Resident questions replacing perfectly good cement
By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald
There has been some confusion regarding the renovation of the Smith building in downtown Burns and the torn up sidewalks just outside the building. However, much of that confusion was cleared up at the July 9 Burns City Council meeting.
During the citizens’ concerns portion of the meeting, resident Roger Reason spoke to the council about the rumors he’d heard about the sidewalks and the building.
The Harney County Opportunity Team has been fund-raising for years to come up with the money to renovate the Smith building, which sits on the corner of Broadway and A Street in downtown Burns.
Renovations started earlier this year and the building is scheduled for completion this summer.
Once completed, the Harney County Chamber of Commerce and the Harney County Economic Development offices will rent space there. The building will also feature a large conference room.
Reason said he noticed that construction workers had torn up the perfectly good sidewalks outside the building, which probably killed the trees planted there. He said he’d also heard that they were going to replace the sidewalk with an uneven cobblestone material. He asked if the council OK’d that decision. He noted that the Burns Planning Commission doesn’t have the authority to make those kinds of decisions.
Councilor Len Vohs said that he, Public Works Director Dave Cullens and Fire Chief Bill Guindon took it upon themselves to visit the construction site last week to see if the rumors were true and found them to be false. Vohs said the sidewalk will be put back just as it was, though more trees and lighting may be added. He noted that the building renovations will stay within the parameters of the downtown plan.
However, Vohs suggested that to avoid such confusion in the future, perhaps the planning commission minutes should be forwarded to the city council so that everyone is on the same page.
Councilor Craig LaFollette agreed with Vohs and added that he has been impressed with the work that is being done on the Smith building. “They have been doing an exceptional job,” he said. He said that he hopes the building renovation will be a catalyst for change in downtown Burns.
Councilor Bill Renwick said the contractor was also aware of the buckling sidewalk problem along West A Street and intended to fix that as well.
In other business:
• the council discussed a recent bid opening for pastureland on 25 acres of city property. City Clerk Dauna Wensenk said that no bids were received, so the council gave her the authority to re-advertise the bid;
• the council approved two invoices, one for Ferguson Surveying Engineering in the amount of $7,194.57 for work on the Monroe Street project, city water flow, Broadway and the cemetery; and one for Pipeline Inspection Services in the amount of $27,409.20 for miscellaneous work on the water/sewer system.
Public Works Director Cullens said that the Pipeline Inspection Services invoice actually came in under the bid amount;
• During the Councilor/Mayor comments portion of the meeting, Councilor Vohs noted that the city is not giving up on trying to access the Racine trust money for cemetery improvements. The trust was originally set up specifically to purchase trees for the cemetery, however, the city council would like to use the money for cemetery improvements other than buying trees. “We feel there is a solution,” Vohs said;
• Councilor Darwin Johnson would like to set up a work time to fix the fence at Washington Park the morning of Saturday, July 19. The city has gathered most of the materials for the project and the Boy Scouts have said they will provide the labor. Anyone else who would like to help on the project is invited to do so. For more information, call the City of Burns at 573-5255.
The next Burns City Council meeting will be at 6 p.m. July 23 at Burns City Hall.
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