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Baker City Weekly ReportDecember 3, 2010

ADMINISTRATION

The Courthouse flood has reminded us that pre-planning for similar events is an important function of staff aswell as the Council. In events such as natural disasters, terrorism, and even accidents it is imperative that theCouncil be involved in the oversight of an event such as this. I would recommend that any of the Council thahas not attended a basic incident command (ICS) training get in touch with the City Manager or Fire Chief an

look into setting up training. Last month the City entered into an agreement with Agility Recovery. The service is at no cost through our

insurance. If something happens in Baker City that forces the City to leave our buildings, or we lose power ophones, Agility will provide us with the equipment to continue operations at another location. You can learnmore about Agility Recovery at http://www2.agilityrecovery.com.

Staff is working on putting together an interim budget meeting on January 18th at 6p.m. The presentation wilinclude information from the Cities auditing firm, how the current budget is progressing, and a draft budgetmeeting schedule for the spring of 2011. We will invite those citizens who have applied for vacant positionsthe budget committee to attend so they will have the information should they be appointed.

Charter Cable turned of KTVB this week seemingly paying little or no attention to theircustomers in Baker City. The City Manager has made inquiries of other cable television

providers concerning providing service within Baker City.

otential Agenda Items for December 14, 2010:

Coordination agreement Cured-in-place pipe bid award Boards and Commissions, Historic District Design Review Commission

OLICE

WEEK OF 11/18/2010

BCPD opened 18 new cases this past week, making multiple arrests. Two search warrantwere served and two arrests were made, related to the 10th Street business burglaries.

BCPD personnel attended Taser training, certifying our officers to carry the weapon. BCPD Evidence Technician/Administrative Assistant Valeria Hysong, who is also a certifi

car seat technician, participated in a car seat clinic for our community.

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WEEK OF 11/25/2010

BCPD opened 25 new cases this past week, making multiple arrests. One of thosearrests was another related to the 10th Street business burglaries.

Figure 1 Reader board at "The Little Pig", offering the Baker City Police thanks for solving the burglary.

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Officer Dee Gorrell was sworn in on November 30th, beginning his career with ourdepartment.

Figure 2 Becky Fitzpatrick administers the oath to Dee Gorrell.

Figure 3 Chief Lohner presenting Officer Gorrell his Baker City Police badge.

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In the wake of the courthouse damage, BCPD was able to offer space for various countneeds:

Baker County Justice Court moved their court room into ourtraining/briefing/emergency operations room, while space was created at thefront desk for their office staff. Judge Yervasi has set up an office in aninterview room.

Deputy District Attorney Storz will be spending the majority of his time in oubuilding, sharing space in the Sergeants Office.

Grand Jury was also held in our police facility this past week.IRE

he Baker City Fire Department Responded to a total of 66 emergency alarms for the past two weeks. Breakdown omergency responses:

FIRE

General Alarms 1Still Alarms 5TOTAL RESPONSES 6

ire responses are broken down as follows:

Carbon monoxide detector activation. Odor investigation. Fire alarm activation (false). 2 rescue calls

AMBULANCE

Rural Calls 20City Calls 40

Transports 43No Patient Trip 19Out of town transfers 5Airport Transfers 0Motor Vehicle Crash 10Doubles 13TOTAL RESPONSES 60

RAINING/MAINTENANCE:

78hours of training consisting of:

Fire: Walk through of the Baker Towers 3rd floor. Radiological training from State of Oregon and OfficerDevelopment training including NIOSH review of firefighter fatalities.

EMS: Pediatric poisoning and congestive heart failure and Capnography.36 hours of station and equipment maintenance including:

Weekly medication inventory and replacement of expired medications. Station, apparatus and equipment maintenance. Update and integrate State Fire and EMS reporting systems. Snow removal.

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dditional services include:

Stand-by support for BHS football playoff game. Set up for Firefighter 1 academy for new volunteers. Meet with rural fire districts on motor vehicle crash responses.

UBLIC WORKS

treets

Crews have been busy sanding city streets in order to provide better traction for vehicles. The Public WorksDepartment is planning on increasing its sanding practices and decreasing salting of streets both this winter ain future winters. There are pros and cons to each method.

Sanding Pros

An excellent way to aid traction; It is visible to drivers; It is relatively inexpensive; Sanding is effective at any temperature.

Sanding Cons

If you sand you will have to sweep up the sanding rock in the spring;

The rock used when sanding will enter the storm water collection catch basins and piping, making itnecessary to clean catch basins more frequently;

Rock will be plowed with snow onto residents yards and onto sidewalks; Sanding quickly gets "driven out" of the tire track areas; It can chip windshields; It can make the air dusty when swept up by the street sweeper.

