Lind Town Council discusses alternate plan for stormwater project

The Lind Town Council met for their first meeting of the month on Tuesday, Feb. 9, and discussed the ongoing stormwater project phases as well as the codification of the Town’s ordinances.

The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. with a 30-minute Executive Session with the Town’s attorney present via phone, followed by the regular meeting.

Alan Gay from Stantec was not present during the meeting but had met with Mayor Jamie Schmunk earlier in the day.

Upon drilling a test pit at one of the locations to be used for the stormwater project they encountered a layer of basalt closer to the surface than they had anticipated.

Because of this, Gay is moving forward with the alternate plan he had created in case this scenario happened. Before he presents this plan in full to the Council he is meeting with the Department of Ecology to ensure they approve the alternate plan.

This new plan will still factor in the use of culverts and piping to solve the stormwater issue but it will use four new locations.

The Town plans to open the bidding for the culvert cleaning within the next three weeks. This will cause a slight delay in the project as their timeline included the culvert cleaning bidding process to begin in February.

Gay additionally met with John Claypool who runs the Community Garden in regards to the vegetation to be planted near the drainage site. The Community Garden will be responsible for the landscaping, but the plants will be provided through the project.

Gay intends to present the alternate plan along with an updated timeline to the Council at the next meeting.

Mayor Schmunk updated the Council about the Town’s annual bridge inspection and reported all the bridges passed.

Ordinance 15-06 was kept on the agenda to be discussed after questions arose in the previous meeting from residents and council members.

The council passed this ordinance in December but upon reviewing the ordinance multiple council members found the wording of the document to be conflicting.

Mayor Schmunk spoke with the Town’s attorney in regards to the wording and came up with an alternate paragraph. This allows the document language to remain consistent throughout the ordinance.

The discrepancy in the ordinance stemmed from the use of all homes and vacant homes when referencing who would receive the new charge. The Council decided to keep the language under the heading of all homes connected to the Town of Lind’s water and sewage system.

The proposed new language was widely accepted by the council members as they saw it clarify any miscommunications the ordinance was presenting when read.

The new addition defines the new charge as an additional rate class titled “minimum”, which states all properties connected to the water and sewer systems of the Town of Lind will be billed one of the basic rates if the water is on or the minimum rate if the water is off.

There are multiple basic rates depending upon the size of the water line connected to the property.

The other suggestion was to remove the section in regards to the cost of reconnecting the water or sewer line if the owner chose to disconnect it. The council agreed this should stay in so as to have all possible essential information included within the same ordinance.

Mayor Schmunk additionally reported of the over 40 letters sent out to property owners, five of them have asked to be disconnected from the water and sewer lines completely.

The Mayor also advised the cost for the Town to disconnect someone from both lines would be $24 for the two caps needed for the sewer line. To disconnect from the water line, the meter would need to be removed.

Mayor Schmunk also advised if 30 of the property owners chose to pay the $40 per month the Town would make approximately $14,000 extra each year to help pay off the maintenance and operations loans the Town has received over the years.

With this increase, it is feasible the Town no longer would need to raise their water rates each year.

Mayor Schmunk stated after further review of the properties there are multiple residents who have two separate water meters installed so one can be turned off in the winter and turned back on for irrigation purposes.

In these few cases the Council agreed it would not be right to charge for the few months it was turned off as long as it is verified as an irrigation line.

A resident also requested a form to sign when asking for the sewer lines to be capped and the meter removed in which the Town would assume all responsibility for damages that may occur to the property during this process.

The Mayor outlined information in regards to neighboring towns and cities who charge the full rate or basic rate, which ranged from $24 for sewer and $32 for water in the city of Davenport to $70 for sewer and $29 for water in the town of Harrington. These rates are also charged per month.

Councilperson Paula Bell reiterated her opinion that the Town is to charge for services and not charge a “stand-by” fee.

Because of this she voted against the amendment to the ordinance. The other council members were in agreement and passed the amendment with the alternate section.

The Code Publishing Company in charge of the reorganization of the Town’s ordinances sent two proposed ordinances for the Council to review.

After all of the Town’s current ordinances have been scanned they will be emailed to the company for the process to begin. This process is expected to take up to six months.

The first proposed ordinance is in regards to the construction of the codification of an ordinance. This ordinance, 16-01, gives definitions of the language to be used throughout.

The Council discussed this at length and ultimately chose to adopt this ordinance as the rules of construction and general provisions for the codified ordinances of the Town of Lind.

The second ordinance proposed by Code Publishing was 16-02, which outlined a general penalty provision for the ordinances of the Town of Lind.

This ordinance brought forth multiple questions from council members as to whether this document would over rule the current fees and punishments listed in each particular ordinance.

As the answer to this question was not known, Mayor Schmunk advised she would contact the company for clarification on the ordinance.

The Council tabled this for the following meeting to be discussed further.

Mayor Schmunk said Town Hall was painted in the end of fall and now needs a new sign. Flying Arts Ranch provided a quote for a steel face, wood backed sign and an address sign of similar build. This quote came in, with installation, at $470 plus tax and the council unanimously approved this purchase.

Councilperson Tom Strohmaier asked the Mayor if Skone Irrigation had been contacted since the weather has been increasingly warmer recently in regards to beginning the park sprinkler process soon. Mayor Schmunk advised she had not contacted them but would do so.

Councilperson Karissa Labes then asked when the Town Spring Cleanup would take place this year. The Council discussed possible dates and requested the Mayor check on Saturday, April 9.

Bell then verified whether the reimbursement for the Christmas lanterns had been received from the Lind Chamber of Commerce as they recently held a meeting.

Mayor Schmunk advised she was present at the meeting but they chose to wait until the next meeting while one member checks to see if the Lind Lions Club would also like to assist with the funds.