Mayor Young called the regular meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Mayor Young delivered the invocation and led the flag salute.

Mayor Cheryl A. Young

Councilor Bill Guy

Councilor Gary Hudson

Councilor Bob Schmor

COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT:

Councilor Tyra Schroeder

ALSO PRESENT:

Michael Reedy, Chief of Police

Micah Olson, Public Works Superintendent

Leahnette Rivers, City Administrator/Recorder

ATTORNEY PRESENT:

None.

A quorum was present and due notice had been published.

Public Hearing opened.

Mayor Young explained that a detailed explanation of the proposed rate increase was included in the last newsletter, and she asked for comments regarding the rate increase.

Greg Cook of Columbia City said he just moved into the City. He suggested the City consider taking one-half of the increase and do the billing every other month to cut down on labor, postage, paper and filing which might make up for the other half of the increase. He said it may help the City and help the residents at the same time.

Leahnette Rivers explained that the City borrowed $2.9 million in 2002 to construct a 1.0 million gallon water reservoir and develop an additional water source. She said in 2001 the City's water storage capacity was equal to 40% of the recommended capacity for our population at that time. She said the new reservoir was sized to provide us with the storage capacity we would need for 20 years. She said the water source project is still underway. She explained that in order to maintain a low 1% interest rate on our loan, we must charge $53.68 for 1,000 cubic feet of water by March 2009. She said the 1% interest rate will save us $2 million during the pay back period of the loan. She said this rate increase is one of several that will bring our rates up to the amount required by the loan.

Leahnette Rivers explained that we did bill on a bi-monthly basis up until August of 2002. She said there were many things that factored into the City making the change to a monthly billing system. She said the bi-monthly system saved one-half of the staff time associated with meter reading, billing and collecting, one-half of the supply and postage costs, one-half of the printing costs, etc. She said, however, we identified several benefits to the monthly billing system, which came at an expense, and those were:

• Improved revenue flow,
• Easier for customers to budget for a monthly bill,
• Earlier leak detection for customers,
• Customers were notified in a more timely manner of high water usage and the costs associated with high usage, and
• More frequent and timely communication with our customers through a monthly newsletter.

Greg Cook said he plans to stay here for a long time, and he wants to get involved and find out where we are and why.

Mayor Young said we are appreciative of that, and thanked Ms. Rivers for summarizing the water situation. She said people do like to know where they are at with the billing and their water usage. She said the rate increases are difficult enough for some people to budget for, especially if it is two months worth.

Greg Cook spoke in favor of the rate increase if it means the City will retain the 1% loan because it is in the best interest of the community.

Leahnette Rivers said for the record that the Mayor and City Council have the following printed e-mailed correspondence, which is also available for public review:

E-mail dated March 13, 2006, from Eric Chapin of Columbia City, containing the following questions for this public hearing

E-mail dated March 13, 2006, from Leahnette Rivers to Eric Chapin with responses to Mr. Chapin's questions.

Councilor Hudson said that for a long period of time we worked very diligently to protect our customers from rate increases, and we got ourselves into a pretty desperate situation because if the rate increases are delayed for too long, you fall behind on maintenance in terms of replacing water mains, pumps, valves, etc. He said as bad as the increases are and as much as they cost, if we continue to delay the increases the amount of the increase that's required in the future becomes intolerable.

Greg Cook asked if we use fresh water for street sweeping and fire protection. He suggested we use the river water for fighting fires.

Public Hearing closed.

AGENDA ITEM 3 CITIZEN INPUT:

None.

4.1 Parks Committee: In the absence of Chair Schroeder, the City Council reviewed the Parks Committee Meeting minutes of March 7, 2006, and Chair Schroeder's e-mailed notes dated March 14, 2006. Leahnette Rivers explained that the Parks Committee Members met at Datis Park on Saturday, March 11, 2006, to discuss whether or not to put a few parking spaces next to the park. She said the section of the "L" Street bridge rail that we had saved for historical purposes appears to have been taken from the Public Works yard, and its whereabouts is unknown. She said the Parks Committee will be meeting to review their Parks Master Plan projects and work on their project descriptions for this year's Five-Year Capital Plan.

4.2 Water Source and Development Committee: Chair Guy said the Committee has not met recently.

Micah Olson reported he and the City's engineers recently met with representatives from Water Resources to review the proposed well, and they are looking very positively on the Water Rights Application for the public works site. He said this well site appears to be much more feasible than the Dyno Nobel well site. He provided the Council with preliminary drawings of the well construction, along with the City Engineer's cost estimate. He said final drawings and contract documents should be available next week, and he hopes to have quotes for the well construction work for the next City Council Meeting.

4.3 Streets Committee: Chair Hudson said the bridge construction project is moving along. He said he was surprised that the supporting abutments were not made of poured concrete.

Micah Olson said the abutments are not supporting. He said the deck will be totally supported by the pilings. He said the abutments only hold the gravel in place - they are called "mechanically stabilized earth walls" and they consist of concrete faces with 20-foot long straps behind them that are covered by gravel. He said the engineers thought the pilings would be placed at a depth of 40 feet, but they had to weld on another section to reach a depth that was supported by a very rock-hard layer.

Mayor Young said the project has been quite disruptive for Mr. and Mrs. Cook, who live very close to the northeast corner of the bridge.

Leahnette Rivers said the ceramic lining of their wood stove cracked and feel apart during some of the construction work, so she has provided them with the contractor's contact information and insurance company information.

