By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – The Yachats city council covered a potpourri of topics in its first meeting of 2024, which as it transitions to one session a month lasted nearly 3½ hours Wednesday.
Council checked on the progress of projects, voted to pursue several grants, filled vacant seats on the planning commission, moved to ban fireworks, received budget and public works updates, and delayed making a decision on how it will handle a restaurant in arrears of its food and beverage tax.
But with this week’s ice storm and subsequent power and internet outages, risky travel, closed restaurants and grocery stores and long lines at sometimes empty gas stations preparing for future emergencies was top of mind.
Councilor Catherine Whitten-Carey thanked public works employees for their hard work in adverse weather conditions during the power outage. City manager Bobbi Price echoed that during her report to council.
“It was a good time to really identify our weaknesses and our strengths,” Price said. “And really all work together as a team. Nothing builds team like going through a hardship and learning experience together.”
Staff spent time during the outage discussing how city hall can be brought up to speed to operate as an emergency operating center, store fuel, work with the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District and create some agreements with businesses such as C&K Market so they do not lose power, and with local motels to house stranded workers.
“There were a lot of hours put in by our public works,” Price said. “They worked really hard to ensure that we didn’t have any sewage overflows, water was running and generators were full.”
Staff also went through the city’s emergency operations plan to identify everyone’s roles and will continue the conversation with the emergency preparedness committee to make sure it has the equipment it needs such as radios and satellite phones that can operate independently from the grid.
“It really shows that we need to make sure that emergency preparedness is always top of the list not bottom of the list,” Price said.
Price said the city also should also replace the Commons’ reader board with an electronic board that can update residents and travelers in real time to emergencies such as closed roads and other hazards. The current board is also on a steep and slippery slope that poses a danger to anyone who has to update its message.
Public Works report
Before wastewater treatment plant supervisor Dave Buckwald gave his report to council, Mayor Craig Berdie praised the efforts of the public works’ crew.
“I just can’t over emphasize that my faucets ran and my toilets flushed during this whole emergency,” Berdie said. “That is not coincidental. That happens because we have a great crew that’s out there turning the generators on and making sure things are running.”
Buckwald agreed saying “you have quite a crew working for the city” and they became “fuel transfer specialists over the weekend.”
There was a main generator failure at the wastewater treatment plant Dec. 19. Within 16 hours a portable generator was rented and in place. The cost of the rental is about $10,000 a month. Having a standby is required by the state.
“I could not imagine what that would have been like had that happened this weekend in the storm,” Buckwald said.
The city decided to purchase a large portable generator for the wastewater plant until it replaces the failed one. Once there is a replacement, the city will have that portable generator for emergencies.
The wastewater plant has been operating for 14 years. Berdie said its expected lifespan is 20 to 25 years before asking if the city and public works was looking ahead far enough and aggressively enough to account for failing systems and parts.
“We are, we are being more aggressive,” Buckwald said. “Corrosion is our biggest enemy. And you’ll see that in our next fiscal year for capital projects too. The framework of the plant is very stable, we have a long time on that. It’s just everything exposed to the elements that’s made out of metal, and electronics. That’s what we’re replacing. And we’ve already been doing that the last four years.”
Beach Street tax appeal
Food establishments in Yachats collect a 5 percent tax from its customers for all prepared foods and beverages on behalf of the city. The money is forwarded to the city in self-reported quarterly payments. All of the money goes toward paying off the loan on the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
Beach Street Kitchen, which has three owners, failed to make its last nine payments – and the city has yet to determine what is owed for 2023. But from October 2021 to December 2022, it did not pay $5,100 in taxes. With added penalties the restaurant now owes $28,772 for 2022 alone.
It is one of four Yachats establishments with past due food and beverage taxes.
Brian Hobert, one of the owners, appeared before council to request they be forgiven the penalties, seek a payment plan for the unpaid taxes and to explain why the taxes were not paid.
“A little over two years ago my business partners and I agreed that they would take a step back and I would gradually absorb their duties,” said Hobert, who lives in Newport.
More people were hired and Hobert said he took over the accounting but did not fully understand how to set aside money for the food and beverage tax. At the same time the business changed its email address and so he missed seeing several delinquency notices.
“Our (food and beverage) taxes are supposed to be included in our menu pricing and then separated manually later,” Hobert said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this until much later and all of our sales were barely high enough to cover the labor costs.”
