REGULAR COUNCIL

REGULAR COUNCIL MINUTES Fire Hall - 111 D Street August 21st, 2024 at 7:00 PM FLAG SALUTE – PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE CALL TO ORDER - ROLL CALL The regular meeting of the Cosmopolis City Council was called to order by Mayor Springer. Roll call by Clerk Barr. PRESENT: Councilmember Kim Skinner, Councilmember Jeremy Winn, Councilmember Justin Spargo, Councilmember Mark Collett, Councilmember Sue Darcy. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Motion made by Councilmember Skinner to approve the agenda, Seconded by Councilmember Collett. Question regarding building inspector report not included in the agenda raised by Councilmember Darcy on behalf of a citizen. Answer: No report was submitted by the building inspector. Motion passed unanimously. PUBLIC COMMENTS Public Comment Period Open – No comments. CONSENT AGENDA Motion made by Councilmember Skinner to approve the consent agenda, Seconded by Councilmember Spargo. No discussion. Motion passed unanimously. COMMITTEE REPORTS Auditing – Councilmember Skinner Reviewed Vouchers, appeared fine. Councilmember Darcy reviewed the electric bill and meters perhaps not used. Councilmember Skinner stated we have 13 accounts with a minimum charge. One at the Museum that appears to not be servicing anything. Have P.U.D audit or some of the council members could do. Tom Distler commented that there is an underground conduit that powers the restroom at lower Mill Creek Park. The Gazebo is powered by the tennis courts. Finance – No report.  Parks – Councilmember Winn stated he and Councilmember Spargo were not able to get a meeting together. Discussing a meeting time. Public Safety – Councilmember Collett stated the last meeting was in July and Councilmember Skinner agreed. More discussion to be brought up in Chief Layman’s report. Public Works – Councilmember Spargo said no meeting and no report. Councilmember Darcy stated no report. CITY OFFICIAL REPORTS Police Chief – Reimbursement grant and thanks to Kasey Grove- Police Clerk for putting together the information. Multi-agency effort to search for a lost mushroom picker who had been lost for several hours with a successful outcome. Great to see these agencies working together. Two burglaries in the community. Officer Bailey has spent 30 hours resolving the commercial incident. We have two people located and confessions obtained. Also, burglary at Highland Golf Course is being investigated. We will be doing our best to hold people accountable. Councilmember Skinner stated Chief is back full time and has made differences to help resolve incidences. Ann is raising money for Reserve Association; this is not a scam so please donate if you can. Fire Chief – Mentioned National Night Out and that it was a fun event. They attended as many block parties as they could. Awarded additional grant for computers. Working with Public Works for a fire hydrant grant. Building Official – Bill Sidor, no report currently. Public Works – Tom Distler, no report currently. MAYOR'S REPORT – Mayor thanked citizens for patience with our staffing as we have been short staffed. We now have Kasey Grove as our Police Clerk on Mondays, and as our Utility Clerk on Wednesdays and Fridays. We now have Mackenzie Adams as our Deputy Clerk on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The reality is that we have only part-time clerks. The plan is to make deposits twice weekly. The Board of Adjustments is now complete. Thank you, Mary Carr, Carl Sperring and Steve Davis, for volunteering. All Boards and Commissions are now full. Library services through Timberland Library are still available. Once a month we offer library services at Lions Club Park. Dates are on the agenda, please stop by. We hope to move indoors to  the Lions Club and in the future to the Municipal Building. Story time is happening at Highland Park, a great opportunity for children on the second Wednesday of every month. Festival in the Park is coming up. We have 18 vendors so far, with 43 on the list total. Our first Volunteer Firefighters Pancake breakfast fundraiser will take place, please come out. This year the festival will be at Lions Park because Mill Creek is under renovation. Lots of food, music and vendors. Mill Creek Renovation Grant: The cinderblock wall is down, thanks to Public Works. The tennis courts were cleaned up and will be painted in the next few weeks. Local citizens donated to have 1st and 2nd streets landscaping cleaned up. We will now work to keep it up, we appreciate those who took care of that. August 3rd was National Night out. Five Neighborhoods participated. NEW BUSINESS A. Councilmember Darcy - Dangerous tree in Makarenko Park to be removed. Presented 3 bids, recommended Bonnell because they are local and lowest bid. Councilmember Winn motioned to approve Bonnell to remove the tree. Councilmember Collett Seconded. Councilmember Skinner asked if PW could fall the tree. Tom Distler stated PW does not have the manpower or the expertise to do the work. Motion passed unanimously. B. Chief Falley – Amendment to EMS agreement with Aberdeen initially we were to pay the same rate as the citizens of Aberdeen. The public safety committee agreed that they would not pay more for this service. After negotiating with Aberdeen, the proposal is to have Cosmopolis citizens pay 80% of the rate Aberdeen is charging their citizens which makes our rate go down. At the next meeting we will discuss how Cosmopolis can use that differential to defer EMS costs that we incur. It takes effect August 1st. The entire agreement expires in January 2025, with this agreement we will not be reducing fees for the citizens. Councilmember Spargo questioned what would happen if we let this agreement expire. Chief Falley stated the City of Cosmopolis would be liable for every medical emergency that happens because we have an established EMS system. Motion approved by Councilmember Winn to approve Amendment to the 2023-2024 EMS agreement with The City of Aberdeen. Seconded by Councilmember Skinner. COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilmember Spargo – No Comments Councilmember Winn – No Comments Councilmember Skinner – No Comments  Councilmember Collett – No Comments Councilmember Darcy – No Comments PUBLIC COMMENTS Public Comment Period Open – No public comments. Councilmember Spargo motioned to Adjourn, Seconded by Councilmember Darcy. Meeting Adjourned at 7:58 PM.