The Cave Junction City Council met May 13 at City Hall for their first meeting of the month. While the meeting was short, several important updates were heard, and two ordinances were signed by the council that will impact city residents in different ways over time.
Mayor Meadow Martell was present alongside Councilors Tina Casey Jones and Jesse Dugas, with Councilor Ethan Lane appearing via ZOOM video conferencing.
Following the approval of the Burgundy-Syrah subdivision plan from the previous month’s meeting, Ordinance 603 was put before the council. This ordinance, which confirmed the re-zoning of the subdivision to single residential, was passed unanimously.
Ordinance 604, which served to rescind previous ordinance 574 and update part of the city’s municipal code, was also presented to the council. This ordinance affects city residents’ water and sewer charges incrementally, with these changes beginning to take effect June 15, 2024, and increasing gradually on the same date over the next two years. During the discussion about this ordinance, Councilor Jones mentioned that she admired how Civil West and public works director Alex Ponder worked with the city to establish the rate increase, Councilor Dugas agreed, acknowledging that while this move may upset some residents, the city needs revenue to keep up with the rising costs of maintaining these necessary systems. Ordinance 604 was also passed unanimously by the council.
During the public comment section, Laura Mancuso, the Executive Director of I.V. Living Solutions, gave a brief update to the council regarding transitional housing facility I.V. Hope Village. Mancuso explained that local company Pacific Ridgeline Forestry had almost finished clearing the trees on the property to prepare for development and construction of the facility, mentioning that “it was neat to see so many locals on site.”
Public Works Director Alex Ponder gave an update regarding what his department has been doing, The new welcome sign is coming along, with construction and installation dates to be determined. After a brief hitch in plans due to inclement weather and unavailable parts, the Rockydale Well project will be able to resume. The Bulk Water station is also nearly ready, and will be operational by June if progress continues as planned.
Teresa Stover, block grant administrator for the library renovation project, informed the council that construction on the library was running smoothly, and that the tentative completion date for construction is Aug. 16. She made sure to add that there would be a few weeks between the time that construction has finished and the library’s reopening.