Dayton Chronicle - Your Hometown News Source

DAYTON–Anticipating changes in the cost of law enforcement, dispatch and court services from Columbia County, the City Council adopted the 2021 Budget and Salary Schedule on December 2, with Councilman Dain Nysoe voting against adoption.

“The Finance Committee has not met to discuss changes to the budget to compensate for the increase that we’ll be paying to the County for law enforcement, dispatch and court services,” said Mayor Zac Weatherford.

“But what I’m presenting to you is a balanced budget and our budget is a tool and it’s also very fluid. We have certain protocol that we have to go through in order to pass our budget each year and that includes having a certain number of public hearings and giving everybody the opportunity to provide feedback or comment. That being said, I asked staff to work on the budget and get it to become a balanced budget and in the future, we will have some budget amendments,” he said.

The City of Dayton and Columbia County have agreed to terms, through mediation, this fall. “Although the City is anticipating an increase,” said Administrator Trina Cole, “we have no contracts in place. We do not know if in fact, we will have an increase for law enforcement, though the Council did adopt a resolution that agreed to the terms of the mediation.

“The City has reached out to the County, specifically the Prosecuting Attorney, to inquire where the County is at, and we have not heard,” Cole said. “Contract negotiations outside of the mediation haven’t even begun.

“Notice was received that the City was awarded a grant of $300,000 that is also not reflected in the budget,” she added.

Cole also said that it likely would take several meetings for the Finance Committee to make recommendations for an amendment and in the meantime, a budget is needed to be approved.

The 3rd Street Sidewalk Project is near completion, according to Mayor Weatherford. Another project for 3rd Street is in the works for the Pavement Preservation Project with the design slated for 2021 and construction to begin in 2022. The Mayor said that he wants to ensure that everything under the streets is in good condition now and into the future before this or any other street projects are done. The project will include replacing the sewer mainline under the streets.

Weatherford also reported for Public Works Director, Jim Costello, that the City water tanks were cleaned by Bob Gemmell. This is something the City does every four to five years. Weatherford said that he stopped in when the cleaning was underway and Gemmell was scuba diving to clean one of the tanks.

The next meeting is December 16, at 6 p.m.