City Administrator’s Report

March 2006

Council will continue debate and taking public input on the proposed Temporary Sign Ordinance. There was considerable discussion at the March council meeting and many citizens had concerns about losing their right to properly advertise their event(s), whether private or community service. Further research of the current ordinance shows that temporary signs on public right-of-way are prohibited and the proposed temporary sign amendment would permit them. The City will begin enforcing the existing ordinance language (18.12.070) since non-government signs located within or on public right-of-way are not allowed. Contact your council members to voice your concerns as well as solutions.

The City Fire Chief is once again applying for a FEMA grant to purchase a new fire truck. City council must approve a 5% match to cover the grant should we receive it. Council Action

City administration commenced a long-term water-usage study. This study includes a comparison of our current to historical usage, conservation measures, rate structure, capital facilities plan, and long-term water supply. Eventually we will need to select a consultant to analyze our data and design a series of projects that will include a new or enhanced reservoir and drill a new well.

The Council and planning commission members met in open session on March 16 to discuss mutual concerns. I spoke of the large volume of land-use questions that the City receives each day, eg. three years ago there was an occasional (one per month) land-use question compared to our current volume of one to ten per day. While this is an indicator of growth in our community, it has a cost in large amounts of staff time to perform research. Workshop members suggested providing updated zoning maps to the realtors, financial institutions, and title companies followed with training on how to locate municipal code information on-line. The members of the joint group set Saturday April 22, 9am to noon, as a goal-setting session which will be open to the public.

The Escapees RV club is hosting a gathering in Chewelah this August 14-18. This event will bring many visitors to our community who have likely never been here before. I’ll keep you informed on the details.

The Skatepark was opened March 23 by order of the Mayor. Anne Smith quickly rounded up several park users to clean up debris collected over the winter and everything is working well. Thanks to all the great volunteers and City staff for assistance on this.

The City reached an agreement with the IBEW union representing the electric department employees recently. The $.50 per hour rate increase was approved by the membership and is retroactive to January 1, 2006. Council must approve this settlement to allow the pay increase. Approximate cost to the general fund is $2,106. Council Action

The Chewelah Library hired Tom Bristol to design the work drawings for the Library renovation. This is going smoothly and we expect to be able to make choices in the design parameters very soon. A copy of this contract is included in your packet. Funding for this work is in the Library budget and reserves. Council Action

The Information Kiosk project spearheaded by Jenkins High Seniors David Ludwig and Cameron Stroyan is moving ahead. These young men visited all the service organizations in the community and have commitments from the Kiwanis Club, Arts Guild, and the City of Chewelah. Others have expressed interest as well. Tom Bristol, Purple Flat Top Consultants, will be the project manager. Donations should be sent to the City and Tom will approve disbursements within the budget. Approval for donations to be receipted by the City and disbursements reviewed and approved by Tom Bristol, to be paid by the City. Council Action

The Airport Pilot’s Lounge roof needs to be replaced. It is a cedar shake roof that is badly deteriorated. This problem was detected in 2004 but the work was postponed as we hoped the roof would last a little longer. Now is the time. George Eberth, City Municipal building janitor, will perform the work as the required 2006 major project commitment called for in his contract. Materials are expected to be approximately $1,000 and disposal of the old roofing will likely be less than $500. We also surveyed damage to the east wall by Flickers (large woodpeckers) and will patch these holes when we replace the roof. Council Action

We budgeted for a lesser fee in 2006 for the services of the Wesley Group not remembering that the Electric department labor contract will expire at the end of 2006. Since the negotiation will begin this spring, we need to increase our budget to the $700 monthly level as in previous years. Total cost for this increase is $3,400. Council Action

We must adopt the WSDOT 2006 Standard Specifications for Road, Bridge, and Municipal Construction. This is something that has not been done for quite a while and is similar to adopting the latest International Building Code and Fire Code. If our project has State or Federal agency funding, we must follow their specs. Council Action