by Richard Uhlhorn
Dan Crandall, Lake Chelan Arts Council, presented the latest plans for Tsilly – The Lake Dragon sculpture being offered as the newest sculpture for the community. He said the council is seeking an exciting location for the sculpture to be placed where people gather.
Currently the Council is looking at next May for the casting in Oregon. The sculpture is designed by artist Jerry McKellar and the Arts Council as raised through donations, $33,813 with $12,575 remaining which the Arts Council is requesting from the City.
That decision will come later during the budget hearing.
Most of the City Council’s agenda on Tuesday evening was taken up with contract renewals.
Library – This is a continuing contract that will run from January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2026 at $4.00 per sq. ft. based on 7,335 sq. feet. and from January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2029 at $4.25 per sq. ft.
Councilman John Olson remarked that North Central Washington has a wonderful library system and the Council unanimously approved the new contract. (Shari Dietrich and Erin McCardle were not in attendance. Peter Jamtgaard was on ZOOM).
Prosecution Services – City Attorney Quentin Batjer presented a new prosecution agreement for consideration by the Council. Batjer explained that the contract used to be based on a fixed yearly fee, but that the Prosecutor wanted to change the fee structure to a per case issue, i.e $275.00 last year. They wanted to up it to $300.00 this year. “We had fewer cases this year,” said Batjer. “We had 110 cases last year which was fewer than the 200 cases the year before.” The cost this coming year based on 110 cases would be $33,000.
Tim Hollingsworth asked how much time is spent on cases. Batjer replied that it would depend on the type of case being tried. “If it’s a misdemeanor case, probably not that much, but if it’s a DUI, it might be more intensive timewise.”
John Olson asked how much it has cost since 2004 when Chelan lost its court. Batjer said that up to 2020, the City was paying a flat fee of $60,000. “We are paying less than half of that now.” If the trend goes up, the court would get more money based on the per case issue.
The council unanimously approved the County Prosecution Services Agreement for 2024.
Record keeping amendment for Consultant – City Clerk Peri Gallucci told the council that MG Consulting Services would be coming back during the first week of November to continue the efforts to digitize public records on an hourly basis. No questions were asked by the Council and they approved the amendment to the contract.
Fire hydrant contract for ParksMaintenanceBuilding – Parks Director Paul Horne presented a contract by KRCI LLC to install a 365 linear foot eight inch waterline to connect the new Maintenance building to fire hydrants to the nearest waterline using a hot tap method to avoid losing downstream loss of water service during the connection work.
Mayor Goedde asked if the nearest connection was across Hwy 150. Horne replied that it was. The Council approved the work which will be funded with money budgeted for the new building.
DOE cost reimbursements – Public Works Director Jake Youngren told the Council that the City of Chelan sits pretty favorably with water rights. The City of Chelan currently has a water right application no. S4-32847 in the DOE queue to be processed as part of the CCRB (Coordinated Cost Reimbursement Program).
The City’s water right application is requesting 0.34 cubic feet per second (CFS) from Lake Chelan for irrigation with a total annual quantity up to 45 acre feet per year. The fee associated with processing this application as part of the CCRB is $7,535.
Youngren added that the City also has a much larger application making its way up the list. That application is a request for 3,800 acre feet of water, which if grant by the DOE would eliminate applications below that application. In addition, the Lake Chelan Reclamation District and Chelan County also have water right applications in.
Council approved this motion unanimously.
TIF Update – Community Development Director John Ajax updated the Council on negotiations with Chelan County Fire District No. 7.
The District proposed a plan wherein it would collect $1,570.00 per call within the TIF area over 35 calls which has been the three year average. Ajax stated that the City has some concerns with that proposal and has drafted an alternative proposal for the fire department to consider. This alternative proposal is aligned more closely with population growth within the TIA from new construction.
The alternative mitigation would begin after the first multi-family project is completed and achieves a 95% occupancy rate. Additionally, the second part of the City’s alternative proposal states that the monetary mitigation payment would begin when the call volume within the TIA exceeds 10 percent of the total call volume of the Fire District.
Ajax stated that the original proposal from the Fire Department would have the City paying beyond its control.
Ajax said the City is waiting on a reply to the alternative proposal. City Administrator Wade Farris added that the City is looking for other funding alternatives to the TIF from Congressional appropriations also.
Chris Baker brought up the point that a call out could be for an issue the Fire Department doesn’t have to be there or is not directly involved or actually participating in the EMS call. Ajax replied that such a call could be a simple false alarm and that First Responders are required to respond by state law. Farris added that it is complicated.
John Olson asked how the mitigation with the Hospital was going. Ajax replied that EMS is run by the hospital so that is currently where that is.
Mayor/Council comments:
Peter Jamtgaard said he likes the Tsilly Lake Dragon because it fits the community.
John Olson thanked CFO Jackie Tuppling for providing a comprehensive list with notes on the gifting of public funds. “The numbers exceed $1.2 million (including another $700,000 to the Chamber who are still working without a contract). The following link will take the interested party to the funding requests.
blob:https://outlook.live.com/517950dd-8f3b-4b91-b91b-2dcfb567ae15
Mayor Goedde said he has attended a Mayor Association meeting attended by over 60 Mayors from around Washington. His other activities have included a Chelan County forum on tourism and LINK transit.
Goedde talked about the potential of using the 20 acre Beebe property currently owned by the County for affordable housing; constructing an EV Charging Station at the end of Emerson Street across from Riverwalk Park, two floating walkways; one at the dock to the pavilion and another west of the third Finger. “When I approached the PUD on these they had no objections, so we have consensus with the PUD.
Chris Baker asked how long a floating walkway is. Goedde replied that it depends on the area. Goedde said he plans on sending the idea to staff to see what they think.
Jackie Tuppling told the Council that the City now has a facilities specialist on board who will be looking at all of the City’s properties.
John Ajax said that October 31 is a deadline for a $100,000 grant for preparation of the GMA Comprehensive Plan update has been extended to June 30, 2024.
Wade Farris remarked that the new facilities specialist should have been in place 10 years ago.
All Things Lake Chelan 