Talking Kelso

Beyond The Minutes – After-the-fact details on the agendas of council meetings, clarifications of what we were really doing, and my thinking behind votes.

Project 580504 West Main Realignment Local Agency Agreement with WSDOT for Project Expenditure

We decided to enter into an agreement that would allow us to receive $1.7M in federal funds for studying the impact and design of the realignment of West Main. We aren’t bound to come up with the rest of the funds necessary for the project, or to even proceed with the project. The study should show if there are significant problems with the plan.

First reading of an Ordinance amending Chapter 17.100 Parking and Access Requirements by clarifying the language regarding parking exceptions for historic structures and legally established uses in existing structures

This ordinance basically lets people who are using a building for a similar purpose as it has been used in the past be exempt from having to add extra parking. In other words, if you use a formal dental office as a dental office, you don’t have to tear down the adjacent building to make more parking. If you change it to a convenience store, they’ll still look at your needs considering the change in use. It was essentially a housekeeping item whose need was brought to our attention by local attorney Alan Engstrom.

Final Approval of the attached Small Works contracts for 2005-2006

Some items that we had discussed in the past had not technically been brought to the Council for formal closeout. The Council voted to formally close them out.

Approval of Contract for Animal Control Services.

The city contracts with Cowlitz County Humane Society to provide service for strays. The price is based on the last three years’ average number of strays from Kelso that are brought to the shelter or picked up by their employees. Apparently, the number of strays went up to 676 in 2005 from 547 in 2004. The big increase resulted in an increase in the amount of our contract. It increased almost $12,000 from the prior year, from $47,000 to $59,000. Nobody on the Council was happy with that level of increase, so the agreement was voted down until the Humane Society will be able to come meet with us and discuss possible strategies to manage the cost.

Approval of 2007 Indigent Defense Agreement

Our city defense attorney, Debra Burchett, has done by all accounts a good job serving the city, keeping costs down, and providing good defense for the accused. She requested an increase of $1,200 per month based on a significant increase in her work load. City management negotiated an increase of roughly half that amount, and her contract will increase from $63,000 to $70,000. Although this is an 11% increase, she says the amount she’s earning per case has actually decreased from $119/case to $75/case in 2006, because of a staggering rise in the number of her cases. She saves us a tremendous amount of money overall, so the Council approved this contract.

Authorize City Manger to sign agreement with the Kelso School District for a School Resource Officer.

The Kelso PD has long provided an officer at the Kelso High School. The officer is paid for largely by the school district (83%). The city pays the balance. We voted to continue this arrangement, believing that it has been very helpful in strengthening relationships between KPD and the students.

Other items:

Discussed an offer to buy the city’s property on River Rd. Mr. Sparks addressed the council, and pointed out that his offer included providing additional land for soccer fields. It turned out that our realtor estimates that the value of our property at about $955k. Mr. Sparks offered $720k plus the soccer field land and development. It appeared that his offer exceeded the realtor’s assessment of the market value. However, the other developer that had expressed interest in the property was not at the meeting, as this issue had not been on the agenda. We held off from a decision, though Mr. Sparks’ offer expires 11/30, in order to hear from other interested parties.

We also rejected a $90,000 offer for the city’s property at 103 Allen Street, preferring to wait for offers that include both 103 and 105 Allen, two properties that really don’t work well without each other.