By LEE HUGHES
Staff Reporter
The Medical Lake City Council discussed a number of items at its regular meeting Tuesday, April 16. Topics included a completed financial audit, a vacancy on the Planning Commission and it’s ongoing comprehensive plan efforts, and seasonal maintenance issues.
Councilwoman Laura Parsons, finance committee chair, reported to the council on the results of $22,000 audit by the Office of the Washington State Auditor.
She said the audit “went really well.”
City Financial Director Karen Langford noted there were several issues identified in the audit, including problems when the city converted from one financial system to another that resulted in reconciling issues.
“It wasn’t like any money went missing,” Langford said.
Another issue was the manner in which the city allocated costs, particularly when the city’s six maintenance employees worked between different city facilities. Auditors, she said, want the city to do a better job of tracking costs between the city’s various enterprise funds.
“They want something in writing,” Langford told the council.
City Administrator Doug Ross told the council they were working with the maintenance supervisor to keep better track of where maintenance personnel are spending their time.
“The auditors just want something a little more concrete,” he said.
A copy of the financial audit can be accessed at the state Auditor’s site at http://www.sao.wa.gov/reports-data/audit-reports.
Mayor Shirley Maike also announced that Planning Commission member Wayne Fugere had resigned, leaving a vacancy that she expected to fill quickly — before the commissions next meeting on Thursday, April 25.
She asked that anyone interested contact her with a letter of interest. The position is a mayoral appointment.
Several people had already reached out regarding the position, Ross noted.
The city’s compost trailer opened on Monday, April 15. A “spring cleanup” campaign is scheduled for Saturday, May 4, Councilwoman Jessica Roberts, the public works committee chair, reported.
Dumpsters will be staged at the intersection Lefevre Street and Brooks Road for the one-time cleanup opportunity.
Street and other maintenance work is also just around the corner, Roberts reported, including a $106,000 contract with low bidder Shamrock Paving to repave the lake trail.
The details of the paving operation — when it will happen, how long it will take, and how it will affect trail access — remained unclear, but Ross said he expected the trail to be shut entirely during paving. City maintenance forces will then need to complete the project, placing gravel against the pavement edges.
Some council members expressed concern regarding the effect of work on spring and summer events.
“The hope is they will be out early May,” Ross said. “I would think it would only take two days, maybe, to pave.”
There was also discussion about eliminating the ability to drive on the paved trail.
Roberts also reported that street patching is scheduled to begin in May, and not just potholes, but cutting out bad sections of asphalt and replacing it.
“We’re waiting for the ground to dry to get to those.” Ross said.
The low bid for the trail paving project was $44,000 less than budgeted, according to Ross, who reported that about $20,000 of the savings was transferred from the city’s capital improvement fund into the general fund, which will then be used to rent a paving machine so city maintenance crews can do the patch work.
Ross reported that the Department of Social and Health Services had elected to demolish the long-dilapidated West Medical Lake Resort on the south end of the lake, including what he called the “bait shop,” docks and associated buildings across West Fancher Road.
“DSHS is no longer interested in operating West Medical Lake Resort, or having anybody operate it. At all,” Ross told the council, citing an email from the state. “They don’t want to be in the landlord business.”
When asked, Ross said he was unsure if the public would still be able to access the area for recreation.
In other business, the council voted to advance on first reading a non-exclusive franchise renewal for cable and Internet service provider Davis Communications, Inc., with some clarification of contract language identified by Councilman Don Kennedy.
The city receives a 5 percent franchise fee from the cable provider’s gross revenues.
Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].
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