 Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes Astoria Transit Center Meeting Room 900 Marine Drive, Astoria March 21, 2006 9:30 a.m. |
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| CALL TO ORDER: | ||
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| Chair Jack Harris called the meeting to order 9:30 a.m. | ||
| PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG | ||
| ROLL CALL: | ||
| Chair Harris Vice-Chair Gannaway Commissioner Fenske - excused Commissioner Goforth Commissioner Shannon Commissioner Kee Commissioner Mendenhall |
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| PRESENTATIONS: | ||
| a. | Presentation by Jan Mitchell
Was unable to be here. |
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| b. | Presentation for Biofuel project by
Astoria High School Seniors Two students from Astoria High School presented a business plan to the Port of Astoria regarding the manufacture of biofuels this summer. Ms. Howe did attend a meeting at the Port of Astoria with the two students and Judi Lampi from the National Park Service. The plan right is to have a test run using the three buses we will have operating into Fort Clatsop. We are proposing to use 5% biofuel and 95% diesel blend. The cost will be $2.00 a gallon, which is only a few cents more that we pay for our diesel fuel at this time, so cost is minimal. Ms. Howe asked the Astoria students Sid Lane and John Dunne to attend this board meeting and answer any questions that the board may have on this subject. |
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| The students have talked to local restaurants that will be donating the oil to make the biodiesel. The students are looking for money donations and also equipment. Ms. Howe talked about how much we would be using. Ms Howe said that the production plan as presented will be at MERTS. SETD is still working on how to get buses fueled. She said that she was recommending the board consider helping with a small amount of funding to get the program started. Ms. Lampi wanted to add that the park is very excited about having the biodiesel blend in the park. Ft. Clatsop wants this to spread through the community. | ||
| The Board discussed what kind of tanks would available for storage. Commissioner Shannon gave a little information on the tanks and the insurance that will be needed when and if we get a tank. | ||
| Motion by Commissioner Kee, Seconded by Commissioner Goforth to send a letter of support for the biodiesel project. Chair Harris, Vice-Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Kee, Goforth, Mendenhall and Shannon all voted yes. Motion passed. | ||
| EMPLOYEE COMMITTEE REPORT: | ||
| No report for March. Waiting for the update on next year's benefit package from Special Districts. | ||
| CHANGES TO AGENDA: | ||
| a. | Item from George Fraser added to old business: Parking | |
| b. | Under new business; District receives an award | |
| c. | Under new business: Financial restructuring | |
| APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 21, 2006 MINUTES: | ||
| Motion by Commissioner Goforth, Seconded by Vice-Chair Gannaway to accept the February 21, 2006 minutes as submitted. Chair Harris, Vice-Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Goforth, Kee, Mendenhall and Shannon voted yes. Motion passed. | ||
| REPORT FROM CHAIR AND COMMISSIONERS | ||
| Commissioner Shannon: None | ||
| Commissioner Fenske: Excused | ||
| Commissioner Kee: | ||
| Has been meeting every other week on the Chinese Park. Mayor Willis Van Dusen has made this project top priority now. There is a proposal from an architect that has worked on the Portland Chinese Park. The Committee has included the middle school in on this project and they will be working on tile for the project. | ||
| Commissioner Gannaway: | ||
| Mr. Gannaway attended the CEDC transportation committee meeting last Friday. CEDC's future is up for discussion. Most of the discussion at the meeting was on ODOT. The Home Depot project is finally settled and will be getting started. | ||
| Commissioner Goforth: | ||
| NW Ride will be meeting on Friday. Rae has been working with the Fin Fest tour group. This will be happening July 23rd - 30th, 2006 they are looking at about 4,000 people. The school buses will be doing the transportation. Rae will be taking some schedules with her to the next meeting. | ||
| Commissioner Harris: None | ||
| Commissioner Mendenhall: None | ||
| APPROVE FINANCIAL REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 2006 | ||
| Motion by Commissioner Gannaway, Seconded by Commissioner Mendenhall to approve the February 2006 financials as submitted. Chair Harris, Vice-Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Mendenhall, Kee, Goforth and Shannon all voted yes. Motion passed. | ||
| CORRESPONDENCE: | ||
