Ritzville City Council starts the year with new members

The 2016 city council meetings began on Jan. 5 with all new council members and the new mayor taking their elected positions.

The meeting began with the unanimous approval of ordinance 2092 which amends the 2015 budget to include the appropriation of funds for unanticipated revenues and allocations in the current expense, city streets and city beautification funds.

The current expense budget was amended by $200,000 to make the total amount $2,235,766 for the 2015 year.

City streets was amended by $50,000 bringing that total to $332,325 and city beautification was amended by $20,000 which became the total as this budget had not existed prior.

Mayor Gary Cook then took the time to discuss the hours he plans on being in City Hall until his retirement from his current job in the end of June.

He also discussed the “City Hall’er” article he will be publishing in The Journal every month as information and space allow.

The council discussed their new roles on various committees, with the addition of new council members Corey Umland, Mark Weigand and Dennis Chamberlain the assignments of committees needed to be rearranged.

Scott Yaeger will serve as chairman of the License, Rules and Permits committee and will be joined by Chamberlain and Weigand.

Mike Schrag will be the chairman of the Finance and Employee Benefits committee joined by Ben Cross and Chamberlain.

Chamberlain will be the chairman for the Health and Sanitation committee with Weigand and DeDe Rawlings serving as well.

The Public Safety committee will be headed by Cross. Rawlings and Weigand will also serve on this committee.

The Public Works committee will have Yaeger as the chairman and Schrag and Umland will also serve.

Cross will serve as the Parks and Recreation chairman and will be joined by Umland and Yaeger.

The next item discussed was the issue of fences brought up at the previous meeting. There has been a fence brought to the attention of multiple council members, which has been said to be out of regulation with the City’s current ordinance.

City Attorney Mark DeWulf has been researching this case for multiple weeks and it has been his recommendation to the council to draft a letter to said resident stating their fence is outside regulation and needs to be modified.

Weigand made a motion to draft a letter and have it sent to the patron, Yaeger seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

Their next step will be modifying the ordinance to add additional stipulations such as a permit to build, though Clerk/Treasurer Kris Robbins stated in most cases residents inquire about the guidelines for fences and then build the fence how they want anyways.

Police Chief Dave McCormick stated due to recent threats of a public official the Police Department and Adams County Sheriff’s Office will partner to do a mock active shooter trial inside the Courthouse for the benefit of both departments.

Bill Banner made his first report as the Ritzville Fire Department Chief and advised the council of the few calls they had responded to. He also advised the department normally has 29-30 volunteers and currently only has 22.

He stated there have been recent applicants as well as a few prospects and he hopes to have the number up shortly.

The assistant fire chief position has yet to be filled.

The contract for Banner to sign was presented and unanimously approved by the council.

A second piece of old business was addressed by the council in regards to semi-trucks and other commercial vehicles being parked on residential streets.

There have been complaints from multiple citizens and a citizen was present to have the council address her concerns. Weigand proposed an ordinance, which would specify commercial vehicles weighing over five tons and over 20 feet in length be banned from parking overnight on residential streets.

Discussion of the council ensued in regards to the enforcement of those who have parked in town for numerous years without conflict.

Chief McCormick addressed the specific semi-truck, which parks at Second Avenue and Adams Street which is the only truck which routinely impairs an intersection within the city.

Since a resolution still was not made, the discussion regarding the issue will continue in upcoming meetings.

The final item of the evening was in regards to a previous request made by the Public Works Department head Larry Swift. He had requested previously the need for wood recycling as the Department of Ecology’s regulations on burning excess wood have become stricter.

The debris in question is located near the old high school and the Public Works Department needs it ground to sawdust which they use a large amount of each winter to pack the water meters to prevent freezing.

They asked for six bids and received one response of a ‘no’ and only one other bid. The bid came from Eastside Wood Recycling. The total job would be a total of $38,000 for the debris near the high school and other debris which has been collected.

The council advised to proceed with the high school debris as Swift stated they are in need of the sawdust now. The total wood from the school will be 5,500 cubic yards of mulch.

The cost of this portion will be roughly $20,000 and the council unanimously approved this as the product can also be resold to the public when needed.