Story by Rodger Nichols for Gorge Country Media
The Dalles City Council and some very patient citizens hung around for a marathon 4-hour session last night. There were some interesting tidbits along the way. During the reports from councilors, Rod Runyon shared a statistic from the dedication last week of the new 28 million dollar water system that Google donated to the city.
“One of the engineers told me, and maybe the group heard it. More than 100 gallons of excess water, above and beyond anything that Google uses will be sitting there for the city. This is a long term decade for decade for decade to water for our area.”
The majority of the meeting was taken up with discussion and audience input around a proposed massive revamping of the city’s dog license ordinance, which will require every dog owner in the city limits to buy a license and provide proof the dog has a current rabies vaccination. There were a lot of other requirements. City Manager Matthew Klebes mentioned one:
“The other item I have here are leashes. Again, this was something that we talked about at a prior city council meeting. The proposed ordinance sets up a clear leash law. When a dog is off the keeper’s property it must be on a hand-held leash under the keeper’s control.”
Ultimately, the council postponed action pending more research.
They did the same with a proposed business license for The Dalles.
Economic Development Director Jake Anderson mentioned this statistic:
“102 out of 241 total cities have a business license in this state, but 77 cities out of the 241 cities are above 5,000 in population”
The point is that even small cities have business licenses. That includes such thriving metropolises at Nehalem, with a population of 272, has a business license, as do Gates, Oregon with 418 people, Chiloquin with 772 and Garabaldi with 820.
That’s on hold for the moment, due to a divided council, but one thing they all agreed on: that if they did a business license, it would be minimal, not intended as a fundraiser.