Salting Pros

Salt is very effective at melting packed snow and ice between the temperatures of 20 and 32 degrees,thus aiding in evaporation and drying out of the road surface;

No clean-up is necessary in the spring.Salting Cons

Salt adds salinity into the ecosystem; It is harmful to concrete surfaces and causes metal to rust; Salting is not very effective once the temperature drops below 20 degrees; Salt is more expensive than sanding rock; Salt isn't visible to drivers, so they are unsure if the road surface is slick or not.

Maintaining the supply of sanding rock is also a necessity this time of year. This rock is stored in theequipment shed near the warehouse. ODOT provides the sanding rock at no cost to the City, as the rock is usby Cit crews to provide better traction on some of the road surfaces under ODOTs jurisdiction.

Sanding occurs in the following areas: Main Street, Resort and Campbell Street intersection, Walnut andCampbell Street intersection, the pathway and Campbell Street crossing, Campbell and Cedar Streetintersection, Campbell and Birch Street intersection, Kirkway and H Street, Campbell and College Street, Hw7 underpass, David Eccles and Hwy. 7 intersection, H and 10

thStreet intersection, H and 13

thStreet intersecti

Colorado and Foothill Drive intersection.

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On the subject of snow Crews went home from their regular shifts Tuesday evening, with four men gearinup for snow removal duty at midnight. The midnight shift runs from 12:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Snow Routes 1and 3 Streets are first on the list to be addressed during plowing season. A copy of the snow plow route mapcan be found on the Citys website. Snow removal equipment used during the midnight shift included one ci

grader, one ODOT grader (until 6:00 a.m. when ODOT came to get it for their use), and two city backhoes.

The second crew, consisting of four men, started their snow removal shift at 2:00 a.m. to begin picking up thesnow berms. The snow removal equipment utilized by this crew included one city loader and three city dumptrucks.

The third crew (three men) came on board at 7:30 a.m. to continue removing snow. The equipment used by tcrew included a seven-yard dump truck with an under-carriage scraper and two backhoes. The City graderssnow wing was in need of repair prior to it doing additional snow plow work, so it was not used on this shift.

Any remaining personnel on their regular work shift on Wednesday were salting and sanding streets, plowingthe Leo Adler Memorial Parkway, and/or collecting and shipping water and wastewater samples to be mailedthe laboratory in Twin Falls.

On Thursday a four-man crew started their work day at 4:00 a.m. That crew was tasked to pick up the snowberms around the courthouse, Main Street, Broadway, 10th Street and Campbell Street. During the day shift,

there was a two-man crew plowing the remainder of our Route 2 and Route 3 Streets.

A two-man crew reported for duty today at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday to plow the streets surrounding North BakeSchool. Baker County courthouse staff is temporarily relocating to the North Baker School while the waterdamage at the courthouse is being addressed. Plowing these streets will assist in providing additional parkingfor staff and the public. A two-man crew will complete plowing the remaining Route 2 and 3 Streets today,while other crews will be sanding and salting streets as needed.

Figure 4 Removing snow berms.

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Figure 5 Dumping the snow berms at the Ellingson property.

Along with snow plowing, berm removal, street sanding and salting, there are 216 property owners that possesnow stakes. These snow stakes alert city staff to remove the snow in the driveway which is produced fromplowing the street adjacent to the stake holders home. The snow stake program has been in place for the last

four years. The program was created to provide snow removal assistance to the elderly or disabled orindividuals that may have difficulty shoveling snow.

Prepping for the Christmas season was in full swing this week. Crews began hanging Christmas garland andwreaths on Monday at Main Street. On Tuesday a crew decorated the Court Street Christmas tree. OnThursday the Broadway Street snowflakes and 10

thStreet candy canes were hung on light poles with care, in

hopes that Old Man Winter would ease up for the fare. On Friday crews will begin adorning Campbell Streelight poles with snowflakes.

In a conversation with Jim Adamson, the Public Works Director from 1972 to 1994, we were able to get somfun Christmas dcor historical information. The Main Street garland has been a part of our Christmas fleetsince the 1950s. The candy canes have been lighting up 10

thStreet since the mid-60s. The Main Street

wreaths have been around since the 70s, when Main Street was constructed. And, as you probably willremember, the snowflakes for Campbell Street and Broadway Street were brought on board just a few yearsago.

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Figure 6 Justin and Blain hanging decorations.

Figure 7 Dennis and Steve installing candy canes on 10th Street.

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Figure 8 Justin and Blain decorating the tree.

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Water

The two-man water crew of Jones and Bachman were trekking along in the snow at Elk Creek in order tomodify the level of water coming into town on Monday at the Elk Creek Diversion.

Figure 9 Snow in the watershed.

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torm water

Minor repairs were made on D Street where a PVC fitting fell off of the inlet piping into the catch basin.This pipe was installed by a contractor as part of the 2009 D Street Improvement Project.

Figure 10 PVC fitting that became disconnected.

