1 September 2010

Greetings from City Hall

The school buses are rolling again. Seems strange to have the kids coming back to school before Labor Day, but that day is late this year. Also seems strange that there has been no activity on the football field these past few weeks. That’s because there will be no football team this year. For the first time in over 80 years, Maupin will not field a football team. I wonder if there is such a thing as an interscholastic texting team. About 5 years ago, we were in Autzen Stadium playing for a state championship. Today, there are not enough kids interested enough to field a team. This is a disappointment to many in the community who have followed the football season for generations, whether they won or not. It seems that there are several schools in the past few years that have had this phenomenon of not being able to keep up the level of school spirit in the kids high enough to overcome the shrinking student population. According to the articles in the Chronicle, it hasn’t happened to Dufur yet.

Summer Fires

Actually, the overall summer fire season had been pretty uneventful. And about the time we got comfortable with the warm weather and the dry weather, on the evening of 18 August the weather turned to a series of thunderstorms that blew trees down all over town, poured rain on a city that hadn’t seen any for several weeks and started 34 fires in 45 minutes. With that magnitude of fire suppression required, we quickly had helping hands from state and federal fire fighters and chased the fires, which by then had been pretty well contained, toward our sovereign neighbors southwest of us, where there is still cleanup work taking place. The assistance came just in time; although the fires were pretty much under control before the help arrived, the local fire fighters were worn out and low on resources and working equipment. We owe a lot of thanks to our federal and state fire fighters. As the fire progressed across Juniper Flat and down the Deschutes River from Nena Creek and up the river from the White River fires, the river was closed for parts of two days from Maupin to Sandy Beach and for several days from Harpham Flats upriver to Trout Creek. At the same time, we were given a Category 1 Evacuation notice that could have confused people – I know it confused me and it confused the Oregonian who told the world that Maupin residents were advised to pack up and be ready to move out, making it sound as if we were going to disappear. All that disappeared from Maupin were the rafting customers who read the article. I was on my way to a meeting in Salem when I heard the word “evacuation” and I think the rubber marks where I turned around are still visible. But a Category 1 Evacuation notice is an “advisory” that a fire is on the way and we should be thinking about what we want to take when it comes time to depart the house. There are two more Categories – Cat 2 which is a “recommendation” that we’d better prepare to evacuate; and Cat 3 which is the “execution” order to evacuate. At least, that is the preliminary explanation I have gotten in the time since the incident. I am going to get the official story on the evacuation procedures for fires and other impending disasters and have it here in City Hall for people to see and for the City to have on hand the next time a similar event takes place. I will also put further information in next month’s sewer letter, highlighting the correct information.

Streets

On or about 20 September, Knife River, the folks that paved Deschutes Avenue, will start the Staats Avenue Project on Staats Avenue between Fifth and Third Streets, on Fourth Street between Deschutes and Staats Avenue, and an overlayment on Dufur Avenue between Fourth and Third Streets. According to Mike Miles, Public Works, the company will come in for a couple of days to prepare the streets for paving before the actual asphalt is laid down. This is an opportunity for paving more than just the middle two lanes of the streets, if people want to have the street in front of the house paved to the side walk or have a driveway paved. If you have a special project that is ready to take advantage of a lower price for asphalt, contact Mike about details and price. Knife River is ready to help if we can get our little projects ready for paving. I am thinking of having the area between the blacktop and the sidewalk in front of the house paved, but will have to look at the cost of having it done this time. After all, since the City’s street regulations don’t cover the expense of more than the middle two lanes, the rest of the street in front of our houses are up to us to pay for. There are many streets in the City that have gravel between the pavement and the sidewalk. It is not a requirement by any means, just easier to walk on pavement than gravel. The original thought was to enable running water to soak into the gravel, thereby preventing water from making its way to Deschutes Avenue and the streets below. Before we had the storm drains installed during the Main Street Project, that water would sometimes find its way into the garages along Elrod Avenue. That has been mitigated for the most part, although in heavy rainfall and snow melt, it could recur. The gravel strips usually cover ground that soaks up very little water, especially when there is any measurable slope. Putting asphalt on those strips, which has always been an option, should not affect the flow of water enough to overload the storm drains. So if you need asphalt for any reason – strips or driveways – let Mike know by calling City Hall. We will put you in touch with him for the particulars.

Other Really Important Stuff

City of Maupin, Tourism Promotion Agency. The City Council at their last meeting selected the Maupin Area Chamber of Commerce as our Tourism Promotion Agency. Directed by Kate Wallace, a recent graduate of the University of Oregon, the chamber is surging back to life with the visitors center open during the summer and joining the RiverFest celebration at the end of the summer season. If you can catch her, be sure to say hello to Kate and welcome her to our community.

Planning Commission. Andrew Dutterer from the Planning Commission moved to Bend to attend COCC. Notice for application for that position have been out since his resignation in July and should be filled ASAP. The term runs out at the end of this year. There will likely be a total of four positions open on the Commission that the City Council will have to fill soon after the first of the year. And we will have a full plate of projects for the Commission in 2011, as we do each year. Thank you, Andrew, for your good service.

November 2 Elections. There is one candidate for Mayor and three candidates for the three City Council Positions. The names of Dennis Ross for Mayor and Lynn Ewing, Joe Ringo and Carol Rager for the three Council positions have been submitted to the County as eligible candidates.

September City Council Meeting. The date has been moved back a week to September 29. The County Commission has requested to be on the agenda to discuss county ballot measures on the November ballot. For those interested in what goes on in the County, this would be the City Council meeting to attend. County ballot measures affect all of us so it is a good thing that the Commission will be here to tell us all about what is coming.

Bradley Bobbitt

This is the first September in two years that Bradley Bobbitt is not sitting at the old oak desk that I brought from home to the office. We knew we were going to miss him but we are looking at a lot of things that got done as a matter of course that we will have to spend real time doing without him. Water meter data compilation into our new rates and establishing those rates is now up to us. Making sure the Systems Development Charges based on his Capital Improvement Plan work for the City is another task. We will have to pick up the projects he began on the American Legion rehabilitation and Food and Clothing Distribution facility. But most of all is the constant stream of well-researched information that came from a young man who began every possible day with a trip to fish the Deschutes River. When Bradley was making up his mind about what to do after the two-year tour in Maupin, he was almost captured by that river. When I wrote his letters of recommendation to the several universities where he was applying to complete a Masters degree, he was debating about finding another job close to here so that he could keep fishing. And when the Universities of Minnesota and Oregon both accepted him, he was tempted to stay in Oregon. But home and family won out and that’s where he is. His field of study will be based in the public sector – Public Administration, probably, with emphasis on Rural Policy. We taught him the value of very small towns and he was a good student. We will see Bradley Bobbitt again. Thank you, City of Maupin, for making Bradley’s stay one that he will remember for a long time.

That’s it. Fires are out. School is in. Football is no more. The summer heat is dissipating and Mt. Bachelor celebrated the global warming’s hottest summer in a very long time with two inches of powder the other day. So staying cool is going to be easier for a while, then it will be back to trying to stay warm again. It might be just me, but it seems that the time intervals between seasons keep getting shorter. I think I’ll go home and start on the Christmas Cards.

Cheers,

Denny