In Monday's Raymond City Council meeting the 2018 Final Budget Proposal, Ordinance Number 1866, was passed unanimously with no public in attendance offering feedback. The final vote to adopt the proposed 2018 budget will be on the agenda of the next regularly scheduled meeting.
Resolution 1867 - 2017 Budget Amendment, increased Current Expense to $300,000.00 and increased Streets to $375,000.00 from $370,000.00 and increased Municiple Court by $5,000.00. The motion to send the amendment to a 2nd reading was made and passed unanimously.
Resolution 1868 - Public Records Request Amendment, a state mandated change to how public records requests have to be made and paid for. The motion to send the amendment to a 2nd reading was made and passed unanimously.
Resolution 1969 - First Reading, 2018 Utility Rate Increase. The motion to send the amendment to a 2nd reading was made and passed unanimously.
2018 Pacific County EMS Fire District #1 Contract, this contract brings in about 65% of the Fire District's revenue. This contract represents a 5% increase over the 2017 contract. Fire Chief Todd Strozyk made a recommendation to the council to accept and sign the contract. A vote to accept was taken and was passed unanimously.
Eric Weiberg, Director of Public Works, reported that the project involving the crosswalk in front of the Washington Department of Transportation in ongoing.
Mayor Steve Jones proposed to appoint Dee Roberts, to replace the position currently held by Jeff Hasu and Mike Fuller, to replace the position currently held by Bob Junger, to the Civil Service Commission. A motion to make the appointments was made and it was passed unanimously.
City Attorney Will Penoyar reported to the council that he had completed a jury trial with a conviction for the offense of Driving with a Suspended License.
Discussion regarding how the water rate's will affect both commercial and residential rate payers. Some concern was voiced about what large users including the Weyerhaeuser mill would be paying. A vote was called to adopt the rate increase, Option 4 as proposed by Eric Weiberg. The council unanimously voted in favor of the rate increase.