[0:04] be repeated. That's what I have to say.
[3:04] It's gone.
>> The new one showed up last night. Same
[3:09] spot.
[3:14] » I believe it's 4:30 and even though I
don't have a gu 5:30. Oh, I am in the
[3:21] wrong place. 30. It's 5:30. We'll call
this meeting to order.
[3:27] 30.
Oh, look.
[3:35] I would like to to move the items to be
added to the agenda up and at this time
[3:41] add um two things to the agenda. The
first one is the pledge of allegiance.
[3:46] Somehow the pledge of allegiance has
gotten off of our agenda and I'd like to
[3:50] add it right after we finish this if
that's good with council.
[3:55] » [clears throat]
>> 500.
[3:56] » Are we good?
>> Consensus is achieved.
[3:59] » Okay. And then the the second thing I'd
like to do is I would like to take the
[4:05] public comment on non-aggenda items
and put it as item F underneath the
[4:12] consent calendar and before public
comment on agenda items. That's why we
[4:17] did it last month. It seemed to work
pretty well. What do you think?
[4:25] » Yeah.
>> Any issue?
[4:30] » And can we make those kind of permanent
changes
[4:32] » agenda before agenda?
>> Mhm.
[4:35] » We can then we'll start with the agenda
after the agenda items and then that
[4:39] fits together.
[4:43] Okay.
So the agenda has altered by those two
[4:48] things
and our first
[4:53] item then would be the pledge of
allegiance.
[4:57] We could all stand.
Would you lead us, please?
[5:02] » Aliance to the flag United States of
America.
[5:15] Amen.
[5:22] » Tonight we have some visitors via Zoom.
Correct.
[5:30] » Are we with this yet?
>> Yes.
[5:36] » Trisha, I'm going to promote you to a
panelist and you'll need to accept that.
[5:52] » Okay, I think I've gotten this figured
out. Hello Can you hear me? Okay.
[5:57] » Yep.
>> Okay, great. Thanks.
[6:06] » Is it okay if I go ahead?
>> Yes.
[6:09] » Oh, great. All right. Let me
>> please. Welcome to Welcome to Council's
[6:13] business meeting.
>> Thank you. All right. Let me get my
[6:17] PowerPoint shared here. I'm gonna Oh,
I'm gonna send a request to you to allow
[6:23] me to share my screen.
>> [clears throat]
[6:25] » I have a slide deck here
[6:34] and looks like I have permission. Okay.
Can you see my screen? Okay. On on your
[6:42] end.
>> Yeah. Yep. [clears throat]
[6:45] » Okay. Great. Hi everyone. Um looks like
I have the wrong Dave here. Sorry about
[6:50] that. Um, but this is uh an overview of
rate setting 101. I know on the agenda
[6:56] it said um rate study and I'll be
talking about that, but it's a little
[7:01] bit more about the process of rate
setting and all of the u information
[7:07] that goes into it. So, um I'm Trisha
Ken. I work for RCAC.
[7:14] I will
uh there we go. Forward the slide here.
[7:20] uh RCAC, Rural Community Assistance
Corporation. Um we're a technical
[7:25] assistance provider that works with
rural water and wastewater systems
[7:30] across the states that you see here in
green, the western 13 states of the US.
[7:36] Um, but we also form part of the larger
rural community assistance partnership,
[7:41] which is made up of a bunch of little
companies just like RCAC across the
[7:45] country that work with small and rural
wastewater and water systems um
[7:50] providing technical assistance to them.
[clears throat]
[7:54] Beyond just water and wastewater, we
also do some other things. There are so
[8:00] many programs going on at RCAC that I'm
[clears throat] not even familiar with
[8:04] all of them. But we do um do affordable
housing, um economic development. We
[8:10] have a loan fund which is helpful to
provide that bridge funding for systems
[8:15] um taking on um uh USDA or SRF loans. We
provide no cost trainings online and in
[8:26] person. And then we can also come out
and do um inerson technical assistance.
[8:30] We do remote technical assistance. Uh
and a big part of that is the rate
[8:35] studies that we do, income survey and
things like that. So if any of that is
[8:39] interesting, you want to hear more about
it, let me know. Uh my contact
[8:43] information is at the end of the um end
of the presentation. I can get you
[8:49] connected with the right people at RCAC.
And then a little bit of why we're even
[8:55] talking about rates when it comes to um
drinking water. The safe drinking water
[9:02] amendments were passed by Congress in
1996
[9:06] um which focus on some special
provisions related to small systems and
[9:12] that's systems less than 3,300. Um
the focus here is not just the technical
[9:19] side of things, making sure we have safe
quality drinking water, but what um
[9:23] Congress noticed was that when systems
are um lacking on the managerial or
[9:28] financial side, then that makes it
harder for them to provide that clean,
[9:32] safe drinking water to their customers.
And so there was really that focus of
[9:36] all three are needed to ensure that our
customers have clean, safe drinking
[9:41] water today, tomorrow, and into the
future. And so that's why we're going to
[9:47] be talking about rates today, that falls
under that financial side of things.
[9:53] Um, and so when we think about rates,
setting rates, we have to go all the way
[9:59] back to the beginning.
Um, and start with the budget. And so
[10:04] I'm going to be talking first about the
cost of running our drinking water
[10:09] system and using that information to
then inform what we should be charging
[10:14] our customers. And so there's not a
whole lot of magic here. It's just
[10:20] tracking down the numbers um and keeping
those really clear and transparent for
[10:25] our employees, for our staff, for our
customers so that everyone knows uh what
[10:30] goes into setting the rates. And so the
true cost of water um involves a few
[10:36] different components.
There's our operating expenses, which is
[10:41] what we all think about when it comes to
running a a drinking water utility. This
[10:46] is the day-to-day um operating costs.
This can be, you know, chemicals for
[10:51] treating our water, paying our staff, um
maintaining our equipment, things like
[10:56] that.
Those are what we what come to mind when
[11:01] we think about uh running a drinking
water utility. But then there are other
[11:06] costs that we have to pay
whether our customers know it or not.
[11:11] And that includes things like capital
outlays, which are the expenses that we
[11:16] have to pay to replace or refurbish our
infrastructure that we have, if we need
[11:21] to dispose of assets, if we have to um
pay on our debt, and contributions to
[11:28] reserves. And so, I'm going to talk
about more of that in a second, but all
[11:32] of this really goes into what it costs
to run our utility.
[11:38] And when we're getting really uh
specific and down to the nitty-gritty,
[11:45] we break out our expenses even further
into fixed expenses and variable
[11:49] expenses. And the fixed expenses are
ones that we have to pay whether we sell
[11:54] a drop of water um this month or not.
And that is paying on our debt, um
[12:00] paying our personnel, paying rent if we
rent um
[12:07] a plant or an office building, maybe
paying mortgage, things like that. Um
[12:11] we're going to have to pay whether we
sell any water to our customers or not.
[12:15] Variable expenses. This
uh increases and decreases depending on
[12:21] customer use. So we can think of um
electricity maybe if our pumps are
[12:27] running more uh it's using more
electricity and uh that is associated
[12:34] with the the higher uh usage of water
that we see on the customer side. Uh
[12:39] maintenance there's more wear and tear
in the system if our customers are using
[12:42] more water.
Engineering fees it says here but maybe
[12:46] it would even include paying our staff
overtime if they have to work more. Um
[12:52] maybe we're using more chemicals to
treat water to clean our our uh our
[12:57] equipment, things like that. Um so our
variable expenses increase and decrease
[13:02] depending on demand.
[13:07] Now I mentioned reserves earlier. This
is
[13:10] there are many buckets you see here on
this slide. Reserves are the money that
[13:14] we set aside to pay for things in the
future. So, that could be um
[13:22] just one account that we have to set
aside money or it could be as fine-tuned
[13:28] is what you see here. So, I'm going to
go through these different buckets.
[13:33] Some systems have a couple of these.
I've worked with some systems that have
[13:36] all of these reserves, but I I always
say some reserves are better than no
[13:40] reserves. You don't need to have all
these um different categories. So, debt
[13:45] service reserve. This is required if you
hold debt. Your lenders like to make
[13:49] sure that you're able to make those
monthly payments. And so, um, like USDA,
[13:54] for example, requires you to have one
year's worth of payments available in
[14:00] reserves. Shortlived asset reserve is
another category. Same thing. USDA as a
[14:06] lender likes to see that there's a
separate reserve for equipment with a
[14:11] lifespan of 15 years or less. Operating
reserve. This is a really common one.
[14:16] This allows the utility to withstand the
cash flow fluctuations from month to
[14:21] month. So maybe customers pay late. Um
customers don't pay at all. Maybe our
[14:26] expenses are higher one month we had a
leak. Things like that. And so this
[14:30] provides that cushion of one and a half
to two months worth of op operating
[14:35] expenses so we're able to um withstand
those those es and flows.
[14:42] Emergency reserve these are set aside
for those emergencies unplanned things
[14:49] that happen uh you know an equipment
failure or a natural disaster whatever
[14:54] um caused the emergency. But this is
typically the cost of your most
[14:59] expensive piece of equipment. The idea
here is that if your expensive piece of
[15:04] equipment goes down, you have that money
in reserves so you can purchase it and
[15:08] get back to operating as quick as
possible so that you can continue
[15:12] providing that service of drinking water
to your customers.
[15:16] And then the last one here, capital
improvements reserve. This is for um
[15:21] system rehabilitation,
uh long-term equipment replacement,
[15:25] system expansion, things like that. And
again, it's uh
[15:32] really good to have that money that
you're setting aside little by little so
[15:37] that you're able to make those repairs,
replacements, etc. when you when you
[15:42] need to, when you know um your pump is
going to go down, when you know that uh
[15:47] this valve is reaching the end of its
useful life, you have those funds
[15:51] available to you because you've been
planning for it all along.
[15:57] Okay, so bringing it back together, the
true cost of service is that operating
[16:03] expense that we think of all the time,
our non-operating expenses,
[16:09] um debt service, any debt that we need
to pay to our lenders, and then thinking
[16:14] about what we need to set aside every
month to our reserves. Um all of that
[16:19] together is the true cost of running our
drinking water utility.
[16:26] And then this is the basis of um
how we set our rate. So using all that
[16:33] information we put it together in our
budget. Our budget is a document used to
[16:39] track income and expenses or money in
and money out. Um
[16:45] and it's a really important tool. This
is uh a road map. This is um the way we
[16:53] communicate as a council to our
customers where our priorities are um
[16:58] and what our our long-term plans are.
