Small Town News

Pine Lodge closure roller coaster, police contract dominate early 2009 news

---

January

State officials recently announced they are likely to close Pine Lodge Corrections Center for Women, the state's only all-female correction facility east of the Cascades, by February of 2010. News came after Gov. Chris Gregoire released a proposed 2009-2010 biennial budget calling for drastic cuts in spending to repair a $5.7 billion revenue shortfall. DOC officials said the cuts are being considered due to lower than expected inmate increases this year and an aging facility, but employees point to high accreditation scores and say the 359-bed facility is the most efficient for costs per female offender in the state.

Brothers Carl and Craig Grubb opened the Jensen Memorial Youth Ranch on 105 acres outside Medical Lake. Carl Grubb said he envisions the ranch as a central location for youth to do 4-H and FFA projects. The ranch is named to honor brothers Dana and John Jensen who died serving in Vietnam and whose parents once owned the land.

Record snowfall of just over 59 inches is putting Medical Lake's maintenance crews and limited snow removal equipment to the test, prompting officials to rent a front-end loader, purchase a new tractor and snow blower and ask for help removing snow from the many vacated commercial lots downtown from property owners. Medical Lake School District kept students home for three days so far this year.

Medical Lake's Parks and Recreation Department recently hired recreation coordinator Ashlee King to replace the former coordinator Jessica Roberts, who became the city's new court administrator in Decernber. The staff changes come as the city continues its fourth month of advertising for a new police chief, which has so far yielded less than 10 applications. The city has been a year without a full time chief and is considering contracting law enforcement services.

Medical Lake High School senior Natalie Szabo won the top award of $30,000 in the VFW "Voices of Democracy" essay contest. Szabo was named one of six princesses on the Spokane Lilac Festival Royalty Court.

February, City Administrator Doug Ross outlined the price of two levels of possible Emergency Medical Service for the city. One calls for five full time responders at a cost of $378,900 per year and the other would offer eight full time staff for $606,240. The current cost for the volunteer EMS and fire departments in Medical Lake is $202,396. Ross said the estimates demonstrate that the city is not in a financial position to afford full time EMS services. "If we could afford it we would have done it 10 years ago" he said.

Construction is well underway on a new 65-unit Medical Lake apartment complex north of the city on SR-902, tentatively named Medical Lake Road Apartments. Work started late last fall after developers purchased the acreage from local business owner Denny McDaniel.

Medical Lake residents continued grilling the city council about the possibility of a full-time fire department and expressed concerns about missed emergency assist calls. City officials responded that the city would be unable to afford such a change, adding that they're working on an improved services plan that includes the city's volunteer fire department.

City administrators met Feb. 20 with Spokane city officials to discuss conditions of an interlocal agreement proposal where Spokane would provide seasonal water to the city through its recently constructed water main along Craig Road and SR-902. Conditions on Medical Lake include showing proof the city has ordinances in place for residential irrigation restrictions, supports all future annexation within the West Plains urban growth area by the city of Spokane and gives up control of its own water system. Administrators are "still optimistic" an agreement can be reached, but no future meetings have been scheduled with Spokane officials at this time. March 5

The city council heard from Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Kne-zovich about what contracting city police services would mean for the city. Council members questioned Knezovich on everything from the increased amount of county presence in the city, to whether or not city police would keep their cars and uniforms. Contracting police services has been an issue ever since the city's long search to replace former police chief Tony Harbold unearthed no qualified applicants. Medical Lake's commercial growth has been consistently slow in recent years and business owners agree that the economic downturn isn't helping matters. Denny's Harvest Foods owner Denny McDaniel said his store has seen about a quarter drop in sales since Wal-Mart opened outside Airway Heights in late 2007. Village Supply owner Guy Kaplan said this recession is the worst he's seen since his family took over in 1976.

Medical Lake could be one of several Washington state municipalities getting federal disaster money in the coming months from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after submitting a damage report showing costs incurred during severe winter storms. Ross estimated the city had about $424 36 in disaster response costs from Dec. 12, 2008 to Jan. 5, 2009.

