Greetings from City Hall –

The first thing I noted was that this is not the latest I have gotten to the Sewer Letter. Last year, it was on the 4^th of October when I finally got to it. I think it is because the LOC Conference has been held the week prior – the last week of September. It has blown a trip to Fort Worth and a trip to Branson, MO for the bi-annual FB-111 reunions, where a bunch of fine young men (my age, of course) get together to relate the history of the FB-111 as we saw it with our keen eyesight and skillful flying qualities. I always wonder how the stories will change each year. I do know that there are fewer people to tell the stories, but at least they got to help us at the earlier reunions.

Meetings and Conferences

There were several meetings and conferences that discussed things that concern the City and the State. The League of Oregon Cities Board meeting was a combination of a final review of what happened during the 2011 legislative session and what we expect to see during the truncated 2012 session of 35 days. There were several laws that were signed or modified that are good or better and many the bureaucratic rules and procedures have been changed to present less interference to us in our attempts to recover our economy. Even the language reflects that new attitude. For instance, the old way of “mitigating” effects of what the laws of the State will do to a project that impacts the environment, wildlife, or traffic is replaced by “balancing” the needs of the community with what the State can support as far as the affected laws are concerned. Many of the impacts on a project will be self-assessed by the local government involved, which will greatly benefit the smaller cities. It seems that all the agencies are signed up to this and from what I have seen and heard from the various directors, they are very enthusiastic. It’s funny how good ideas are so easy to get on board with. The League also was successful in keeping some laws from reaching reality, even to the point of killing them in committee in ways that even the most persistent supporter will think twice about re-introducing a dumb law in the short session. That is a very important part of what the League does; in the application of a rule that doctors learn, first day at Med school: “First, do no harm.” The Conference itself was a good combination of specific tracks or themes in three categories: ways to develop revenue resource tools; communications and leadership; and economic recovery. The actual subjects ranged from “Social Media and Public Communications” to the “Next Great Earthquake and Tsunami” to how to use a “Collaborative Approach for Economic Development.” In all there were more than 22 presentations. I mediated a presentation on the Main Street Program, similar to the work that went into the first look at our street project. I also mediated a presentation from the St. Helen’s Port District which talked to the importance of collaboration between Municipalities, stakeholders and business owners in building a stable economy and made me think of how the Port of The Dalles might fit in Maupin’s and South County’s economic-building plans. In all, it was a very good conference, quite different and laid back when compared to the ones in the valley in Eugene, Salem and Portland. Bend is best and the weather was showcase quality.

Other Really Important Stuff

Burn Ban. Still with us. Even as I type this, it is raining. But a little shower does not do much to create enduring protection from a fire that can start with a lightning strike on the flat and come roaring down Spring Creek on its way to the bridge. So let’s wait till the first of November, just as planned. That will give us time to get the fire material gathered up and ready to burn before the real rains hit during the last of November.

Planning/Workshop/Council Meeting, 18 October. This meeting is one that we have been trying to have all summer and deals with some zoning changes the Planning Commission has been working all year. We will also talk about some of the issues and ideas that have popped up since we had our community planning meetings in the spring. I plan to introduce such future projects as replacing the Jersey barriers on Bakeoven Road with sidewalks, initial planning for remodeling/updating the American Legion Building, and a notional look at what a Municipal Building containing large and small meeting rooms, a library and offices for the city might look like. This week we are launching the assessment study of what it should be, where it should go, and how much it would cost. We are also looking at the American Legion Building and will start doing what we can without funding for all of it. We will start with the most important part – restrooms.

Flags. As you have seen, the American Legion has begun to use the flags that were bought by businesses in town. They, through the Chamber are passing the hat for enough flags to fill every hole we put in the sidewalk for their use. They have stuck to the price of $25 per flag and the members of the American Legion all plan to buy at least one. I bought two since the funding solicitor didn’t have change. It really is a statement of the collective attitude of the town when they are all waving in the breeze on a summer day. All we need is a Wells Fargo Wagon and the Music Man.

That’s it. Summer is over, the fires are (mostly) out, the rafting season is done but for the most hardy. Hunting is starting, football and volleyball are about halfway through the season and the weather can truly be labeled “fall.” We may have visits from the Urban Forest folks, an assessor for the library/city hall project and an engineer to look at what that facility may look like, and some other people that I have talked to in the past few weeks. I will be going to the Oregon Micro-enterprise Network conference in Portland to see what we can do to continue fixing our economy. This week there is a meeting in The Dalles about working the economy at the local level. We talked about the same subject this morning in Rufus at the Lower John Day Area Commission on Transportation meeting. Overall, Maupin is in pretty good shape compared to some of the other cities in our itty bitty category. We will concentrate on keeping the City in good shape while the economy is shaky and get ready to roll when we come out of it. In the meantime, we should be able to keep doing little things that will continually improve Maupin for us. We try to respond to everything that comes to our attention and always respond to something that needs to be fixed yesterday. And we respond to fun things, too. Like Halloween. And tricycle races. And already being in the place where much of Oregon wants to visit.

Cheers,

Denny