| Letter of appreciation from a gentleman that lived in Seattle, WA that takes care of his father who is a resident at Clatsop Retirement village; the man wanted to thank DAR for going out of their way on such short notice to provide transportation for his elderly father. | ||
| PUBLIC HEARINGS: None | ||
| ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS: None | ||
| OLD BUSINESS: None | ||
| NEW BUSINESS: | ||
| a. | George Fraser - Parking agreement | |
| Ms. Howe included in the packet a copy of the original agreement with George Fraser. Ms. Howe explained how the agreement works. | ||
| b. | Authorization for bid: Lewis and Clark Park and Ride | |
| Ms. Howe is trying to take care of all the business around this project. Getting a jump on the different hoops that we need to go thru. Ms. Howe is asking the board to approve the authorization for the bid. | ||
| Motion by Commissioner Shannon, Seconded by Commissioner Mendenhall that the Board authorized staff to move forward with getting the bid out, subject to one of the board members reviewing the bid. If one member asks for it to come back it must come back to the board. Chair Harris, Vice-Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Mendenhall, Kee, Goforth and Shannon voted yes. Motion passed. | ||
| c. | Designating Executive Director as Budget Officer | |
| Motion by Commissioner Mendenhall, Seconded by Commissioner Kee to designate the Executive Director as Budget Officer. Chair Harris, Vice-Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Mendenhall, Kee, Goforth and Shannon voted yes. All passed | ||
| d. | Re-appointing Budget Committee Members | |
| Chair Harris would like a member of the employee committee to sit in on the budget meeting. | ||
| Motion by Commissioner Kee, Seconded by Commissioner Goforth to reappoint Julene West-DeSalazar and Judy Richmond to the budget committee. Chair Harris, Vice-Chair Gannaway, Commissioners Goforth, Kee, Mendenhall and Shannon voted yes. Motion Passed. | ||
| e. | Discussion on goal setting 2006-07 | |
| Ms. Howe is asking for direction on whether the board wishes to have a goal setting meeting before we begin our budget process. Ms. Howe has enclosed a copy of the budget calendar for assistance. Ms .Howe is working on the connection from here to Portland. Ms. Howe is looking at applying for grants to help with this. Ms. Howe talked about the goal setting from last year. Chair Harris would like to see us get together before and meet even for a half a day to discuss what we are looking at and go over different subjects and projects. Commissioner Goforth, Harris and the rest of the board agree that a short discussion before the goal setting session is a good idea. This meeting should take place before May 16th and the budget process meeting. This work session will be held on April 11th along with the regular meeting. There will be a long term vision meeting scheduled in September, which the board agreed will have a need of a facilitator. | ||
| f. | Award | |
| The Denver Service Center National Park Service has won an award on the Fort Clatsop Transportation Project for Outstanding Sustainable Planning or Design Project. Fort Clatsop wants to do a joint press release in the next couple of weeks. | ||
| g. | Budget | |
| Ms. Howe stated that in anticipating next year's financial needs and looking at the end of this year, there is a potential cash flow issue that needs to be addressed. Ms. Howe explained some of the reasons for the potential shortfall. She then outlined a plan of refinancing and borrowing that would take care of the problem. | ||
| Commissioner Shannon stated that he would like to call on an expert in financial matters to help with this situation. Commissioner Gannaway stated that Neal Winters with Special Districts Association would be a good person to bring in to help as he has familiarity with the District. Ms. Howe responded that she would contact Neal Winters to come and help out with this problem. The board agreed and asked that Commissioner Gannaway and Commissioner Shannon work with Mr. Winters and staff to come up with options for the board to consider. | ||
| OTHER ITEMS | ||
| a. | Staff Reports | |
| Included for review. | ||
| There being no further business, Chair Harris adjourned the meeting at: 11:48am | ||
| Next meeting will be scheduled for April 11th 2006, directly after this meeting there will be a work session held. | ||
| Respectfully submitted, | ||
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| Secretary/Treasurer | ||
| The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 21, 2006 | ||
| THIS MEETING IS ACCESSIBLE TO THE DISABLED, AN INTERPRETER FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED MAY BE REQUESTED UNDER THE TERMS OF OS 192.630 BY CONTACTING SUNSET EMPIRE TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT AT 861-7433 | ||
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