Cheney’s City Council welcomed its newest member last Tuesday night, Feb. 26, as Vince Barthels was sworn in to serve on the Position 2 seat left vacant after the resignation of Doug Nixon in late 2018. Nixon, who served since 2007, stepped down due to his moving to a residence located outside of the city.
A Cheney resident, Barthels has served on the city’s Planning Commission and as its chair since 2012.
According to the city’s published application notice, individuals interested in serving on the council were to submit a letter of interest, resume and candidate questionnaire to Mayor Chris Grover by Jan. 25. Applicants were to be screened and “finalists asked to interview in person with the City Council in an open session of an upcoming meeting,” with Grover then recommending one candidate for council approval.
Barthels appearance last Tuesday was his first before the council, with Councilman Ryan Gaard — who went through a public question and answer session before the council prior to his appointment in September 2014 — jokingly pointing out that the new member didn’t have to undergo the same examination he and others did.
In a Feb. 27 email, City Administrator Mark Schuller said Grover chose to conduct one-on-one interviews with the candidates, and was doing the same for appointments to fill now two vacancies on the Planning Commission. The other was created when former Commissioner Kristine Williams declined to seek reappointment when her term ended in December 2018.
“Since it is the Mayor’s choice (of candidates) to be confirmed by a vote of the council, he felt comfortable in assessing each of the candidates on their merits, deciding who he felt would best represent the citizens of Cheney,” Schuller said in explaining the decision to not hold a council question and answer session for candidates.
Schuller noted Barthels experience in land use issues from the commission, issues that will be coming before the council soon. Barthels is the Spokane office manager and environmental service leader for T-O Engineers, a private civil engineering firm. He has over 16 years of experience in biological investigations and environmental permitting and is a qualified wetlands specialist with a bachelors of science in environmental biology and masters in public administration — both from Eastern Washington University.
In other business last Tuesday, the council approved a $49,000 request for appropriation from the police department to purchase a new computer server. Police Chief John Hensley told the council the current AS400 server is at the end of its life and lease, and that the new IBM server is something that has been in the works for months.
“We made provision for it in the budget (2019) process,” Hensley said.
Of the $49,000, about $41,000 is for the equipment, with most of the balance for installation services.
Council also approved a $46,914.56 appropriation from the Public Works Department for rehabilitation work on the city’s Well No. 1. Specialty Pump Services of Spokane was the only responsive bidder for the project at $39,200 plus taxes.
Public Works Director Todd Ableman said they were confident the drop in pumping capacity in the well located just off Elm Street on Eastern Washington University’s campus was a mechanical issue rather than a supply issue. Ableman added that the well was seeing a rise in its water level when not in use.
“Did you feel this was a fair bid?” Councilman John Taves asked Ableman about receiving only one bid.
Ableman said he did, noting the department usually budgets around $80,000 annually for such work and that he expected bids to be in the $40,000 range.
Council also approved an additional $8,782,27 appropriation from Public Works for unexpected costs incurred on last summer’s water main project. The city received a $219,000 grant from the Community Development Block Grant program for the work, but encountered unexpected boulder removal during trench excavation, work that required additional backfill material.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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