Tonasket City Councilmember Jean Ramsey along with City Clerk Alice Attwood displaying the name plaque honoring the people who donated money so the Holiday Light Committee could buy new snowflake holiday lights which have been on display on poles througho
TONASKET – The city council, along with the consultant from Highlands Associates, is working on the shoreline master plan.
Kurt Danison gave the council an update on the Okanogan County Planning Commission’s Comprehensive Plan and Critical Mass Plan before talking with them about the shoreline master plan during the meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Danison explained to the council the Early Adopter Grant for the Shoreline Master Plans which are given to cities that adopt their shoreline master plans before 2010.
“Tonasket is basically under the gun to come up with a shoreline master plan by June 2010 or the state will write it and adopt it into law whether you like it or not,” Danison said.
For this issue, the council approved an amendment to the Okanogan County Regional Shoreline Master Program titled “Interlocal Cooperative Agreement.” The contract is between the City of Tonasket and Okanogan County to create a plan for Tonasket.
“The end date of this contract is changed from completion of the deliverables to the Washington State Department of Ecology to the end of the grant agreement, June 30, 2010. The County shall not be responsible if the City overspends the maximum amount payable,” the contract amendment states. “The total maximum amount payable under this contract is decreased by $992.25 from $4,000 to $3,007.75. This decrease is due to funding from the Department of Ecology Grant #G0600296 that was withheld from the County. Also, the work completed to date such as the scientific analysis, characterization and environment designations have been completed for the entire region including all of the municipalities. The County shall manage the grant. The City shall invoice the County monthly.”
Later on in the meeting, Mayor Patrick Plumb brought the issue of crossing Whitcomb Avenue near North Valley Hospital to the council’s attention.
“A couple of people have approached me about what to do about the crosswalk from the nursing home to the parking lot because it’s a safety concern,” Plumb said.
This prompted the council to discuss different solutions to the dangerous street crossing situation. They discussed asking the Department of Transportation for a flashing light at the intersection and decided they would continue their conversation at the next meeting.
City Clerk Alice Attwood then told the council that the city’s engineer Mark Varela called her to say the State Revolving Fund could get Tonasket a grant for up to 50 percent of the water project funds. She said he is formulating what the city needs to do in order to get this grant.
The next city council meeting is on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. in City Hall.