It's um yeah, one of the most important
[17:06] tools that we have as a decision-making
body.
[17:11] Okay, so some more notes on putting
together a budget. We want to make sure
[17:16] we're including debt service. I already
mentioned that is uh part of the true
[17:22] cost of running a drinking water
utility. And this is going to include
[17:26] any principal payments, interest
payments that we owe, any lines of
[17:31] credit, any bonds payable, things like
that. We want to make sure we're
[17:35] collecting all this information,
considering it, and representing it in
[17:40] our budget. And then reserves. I already
mentioned this, but yep, we also want to
[17:44] make sure that we're considering
contributions to reserves that we're
[17:49] going to be making.
[17:53] Another important component of
the rate study as well as budgeting is
[18:01] asset management.
This is also a really important
[18:07] decision-making tool um as a utility and
as a a city as a whole. Um but asset
[18:14] management is that process through which
utilities manage their physical um
[18:20] assets and infrastructure
to make sure that we're able to provide
[18:25] the service of clean, safe drinking
water to our customers long term.
[18:30] And so asset management,
one important way we do this is by first
[18:36] developing an asset inventory. And
that's simply just a list of all the
[18:40] components that we have. What do we own?
Um all the buildings, all the tools, all
[18:44] the equipment, vehicles, um all of our
uh distribution lines,
[18:52] everything that we have, we just make a
big list of it.
[18:58] And then this is probably very small on
your end, so I'll just tell you what the
[19:03] spreadsheet is showing, but this is that
asset inventory, our list of components
[19:07] that we have. Um,
we also include information
[19:13] like when was it acquired and how much
did it cost and then when
[19:19] do we anticipate replacing it. Um, so we
have this tool at RCAC. we can um go
[19:27] through it with your system if this is a
helpful tool. You might already have an
[19:31] asset inventory in place. Um but the the
really great thing about this tool is
[19:37] you can look at
what the estimated remaining life of the
[19:41] component is, how much we anticipate
it's going to cost in the future, and
[19:45] then how we plan on paying for it. Are
we going to set aside cash? Do we want
[19:51] to go for a loan? Things like that. Um,
and we can enter it into the
[19:57] spreadsheet. So, we can be calculating
how much we'll uh need to set aside each
[20:02] year in reserves to be able to pay for
um the pump, the inlet, the whatever it
[20:10] might be um when it needs to be
replaced.
[20:17] Okay.
So, back to the budget.
[20:22] We're going to
combine all this information together.
[20:29] This slide again, this is all really
small on your end, I'm sure. Sorry about
[20:32] this. But this is showing that um
you don't want to just use last year's
[20:39] budget to inform this year's budget.
We want to take an average of the last
[20:45] four years or at least look at the last
four years to make sure that we're not
[20:49] basing this year's budget off of any
sort of anomalies that happened in last
[20:53] year's budget. So maybe we ended up
having um to pay to pay really high fuel
[20:59] costs last year or um maybe there was a
lot of repair and maintenance that
[21:03] happened. We had a a lot of leaks,
whatever it might be. We want [snorts]
[21:06] to look at what was normal, what was
pretty average over the past four years
[21:11] and use that then to set our budget.
[21:19] Okay. Another thing that we like to
consider,
[21:23] this is also something that um we build
into the rate study. So we'll be doing
[21:28] this when we um start the rate study,
but we look at fixed versus variable
[21:33] costs. Some of these line items from the
budget are partially fixed and partially
[21:39] variable. So things like um fuel or
equipment maintenance. There is a
[21:44] certain amount of that that we need to
pay regardless. And then some of that um
[21:50] will increase and decrease depending on
how much water our customers are using.
[21:55] And so our model allows us to really
fine-tune that uh how much of um
[22:01] electricity is fixed and how much of
that is a variable cost. And so we work
[22:06] with um the utility staff, so uh city
staff members to really get a good idea
[22:13] of how much of these costs are fixed and
how much are variable so that we're
[22:19] representing it appropriately.
One more thing that um we take into
[22:26] consideration and we recommend that
systems take into consideration when
[22:30] building their budgets is inflation.
This is a really handy tool from the US
[22:35] Bureau of Labor Statistics that allows
you to um look at inflation from year to
[22:42] year. We recommend around 3 to 4%
building that into your budget. Um, but
[22:49] I would say double check with this tool
when you're going to set your budget,
[22:52] which that time has passed for this
year, but just a recommendation of this
[22:57] is a great tool to use. Um, and this is
what we use as well. Whoops.
[23:04] Um and then
[23:09] another
uh this will be a step in the rate study
[23:12] process but we project out the next five
years of expenses
[23:18] using your uh budget from this year. And
so it looks like this which again is
[23:22] very small. Sorry about that. But
projecting out for the next five years
[23:27] really helps us to look into the future.
It helps give us an idea of what our
[23:33] revenue requirements are going to be,
not just this year, but over the next
[23:38] five years, which you know, um is is as
far as the model will allow us to look,
[23:44] but uh if if it's helpful for you, you
could project out further on your end um
[23:50] for that long-term planning.
But this not only helps us as um a
[23:59] governing body to understand where our
expenses are and where they're going to
[24:03] be over the next 5 years, but it also
allows us to communicate with our
[24:06] customers um what the anticipated
expenses are coming up. It's a really
[24:11] great tool. So yeah, this is built into
the rate model and then we use this to
[24:16] help um inform the rates that we
develop.
[24:21] And yes, then we calculate the revenue
needed based on those expenses that we
[24:26] see.
And so revenue
[24:30] comes from um a couple of different
sources. The main one that we focus on
[24:35] is operating revenue. This is our water
base rates um and our water usage rates.
[24:42] It says late fees here. We really don't
like to um [snorts] base our rates on
[24:48] late fees. We'd like to assume that this
is not a steady source of revenue for a
[24:54] water utility. We like to focus on what
our business is and that is um providing
[24:59] clean safe drinking water to our
customers. So that's just the base rate
[25:02] and the usage rate.
However, some systems do have
[25:07] nonoperating revenue.
You might have non-operating revenue
[25:11] like interest on investments that you
have. Um the example here, cell tower,
[25:16] rental income, that might be a source of
revenue. Um grants and loans, things
[25:21] like that.
[25:25] Okay. And so then we also will project
out budget revenue,
[25:31] how we anticipate that to um correlate
with our expenses. And
[25:40] we we recommend at least increasing your
rates annually with inflation. Um so
[25:49] that 3 to 4% so that at least you're
able to make sure that you're covering
[25:56] that baseline um increase that we know
is going to happen year after year.
[26:05] This again is very small but this is
just showing when we carry over our
[26:08] revenues
um and line it up with our expenses they
[26:13] should balance.
We should not be in the red. That is the
[26:17] goal and that is what we will do with
the rate study. Make sure that the uh
[26:22] revenue is covering the expenses and if
it's not we'll figure out what rate is
[26:29] needed to cover the expenses of the
system.
[26:34] Okay? Okay. And I already mentioned
this, but a purpose of a 5-year budget
[26:37] is to have that long-term planning. Um,
your customers are aware of um where
[26:47] we're going as a utility, any projects
on the horizon, any expenses, and it
[26:53] really helps to make it very clear what
the revenue requirements are. So, these
[26:58] numbers aren't coming from nowhere.
They're coming from the expenses of the
[27:03] system.
[27:07] And then this is a helpful tool. So once
you have your budget in place, the
[27:11] budget comparison tool, budget
comparison report um helps to keep you
[27:17] on track, makes you aware of either
month-to-month or quarterly or however
[27:22] often you prepare these reports of are
we on track, are we over, are we under,
[27:28] how are we doing? Um, and if there are
any
[27:33] um,
discrepancies here, you can see what's
[27:38] happening. Um, and you can
correct course or you can, uh, maybe
[27:45] adjust for the rest of the year based on
what's going on. Like I said,
[27:48] monthtomonth when you check it, uh,
every week if you check it that often,
[27:52] quarterly, however. Um, but this is a
really great tool for keeping track of
[27:58] that.
And then here are some really great
[28:02] questions to ask yourselves
as you are um setting your budget, as
[28:08] you're setting your rates annually
per American Waterworkers Association.
[28:14] Um did our revenue exceed our expenses
in each of the last three years? All of
[28:20] our are all of our scheduled debt
payments being made? Are our reserve
[28:25] accounts fully funded? Um, are our
emergency and preventive maintenance
[28:30] costs covered? Are we in compliance? Do
we have any violations that we need to
[28:34] take care of? And then, have we
increased our rates in the last 3 years?
[28:38] And if the answer is yes to all of
these, excellent. Good job. Keep doing
[28:44] it. And if you answered no to any of
these, then that's a good indicator of
[28:49] an area that we can focus on. So, um,
yeah, great questions to to think about.
[28:58] And then something else that we take
into consideration with our rate studies
[29:02] is that rates should be all of these
things here. So, most basically, they
[29:07] should cover the costs associated with
delivering drinking water to our
[29:10] customers. They should be fair and
equitable,
[29:14] meaning that no one customer, one
customer class is bearing the burden um
[29:19] or is paying an unfair amount.
Um they should be used to support the
[29:25] water utility only. So no co-mingling
with wastewater. Um so we want to keep
[29:30] our books really clean so we know the
costs of the drinking water utility and
[29:35] making sure that our revenue um is
covering that or is used to cover that.
[29:41] Um, our rate should be transparent. It
should be very easy for our customers to
[29:44] understand exactly where the money's
going.
[29:48] Um, easily understood, shouldn't be
unnecessarily complicated
[29:52] or too many customer classes or anything
like that. The the easier it is um the
[29:59] better it is for our staff to be able
[snorts] to administer it, for our
[30:04] customers to understand it, and for the
council to be able to explain it.
[30:10] And then just a couple more notes here
on what goes into rates. So what are the
[30:16] components of rates? It's the who is
charged. It's the how often they're
[30:20] charged. And it's the how much are they
charged.
[30:24] So
let's break this down a little bit more.
[30:29] So we have the base rate and usage rate.
Um
[30:35] this is
as I mentioned before the base rate is
[30:39] used to cover the fixed operating cost.
