Greetings from City Hall –

On 27 May, about 10 miles short of Chehalis, Washington, as we were headed for a college graduation party in Tacoma, we saw a traffic electronic billboard sign that said, “Caution – traffic accident in three miles.” A mile later, we saw why – we were driving through snow on the I-5. And sure enough, at the three-mile mark, somebody had run into the Jersey barrier in the middle of the road and scraped his Ford’s front end off, clear to the radiator. By that time the snow was almost gone, but what the heck is snow doing causing accidents in May? Maybe I’ll ask algore if he knows the answer. The events on Saturday, 21 May, were a great way to greet the summer with some fine pork sliders from Deschutes Pizza, a Greenway full of plants and other garden stuff available from the Garden Club, a great anniversary celebration at the Maupin Market, and Maupin Hardware’s “Grapes, Garden and Grills” which showed off Traeger and Bolton Wines and was reported by Y-102. The Soup and Craft Sale at the American Legion Auxiliary and the Community Church’s pies and other baked goods, along with Canyon Rim’s chili feed which accompanied their quilt raffle, were enough to sabotage anybody’s diet, so I am not embarrassed to tell you that mine went south on me that day. All of this with yard sales everywhere. I didn’t have time to have my car washed at the high school, but after this winter my car is so dirty they would probably still be working on it. Lots of people in the town, having a good time. The flower baskets are up, the leaves are on the trees, and the weather almost became summer for most of the day. Nice job, Maupin – let’s do it again.

Splash for Pink

By the shores of Maupin’s River, by the rushing river waters, stands the Hotel of Imperial, host of Splash for Pink, Imperial. With apologies to H. Wadsworth Longfellow (but no one else), touting the first major event of the season is one I look forward to. This is another Maupin Community Event with lots of activities for everyone, including a Lion’s Club breakfast, rafting (with a free t-shirt for the participants), barbecue lunch, a raffle and silent auction, live music on the lawn, kids activities, mechanical bull riding, a volleyball tournament, live music at the Imperial Courtyard, and a delicious pulled pork dinner. The total event is another diet destroyer (and what’s the point of a diet, but to destroy it occasionally?), but well worth it because the proceeds from the admission fees for the various events will be donated to the Celilo Cancer Center Fund at the Mid-Columbia Health Foundation, St. Charles of Central Oregon, and the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. These organizations are premier cancer fighters and we are extremely fortunate to have them at hand. Pull up the web at www.SplashForPink.com for further details and register online or call 541.980.7345.

Building Next Year’s Budget

We are still looking for people to serve on the Budget Committee. I know that nobody wants to think about being responsible for increasing fees on anything, but being part of the team that helps solve the financial puzzle each year is much preferable to not knowing the “whys” of increases in water, sewer, park fees and what happens to the money our taxes bring in. We have several seats open on the budget committee and could use the good counsel of our citizens. Our water fees will increase, as I said last month, just to make sure that department remains solvent as a separate entity within the City’s budget, as is statutorily mandated. The same mandate applies with the sewer department. We continually hear that our rates are too high already. And we know that they are not high enough to merit either grant assistance or low-cost loans. I don’t want them to be that high, but until we reverse the upside-down trend the system’s budget is

taking so that we can build a reserve that would prevent us from asking for assistance that won’t be coming without raising the rates, we need to nudge the rates up. What that amount would be is what the budget discussion will probably center on. The rest of the budget looks pretty good for next year, considering the state of the overall economy. I have called various state departments to gather information that will help point the best way to keep up with the increasing costs. But we need help from the community when we solidify the budget. So if you want to help the people with the burden of running the city with finding the solution to the budget issues, please step forward. Of course, your reward will be probably be the incurrence of the wrath of your neighbors and former friends. Join the club.

Other Really Important Stuff

Grant Writing Classes. I attended a three-day grant writing course in Keizer during the week of 16 May. When it was over I found I had inadvertently completed six core hours in the Oregon Local Leadership Institute program, had a great time, learned a lot, and only have 134 hours to go for a certificate that says I am qualified for this job. I am pumped. The value of the course was that we were able to pick a project to work on and get a running start on a real grant request. I picked the American Legion Hall Rehabilitation Project. So the plan has almost transitioned to a project. Stay tuned.

Memorial Day. As each year goes by, the American Legion formally remembers the service members who have passed on with flags, rifles and the trumpet playing taps at the local cemeteries. This year, we started in Wamic, then proceeded to Shady Brooke, Tygh Valley and finally Kelly Cemetery up on Juniper Flat. When we came back into Maupin, there were the flags in their holders along the “business corridor” of the city. That is the finishing touch for the street project and will probably be repeated for the Fourth of July. Thank you, Chamber of Commerce and especially Allison Bechtel for your persistence getting the flags and displaying them.

Wireless Internet. We almost have wireless capability that will bring to Maupin the speed and volume of internet traffic that will support home businesses, downloading movies, and e-mails all at the same time. Thanks to the efforts of Lynn Ewing and the support of Mike Davis from Tygh Valley, the City and the School District will soon have a vastly improved capability over the one gerbil system we have available now. CenturyLink has improved their service also, but until they can provide fiber optic service to our door, that “last mile” of copper wire limits the amount they can improve their service. It should be available fairly soon and we will be able to assess its capabilities ourselves. It’ll almost be like living in what some people refer to as the civilized world (we prefer “flatlander’s world).

That’s it. Busy summer coming up. The thunder and lightning that just went through is not enough to scare the rafters and some are already arriving ready to challenge the river. School is out this week, the kids will all have summer jobs and the world looks good for the morning side of the mountain. Now, if my lawn will dry out enough to mow, I can get a start on the honey-do cycle that forms the basis of the overall honey-do list that includes the one-time stuff. Like building a stairway from one lawn to the other. Wish I knew how to do that.

Cheers,

Denny