By Christy Solo and Wayne Lee – Editor and Sports Editor
Eagle Point
The Eagle Point City Council held a special session regarding city parks followed by their annual goal-setting session. According to City Administrator Aaron Prunty, the meeting was for staff, “to review projects and funding mechanisms…not to set specific priorities,” adding, “A future meeting will be proposed to discuss setting specific priorities.”
The city had adopted a Parks Master Plan in 2023, and the Neighborhood Enhancement Commission has been very involved in specific park projects such as the dog park in Chamberlain Park. Other budgeted projects included improvements to the entrance to Antelope Cemetery, repairs to the splash park and $15,000 toward a conceptual plan for the future Highlands Park.
Following a brief discussion on the status of local parks, the council moved on to its goal setting session. The session focused on seven categories, Livability, Recreation, Public Safety, Community Development, Fiscal and Administrative Stability, Public Infrastructure and Historical and Cultural Initiatives.
Livability covered such things expanding trails along Little Butte Creek and the city’s continuing vision of a welcoming arch near Hwy. 62. Recreation goals included a pickleball court as well as a skate park. The location of a future skate park has bounced between Highlands Park, which is in the Parks Master Plan, and Nova Park, which is moving forward with its development after purchasing the last piece of privately-owned land (.2 acres).
Under Public Safety, the council agreed to continue with the existing five goals which basically support local law enforcement as well as “increase public awareness on crime and safety.” Community Development was next up which included promoting, “Eagle Point and the Welcome to the Neighborhood campaign, encourage and recognize volunteerism and improve and expand way-finding signs.”
Fiscal and Administrative Stability remained unchanged, its three goals are to evaluate fees periodically, support staff pursuit of grant opportunities, and to “promote staff professional development and recognize notable achievements including longevity.” Public Infrastructure mentioned the continued pursuit of a Safe Routes to School grant which would provide the funds for sidewalks within one mile of a school.
Historical and Cultural Initiative goals also remain unchanged. They included support of the Avenue of the Flags, Veterans Day activities, support for the local history museum as well as continued support of the Sister City program with Showa, Japan.
This is also when the city began the process of expanding its’ Urban Growth Boundary thanks to SB 1537 which allows cities a one-time expansion of 50 acres to build smaller, affordable housing. It began in earnest at council’s first meeting of the month with three developers submitting proposals.
The proposals ranged from 10 acres to 49.9 acres. Two of the three proposals were considered in-fill projects while the largest project actually was proposed for the UBG south of the city limits. As with any new development, traffic was the primary concern. Council President Kevin Walruff noted the largest proposal, “was the most attractive but it also adds the most vehicles.”
March also saw the beginning of Spring sports as Eagle Point High School’s baseball and softball teams opened their respective seasons.
The month ended with a presentation to the city council by Jackson County Library Services on the system in general and the Eagle Point branch in particular. It was noted that while there have been libraries in this area for more than 100 years, JCLS has only existed this past decade. It was noted 720,000 people visited one or more of the 15 libraries in the system which included 46,000 participants in more than 2,150 programs.
Shady Cove
The March 6 council meeting began with an announcement of council, commission and committee openings and another plea for citizens to step up and apply.
There was one council vacancy (no one applied), two planning vacancies (one person applied) and two budget committee openings (both filled).
The EMC announced they were using collaborative software to work on emergency plan documents for the city.
Nuckles cautioned them to pause while council consulted the city’s attorney as the use of such software may fall under the category of a serial meeting.
Council discussed a draft Right of Way agreement penned by John Edwards as a replacement for the city’s several individual franchise agreements. The single RoW agreement would make all agreements fair and consistent and would reduce the workload on staff.
Councilors suggested a few changes to the draft and directed staff to make the changes so the agreement could be reviewed at a future meeting.
Council then discussed back audits. The city’s accounting firm said the 2021/22 audit was “technically” done, but they could not truly complete it due to missing information.
Nuckles expressed frustration that it took the firm a year to say, “we can’t do it.”
Ball was optimistic overall, feeling the city was making “huge strides” toward getting their books together. He believed the 22/23 audit would have a similar disclaimer, but felt audits for 23/24 onward would be on track.
That said, council did direct City Administrator Michele Parry to begin looking for a new accounting firm.
The Recreation and Tourism Committee was also given new direction following a joint workshop with council. Several of R&Ts ideas for beautification involved private property and council advised the “city can’t tell business owners what to do.”
Instead R&T was tasked with focusing on the new city park and city vision around the new logo/motto. This came with the caveat that council would like the citizens to decide on a vision, not R&T, council or staff.
During council’s March 20 meeting one plea for commission/committee volunteers was answered as Cheryl Singleton was appointed to planning. However, she would not be sworn in until the Sept. 11, 2025 meeting because that would be the next time the Planning Commission held a meeting as all meetings from March 27 through October were cancelled.
On that topic, Parry announced the city would be hiring a new planner and the planning process would be “reorganized and streamlined,” making less work for staff.
Council reviewed the RoW agreement from the previous meeting then directed staff to send it to legal for their approval before they held a first and second reading.
There were two March obituaries: Nita Gosnell and George Michael Linder.
Other March news: The Eagle Point High School girls basketball team made it to the playoffs! Captain Erin Elder received the Chief’s Award at FD4’s March 8 awards! The Central Point and Eagle Point police departments jointly presented a seminar on scams and how to avoid them at the Ashpole Center in Eagle Point.