So that's things like um you know paying
[30:44] on our debt, paying our rent, things
like that that we have to pay every
[30:48] month regardless. Our base rate should
you use be used to cover that. Oh,
[30:53] actually I'm going to go over that on
the next slide. So I'll just I'll just
[30:58] forward ahead. So yeah, our um base rate
should be used to cover those uh fixed
[31:06] expenses
and per American Waterworkers
[31:10] Association best practice is that your
base rate doesn't include any water. Um
[31:16] but it's can be thought of as a
membership into the system. It's getting
[31:21] you access to that drinking water. Um,
but then the usage rate is where you pay
[31:28] for the water you use. I've worked with
a lot of systems that think of it as
[31:34] um water included in the base rate is
the water that you get every month and
[31:39] then you are charged overage charges
um for any water you use over that. And
[31:48] I I'd like to reframe that to we pay for
the water that we use with our usage
[31:54] rate. Um and that makes it really easy
to
[31:59] um cover our variable costs and for
customers to see how much water that
[32:03] they're really using. Um so let's let's
see let's talk quickly about the base
[32:09] rate. This is calculated and this is
what our model does on our end. It's
[32:15] nothing fancy. It looks at the average
monthly fixed cost of what the system
[32:21] um it the expenses of the system and
then divides it by the number of
[32:26] customers. And so in this example, it's
quite simple. Um we're assuming that all
[32:31] the customers are the same customer
class and the same meter size and we get
[32:36] a a nice uh number on the other end. our
model is able to accommodate different
[32:43] customer classes, different meter sizes.
So um yeah, when these calculations get
[32:49] a little more complicated, the model is
good for that.
[32:55] And then as I said before, the purpose
of the usage rate should cover those
[32:58] variable expenses. So, our electric
bill, um fuel, maintenance, chemicals,
[33:06] if we have to pay overtime, um if
there's extra, yeah, um
[33:12] maintenance on the system this month,
whatever it might be, that should be
[33:16] covered by your usage rates. And that is
calculated differently that you take the
[33:21] variable costs of the system that month
and divide it by the average total water
[33:26] usage. So, um, then it's broken down
into the cost per thousand gallons or
[33:34] cost per cubic foot or 100 cubic feet or
however, um, whatever the usage unit is
[33:41] for your system.
[33:47] And then a note here, equitability. Um,
we want to make sure that our customer
[33:55] classes are fair. um and that customers
are paying their fair share. And so this
[34:00] means that the larger meters sized
customers are paying a higher base rate
[34:07] because there is higher demand that
they're placing on the system. There's
[34:12] more wear and tear they're placing on
the system. Um and that is best practice
[34:18] per American Waterworkers Association. I
know that a lot of systems don't have
[34:22] that in place necessarily. So large
meters uh large metersized customers
[34:27] will pay pretty close to what a small
meter size customer pays in a base rate
[34:33] and it is what it is. Um it's not
recommended necessarily but we also have
[34:40] to take into consideration customer
satisfaction and um and things like
[34:45] that. So
that is something that when we do the
[34:48] rate study we will explore that and uh
make that recommendation.
[34:55] And then this slide is really just
showing the the delaying of an in rate
[35:00] increase
ends up being more of a burden on
[35:05] customers. I know sometimes it's hard to
make that decision of um increasing
[35:10] rates annually even if it's just that 3
to 4% to to uh match inflation. Um, but
[35:20] it really does reduce the burden on
customers to increase a little bit
[35:23] yearbyear because then they're able to
plan. They're able to budget for it
[35:29] because they know that it's coming
rather than uh, you know, putting it off
[35:33] 10, five, 10 years and then hitting them
with a a large increase because now
[35:37] we're behind. So, yep, it is uh less of
a burden on them to to just have those
[35:43] incremental increases year after year so
that they know what's coming.
[35:50] And then we recommend that you review
your rates annually when you review your
[35:55] budget. That way we can see what the
expenses are for the year and then make
[35:59] sure that the rates are are covering um
what those expenses are,
[36:05] which are these our operating
nonoperating expenses, our debt
[36:09] payments, taxes, fees, and contributions
to our um reserve account. And that is
[36:17] all I let me go here. This is that's all
I have. We have not started the rate
[36:23] study yet. Um
but we like to do this initial kickoff
[36:28] meeting so that um everyone is on the
same page. We've worked with some
[36:33] systems in the past where
you know maybe the council isn't aware
[36:39] of the rate study or doesn't know all
the the steps that go into the rate
[36:43] study. So, we like to make sure that
um yeah, everyone knows what's going on,
[36:51] that the customers are brought into the
fold, they know um what to expect. And
[36:56] just to set some other expectations
here, the rate study does take quite a
[36:59] bit of time. It could take anywhere from
6 months to a year depending on how
[37:04] quickly we get the information in from
um
[37:09] your staff members. And so um also
asking your patients as we collect data
[37:16] and put it into the model and uh yeah
there's often a lot of back and forth as
[37:23] we um make sure that the data is in the
best uh condition possible. So that
[37:29] means making sure we don't have any um
inactive customers that we're inputting
[37:35] into the model or making sure that um
the usage is correct that there isn't
[37:42] any um errors and and uh meter reading
things like that. So uh yeah that's all
[37:48] I have. Are there any um here's my
contact information. You can send me
[37:53] questions. I don't know if there's time
to take questions now, but here I'll uh
[37:59] I can stop sharing.
[38:03] Where's my mouse? Okay, stop sharing.
>> Do you have any questions?
[38:06] » I don't have a question. I don't have
>> Do we have a start date?
[38:12] » We don't have that yet. Um, I would need
to talk to Becca on my end to see well
[38:21] with the city obviously um to see what
her availability is. We might
[38:26] [clears throat]
begin I think just thinking about
[38:30] funding for us because this fiscal year
is closing um and so we might be looking
[38:37] at September to start just based on yeah
where our funding is. So
[38:45] we can share that information with you
and um the funding is available to us
[38:51] and we can start work.
[38:55] » Perfect. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[38:57] » You have any questions?
Any other questions from the audience?
[39:02] » Trisha, we appreciate this. Um we don't
have any other questions.
[39:07] » Great.
>> So we uh we look forward to you getting
[39:10] started in September.
>> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for u the
[39:14] opportunity to speak.
>> Thank you for coming.
[39:18] » Great. Take care. Have a good night.
>> You too.
[39:20] » You too.
>> Okay. Bye. Bye.
[39:25] » Right. Item number one. We can check
off. Item number two,
[39:31] the emergency volunteers.
>> Oh, I'm switching hats. Okay.
[39:36] » Um little bit of information to share.
We earned $836
[39:42] at our raffle at Gabbaldi Days. Uh big
thanks to all the businesses that
[39:48] donated to us. Um great shakeout is
coming up October 15th at 10:15. I'll
[39:56] have a lot more information at the next
meeting on that. Um,
[40:02] one of the things my group is looking at
gathering information on elderly people
[40:08] or disabled people that are along that
101 area that may need help getting to
[40:16] safety if there were a disaster. We're
not quite sure how to collect this
[40:22] information. So, if anybody has some
good suggestions on how we could do
[40:26] that, that would be helpful.
Uh, Rockaway has a radio class coming up
[40:33] on August 26 at 6 PM at their city hall.
Everybody's welcome to attend that. Um,
[40:41] EVNBC
has a go bag popup. If you don't have a
[40:46] go bag and you've been having troubles
getting one started for yourself, you
[40:51] can order through their website. They
have a starter bag at 65 and then a more
[40:56] complete go bag at 125. You order on pay
online and then go to the Manzanita Old
[41:03] Police Station to pick it up. And
September 19th from 12 to 12:30 at the
[41:10] Nalum Fire Station, there's a water
sanitation and hygiene class and they
[41:16] are now charging a $20 fee for that.
That's Oh, and I brought extra booklets.
[41:22] If anybody does not have one and would
like one, go ahead and grab one. These
[41:27] are the booklets at Get Ready Gabaldi.
[41:32] » That's it.
>> Thank you.
[41:34] » Thank you. You're welcome.
[41:38] » Hey, we have no public hearing.
[41:44] So, the next thing is the consent
calendar.
[41:48] Does anybody have anything for the
consent calendar?
[41:54] I have a correction on minutes.
[41:59] Um
[42:03] or the July 13th on page two. I'm asking
for the pay the employee payroll costs.
[42:10] I' I'd like to see a sentence put in
there that says something along the
[42:13] lines of the workshop packet provided a
breakdown of staff costs as requested
[42:18] during the budget committee meeting and
then that would be followed with what we
[42:21] have there which is there was no
discussion of the agenda item
[42:26] that be acceptable.
[42:30] » Yeah,
>> sure.
[42:31] » We're good with that one. And then the
other one,
[42:39] oh this one was simple for July 20th.
Um, under the consent calendar, it says
[42:46] a motion was made to approve the consent
calendar. It should be with edits
[42:51] because we had edits to
[42:56] again.
Anybody have any other questions about
[43:00] anything in here? Then
I picked up.
[43:10] » All right.
>> I had a couple of questions on the
[43:13] financial report. Of course, I would
have a couple of questions on the
[43:17] financial report.
>> Can I approve the consent calendar?
[43:20] » Not yet because I'm not done yet with
the stuff that's in it.
[43:23] » Okay. Um, so I I noted that the business
licenses have been pretty much um
[43:29] collected and Becca assured me they're
done in July. So that's why we have so
[43:35] much money there.
And then I checked on property for the
[43:41] general fund building and grounds
maintenance. We had 115,000 in there. I
[43:46] just wanted to be sure that that was the
account we're going to use to pay for
[43:50] the remediation work on the building.
So, I just checked on that and she said
[43:56] I was right about that.
[44:02] Oh,
the systems maintenance and repair on
[44:07] streets
was $5,64362.
[44:13] That's how much it cost us to put down
the the arrows and the signs. Is that
[44:18] what that was?
>> Some um there was some asphalt also that
[44:21] » had some asphalt.
>> Yeah. So, so that's how much it cost us
[44:24] to do all that work. Correct.
Can you say
[44:30] we made the one-way streets work?
We paid for it.
[44:36] All right. I think that's the end of
what I have there
[44:40] that I'm going to do tonight. Um,
anything else
[44:45] that you guys have?
>> I have nothing.
[44:49] » Do we want to have a motion to accept
the consent calendar? with the edits.
[44:55] » Make a motion to approve the consent
calendar with edits.
[45:01] » Got that a mot that motion.
>> We have a motion to approve the consent
[45:06] calendar with the edits. Been seconded.
Any further discussion?
[45:12] All those in favor say I. I.
>> Those opposed hearing none measure
[45:19] passes.
Consent calendar has been accepted.
