As has been the case for a number of years, the Burns City Council is faced with the question of what to do with the vacant buildings in the city.

Rob Paramore, a realtor, attended the Burns City Council meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 10, to address the vacant buildings on North Broadway and at other sites in the city.

“I’ve lived here almost 30 years, and I would say that for half of that time, those buildings have been empty,” Paramore said. “Just to give you a little background, I attended meetings probably about 15 years ago addressing this very topic. Specifically the [former] post office, specifically Bontemps, specifically the Tuning building, specifically the Whittier building, specifically The Palace, specifically the Burnstown Apartments, and nothing has been done in 15 years to either put pressure on the people to do something with them or to come up with a plan to do something for the city council.”

Paramore said there are a number of people coming to town, looking for buildings to restore or develop. He then asked the council to come up with a plan to address the vacant buildings.

“What do we do?” he asked. “Do we research what’s being done in other cities and how they put pressure on some of these people or do we just let them sit and rot?”

Paramore told the council that he met with the owner of the Tuning building the previous day and told him that the building is on the busiest intersection in town, it’s one of the first things people see, and it’s an eyesore. According to Paramore, the owner replied, “I don’t care.”

“What do we do, or do we just wait another 10 years and talk about it again?” Paramore asked. “I would like to see the city council come up with some kind of idea or plan on how to address this.”

Earlier in the meeting, City Manager Dauna Wensenk reported that the city’s legal counsel is in the process of drafting a dangerous building ordinance that will have a component in it to address the vacant buildings.

Burns resident Judy Erwin stated that she received two ordinances from other cities regarding vacant buildings and offered to share them with the council.

Councilor Forrest Keady also brought up the number of old vehicles parked behind the former post office. He noted that there is an ordinance in place to address the issue and said it should be enforced.

Wensenk said she talked to the city attorney about the issue and sent photos to him.

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In her report to the council, Wensenk said the city is still waiting on the engineer’s plans to obtain permits for the new restrooms at Washington Park. She explained that, because the park is in the flood plain, the restrooms would either have to be constructed out of brick without any elevation change or the contractor could put in four-foot stem walls.

Later in the meeting, a motion was made to approve the change order for the stem walls in the amount of $5,860.

At a previous meeting, the council voted to have R Legacy Construction build the restrooms at a cost of $28,650, and the city already paid half of that amount.

Keady said he had concerns about the change order, as the city still hadn’t received any engineer plans for the restrooms.

“We started the process without plans, so he and everyone bid on this with zero knowledge, and now we’re getting a change order on this bid to which we still don’t have plans,” Keady said. “We don’t even know how he based this change order because he doesn’t have any plans to base it on. So, we’re just saying, ‘We’re going to give you another $5,800 even though you don’t know what you’re building yet.’ ”

Councilor Dennis Davis remarked that the engineer’s plans could come back with variables that the contractor is unaware of, possibly changing the cost of the project.

“Personally, I think we should wait for the engineer’s plans, figure out what the number is, and make a decision one time,” Davis said.

“That will probably require a special meeting,” Wensenk interjected.

“That’s more efficient than just spending money on a guess,” Davis said.

“If it has to happen, it has to happen,” Mayor Jerry Woodfin stated.

“So what if it has to happen again, and has to happen again?” Keady questioned. “At what point do we say we made a mistake? We put a bid out there, we asked people to bid on something, but no plan. I mean it’s $28,000 or whatever… what if it turns into $50,000? And if we have plans, once we get them back from Werner (the engineer), we pay him for those plans, and put it out to bid again, and find out maybe he’s not the cheapest. Maybe it’s not the best situation for us. I’m just saying maybe we got ourselves into a bad situation, and I’m partly to blame for that because I went down that path with the council.”

Following a brief discussion, the council unanimously voted against the motion to approve the change order.

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Jen Hoke, president of the board of directors for the Kids Club of Harney County, read aloud a letter to the council regarding the construction of the Kids Club building next to Washington Park.

The letter thanked the council and the city for their help and support in moving forward with the project, and also pointed out some obstacles that the Kids Club board and officials encountered in the process.

The letter stated that there were multiple instances when the timeline for the project had to be pushed back because of no knowledge of the length of time variances or parking issues would take. Plans were to have the full-size gymnasium erected this fall, but because of delays, it will not be in place until next spring.

The letter asked that the city put a checklist or information packet in place so it is clear what steps a new building, an existing building, and/or a new business must go through. It would also be helpful to provide a timeline with each of the steps.

Another suggestion was for an initial plan to go before the site council for review, along with the city’s checklist, then everyone could potentially discover issues in the beginning instead of finding them late in the process.

Hoke added that a groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 4:40 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19.

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In other business:

• Burns Police Chief Newt SkunkCap said the community lost a young individual recently, and it affected the community and emergency responders. He said law enforcement and other agencies will conduct a training at the schools regarding how to act in similar situations;

• Sandra Obradovich informed the council about a pro-life event on Sunday, Oct. 14;

• Denise Rose was present to provide a written quarterly update from the Harney County Economic Development Office. She added that there seems to be a challenge finding buildings for businesses, particularly small businesses.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, at city hall.