Members of the Vader City Council convened on Wednesday, Sept. 3, for the first of their two regular monthly meetings.
During the meeting, councilors approved the calendar for the upcoming 2026 Vader city budget drafting process and discussed an ordinance amending business license code concerning those with home occupations.
Vader Mayor Joe Schey also announced that the local nonprofit Friends of Little Falls is hosting its next fundraiser benefit concert at Vader’s McMurphy Park on Sept. 27 to raise money for park improvements. According to the nonprofit’s Facebook page, multiple bands, including 2 Minute Miracle and Zombie Tsunami, will perform.
The previous fundraiser concert held on Aug. 9 started at noon and featured multiple bands, food and craft vendors, a kids zone with a bounce house, a car show and a beer garden. More details will be announced for the Sept. 27 concert on the Friends of Little Falls Facebook page at https://tinyurl.com/3p236xrm.
During the meeting, Vader City Councilor Nicole Hansen also proposed joining in on the nationwide celebration of America's 250th birthday next year after meeting with Washington State Historical Society members.
“They’re asking organizations and cities to support the effort,” Hansen said.
State Historical Society members are creating the official state historical record of the celebration, in which communities like Vader have been invited to submit photos or artifacts to be preserved from their upcoming 250th Fourth of July celebrations.
“They suggested we choose five artifacts and have the citizens vote on which ones they thought best represented us,” Vader City Clerk Kristyn Miller added.
The council liked the idea and supported Hansen signing up the city to participate.
Concerning the budget drafting calendar, the process will unfold between now and the end of 2025 and include announced public hearings.
Per state law, municipalities such as Vader are required to approve annual balanced budgets. Vader’s 2025 budget can be found online at https://tinyurl.com/wnxrrsy5.
While no budget specifics were discussed, councilors did discuss the property tax levy rate, which has not been raised in some time as the council has repeatedly banked its capacity to raise the rate annually by 1%.
“Right now, the city has 12%, 16%, something like that, of banked capacity, because we don’t use it,” Schey said.
He added the current property tax levy in the City of Vader is around $80,000. A public hearing concerning the property tax levy itself is also scheduled.
As for the discussion on business license regulation, the code change is being mandated to align with new state law, Schey explained.
“It wasn’t the city’s choice,” he added.
In the ordinance, some other city code amendments for those with home occupations were outlined — including a possible 10,000-pound weight limit and a limit of the overall number of vehicles home-based businesses can have on the property.
“We don’t have any commercial space in our town for people to build businesses. I don’t want to be the one to thwart that. It’s a tough call for me, when I read that 10,000-pound thing though, that’s … extremely restrictive,” Vader City Councilor Michael Ferguson said.
Ferguson acknowledged the need for some sort of regulation, but wanted further debate concerning what the weight and vehicle limits are for residential-based businesses.
With another regular meeting scheduled later this month on Sept. 17, the council ultimately voted to table the ordinance for further discussion and possible amendments as it has until the end of the month to approve the state-mandated changes.
The Vader City Council meets on the first and third Wednesday every month at 6 p.m. inside Vader City Hall, located at 317 Eighth St. in Vader. For more information, visit the city’s website at https://www.vaderwa.org/.
