June 21, 2021

The Council stuck out a marathon council session on Tuesday night. They covered a lot of ground.

Calendar - Peter and Tori have been updating the recently revised calendar online with the new meeting dates. Public Works will switch to the third Wednesday in August. For July they will continue to meet on the second Tuesday. Just to remind you again, I will have to miss the second July meeting.

Border Board Bill – The Border Board asked us to send our support for the rural housing initiative to specific members who they need to support the bill. Tori resent the support you already passed to the list provided by the Border Board.

Wayfinding – The bids came in from the re-bidding on Tuesday and they did not change all that much. That is good news. I need to go through the bids and make sure all the boxes are checked before bringing it to you to award. I believe we met all the requirements this time though.

ARPA Funds – Our Leadership Team came up with a proposal for ARPA funds for you (Council) to revise and adopt. This is ultimately your choice; we are just putting together a proposal within the guidelines, so you have a starting point to work from. We try to create it within the framework of your priorities. The state has not yet made application for funds. I believe they are waiting until July 1 for accounting reasons.

Carryover – Staff went through an annual process to review projects that need to be carried over to the new fiscal year. This makes sure that unfinished project budgets get moved forward to the new year.

Bridge Crossing – The mayor, myself, and several staff members met with ODOT and IDOT. We determined that some data collection needs to be done. Without having done any site-specific data, ODOT provided formula numbers for forecasted growth. They acknowledged the weakness of the data and agreed that we should do something to be more precise. The same was true for IDOT, they did not see a need for it in the next 20 years.The marijuana traffic blew away the 20-year forecast already since it was done prior to 2018. So, that may be something we bring to you for consideration. I’m meeting with Jacobs next week to go over their capabilities.

Housing Taskforce – We have been working on the Malheur United Housing Taskforce for two years now. It has been held together by Clayton Crowhurst, the project manager for the Presbyterian Care Home. His project is under construction now and he needs help keeping the committee going. Honestly without him, it would not have stayed active.

Downtown Attraction Refinement – We had a kickoff event for refinement of the downtown attraction with John Kirby, Dan Cummings, me, and Peter. It was a good kickoff.

Airport – Thank you for your support of the STOL Drag Competition. We think this will be a very successful event. We also have someone interested in hosting a speed boat race out at the golf course too. They were looking at it this morning. Basically, they would trench a path from our pond and fill it with our well water. They only need a few feet to race these boats. Kind of a crazy thought!

River Trail – I invited Senator Merkley and Wyden’s Field reps to come see the River Trail. Senator Wyden’s rep can’t come right now but wants to as soon as she has the opportunity. Jessica from Merkley’s Office was very interested. I want to align her coming out with the Council field trip to the River Trail project so that you guys can pitch it to her too.

Community Development
We have construction all over the city. Goodfellow is starting to shape up with the Commercial Tire on the southwest corner. The 70-unit complex began earthwork this week as well as the 59 unit Presbyterian Care Home project. The new Dutch Brothers broke ground across from Ashley Furniture this week too. And, of course, it’s hard to miss the activity going on for the 170-unit RV park. It’s great to see all the activity particularly in light of the high wood prices.

The Planning Commission met on Monday for a lengthy meeting discussing a planned unit development and an annexation.

Fire & Rescue
Chief attend one for the Four Rivers Healthy Community group.

Chief and the building official did numerous inspections for the new fire sprinkler line being installed on SE 5th Avenue. 

Training
6/11 The staff had great training in vehicles and vehicle extrication.  6/12 The staff along with a couple of distinguished guests did hands-on vehicle extrication with the new battery-operated extrication tools.  6/15 Multiple water supply tanks were set up and were used to practice drafting operation with water shuttle.  6/16 Chief attended a class on the mechanical code and how it relates to the fire code. 

Incidents
6/13 7158 Canyon 3 the crews responded to a controlled burn that got out of control.  4436 Highway 201 Rescue 1 crew responded to an illegal burn where the occupant was burning tires without a burn permit.  6/17 Rescue 1 crew responded to a vehicle fire on I-84 MP 372.  6/15,16 Staff responded to some false alarms each day.  6/16 1249 Tapadera The crew responded to a commercial alarm at the hotel with smoke in the hall way.  The crew found that the door was left open and the exhaust smoke from a lawnmower had blown into the hallway.  6/17 Multiple crews responded to a vehicle crash where the car left the roadway, went flying off an embankment, and then hit a semi- trailer.  The crew used the new battery-operated tools to extricate the patient who was then put on Life Flight.  6/18 Several crews responded to a grass and debris fire that was burning about 5 acres.  At the same time a different crew responded to a trailer fire on I-84 MP 376 that burned the wheels off a car-hauler.

Public Works

Administration/Safety/Special Projects
Crews continue to work on the Gazebo Relocation Project with staff working on roof re-sealing and site preparation. The contractor will commence in mid-July.

Downtown businesses will be contacted between June 14-18 regarding the Depot Parking Lot Dumpster Project. Potential contractors sent details for quotes for the purpose of budget documentation.

Streets, Stormwater & Traffic Operations
Staff ordered (30) signs & poles for SE 1st & SE 2nd no parking installation. Chip seal equipment is being prepared and crews are continuing with city-wide sign maintenance.                                                  

Parks, Facilities and Cemeteries 
New chips are being placed in the playground of Beck Park. Crews continue to water downtown planters twice weekly. Last years plantings are doing very well under the current watering schedule. They are looking very healthy.

​Staff are picking up flowers at the cemetery and crews from OYCC are continuing to keep weeds down.