The South Bend City Council met the evening of Monday, August 22, with one member of the council absent, Karla Webber. The Mayor lead the meeting with the pledge of allegiance before approving the minutes from the previous meeting as well as the current meeting agenda. Mayor Julie Struck reported on the correspondence that the city has received since the last meeting, that included a letter from a Thomas L. Giacoma. The letter is paraphrased here but can be read in full detail in the Letter to the Editor section of this current August 24, 2016 issue of the Willapa Harbor Herald:
"I would like to address the issue of our community's reputation; South Bend has a reputation as a speed trap. You have mentioned that this reputation is a constant irritant to you, and it truly reflects the image of our town. City Hall has had the tools to change this reputation since 2202 when Mayor Karl Heinicke signed an intergovernmental agreement.
The reference of this contract is called the City of South Bend, WA Boat Launch Renovation and Enhancement Project. The commencement of this project was 8/13/02. Pacific County is the facilitator and the governing law in this contract."
Giacoma went on on in the letter to point out where certain funds collected by the city over the past 14 years should have been used to make South Bend more of a tourist destination point.
The council went on to read the letter, and discussed the letter. "The bird trail thing was a proposal, it was never an action at all, it was turned down," said Council Member Bob Hall. "They applied for a grant and they never received it," said Mayor Struck.
For head of department reports, City Supervisor Dennis Houk, "Nova started laying a piece of pipe today, dewatering is taking place and that's working pretty well," said Houk. Houk went on to report that this coming Thursday, August 25 they will be asphalting a patch on Kendrick Street, a patch on Willapa Street, and a patch in front of Pioneer Grocery.
Mayor Struck reported that Labor Day is coming along nicely, and that they're selling duck tickets. "Everything is ticking along like it should," said Mayor Julie Struck. Struck went on to report that the city crew did an excellent job at the Martin Creek Damn, "We went from three or four hundred thousand gallon holding power to about a million and a half gallons of holding power," said Struck.
Council Member Hall reported some things from the boat launch in South Bend. "I was down there and there was a trailer, and the next day I looked to see if they paid. I noticed they hadn't paid and they happened to be there and the guy was sitting there on the bench bleeding from his foot. He had stepped on a nail that was in a board that went through his shoe, and he was sort of thinking it was our fault." Hall went on to explain that the next day he paid.
After the council comments the meeting was adjourned. The next South Bend City Council meeting will be held on Monday, September 12.