Oroville High School senior Leo Delgado proposed installing irrigation to water the plants and flowers along the Pedestrian Project sidewalk on the south end of town. The drip irrigation would be placed under bark and the pipe would have to cross undernea

OROVILLE – Oroville will continue the popular mosquito spraying program it began last summer and has agreed to combine with Omak and Okanogan on the bid for materials and application.

“I requested to be in the bid with Omak and Okanogan again. I called them and they’ve given us a bid and submitted to us an interlocal agreement with Omak as lead agency. We are planning on doing the same acreage as we did last year, which worked out well,” said Oroville Clerk Kathy Jones.

Chris Branch, director of Community and Economic Development, said he had received a phone call from fellow planner Kurt Danison about SEPA requirements for mosquito spraying.

“I liked the term Kathy used, Omak is ‘lead agency,’ so they do the SEPA,” said Branch.

The council agreed to the continuation of the mosquito program, which includes spraying both inside the city limits and outside the city limits in the wetland areas. Before the spraying is done, advertisements regarding the program will be taken outlining the spray area.

“Next week is the Arbor Day Celebration and Streetscape and the tree board want to plant a tree again. Last year we purchased a tree and the state reimbursed us. We have the opportunity to do that again,” said Branch, who suggested the tree be planted near the Camaray Motel.

Branch told the council the Arbor Day Celebration will be at Centennial Park starting at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 26.

Oroville High School student Leo Delgado appeared before council and gave a presentation on his proposed Senior Project. He asked permission to install a drip irrigation system to water the flowers and plants that were planted along the new pedestrian sidewalk project on the south end of town.

“We’d like to put in irrigation for Kat Lidstrand’s project,” said Delgado, who is working on the project with fellow senior Ned Mathis.

Delgado said the project would require quite a lot in materials, but Councilman Walt Hart III, who owned a house in the area, had agreed to donate the water.

Rod Noel, superintendent of public works, suggested the senior telephone the proper agencies before doing any digging to make sure electrical, phone and any other potential underground utilities were marked out. He said there was a toll free number he could call.

Delgado estimated the cost of materials to be $220 and Councilman Tony Koepke made a motion to approve the project and fund up to $300 for materials. The motion was seconded by Councilman Jon Neal and passed.

“It sure has been an improvement with what has already been done there,” said Councilman Ed Naillon, referring to Lidstrand’s beautification work.

Arnie Marchand, representing the Okanogan Borderlands Historical Society, requested permission to reinstall informational signs on Main Street indicating the location of the Old Depot Museum and information center.

“The picture I gave you shows a post on Highway 97 near Frontier Foods that used to have visitor information or depot with an arrow. We would like to put something up there for the coming season,” said Marchand.

Noel said he thought the state had taken them down and suggested contacting them to put them back up.

Jones reported on the state budget and how cuts may affect the city’s coffers. She said there were some changes in permits and licenses and that the biggest cuts may be in the state liquor taxes the city used to receive prior to a recent citizen’s initiative privatizing liquor sales.

“As far as our loss of liquor taxes it will be between $12,000 and $14,000 from the current expense budget,” Jones said.

Councilwoman Neysa Roley reported that her nomination to the Okanogan County Public Health Board had been approved.

“The latest concern seems to be whooping cough, although it isn’t in Okanogan County, it has been found in all the counties around us,” said Roley. “There is an adult vaccine available and there is a concern that it could very easily come into the county.”