FORKS — “The proposed 2020 annual budget continues a theme of doing more with less,” Forks Mayor Tim Fletcher said at the annual State of the City address.
Fletcher addressed the Forks Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 29.
The current estimate for the beginning balance fund in 2020 is $575,585, Fletcher said, comparing it to the 2019 beginning balance of $412,019.
“We are striving to use our community’s tax dollars as effectively as possible,” Fletcher said.
He said governmental entities should maintain in its general fund no less than two months operating expenditures. Based on the 2020 budget, the city of Forks will have just under three and a half months of reserves, he told the group.
Fletcher spoke about 2019 highlights: three new police vehicles, $1.9 million water tank rehab, street improvements and sidewalks, updated equipment at the wastewater treatment plant, the addition of a second certified wastewater operator, the replacement of 800 feet of water line and the removal of dangerous trees around a well house.
The city also welcomed three new employees.
The mayor acknowledged improvements made by the Hoh Tribe. He talked of the flagpole project at Tillicum Park, which was a joint effort of the city, Lloyd Allen Trust, Lions Club and many volunteers. Also the new Long Term Care Bus is now offering opportunities for residents to get out and participate in community events.
“None of these projects would have been possible without the support of our community and its volunteers,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher called Forks a community supportive of its veterans and offered a personal story about a Vietnam veteran who told him after the dedication of the flagpole that it was the first time since coming home from his service that he had felt welcomed home.
Fletcher said he is dedicated to increasing access to internet service.
“The city will be helping Clallam County with a rural broadband feasibility study for the West End,” Fletcher said.
Areas of interest will be gaps in service, demand from business, individuals, schools, medical and first responders and city and tribal needs.
In 2020, the public works department will get some replacements for its fleet; many of its vehicles are well over 25 years old, Fletcher said.
City workers are in the process of reconditioning a water well on the former site of Forks Sand and Gravel, located near the end of West Division Street, the mayor said. A state Department of Ecology grant is helping to fund the project.
The city also will work with the Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition to develop a trout pond at the gravel pit located at the same site.
A wood or steel manufacturing space is on the mayors’ radar for 2020, he said.
He said that the Forks Police Department has two new officers now at the Washington State Patrol Academy and that the department under Chief Mike Rowley is working well in the black in his budget.
Rod Fleck, Forks city attorney/planner, spoke of the state Department of Natural Resources’ plan for marbled murrelet habitat and its potential impact.
West End school districts and other junior taxing districts will be greatly impacted, Fleck said.
“The plan included no economic impact,” Fleck said. “Clallam Bay could see a 47 percent impact and the Quillayute Valley School District is not moving forward on replacing their stadium.”
Fletcher said that two events coming up are the 2020 census and an August celebration of Forks’ 75th birthday.
“Without your support, we wouldn’t be the community we are,” Fletcher said. “Our motto for our 75th birthday will be ‘every one counts here.’ ”
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Christi Baron is the editor of the Forks Forum, which is part of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach her at cbaron@forksforum.com.
