DUNES CITY COUNCIL MINUTES

SPECIAL MEETING

December 30, 2006

11:00 A. M.

President Judy Martin called the meeting to order at 11:00 a.m.  

PRESENT:     Council ors, J. Scott, P. Howison, J. Martin, L. Riechel and R. Petersdorf. 

ALSO PRESENT:     J. Hickey, City Recorder; Denise Ruttan, Siuslaw News ; and approximately 10 citizens from the community.

President Martin led the Council and audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.

President Martin indicated that a special meeting had been called December 12, 2006 , to interview candidates for the vacancies of the Planning Commission.  Martin said the vote was to be held on December 14, 2006 , but due to weather that meeting was cancelled.  At that time, it was decided to do the vote by telephone, then later it was pointed out that that canvassing was not valid due to lack of proper notice.  Martin said the purpose of the special meeting today was to vote again, having given public notice. It was also noted that the bills of the session would be approved.

Peter Howison said “I believe this meeting was called improperly, this process is broken, it's a raw political power play, I think, as I say it is a lame attempt by a lame Council , a lame City Council .  It has already had an improper vote, it’s already trying to replace terms that don’t expire until the new Council takes over.  It is an attempt to pack the Planning Commission.  I think it is very unfortunate, this is an extraordinary event to be meeting here on a Saturday to undo a mistake that was done earlier". 

He then went on to suggest that the Council could do something right at this meeting by considering the passage of Resolution 12-14-06 .  He felt it best to not wait until the January meeting as it would give the Council some extra time to "line up" some people to help with decisions that will need to be made at the January meeting regarding several land use applications.  He then asked for it to be added to the agenda.

John Scott said the City had operated under the advice of the City attorney, but because of a slight misunderstanding of staff regarding notice of the first meeting there are only have two issues to discuss. 

President Martin indicated that the resolution would require some discussion and there may be other people interested in being here when it will be discussed, so it would not be addressed at the meeting.  Martin further indicated that public comment would be allowed, but asked that it be kept to a minimum.

Eric Hauptman was the first to be recognized.  He read a statement objecting "to the holding of this meeting as it was not properly called and properly noticed to the public."  (Attachment 1)

Gerald Wasserburg spoke next and read a statement "to formally protest the actions of the Dunes City Council in the proposed action to approve and swear in new members to the Planning Commission."  (Attachment 2)

John Stead said he had talked to the Council some time ago about transparency in government and doing things properly.  Stead said the meeting appears to be a flagrant violation and not in keeping with the intent/purpose of the Oregon public meetings laws.  Stead went on to talk about the "charade" and that the Council 's action was embarrassing to the community.

Peter Howison commented that the current Council 's actions make it easier for the new Council to "look good".

John Scott explained why the meeting needed to be held and why the phone poll was done.  The major reason he cited was to have continuity for the Planning Secretary, Teri Tinker .

Bob Petersdorf then spoke about the fact that there had been no wrongdoing.   Petersdorf said he was embarrassed for the citizens that want to go by the laws and rules and regulations and that State Statutes are voiced, but if you read the statutes that the City has had for 43 years, all that is needed is the written notice on the door of the Community Center and the Post Office in Westlake. 

David Bellemore stated that "legal is not always right”, and that the campaign was over and the people voted for a change in direction.  Bellemore said the people have spoken and what he sees happening is an attempt to thwart that change in direction.  Bellemore said the Council talks about continuity of the Planning Commission, and said the old Council wants continuity of a Planning Commission that will back the old Council 's position.  Bellemore said there is a new Council coming in that want a different emphasis on the ways things are done. He said it would take a lot of courage for the present Council to allow the new Council to make the decision on the Planning Commission.  Bellemore said that this kind of apparent raw political power play just does not set a good precedent. 

There was no further public testimony.

Bob Petersdorf made a motion to reconfirm the vote of the Bills of the Session.  The motion was seconded by John Scott .  Peter originally abstained and then changed his vote to aye; thus, making the vote unanimous.

Judy Martin announced that they were voting for four people for the Planning Commission.  Three positions will take effect immediately, and the fourth position will not take effect until David Bellemore takes his position in January. 

Joanne Hickey then did a roll call vote for the Planning Commission applicants.  The final tally was Burke, Riechel and Shearer with four votes and Beckman with three votes; thus, those with the most votes will fill the vacant three-year terms and Beckman will fill the unexpired one-year term in January. 

Bob Read then spoke about talking to people in the City and the comment was to “Let’s get off of this… I don’t care what their political opinion is, let's just get the most qualified people.  If this is what is going to go on in Dunes City , we are going to go down the tubes".  Read said we need "to get off the polarization" and we need to get along.

Peter Howison said he knew this was going to happen and tried to prevent it from happening.  He stated you can’t just expect it to end this simply.  "We were hoping to end it right after the election and am very disappointed, we are still going to try to do our best.  We can’t just go out in a half-cocked direction and the Safe Clean Water Group is not going to do that".  Howison said the City would have lawsuits over the issue.

John Scott said that the four most qualified people were appointed; three with direct experience and the fourth who has been at every CCI meeting, all the moratorium support committee meetings and who is the only applicant that had attended those meetings.

Judy Martin announced the swearing-in would take place on January 2, 2007 , at City Hall at 11:00 a.m.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:40 a.m.

APPROVED BY:

____________________________                            _______________________________

Judy Martin , Council President                                     Joanne Hickey , City Recorder