April 2023
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CITY MANAGER’S NEWSLETTER - APRIL 2023 WEIGH IN ON THE FUTURE OF BANDON PARKS Our Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission has created a survey to gain more public input on the future of our city parks. You can find the survey here: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7191037/Community-Survey-on-Parks-and-Rec... You may pick up a paper copy at City Hall at the front desk. The results so far tell us a few things:
The Parks and Recreation Commission and City Staff are looking into replacing the rubber mulch in the playground. According to the manufacturer, it is past its useful life. The City needs to decide on a fall-protection solution when we install the new playground equipment that is in the works. A poured-in-place soft rubber compound is state of the art, but beyond our ability to afford. |
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PROPOSED 2023-24 BUDGET We are working to finalize the proposed budget for the City. There are only a few major ongoing changes proposed this year. Given that the community’s highest priority is public safety, we plan to add a 7th Police Officer. Beyond adding a police officer, the General Fund should be able to provide the same level of service as last year, mostly because of the increase in Transient Occupancy Tax. This will change if water, sewer, and electric rates are unable to keep up with inflation. Rising costs for everything means that we will be putting much less money into the Rainy Day Reserve than in the previous two years. Other proposed items are an expenditure of tourism facility restricted funds on a plan for the pedestrian-bike path along Beach Loop Drive, beginning with a feasibility study. |
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PROJECT UPDATES The cost to replace the siding at the Sprague Theater is now approaching $900,000. This will deplete the available funds in Urban Renewal District 2 if the work is done as a single job, leaving no funds available for other projects in the district, including City Park. We may instead obtain bids for the west and south sides, which are in the worst shape. We recently had a sewer backup in the Sprague, which shut down the theater for most of the past month. We have filed an insurance claim for the remediation costs. The work on the seismic upgrade to one of our water storage tanks has started. This will include new seismic valves and a recoating of the inside of the tank. We will likely have another major paving package in the 2024-25 Budget. It is more cost-effective to combine paving projects into large packages. At the sewer plant, the Headworks Project contract has been awarded and the work will be completed as soon as equipment is available from the manufacturers. The engineering and design for the Filmore Pump Station is underway. COOS COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICE DISTRICT LOOKING AT CHANGES TO BANDON LIBRARY FUNDING Bandon’s library receives most of its funding from the Library Service District. The District is looking at changes to how libraries are funded. The current funding model is a mystery, and the District is considering some formulas that base more of the funding on actual usage. What we are learning is that Bandon’s library has not received its fair share of funds for years. Under the various formulas presented, Bandon would receive $50,000 to $100,000 in additional funding each year. For example, Bandon’s Library receives less than Coquille, but has more usage. While they do provide additional services, the Coos Bay and North Bend libraries receive additional “base” funding that is not firmly tied to any objective measure that we can discern. The Coos County Commissioners are the governing body for the Library Service District. CITY PARK CLEANUP DAY IS APRIL 29th from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM |
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