[45:25] So the next thing is non-aggenda public
comments. So this is
[45:30] comments must be limited to city
business topics that are not on the
[45:34] agenda. A topic may not be discussed if
the topic record has been closed. All
[45:40] remarks should be directed to the whole
council. The presiding officer may
[45:44] refuse to recognize speakers, limit the
time permitted for comments, and ask
[45:48] groups to select a spokesperson.
Promise may also be submitted in writing
[45:53] before the meeting by mail or email or
in person to city hall.
[45:59] Did we have any of those?
None.
[46:04] And we have one item not on the agenda
from Heidi Parker.
[46:12] » I wasn't sure if that's where I would
slide in. I did send an email. I thought
[46:17] I sent it Sunday. It ended up going in.
[46:22] the email you know
>> this is we
[46:25] Tiffany Stewart we did get your email um
we have not yet had a chance to deal
[46:31] with your email but have we I have read
part of it have you guys read it
[46:35] » I I read it and I went up to her
property earlier today okay
[46:39] » to examine personally what the issue
>> sure
[46:46] » I think the most useful thing be if I
could leave the pack it with somebody.
[46:51] Um,
>> take it.
[46:52] » Wonderful.
And it pretty much clarifies everything.
[46:56] » Thank you.
>> Should I just read what I sent?
[47:01] » You just summarize what what the problem
is.
[47:04] » So, I uh bought my house about 5 years
ago here in Gabaldi. Um, and the woman
[47:09] that sold me the house, she also owned
the property directly above me. So, the
[47:13] retaining wall is between these
properties. Um a few years ago she sold
[47:17] that uh property above me to her
daughter. Um but in the five years that
[47:21] retaining wall is just getting worse and
worse and worse. With every ret rain
[47:24] rainy season it's like that retaining
wall has come down on me. Um and all the
[47:29] problems stem from everything on that
upper property. They have this extreme
[47:34] black sheeting that runs directly onto
the retaining wall. Um they're absentee
[47:40] owners. So the gutters just it's is a
waterfall onto the plastic sheeting onto
[47:45] the retaining wall. It's just incredible
how much water that's absorbed. It's
[47:49] just splinters right now. The vegetation
is extreme. Um and that has done so much
[47:54] damage. When I moved on, it was all just
down casking over the retaining wall.
[47:58] They wouldn't um take it out. I asked
them if I could do it and their response
[48:03] was um ask my mom. So I had to track her
down and she said, "Sure, do what you
[48:08] will." So, every single year I'm up
there with my power tools just hacking
[48:11] at this stuff. The branches are this
thick and they're just pushing on that
[48:15] retaining wall. Um,
>> is the retaining wall on your property
[48:18] or on their
>> It hasn't been officially done yet, but
[48:21] from the coordinates that I got, it
looks like it's it's going to end up on
[48:24] my property. But the thing is is all of
the damage is coming from from their
[48:29] property. And then what helps in this is
the fact that my wall extends onto the
[48:33] west property. Um, so it's this next
door neighbor. So you could see what
[48:37] that wall would look like if it wasn't
for all of these issues coming down on
[48:42] me. So it's really nice to have that
comparison over this is same wall, same
[48:46] year built. It's perfectly standing. My
wall is just coming apart because of all
[48:50] of these issues.
>> Um
[48:53] we have an engineer coming out. Are we
going to have him look at this?
[48:59] » No.
>> Okay. And I state that because um
[49:03] from looking at this, I believe this is
going to be a civil issue. This is not
[49:07] going to be a city issue.
>> Okay.
[49:09] » But even so, from civil, they need the
city to be able to come out and have an
[49:13] assessment saying, "We've looked at the
property and this is what our findings
[49:17] are before it goes."
>> That's something that we would be do
[49:20] that we would do. The city would come
out and
[49:23] » What makes you think that that's the
case? Uh just conversations I've had in
[49:27] the past over the past five years
>> with other citizens or attorneys or I
[49:31] mean who
>> was an attorney about four years ago. Um
[49:35] that was the indication that I'd need to
get some something from from the county
[49:38] and then it became the city issue.
>> Well, I can certainly understand why the
[49:42] county punted. Um and so in
[clears throat] your letter you
[49:47] mentioned that you had correspondence
from county and city.
[49:50] » What have you received? Is that in there
from the city of Gabaldi? Somebody sent
[49:55] you information
>> to Jake um Boon when he was the manager
[49:59] here. I sent him the letters that I had
worked with the county because the
[50:02] county told me to send it to the city of
Galdi and Jake Boon ran to the property
[50:07] and he took a look at things and he saw
what I was talking about and he said he
[50:10] was going to bring the someone else from
the city out to take a look at it. Um
[50:14] and that's where the communication
ended. I waited to hear from them and I
[50:18] never did. So I sent the letter to city
of Gabaldi, you know, months in saying
[50:23] where are the findings and then nothing
came of that. Um, so that's whenever I
[50:28] wanted to come to the council and ask
for help.
[50:33] » Can I get you to state your name really
quick?
[50:35] » Tiffany Stewart.
>> Tiffany Stewart. Thank you.
[50:37] » It's not here. Amy,
>> um, since this is the first that
[50:43] » Sure. Sure. I understand. And
unfortunately, Jake didn't share any of
[50:46] this with us before, so we're kind of in
the dark as well. We're going to need a
[50:52] couple of weeks to to deal with the
situation. Um, council will work with
[50:56] management, see what we can do.
>> Sounds good. Thank you.
[50:59] » And um and then one of us, someone
either from council or from management
[51:04] will get back to you.
>> I appreciate that.
[51:05] » Okay.
>> And if we don't, you can come chastise.
[51:09] [laughter]
>> Okay. Thank you.
[51:10] » When was the retaining wall built? Do
you know? Um I yeah I really don't.
[51:15] » And is it your is it your retaining wall
or the neighbor's retaining wall?
[51:19] » Um
>> if if I was getting the property lines
[51:21] correctly and I'm just using my GPS on
my phone. I'm guessing the wall falls on
[51:25] on my property
>> on your property. Okay.
[51:28] » So when I look into this on like Zillow
or something, it looked like th those
[51:32] properties were built in 2010.
>> Okay. Uh, and if they were owned by the
[51:38] same person, that person, you know, if
they built two lots,
[51:43] likely put that retaining wall,
you know, to to allow them to build on
[51:48] two lots. I don't really know this, but
just from guessing. And
[51:53] » and
somewhere along the line, obviously, the
[51:56] walls
now
[52:00] um not supporting
>> terrain properly,
[52:04] » but
at some point no matter what.
[52:07] » Well, sure. It's wood. I mean, uh, so
and it's 25 years old. Yeah. Well, the
[52:12] parts I saw were
>> and so
[52:16] » that's the good side. That's the one
that's still standing.
[52:19] » Oh,
>> but it looked like unless there's some
[52:23] city rightway, I I didn't see a role for
the city. And if somebody has
[52:30] like offered a role for the city, we
need to understand what that is.
[52:34] » Okay. It was my understanding that the
city could could take a look at an
[52:39] engineer. I'm not sure what roles, you
know, the city has for that and be like,
[52:43] "This is this is our we've looked at
your property. Um, what contributors
[52:48] could be happening, you know, right now
to make this wall fall." That's kind of
[52:53] what I'm after. It's just the city, you
know, somebody that knows what they're
[52:57] doing. We've looked at it and these are
the contributing factors for the failure
[53:00] of this wall. I'm I'm afraid that we're
probably going to come down to what our
[53:05] city manager said, which is it's
becoming a civil matter and the city's
[53:09] not going to be able to do that for you.
>> But like I said, we're going to talk and
[53:13] we'll see what we can do for you
>> and we'll do as much as we can.
[53:17] » Understand? Thank you.
>> Right. Um this is a really hard thing
[53:20] and that hillside
um I live in the hillside uh area as
[53:26] well. And fortunately for me, I don't
have anybody behind me.
[53:30] » And so I don't have to deal with
somebody doing something stupid behind
[53:33] me.
>> Okay.
[53:34] » Um which is kind of what happens if
you're building up above and you're not
[53:38] you're not aware really of how you're
impacting somebody else,
[53:43] » right?
>> And that is not a city issue. So
[53:47] » yeah, I don't just just from my first
impression, I mean, I think that this is
[53:50] probably a private matter.
Um, another thing I remember from these
[53:54] past conversations was they said that
the city could enforce that they correct
[53:59] the issues that are continuing to cause
cause the damage. So like pulling up the
[54:04] plastic sheeting that the city could at
least go that direction be like you have
[54:08] to correct these issues. You know,
>> there's a possibility of that.
[54:12] » All right. Well, thank you for
listening.
[54:15] » Thank you for coming.
Okay, Heidi, are you on or off the
[54:21] agenda?
>> No, not on agenda.
[54:24] » Then come on down.
>> You're using that arm again, girl.
[54:29] You're going to have to You're going to
be well
[54:31] » getting better. Um well, uh Heidi Parker
6016.
[54:40] Uh, first of all, I'd like to commend
uh, councelor uh, Porter for taking
[54:45] interest in the email and actually
physically going out and looking at what
[54:50] um,
>> this what Tiffany was speaking about. I
[54:54] I that's the first time I've heard about
that since, you know, a counselor coming
[54:59] out, not necessarily the city people,
but anyway, so kudos to you. You
[55:05] » Thanks.
>> You're welcome. Uh the other issue is is
[55:10] that um the the contractor that is
building the two houses behind me has
[55:17] smashed the covert. The culvert has been
smashed. The inflowing water and
[55:22] outflowing is is smashed. I did point it
out to to Nick um when he was on a site
[55:29] visit for something else. He just
happened to have a minute to to peek at
[55:33] that. Um I did want to keep bringing
this issue. But I feel like if it, you
[55:38] know, if they can't go in under the
culvert that's been there forever,
[55:42] um, it's probably going to go on Mike's
property. And I don't know who Mike is,
[55:47] but he's on the, let me think quickly.
He would be on the souththeast corner.
[55:53] » You have a stop recorder on that.
>> No, no, no, no, no, no.
[55:57] » This doesn't have anything to do with
it. This is on city property.
[55:59] » Oh, okay.
>> It was caused by
[56:02] » the constant parking and running heavy
equipment.
[56:06] uh from city park uh property the street
onto the property smashed it. So uh I
[56:14] just kind of wanted to keep dripping on
this point. Um and just hopefully I
[56:20] don't think it's going to be super hard
to solve. I don't think it's going to be
[56:23] super expensive to solve. It's just an
issue that just needs to be solved. And
[56:28] so I'd like to
talk about that. And my minute three
[56:32] minutes are probably up already. So
>> well we got what the essence of the
[56:38] problem is. The covert is broken.
