Othello council seeks more info on district court costs

OTHELLO — While the city of Othello is willing to pay more to Adams County for District Court, council members said Monday they were frustrated the county was doing little to justify demands for an increase in Othello’s contribution.

“We have to be able to justify what we spend,” said outgoing two-term Council member Eugene Bain, who was defeated by Jonathan Erickson in November.

At the heart of the dispute between the city and Adams County is the $92,000 the city currently pays each year to support the District Court in Othello, with the county keeping all fines and forfeitures (around $140,000 per year), according to a city document.

During a regular meeting on Monday, Mayor Shawn Logan said the city has offered to pay Adams County an additional $20,000 per year, but Adams County initially demanded a doubling of Othello’s contribution to $184,000 per year plus a 4 percent increase each year over three years.

The city rejected that offer and scheduled a meeting with county officials in mid-November to make a counter offer. However, according to Logan, because city officials were unable to make that meeting, the county reiterated its demand to double the annual fee and raised the annual increase to 7 percent.

“The county gave Othello until Dec. 20 to accept the offer, or a year to start our own court,” Logan told council members.

“It’s in no one’s interest to create a separate court. It will cost us and the county more, and citizens will lose,” Logan added.

Logan said that Othello District Court costs have increased 26 percent since 2017, a far greater increase than the court’s caseload.

“We should continue to work toward a resolution, but the county needs to justify these costs,” said Council member Genna Dorow. “We never got any actual numbers.”

And while the council decided to ask the county for more detailed information, there was also a sense the city was going to find negotiating or even getting information out of the county difficult.

“It seems to me like they aren’t going to budge,” said Council member Angel Garza.

Council members also continued their long, ongoing consideration of a revamp of the city’s zoning code, with attorney Steve Sackmann telling the council that he was concerned that the proposed new zoning laws would make it more difficult for owners of commercial property to turn their buildings into residential space.

“We all know commercial space doesn’t rent in this city,” Sackmann told council members. “We need the housing.”

Sackmann owns a building at the corner of South Fifth Avenue and East Hemlock Street, just west of City Hall, and while the building was originally built as a commercial office complex, he said he currently lives in two-thirds of it.

“I cannot commercially rent (the whole building) out, but I do rent out a few offices,” he said.

He told council members that the proposed C-2 zoning would not give him the option to convert the entire building to residential, and it’s an option he wants.

The proposed zoning rules would also prevent the Port of Othello from residential construction on about 70 acres it owns at the southwest corner of SR-26 and 14th Avenue.

“The solution is to simply allow residential in C-2 and C-3,” Sackmann said.

Council member John Lallas told Sackmann that because his building fronted on two private parking lots rather than a public street, any changes he would make would require an independent judgment from a hearing examiner under any zoning rule.

“You’re unique, and it would take a decision,” Lallas said. “Old or new zoning, an additional decision would be needed.”

Lallas added that the city is considering revamping its zoning rules to make things “more flexible” for property owners, and not less.

“We’ve added more uses,” he said.

However, the council made no decisions about zoning on Monday, and decided to continue discussing the issue at its first meeting in January.

“Lucky for all of us that decision isn’t being made tonight,” Logan said. “We need to take a look at some of these issues.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.