City Council

City Council Workshop Minutes ___________________________________________________________________________________________ THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2024 – 4:30 PM COLUMBIA CITY, CITY HALL – 1840 SECOND STREET CITY OF COLUMBIA CITY, COLUMBIA COUNTY, OREGON AGENDA ITEM 1 CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL: CONVENED: Mayor Katrina Claridge called the Workshop Meeting to order at 4:30 pm. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Katrina Claridge Council President Rob Forman Councilor Gordon Thistle Councilor Jeff Reinan Councilor Connie Quick COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None ALSO PRESENT: Kim Karber, City Administrator/Recorder Leahnette Rivers, Assistant City Administrator ATTORNEY PRESENT: None AGENDA ITEM 2 NEW BUSINESS: 2.1 City attorney, Stephen Petersen, employee contract discussion: Stephen was not able to make it to the meeting, the council still discussed the employee contract. 2.2 Goal Setting and Objectives: The council reviewed and updated the policy, goals, and objectives for budget year 2024-25. Next year we could look at having someone come in and facilitate a meeting to discuss goal setting. 2.3 School District Administration Fee: Leahnette discussed the current 1% administration fee we retain for collecting and distributing the school excise tax received from certain building permits. It does not cover the cost of staff time used for this process. Legislation has passed allowing retention of up to a 4% administration fee. 2.4 Mailboxes: Kim went over the issue residents on the river side of the highway have with USPS not allowing a lot of them to put mailboxes outside of their houses. The residents are then forced to pay for a PO box and still have the issue of not being able to receive packages at their house from businesses that do not deliver to PO boxes. Kim is working with Crystal at the Saint Helens post office to see what can be done. It is not going to be a quick process, but it is being worked on. 2.5 ARPA: We discussed where we are with ARPA funds. 2 Council Workshop Meeting April 4, 2024 AGENDA ITEM 3 OTHER BUSINESS: 3.1 Columbia County Business Community Connection Taskforce Team: Columbia Economic Team has put this taskforce together to go out and do interviews with businesses out in the community. 3.2 Recreational Immunity: There has been a temporary bill passed to restore recreational immunity. There are several bills being proposed that would put a permanent fix into place. 3.3 City/County Dinner: Kim reminded everyone that Vernonia is hosting the city/county dinner on April 30th and to let her know if they would be able attend so she can R.S.V.P. 3.4 Line items for donations/contributions: Rob discussed some different options for managing the donation requests the City receives. 3.5 Council and Mayor pay: Katrina was curious about pay for the mayor and council, even if it is a small amount since they are spending time ‘working’ on City business. Leahnette suggested the League of Oregon Cities would probably have information on what other cities do regarding that. AGENDA ITEM 4 ADJOURNMENT: 4.1 There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting adjourned at 6:00 pm.