>> Covert is broken is problem with rainy
[56:44] season coming.
>> Okay.
[56:50] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[56:57] » No public comments on agenda items.
[57:03] So, we're on to old business.
Audit status update.
[57:09] » Just received the draft for the 2324
audit.
[57:14] Um, I did not get a chance to go through
it today, so I have really no
[57:18] information on what that says except for
this is the fourth audit I've completed
[57:22] since I started in March of 24.
Congratulations.
[57:29] Um, we're going to get them scheduled
for a workshop. the auditors to come to
[57:33] a workshop.
>> I'm gonna try to um right now they're
[57:36] traveling doing audits. So,
>> yeah,
[57:39] » to get them in, but I will um I'll ask
him
[57:43] » if he's going to be available for the
next month's workshop. Um and then I
[57:48] will have more information on that audit
um at the next meeting.
[57:52] » Yeah. Great.
So if I understand correctly, we have
[57:57] one more outstanding audit that's part
of our problem children
[58:03] » 26.
>> Okay. And then we will just be current
[58:05] with the 2526
>> uh fiscal year that just that just
[58:11] ended.
>> Yeah.
[58:12] » Which isn't due until December.
>> It will probably be late.
[58:16] » Yes. because we're going to finish 2425
before you can actually start looking at
[58:23] 2526.
>> So, at what point do you think we'll be
[58:29] able to apply for grants again that we
are now prohibited from
[58:34] » and and should we start thinking about
trying to get in line?
[58:39] » Start thinking about it because we're we
are getting closer to that finish line.
[58:44] Um, I don't think it hurts to try.
>> Is there somebody at the state we can
[58:49] contact and say, "Look, we've been
behaving in good faith and we are up
[58:51] against financial, you know, issues. Uh,
what, you know, can we get on somebody's
[58:57] good child list and, [laughter]
you know, get out of the corner with our
[59:01] dunce hat on and
>> I can try to contact somebody and see.
[59:06] » Yeah. And if you know if you need if
there's something I can do to kind of
[59:09] help with that or go look at something
or go beg somebody, you know, going to
[59:13] need money.
>> A lot of times grants take a while to
[59:16] write.
>> Sure.
[59:17] » So it's finding them and getting the
getting them written up and and then by
[59:22] that time perhaps the audits would be
>> Yeah. I mean if if we could get
[59:26] organized so that when the green flag
drops we're running that would be nice.
[59:32] » That would be the the best of all
worlds. I hope.
[59:37] » Yes, absolutely.
>> See what I can do.
[59:41] » Anything else on audits?
[59:46] » Thank you again for persevering cuz and
everybody wants to know
[59:53] and everyone thinks you're actually
doing them. No,
[59:56] » which is not the case. No. So, it gets a
little crazy.
[1:00:01] uh Gabaldi wayfinding project update.
[1:00:08] So we had the meeting on the 5th of
August
[1:00:13] and we discussed it at the workshop and
it was just kind of ideas of different
[1:00:19] signage,
kiosks, logos, um storage units for
[1:00:25] carts,
>> right?
[1:00:27] Um, so the gentleman that came and gave
the presentation was given some changes
[1:00:34] and updates, different ideas, and now
from what I understand, we're waiting
[1:00:39] for him to come back with another plan.
And
[1:00:42] » that's what I understand.
>> And then we can start picking color
[1:00:45] schemes, if we want to update our logo,
those kinds of things.
[1:00:51] » Awesome. Is that good?
>> We're all good. Okay.
[1:00:58] City manager recruitment update.
>> Yes. So, I received three proposals.
[1:01:05] A few people that I have
emailed.
[1:01:11] You all have the
I gave out a summary
[1:01:17] which
I do. It's in the packet. Did I put the
[1:01:23] summary? In there. Um, I spoke to
Katherine Stock,
[1:01:29] the mayor of Manzanita, and they are
using
[1:01:33] » Jensen,
>> uh, Jensen right now, and she had she
[1:01:38] was very complimentary about what they
were doing and, um, and how they were
[1:01:43] handling the recruitment.
[1:01:47] I put together like a little table here
where it shows like Profan is a 12 to 14
[1:01:54] week adventure with a $16,500
fee and about $6,500 in other expenses,
[1:02:03] possibly more. And Jensen is 14 to 16
weeks time frame, $28,000 with $7500 in
[1:02:12] expenses.
and WBCP
[1:02:16] is 12 to 14 weeks at 219
with about 69 in expenses.
[1:02:24] » Can you remind me did we use a company
when we recruited the last city manager
[1:02:29] and who was that? I too um I was just
going through some stuff today and I had
[1:02:34] seen we've received stuff from Cropman
in the past and the other one was the
[1:02:40] WBC
>> Wendy Brown.
[1:02:44] » So we've
[1:02:47] read I don't think that they did a lot
for the city.
[1:02:52] » Okay.
>> Did we pay a lot for their services?
[1:02:58] » What's that? Did we pay a lot for their
services?
[1:03:02] » I think we just barely got started with
them and John Shimp showed up and we
[1:03:07] took that and ran [clears throat]
>> about 7,500
[1:03:11] » and so we didn't really we didn't really
use our services. We didn't end up doing
[1:03:16] a recruitment through
[1:03:20] » Did they seem responsive and helpful and
appropriate or would it be something you
[1:03:25] wouldn't want to re-engage in?
[1:03:32] It's more of
[1:03:36] » the quality of the employee that we
received versus
[1:03:41] » so their professional
>> they didn't really
[1:03:44] » services were fine. We just got burned
on the human. said we they didn't really
[1:03:50] him. They didn't he didn't really um
John really didn't really come through
[1:03:55] » went around through the back door and
come in and says, "Oh yeah, here you're
[1:03:58] looking for a city manager. I'll do it."
>> Okay.
[1:04:04] » So, we started as a as a recruitment
with
[1:04:07] » So, we really are going to be farther
along than we've ever been before in
[1:04:10] terms of engaging professional help. Is
that what I'm saying? It's
[1:04:13] » true.
[1:04:16] » And and by doing that, we sort of like
take it off of our plate and we let them
[1:04:21] do it. We have input here, there, and
the other, and they're going to direct
[1:04:24] us into where that input needs to be. Um
either from us or from staff. Um
[1:04:31] » well, yeah, I mean, I followed what
their, you know, projected proposals
[1:04:35] were. I'm just concerned about
the repetitive nature of looking for
[1:04:40] city managers that our history
that we're sort of locked in with our
[1:04:45] history for a minute. I'm
>> going to try to make this the last one
[1:04:47] for
>> that was my hope.
[1:04:49] » Do you any thoughts on which company
would be best
[1:04:57] » or you would prefer?
>> If I would choose I would go with
[1:04:59] Jensen.
>> Okay. um reading their proposal and then
[1:05:04] talking to people in Manita have been
have had no complaints about them.
[1:05:10] » Okay.
>> Do we have some idea the longevity of
[1:05:13] people who they have recommended for
other cities positions and you know
[1:05:20] » how many times they've had to do a free
search for somebody who left within a
[1:05:25] year like they're guaranteed
>> saying that they do have a guaranteed
[1:05:29] clause. Well, I read that, but you know,
that's like getting my brain guaranteed.
[1:05:33] They'll find a way not to.
[1:05:40] » Of course.
>> Of course.
[1:05:42] » Yes. Exactly. True.
[1:05:47] » Then the next question is, do we have
the money? It's my
[1:05:50] » that's
>> that's your way concern. [laughter]
[1:05:54] Okay.
>> So, you're looking at about uh roughly
[1:05:59] 35,500
[1:06:03] » paid out like are they monthly? Were
they monthly or three times?
[1:06:08] » Time shot.
>> Invoices are submitted monthly or
[1:06:11] services rendered. Payment due within 30
days.
[1:06:16] » So, it's not 35 at one time. It's it's
it's going to be monthly. So, it's
[1:06:22] stretches it out a little bit. I is that
or would that be
[1:06:28] the variable expenses that you're going
to be responsible for? They're talking
[1:06:31] about.
>> So,
[1:06:33] » I mean, they don't divide the 35,000
over or the 28,000
[1:06:37] » 28,000 and then they um estimated
reimburseable expenses of 7500.
[1:06:43] » And are those what they're talking about
monthly they give that or
[1:06:47] » thought it was
>> or are you advertising the entire fee?
[1:06:52] It does not say. It just says invoices
submitted month.
[1:06:57] » So my guess would be that those invoices
are the reimburseables
[1:07:01] » and that somehow you've dropped a big
chunk of money up front.
[1:07:04] » But I think that I thought that the
>> but I couldn't tell that from
[1:07:14] » it's an easy question. They'll know the
answer.
[1:07:18] » See?
>> Okay. So, when you look at their project
[1:07:20] bud budget in in the proposal, they have
um the professional fee listed here and
[1:07:26] then they have the reimburseable fee and
then at the very bottom they say they'll
[1:07:30] submit invoices monthly. So, I'm
guessing that two are added together and
[1:07:35] that they're dividing it out monthly.
I'm guessing
[1:07:38] » but the whole process takes 14 weeks.
So, that's you know
[1:07:41] » yeah
should take some time. show
[1:07:46] one, this wasn't budgeted for, right?
[1:07:52] Two, um
I just
[1:07:59] it's a lot of money to spend.
It is a lot of money to spend. However,
[1:08:04] I know that it
we need to
[1:08:09] hire. So, it's that or we do it
ourselves.
[1:08:13] And um because we can't have one staff
person doing double duty forever.
[1:08:21] Um and so you know we want to be
considerate of that staff person as
[1:08:25] well. Um and you know I don't
particularly feel like doing all of it
[1:08:29] myself. I don't know about the rest of
the council. Um
[1:08:33] » well I mean I think the city council has
been doing it themselves and I'm not
[1:08:37] sure that
>> you know I'm bringing some expertise
[1:08:40] that they didn't have.
>> Yeah. Um, and so I don't
[1:08:45] » I'm not an HR expert. So,
>> see the city go out if you chose Jensen
[1:08:51] » to use them and let them do it.
>> Yeah.
[1:08:54] » Um,
I mean, if at the end towards the end of
[1:08:59] the budget year, if we have to do a
supplemental, then that's what we're
[1:09:01] going to have to do. But,
>> well, I have a question for you.
