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Last Town Council Meeting of 2002
by Dixie A. Walter
During a council meeting which lasted approximately 35 minutes, the final
budget ordinance was approved unanimously as were two other ordinances and
one resolution. A lawsuit brought by local residents Pat and Edwinna Van Eaton
was almost discussed, 300,000 gallons of missing water was declared not
missing at all, the Community Center, long a financial concern, is
"holding its own," pet and business license rates were raised and the beginning of a master plan for the
Alder St. Park was also under consideration. Police Report *Eatonville Police Chief Jim Lewis presented copies of "Confusions 6 - A comprehensive guide to crime and drugs" to the council. The magazine is published by the National Child Safety Council and covers such diverse subjects as illicit drugs, gateway drugs, families, violence, gangs and suicides. Lewis:
I’m terribly impressed with the citizens that actually participated in
this program. The high school got cases after cases of this type of material
for the kids in school. So I think this is really going to help us the rest
of this year and next year. Whenever we need more all we have to do is
notify them and they’ll send us additional copies of whatever. So please
read these. I’ll tell you, you will be impressed with them. Water
Lost and Found? Public Works Director Jamieson Van Eaton: I
didn’t prepare a report this month. It’s been a busy couple of weeks for
me. But I’d just like to comment verbally that we did have a
pre-construction meeting for the sewer project, which should begin the first
week in January. We didn’t finish the job by December 31, but it wasn’t
our fault that we didn’t, and the grant folks know that. So they’re
satisfied to allow the project to proceed and it should be completed by the
end of January.
What
About the Van Eaton Lawsuit? Council member Mike Gallagher:
A public lawsuit has been filed. Do you have any more information on this? Van Eaton: Well, that’s something I don’t feel that it’s appropriate… Gallagher: I know our attorney’s not here. Van Eaton: Well, I can probably comment to the extent where it’s under review.
You know, there’s a number of options at this point in time. And one of
those options …well, I just as soon the attorney would weigh in. And
certainly one of the things that the town will want to consider is… a
couple of things. If we feel that we have every reason to represent the town
in court, we’ll want to do that. We’ll also want to have some idea about
what the expenses to the town might be. And so, my personal belief is
that…well, I’d just as soon not comment. Gallagher: Is the meeting in February a hearing to show cause?
Van
Eaton:
I believe so. Gallagher: Is that
the seventeenth? Van Eaton: The fourteenth. Mayor: The
fourteenth. Van Eaton: The fourteenth of February. Gallagher: Maybe
our attorney could speak a little bit longer on it at the next meeting. Mayor: I
imagine he will. Town Clerk Carrielynn Loffelmacher:
He’s been given all the lawsuit information. Mayor: We’re not trying to hide anything. It’s just
with lawsuits sometimes you can talk too doggone much. Gallagher: Absolutely. Council member Pat Hamilton: Jamieson, does the sewer project go all through the whole
alley? Or does it curve and
come on to Washington? I thought it curved and came on to South Washington.
Does it go all the way through the alley? Van Eaton: It goes through the alley
from Center Street near the…across to the north of Napa is where it
starts. So it crosses Center, goes down the alley to Larson and then kicks
to the west… Hamilton: To the
west? It must kick to the east and go to Washington doesn’t it? Van Eaton:
I think it kicks to the west. Mayor: It goes
down Washington and kicks to the west. Hamilton: But the way he’s talking it goes down the alley
between Mashell and Washington. Van Eaton: And, and… Hamilton: …then to Larson… Van Eaton:
Yes Hamilton: and then to… Mayor: Yes, it has to go to Larson Hamilton: And then it crosses Larson? Or are you thinking it
goes to Mashell then? To the west to Mashell? Van Eaton:
Pat, if I had my construction plans I’d glance at it
and… Hamilton: The reason I’m asking is because in the alley,
after you get to Larson, and continue on the alley through the middle of
that trailer park, that’s where they were digging to beat heck in there.
The telephone company was digging to beat heck in there and changing things
around back in that alley and I thought that’s "not involved with the
sewer." But I didn’t know. Gallagher: Yeah, doesn’t the sewer run along Washington? The
west side of Washington Avenue? Van Eaton: Mike, I’d have to get my plans to reference that… Mayor: East.
The sewer runs on east side of Washington by Plaza Market. I
helped…
Several
voices at once, garbled. Gallagher: It ran right down beside my dad’s property down to
Oak Street. Van Eaton: I know it’s the direct line to the sewage facility.
