Waitsburg City Council Update

Council members: KC Kuykendall, Kevin House, Karl Newell, Kate Hockersmith, and Mayor Pro-tem Marty Dunn were in attendance.

Agenda Approval:

- KC Kuykendall motioned for the addition of an executive session pertaining to staff performance. Dunn asked if the issue could wait until the issue could be addressed by the personnel committee. Kuykendall said the issue needed addressed right away by the council but would be “highly inappropriate” for public discussion. Hockersmith seconded the motion with she and Kuykendall in favor and House and Newell opposed. Dunn used his tiebreaking vote to add the item to the agenda, but as an be an open meeting item.

Public Comment:

-Resident Jim Davison expressed concern that a city council member or city employee divulged information regarding the city engaging in dialogue with Nestle Waters North America that was shared during an executive session at the June city council meeting. Davison said sharing of such information is unethical and subject to a fine if it was shared by a city council member and is a breach of contract if it was shared by a city employee.

-Resident Deborah Foreman read from the city’s municipal code under Development Code Administration. She specifically referred to Chapter 10A.05 which refers to the Consolidated Application Process which she said refers to informal pre-application meetings prior to setting a formal application meeting. Foreman said the code implies that the council could become involved in proposals at a later phase, which she said is typical of cities in Washington.

Unfinished Business:

- Nestle Bottling Plant: The council voted to send a letter of non-interest to Nestle Waters North America stating that the city is not interested in further exploring the possibility of building a water bottling facility in Waitsburg. Hockersmith and Dunn voted in favor of the letter with Kuykendall and House voting against. Dunn cast the deciding vote in favor of sending the letter. However, all council members had stated agreement that pursuing the proposal was not in the best interest of the community at this time. (See full story in the Aug. 25 issue of The Times.)

- Surplus Railroad Land subdivision: The city continued an ongoing discussion, initiated several months ago, about the best way to surplus a strip of land to John Lindsey who had been maintaining it for some time. It has been determined that the city does own the land that was given by the railroad many years ago. The property is oddly shaped and “of little value” but does include the city’s well field. After council and public discussion, it was decided that the city will send inquiry letters to all the adjoining property owners to see if any are interested in purchasing the land adjacent to their properties, minus the well field.

- Touchet River Waterline repair: The Council agreed to put the Touchet River Waterline repair immediately back out for bid. See story on Page 1.

New Business:

-Vacant Council Position: The council voted to have Dunn fulfill resigned mayor Walt Gobel’s remaining term as mayor. They will accept applications for the resulting vacant council seat. Applicants will be interviewed and voted on by the council. (See full story in the Aug. 25 issue of The Times.)

-Approved Resolution 2016-663, a Capital Facilities Update.

-Council was informed that solid waste collection fees from Basin Disposal will increase by 5 cents per month for residential and commercial customers.

-Personnel: Kuykendall, who requested the employee performance agenda item be added as an executive session, refused to comment publicly, saying “no comment.” Hockersmith said she felt confused about what Hinchliffe’s actual job description is. She said that when things get “tense and weird” as they have recently, it’s easy to look at the one person involved in everything as the problem. She suggested updating the job description to be more clear about Hinchliffe’s authority and who his supervisor is. She also suggested that Hinchliffe be more proactive about running items past the council. Dunn said he felt Hinchliffe does a good job and didn’t feel a job description update was necessary. He said there have been a couple of recent situations that the personnel committee will sit down and discuss with Hinchliffe so that they don’t recur.

City Clerk Report:

-The city pool closed on Aug. 20. Attendance averaged 25 people a day, and was down the first time “in a long time.”

-A disease has killed all the walnut trees in the city park and the city is in the process of removing the dead trees. The city is also working on trimming the overgrown maple trees.

-The city is ready to draft a memo of understanding with the Army Corps of Engineers detailing how the Main Street Bridge project will proceed. Discussion regarding the addition of a second sidewalk on the bridge will take place during the September council meeting. Hinchliffe said the rough cost for a second sidewalk is $20,000 but that an extra set of plans will cost $18,000 due to the changes in bridge alignment. Hinchliffe said he will invite an engineer to the September meeting to explain the resoning behind the second set of plans.

-Some sections of terra cotta sewer line will be re-lined this year.

-The Shoreline Master Plan update is considered complete and will move to the final stage for approval.

-Terry Nealy received a City Champion award from the Association of Washington Cities as a congressional delegate that goes above and beyond to advocate for issues the benefit cities and towns.

-Hinchliffe was able to secure $132,000 in funds to put sidewalks on Arnold St., S. 4th St., and S. 5th St.

-The city purchased a skid steer for $20,000 to perform work on the spring lines that couldn’t be accessed with the city’s current equipment. Hinchliffe said the city had previously wanted a dump truck but has never found one in the right price range. They decided that a skid steer with dump trailer would be more advantageous. Kuykendall said Hinchliffe should not be able to make a $20,000 purchase without it coming before the council. Hinchliffe argued that the purchase is allowed as long as it doesn’t push the fund over the limit. Hawkins weighed in to say that budgeted items are authorized up to $25,000. Kuykendall and Hinchliffe continued to disagree over the definition of “budgeted items” vs. “line items.”