Ontario council questions proposed annexation
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Saturday, July 19, 2008 10:19 PM PDT
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| The Ontario City Council will consider a proposed contract agreement with the firefighters’ union at Monday’s regular meeting. |
Ontario — The Ontario City Council members encountered a hurdle regarding an annexation listed on their agenda at their work session Thursday.
Ontario Planning and Zoning Administrator Evan MacKenzie approached the council, requesting a parcel of land situated on Thomas Circle near Northwest Seventh Avenue, west of 19th Street in Ontario, be annexed into the city, on behalf of Kathryn Alvarado, who wished to buy the property. MacKenzie said residents in the area had expressed opposition to the creation of a duplex, believing it would decrease their property values. These residents, he said, made their opinions known at the Ontario Planning Commission meeting Monday.
“I did tell the people that were still there at the end of the meeting that the planning committee was issuing a recommendation,” he said.
MacKenzie informed council members that those residents may attend the council meeting on Monday, though he did not know what they would say.
However, Councilman Dan Cummings asked MacKenzie if he had spoken with the Ontario Rural Fire District board about removing this area from its jurisdiction. MacKenzie said he had not, and Ontario Fire & Rescue Chief Terry Mairs, who serves on the rural fire board, said he did not believe it would be an issue.
“I never have received a request to have something to move out,” he said.
Cummings said the issue could be “a huge deal” because previous annexations, where the proper channels to withdraw a property from a certain district had not been taken, led to property owners still paying taxes to the previous jurisdiction. He said in some cases property owners, where their properties were not removed from the county road district, had been paying taxes to both the county and the city for a year before the matter was straightened out.
Cummings said he believed the whole area should be annexed into the city and not done piece by piece.
“Somehow the city processed the subdivision but didn’t require annexation at the same time,” MacKenzie said Friday. “It was supposed to be annexed in 1998. Why it wasn’t, and why it hasn’t been since, I don’t know.”
MacKenzie said he would look into past city documents and attempt to discover the reason for this decision, stating if he could not find any documentation on the subject, he may elect to pull the annexation from Monday’s city council agenda.
“If I don’t know anything by Monday,” he said. “That may be one reason to pull it.”
Council members also reviewed a proposed contract between the city and the International Association of Firefighters. This contract will increase the base wage of the eight Ontario firefighters covered under the contract by 2.5 percent in 2008, and 4 percent for each of the next two years. Firefighters will also receive an $80 a month pay increase if they were on the job for 10 to 15 years, and a $125 a month increase if they have been employed with the city for between 15 years and one month and 20 years, and a $175 a month increase if they were employed for more than 20 years and one month. Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee, who participated in the negotiations as acting city manager, said the last contract contained no longevity benefits and that these benefits would be effective after the contract was ratified.
Cummings asked about a portion of the document that referred to a lieutenant firefighter.
“It’s been in there since the last contract,” Kee said. “The chief wanted to leave it in there. He plans to fill that position.”
Mairs said the position had been approved in the budget. This position would receive a 6 percent pay increase over the standard firefighter wage for a similar number of years with the department.
Mayor Joe Dominick requested documentation of how the contract would affect the city’s budget. Kee said he would have that documentation ready for Monday’s council meeting.
The council was also updated on the Pheasants Forever proposed hunting area. At their last meeting, council members opted to table the request for a proposed hunting area situated adjacent to the wastewater treatment plant, bordering Malheur and Foothill Drive, because of Pheasants Forever’s lack of insurance at the time of the meeting. This could have been problematic in case of a hunting accident, which might leave the city liable since it would be the only entity with insurance, according to City Attorney Larry Sullivan. However, during the work session, the agenda contained a $1 million liability insurance proposal for the Malheur County chapter of Pheasants Forever. This coverage will cost Pheasants Forever $800 per year.
Also on Monday’s council agenda:
• The Ontario City Council will have the final reading of the compensation advisory committee ordinance. This ordinance will allow a union-represented employee and a non-union represented employee to serve on the committee.
• The council will also hold the final reading of the System Development Charges Ordinance.
• The council is also slated to vote on whether or not to annex property near Northwest Eighth Avenue and Verde Drive as a single-family residential area on behalf of Ralph E. Poole and Ken and Noreen Poole.
