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Health Dept. OKs ending chlorination "It may take three or four days for the taste to completely clear from the system," Director of Public Works Mike Golat said. Shelton's normally untreated water supply has been chlorinated for the past two months, since soon after the discovery of total coliform bacteria in the water system. Contamination in one or more of the city's water supply tanks was recently discovered as the most likely source of the bacteria. The majority of the commission's activity this week was taken up with a review of a proposed new 17-page fee schedule. "Some of the proposed fees are higher, some are lower and there are some new fees," Annaliese Bradow, the city's special projects coordinator said. Commissioner of Public Works Dawn Pannell questioned proposed increases in the Civic Center's meeting room charges. "The proposed increases more accurately reflect actual labor and maintenance costs associated with the room usage," Parks and Recreation Supervisor Mark Ziegler said. "We've had no rental increases since the facility first opened in 1999, but our labor costs have increased twice since then." Pannell also questioned proposed cost increases at the city's two picnic shelters; at Kneeland Park and Loop Field. The all-day fee, for instance, increased from $25 to $50. "Again, the existing fees don't cover the labor costs of setting up and cleaning up the facility after use," Ziegler said. After the meeting, Ziegler pointed out that typically, all-day use of a picnic shelter involves hundreds of people with lots of rest room maintenance and garbage collection. "It costs us $30 just to dispose of the collected garbage in those situations," he said. The revised fees for both the picnic shelters and the civic center room rentals are lower than at comparable facilities in the area, and Olympia area residents do rent both on occasion, he added. Several significant new fire department fees were proposed. All of them have to do with recovering the direct costs of reviewing fire code compliance with new commercial development within the city. "Our share of sales tax and property tax collections are no longer covering the costs of operating the fire department," Fire Chief Jim Ghiglione said after the meeting. "Some of our costs have to be shifted to those who directly benefit from the service." A new $25 permit fee for sandwich boards/sidewalk signs was proposed. In the police department, the cost per copy for accident/case reports was drastically reduced, from $3 for the first three pages to a flat rate of 15 cents per page. The commission approved all fee changes as proposed, making them immediately effective. In other business, the commission set a public hearing for 7 p.m. Monday in the civic center to review the city's six-year transportation improvement program. A public hearing was also set for 7 p.m. June 23 in the civic center to review Shelton's comprehensive plan update. Duggan Kinne is a correspondent for The Olympian. |