[1:09:04] How much is this remediation work going
to actually end up costing us? Cuz we
[1:09:09] didn't we figure it
it was under 100 or did we figure it at
[1:09:14] 100
>> for downstairs?
[1:09:15] » Yeah.
>> For the whole thing.
[1:09:17] » Yeah.
>> I think it was [clears throat] at 100.
[1:09:22] It's
>> 115 in the budget, but
[1:09:25] » it was like around maybe around 105 110.
>> Okay.
[1:09:29] » So, [clears throat]
but what are we going to actually end up
[1:09:33] spending
>> that? I do not know. I know what our
[1:09:38] first um cost is going to be, which
they're starting tomorrow. Um which I'll
[1:09:43] talk about later, but uh I know that
amount.
[1:09:48] I don't think it's going to cost as much
as we had first anticipated it to cost,
[1:09:54] but again, I'm not 100% sure. So, it
would still require a supplemental if we
[1:09:58] were going to take any money out of that
line item and switch it over, but at
[1:10:02] least it's all in the general fund.
>> Yeah. Now it's all in the general fund,
[1:10:06] » right?
>> Um and I I don't think that the general
[1:10:09] fund should be responsible for picking
up this the entire job. It should be
[1:10:14] split between funds.
>> Yeah.
[1:10:16] » Since the city manager will be split
between departments.
[1:10:21] » Probably a good idea.
[1:10:28] » And we we also don't know yet what the
numbers are going to do when you put the
[1:10:32] numbers in. see whether we're in really
good shape or we're in really bad shape.
[1:10:38] » So if we're in really good shape, then
it'll be easier
[1:10:43] » definitely
>> to do this.
[1:10:48] [clears throat]
>> Well, prompts me to another question
[1:10:50] about the audits. So is there a trend
that's shown up in these audits that as
[1:10:54] we understood things were pretty ugly
that spending was ratcheted down some
[1:11:00] and so that the
that the discrepancies seemed to be
[1:11:06] trending towards less of a shock. Uh cuz
I know early on it was like oh my gosh
[1:11:11] this is going to be terrible and so
maybe there's a trend that's oh it's not
[1:11:15] quite so terrible.
>> Like I hadn't looked at this last audit
[1:11:19] I received today. um to see what those
numbers look like. Um from previous
[1:11:26] ones, I mean, they've been they haven't
been horrible.
[1:11:31] Um, I think the general fund, just from
talking to the auditor, I think the
[1:11:34] general fund is going to be hurting the
worst
[1:11:37] » in terms of the wrong amount of money
stuck in the wrong pile or
[1:11:41] » um,
>> that seemed to be
[1:11:43] » just
beginning fund balances were way
[1:11:47] overestimated
than what was actually brought in
[1:11:51] is is a one of the big problems.
>> Okay.
[1:11:58] » And there was some overspending.
I don't think there's a trend. I don't I
[1:12:03] think it's each year was something
different.
[1:12:07] » Okay.
>> And you know, because I've looked at a
[1:12:11] lot of because I've been looking at
these since 21 trying to figure out
[1:12:15] what's going on. I haven't seen
anything. But it's also different people
[1:12:19] all the time. And so, as as Becca said,
these last four audits, she's worked on
[1:12:26] the accounting data. Mhm.
>> Not just the audit, but the accounting
[1:12:30] data. So, we have a better chance of
having things running a little smoother.
[1:12:35] But she cuz she really the first two
years it was like a nightmare when she
[1:12:39] was there. Like the numbers were like,
you know, nobody could make any sense
[1:12:43] out of them at all. And then we'd get an
audit and we'd get new numbers and they
[1:12:49] do completely different things than the
one that the year before. And it's just
[1:12:52] like, well, that's not helpful. It's
like that's which is one of the reasons
[1:12:58] I'd like to have the auditors come
because maybe they've seen something
[1:13:01] that I haven't seen or Becca hasn't
seen. It's like I don't know what all
[1:13:05] this crap is.
>> So I will work on the audit tomorrow and
[1:13:10] then um I can send you guys a summary of
what I've what I've come up with.
[1:13:16] » Yeah.
>> Okay. [clears throat]
[1:13:17] » Thanks.
[1:13:20] » Okay. So that's so
manager recruitment. We're still there
[1:13:24] for a minute. Um before we go to the
city hall, um do we then want to do this
[1:13:33] and um have and have Becca explore
hiring
[1:13:39] concerns?
>> I have an offsubject question.
[1:13:44] » Yeah.
>> The water rate study thing, is that
[1:13:47] costing us money for them to come do
that? They just come do that? that
[1:13:54] » it's one of their services.
>> The water rate
[1:13:58] is um bringing through the EPA. I I
reached out to the EPA for technical
[1:14:05] assistance for the water mastery plan.
Um and this was also reached out before
[1:14:11] just in case POS didn't hit and we
needed to do something. Um, so recently
[1:14:16] we just finished a SIP grant to go in
conjunction with our water master plan
[1:14:21] and so that's we just finished that but
no there's shouldn't be a single dollar
[1:14:25] charged other than staff time.
>> Thank you.
[1:14:30] » And are there other features of the
Rural Community Assistance Commission
[1:14:34] that we might benefit from some
evaluation if they're free and helpful?
[1:14:38] » Yeah, so we're going to do the water
rate study. um depending on what that
[1:14:43] looks like when we're done, we're going
to do a sewer rate study as well. And
[1:14:48] then um once we kind of have the water
master plan hopefully finished in kind
[1:14:55] of conjunction with the rate study and
um the other two things, the the it's
[1:15:02] the seismic evaluation and the risk and
assessment for security of the water
[1:15:06] system. Once all those are finished up,
I'm hoping they keep them helping me
[1:15:12] find grants and funding like they say
they
[1:15:15] » that was one of the things this year.
>> Can they have a
[1:15:19] environmental part also or something? I
think expert
[1:15:25] » what what
>> is that one of the things that they
[1:15:26] » It's just one of their I think one of
the divisions that they have expertise
[1:15:31] in that and another one for grants I
think.
[1:15:33] » Yeah, that's what he was talking about.
Yeah. Infrastructure stuff. Yeah.
[1:15:37] » Yeah. Which is definitely where we could
go.
[1:15:44] » Okay. Back to
>> back to the 35. [laughter]
[1:15:51] » Well, I think we need help and uh
um
[1:15:57] but that's no small commitment. If if
you want and and I'm okay with this, but
[1:16:04] if you want wait
until you guys get the numbers from the
[1:16:09] audit to see where that's going to put
us in each fund,
[1:16:15] I'm good with that.
You know, I I I have no problem with
[1:16:20] that either. But my one problem is this
the time frame. It's like if we think of
[1:16:26] where we are right now and we go out 12
to 14 weeks, we're right in the middle
[1:16:31] of December
and that's not necessarily a good time
[1:16:36] to hire somebody.
So, we could get started on this project
[1:16:44] and
try to make the hire happen in January.
[1:16:50] the interviews in January, the the hires
in February, something like that, so
[1:16:54] that we get over the holiday season
because I, you know, you're not going to
[1:16:58] get somebody to move uh a week before
Christmas. [laughter]
[1:17:03] » Probably not.
>> I was just interested in a commitment.
[1:17:07] » No, and you may not get them even to
interview.
[1:17:11] » But mayor, by that time, we'll know
who's coming into the council.
[1:17:15] » Yes, we'll also know that.
>> That'll be set.
[1:17:19] We taking questions on this at the end.
>> If you have a question, go right ahead.
[1:17:24] » So, I know some extremely professional
people who have found very good jobs on
[1:17:29] LinkedIn. Is there like a soft focus or
a soft launch or have we even put
[1:17:34] something on LinkedIn that might say,
"Hey, city manager, is the problem of
[1:17:39] vetting?" Or I mean, why are we just
diving into $35,000 and not trying some
[1:17:45] other avenues that are, you know,
currently free?
[1:17:49] » I think LinkedIn is more for profit
businesses and I think you don't get the
[1:17:56] same kind of candidates in LinkedIn. But
I I don't know. I thought about it
[1:17:59] myself, but I I don't have any I don't
hear any city anywhere using anything
[1:18:05] but a recruiter as opposed to LinkedIn
or there's another one I think out there
[1:18:11] » on League of Oregon cities. We can post
there.
[1:18:14] » We can post there. We can do all that
ourselves.
[1:18:17] » We can come up with the recruitment
information. We can we can we massage
[1:18:22] our position description. We can create
the brochure.
[1:18:27] Do we have an estimate of what it's cost
us to deal with five city managers in
[1:18:32] eight years?
>> Oh god.
[1:18:34] » I mean, is that 355? It's way more than
that. I mean,
[1:18:38] » it's way more than that.
>> What a whole bunch of zero.
[1:18:40] » So,
>> what did you have?
[1:18:44] » My thoughts were if we're going to put
this out a month so that if we end up
[1:18:47] going with one of the companies, do
that. Put something out like what she's
[1:18:52] what Heidi's saying. Try putting
something out there on her own. Who
[1:18:56] knows? Maybe somebody will show up.
>> I know Manzanita is Thank you. And I
[1:19:01] know Manzanita did before they even
started their process, they they put it
[1:19:05] out a soft launch. I brought that up.
That just kind of went um you know over
[1:19:10] the top of people's heads
>> and then they ended up going with
[1:19:12] Jensen.
>> Jumped with Jensen and Jensen has given
[1:19:15] them a interim city manager that's now
in place
[1:19:20] » and they've got four candidates that
they're going to interview.
[1:19:25] » I I just don't know. I mean,
it's a lot of work to manage a
[1:19:30] recruitment and so far council's not
managed recruitments in the past.
[1:19:37] » Well, do we think this council has some
expertise that didn't exist previously?
[1:19:43] » Well, we may, but I don't know that it's
in recruitment.
[1:19:46] » Well, no. I mean, I I mean in HR. I
mean, I've hired and fired people on a
[1:19:50] small scale, but
>> yeah,
[1:19:52] » you know,
>> I think the other thing to
[1:19:55] take into consideration the amount of
time that this is going to take,
[1:20:01] » you know, it's going to be a whole other
project on its own and
[1:20:09] staff is already, you know, doing other
things and if we take it on, I wouldn't
[1:20:16] be able to help because, you know, I
have two jobs.
[1:20:19] You can have me on a Sunday. That's my
only day off every week. So, putting
[1:20:23] » I'm not looking to your entire life.
