Ritzville City Council approves clubhouse contract for Soup it Up

The Ritzville City Council announced Soup it Up has been chosen to take over the Ritzville Golf Course Clubhouse contract during their meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Scott Yaeger stated since the current Ritzville Golf Course manager contract expired Dec. 31, 2016, and with minor changes to the verbiage of the contract, he suggested a motion for the mayor to approve the changes and to work toward completing the document. The Council approved the motion.

Yaeger then informed the Council the Parks and Recreation Committee met to discuss the two Ritzville Golf Course Clubhouse proposals they received from the businesses “Soup it Up” and “Tea Time”.

Both proposals included a three-year contract with the city and different rental amounts, he explained.

After reviewing both businesses proposals, Yaeger said the committee recommended the Council move forward with accepting the proposal from “Soup it Up”, which is owned by Janis and Buck Rountree. He also motioned for the Council to approve for Mayor Gary Cook to continue with minor changes to the clubhouse contract, as a draft was needed to finalize the document with the business.

The Council approved the motion

Cook announced he would need a motion to authorize $5,500 from the City’s 110 fund for the 468 Communications LLC Agreement.

The Council motioned to authorize the amount with Council members Michelle Plumb and Mark Weigand opposing the motion.

Clerk-Treasurer Kris Robbins presented Ordinance No. 2104, which pertains to the extension of the marijuana moratorium for 60 days as discussed in the previous meeting.

She said the extension would allow the License, Rules and Permits Committee additional time to discuss and process the recommended rules and regulations for the expanding marijuana industry in the city.

The committee will discuss the draft at their next meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 11, and present it to the Council for review within 60 days, Robbins explained. The Council voted to adopt the ordinance.

The recent passing of the extension of the marijuana moratorium will not affect the two current retail stores established in the city, Robbins explained. She announced the city is currently working with the marijuana retail business located by Taco Del Mar and they will be ready for a letter of occupancy soon.

Cook then opened the floor to any department heads or members of the public who would like to discuss the changes to the 2017 budget. He said the city is on a temporary cash-basis system.

Cook announced he would be reviewing the city’s revenue sources with the Finance Committee at the end of each month in an attempt to budget for the expenditures of the department, which were not allocated for. He assured the fact public safety issues were not compromised with the changes.

Due to the fact the city has received multiple questions about the new $30 business license fee, Cook announced he wanted to further explain the reasoning behind the new fee.

He said the city decided to establish the fee because only 60 percent of the current local businesses did not complete the free registration, which has been established for the past five years.

The fee will also allow the city to keep track of the local businesses in order to promote their services to visitors and potential residents, Cook explained.

During the department updates portion of the meeting, City Attorney Mark DeWulf announced as a start to the new year, he would like to work towards allowing his associate John Kragt to begin working with the city.

Cook said he would further discuss the change with DeWulf at a later time.

Robbins then informed the Council the city is looking into doing a service order program in order to assist with tracking the city utilities and calls for service. She recommended the Council visit City Hall when the new program arrives to review the benefits of the system and how it operates.

Mike Schrag announced the Tree Board is currently researching Transportation Improvement Board Grants to apply for in order to approve the physical appeal of First Avenue.

He then said the Finance Committee will continue to review the financial reports after each month to see what percentage of the budget is being used in each department.