New councilmember sworn in for Ritzville City Council

The Ritzville City Council met on May 3 where numerous presentations took place. The first order of business was the swearing in of Michelle Plumb as Council Member five at large to replace Ben Cross, who recently resigned his post.

The Boy Scout Troop 888, under the leadership of Bill Banner, received recognition for presenting the colors on Friday, April 29, during an Arbor Day celebration at the Ritzville City Park.

Melinda Kiel’s Webelo Cub Scout group each received a certificate of appreciation for their recent repainting of the Ritzville Cemetery sign.

A public hearing was held to discuss the Comprehensive Plan Update presented by Damon Roth.

The Comprehensive Plan covers elements in the city, which are not covered by another system. The main elements of the plan are Land Use, Transportation, Capital Facilities, and now Parks and Recreation.

The council discussed the plan in depth and will be put into a resolution to be approved at a future meeting.

Resolution 2016-06 was presented in regards to the declaration of the existence of an emergency and dispensing with the statutory competitive bidding requirements.

This is in regards to finishing the Well No. 9 pump station project to have it in working order by entering into contract without using the statutory bid requirements set in place by the State of Washington.

The council approved this resolution to move forward with the completion of Well No. 9.

City Attorney Mark DeWulf advised his office had drafted an agreement to be sent to Avista Utilities and Big Bend Electric Cooperative to be reviewed by them before being approved by the council.

The Adams County Fire Protection District No. 1 reviewed the Interlocal Agreement between them and the City of Ritzville and a few changes were made, which needed to be approved by the council.

The Fire District proposal included a flat $3,000 fee per year for the two bays the City rents from the County in their fire station for their vehicles along with the City’s payment of utilities for the building. The previous draft showed a $3,000 per stall rental charge with a percentage increase each year.

The two departments usually respond to calls together so keeping the vehicles in one area is very advantageous for both departments.

Ritzville Fire Chief Bill Banner advised he was pleased with the agreement and requested approval from the council, which he received.

Ritzville Police Chief Dave McCormick advised of an emergency notification system Adams County is working on implementing. Currently it would serve as a text, email or recorded phone call in case of a natural disaster such as a high intensity windstorm. Residents would need to fill out a form to advise of the way they would like to be contacted and for what area they would like to be notified.

McCormick thinks the trial period will be over in roughly two months and at that time the public will be notified of the details. There would be no cost to the citizens, but there may be a small yearly charge for the City’s use of the system, currently the County are the ones solely working on the program.

Clerk/Treasurer Kris Robbins advised of a change in the normal billing amount for the November elections held in the City. The County’s Auditors Office normally charges $0.75 per capita and the City was incurring charges around $875.

The bill the City recently received was in the amount of $3,200. This is due to the cost being calculated by percentages of the items on the ballot and area receiving ballots now. Robbins advised they will need to adjust their budget accordingly to accommodate the higher charges every two years when they have more items listed on the ballot.

Robbins also advised the City needs approximately 80 additional responses on the income survey sent in March. The City is at a 53 percent low-moderate income level, which meets the requirements of the Community Block Development Grant (CDBG) but the application process comes at a cost of $10,000.

Robbins implored the council to decide whether they should move forward with the application and work on getting the additional responses while hoping their level of low-moderate income stays above the required 51 percent.

The application for the CDBG funds has been described as an ideal request as the project itself fits into the guidelines. The grant would provide the city with approximately $750,000 to repair the Pete’s Lift Station and fix the bottleneck, which currently happens behind Ritzville Hardware in the 10-inch piping.

The Council discussed their two options and ultimately decided the project needs to be done as soon as possible and spending the $10,000 now to start the application process would make sense. They stated they would need to spend Sewer Reserve Funds to fix the issues if they do not receive the grant monies.

Banner then took to the podium to report on the calls that have taken place since the previous Council meeting. He also advised that of the calls they have had, the assistance from the Ritzville Police Department has been very instrumental in their handling of the situations efficiently.

Banner also advised his payroll from November 2015 to May of 2016 was for 420 hours and equaled $6,720, which is 56 percent of his budget for payroll. This is due to the increase in call volume from this time last year to now. Last year the department responded to six calls by this date compared to 24 calls this year.

Mike Schrag presented on the success of the Arbor Day celebrations for the Tree Board. He stated the four trees were successfully planted in the Ritzville City Park by the Ritzville Grade School fifth grade class and the other 12 trees were planted along First Avenue by the City’s Public Works department,

Scott Yaeger advised a call for bids was placed in the newspapers and the bidding will open on May 16 for the First Avenue overlay project.