Members of the Morton City Council convened on Monday, June 22, for their regular monthly meeting inside the East Lewis County city’s Bob Lyle Community Center.
Most of the meeting was standard, with councilors holding friendly discussion regarding agenda items.
However, a request to censure Councilor Jeff Johnson made by Councilor Jason Knutson failed.
The request was made following after Johnson, acting as mayor pro tem during the council’s April meeting, got into an argument with an attendee during public comment concerning allegations he was publicly disparaging both Knutson and Councilor Jason Sawyer while talking with a constituent at a public yard sale, as previously reported by The Chronicle.
Look for an in-depth story on the failed censuring attempt in the next edition of The Chronicle.
As for the meeting, councilors approved a number of other agenda items, starting with surplusing a pair of old Dodge Ram 2500 trucks, one from 1996 and the other a 1999. According to Morton City Clerk LuAnn Ward, both trucks have been out of service for a while and need multiple repairs.
“These are the two you don’t see driving through town anymore, because they’re embarrassingly scary,” Ward said. “One of them you have to use a string for the windshield wiper, and both of them, the passenger doors are bungie-corded.”
Additionally, councilors approved entering into a new lease agreement with Peak Credit Union to install a new ATM at Morton City Hall.
Previously, a Peak Credit Union ATM had been located at the corner of Main Avenue and First Street in downtown Morton, but the ATM had been broken into multiple times over the years, Ward explained.
“The last time it got broken into, (Peak) said they were no longer going to put it back, because they were done. The insurance company wasn’t going to cover it anymore,” Ward said.
With Umpqua Bank having removed its old ATM on the side of Morton City Hall, Ward contacted Peak to see if they would be interested in using the vacant ATM wall mount at city hall, ensuring Morton residents, many of whom bank with Peak, according to Ward, still have a local branch ATM.
“Also, then we didn’t have to come up with the money to fix the hole in the wall,” Ward added.
Peak agreed to a 5-year lease, being charged a total of $10 a month for rent and electricity to allow Peak to install their ATM.
Councilors also approved an ordinance adding a section for councilor committee reports during future city council meetings, and a “complete street” ordinance — which established the new chapter 12.40 in the Morton Municipal Code mandating any future road projects account for all users, not just motorists, in order to encourage healthy active living.
According to the council’s agenda report, “‘complete street’ means a street that is designed to be safe and accessible for all: drivers, bicyclists, transit riders and vehicles, freight vehicles, emergency service providers and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.”