Officials asked the city council for direction on a possible County police contract. Some council members expressed reluctance to support it before seeing the contract's details and cost. Others noted that a public comment period is needed before the county presents any such contract.

April

City planner Glenn Scholten told, the Medical Lake Planning Commission they'd be busy updating ordinances in the city municipal code over the next several months, including zoning, subdivision and planning sections. Updates will include fixing old language, updating data and rewriting or eliminating obsolete parts. The commission also discussed the need for a citizen-organized nonprofit group like Cheney's Pathways to Progress that could tackle the city's downtown revitalization issues.

Medical Lake officials confirmed that city police Sgt. Joseph Mehrens pleaded guilty to fourth degree assault charges brought against him by a female coworker last year and will remain on administrative leave from the city while they proceed with the proper review process. Mehrens took the Alford plea in the case, allowing him to assert innocence while acknowledging sufficient evidence exists for a conviction.

The Medical Lake School District is waiting to hear if they'll receive levy dollars as Gov. Gregoire decides whether or not to move more costs onto local districts by imposing higher levy equalizations. Superintendent Pam Veltri said that if the state chooses to do this it would be devastating to "property poor" school districts that can't collect levies at higher percentages. Cuts made by the legislature have created an estimated $584,000 net decrease in state revenue for MLSD.

May

Eighteen months of work on the Eastern Washington State Veterans Cemetery project culminated in a groundbreaking on Memorial Day, May 25, in Medical Lake. A crowd of several hundred gathered to mark the start of the 110-acre, $9.2 million project that will serve an estimated 140,000 veterans and their families. The cemetery will open Memorial Day of 2010.

The founders of the Jensen Memorial Youth Ranch hope to remodel and enlarge Medical Lake's Masonic Lodge, at the corner of Stanley and Percival Street into a community center for local organizations and residents to host their special events. The group is asking City Council for a 17-foot street vacation in order to expand the building for a commercial-sized kitchen.

The City Council unanimously approved a resolution declaring the city's intention to pursue a police services contract with the Spokane County Sheriff's Office. Officials said attempts to recruit a new police chief and retain enough officers have created potential coverage problems for the city. The resolution isn't binding and is simply a way for the mayor to make sure the council wants the city to continue on the path toward a contract.

June

The state Department of Ecology is asking Medical Lake to adopt a new, research-based rating system to classify registered wetlands. The system indicates six types of wetlands exist in Eastern Washington. The old system, in use for about 20 years, classifies some area wetlands as category 3 buffer zones. The new system may change some of these to category 1 or 2 types, which would be subject to greater building and use restrictions.

Pine Lodge announced that the DOC will close one of the facility's living units by July 1 as the state looks for cost-saving strategies. The move, preferable to the previously discussed option of closing the entire facility, still reduces inmate capacity by half, from 359 to 187, and eliminates 30 staff positions. DOC spokesperson Maria Peterson said a hiring freeze could allow many Pine Lodge employees to stay in their positions or to move to state jobs nearby at Airway Heights Corrections. She said Pine Lodge was singled out because it's one of the few facilities where a unit could be closed while keeping both the prison and programs in place. "I really want to make it clear that Pine Lodge is not closing," she said.

Gov. Gregoire announced that clean water projects across the state will receive a total of $65.4 million in federal stimulus funding. The Airway Heights water reclamation and recharge project is at the top of a list of 57 projects due to its "shovel ready" status and will receive approximately $23 million in funding.

Medical Lake resident Sandy Staples presented the City Council with a petition for keeping the local police force in place instead of contracting out to either Airway Heights or the Spokane County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement services. Mayor John Hig-gins told Staples the council has been discussing the proposal for a year and a half now and must move toward a decision soon.

The 38* annual Founder's Day celebration was held June 19-21 with an arts and crafts fair and loads of activities, including the annual Trailblazer Mini-triathlon, the Pick and Roll 3-on-3 basketball tournament and a Friends for Children softball tournament.

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at ruan@cheneyfreepress.com. 2009: Medical Lake Year In Review Part 1



Copyright 2009 Cheney Free Press, Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 Cheney Free Press Cheney, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

More from Cheney Free Press