Cashmere City Council Meeting May 5

Corporal Monika Haynes and Sheriff Mike Morrison addressed the Cashmere City Council at their May 5 meeting. Haynes told the Council that she will be the Sheriff department’s liaison to Cashmere, and that she has been with the department for almost 27 years. She said that she is looking to find out what the city needs from the department. She explained that 4 homeless individuals in Cashmere “create a lot of chaos” that requires a law enforcement response. The agency is well acquainted with the 4 individuals, and she said that Mr. (M.) Taber has been in custody for about a month. The Corporal highlighted the “immense success” of the partnership with the Behavior Health Unit in addressing some of the concerns with the local homeless issues. Morrison told the Council that there is a lot of money and resources in the county to help people that are willing to take the help, if they want to take it. In response to a comment from Councilwoman, Shela Pistoresi, about the receptivity of specific homeless individuals to help, Morrison recommended that the community apply “tough love” and not provide food and shelter to them. He explained that there are millions of dollars and tax-funded facilities that are available to help the local mentally ill homeless. However, according to the Sheriff, when things are “provided… for free, he knows that he can survive and he doesn’t have to abide by rules and continues to make poor decisions in his life, because we are enabling him.” Morrison acknowledges that this goes against the generosity of Cashmere residents, but that it would be helpful if the community would stop providing these individuals with food. Graffiti was a concern raised by Council member John Perry. Haynes said she has been in touch with the School Resource Officer in Cashmere, to address the issue and to identify suspects. The partnerships with the school are positive and beneficial. However, she said that a new state law does not allow law enforcement officers to question juveniles, Morrison added that a defense attorney must be contacted. He said this can make investigations more difficult, but these are the current rules that the department must follow. Haynes said that is very important for community members to call in and let law enforcement know what is going on. Responding to a question from Perry, Haynes said that the graffiti activity does not appear to be gang related. Morrison told the Council that it would be beneficial for the city and others to document the amount of time and money spent cleaning up the damage so that information can be turned over to prosecutors.

Morrison explained that he was into his 5th month on the job, and he wants to establish relationships with communities served by the department and has assigned liaisons with those communities to establish open lines of communication with the mayor and city council. He said that the traffic enforcement unit had not met their marks for several years and public works had mentioned pulling funding, so he has pulled the units from other duties to allow them additional time for traffic enforcement tasks.

To address a potential state law that could make drugs legal in the state, he said that he does not agree with the potential law and the department is already talking with county commissioners and the prosecutor to develop a local ordinance to make drugs illegal in Chelan County. He added that he is talking with surrounding counties to create a unified ordinance.

According to Sheriff Morrison the department is the only agency in the region without body cameras, and he has been in touch with Representative Kim Schrier to secure approximately $700,000 for cameras.

Mayor Jim Fletcher asked the Sheriff what Cashmere residents should be aware of, that may not be obvious. Morrison replied that everyone should look out for their neighbors and call law enforcement if they see something that doesn’t seem right. Haynes added that a 911 call is justifiable for reporting suspicious behavior. Even though Cashmere is a small town and good place to live, the Sheriff said that residents should still lock their doors and cars, don’t present yourself as a target.

In other business, a change order for approximately $95,000 was unanimously approved by a Council vote. The change was a result of work to connect underground water service lines that had begun on South Division Street. However, the buried pipes’ locations and sizes were different than expected, with some pipes being 4 inches in diameter and others being 6 inches. The Council members debated the merits of just connecting the different sized pipes for about $8000 or replacing the smaller pipes with 6-inch pipes and bringing the entire section “up to standards”, with a cost of about $95,000. Fletcher explained that the money could be pulled from the reserves budget. Council member Derrick Pratt asked if there was any reason to think that there were no other sections of 4-inch pipe. Perry made the motion to approve the full upgrade but only if it was confirmed that there was only one section of small pipe that needed to be replaced.

With little discussion, the Council unanimously approved the purchase of two evaporative coolers from Global Industrial for $6625.66 for the wastewater treatment plant. These would be used to cool two blower rooms at the facility.