Micah Olson said the "L" Street road construction work will likely be more disturbing for Mr. and Mrs. Cook than the bridge pile driving work.

Mayor Young said she and Leahnette met recently with Mr. and Mrs. Cook, along with the City's bridge engineers, to hear their concerns about the project and discuss some of the remaining project details with them.

4.4 Sewer Committee: Councilor Schmor asked how the new pumps in the River Club Estates Lift Station are performing.

Micah Olson said everything seems to be working very well. He said we have improved our system capacity when the City of St. Helens is not performing their backwash at the Water Treatment Plant.

4.5 Library Committee: Liaison Hudson said the Friends of the Library recently held a successful book sale.

4.6 Other reports: Mayor Young said she attended a recent Mardi Gras celebration in St. Helens.

Items 5.1 and 5.9 were removed from the Consent Agenda.

MOVED (HUDSON), SECONDED (GUY) AND CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY ROLL CALL VOTE TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA.

AGENDA ITEM 6 UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

None.

The Council reviewed draft Policy Goals and Objectives for fiscal year 2006-07 at length with staff. Mayor Young asked Council Members to bring their recommended changes to the next meeting.

MOVED (SCHMOR), SECONDED (HUDSON) AND CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY TO ADOPT COUNCIL BILL NO. 06-395.

City Shop Project: Micah Olson provided the Council with a plan view and an isometric view showing the proposed retaining wall and shop building expansion project.

Councilor Schmor said it looks like it will be a lot of work to put all of the blocks in place for the retaining wall.

Micah Olson said he expects it to take them about three years to complete the retaining wall portion of the project. He said they will complete the retaining wall area for the new well site first.

St. Helens Water Treatment Plant: Micah Olson said he has been monitoring the sewer usage from the St. Helens Water Treatment Plant. He said the plant is generating more sewer usage, outside of the backwash, than originally anticipated. He said in February they discharged approximately 198,000 gallons of sewage into the system, and they anticipated just 3,000 gallons per month when they originally requested service. He said we'll want to make some sort of billing adjustment after we monitor their sewer discharge long enough to establish an average discharge volume.

St. Helens master meter: Micah Olson said they recently switched the master meter on Highway 30 to a 4" meter, which is expected to reduce the wholesale water rate that we pay to St. Helens by 19% because the fire flow portion of the rate will be eliminated.

Resignation: Chief Reedy said Officer McQuiddy has resigned from his position with Columbia City because his advancement with the City of Clatskanie as a Police Sergeant did not leave him with enough time to juggle his family and two jobs.

The Council read a letter of resignation dated February 12, 2006, from Officer McQuiddy.

MOVED (HUDSON), SECONDED (SCHMOR) AND CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY TO ACCEPT OFFICER MCQUIDDY'S RESIGNATION WITH REGRET.

Sheriff's levy: On behalf of Sheriff Derby, Chief Reedy asked the Mayor and City Council for their support of the Columbia County Sheriff's Department Enhanced Law Enforcement Operating Fund, which will be completely dedicated to the Sheriff's Office and law enforcement. He distributed question and answer sheets about the proposed Operating Fund to the Mayor and Council. He said he has signs that can be put up in support of the Operating Fund, and provided sign-up sheets identifying other methods of support for the Operating Fund.

Chief Reedy explained that the cost of the Operating Fund would be approximately $0.39 per $1,000 of assessed value, or $39.00 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home. He said the Operating Fund will provide the County Sheriff's Department with 24-hour coverage, which they haven't had in more than 20 years. He said they would have 15 personnel. He said the County would have 11 patrol deputies, 2 support staff and 2 members assigned to the Columbia Enforcement Narcotics Team (CENT). He said 70% to 80% of the crimes in Columbia County are related to methamphetamines. He said the County will begin hiring in July 2006 if the Operating Fund is approved by the voters in May 2006.

MOVED (GUY), SECONDED (SCHMOR) AND CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY TO APPROVE A MOTION OF SUPPORT FOR THE SHERIFF'S OPERATING FUND LEVY.

Surplus property: Chief Reedy said the 1992 police car has been stripped in preparation for sale. Leahnette Rivers said they plan to sell it over e-Bay.

Officer updates: Chief Reedy said Reserve Officer Bubar is doing well, and he and Officer Greisen were involved in the recent arrest of a Columbia City resident who was charged with attempted kidnapping and rape of a minor. Mayor Young said she would like to commend the Columbia City Officers for their work on that case.

Lewis & Clark Campfires & Canoes: Leahnette Rivers said the City has four complimentary tickets to Friday night's tour of the Campfires & Canoes event in St. Helens for anyone interested in attending.

COLA and insurance benefits: The Council reviewed a memo dated March 10, 2006, from Leahnette Rivers, explaining that our medical and dental insurance rates are not projected to increase this year, and our vision rates are expected to decrease by 5%. In the memo she also recommended the Council authorize the preparation of the 2006/07 budget with a 3.5% cost of living adjustment (COLA).

MOVED (SCHMOR), SECONDED (HUDSON) AND CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY TO MOVE FORWARD WITH A 3.5% COLA IN THE 2006/07 BUDGET.

The Council convened in Executive Session at 8:45 p.m.

The Council reconvened in Open Session at 9:20 p.m.

AGENDA ITEM 9 ADJOURNMENT:

There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting adjourned at 9:20 p.m.

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