Lind Council holds first budget meeting

The Lind Town Council held their first Public Hearing in regards to the 2016 budget on Nov. 24, at 6:45 p.m.

This meeting served as an opportunity for the public to voice their opinions in regards to specific proposed changes.

This first item discussed was in regards to the election fee. This fee is charged per registered voter in each area as determined by the Washington State BARS Manual.

In the past this fee was $0.75 per person and will now be increased to $3, which will encompass an estimated charge of $1,052.68 for the town.

The budget for this item increased from $800 to $1,100 to cover this cost.

A request was made to increase the amount of funds in the audit portion of the budget since additional costs to the town were incurred in the past budget cycle.

The next item discussed was the dispersion of the money needed for the Storm Water Project.

This item can be placed under the water or sewage budget. It is currently placed under water and this was explained because there are more people on the water system in the town so the tax would be $1.77 instead of the $2.04.

This concluded the Public Hearing and the meeting moved to the regularly scheduled council meeting.

The council first discussed the Skone Irrigation bid from the last meeting, as it had not been approved.

The bid is for the proposed irrigation project in the Lind Community Park.

The first bid was over the $8,000 budget, due to the piping that was quoted. With a change in the piping material, the polyethylene black piping quote brought the bid down to $6,972.81.

The council approved this amount and Skone will move forward with the project. This will take an estimated four days and they stated there might be a week in December when the temperature may be warm enough for them to complete the project. If not the project will take place in the spring.

There was a bid of $27,000 to fix the roof of the town shop as well as electrical components after damage occurred in the wind storm. The Town’s insurance will be covering a percentage of the damage equal to $17,000.

The storm however removed half of the covering on the roof; this increased the bid by $1,200. The insurance increased the allocated funds, but the remaining funds of $3,000 will need to be paid for by the town.

Tom Jakubowski from Hybrid Homes attended the meeting to propose their company installing electrical boxes to town property so Lind can once again string lights for the holidays.

To complete the installation the bid would be $6,400 and the electrician begins within the week for the first two buildings. Two other locations are proposed as well.

There were proposals from the Lind Chamber of Commerce and the Lind Lions Club to donate money towards the lighting project.

The council approved a motion to accept this bid with a maximum of $10,000 to be spent, including any donations from other parties. This will be a permanent solution for the holiday decorating, as the boxes will be mounted to each building.

With the recent meeting in Lind in regards to the John Wayne Pioneer Trail, Mayor Jamie Schmunk was asked by the Tekoa Trail and Trestle Association to have the council pass a resolution to support the trail remain open.

The specific resolution is to be sent to the members of the council for review and will be discussed at a later meeting.

A proposed second budget hearing for the Town of Lind was approved by the council for Dec. 8 at 6:45 p.m.