Baker City Weekly Report

February 25, 2011

ADMINISTRATION

 The City Manager attended a dinner on Monday with other community members, in which we had the
opportunity to address issues with U.S. Representative Greg Walden.
 On Wednesday the City Manager met with Scott Fairley, Oregon Regional Solutions, Kathleen Cathy, Senator
Wyden’s office, and Fred Warner, County Court. The discussions centered on current issues affecting Baker
City and Baker County and the assistance available from the State and Federal Governments.
 Work on the restrooms at Geiser Pollman Park will begin soon. The restrooms are in very poor shape and the
public works department is in the process of getting firm prices for materials.

Potential Agenda Items for March 8, 2011:

 Executive session
 Information on amendment of Resolution 3407
 Central park bid award

POLICE
 BCPD opened 30 new cases, making multiple arrests. One of these resulted in the arrest of two subjects who are
suspects in multiple cases of unauthorized entry into motor vehicles.
 Sergeant Regan’s team completed defensive tactics training. This training was held at Baker High School and
was taught by Officer Dee Gorrell, who is a certified Master Instructor in Defensive Tactics.

FIRE
The Baker City Fire Department Responded to a total of 31 emergency alarms for the past week. Breakdown of
emergency responses:

FIRE
General Alarms 0
Still Alarms 1
TOTAL RESPONSES 1

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Fire responses are broken down as follows:
 1 carbon monoxide detector activation-no leak was found.

AMBULANCE
Rural Calls 7
City Calls 23

Transports 20
No Patient Trip 10
Out of town transfers 0
Airport Transfers 3
Motor Vehicle Crash 2
Doubles 4
Triples 1

TOTAL RESPONSES 30

TRAINING/MAINTENANCE:
94 hours of training consisting of:
 EMS: Difficult airway, head trauma
 Fire: Positive pressure ventilation and fire attack, fire code and inspection training, pipeline emergencies,
SCBA confidence course and policy review.
83 hours of station and equipment maintenance including:
 Weekly medication inventory and replacement of expired medications.
 Station, apparatus and equipment maintenance.
 Annual SCBA/respiratory fit testing initiated.
 Annual SCBA maintenance and testing continued.
Additional services include:
 Baker City Firefighter 1 academy training for new volunteer firefighters.
 Fire station tour and emergency preparedness presentation for area group. Served 18 children and 12 adults.

PUBLIC WORKS

Wastewater
 Many of the city's wastewater collection lines run under alleys, through the middle of the city blocks. The
wastewater crew continued their routine maintenance of such lines this week.
 Upgrading the alarm system at the Wastewater Treatment Plant continues. Conduit has been installed at both
the influent and effluent ends of the plant.
 In order to clean a wastewater mainline the jetter nozzle is inserted into a manhole. The high pressure jetter
nozzle (usually shooting around 1,000 p.s.i.) shoots a stream of fresh water through the line as it pulls the hose
through the line with its force. As the jetter moves through the mainline, it scours the surface of the pipe,
freeing any blockages and forcing any material in the pipe downstream, in the direction the jetter truck is
located (where the nozzle was initially inserted).

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Figure 1 Karl inserting the jetter at a manhole on Myrtle Street.

Figure 2 Jetter nozzle in a manhole on Cliff Street.

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  Upgrading the alarm system at the Wastewater Treatment Plant continues. Conduit has been installed at both
the influent and effluent ends of the plant.

Streets
 Crews plowed a few streets in town on Thursday where drifting conditions existed, Indiana Avenue being one
of those streets. Streets were sanded and salted as needed to aid in vehicle safety.

Figure 3 Indiana Avenue after the drifts were removed.

 The Leo Adler Pathway was plowed to maintain a relatively bare surface for citizens to utilize the pathway.
 Crushed rock (1 1/2" size) was used to repair gravel shoulders where vehicles have been "cutting corners".
 Reconnaissance work was done at Resort Street to determine the size and type of storm water lines and water
service locations. Contractors with the ability to video-inspect private wastewater laterals have been contacted
by staff. Such work will need to be accomplished prior to the reconstruction of Resort Street.
 Three delineators were installed along Birch Street this week. These delineators were installed at the
intersections of Birch and D Street and Birch and H Street. The markers will better assist crews in being aware
of the curb locations as they are performing street maintenance with heavy equipment.

