Council OKs revenue board
Ontario committee now officially in existence
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 10:37 AM PDT
Ontario — The Ontario City Council voted the Ontario Revenue Committee into official existence Monday night.
The committee — now scheduled to meet every two weeks until June 1 when it will deliver recommendations to the City Council — started off slow at its first meeting after Ontario Mayor Joe Dominick told members the board did not officially exist until the group was formed at Monday’s City Council session.
All council members in attendance voted for the committee’s creation with the exception of City Councilman Lewie Allen, who has previously expressed his distaste for a separate committee dedicated solely to uncovering new revenue for the city.
“I think we have too many committees,” Allen said in early March. “I think if people in the community have ideas they want to bring up to the council, they should just come to us.”
The 16 members include: Tommy Frazier; Norm Crume; Ron Johnson; Doug Dean; Mark Saito; Robert Quinn; Wilson Creek; Gary Fugate; Audrey Jacobs; Larry Heidbrink; Jim Griffith; John Breidenbach; Mike Allen; Bruce Hunter; Gary Halcom and Ralph Poole, who were all appointed to the committee immediately following its creation.
The revenue committee is slated to meet again at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the council chambers at City Hall.
Dominick said to those at the meeting that he felt it was important to encourage attendance.
“Don’t hesitate to invite friends, neighbors, the guy across the street walking the dog,” he said.
One point of discussion at the revenue committee’s last meeting was how many community members would be allowed to serve. The resolution approved by the City Council listed the number at a maximum of 20 members and a minimum of seven. One of the objectives for the committee’s next meeting will be to appoint a chairperson, vice chairperson and secretary from among their ranks.
As part of the council’s Monday resolution, Ontario City Councilman John Gaskill was officially appointed to be the liaison for the committee, with Ontario Finance Director Rachel Hopper serving as the city staff representative.
In other City Council action elected leaders approved a $416 monthly pay increase for Ontario Facilities Manager Yorick de Tassigny.
Dominick, as he did Thursday during the City Council’s work session, brought the fact up the pay boost for de Tassigny could cause other city employees to ask for the same treatment.
However, councilman Dan Cummings said the increase was necessary because of a 2002 resolution that required the city to pay employees 89 percent to 96 percent of the average high of comparable salaries.
“The law says we have to,” he said. “It’s one thing not to fix something you don’t know about, but when you do know about it, you should fix it.”
The approved increase brought de Tassigny’s salary to $3,925 a month, which is 80 percent of comparable high salaries for cities Ontario’s size.
City Attorney Larry Sullivan said he thought the 80 percent increase spelled out by the resolution was appropriate. He said he felt so because the resolution stated the council would begin the process of bringing the salary to the approved range, rather than immediately getting to the 89 percent to 96 percent range.
The council also approved the Ontario Public Works Department’s $60,000 request for more funds in order to pay for wastewater system improvements.
The request for extra funding is for work on the Malheur Lift Station. The city was set to abandon the Malheur Lift Station but tasked La Grande engineering firm Anderson Perry and Associates to investigate whether the station could be salvaged.
“I was doing a review of the budget and found that we are $60,000 short to pay Anderson Perry for their part of the work,” Ontario Public Works operations assistant Bret Turner said.
The $60,000 would be loaned from the public works fund budget to the capital projects fund. However, the loan will be repaid with revenue from public works. Turner said the project was moving along as planned.
“It’s near completion now.” he said.
The City Council passed the motion, but Dominick expressed concern about the few times Turner has used the public works fund, saying it’s only the second or third time Turner had utilized the fund.
“You’ve been frugal,” he said. “I want to be sure you’re comfortable with where it’s at.”
Turner said he was comfortable with the fund’s total.
The Ontario City Council will reconvene at 7 p.m. April 21.
