Lind swears in new council members to begin 2016

The Lind Town Council convened for their first meeting of the year on Tuesday, Jan. 12, where the new councilmember was sworn in.

Paula Bell was recently re-elected and was sworn in at the end of December. Craig Cooper additionally took his seat on the council at this first meeting of the year.

Alan Gay from Stantec was first on the agenda to present updates on the stormwater project.

He began by providing an up to date timeline for the project beginning with comments from Mayor Jamie Schmunk and the Public Works employees on the updated project proposal.

At this point the proposal will be considered 95 percent complete and it will then be sent to the Department of Ecology (Ecology) for their edits and review.

Gay predicts the return of the report from Ecology to be towards the end of January or beginning of February. At this time Stantec will incorporate the edits from Ecology.

In March advertising for the project will take place to receive bids from potential construction companies. The bids are expected to be received by the end of March or in early April.

They will send an issue to proceed in the middle of April and the project will actually begin in May.

The construction should be completed by the end of the summer.

Prior to the advertising Gay hopes to present a potential contract to three companies to provide culvert cleanings for the Town.

The culverts will need to be cleaned yearly after the stormwater project is over. This can cost between $2,000 and $5,000 per day.

Schmunk gave a quick Mayor’s Update and advised the lanterns that have adorned the streets are in the process of being removed.

She is additionally continuing the clean up and improvement of the room the council meetings are held in and will have this completed in the next three to four weeks.

The agenda also included a procedures update from Clerk/Treasurer Denise Snead.

Snead read a letter she had drafted to the members of the council advising they speak with the mayor prior to bringing requests to the town.

Snead stated the letter was to publicly address the perceived harassment from council members.

After this there was a public request made by members of the Crime Watch. They requested funding to assist with obtaining background checks of each member as required by the program.

The council stated they will discuss it in the next meeting to decide once the group has provided a specific amount they would need.

Councilpersons Bell and Karissa Labes then addressed the council in regards to the title of the recent ordinance passed.

Ordinance 15-06 states, “An ordinance providing a minimum monthly utility charge for all properties connected to the water and sewer systems of the Town of Lind.”

Bell and Labes’ concerns are that the wording is confusing since the charge applies to vacant properties.

There was discussion on the matter and Mayor Schmunk stated she would speak with the Town’s attorney to gather their thoughts on the changing of the title.

This then brought up a request to receive drafts of future ordinances and resolutions a week prior to the meeting so the council members have ample time to review them before being asked to approve them.

The last item for the meeting was selecting the mayor pro tempore. The mayor pro tem is a member of the council who fills in for the mayor in their absence.

Labes nominated Kathy White for the position. After discussion Tom Strohmaier additionally voiced his ability to take on this position. The council then unanimously voted for Strohmaier to be the mayor pro tem.