It could be that the AT&T folks were down in the trailer park because
they had some other facilities… Hamilton: It must be some other work there because they were
working to beat heck there for a couple days. Van Eaton: Well, you know, I know they’ve got some plans for
new headquarters eventually that’s going sort of across from the movie
theater. They’re getting their infrastructure ready for that move
eventually. Hamilton: The new structure, I thought, was at the end of
Larson. Cross Mashell, go right up behind that house across from Larson
there. That’s a long ways from the movie theater. Van Eaton:
It’s kind of kitty-corner. Hamilton: It’s a ways. There’s about three houses on the
south side of the movie theater before you get to Larson. Van Eaton:
Well, somehow they’re getting there.
Chuckles
all around. Council Member Ray Harper:
As pertains to AT&T, what’s the plan? I noticed along their line about
every quarter mile you can see conduit. It comes up out of their trench. How
are they going to connect that? Or, do you know what the plan is for that? Puzzled
discussion. No real answer Town Treasurer Melode Akervick: I apologize for not getting the report to you earlier. My
father had a stroke two weeks ago. And I didn’t really get back to it
until the end of this last week. Then we had a few corrections to make but
… Town
Budget Approved Mayor: New
Business. Ordinances. Adopting the Budget… Council Member Bob Schaub:
A couple of questions. I’d like to know, I’ve gone through this budget
and I, just for my own reference, how much of our budget was taken from the
reserve fund, to balance the budget? In reference to our taxes and all the
other income, what additional amount of money was added to this budget to
balance it? From the reserve account? Loffelmacher: It’s an investments account that we have, and
it’s money that we have been putting in there. We started out with
$190,000 last year. It’s up to $300,000. And all of that investment money
was put into the budget to balance it. It’s all in there. Schaub: And it left how much then in our reserve account? Loffelmacher: It stays in here. It stays in the budget every year.
Last year we had $190,000 in there in investments, and it rolls over every
year. Do we expect to use all of it, no. Could we use all of it, yes. If we
had an emergency or something else to happen we could use all of it…all of
it is in there in order to balance… Schaub: Ok, I’m going to ask my question one more time.
How much of our reserve account was used to balance this year’s budget? Loffelmacher: $300,000 of the investment account was used. Schaub: That’s above and beyond our normal intake, is that
true? Loffelmacher:
Yes.. Harper: But aren’t we expecting that to be left over…? Loffelmacher: Yes.. Schaub: In the last two years it looks like that we have,
our wages and salaries and benefits have increased to forty percent. Mayor: No Loffelmacher: The wages have not increased. The wages only
increased last year, it was three-point-five percent of the COLA (Cost of
Living Adjustment), is what we got last year. This year, per union contract,
the town employees get one-point-five percent. So the wages have not
increased forty percent as the newspaper [Dispatch] compared it to. As far as benefits,
medical has gone up an incredible amount. Medical goes up every year. Schaub: Well, let’s see. Maybe I need to reword that.
Instead of increasing it three-point-five and one-point-five, our budget, in
the last two years, has reached the point that it is forty percent of our
budget? Loffelmacher: Wages and salaries, yes. In most municipalities,
forty percent of any budget is wages and salaries and benefits. Benefits are
very expensive. Schaub: I’m just trying to gather enough information for
my own benefit, in that I have this feeling of the months coming up, just as
I’ve had a feeling in the last six months, and have asked that we monitor
our budget process. In that I think we’re going to be in a bit of a bind
here in the near future. But I have no further questions. Ordinance 2002-04 "Adopting the budget for the Town of Eatonville, Washington for the calendar year 2003" passed unanimously. Business
License Fees Raised
Next on the table was Ordinance 2002-07 "amending ordinance
91-21, relating to business license fees." Hamilton: What had this been changed from? What was it before?
Loffelmacher: Twenty-five dollars ’91, and it hasn’t gone up since then. Harper: Did we ever come to a conclusion with the art
festival? Ordinance 2002-04 passed unanimously. License fees will now cost $50. Budget Amendment
Resolution 2002-II "setting the rates for dog and cat licenses and
repealing Resolution 91-L" passed unamimously with no discussion. To
license a surgically altered pet now costs $25 each. Non-altered pets are
now $50. For senior citizens over the age of 60 the fee is $10 for each
altered pet and $15 for non-altered animals.
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"Democracy
is when you are not closed for being open."
"Vote
for the man who promises least; he’ll be the least disappointing."
"Politicians
can’t give us anything without depriving us of something else.
Government is not a god. Every
dime they spend must first be taken from someone else."
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