February 9, 2015

The Enterprise City Council met in regular session on Monday, February 9, 2015 at 7:30 P.M. Those present were Mayor Steven Lear; Councilors Larry Christman, Stacey Karvoski, Jenni Word, Dave Elliott, Laura Miller, Bill Coffin; City Attorney Roland Johnson; City Staff Denine Rautenstrauch, Michele Young, Ronnie Neil.

Guests: Sondra Lozier, Wendy Stuart, Kelly Christman, Ashley Leland, Bruce Bliven, Joe Volpe, Gary Bethscheider

Consent Agenda

Addition to agenda – Sondra Lozier Friends of the Enterprise Cemetery

Councilor Coffin made and Councilor Karvoski seconded the motion to approve the January 13, 2015 minutes and the addition to the agenda.   Motion passed unanimously.

Public Comments

Mayor Lear reported that we had an audit exit interview today with the Executive Committee and our Auditor.   The audit was very favorable and we are in better financial condition that last year.

FCCLA – Ashley Leland stated that this is FCCLA week. They have been involved in a lot of projects including a canned food drive, the tree of giving, food bank. Thunder-Room restroom cleanup and serving at the Hospital Foundation dinner. They have 12 members going to the state this year.

Wendy Stuart, representing GEMS (Greater Enterprise Main Streets) submitted a request for them to be an added line item in the amount of $1584 for liability insurance for all events and for Board Insurance in the amount of $731.

Wendy will provide a list for Michele to give to the council showing events covered. This will be taken to the Budget Committee meetings.

Sondra Lozier reported on the Cemetery meeting. She thanked Ronnie, Michele and Councilor Christman for their presentations. Another meeting will be held on March 12. It is a start. Councilor Elliott asked if the next meeting could be moved to a different time so working people can attend.

Gary Bethscheider: Mayor Lear stated that he is going to be a sponsor of the event so he is going to recues himself because of that.   Gary is the promoter of the Wallowa County Thunder-run. Last year, even though the weather hurt them it was very successful, 900 people came with the weather not favorable. He is asking for $2500 from the Opportunity Fund to step up the event with higher quality bands. They did have feedback regarding kids and vendors. They will allow kids and families in until 4pm and admission to the vendors will be free. If you don’t have a wristband after 4pm you will either have to leave or buy a ticket. They are working on getting the bronze bike to Sturgis this year.   He thanked the council for their support last year and he is hoping he can work with the merchants downtown getting them to do something. He is asking for a variance to 1:30 am this year for music. He wants to start the music later in the evening, last year people weren't coming back until 5:30pm and the music had started at 4:00p.m. Gary stated that he had talked with Michele, Wes and Steve Rogers, there were no complaints received from last year.

Councilor Word stated she helped last year and will help again this year. It is very well organized. Councilor Word stated that those that know her know that this is not her typical venue. Mayor Lear stated Councilor Karvoski had an issue with access on Medical Parkway and asked how that worked out. Councilor Karvoski stated she wasn’t here that weekend. Councilor Word stated it was worked out with the hospital and they made sure most traffic was away from Medical Parkway. There were no issues.

Gary stated they raised an additional $200 and donated it to Community Connections. This year, they are going to see if they can get something going with a Toy Drive. Gary stated he really appreciates the City of Enterprise’s support. Mayor Lear wanted to refer it to the Motel Tax Committee. Councilor Miller asked what weekend, Gary replied August 20-23. Last year it was Thursday- midnight and Friday and Sat. night 12:30am.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

City Welcome Sign on corner of River & North Street: Mayor Lear stated that the lot not only needs to have a nice sign but we also need to clean it up. He would like to see it shine on the city. Every chance we can make to give a good first impression we should do it. Councilor Coffin will go talk to Jerry Hayes and get a set price on the sign. Councilor Karvoski feels we need to stay within our budget. We started with $1200 and she feels it should stay there.

Wendy Stuart stated that the lot needs to be cleaned up and then put up a sign. Councilor Elliott agreed with Wendy. He wants it all on the table so we know what we are talking about. Gary asked if Community Service is available to help clean up the lot. Councilor Elliott, Word and Lear will work on the this project. Councilor Word stated she is available Thursday of this week here at 5:30, the other members agreed.

CITY LOT SEWER HOOKUP

Michele informed the Council that we have a person interested in the city parcel we have for sale. The question came up regarding infrastructure. Michele stated she was able to provide them information regarding Water and Electricity but Ronnie Neil informed her that Sewer will be hard to get. We would have to get a connection to the main which is in the middle of the highway. Michele and Ronnie told the council they had a conference call with ODOT regarding this and were told that it would have to be done prior to the Chip Seal project ODOT is doing in July. After discussion Councilor Coffin wanted a letter from ODOT stating we have to have it done prior to the project or we can't do it. Michele stated that without the ability to hook up to city sewer it basically makes the parcel unsellable. No action taken by the Council. Staff will get a letter from ODOT and Ronnie will research other possibilities. Ronnie estimated that it would cost $9000 to get the sewer from the main to the property line.

PLANNING COMMISSION MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Michele presented the City Council with a recommendation from the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission has reviewed the topic of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries for the last 3-4 months. They recommend that the City not create additional limitations. The State regulations provide enough limitations that there are not very many areas that a person could open up a medical dispensary in Enterprise. It has to be commercial and 1000 away from licensed schools. They recommended that we allow the moratorium to expire with no action.

Roland felt we should look at regulating grow sites. After discussion Councilor Karvoski made and Councilor Coffin seconded the motion to direct the Planning Commission to come up with regulations regarding grow sites. Motion passed unanimously.

Councilor Word made a motion to accept the Planning Commissions regulation to allow the cities moratorium to expire. Councilor Karvoski seconded the motion which passed with 6 in favor and Councilor Miller opposing.

Resolution 590

Mayor Lear read by title Resolution No. 590, a Resolution setting the operations parameters for 2015. Councilor Karvoski made and Councilor Word seconded the motion. Michele took a Roll Call vote. Motion passed unanimously.

Department Reports

Michele reviewed her written report. Michele reported on the problems we have had with the phone system and how it works with the telemetry system. It hasn't been working but by the end of the week it should be switching to the telemetry during closed hours. This is the system that calls the public works if there are problems. Michele stated that we have changed the way we pay the Volunteer Fire Dept. members. They now receive an individual paycheck, this puts us in compliance with state and federal. Michele reported on a meeting she was organizing of Elected Officials, Planners and Staff to discuss the Floodplain issues and where we go from here. It is scheduled for February 19 at 11:30 a.m. here in our Council Room. Lunch will be provided.

Ronnie reported on the wind damage. Our watershed really got hammered. It will take 2-3 log truckloads from the fallen trees. Ronnie stated that In the past he would contact JZ Lumber and they cleaned it up for the wood.   It will take about two weeks to repair the fence. The main issue is keeping Steen's mules out of there.

Library, the Collins Foundation met on Friday but Denine has not heard anything yet. She feels confident that we will get all of the grants.

Paul Karvoski asked if there were questions on his report, there were none. He has a letter from the Greater Bowan Valley Volunteer Fire Dept. out of Baker City stating they would like our 1974 LaFrance Fire Truck. Paul stated they are a small department and the LaFrance has no value at this time. Paul recommended to the City Council that we donate it to them. After discussion, Councilor Karvoski made and Councilor Miller seconded the motion which passed with 4 in favor and Councilors Elliott and Coffin opposed to donating the 1974 American LaFrance fire truck.

Being no further business, the meeting adjourn.

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                                                                        Steven D. Lear, Mayor

ATTEST:

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Michele R. Young, City Admin./Recorder