By DAVID TELLER
Staff Reporter
Even though the country is in a financial crisis and the city suffered damaged from last winter's snowstorms, all is well according to Cheney Mayor Allan Gainer.
In a town hall meeting on April 9 that was held in the Cheney City Council chambers, Gainer reassured citizens that, after a recent budget meeting, the city is in good condition.
“We're doing just fine,” Gainer said.
He added that the city is looking forward to some economic stimulus and federal grant funding and that he is proud of the city workers for how they handled the emergency situations last January.
Looking forward, Gainer said the city is getting ready for Cheney Pride day on May 9, and Mayfest on May 30. What he is especially excited about, the Washington State Masters Criterium Championship on June 27.
City Administrator Arlene Fisher said between the finance report that is due, and getting the Public Works Department's projects started, spring is the busiest time of the year.
She said the city had budgeted to use about $723,000 in reserves, but only actually used a little over $347,000, which is less than half of what she had expected. She added that all department heads know what they should be spending and she reviews all the figures closely.
“They know I'm watching,” Fisher said.
The city's income looks promising. Over the first quarter of the year, Fisher said the city has received 23.6 percent of its projected revenue amount, which is a good start on the year.
“With everything we're dealing with, that is excellent,” Fisher said in a telephone interview. She added that this does not mean the department heads have stopped being cautious about their spending.
Police Chief Jeff Sale spoke on the increase in Uniform Crime Reports saying that nine of 10 categories that the department tracks show an increase. The biggest jump is the number of assaults, which is up 271 percent from last year at this time. He said he is not sure if the problem is the economy, too much “cooped up” time from a hard winter or if there is something else driving the increase. He said the department would look into the stats for patterns once the statistics for next month when they become available.
Sale said the proposed camera system for downtown Cheney would be presented to the City Council on the April 14 meeting.
Light Department director Joe Noland said there is going to be a city wide power outage requested by Bonneville Power Administration on Sunday June 21, from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m. for scheduled maintenance in the electrical equipment that serves the city. Noland said the work is being done to stay in compliance with federal safety and reliability codes, which needs to be done about every 10 years.
David Teller can be reached at dteller@cheneyfreepress.com
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