Following the sudden resignation of the newly-hired city manager, the Burns City Council held a special meeting on Aug. 21 to discuss moving forward in the process of hiring another city manager.

Mayor Jerry Woodfin stated that he didn’t want to put together another hiring committee, as he would prefer that the entire council do the hiring.

Woodfin suggested that the city post the job announcement for 30 days, have the applications submitted to the city, and then have the entire council review them and decide on the final two or three applicants.

The council agreed that the job description needed to be changed to include experience in accounting and Excel.

The council also agreed that there is a need for another office person at city hall. There was some discussion on how the position would be funded and what duties it would include.

At the council’s regular meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 28, the council once again discussed moving forward with the hiring process for a new city manager. Councilor Judy Erwin said she didn’t think 30 days was enough time to conduct a thorough search and make the hire, and that other options were available.

“For years and years and years I’ve heard people say, ‘Why don’t the two cities just consolidate, combine services?’ This might be a good time to start some sort of process like that,” Erwin said. “Like have a shared city administrator that’s split between the two cities.”

She explained that “a lot of things would have to be worked out,” and stated, “If you did that, you could hire somebody to be here full time to help with accounting, help with the budget, he would have to go between the two cities. The city recorder could go between the two cities, and the judge could go between the two cities. The shared expense would allow some money to be freed up here, and time to be freed up here. It’s just a thought.

“I think before we jump out of the frying pan into the fire, and settle for somebody, because I don’t think 30 days is enough time to find somebody, we might want to give a little more thought to other options.”

Woodfin stated that he sat at the table with the city of Hines on multiple occasions and talked about “joining forces,” and the talks were “always shut down by the city of Hines.”

Erwin reiterated that now may be the time then to start looking at other options, despite past results.

“Where I have sat with the city of Hines, I am not willing, me personally, I am not willing to put off hiring a city manager,” Woodfin said.

He added that, if the city of Burns tries to work on a viable sharing solution with the city of Hines, and the process takes three months or so, and Hines bows out because it doesn’t feel it is a viable solution, the city of Burns is that much more behind hiring a city manager.

“That is the situation we’ve encountered every single time I’ve gone to the table with them,” Woodfin said.

Erwin stated that it wouldn’t be easy, but it would be worthwhile to put the effort toward it.

Councilor Liz Appelman said the city of Burns needs to go ahead with hiring a city manager, and the cities could look at sharing employees at a later time.

“I think right now, we really need to go forward right now with hiring somebody because the thing I’m always hearing from the citizens of Hines, and Burns, there’s no way they want to join. And it’s not just the council, it’s the people I’ve talked to in both cities,” Appelman said.

Following some more discussion, Woodfin recommended the council go ahead with the 30-day window to receive applications, and if after that time the council hasn’t received what it’s looking for, the council can extend the time.

Woodfin added that, if the city still doesn’t have a qualified applicant after the extension deadline has passed, the council may have to “step outside the box.”

The council then voted unanimously to approve the hiring procedures for the city manager position.

Next, the council discussed the new job description for the city manger and approved it unanimously.

Regarding the hiring of a part-time office assistant, the council discussed the pros and cons of hiring someone permanently for the job or using a temp service. There was also discussion about how the new position would be funded.

The council agreed that the position is needed, and hiring a part-time person, 20 hours a week, is the best option as long as it fits into the current budget.

The city will advertise for the position until filled.

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Wensenk reported that the city is still working on getting residents to clean up their properties.

“One of the things that is noticeable out there is the chickens, the fowl, the ducks. They’re running in the streets. There are at least a couple locations that are,” she said. “We only have one resident who has a permit for poultry.”

She reviewed the livestock ordinance for the city, which states that a person is able to keep five poultry/fowl in the city, but they must have the space to keep them, and they need to be housed in pens or coops. If a person is found in violation of the zoning ordinance and convicted, they are subject to a fine of not more than $1,000. Each violation and each day that a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense. Wensenk also asked the council if they wanted to adopt the recently-completed Economic Opportunity Analysis as an ordinance and/or as part of the city’s comprehensive plan.

A shorter version of the analysis was also presented as an option to adopt. After some discussion, the council agreed to accept the smaller version drafted as an ordinance and placed into the comp plan.

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In other business:

• Public Works Director Pedro Zabala reported that his department fixed a couple water leaks in the city and helped place a Little Free Library at Triangle Park. He also presented the council with a letter that he received from a citizen who was very appreciative of the help that public works provided with fixing a leak;

• Burns Police Chief Newt SkunkCap said his department responded to 3,174 calls since January of this year, and the Hines Police responded to 1,421 calls. He went on to say that, because the two department work so close together, they worked on the majority of those calls as one.

When asked about the presence of Burns Paiute Tribal Police vehicles in the city, SkunkCap said his department is helping to mentor the new Tribal Police officers, and those officers are certified to write tickets outside the reservation.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11, at city hall.