By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – Although concerned about assuming the cost of operating a tourist trolley for five months a year, the Yachats city council voted unanimously Thursday to continue pursuing a $100,000 grant to help purchase a vehicle.
The Yachats Chamber of Commerce is pushing the idea of a trolley to ferry tourists and locals from motels in the north to Cape Perpetua in the south. The chamber is also seeking a $100,000 grant from the state agency that oversees tourist promotion and wants the city to seek a second grant to help buy the $230,000 vehicle.
After some discussion about financing unknowns, the council approved applying for the grant to help purchase the tourist-style trolley.
“This is a little bit awkward because we have an application due prior to our next meeting and I don’t think the application is complete,” Berdie said. “But it does have to be submitted. I’m always reluctant to vote on things that are not complete.”
Chamber executive director Bobbi Price helped answer questions the council had prior to the vote.
Both the city and chamber submitted the necessary letters of intent to apply for the grant by Aug. 18. Notices arrived this week from Travel Oregon that they are approved to continue the process, which means submitting applications by Sept. 15.
Oregon Coast Community College has helped the chamber and city fine-tune the trolley budget and operating costs. They will also receive a detailed line item budget from Pacific City showing its cost to operate the same type of fee-free trolley.
Price said Pacific City is the most comparable example of what Yachats would do.
“So that will help us get a little more insight and knowledge to the true cost, both operational and hard costs,” Price said.
The Pacific City trolley runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Fridays through Sundays from 10 a.m. 9 p.m. Its yearly operational cost is $50,000. The city is sending Yachats a breakdown of costs that details items such as fuel, insurance, maintenance and a driver.
If the city and chamber were both to receive individual $100,000 grants to purchase the trolley, it would leave an estimated $30,000 still needed to cover the $230,000 price for the gas-electric hybrid vehicle. Price noted that other funding sources are being sought.
But annual operating costs would fall to the city.
“We can approve in concept the grant application for the purchase of the trolley given reasonable operational costs,” Berdie said. “And delegate the specifics of the grant application to the city manager. I’m comfortable with doing that.”
Whether Lincoln County would chip in to help fund operating costs has yet to be decided. Price has been in discussion with county officials and they have said they want to see operating costs before considering adding it to their transportation system.
“And, having a pilot period so they can see the proof of ridership, that it’s a viable addition to their transportation services,” Price said.
The mayor recommended approving the application pending a review by the city manager.
“And also, the city manager has to look at the operational costs and see where we’re at on that,” Berdie said. “It will not hit until next year’s budget. But we don’t want to approve something that’s going to cost us $500,000 and run for three months of the year.”
Finance committee member Tom Lauritzen asked how long between the time, if awarded the grant, would the city have until it needs to spend the money?
“Because that’s the window you have to solve the operational problem,” Lauritzen said. “So how long would the grant live before it has to be finalized?”
It has to be put in place by April 2025, Price answered.
“Okay, that gives you plenty of time to tighten down the operations cost and look at the impact of visitor amenities funds before you have to write the check for the bus.”
Council voted unanimously to apply for the grant. Councilor Greg Scott was not present.
“I think it will be a wonderful amenity for our city and I’m hoping that it will reduce some of the congestion, and I’m looking forward to taking it one way and hiking back,” Berdie said to laughter.
Security gate
The council also gave the Public Works department a quick go-ahead to install a security gate to block public access to the inner-workings of the wastewater treatment plant. The gate will be beyond the brush dumpster at the end of West Sixth Street so the public can access the dumpster but not the treatment plant.
Not having a security gate is an oversight recently pointed out by the mayor.
“There is a concern because of sensitive controls inside the plant,” Neal Morphis told the council. Morphis is the city clerk who also handles infrastructure. “We don’t want anybody just wandering in there and pushing buttons.”
Interim city manager Rick Sant emphasized the risk posed by not having a security gate.
“If somebody got in there and messed with that this city would be in a world of hurt,” he said.
Morphis contacted five fence and gate companies and received two estimates. One was for “$13,000 and change” and the other came to just under $10,000, he said. Neither has done a site visit yet, which the city will require before a contract is approved.
“And there are other bells and whistles … that we’d like to see down the road but this is extremely urgent,” Sant said. “I almost did it without getting council approval. We just got to get that done.”
In other business
- Sant told the council he has formed an advisory committee to review any long-term water supply agreement with Southwest Lincoln County Water PUD. The city has already signed an interim agreement to provide 100 gallons of water a minute should the city need it in the late summer or for emergencies. Now Yachats wants to negotiate a longer-term contract. The committee consists of Lauritzen, councilor Barry Collins – to provide a legal perspective, councilor Greg Scott – who is familiar with rates and municipal water dealings, water treatment plant manager Rick McClung, and retired civil engineer Jolene Gossman-Campbell who has worked with water systems in larger cities.
- The council also conducted a two-hour work session in which it heard presentations by homeless advocates and service providers as well discussed how to go about writing an ordinance detailing where people in town can and cannot camp.
- The mayor reminded the community that Dahl Disposal Service has been accepting food waste added to yard debris bins since Sept. 1. “That includes pizza boxes and greasy napkins,” Berdie said.
Really? Before I make any major purchase involving operating costs, I ensure I’ll have enough money to cover everything. How is this trolley boondoggle any different? How many citizens want to shoulder yet another money-grab for tourist dollars project?
Reasonable financial planning dictates much better preparation – hopes of money falling from the sky does not count!
Just to be clear any funds to cover operations would come from the tourists not citizens. There are protected funds from our city lodging tax dollars. This fund is there because of a state law that every municipality in Oregon follows. Those funds dictate by law a certain percentage of lodging tax collected has to be used towards tourism promotion. The fund in Yachats is robust.
This is a want, not a need. It seems like a big waste of money to me.
Tell me that this trolley holds more than 14 people. Have the leaders in Yachats fallen off their trolley this time?
#1. I think it’s a huge amount of money to purchase something like a trolley without more research into what the outcome would be if it turns out there weren’t enough people who want to use it. I mean like a backup plan. Would it sit unused for months – years? What works well in Seaside might not work well here. Personally, I don’t think Yachats has the personality for a trolly like that.
#2. Are we talking about using the visitor’s amenities fund here? Personally, I think that the money would be better spent having a public restroom on the south side of the bridge – I believe that the infrastructure is already in place.
I definitely agree with public toilets being a need, for sure.
How many cool small towns have been irretrievably spoiled by over-promotion by the chambers of commerce around the world? These people don’t know what restraint means. When Mendocino’s chamber sponsored a survey awhile back, the result was unanimously “back off don’t change a thing” – they ignored it. The cowardly council, afraid to say “wait a minute” caves. Do people here want to live in a theme park? Business owners may love this idea; normal citizens don’t.