OUR HUMBLE VISION TO MOVE THE CITY FORWARD

While our immediate focus is on the recall, SCM recognizes that we need plans to actually move the City forward.  We hope to develop those plans over the next several months in partnership with interested members of our community.  The following items below are some initial thoughts from our Committee Directors on how to move the City forward. 

The immediate concern of many townspeople is the irregularities, discrepancies and delinquencies of several past annual city budgets.  We recommend implementing a transparent budget committee that includes at least three new members -- the committee that makes decisions shouldn't be staffed by the same individuals who failed to address the problems of the past several years. 

Residents (including those in nearby communities who have municipal/accounting expertise) should be invited to attend.  We suggest having the City's Auditor provide oversight. 

One of our SCM committee members is paying to attend Oregon Local Budget law training, so our committee directors can be better-informed.  The City is also paying for local budget law training, and should provide that training to all new members of the budget committee.  

It is of paramount importance that the City fully account for any monies which they may have decided to set aside as investment reserves.  All financial resources must be fully explained, particularly if they are set aside from the annual budget. 

Currently, the Mayor Lena Richardson, Councilor Kathy Nuckles and Interim Administrator John Edwards have appointed themselves as an ad-hoc committee to move the hiring process forward.  A contract has been signed with RVCOG to assist in the search.  We believe that the entire process should be open and transparent.  Contracts with RVCOG, job descriptions, and meetings should not be limited in access to a select few. 

We recognize it will take some time before people can trust the City government again.  We propose instituting a series of town halls (at least once a quarter) to give people an opportunity to ask questions of the City Council & Administrator.  

We believe the City Council should delegate the responsibility for promoting tourism and business within the town to a non-profit organization.  The non-profit's mission should be to promote tourism in both the town and the surrounding community. 

We believe the City should provide seed money and support to the organization until it becomes self-sustaining.  Seed money could come from the funds the City has collected over the past several years for tourism & lodging taxes (TLT).  It is our understanding that the City has allocated more that the allowable 30% of these funds for other purposes; we would like to see funds from the past several years re-transferred to a dedicated fund for this purpose. 

Engage a committee (including both Council and townspeople with experience in law enforcement and code enforcement) to pursue opportunities to partner with other communities, such as Eagle Point. 

There is much more to write on this topic than we have time for at the moment.  However, our biggest concern is that the municipal water effort should be led by a qualified engineer and/or construction project manager.  The effort should not be led directly by the Mayor or Council, the Council should be acting as an oversight body.  

As an immediate step, we recommend that the City provide a status update on the plans for the $1.5M Oregon SB1530 grant that was received, and a status update on the engineering feasibility study that is currently being done by RH2 Engineering.