Council agrees to be more specific in lettersby Nathan Arneal The North Bend City Council is whole once again. Chuck Krenzer was appointed to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Dan Minarick last month. Krenzer took the oath of office and was seated on the city council at the Feb. 7 meeting. He had previously served on the city’s planning commission. His council term will run through December 2026. Near the end of the meeting, a couple of citizens had complaints on the level of communication regarding the city’s effort to clean up nuisances around town and said they were being harassed by receiving multiple letters regarding their property. Ray Raymond said he received three letters regarding weeds and debris on his property and sometimes the nuisance is cleaned up before he received the letter in the mail. He said the letters need to be more specific than citing “debris” so he knows what the city is telling him to clean up. “Weeds, that’s understandable,” Raymond said. “Walk around your yards and trim the weeds... but when you send me a letter that says ‘debris,’ what are you talking about? Take a picture and send it and say, ‘Here’s a picture of your property. Can you get this cleaned up please?” Raymond said he’s had to take time off of work for two court dates for unresolved nuisances that were postponed without notifying him. He has another court date in April that he said he will require him to take another week off of work. “This is ridiculous,” Raymond said. Raymond said the city should provide pictures of the nuisance violations when first reported, and then again after 30 days after the letter of notice is received if they are not corrected before the court process begins. Councilman Bart Bosco agreed. He is a member of the Board of Health that oversees the nuisance process. “I feel that I did a poor job on the original pictures,” Bosco said. “Not just for you, but others. I’m going to do my best to improve that and get good communication out on what the infraction is.” Mayor Rod Scott said the city will drop the lawsuit against Raymond. “All we’re trying to do is clean up areas that need cleaned up,” Bosco said. “And if some of that is in my yard, shame on me, I need to get that cleaned up as well. I’ve had many people in town come to me and say, ‘Boy, we appreciate getting this clean, getting that clean.’ There were some areas that were nasty. I don’t feel bad at all about what we did because it made the town better.” In other council business: • Jeff Ray of JEO Consulting delivered an updated future land use map to the council. It reflects recent annexations and updated the 1-mile extra-territorial jurisdiction, which is a 1-mile radius outside city limits where the city controls zoning and permitting. The 1-mile line used to bisect the Riverview Shores development. Now all of Riverview Shores is within the ETJ. The 1-mile line also reaches out to the new intersection of highways 30 and 79 north of town. • A second of three readings of Ordinance 590 was given, which will annex a piece of ground west of the city limits south of Highway 30 and north of the railroad tracks. • The council was informed of the impending retirement of attorney Tommy Thomsen who has served as the city’s attorney. Thomsen suggested the city use Brad Nick, a lawyer in his office, as a replacement. The council seemed amiable to the idea. • The council voted to destroy daily logs from prior to Oct. 1, 2014. It also voted to no longer have city clerk Theresa Busse send out the daily logs to council members. • The council approved the purchase of two iPhones for city use by city employees Busse and maintenance man Larry Hilliard. • The council approved raises for all city employees, including librarians, to meet new minimum wage laws and to keep up with a 8.7% cost of living increase.
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