By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – The hottest ticket in Yachats’ Monday night was the annual State of the City presentation in the Commons where a standing room only crowd learned about the accomplishments of 2024 and the goals and objectives of 2025.
City manager Bobbi Price kicked things off by announcing one of the major goals of 2025 is “public awareness” and “budget education,” before introducing mayor Craig Berdie who gave a power point presentation about the past year’s accomplishments and plans for this year.
Berdie began by emphasizing the city’s spirt of positive energy and teamwork and complimented the first-year city manager for doing a “fabulous job.”
Water sustainability, which topped the list of accomplishments for 2024, was accomplished through an agreement with Southwest Lincoln County Water PUD, Berdie said, calling the agreement “critically important.”
“We are able to purchase water from them when we need that water,” he said. “It’s slightly more than our cost of production but (the alternative) shutting down our hotels and limiting what citizens can do, it’s well worth it. So we should not have to declare water emergencies except if it’s extremely severe.”
Berdie said the city now has more parking for residents and visitors, notably because of the efforts of the Drift Inn and more striping to indicate street parking spaces, especially along West Second and Third streets.
Berdie also touted the contract to renovate the Little Log Church Museum, something that has been on the city’s to-do list for seven years; landing a contractor to begin work on a new library building; installing long-sought after delineators to improve pedestrian safety along a stretch of U.S. Highway 101; and the city’s hiring of a part-time sheriff’s deputy.
The deputy doesn’t always come on Thursdays and Fridays as initially planned but varies her days, he said. “But it’s been very helpful. And I think that a lot of people like it. It’s not cheap.”
Berdie concluded by praising citizen involvement through council, commission, committee and work groups meetings as well as a steady flow of comments through community surveys on subjects that ranged from city manager evaluations to workforce housing needs.
“And all of our staff positions have been filled,” he said. “First time in a long time.”
Commission updates
Berdie also asked representatives from five commissions or committees to explain biggest accomplishment of 2024 and plans for 2025. Their comments have been edited for brevity to include:
Tom Lauritzen, Finance:
- Worked with the city manager to create new water and wastewater revenue changes for commercial, high-volume users. Aligned capital improvement projects with city’s master plan. “And I think one of the major things we did is we decoupled ourselves from the Oregon State University data base project. We had spent a boat load of money on nothing. And it was finally time to pull the plug.”
- Will integrate the results of the civic master plan into the capital improvement planning process so all the money needed to invest in common buildings and spaces will be planned for and arranged in the right order. Commission was also tasked by city manager last week to fill the role of an audit committee, which the city has never had.
Meg Simans, Parks & Commons:
- “Our greatest accomplishment for 2024, in collaboration with many others, was the opening of two new pocket parks on Ocean View Drive — Sunset Park north and Sunset Park south.”
- “I’d say the main one for us is really to encourage as smooth sailing as possible as we support and collaborate with the city for this civic master plan …”
David Rivinus, Library:
- “ …we were able to turn over to the city of Yachats a complete set of blueprints, including engineering specs, plus building permits and a structure in place to pay for a brand new library building.”
- Looking to fill two openings on the commission and seek new energy, ideas and enthusiasm to help plan path for the future.
Marc Sakamoto, Planning:
- Lots of work accomplished on zoning issues. Meeting with a consulting firm to implement a housing plan for the city.
- “For 2025 we hope to finalize the wetlands inventory. We also will be having our first public meetings to discuss what the options will be for the housing plan…” And continue to provide input for civic campus master plan. And start with a regular e-newsletter beginning in April to keep the community informed.
Bob Bennett, Public Works & Streets:
- “Probably the biggest things that have come about is work on East Second Street for a wastewater line, storm drain management. The other big thing is we are working on the design standards that we would set for any future projects in public works.”
- Working with the finance committee to address a long “laundry list of projects in the capital improvements plan.” Improving that process will help in figuring out the finances. Which will include whether the utility billing system is bringing in the required funds.
2025 goals and objectives
The mayor also introduced the city’s goals and objectives for 2025.
“We set these objectives and they are essentially marching orders for the city staff,” Berdie said. “It is the city council that sets goals and objectives and the city manager and staff and commissions carry them out.”
First on the list of goals was infrastructure, where Berdie talked about achieving water sustainability. In part, he said, this will be accomplished in 2025 by planning and funding a seismically stable water reservoir while simultaneously creating middle-income housing. It involves working with a landowner who has agreed to set aside a possible location for new water tank while also making 35 adjacent lots available to develop workforce housing.
“The people that work here, should be able to live here,” Berdie said to a big round of applause. “I strongly believe in that. That’s a tough lift. Don’t anybody think it’s going to happen in six months, (it’s) probably a multi-year initiative to get that done. It’s a lot of funding …”
Berdie then mentioned street paving. “We hear you. We will be fixing some streets in the spring…” and publicize those plans to let people know which streets will be paved and when.
Other city goals for 2025 include:
- Livability: Provide safe access to and use of city infrastructure, parks and trails;
- Housing supply: Identify ways to expand the housing supply and diversify housing options;
- Environmental stewardship: Be environmentally aware when making decisions in all areas of city business;
- Fiscal sustainability: Effectively manage and plan for the city’s financial needs;
- Public awareness: Deliver efficient, effective, transparent municipal services;
- Alignment: Synchronize and update city policy and administrative rules.
- Housing Supply: 2025 actions include amend zoning regulations to increase housing density, focus on creating options suitable for full-time residents, particularly those who work within the community; explore strategies for repurposing existing housing stock, including vacant or underutilized properties to create full-time residences and multi-family housing options; perform a capacity analysis of the existing water system to determine its maximum water delivery capability.
“Any bright ideas to figure out how we increase housing and keep it for permanent residents are appreciated … so as not to just increase the number of second homes which already account for 60 percent of the homes in Yachats,” Berdie said. “So how do we incentivize private landowners to build housing for people that live here full time? And that’s a tough question.”
Budget education
The city manager brought the 90-minute presentation to a close by walking the audience through a series of charts illustrating how the city’s budget works, where money comes from and how it is spent.
One of the common misunderstandings expressed by residents is the belief that all incoming funds goes into one pot where money is then doled out to pay for all projects, Price said. Comments are often posed to city officials such as “Why are you buying a trolley when you could use that money for street repairs?”
The answer is that different forms of revenue goes into different “buckets,” as Price used for an analogy. And each of those buckets has very specific ways it can be spent under state law.
The city’s budget is “full of state regulations at many levels,” Price said. And that budget is operated off separate funds with each having required and dedicated controls and how those funds can and cannot be spent.
The bulk of the city’s funding – both for general operating funds and visitor amenities — comes from transient lodging taxes paid by people who rent motel rooms or vacation homes, Price said. The city’s portion of a typical property tax bill is likely less than $100 a year for most residents, Price said, with the bulk of those taxes going to the school and fire districts and Lincoln County.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
To view the complete State of the City presentation go to the city’s website here
Very informative article! I appreciate the optimistic approach to this presentation. Yachats has made a lot of progress.
Very informative. So glad I attended. Also enjoyed speaking with representatives of local non-profits.