At their June 16 meeting, the Port Orford City Council approved the first reading of the ordinance to amend the Wastewater Facilities Plan. This time, instead of a 4 to 2 vote, three councilors voted Yes, and 3 voted No. The mayor, speaking by phone, broke the tie with his Yes vote. Repeated testimony as to the vague, nonspecific language, and the lack of protection for the city as to liability, seems to have had an effect on decisionmaking.

Opponents of the ordinance urged Council to send the issue to the Planning Commission for a thorough vetting. That motion also failed 3-3 with the mayor breaking the tie. Only one change will be made to the overlong amendment, and that is that any applicants are not to be allowed to re-sell the effluent. There will be a second reading of the ordinance at the July meeting.

View the ordinance on pages 19 and 20:

PO City Council Packet 6-16-2016

The video of the meeting can be seen by clicking this link:

Port Orford City Council, June 16, 2016