>> A recruiting brochure is going to take a
[1:20:27] lot of time.
>> Mhm.
[1:20:29] » To put that together. I mean, we have
some samples and we have some, you know,
[1:20:34] stuff we could start with, but it's has
to be updated.
[1:20:38] » We have professionals in Jensen that
will look at all this stuff.
[1:20:43] » I'm fine doing it if you want to keep it
no cost. besides
[1:20:48] employee time.
[1:20:52] » So, I just have a hard time imagining
where you have the time to do this.
[1:20:56] » I mean, huh?
>> She's creating it.
[1:21:00] » She's sleeping.
>> Nope.
[1:21:03] » She's splitting herself in half.
>> She has a twin sister she hasn't told us
[1:21:08] about.
>> The end of the day, she comes back
[1:21:10] together. [laughter]
you know, that [clears throat] just
[1:21:13] seems like an extraordinary
extraordinarily large amount of
[1:21:17] responsibilities that you've got that
you keep saying I can help do that. Uh,
[1:21:22] and
>> if you can if you guys if you ask me to
[1:21:26] do it, I'll do it.
>> I'm just going to put that out there.
[1:21:29] You do what you wish, but
[1:21:35] » you got a 12-month guarantee.
[1:21:39] Then then I would wait until next month
and I' I'd sit on it and look at the
[1:21:43] audit numbers.
>> Okay.
[1:21:46] » I'd be I mean I just have a hard time
thinking. I just don't want to be a
[1:21:50] participant in the same mistake.
>> It's a great idea going with
[1:21:56] » Jensen.
>> With Jensen.
[1:22:00] » We could continue to get other things
done. The problem if we don't go with
[1:22:04] Jensen is that we we that this will take
up all your time
[1:22:09] » and it'll take up some of Amy's time and
then and then we lose the ability to get
[1:22:13] the other things done that need to be
done and if we're going to do a software
[1:22:16] implementation at the same time
you've just stretched yourself into
[1:22:22] » I don't want you guys to feel that
that's your only option.
[1:22:26] » We appreciate that. We appreciate that.
Definitely.
[1:22:31] » I feel it. a professional outfit like
Jensen. As long as they're going to do
[1:22:37] the background checks, we get those.
Yeah.
[1:22:40] » Is there anything that
you guys want me to ask them more
[1:22:45] questions or
>> I just want to make sure that whoever
[1:22:51] you know makes it to like the final
round that everybody is fully vetted
[1:22:57] » exactly what qualifications experience.
Um that is one of the things they said.
[1:23:05] » They certainly claim that that's part of
what they provide
[1:23:09] » and we will be looking at it. Oh yes. We
will be asking them to show us.
[1:23:13] » Yes.
>> We will want to know that. Um because
[1:23:15] we've had that happen to us before.
>> Okay. So are we good with holding it
[1:23:20] until next month? We'll look at the
audit numbers by next month.
[1:23:24] » I am.
>> And um and that actually will push the
[1:23:29] whole recruiting forward. So, my
timeline concerns go away.
[1:23:34] » Yeah. And then maybe you'll also have a
chance to look at the city hall uh
[1:23:40] remediation and see where we're at. You
know, we're under budget there. Great.
[1:23:44] If we're going to blow that budget, then
that's a bad deal, too.
[1:23:49] » Well, I I mean, I certainly think that
we will have important information in
[1:23:52] the next month. So, I'm willing to wait.
[1:23:58] » Sounds good.
>> We got consensus to wait. Yes.
[1:24:02] » All right.
Anything else on this item? We're going
[1:24:05] to move right along. City hall project.
Okay. So, tomorrow um we have the
[1:24:12] company coming out to take care of the
um
[1:24:18] they're going to seal
the back side of this of the building
[1:24:22] here.
>> And out room, room, and then the back
[1:24:28] setting.
Um, and that they were doing some there
[1:24:32] was some concrete areas that they were
going to have to fix.
[1:24:36] » Yeah. So, where the air intake for the
old air handling system is is going to
[1:24:40] get removed by public works and then
they're going to come in and order in
[1:24:45] some new cement to seal it. That way
when they then waterproof it on both
[1:24:51] sides, it stays sealed.
>> Okay. No erosion, no chance of burning
[1:24:57] getting in.
>> We don't like
[1:25:00] » that tomorrow.
>> Tomorrow
[1:25:04] » and then the HVAC is the last thing that
has to be done last. So we'll have this
[1:25:08] done starting tomorrow and then the next
will be
[1:25:14] flooring.
[1:25:17] » The molding room
right after that.
[1:25:21] » Y. So once we get everything sealed and
we can make sure no more water or
[1:25:25] moisture intrudes into those spaces,
then it'll be the mold and mild
[1:25:30] remediation.
And um I'm still waiting for s to get me
[1:25:35] get back to me on the estimate for that.
>> Is there any chance that we're going to
[1:25:42] come in under 150?
>> I am too.
[1:25:48] I think we can come in 35,000 less.
[1:25:56] » The bigger the next biggest expense
other than the unknown of the mold melon
[1:26:00] roof remediation would be the air
handling and air conditioning. So um
[1:26:07] » it's the HVAC, right?
>> The HVAC stuff. It's the bringing the
[1:26:10] fresh air in, filtering it, positive
pressuring, and then getting the menu
[1:26:15] splits to condition it. So that way the
front office and the the upcoming city
[1:26:20] managers can have heat and and or air
air conditioning in the hot summer.
[1:26:25] » That would be nice.
>> Great house.
[1:26:27] » Yeah, because we have really hot summers
here.
[1:26:30] » That's going to be your largest
>> three or four days.
[1:26:32] » Last Diamond Heating
>> who I would recommend and I believe
[1:26:38] between the two it was somewhere around
17 or 18,000.
[1:26:43] » I had 15 in my head but something like
that.
[1:26:48] 20 I believe.
>> Yeah. Cool.
[1:26:52] Okay. Anything else on city hall project
update? Any other questions?
[1:27:00] Oh, ma'am. Okay, we're good. Anything
else you want to add to that?
[1:27:06] We'll move to new business.
Consideration of the intergovernmental
[1:27:11] agreement renewal with Gabaldi Rural
Fire Protection District. So
[1:27:17] um that time just to renew the contract
with uh the rule district
[1:27:24] same contract as last year except
different dates. Absolutely. Everything
[1:27:29] is the same.
>> Is it reasonable that the cost is the
[1:27:34] same?
>> I mean is that covered in there? I
[1:27:37] didn't see a number.
It's 95% of um of their property taxes,
[1:27:44] okay, that they bring
>> which would go about 3%
[1:27:49] because
>> Okay. So, it's a percentage of what they
[1:27:53] take in.
>> Yes.
[1:27:58] » And they um I brought this to them last
their last meeting and they signed and
[1:28:03] approved it all. So, do we just need the
council to
[1:28:08] » approve it?
>> Does that require
[1:28:11] » It requires a motion.
>> Motion.
[1:28:14] » Motion
to approve the intergovernmental
[1:28:18] agreement renewal with Gabaldi Rural
Fire Protection District.
[1:28:23] » I'll second that motion.
We have a motion to approve the
[1:28:28] intergovernmental agreement with the
rural fire district.
[1:28:33] Is that what you said?
>> Yes.
[1:28:35] » It's been seconded. Is there any
discussion?
[1:28:42] Hearing none, we'll take a vote. All
those in favor say I.
[1:28:45] » I.
>> Those opposed? No. Hearing none, it
[1:28:49] passes.
[1:28:54] Now, consideration of the League of
Oregon City's legislative priorities.
[1:29:04] » Each even numbered year, um, the LLC
appoints city officials to serve on
[1:29:10] these committees.
And this year there were seven
[1:29:14] committees that identified 27
legislative policy priorities.
[1:29:20] So now each city will go through and
pick I believe it's five. Yep.
[1:29:27] that
we think is a top priority which was
[1:29:32] within this
>> we
[1:29:36] had [clears throat] this
in
[1:29:41] » I think we met with
>> our FEMA
[1:29:47] » I was looking at infrastructure funding
under water and wastewater committee
[1:29:52] okay
>> and possibly
[1:29:59] down
>> um just because that this has been an
[1:30:04] issue ongoing. I was uh the public
meetings law clarity.
[1:30:10] » Yeah,
[1:30:13] » that's a good one.
>> What's one I interested?
[1:30:29] Did did you already say infrastructure?
>> The infrastructure funding underwater
[1:30:34] and wastewater that was the one that
because we're in that position that
[1:30:39] would be really important to to the city
of Gabaldi.
[1:30:49] » Sure.
Um
[1:30:53] I I was looking at this invest in
community energy resilience and disaster
[1:30:57] planning.
[1:31:01] » Yeah, that one would be good too.
>> I think I think
[1:31:11] alcohol revenue modernization.
Oo, I don't remember reading about that
[1:31:16] one.
Emergency communication system
[1:31:20] resources. That might be a good one.
>> Are we?
[1:31:23] » Yeah,
>> we're up.
[1:31:24] » Aren't they upgrading some of the radio
stuff already?
[1:31:28] » That's already been approved here in the
county.
[1:31:30] » Yeah. So maybe that I mean and that's
going to modernize that pretty well at
[1:31:34] least up for emergency services.
>> We still haven't come up with 7.9
[1:31:38] million. So yeah,
[1:31:46] » cautious adoption of autonomous
vehicles.
[1:31:50] » Think we can probably pass that one down
the list. 27 of these. So then we're
[1:31:54] picking five.
>> Yeah, just picking five. We don't have
[1:31:59] to have five. We can have up to five.
You got
[1:32:01] » Oh, okay.
>> Yeah. So far
[1:32:04] » we can do support responsible municipal
use of technology.
[1:32:12] How about data centers?
>> They're not in here, but
[1:32:16] » but they're a hot topic.
>> Ask Garen Brochovich.
[1:32:25] » We thought this one was interesting.
Maintain local control of a safe modern
[1:32:29] right ofway. Do we have any right ofway
problems in Gabaldi?
[1:32:37] Not yet.
Somebody wants to use our right away and
[1:32:41] we're not letting them.
>> No, of
[1:32:44] » course I think about rightways on 101. I
don't think about the rightways in town.
[1:32:48] » I don't think there's been any issues on
that.
[1:32:52] » Well, I have
>> We want to go with those four.
[1:32:55] » Yeah.
