During the Raymond City Council Meeting on Monday, October 7, 2019, at 6:00 p.m., Mayor Tony Nordin announced that the city received a large grant.
"We received a CDBG grant for $750,000," Nordin said. "This is to create seed money to move the project [the Willapa Center] forward."
The Willapa Center has been in the planning stage for a couple of years now. The cost of the center is estimated to be $8,695,000. It is being designed as a three story building that will provide more housing options in the area.
"We won't know if we will have full funding for the Willapa Center until February of next year, if all the different resources of money will be available for us," said Nordin. "If that happens then they will start breaking ground either in the fall of 2020 or the spring of 2021. It is going to be in the space where the festival takes place."
Nordin explained that the land was given jointly to the City of Raymond and the Pacific County Housing Authority. The PCHA is in charge of the project and administering the grant. Some of the funding sources include the Housing Trust Fund, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and Federal Home Loan Bank.
Laurie Bowman from the Northwest Carriage Museum spoke to the council about how well the museum is doing this year. She pointed out that the museum is bringing in tourists who are spending money with local businesses.
In 2005, the museum brought in around 2,500 visitors, but now they are hitting 10,000 people. "Next year we will hopefully be standing here saying that we are hitting 12,000 people," Bowman said.
"86% of the people who come in are more than 50 miles away," she continued. "They are shopping locally and eating in our restaurants. I'm so proud of bringing visitors to our town. The other 14%, I'm so proud of, are locals bringing their families in or calling for tours."
She also pointed out that the museum has been on national tv and even known internationally since a company in Germany requested more information about the museum.
Other business taken care of by the council was the approval of the service contract for William Penoyar as city attorney. Some of the agreed upon duties to be performed by Penoyar include attending municipal court and prosecuting on behalf of the City of Raymond for the
fines, misdemeanors, and citations issued by the Raymond Police Department. The contract states that the monthly compensation for these services will be $1,500.
Raymond Fire Chief Todd Strozyk spoke about the home lost in the Smith Creek Fire when giving his report. "We had a fire in Smith Creek with a family who had their house destroyed," he said. "Luckily they weren't home. The male of the house was at work and the female had taken their daughter to the doctor and was gone. There was also a teenage son at school."
"Those people left the house with what they had on them," Strozyk continued. "They came home and their place was gone. There is a gofundme that is on Facebook. They've really good support with friends and family. I really felt bad. This was a really good family who have lost their home."
"There wasn't a whole lot we could do since the place was pretty much burned up by the time we got there," Strozyk said. "But our crews and that of Pacific County Fire District 3 and South Bend were there. It is really good to see those guys and gals come out and work hard."
Raymond Police Chief Chuck Spoor let the council know that the Raymond Police Department is assisting with the next prescription drug take back that happens Saturday, October 26 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in front of Pioneer Grocery in South Bend.
"If you have any old prescriptions or drugs bring them out and we will dispose of them properly," Spoor said. "It is just a good way to get all the stuff out of the community that is not needed."
Public Works Director Eric Weiberg reported that the construction on Jackson Street in the Riverview area is almost done. The "speed bump" on Jackson and Fowler is no longer there. More projects in the works, depending on the grants for next year. The city is expected to find out about them by November 15.
The next regular scheduled council meeting was on Monday, October 21 at 6:00 p.m.