Council works on sewer fee issues

Members of the Cathlamet Town Council voted to start amending their ordinance setting sewer billing rates for lodging businesses and acted on a variety of other business when they met Tuesday.

The council agreed to bill Port District 1 for a business connection to the sewer mains serving the Elochoman Slough Marina; they critiqued committee assignments suggested by Mayor George Wehrfritz and they agreed to consider amending the library budget to implement a job skills training program.

In December, officials from Port 1 appealed a sewer and water bill from Bottoms Up Espresso, a tenant of the port at the marina. Town officials said the business had never been billed for sewer and water, but port Attorney Tim Hanigan said under the terms of the port's lease with the business, the owner themselves are responsible for the bills. At that time, the council asked Public Works Superintendent David Vik to prepare a report for the January meeting.

On Tuesday, Vik reported that the business has a unique connection.

"The park hosts and Bottoms Up are plainly connected to something," he said. "If it's not a sewer, where is it going? The only sewer down there is the port's."

The Bottoms Up building is built on the site of an old house occupied by a man who had life-time tenancy at the marina under an agreement made when the port district was formed and acquired the property.

The town has no sewer mains below Beal Street, which is at the upper boundary of the marina property; the marina has its own mains and pumps sewage up to the nearby town treatment plant. The business has a drain pipe for a sink going into the ground, apparently connected to the port's mains, Vik said. There is no visible sewer connector. Business personnel have been able to use marina restrooms.

A nearby recreational vehicle used by the marina park host has a sewage drain line connecting to the port mains, he said, and it apparently using the connection of the old house to the port sewer system.

"If they're hooked to the port sewer, we can charge," Vik said.

The council agreed by consensus that the town should bill the port for the service.

The council did discuss proposed amendments to its sewer rate ordinance and it approved them for the first reading in a 4-1 vote. The amended ordinance must have two more readings before it can be passed.

The amendments would expand the definitions of lodging and transient housing to include park model cabins, motels and bed and breakfast businesses.

In December, Port 1 officials had also objected to a bill for $4,275 for its park model cabins. Town officials said the cabins hadn't been billed in 18 months because of a computing malfunction. Port officials said the fees were too high and based on residential housing rates, not hotel lodging rates.

The existing ordinance contains no definition of motels or park models, and council members in December felt they had to assess fees as if the cabins were for permanent, not transient housing.

The Water and Sewer Committee had worked on updating the definitions in the ordinance to take care of the omission, said Council Member David Goodroe.

A motion came to approve the first reading.

Council Member Bob Rendler and Bradley House Inn owner Audie Belcher opposed the proposed amendments.

Park model cabins don't fit the definition of transient lodging, Rendler said, for there is nothing to stop marina operators from renting them on a long term basis. They fit in the definition of mobile homes, he said.

Belcher agreed, saying the park models don't compare to other lodging. For example, state law limits occupancy of her inn's rooms to two people. The park models aren't limited that way, she said, and in the spring chinook season, there are often eight people or more in a park model.

"You need to compare apples to apples," she said. "The facilities are completely different than a bed and breakfast or an inn; it is a mobile home structure."

Mayor Wehrfritz also recommended in a letter to council members that they reject the amendments. The council should focus on a comprehensive review of rates probably leading to a new structure. Making the amendments now would only serve a special interest, he said, not the interest of the community.

After 20 minutes of discussion, the council voted 4-1 to approve the amendments. Rendler opposed the motion; Goodroe, Steve McNicholas, Wally Wright and Ruth Doumit voted for it.

In other business:

--The council agreed to consider a proposed $4,800 supplement to the library budget to provide resources and manpower for an internet literacy program.

The program would provide monthly training for people wanting to learn to operate computers use them to find jobs, and it would fund a part-time aide so that Librarian Connie Christopher could run the program. She has run similar programs in other libraries.

--Wehrfritz proposed a set of new committees and assignments, but council members said they weren't happy with his proposed assignments.

Wright noted that Wehrfritz had moved people from committees where they had expertise to committees that handled business with which they weren't familiar. He said the committees should be staffed with people with suitable expertise.

Wehrfritz said his attention was to bring new perspectives to the committees' tasks and to broaden council members' realms of experience.

However, he agreed to revise the suggestions and present another proposal at the council's February 22 meeting.