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Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brian Stout, Former President Trump, Henry Heimuller, Joe Biden, Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, Joe Biden’s dogs, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Bill’s Standard Disclaimer
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Mayor and City of St. Helens council selling the taxpayers with the corruption of borrowed unaccounted for money, Horse trading in land deals, resulting in losses for the taxpayers.
One Born Every Minute
When does a city become carnival barkers, horse traders, flimflam men, and snake oil salesmen? Well you have all this happening in the City of St. Helens. The city has decided that they will have their new police station come hell or high water, which will actually be in high water. Why you ask? Simply they are going to build the new station in a flood plain. In order to bring the land up higher to try and not have the facility under water if there is a flood event, the city decided to bring in fill dirt to increase the height of the property, except they can’t increase the height in the area where the entrance will be. So much for getting into the facility during a flood. So the city purchased dirt from a pit out of county, and in their wisdom decided they would also “trade” a couple of commercial lots located by the new Burger King and Dari Queen area. The commercial lots were valued at $68,000 two years ago, and actually would increase in price as the value increased because of the development, which by the way the city did not get appraised again. So let’s say we will continue to use the deflated price. So the city traded these parcels for 3,600 yards of fill. The value of the dirt would be at retail value approximately $48,000 at $13.05 per yard. Well…. Of course that’s a high value and we must deduct , because, What is the Average Markup Price? Since markup is the difference between the selling price and the cost of the product, there is no such thing as an average markup price. Rather, there is an average markup percentage–which is typically 50%. This means the city gave away the $68,000 value for $24,000 resulting in a $44,000 loss of taxpayer dollars, of course this is approximate numbers because we don’t have the current property value, but still gives you an idea how poorly the city of St Helens is managing the city coffers aka your money! Let’s not forget that the city did not out put any bids for the job, which is illegal, did not follow their own planning commission’s ruling on permits, which were denied…. but over ruled the commission, ignoring their decision. Why is it such a cluster? The city has spent several millions on this project with an architecture…. , didn’t have a limit on the building the first time, then decided to redraw costing millions more. Another interesting aspect of the citys over ruling of the planning commission is that a new city councilmen had been on the planning commission and had voted no to the permit, he again voted no as city council, but was out voted by the other council folks. I understand there is a group of folks now appealing the citys questionable decision to Oregons Appeals Court. Then of course there is the issue of where is several million dollars from the borrowed $12.5 million. After several public record requests from taxpayers inquiring about this, the taxpayers are no closer to finding the answer because the city has neglected to present the documents to the record requests. The city has had ample time to follow the law but had failed and I believe deliberately so. Where has these millions went? Then they have not paid the county any depletion fee’s on the transported dirt, while that is a minimal amount, it is still money owed to the county coffers. After all would the county or city allow you to skip paying $140 or so dollars if you owed it. I think not. I personally talked to the city planner who, sent me to the building dept. who they sent me to the city administrator, who didn’t know anything and they all knew nothing about the Depletion fee or in what the Ordinance actually says. Or if any were paid. I can’t really speak to why the city is so daft. Below is a section of the Depletion and Natural Resource fee ordinance NOW, THEREFORE, lT lS HEREBY ORDERED as follows ( Board of county commissioners) 1. The Board adopts the following findings of fact A. The Depletion Fee Ordinance (Ordinance No. 90-20, as amended) imposes, a depletion fee when natural resources are severed and depleted for commercial, construction or industrial use within Columbia County, and a transportation fee when natural resources are transported into the County for commercial, construction or industrial use within Columbia County. For the purposes of this ordinance, “natural resources” includes but is not limited to coal, clay, soil, stone, shale, sand, gravel, metallic ore, or aggregate. Reads pretty plain to me. How can the city have so many problems? When all they have to do is follow simple rules. I believe they have violated many rules and regulations and will be held accountable for their actions within the law. PT Barnum once said, (There is a Fool Born every Minute) is the fool the taxpayers of the City of St. Helens? You decide. I will keep you updated with any new developments on the issue.
Tammy
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