OROVILLE – The Oroville City Council heard yet another request to annex property located north of the current city limits at their final meeting for 2007.
Several property owners, owning 344 acres in 93 parcels, have submitted a letter of intent to annex into the city, said Oroville City Planner Chris Branch. The request was made by property owners representing 20 percent of the annexation boundary’s total valuation. Property owners representing a minimum of 10 percent of the valuation are required, according to the planner to request annexation from the city.
“The 93 parcels are evaluated by the county at about $4.5 million. The actual value the city experiences is somewhat less when you subtract things like senior exemptions.”
“The procedure for code cities of our size requires that a meeting be set 60 days from receipt of the request,” said Branch.
The annexation will be on the east side of the Chesaw Road running north from the ballfields and north of the Chesaw road after it turns east taking in property to the east of the Eastlake Road.
The council has set Tuesday, Feb. 5 for a meeting to further discuss the annexation and to decide whether to have the petitioners proceed with collecting the necessary approval the property owners representing 60 percent of the valuation.
“We all know there are a few who would be included in this requested annexation that have expressed a desire not to be annexed in the past,” said Branch. “It will be up to the petitioners to see if they can come up with the 60 percent required to approve the annexation.”
Branch also discussed the county .08 money or “oh 8” as it is called. This state money is divided between the county and the various incorporated towns and cities of Okanogan County. It has increased slightly and is being called .09 money now, according to Branch.
“As you may know we got lots of the dollars, but much of the money we got for projects from the .08 money for economic development purposes we turned around and gave right back to the county. For example, the money for the trailhead, the Eastlake Sewer project and the Sub Area Plan,” said Branch.
Branch told the council that at the last Economic Alliance meeting representatives of the cities and the county discussed what economic development means and what the state requirement for “consulting with the cities” means.
“We are going to have another meeting to discuss how to spend the extra dollars,” Branch said. “You can have an executive director for the Economic Alliance, but without the dollars to inject into economic development it really doesn’t result in much.”
By way of background city clerk/treasurer Kathy Jones told the council that the cities had to meet with the county “in force to battle for our share.”
“Their idea of consulting with the cities at that time was telling them what they (the county) were going to do with the money. That’s what they were calling consulting,” said Branch, who indicated the cities’ relationship with the county has much improved since then.
In other businesses, the city is still trying to firm up what charges will be made for ambulance calls. At this time they are looking at various charges for calls with treatment, with and without transport.
“I do believe we have one individual that’s at the school and an EMT that has caused a problem in town and has spoke with various organizations,” said Mayor Chuck Spieth. “This individual probably needs to be removed from the ambulance crew. I am going to investigate the bylaws and see what actions can be taken regarding the individual.”
It being the last council meeting of the year fellow council members, the mayor and staff expressed their best wishes to Ryan Milligan whose term has come to an end. Milligan did not run for reelection indicating that he had plans to build a home that was not located within the city limits.
The next meeting of the council falls on New Years Day so it has been moved to the following day, Wednesday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.