Water
 Larry and Jake continue working with the crew from Riverside assessing what maintenance work will
encompass on the 750 ft. reservoir well.

The photo below is the view crews see when looking straight down the well. The photo shows the well casing
at 507 feet, where the casing size changes from 12" to 6" diameter.

The 8" and 10” diameter well pump column pipe is scheduled to be reinstalled next week. This work will
include installing two stainless steel and one PEX tubing conduits.

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 Figure 4 Looking down the well casing.

 An automatic water valve located at the forebay (water line bringing water down the hill near the reservoir)
malfunctioned this week requiring an immediate response from staff to correct the problem. The frigid
temperatures this week caused things to freeze in the water collection system, freezing screens, etc. A water
crew traveled to various water intake locations in the watershed to perform the necessary maintenance work.
 On Wednesday staff received safety training on the topic of water pressure safety.

SAM-O SWIM CENTER

 No report this week.

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES
Planning
 The monthly Tree Board meeting was facilitated on February 15th. We discussed preliminary goals for the year
and started planning for this year’s Arbor Day Celebration.
 A Resource Team from the Oregon Main Street Program was in town last week and held several meetings with
HBC Board Members and various other downtown stakeholders. The City Planner participated in an interview
and a presentation was given on February 17th. The team will be providing a comprehensive report of
recommendations to improve our downtown.
 The tree maintenance contractor for OTEC is busy pruning trees around town. Several tree removal requests
have been reviewed to remove inappropriate trees and replace them with Class I trees that are more suitable for
placement under utility lines.
 A Major Modification request has been submitted by Meadow Outdoor Advertising to rebuild two billboard
signs adjacent to I-84 just south of “H” Street. Public notice has been sent out to all neighboring property
owners.

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  A Re-plat application has been submitted by Maverik as required by the conditions of approval. Permit approval
is anticipated in about 3 weeks. The house located on the property is planned to be relocated fairly soon.
Building
Commercial projects
 McDonalds submitted plans for a minor remodel project.
 Recovery Village submitted plans for the fire sprinkler system.
 Baker Towers submitted plans for the fire sprinkler system on the 5th floor.
Residential projects:
 Issued the permit for the second story residence on Main Street.
 Conducted a framing inspection at the Geiser House, which is owned by John Fuzi.

FINANCE
Finance Director
 February’s revenue and expenditure report will be available March 18th.
 The City’s surplus distribution credits for 2011-12 from the CIS P/C Trust will be $49,388. These credits will
be used to reduce the City’s property and liability insurance premiums for 2011-12. Any unused credits will be
carried forward but must be used within a three year period.
 CIS announced at the conference the following estimates for 2011-12 rate changes.
 Property/liability insurance - decrease 2%
 Medical insurance - increase 4.5%
 Vision insurance - no change
 Dental insurance - increase 6.75%
 Life insurance - no change
Utilities
 Zone 8 was billed February 25th which included 457 residential and 20 commercial accounts. Of those accounts
57 or 12% are signed up for direct payment.
 74 late notices were sent February 22nd.
 Ten residential customers (Zone 7) were scheduled to have their water turned off for non-pay (over 60 days past
due) five of those were actually turned off until their past due balance is paid.
 Six residential customers (Zone 6) were scheduled to have their water turned off for non-pay (over 60 days past
due) two of those was actually turned off until their past due balance is paid.
Payroll
 Seventy six employees were paid on February 25th including eleven paid “volunteer firefighters”. Of those 76
employees 71 or 93% are signed up for direct deposit.
LID Billings
LIDs are billed every six months over a twenty year period. Interest is charged at the Local Government Investment
Pool Rate plus 1% which is currently an annual rate of 1.53%. These LIDs can be paid off at any time with interest
charged through the payoff date.

 Two 1993 Primary Street Improvement LIDs were billed February 22nd. The original assessment in 1993 for
improvements on 12th Street (between Campbell and D Street) and on A, B, C and D Streets (between 11th and
12th) included 36 property owners for a total of $95,565. The remaining balance outstanding is $792.

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