Greetings from City Hall

I trust that everyone has recovered sufficiently from Thanksgiving to participate in the Christmas and New Year activities at some frenetic level. Our family went to Puyallup for “turkey day” and refreshed our memories on how bad the outdoor experience and urban drivers can be when it is cold, wet, frosty, and the windshield washer/headlights/defroster/heaters are reluctant to support your comfort. That was the norm for the first two days and then the weather broke and it was almost pleasant for the remainder of the trip. It is always nice to get home after a trip away from the peace and quiet and sheer beauty of eastern Oregon.

Burn Ban – Part II

Thanks to all of those that came in and got burn permits. One of the purposes of the permits is to provide information in the form of “General Burning Permit Instructions” for both burn barrel and open burning operations. That’s why we get excited when we see a fire on alley or street rights of way, especially on the asphalt which burns right along with the leaves or other materials. And if you look closely at the words on the permit, you will see some red lettering that says, “Burning during windy periods is prohibited and all permits are automatically revoked.” That just means that when it’s windy it’s not a good idea to have a fire going outside, period. The rest of the instructions are basic common sense and we trust folks to use it as much as possible when burning. We are just barely into the season and would like to see it through to July without Eddie having a cardiac event or anyone having to “pull to curb and stop” (toward the bottom of the permit) when they hear a siren headed for their neighbor’s house. So be careful and make sure the fire is out at sundown for now and terminates at 11:00 AM during the month of June.

Upcoming Community Meetings

We are developing a plan called “Moving Maupin Forward and plan to use a three-step process. Step #1 is to hold a City Council Workshop in January to review the existing Strategic Plan and what we have been able to accomplish, and identify additional Council goals and priorities. Step #2 is to conduct community involvement meetings beginning in January/early February; For the most part these meetings will focus on updating our Strategic Plan which was put together almost six years ago. An initial list of discussion item categories includes: Community Development – discussions on our resources such as the American Legion building, extending the library and City Hall; Economic Development – zoning issues, parking issues, the Chamber of Commerce’s role; Community Infrastructure – recycling expansion (cardboard), composting/chipping facility, water metering and rates, East Maupin street project, much like the Deschutes Avenue project of 2009. Step #3 will be to schedule and hold a City Council Workshop after the Community Involvement Meetings to refine the community input and Council goals, and determine a tracking/evaluation process. There will be other areas of discussion and an expanded initial plan and schedule will be ready for us to present at the 29 December City Council meeting. That about covers the more exciting stuff. There is also the mundane part which will be a combination of open and executive meetings to update non-budget internal operations procedures concerning performance goals, supervision, training and evaluation, and other personnel policies. We hope to gather a lot of input from the community during this entire exercise to help us take the right track in making Maupin a better place to visit and live. So if you have an idea that you have been thinking about that would improve life in the City, you will have the opportunity to bring it to the Saturday morning meetings we are planning. We will have the beginning dates ready for the Council meeting and I invite everyone interested to come down to the Community Building in the park. One of the things I want to discuss is indoor bathrooms for that building. Mike and I have been discussing it for years and this is the time to do something that doesn’t involve asphalt.

Library Feasibility Study

I have sent in the information and the funding commitment for our share of the study to the CEO of the Libraries of Eastern Oregon, Lyn Craig. She will conduct the study during the March-April time frame and will come up with an initial design of a new/expanded library, a funding strategy, how to get the community involved, and where a new facility would be located. Looking at the financial conditions in the State, I don’t see a big chance of getting to the construction stage for a while, but the Council decided after two meetings that no matter what we do or when we get a chance to do it, this study has to be done before we can take that step. We are just beginning the process and I will keep the progress information coming in ensuing sewer letters.

Other Really Goofy Stuff

This letter is accompanying a primary source of irritant for our water and sewer users and our office staff. Some people have always had the idea that water is something that doesn’t need to be paid for, in spite of the fact that it doesn’t get to their dwelling without a lot of expensive infrastructure. And when we added the Recycle Cost Recovery Fee of $2.00, we found a whole new group of people that found reason to pay only part of their monthly bill. But that is only part of it. We have people that have paid an amount that is either over or under what is due – by as little as 10 cents. And the next month the computer maybe comes out with an automatic letter that bills the customer for $.01 and costs 44 cents to mail. In lieu of doing that we add that 1 cent to the next month’s bill and people are wondering what the extra 1 cent late fee is because they paid their bill last month. Of course they did, but not all of it. That comes under the heading of a mistake. Not paying the recycle fee to make a point isn’t. It is intentionally not paying a fee that has been levied on the entire customer base in order to conform to the State’s requirement to recycle. And it’s not going away. So we will deal with it by increasing the amount owed in fees and penalties until it surpasses the nuisance level and then send it to our attorney. Let him have some fun with it. One more thing; if your payment is going to be late, or if you have any other reason that may cause late fees or penalties, please contact us. We are not going to routinely turn off your water if we can talk to you.

That’s it. I am not looking forward to the fact that it gets dark so quickly. But in only 21 days, it will get dark later and later until it doesn’t feel so dreary anymore and then Spring happens. In the meantime, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Cheers,

Denny