by Christy Solo – Editor
The Oct. 1 Shady Cove City Council meeting was canceled and moved to Sept. 29. A joint Council/Planning presentation was held Oct. 1 (see separate article in this edition).
The meeting itself was shortened a bit as the topic “Discussion on Additional Hire for Public Works” was deleted from the agenda.
After some confusion over the proper way to handle the consent calendar, it was approved and then the meeting kicked into gear with City Administrator Randy Petersen’s staff report.
Petersen said staff is still working on fixing some “issues with the sewer bill process” due to problems with the Caselle software. Progress is “three steps forward, two steps back” at the moment, but they are working directly with Caselle an are optimistic steps will soon all be forward.
Next Petersen announced that the 23/24 audit is complete and auditors should be presenting their findings in an October council meeting.
Petersen then discussed two grants he’d applied for. The first is for $5000 and if received would go toward improving security in City Hall. The second is a $2000 grant which was awarded to the city from the Pacific Power Foundation and is for a pollinator garden.
Staff is still deciding where the best location for the pollinator garden is but putting it in as a start in the new city park is one possibility.
Jumping back to Caselle, Petersen said he will be sending Accounting Tech Nicole Schlecht to a conference in Utah to learn more about the Caselle system.
This sparked comments from Councilor Kathy Nuckles who said while she is all for training, the accounting tech position is a contract position, and the job needs to be advertised and filled.
Petersen said he did not want to wait “another six to eight months” before sending Schlecht to training. He does want to hire Schlecht which would require the city buying out her contract. If they wait until early November to do so, it will save the city money.
Nuckles said her point was less about who was hired or about training and more that they need to get the council approved restructure plan going. They also need to cross their legal Ts and dot their union Is while doing so. They need to post the two new positions and hire.
Admin Jeannine Curry interjected saying former interim admin John Edwards had told her she did not have to reapply for her job as the title change just “added duties” to her existing job.
Nuckles said that was not her understanding. Her understanding was that both jobs legally needed to be posted and those holding the jobs could, of course, apply.
Petersen seemed to agree that the finance position needed to be advertised, saying “we’re going to do that” but continued that he still wanted to go ahead with the training.
It was not clarified whether or not Curry’s position would also be advertised, but Nuckles, Mayor Cheryl Singleton and Councilor Steve Mitchell all said they believe both positions should be advertised sooner rather than later.
Council then moved on to the appointment of a new councilor to the vacant seat. There was only one applicant, but he was more than qualified. The applicant was Art Stirling who has been actively involved in city committees and commissions since 2011. Most recently Stirling served as Planning Commission Chair.
The only question council had for Stirling was, “Are you sure?” Stirling was and the motion to appoint carried 4/0. Stirling was then sworn in by a notary and took his seat at the dais for the balance of the meeting.
There was a brief discussion on updating security and cameras in City Hall with the grant Petersen mentioned in his report. Per Petersen the updates he has in mind – which would also include updates to cameras and mics for Zoom – will cost about $2500 and he’s applied for a $5000 grant.
Council wanted to be sure the city received the grant before approving anything.
The final item discussed was a draft of a new Budget Amendment / Supplemental Appropriation Request Form proposed by Petersen.
Nuckles said she would like to have the budget committee meet so they could review the form and discuss how often circumstances arose where such a form would be needed; perhaps even do a tabletop exercise.
Stirling asked where the form had come from. Petersen said it was “an amalgamation” of his past experience and “what other cities have been doing.”
Council felt strongly that the Budget Committee should meet, review and discuss before any resolutions were made, however no date was set for such a meeting. Staff will need to see if the current citizen committee members are available and willing to meet in October or November.
There was no public comment following new and old business items.
During council comment Singleton thanked everyone for their patience as she “gets the hang of things.”
Nuckles addressed Petersen saying, she knows there are a lot of “loose ends” from the months prior to his employment, but she is “committed to helping” him to the point where he is “going forward on your own, and you’re not being dragged down by the loose ends of things that this council approved or didn’t approve.”
