Ritzville council discusses nuisance properties

Council members had a busy meeting at the regular meeting of the Ritzville City Council on Aug. 5.

After approving the East Adams Rural Hospital’s request to use the downtown plaza area and portions of Railroad Avenue and Washington Street for the annual Health Fair on Sept. 13 the council listened to several concerns from the public.

Kris Lennon brought her concerns about the dog shelter referred to the Public Safety Committee.

Bruce Benzel brought forth his concerns regarding the golf course and Mark Fowler voiced concern regarding the Golf Course Restaurant staff.

The council then turned to the resolution of nuisance properties.

The three properties were brought before the council. Photographs of each property were examined and discussion about the problems was entertained.

The property owners were given a chance to speak on their defense but no property owners were at the meeting to comment.

The properties were 305 West Second Avenue, 107 East Birch Avenue and 307 East Third Avenue. Each had overgrown weeds.

The council voted unanimously for each property to adopt resolutions to clean up the properties, which would entail cutting back and removing the overgrown vegetation.

Under provisions of Section 3.36 of the Ritzville City Code the cost to remove the vegetation would be charged to the property owner.

After reporting to the council that the public bathrooms on Washington Street had been delivered Mayor Linda Kadlec then took reports from the council.

During these reports Scott Yaeger reported a new bid for the overlay project on Division Street from First Avenue to Sixth Avenue had been received and submitted to TIB for approval. TIB then responded that they were not willing to approve the additional cost due to the ADA ramps and wanted to examine the work site.

TIB requested that if the project was accepted the city would match seven percent of the increased cost of the project. The council had agreed to match seven percent of the original cost proposed but for an amount that was lower than the current bid.

The council unanimously approved to match seven percent of the new cost provided TIB agrees to approve the new cost of the project.

Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick reported Matt Carlson was attending his second week of the equivenlency academy and he should be back Aug. 11.

City Clerk Kris Robbins reported there had been complaints regarding the striping on Highway 261 in front of Loves Truck Stop. Robbins said that she got in contact with the WSDOT. She said that the WSDOT has plans to stripe 261 in late August or September.

Fire Chief Jim Bostic then gave his report of the fire department.

He reported that other than being busy with country wheat fires the station had only received one in town call, which resulted in no material loss.

He also reported he had purchased the fire truck he had been looking at in Missouri. The truck will be released to Ritzville Aug. 15 after the other department receives their new truck. The truck will then be transported to Ritzville.

Bostic reported that during his examination of the truck he had found two things that were not to his liking but the other agency agreed to fix them at no additional cost to Ritzville.

He also reported that the old station clean up project had been completed and that the fire department had turned in a $380 check to the city from scrapping the material.

The meeting then moved to new business with Pay Estimate No. 1 for the Walk and Bike Path totaling $167,426.58, which was approved by the council.

The next order of business was Pay Estimate No. 3 and Change Order No. 2 of the Well Pump Station project. There was some concern over items on the Pay Estimate No. 3 concerning items that appeared to have been already paid for on the last pay estimate. The council voted to approve Change Order No. 2 and to approve Pay Estimate No. 3 provided the project engineer looks into the items in question.

The Council then adopted Ordinance 2080 which clarified the ward boundaries of the city and Resolution 2014-09, which established airport operating policies and procedures.

The council then approved the payment of claims and payroll with the condition Pay Estimate #3 was to be reviewed by the project engineer. With no further business the meeting adjourned.