Council keeps track of projects

August 23, 2007

The Cathlamet Town Council monitored progress on a variety of projects when members held their monthly meeting last Monday.

Council members approved a request to loan a fire engine to the Skamokawa Fire Department.

Skamokawa Chief Duncan Cruikshank explained that Skamokawa’s engine is having mechanical problems and the department needs a reliable engine.

Fred Johnson and Bill Faubion, assistant chiefs in the Cathlamet Fire Department, said that Cathlamet could spare an engine while Skamokawa’s is repaired or replaced, and the council approved the request.

Mayor Dick Swart said officials from the town and Wahkiakum PUD have completed their annual review of the cost of production of water sold to the PUD’s Puget Island Water System.

Under the calculations, the PUD should compensate the town for $11,000 in expenses not covered in previous calculations.

PUD officials said Tuesday they would review the figures and act on them.

The council approved a $42,000 supplemental payment to Western Industrial, Inc., for work at the Greenwood Reservoir.

The money will be paid in addition to the originally contracted amount of $71,219, which the firm bid for refurbishing and painting the reservoir.

In the work, the contractor found unexpected rust on the inside of the tank, which had been coated with hot tar.

The contractor should remove the rust to preserve the integrity of the tank, Mayor Swart said.

The council met in executive session to discuss a real estate transaction offer to be made to the Wahkiakum School District.

The town is planning to replace its wastewater treatment plant, and design engineers from Gray and Osborne, Inc. have suggested a site on school district property.

The council was to review possible site layouts to calculate how much land would be needed and what the use and value of the land would be so that the school district board of directors could discuss the offer when it met last night (Wednesday).

The council held a first reading on an ordinance that would amend ordinances relating to compensation for town officials.

Attorney Bill Faubion said a second ordinance and town budgeting practices inadvertently had changed the original ordinance. Thus two portions of the municipal code were in conflict, and the new ordinance would rectify the conflict, he said.

Councilmembers are paid $50 per month, and the mayor is paid $250.

The ordinance will have second and third readings at the council’s September 17 meeting.

Assistant Fire Chief Johnson reported that construction and furnishing of the new fire hall is nearly done.

Firemen are planning a commissioning ceremony October 13, 2 p.m., he said.

The firemen will start moving into the new hall around September 8, he said.

Columbia Street resident Milt Doumit presented a petition signed by 61 persons asking the town to move or disconnect the fire siren on city hall when the fire department makes its move.

The siren is very loud and disruptive, the petitioners said. It startles visitors to the town and interrupts business, and with the development of modems and paging technology, it is obsolete, they said.

“It affects the quality of life,” Doumit said.

“I’ll discuss this with fire department officers, and we’ll deal with it at the next meeting,” Mayor Swart said.

Cindy Mudge of the National Heritage Association presented information to the council on the formation of the Columbia-Pacific National Heritage Area.

Congress is working on an appropriation for a feasibility study of forming the national heritage area, and supporters are looking for contributions from local entities for the local match to the grant, or $50,000 to match $250,000 in federal funds.

The area would include Wahkiakum and Pacific counties in Washington and Clatsop and Columbia counties in Oregon, she said. The designation would aid marketing and recreational development in the area.

Citizen Dean Snyder reported that the summer’s wet weather has played a role in a hillside sloughing on South Third Street near the school district bus garage.

The ground was torn up and not adequately repaired in town-sponsored construction, Snyder said, and now rainwater is getting into cracks and softening the soil, leading to sloughing.

Mayor Swart said he and town maintenance staff would evaluate the situation.