By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

The Hines Common Council heard the budget message for the 2009-2010 fiscal year at the April 28 meeting. It includes maintaining health and dental insurance for city employees while foregoing any cost of living raises.

City Administrator Pam Mather stated that funds for “streets continue to look dim” but that the county may give the city $100,000 to help patch, maintain and repair streets in Hines.

The proposed budget is $2,291,678, which is $169,500 more than last year. Mather stated that this was because of the potential payment from the county and several grants for which the fire department has applied.

The budget message was read during the budget hearing. Budget committee members will meet in the coming weeks to further explore specific issues relating to the budget, and residents will have a chance to comment on the budget at the next Hines Common Council meeting on May 12.

In other business:

• Councilor Dona Johnson submitted her resignation, effective May 27. Johnson said that while she has enjoyed her time on the council, she and her husband will be moving to Nebraska to be closer to family;

• Kenton Dick, the transportation manger and interim general manager for the Burns Paiute Tribe, told the council about the transportation system that the tribe is planning to start up. The tribe received money to initiate this transit system, which will consist of a 15-passenger bus and will be routed from the reservation, down Broadway and Monroe streets with likely stops at Safeway, Old Camp Casino and Thriftway. The service will be offered from 4 to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

There will be no bus fare and the transit system will be set up as a non-profit business. Hines Mayor Ruth Schultz said she thought the proposed system was an excellent idea;

• Maintenance superintendent Earl Hofman stated that his crew found manholes on Dapple Gray Street that had been covered up by landscaping. In some cases the manholes were two to three feet underground. He wondered if it was the city’s responsibility to raise the holes up to ground level.
Mayor Ruth Schultz said she suspected that it would be the developers’ responsibility to do so. She asked Mather to contact the developers on the matter;

• Hines/Burns Police Chief Randy Cook said that the police department was currently undergoing a required risk management audit to identify liability issues. He said the departments were 95 percent compliant and were dinged on a couple of issues in their vehicles. Other comments from the auditor included compliments on the new evidence room;

• Mather presented the council with the new water rates and suggested a trial run, which was approved by the council. The city will begin a trial run on the billing residents using the new water meters. The city has reduced the base rate to $19 from $21. For the next billing cycle residents will receive a dual bill that will show how much their water bill would be under the new schedule;

• the council considered two bids for a city park curb project that will be paid for by a $25,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation. A bid from Rise and Run Construction came in at $39,459.50 and a bid from Harney Rock and Paving came in at $49,691.

The city’s engineer Amy Woodruff thought both bids came in a bit high, especially when the city only has $25,000 to work with. She recommended re-bidding the project and separating it into two phases.

Mather said that the first time she only advertised the project locally and could advertise in Bend and Boise the second time around.

The council approved a motion to reject the bids;

• Ron Williams proposed painting a stop sign on the ground near the intersection of King and Tennyson because he believes too many residents are running the stops signs, where there are many children who play outside. He said TopLoc would like to donate the labor and paint to do the job, so there would be no cost to the city.

The council agreed to let Williams proceed with the project, although Mayor Schultz was skeptical that it would stop the more notorious speeders;

• the council approved the crack seal project for city streets proposed by Ron Williams of TopLoc in the amount of $37,325.

• Crimson Presley was sworn in as a member of the city’s budget committee;

• the council approved a resolution regarding the city’s worker’s compensation policy where volunteers are concerned.

The next Hines Common Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. May 12 at Hines City Hall.