[1:33:04] » Anything, Connie?
getting land use that's
[1:33:09] availability and streamlining those
>> we could use that pick that one
[1:33:14] » I'm just asking if that would be
relevant here well what'll happen Tom is
[1:33:20] dig all the cities that do this and see
how many match up see what they want to
[1:33:25] go on
>> oh okay
[1:33:27] » need very many that are going to match
up with the city under a thousand which
[1:33:31] is what we're at right yeah
>> because a lot of these are for cities
[1:33:34] over 3,000 Sure.
>> But um
[1:33:38] you know we can let them know which ones
we think are good for us or might be
[1:33:43] good.
>> Yeah. [snorts] Well, I mean those four
[1:33:46] are fine.
>> Okay.
[1:33:48] So I believe um and I didn't print it
out, but I believe that
[1:33:54] management
has access to the voting. And so if you
[1:34:01] would like to vote for us, we have
picked out
[1:34:05] public meetings law clarity under
general government committees.
[1:34:12] And then under energy and environment
committee, we picked out invest in
[1:34:16] community energy resilience and disaster
planning.
[1:34:19] » I said community.
>> Yeah. Would you like this piece of paper
[1:34:25] when I get done
so you can give it back to me? Um then
[1:34:29] under finance it's emergency
communications and underwater
[1:34:48] days.
[1:34:54] So those would be and we're all in
agreement and consensus. Yes, we don't
[1:34:58] need a motion for this.
>> You're still the emergency communication
[1:35:02] » system resources.
[1:35:07] » There's just four of them.
>> Okay, I will vote on that.
[1:35:13] » Okay,
[1:35:16] » so we're done with new business.
>> Yeah,
[1:35:19] » thank you, ma'am. Thank you.
>> Consent calendar
[1:35:25] » thing removed from the consent calendar
so we can
[1:35:29] » city managers report.
>> Oh yeah.
[1:35:42] » It's almost at the end.
[1:35:48] Sterile is a flight. [laughter]
[1:36:02] » Yes,
>> got it.
[1:36:06] Um
so for city manager report um just
[1:36:11] continuing to oversee daily city
operations
[1:36:15] um and coordinate with staff and outside
agencies.
[1:36:19] Um
address administrative matters and
[1:36:23] respond to ongoing operational needs.
Coordinated with staff on matters
[1:36:26] affecting city services and operations.
Continue to follow up on items
[1:36:31] identified by city council.
[1:36:36] Is that the Shirley report?
>> What's up?
[1:36:40] [laughter]
>> I couldn't help myself. I'm sorry.
[1:36:45] » Uh I can we continue to elevate,
evaluate and address city hall facility
[1:36:49] needs and operational matters.
Um
[1:36:54] enforcement continue to monitor and
address code compliant matters. Followed
[1:36:58] up on reported violations. Worked with
staff to ensure appropriate procedures
[1:37:01] were followed.
I want to compliment staff on taking
[1:37:06] care of com compliance code enforcement
stuff. You guys have been doing a great
[1:37:10] job and I really really appreciate it.
Um, you know, they've been quick on
[1:37:16] their responses to to people. Um, I
mean, some complaints can't be handled
[1:37:21] right away, Heidi, but other complaints
can get handled right away. and we're
[1:37:26] working on all of them because we we
know that they're important to people
[1:37:31] and and they become important to us for
that reason. And I just want to thank
[1:37:35] you um staff all of you.
>> Well, in my defense, I'm not actually
[1:37:39] the one who had
[1:37:43] you you've had some stuff going on.
>> We know that. But thank you.
[1:37:52] » Let's see.
address administrative matters and
[1:37:55] respond to ongoing operational needs.
Finance part of things um continue to
[1:38:02] maintain city's financial operations
process routine transa transactions and
[1:38:06] monitor the adopted budget which we just
started in. So there's not a whole lot
[1:38:11] to really take a look at right now.
Process accounts payable receivable
[1:38:17] payroll
and related financial transactions
[1:38:20] completed. um routine banking deposits,
reconciliations and other financial
[1:38:26] activities. Maintain financial records
and supporting documentations.
[1:38:31] Continue budget and expenditure
monitoring.
[1:38:36] Prepared maintain monthly financial
reports for council to review. Continued
[1:38:40] reconciliation review of financial
accounts to ensure accurate reporting.
[1:38:45] continuing working with the auditors and
as I stated before we just received 2324
[1:38:50] audit
and began implementation and monitoring
[1:38:55] of the adopted 2627 budget reviewed
beginning of your fiscal activity and
[1:39:01] established appropriate budget
monitoring procedures.
[1:39:05] just continue to prioritize accurate
financial reporting, timely processing
[1:39:09] of financial transactions, budget
monitoring, audit completion, and
[1:39:15] providing the city council with clear
and timely financial information.
[1:39:20] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[1:39:24] » Any other questions for the city
manager?
[1:39:26] » I don't have it.
[clears throat]
[1:39:30] » Public works.
Um,
[1:39:34] you all got my report and one of the big
things was we had a waste pump go out at
[1:39:40] the wastewater plant. Luckily, one of
our neighboring um, municipalities had a
[1:39:47] loaner from Zylon Pump. That is a pretty
close correct drop in. And then I had to
[1:39:56] order two new pumps which we just
received and um we'll be installing the
[1:40:02] new replacement and probably changing
out the basing two or number ones
[1:40:07] because it has started folding up this
fall. So these pumps were in place when
[1:40:11] the plant was built. Um, looking through
the maintenance records, there was just
[1:40:16] a highlighted page saying no maintenance
needed, which is wild to me because, um,
[1:40:24] in my years of doing waste water, you
pull your pumps at least once a year to
[1:40:29] check that they're functioning properly.
There's nothing ragged up in them, and
[1:40:34] that all mechanical seals are still fit.
Um, so this is kind of surprising, but
[1:40:41] also not surprising.
Uh
[1:40:46] the street sweeper is going to need a
little bit of maintenance to put leaving
[1:40:51] a small trail of gravel behind itself.
>> Um it's doing
[1:40:55] » that way it can find it way home.
>> So it could be due to a wearable item
[1:41:02] that
you know basically
[1:41:07] probably was slightly already worn when
we bought it. feeling now. Um,
[1:41:14] still waiting to hear back from Bayiew
on the five hot or four hot patches I
[1:41:20] need to get done for streets
and that's about it.
[1:41:26] » You've got the uh drip code and 101
starting tomorrow.
[1:41:29] » Oh yeah, drip wood and 101 manhole
repair in issues getting started
[1:41:34] tomorrow by uh advanced excavation. So,
there will be some detours. Um,
[1:41:42] driftwood might be shut down after the
first to give space and just detour
[1:41:47] people. Um, other than that, they'll be
flagging on hand.
[1:41:56] » Thank you.
[1:42:00] » Excuse me. Well, as you probably know,
we we sent a water tender on
[1:42:06] complication.
They they went to Halfway. I don't know
[1:42:10] if you're familiar with where Halfway
is. It's about an hour north of Baker.
[1:42:14] » So, basically as far away from here as
you could possibly get. They were there
[1:42:19] for a few days, put the fire out. Um
then they held them in Baker for a
[1:42:25] couple days because they thought they
were going to get some lightning over
[1:42:28] there. While they were gone, we had no
staffing issues.
[1:42:34] the volunteers really stepped up and
covered shifts because both of these
[1:42:38] guys were the summer seasonal employees
and
[1:42:44] one of our volunteers, Ruben especially,
I don't know if you're familiar with
[1:42:48] him. Um, he was not working at the time
so he basically worked every day
[1:42:56] and and all those is all that's covered
by the complications.
[1:43:02] So they're they're um chomping at the
bit to go out again, but uh Levi Hill's
[1:43:10] wife had a little girl.
>> Okay.
[1:43:13] » Oh.
>> So
[1:43:14] » congratulations.
>> The ball game for for about a couple
[1:43:18] days.
>> And um yeah, so if you see them,
[1:43:23] congratulate them.
>> They were also the task force team. what
[1:43:29] they that's good things about Levi.
>> Oh yeah.
[1:43:34] Every
vehicle team is evaluated by by the task
[1:43:39] force leader. And in this case, the task
force leader was a battalion chief out
[1:43:44] out of Portland Fire.
>> Oo. and he scored our guys excellent in
[1:43:51] every category and and wrote some good
comments about him about their
[1:43:55] willingness that they went off and
trained on their own on their while they
[1:44:00] weren't actually at the fire while
they're back in camp to make sure that
[1:44:05] their their readiness was good for what
needed to happen. Nice.
[1:44:08] » So, it it was um you know, it's always
great to hear especi especially from
[1:44:14] from the caliber of a Portland battalion
chief.
[1:44:19] » Our congratulations to them as well.
>> That is nice.
[1:44:25] » Our guys are going to be out doing hydro
testing. We work with public works.
[1:44:31] Most likely it's going to happen on
Wednesdays and Thursdays because both
[1:44:36] summer seasonals work those two days.
And since they're flowing so much water,
[1:44:40] you you may see a little turbidity
that
[1:44:48] » you don't see any turbidity.
>> Well, in my experience, if there's
[1:44:52] anything in the pipes, because you're
flowing so much water, it just kicks it
[1:44:56] up. Um
but but so they've completed
[1:45:03] the south end of the city over by the
apartments and your area and they're
[1:45:09] working their way north.
>> Okay. How many firefighters do we have
[1:45:13] » between bariew and the um city of
Gabaldi? We have 94.
[1:45:20] » Wow.
>> A lot to test. So, um, our department's
[1:45:26] planning,
tenatively planning right now an open
[1:45:30] house on October 3rd.
>> We want to do it prior to the the
[1:45:38] shakeout so they can get that
information
[1:45:42] out and
>> give it give information on that. Um we
[1:45:47] we did the same thing last year about
the same timeline and we invited the 911
[1:45:52] center and we invited a couple other
appropriate um agencies and groups.
[1:46:02] We're talking about maybe this year um
having the ham radio people broadcast
[1:46:08] the entire time from the station and
>> stuff like that. So, like I said, it's
[1:46:14] all it's all kind of rough form right
now.
[1:46:18] Um, but I've been working with the GBA,
excuse me, the GEV on on that.
[1:46:27] As we kind of talked about a little bit
earlier, Pil County is awarded the
[1:46:31] Motorola
awarded the radio contract for the
[1:46:35] county to Motorola
and
[1:46:40] the price is about $27.9 million.
[1:46:47] Well, they're they believe that the
construction will go
[1:46:54] throughout next year and early 2008. The
system should go online.