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Stayton council narrows focus to West Town, directs staff to pursue multi-pronged funding and draft street-fee resolution
Summary
After a consultant survey that identified $30 million in deferred street maintenance, Stayton council directed staff to prioritize West Town and Kendall Way, pursue design work for other corridors and prepare a fee-schedule resolution (examples discussed: $10–$12 monthly) alongside grant, urban-renewal and general-fund options.
Stayton — City staff and councilors focused the city’s immediate street-repair work on West Town and Kendall Way and asked staff to bring a written resolution to amend the fee schedule as part of a multi-pronged funding plan.
Consultant inventories reviewed by staff showed roughly 40% of Stayton’s streets in poor or very poor condition and an estimated $30,000,000 in deferred maintenance, according to the staff presentation. City Finance Director James Brand said the city currently budgets about $800,000 for street improvements this fiscal year but that project lists identified by consultants total more than $10,000,000.
"My recommendation is West Town," Julia, a city staff presenter, told the council, citing underlying utility conditions that make West Town a feasible constructible project this year. The staff presentation explained that some candidate streets require substantial water-line upgrades that would push costs beyond the available budget and that design typically runs about 10–15% of construction cost.
The council debated how to fund repairs and weighed several tools: a street-fee increase (staff discussed scenarios including raising the monthly fee to roughly $10–$12), transfers from the general fund (councilors discussed a recurring $300,000 target and smaller gestures tied to franchise-fee shares), urban-renewal financing and pursuit of grants. Staff reported the survey showed strong support for using existing general-fund dollars and grants; grants were the most-supported single option and bonds the least-supported.
Several councilors said citizens expect visible fixes to the worst blocks while staff emphasized preventive spending to keep streets from deteriorating further. Councilor McDonald and others urged a combined approach: "We can't not raise the street fee," one councilor said, urging action on fee adjustments while pursuing grants and other revenue.
Councilors and staff agreed on the next steps: staff will draft a well-worded resolution to amend the fee schedule and return options for how any general-fund or franchise-fee contributions might be set; staff will also move forward with design work for prioritized corridors (West Town and Kendall Way) and begin design for North Third and Hollister as funding allows. Staff said a resolution amending the fee schedule would be an amendment to the fee schedule and can be implemented after appropriate outreach.
The council did not adopt a fee increase at this meeting; instead members provided policy direction for staff to prepare formal budget and ordinance/resolution language for a future council vote.