Before that, Hobert said he had cut his own wages to “barely more than tips” to help cover costs for food and labor. In December 2022 he realized Beach Street was behind in taxes so planned to increase revenue by completing a remodel so they could open inside dining. Prior to that they had been doing take-out only, which Hobert said helped them “limp through the pandemic, but was not sustainable.”
The demand brought by inside seating meant hiring more employees and that additional cost was compounded by rising food costs and forced closures because of illnesses, Hobert said. He estimates Beach Street lost $18,000 in sales when it had to close for more than three weeks in 2023.
“In 2024 we are taking steps to get back on the right track,” he said. “We value being here and wish to do the right thing.”
The council was mostly sympathetic, but still wants to explore a way to set up some sort of payment plan.
“I guess my initial thought is first, Mr. Hobert, thank you for sort of stepping up and recognizing it,” Berdie said. “I think that that’s important and valuable and shows great character. So I appreciate that.”
But the mayor followed by saying he is concerned that dismissing the penalties would set a precedent. Beach Street is “substantial and important to the city,” Berdie said, and he doesn’t want to lose any businesses.
“We have other large businesses, who once a precedent is established, could leverage that position,” Berdie said. “And these revenues are important for our budget. They enable us to operate, they enable us to grow and in many ways they pay for our sewer. And without that we’re in deep trouble.”
Councilors kicked around ideas on how the Beach Street could be given breathing room to catch up on the payments once its back on its feet. But Berdie said he was not willing to “simply wave the penalties.”
In the end, council decided to give city staff more time to look into what Beach Street owes for 2023, and to consult further with Hobert on what arrangements might work for the restaurant and the city before it made any decision.
Planning commission
The council chose three people to fill the vacant seats on the seven-member planning commission left by the resignations of John Theilacker, Jacqueline Danos and Lance Bloch in November and December. They are:
- Mary Aebi, who has lived in Yachats for 13 years. She has a background in nursing and teaching. She will fill a seat that expires in 2026.
- Jolene Gosselin, who moved to Yachats in 2021. She has background in engineering that includes work as a city engineer. She will fill a seat that expires in 2025.
- Jim Paul, a retired trial attorney who has experience with land-use planning, teaching and leading an homeowner’s association. He will fill a seat that expires in 2026.
Grant applications
- The council voted to apply for a U.S. Department of Transportation grant to help fund a tourist-style trolley. Amounts range from $1 million to $25 million. The Yachats Area Chamber of Commerce received a $100,000 grant from Travel Oregon for the trolley but the organization denied the city’s $100,000 request.
- The council also voted to apply to the Oregon Department of Energy for a $1 million construction grant after hearing a presentation by the work group that has been planning on behalf of the city how to construct a renewable-energy-charged civic campus that encompasses city hall, library, Commons, wastewater treatment facility, pavilion and park. The agency awarded Yachats a $100,000 grant to help plan and study incorporating renewable energy and emergency preparedness to help reduce risks to the city. Applying for the follow-up construction grant is the natural next step – but also a signal the council supports the work group’s plans.
- The council agreed to apply to Oregon State Parks for a grant to cover 80 percent of the estimated $1 million to $1.2 million cost of a proposed boardwalk above the Yachats River between U.S. Highway 101 and Beach Street.
City budget report
There was a bit of variance in the budget because of higher-than-expected costs in repairs to the Commons and setbacks with the library’s planned renovation, finance committee member Tom Lauritzen told the council.
Plans to temporarily house the library in one room in the Commons while renovations were done on the library were put on hold after an engineering report showed soil composition was problematic for any expansion. Repairs to the Commons happened faster than expected thanks to city staff aggressively getting them done, Lauritzen said.
“So as a result, we are spending more money in the library and the Commons than we had expected at this time,” he said. “But overall, in materials and services in the general fund we are not over budget. The extra spending has been offset by other under-spending so we are in good shape …”
“Everything is thumbs up,” Lauritzen said.
In other business
- The council voted to follow the county and other municipalities to ban the use of fireworks, citing request by the Lincoln County Sheriff to keep a uniform front in order to make enforcement straightforward. Yachats already has an ban on fireworks sale.
- Work on installing delineators along U.S. Highway 101 from near Ocean View Drive to the Yachats River bridge to ensure safer passage for pedestrians is expected to begin in May.
- A request for bids to work on the Little Log Church Museum will go out in February and work will begin as soon as weather permits.
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com