan debt for the total water 41. project. The $222,000 will remain at 1.76% interest and will have a yearly pay off amount of 42. approximately $9,600. LaDonn at USDA said to make sure that the City checks with her on all funding 43. going forward because the USDA has funding regulations that have to be strictly followed or the city 44. will be at risk of losing the USDA grant funding. 45. Mayor Hamsher discussed the process of the funding and construction with the council and audience. 46. MSP: To approve the contract from Business Oregon. Councilor Officer/Councilor Phippen. All 47. members present voted in favor. 48. 49. Mayor Hamsher moved on to discuss the Beautification and Revitalization Committee and what he 50. discussed with the city attorney. The city attorney said that he had similar concerns, but he felt there is a 51. way to put a policy in place that would benefit everyone involved. Mayor Hamsher asked the council if 52. they would like the city attorney to draft an ordinance up. Councilor Patterson asked if it has to be an 53. ordinance. Mayor Hamsher said that is usually best to have it in ordinance form because an ordinance 54. prescribes some permanent rule of conduct. Councilor Officer would like to see what the attorney would 55. draft as an ordinance. Mayor Hamsher said that once we get a draft back from the attorney, we could 56. schedule another workshop to go over the recommendations. 57. MSP: To have the city attorney draft an ordinance regarding the trees and planters on Front 58. Street. Councilor Officer/Councilor Packard. All members present voted in favor. 59. 60.The minutes of March 13, 2019 council meeting were considered. MSP: To 61. approve the minutes of March 13, 2019 council meeting. Councilor Phippen/Councilor 62. McClung. All members present voted in favor. 63. 64. There was some discussion regarding the Sheriff Office invoice. Mayor Hamsher said that he has sent a 65. letter letting them know how much was left in the budget and to watch there billable hours. 66. 67. Mayor Hamsher called on resident Dennis Scott who is here to ask the council for a fence variance. He 68. bought a home on North McHaley Ave, and would like to erect a fence to line up with the neighbors 69. existing fence line. He would follow all height requirements and leave 3 feet around the fire hydrant for 70. access in case of an emergency. 71. MSP: To approve Dennis Scott fence variance on North McHaley Ave. Councilor Officer/ 72. Councilor McClung. All members present voted in favor. 73. 74. Mayor Hamsher called on Fire Chief Marvin Rynearson for his report. Marvin said that he received a 75. bill from Cascade Fire Equipment for $900.00 for recertification for the Fire Dept breathing apparatuses 76. and they recommended to get them checked annually. He said that the dispatch center has officially 77. moved and is operating out of the John Day Fire Hall in John Day. He said that their non-emergency 78. phone number is (541) 575- 0195 and John Day City Police will keep the old number in use for their 79. office. 80. 81. Payables: 82. To ratify the payment of bills. MSP: To pay the bills. Councilor Patterson /Councilor Packard. All 83. Members present voted in favor. 84. 85. Other Business 86. There was an update on Councilor Primozic. Carole Garrison said that she talked to Frank and he should 87. be returning home within a couple weeks. Frank said that he felt confident that he could 88. still fulfill his position has a councilor and at the museum as a volunteer. 89. 90. Mayor Hamsher moved on to talk about the fireworks contract through Western Display Fireworks. The 91. fireworks packet that the City had last year has went up $200.00 from $6800.00 to $7000.00 for this 92. year. The City will be putting on the same fireworks show as last year for the 4th of July celebration. 93. Josh Zeigler a town resident will be the pyrotechnic lighting the fireworks show off this year. 94. MSP: To approve the fireworks contract through Western Display Fireworks at the cost of 95. $7000.00. Councilor Patterson/Councilor McClung. All members present voted in favor. 96. 97. Mayor Hamsher moved on to budget applications that the City has received for the upcoming budget 98. committee. Deanne Negus, Amy Giandomenico, and Paul Ferretti have offered to volunteer their time 99. for the budget committee. 100. MSP: To approve Deanne Negus, Amy Giandomenico, and Paul Ferretti to be on the budget 101. committee for the 2019/2020 fiscal year. Councilor Patterson/Councilor McClung. All members 102. present voted in favor. 103. Mayor Hamsher moved on to a request to use city property past the lumber mill for archery safety 104. course for youth. Joseph Mecham and Andrew Hutsell explained to the council that they would like to 105. start an archery training for kids around the area that is set up like hunter safety courses. They have 106. been in contact with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife who supports the program. The ODFW 107. will insure the location and provide bows and supplies for all interested youth to participate. Their 108. hopes would be an after-school program, and they would like to practice twice a month. The program 109. would be through the State of Oregon and the City would not be liable for any injury or accident during 110. the safety training or when they meeting for a training session. They will be getting the appropriate 111. paperwork for the City to go over and approve. They would like to know if they could put up dirt back 112. stops and props that could be disassembled and a fence to keep others from using the training course. 113. Mayor Hamsher said that would be fine as long as it’s not permanent. June 15th there will be an ODFW 114. meeting for those who would like to attend by contacting Joseph or Andrew ahead of time. 115. MSP: To approve the use of city property for the archery safety course area. Councilor 116. Officer/Councilor McClung. All members present voted in favor. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122.Mayor Hamsher adjourned the regular council meeting at 7:06pm. 123. 124. 125. 126. ________________________________ 127. Bobbie Brown, City Recorder 128. 129. 130. 131. Approved by the City Council this 10th day of April, 2019 132. and signed by the Mayor: 133. 134. 135. _______________________________ Jim Hamsher, Mayor