Kelly Kenoyer
The Sweet Home Police Department received 996 calls related to the fires in early September, Police Chief Jeff Lynn told City Council members at their Sept. 22 meeting.
Councilors Diane Gerson, Lisa Gourley, Mayor Greg Mahler, Dave Trask, and Cortney Nash attended the meeting, with Councilor James Goble calling in remotely and Susan Coleman absent.
Lynn said the fire-related calls came from “community members looking for answers, and looking for directions.”
The busiest call times the department had recorded before that were from an Oregon Jamboree, he said, which got to 325 calls. The police department is planning to establish a designated informational line for future crises, he said.
The police department’s report included information on calls during the pandemic. Compared to the time period of March to August last year, this year saw a 5% increase in domestic violence and dispute calls, and a 136% increase in mental health calls. Child abuse calls and burglaries are both down compared to last year, and suicide calls are down 8% – from 49 to 45.
Gerson asked Lynn about an uptick in vehicle theft – there were 10 vehicles stolen this past August compared to zero in August of 2019.
Lynn told her that other communities are seeing an uptick in car thefts as well, and vehicles from Sweet Home are being found in Albany and vice-versa.
In other action,
– City Manager Ray Towry gave a report about how staff handled the fires, noting that “one of the hardest things to take care of was the onslaught of misinformation.” He added that “We struggled in the first 24 to 36 hours to get good information to share with the community,” but they were able to begin providing more info after that with the help of the police, Oregon Department of Forestry, and Sweet Home Fire District.
“We need to give a shoutout to our local logging community,” he added. “They played a role in getting everything under control, as well as federal and state and local firefighters.”
Towry added that the city is discussing emergency management plans with regional partners in east Linn County, “rather than just relying on Linn County, the state, or the federal government.”
“We just learned that when something like this happens, we need to be able to take care of ourselves,” he said.
“The city of Lebanon offered us housing if we evacuated,” he said. “They proved to be good partners and we are very, very appreciative of that.”
– Mahler brought up the idea of donating the annex building behind the old City Hall to the city of Detroit to help with their reconstruction plans after the town was destroyed by fire.
“People have lost a lot in Santiam Canyon,” he said, “It will take quite a while to get everything built back to some semblance of what it was.”
Other councilors expressed agreement, and Trask and Gourley suggested that the city or local churches and businesses may be able to donate furniture.
Towry said city staff would work up an intergovernmental agreement for the council to sign off on. He noted that the plan would require that the building be dismantled and transported, but suggested the city may be able to find someone to help pay for that element of the donation.
The mayor of Detroit came by Sweet Home to look at the building, and several companies have offered to move it at a discounted rate, Towry said.
– Library Director Rose Peda reported that the library will extend wifi from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. through October to help families. The library provided a “relatively smoke-free environment” for families to “have fun and read” during the fires, she added, and helped families that lost power and wi-fi connect and work online.
– The City Council members present unanimously passed a motion to continue a $15,000 contract with the Chamber of Commerce to continue running the visitor center during peak visitor hours.
Melody Reese, the new office manager for the Chamber, said “We still have tons of visitors come through the visitor’s center for maps, for hiking, for geode hunting.” She also pointed to virtual interviews with local business owners as a recent success in promoting Sweet Home.
– The council learned that the state Department of Environmental Quality has accepted the city’s plan to deal with runoff stormwater, but, City Manager Ray Towry said, “They’ve basically said, get to work and start getting things done.”
He advised council members not to be surprised when they start to see expensive stormwater projects come up next spring.
– The council passed a resolution to close the roads near Sankey Park for the Harvest Festival on Oct. 3 (see story on page 1).
Gerson voiced some concerns about COVID spread and liability, but was assured that the city is meeting every state requirement for this kind of event to be done safely and legally.
The event’s planner, Angela Clegg, asked repeatedly for more volunteers to support the festival, including those in the council chambers.
– Finance Director Brandon Neish said the city again delayed water shutoffs in September due to the fires, but plans to start shutting off water for non-paying customers in October.
He also noted good news on the budget, with “additional revenues coming in from the gas tax.”
“There is some sense of normalcy returning, not just here but across the state.”
– The council passed a resolution to combine the five city-owned plots of land that house the current wastewater treatment plant into one large plot. The change will facilitate construction and permitting for the new wastewater treatment plant.
The council also passed a motion to post an ad seeking an engineer to look at the site’s plans. The study is a requirement for the city to get access to USDA loans, according to Engineer Technician Trish Rice, who noted that a good engineer may also save the city money.
“They can come up with some ideas to save us money on construction.”
The budget for the posting is “around $80,000.” All councilors present voted in favor.
– The council approved a third reading on an ordinance amending the official zoning map to allow higher density housing at a site on 23rd south of Ironwood. The change from low-density to medium-density housing for that lot fits the existing comprehensive plan for the city.
Nash voted in opposition, but all others voted in favor.
– Public Works Director Greg Springman told councilors that he had rented a street sweeper, but “it broke down.” The city got it back up and running quickly, though, and he said “the streets look a lot better from last week.”