Milton-Freewater City Manager Linda Hall, center, accepts a service plaque and hug from Milton-Freewater Mayor Lewis Key. Hall is retiring at the end of January after 31 years of working for city government. From left are City Councilors Brad Humbert, Steve Irving and Jose Garcia.

MILTON-FREEWATER — At retiring City Manager Linda Hall’s final city council meeting Jan. 8, the ending was a traditional sendoff, including praise and acknowledgements, but the meeting overall brought a variety of ongoing concerns to light.

Mayor Lewis Key presented Hall with a plaque for her 31 years of service to the city, 16 of those as city manager. Key and the six council members gave Hall kudos and recalled some of her best examples of leadership.

Included among those was when, a decade ago, Hall did the heavy lifting to fight a federal ruling designating most of Milton-Freewater’s footprint as a flood zone.

The determination forced thousands of homeowners to buy unnecessary flood insurance, city officials said. Hall’s work at getting that designation removed saved people thousands of dollars a year.

Prior to that moment of gratitude for Hall’s long tenure, however, the meeting had instances fraught with tension between council members and residents.

It was not dissimilar to December’s city council meeting, when some attendees came with lists of questions for the council.

In an email to city staff on Wednesday, Jan. 10, Hall updated employees on department retirements and the current recruiting effort to fill her position.

Electric Superintendent Mike Watkins retired Jan. 12, but will be contracted back as a retiree to work through March 1, she wrote.

In the email, which the East Oregonian obtained, Hall also urged employees to not give in to negativity or animosity from the public.

That message was intended to encourage staff to stay positive through the transitions and pressure, Hall said.

The city’s employees are feeling “strain and stress” about the many changes coming, including a handful of retirements by other department heads.

Staff is holding up well, Hall said, but an apparent wave of anger from some of the public can be draining.

Construction delays ahead

The January agenda reflected the continued set backs in opening the city’s new police station, originally slated to be complete in October 2023.

The biggest issue is receiving the electrical panel that was ordered a year ago but will not be shipped until mid- to late February at the earliest, Hall said.

The estimated costs of that delay and others are adding up, according to city officials:

• $8,000 — furniture and equipment must be left in storage with the manufacturers until the building is ready.

• $72,000 — back-to-back contract extensions for FFA Architecture.

• $56,000 — a four-month extension to the Wenaha Group for serving as the city’s representative with contractors.

• $1,000-$1,500 per month — paid to Hall post-retirement at $80 per hour for her to be project manager of the police station build and supervise public works department director, Brian Steadman.

The plan is for Hall to work until the new estimated building completion date of late April. Brian Steadman will continue to report to Hall for now to avoid a conflict of interest because his wife, Leanne Steadman, was moved into the assistant city manager position after a city council executive session in November. She will be acting city manager as of Feb. 1.

About $523,000 had been saved through design changes to the police station project, Hall said Jan. 8, and the city has a project contingency fund of $364,000.

That fund remains untouched for now, thanks to an Oregon state grant that is paying costs not covered by the $7.7 million bond approved by voters in 2021.

“I am going to do everything we can do to protect that budget,” Hall said.

As well, she said, general contractor S&K Mountain Construction is paying a fine to the city of $500 per each day the building is not substantially completed.

As of Jan. 8, those fines came to $20,500.

It’s called “liquidated damages,” and those — in a reasonable dollar figure so as not to scare off bidders — are generally inserted into a contract to motivate and ensure the builder finishes in time, Hall later explained.

The council voted unanimously to approve the extra costs.