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On Wednesday, Aug. 14, the Burns City Council voted to accept David Sneddon’s resignation from the Burns city manager position.

David Sneddon’s stint as city manager for the city of Burns turned out to be a short one.

On Wednesday, Aug. 14, the Burns City Council held a lengthy executive meeting, in accordance with ORS 192.660 (2) (a), prior to its regular meeting. Following the executive session, the council convened into regular session and added acceptance of the city manager’s resignation to the agenda.

Sneddon started his new position on July 29, but no employment agreement was signed, as it was on the agenda for the Aug. 14 meeting.

During the regular meeting, the council voted to accept Sneddon’s resignation, and will begin a new search to fill the vacancy.

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Burns Fire Chief Scott Williamson reported that a finalized mutual aid agreement was made with two Rangeland Fire Protection Associations (RFPAs). Burns is the first city fire department in the state to reach such an agreement.

“It’s kind of a big deal,” Williamson said. “We have mutual aid agreement with Silver Creek and Long Creek [RFPAs]. That’s Riley, and Long Creek is just right up out of here. It gives us help if we have a wildland fire here. They have lots of equipment, and those guys can come and assist us.”

Williamson said, so far this year, the fire department received 68 calls for service. Thirty-one of the calls were in the city, 14 were mutual aid with Hines, and 23 were in the rural areas. At this time last year, the department had received 108 calls.

Councilor Judy Erwin inquired about the number of rural fire protection agreements in place this year as compared to last year.

Williamson answered that there were about 100 subscribers to the program last year, and the new agreements were mailed out to those residents. Forty-seven residents have signed up again. Williams added that, last year, the department collected about $10,000 with 100 subscribers, and this year the amount is a little more than $10,000 with 47 subscribers.

“So we’re still sitting at about where we were last year,” he said. “We’re getting ready to send out another wave of mailers to the customers and see if we can get the rest of the customers to join back up. Then we’re going to get the addresses of all the people out there in that area and send out mailers to them too.”

A new fee schedule for the rural fire protection program was put into place this year with the fee based on the Harney County current real market value report for structures on the property, rather than a flat fee for subscribers.

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Burns Police Chief Newt SkunkCap told the council that his department continues to stay busy with a number of calls and ongoing investigations.

SkunkCap said he wants the public to be aware of scam calls, including calls from people claiming to be with Social Security Administration.

“We just want everybody to be aware of what’s going on,” SkunkCap said. “They kind of go in waves. A while ago it was IRS, now it’s the Social Security [calls].”

He cautioned residents to be aware of the scam calls and to not give out any private information over the phone.

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In other business:

• Harney County Library Director Cheryl Hancock attended to ask permission to place a Little Free Library at Triangle Park.

The nonprofit program was started in 2009 by Todd Bol in Hudson, Wisc., who set a goal of having 2,500 Little Free Libraries in the U.S. Since then, more than 90,000 have been set up around the world, including four in Harney County.

Hancock said the new Little Free Library was constructed by Burns resident Ralph Dickenson. She added that Harney County Library would be responsible for the structure’s upkeep and a steward to ensure there are books there.

There was discussion about keeping the library away from the sprinklers at the park, and Public Works Director Pedro Zabala agreed to help place the library at the park.

The council voted to approve the request;

• Erwin read a letter from Amie Breshears requesting a $100 donation for the talent show at the Harney County Fair. In the letter, Breshears explained that an anonymous donor already gave $500 to the talent show, and she is hoping to raise another $500 or more to use toward prizes for the participants. Breshears wrote that any funds not used this year for prizes would be held over for coming years.

The council voted 5-1 in favor of donating $100 to the talent show, with Pam Smerski casting the lone nay vote;

• the council approved a street closure request by Kate Marsh for a chalk art competition. Washington Street between North Broadway and North Alder will be closed from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23, for the event.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28, at city hall.