As the year begins to draw to a close the Winlock Council came together for one of their last meetings of the year. With full attendance the council immediately started their meeting.
The council started their meeting with the matters of Old Business. The first matter to address was the topic of "Hold Harmless Agreement, Egg Day Float." It was brought up that the Lions Club would agree to hold the float and were waiting to hear from the insurance company. The next topic was that of the "Community Building Heaters." The council was notified that the heaters were installed and working right. For the last topic under Old Business was the matter of "Purchase of Truck and Backhoe." The council discussed how the equipment will be set up and that they were to further discuss the matter of the backhoe because John Deer was not available.
Moving further into the agenda the council began the topic of Mayor and Council Comments. Under this topic Council Woman Barbara Pederson asked if there were any Christmas Decorations that could be set up through the city. It was said that they were unaware of where the decorations were but they would be looked into for next year. When there were no further comments or questions the council turned their attention to Police Chief John Brockmueler.
In Brockmueler's report he told the council there had been "38 calls of service in the past two weeks" and that this was "increased from the usual amount." Also in his report he notified those in attendance that there had been two people arrested for the Apollo burglary. As he continued his report he told the council there had almost been an incident at the bank and if the responding officer hadn't been there so quickly the situation could have become worse. While Brockmueller was still at the front of the room Councilman Sam Patrick asked about a topic from the agenda. The item on the agenda Patrick was asking about was the item "Lewis County Sheriff - Jail Facilities Agreement." Under this topic, it was asked about working with Tribal facilities and if that would change the cost versus that of the usual facilities. After this was briefly discussed the council moved into Public Comment.
Under Public Comment Glen Cook agreed to hold his comment until the topic was discussed under the agenda items. As there was no more public comments the council moved into the Agenda Items.
For the first item on the Agenda the topic looked to the topic of "Jodi Curtis - Egg Day Vendors." It was brought up that the bridge being closed down was ruining the vendor's ability to get money. With this Curtis asked about options for vendors and the different forms of entertainment. It was brought up about the car show spacing and spacing along the city streets. It was stated that the all these would possibly overlap each other. After the further discussion the council agreed to table this topic until later.
The second item of the agenda was the "Nomination for Council Position No. 5." After the reading of the title Council Woman Pederson brought up Holly Orbino for this position. After being seconded by Councilman Patrick and all the members were in favor the vote passed and Holly Orbino was given the position on the council and will be sworn in at the next meeting.
Next on the agenda the Council looked at the matter of "Parking Enforcement for Discussion." At this time Glen Cook came back with his comment and request that the roads being changed for the community members that live there. The request was to change North East Griffith to Hemlock. After his comment Pederson stated that she would like "more time to go over each and every area before making a decision." Councilman Jerry Radar then brought up the other parking such as the parking at Bower's Towers. While the council talked of the options they agreed to table until later meetings.
As the council continued to the next item the council started to discuss the matter of Washington State Public Transportation Plan for Discussion." Mayor Lonnie Dowell told the council about the TAC and TSC meetings that wanted the towns to look ahead into the year of 2035 for any improvements on 505. Mayor Dowell presented the idea of the improving the crosswalk by IGA. The council brought forth ideas of getting a crosswalk with flashing lights, dropping the speed limit and other ideas. As the council agreed that this was looking into the future they agreed that no decision had to made immediately.
Going back to the topic of the "Lewis County Sheriff - Jail Facilities Agreement - Authorizing the Mayor to Sign." As before the council discussed the ideas of Pre-Purchasing beds or purchasing as needed. It was decided that the council would stay with the plan they had originally as Pederson made the motion and Councilwoman Sarah Gifford seconded. As all Council members were in favor the vote passed.
For the sixth item of the agenda the council looked at "Ordinance No. 1036 - 2016 Budget - First Reading." With no discussion from the council and no questions from the audience the council made the motion to approve. When the vote passed it was announced the second reading would be at December 28th's meeting.
Number seven on the agenda list was the topic of "Ordinance No. 1038 - Public Services - Water, Sewer and Storm Drain." Under this topic the council was to discuss adding all onto one ordinance. With all members in favor the vote passed.
As the eighth item was up the council looked into "Resolution 2015-13 - City of Winlock Rate Schedule - First Reading." With this the Council talked about the prices and rates that could possibly be affecting the city growth. As the council and audience went into discussion the council came to the conclusion of tabling the topic until more research can be done.
After the consent agenda the Council agreed to adjourn the meeting before moving into an executive session for the "Potential Litigation and Collective Bargaining Agreement." As the Council moved into the private session, those in attendance were given the adjournment to go home.