Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part two, with part one having appeared in Saturday’s Tribune.
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McCALL — Water skis lining the roof of a business in downtown McCall do not align with city code and must be taken down, the McCall City Council decided last week.
The council denied an appeal by Lake Town Clothing Company owner Cade Haskinson to allow water skis affixed to the roof of his business at 200 Lenora St. to remain despite rulings by city staff and McCall Area Planning and Zoning Commission.
“I don’t think we have much of a choice here,” councilor Julie Thrower said. “It doesn’t meet the code.”
Huskinson was seeking an exception to city code to allow the skis, but councilors were opposed to opening the door for design alleviations to be considered on a case by case basis.
“That’s a bad way to operate,” McCall Mayor Bob Giles said.
The council, however, signaled support for changes to city code that would allow decorative roofing amid widespread public support for the water ski roof.
“I think our community has made it clear that we probably need to consider some changes to our code,” Thrower said.
Huskinson removed the water skis from his business last Friday, but hopes to reinstall them in the future if city design standards are changed to allow the decorative roofing.
Councilor Colby Nielson thanked Huskinson for appealing the issue to the city council and bemoaned contradictions between city design standards and city planning documents that call for a “vibrant downtown.”
“We are saying one thing and doing another,” Nielsen said. “A lot of people in our community appreciate unique things. What our code says is make it boring.”
Huskinson installed the water skis without approval from city staff, which found in July that city design standards do not allow the skis to be used as roofing.
The standards require buildings to use “natural exterior materials” that “tend toward earthy warm hues” and do not include “harshly contrasted color combinations.”
A report by City Planner Brian Parker found that the company’s water ski roof violated each of those standards.
Parker also said it is unclear if snow and ice buildup on the decorative roofing could create a hazard for pedestrians walking on the sidewalk below.
“When it comes to blunt objects falling on pedestrians, I am going to err on the side of caution,” he said.
— Drew Dodson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday
City discusses potential public records litigation
DAYTON, Wash. — The Dayton City Council went into executive session immediately at the first meeting of the year Jan. 9 to discuss the civil lawsuit filed by local resident Theresa Eier against Councilor Laura Aukerman and the City of Dayton over alleged violations of public records laws.
The executive session was with the city’s lawyer, Megan Clark, by Zoom. Clark was selected to represent the city by the Association of Washington Cities
Eier filed the suit in Walla Walla County Superior Court on Nov. 7, 2023, and alleges Councilwoman Aukerman violated public records laws when she blocked members from a Facebook page, then deleted the page. The attorney requested Aukerman stay for her portion of the discussion, but recuse herself when the conversation changed to the city’s part. No decision was made.
During the regular meeting, Katie Roughton asked the council consider putting a vote to de-annex the Columbia County Rural Library District on the next ballot. According to the Revised Code of Washington, Roughton explained, the legislative body of a city can put a resolution on the ballot for voters to vote to annex from the town.
“So, the city decided to annex in 2009 and made an amendment in 2015, the people voted 15 years ago to join,” said Roughton. “Out of the current voters, a little over 1,000 are rural and a little over 1,700 are city. So, by the annexation of our library, basically the people of the city don’t have a vote.”
She clarified that this is not to close the library. It would continue to operate with county tax payer funds. The city agreed to consider the information, adding it to the Jan. 23, 2024 workshop agenda.
— Jessica Ruffcorn, Dayton Chronicle (Dayton), Thursday
