FORKS — With a busy year behind it, the Forks city government has less planned for 2015 and is looking forward to getting back to everyday tasks.
“We have been dealing with a whole variety of issues in the last few years,” Mayor Bryon Monohon said in his annual State of the City address.
The year ahead will focus on staff career development and training, and continued upgrades on city finance, Monohon said.
“We’re going to mind our own business and stay out of people’s lives,” he said.
Monohon delivered the address to an audience of about 50 at Wednesday’s luncheon meeting of the Forks Chamber of Commerce in JT’s Sweet Stuffs banquet room.
Monohon, who is the administrator under Forks’ “strong mayor” form of municipal government, noted that the city has completed several major projects in the past few years.
In addition, he said, the City Council and staff have recently completed several new ordinances that took more than a year to draft and approve, including two animal-control measures that increase supervision over animals while limiting the number on any given property.
Monohon said the ordinances, which includes new dog registration and “close control” requirements, are not yet being aggressively enforced.
“We need to start with the education component first,” he said.
The city Public Works Department, which has completed seven major projects since 2013, has no major improvement projects planned in the near future, he said.
But Monohon said that doesn’t mean there will be none.
“They tend to find us,” he noted.
Monohon said that despite the many projects completed, the city has no debt.
The city, he said, remains committed to the support of the timber industry and families affected by changes in the industry.
Interfor shut down its Forks planer mill and Beaver sawmill last June, eliminating 87 family-wage jobs.
“If you are an Interfor family or if you know of an Interfor family that is struggling, will you please let me know at City Hall?” Monohon said.
“I’m getting bits and pieces of situations but no names and few details. We are here to help.”
The planer mill has eight years remaining on a 10-year lease with the city, he said.
Monohon said a proposal to replace the Forks mill with a brewery is still in its earliest stages, and there have been no further indications from the principals as to whether the city might be selected.
In December, Forks emerged as one of the top two of four cities in Washington state being considered for a new Eco Frack Inc. brewery, which eventually could provide more than 120 jobs.
In addition to the loss of jobs at Interfor, crime has been another challenge to the city, Monohon said.
“The drug trade has changed a lot in the past two years,” he said.
The trend, including drug use, is not just a Forks problem but a national issue, the mayor added.
He also noted that some people are finding the right help to “get on the right path.”
Getting to Forks continues to be an ongoing need for residents without cars, or those who may prefer to leave their cars at home, he said.
Clallam Transit provides the city with its basic transportation needs, said Monohon, who also sits on the Transit Board.
However, transit patterns have changed in the wake of the completion of the new Peninsula College campus in Forks, he said.
Monohon said ridership on some runs during the day has dropped, reflecting the number of students who are able to take classes at the expanded Forks campus rather than having to travel to the main Port Angeles campus.
Route 14’s late-evening run from Port Angeles to Forks is very crowded, and he said he would support moving one of the less-popular runs to a second evening run to serve those who need late westbound trips.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