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Wastewater

The wastewater mainline near the intersection of 8th Street and Baker Street had sunk below the manhole gradand was in need of repair. The mainline had to be raised in order to improve the lines flow characteristics, thkeeping the line from becoming blocked. Once the main line was exposed by the crew, it was raised by handtamping material under the line.

Figure 11 Repair of wastewater mainline. The photo below shows grease clogging a private sewer lateral. This photo was taken by a city crew with the

sewer trucks TV equipment. A City sewer crew has been working with a private plumber to help remedy th

issue.

Figure 12 Grease blocking line.

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Grease is a problem for all wastewater collection and treatment systems - commonly referred to as F.O.G(Fats, Oil and Grease). Although business owners and home owners should not put fat, oil or grease intotheir drains, it happens all of the time. City crews regularly have to pressure wash wastewater lift stationorder to prevent build up of material such as this. There are some wastewater lines in town that are soplugged with grease that the City T.V. inspection camera cannot break through.

F.O.G. and tree roots pose the biggest maintenance problems in our collection system. Restaurants arerequired to have grease traps in their sinks, and those traps should intercept grease as it comes down the

line. However, if the grease traps are not maintained properly, it will begin building up in the sewer lineand eventually will clog it.

irector

Michelle and Gary attended the North East Area Commission on Transportation in La Grande on Thursday.Updates on project funding and a report from Rep. Greg Smith were informative.

Long time Public Works employee Don Hutton retired on Tuesday, November 30th after 32 years with the CiSeveral former and current employees were on hand for a farewell lunch supplied by the Baker City EmployeAssociation.

Figure 13 Don Hutton retires after 32 years.

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

lanning

Provided assistance to the City of La Grande with ideas for the creation of an Economic Improvement Distand establishing business licenses.

Provided assistance to the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) with current addresses multiple Nationally Registered Historic Buildings as they are updating their database.

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Met with the City Manager and Grant Young, our regional representative from the Department of LaConservation and Development (DLCD). We discussed possible grant opportunities for Baker City aamending our comprehensive plan for the new maps we have been re-creating.

uilding

uilding Department report for the 3rd and 4th week in November:

195 Building Permits issued in 2010.ermits Residential issued in Baker City: 480-sqft garage at 3708 Grace 400-sqft carport at 2643 Mitchell 1278-sqft living space, 540-sqft garage for a new home at 490 2nd Fire damage repair rebuild of a duplex unit on 1818 7th

ermits Residential Baker County:

720-sqft pole building structure in Sumpterermits Commercial Baker City:

4200-sqft-storage building for Oregon Trail Bullet co. at 2850 Myrtle

New office partitions at OTEC at 4005 23rd New windows at the Dairy Queen 2400 Broadway New windows for the remodel of the Pythian Castle 2005 Washington New doors at the Baker High school Gym stair system

uture Commercial Projects:

The Lime Wind Electrical Generating project is in planning stage, Building plans arescheduled to be submitted in the spring of 2011.

The start of Recovery Village 11/13/10 permit is ready to be issued. Medical Arts Center is in the Plan revision stage for final draft of the project. Baker County Court House water damage will require permits for repair.

ompliance Baker County:

Pleasant valley a doublewide Manufactured Home placement was Red Tagged stop workbecause of no planning approvals or building permits. Also the same owner building isbuilding an attached garage without planning approval or building permits.

Sumpter area on Cracker Creek a 5,000 sq. ft. shop was Red Tagged stop work for noplanning approvals or building permits.

INANCE

inance Director

As of December 2nd the City has received $2,168,920 in current year property taxes and $91,023 in prior yearproperty taxes.

Novembers revenue and expenditure report will be available December 23rd.

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Utilities

Zone 4 was billed November 24th which included 691 residential and 58 commercial accounts. Of thoseaccounts 109 or 15% are signed up for direct payment.

92 late notices were sent November 23rd and 89 late notices were sent November 29th. Last week eight residential customers (Zone 3) were scheduled to have their water turned off for non pay (ov

60 days past due) six of those were actually turned off until their past due balance was paid. This week sixresidential customers (Zone 4) were scheduled to have their water turned off for non pay (over 60 days pastdue) one of those were actually turned off until their past due balance was paid.

ccounts Payable The second of two accounts payable check runs for the month was generated

November 30th.

ayroll

Seventy five employees were paid on November 26th including ten paid volunteer firefighters. Of those 7employees 66 or 88% are signed up for direct deposit.

ID Billings

IDs are billed every six months over a twenty year period. Interest is charged at the Local Government Investmentool Rate plus 1% which is currently an annual rate of 1.55%. These LIDs can be paid off at anytime with interest

harged through the payoff date. Three 2004 Birch Street LIDs were billed November 30th. The original assessment in 2004 for Birch Stree

improvements included 4 property owners for a total of $90,416. The remaining balance outstanding is$43,802.