By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle
WALDPORT – With nothing more titillating on the Waldport city council agenda Thursday beyond the city manager’s report about ongoing projects – which can be akin to watching paint dry – it was at first difficult to explain the large turnout.
It was not until the scheduled executive session, normally closed to the public, that it became clear why so many people kept arriving after the 4 o’clock start of the council’s regular meeting and why they stayed through the executive session.
To accommodate the recent increase in turnout, city council meetings are now being held at the Waldport Community Center.
The subject of the executive session was to follow up on city manager Dann Cutter’s annual review, which took place in December, so that council could solicit opinions of his performance from city employees. Six months ago council president Greg Dunn told Cutter that while the council sees and hears what he is doing “we don’t hear what the city (staff) think of you.”
So the council sent out requests to the city’s 23 employees asking for comments either writing a letter or attending the executive session, “which they obviously did en masse,” councilor Susan Woodruff said Friday.
After the closed session, which the media is allowed to attend but not report on, the council went back into open session and made a motion based on the feedback.
“After listening to more than 20 employees praise our city manager, and no one spoke critically of him other than that sometimes he has trouble delegating enough … I think we should commend our city manager,” said councilor Jerry Townsend.
“And I move that we commend him as a council for the good work that he’s done, for the attitude that he has, for the humanity he has and for the smarts that he has,” Townsend continued. “He does a great job for all of us. We need to support him in every way we can.”
Dunn agreed, saying to Cutter who had returned after leaving for the closed session “We (heard) nothing but praise, nothing but praise. You’re doing a great job.”
The council then voted 5-1 to commend Cutter, with mayor Heide Lambert casting the only “no” vote. Lambert has been clashing with Cutter and the council for months, trying unsuccessfully to spur an investigation of his handling of Waldport Beachcomber Days and Township 13 issues. Councilor Michelle Severson was not present.
City audits
During the public comment portion of the regular meeting, Waldport resident Theresa Carter asked about the city’s failure to complete its annual audit as required by state law.
The city last filed an audit with the state in 2020.
“My concern is that we’re still not hearing anything about that audit and how that’s coming along,” Carter said. “And that’s, I hate to say it Dann, a real black mark as far as I’m concerned. Because I feel like you’ve been lying through omission to all of us. Not telling us that those have not been done. And it really bothers me. It really seriously concerns me.”
It is a subject Carter has brought up at previous meetings and that Cutter told the Lincoln Chronicle he has repeatedly explained. The city has also posted about the reasons for not having completed its audits on its social media page.
The city had an auditor who during the Covid pandemic asked for extra time. In 2021, the auditor claimed it would be finished “within weeks” but then continued to say that week after week, Cutter said. The city then reached out to Oregon’s Secretary of State’s Office, which urged the city to keep the auditor even though they were falling behind.
The delays continued into 2023, but the Secretary of State’s Office continued to advise the city to stick with the auditor because of the difficulty in finding a municipal auditor. The city fired the auditor in 2023.
A new auditing firm, Umpqua Valley Financial, was hired in early 2024 and tasked with catching up on the missing audits.
“So they have been doing that now for the last nine months, trying to do four years of audits in one piece,” Cutter told the Lincoln Chronicle on Friday. “I hope to have a conversation with them next week to find out where things are at.”
The state does not fine a municipality for not completing an audit.
With so many municipalities running into delays stemming from the pandemic, the 2023 Legislature passed a law making several changes to the audit law. It encouraged continued emphasis on the “educational approach” prioritized by the Secretary of State “over a punitive approach,” according to legislative documents.
“Prior to Covid there was a consequence for municipalities failing to file audits on time,” Cutter said. “The state would withhold the state revenue sharing. So that’s like the marijuana and liquor taxes. They would withhold a portion of it as a penalty.”
While the legislature eliminated that, delinquent municipalities may still face consequences such as jeopardizing their ability to service or obtain debt, comply with grant requirements, or obtain new grants, according to the 2023 law.
“It is harder to get certain federal grants or state loans, neither of which the city is pursuing,” Cutter said. “But there is absolutely no consequence as far as the city receiving a fine from the state for not having your audit done on time.”
In other business:
- Sidewalk work began two weeks ago along Crestline Drive. Contractors are clearing trees and brush along the road and will be working most of the summer to establish a base which will later be paved. “Lots of activity there,” Cutter said during his report. “It’s amazing how steep some of it is. At the end of the day that will all be filled in so we have a nice large pathway.” Guardrails will also be placed along some steep-sloped sections.
- The city is seeking bids for sewer lines to the industrial park south of Waldport High School, which is finally moving forward after a protracted approval process with Lincoln County. The late start to the project could forestall the planned October opening of the county’s new animal shelter in the industrial park.
- Surfacing work for the new playground at Louis Southworth Park has begun and is expected to be completed in the next two weeks.
- The new dog park at Louis Southworth Park is “un-officially” open but still lacks some finishing touches.
- The city purchased a $20,000 paving tool that works by heating the existing asphalt that allows new and old pavement to blend seamlessly and thus eliminate cracks that can occur between different paving materials. It also allows for cracks in the streets to be melted and re-compacted without requiring added paving material. “Based on the numbers of potholes around town we figure it will pay for itself in about a year,” Cutter said.
- Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for the Lincoln Chronicle, formerly YachatsNews, and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
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