Auburn Welcomes Newest Police Officer

The Auburn City Council was introduced to the city's newest police officer at Thursday night's work session.

Sergeant Diane Campbell fills the department's last vacant position. She first met members of the when she conducted their Taser training earlier this year.

"She put a Taser in my hands," Mayor Linda Blechinger said.

Campbell started with the police force Sept. 2 and will complete her training Sept. 26. 

Other business

• The council discussed making the annual stormwater bill a part of the property tax bill. Director of Public Works David Hawthorne told the council there has been some confusion from residents over the separate bill. Hawthorne proposed that adding it as a line item on the property tax bill would reduce this confusion and save the city between $2,000 and $3,000 in postage, paper and staff time.
• Auburn did not receive the 2011 Community Development Block Grant to be used for developing the R&R building.
• "Most awards given were for infrastructure, sewer and water," Blechinger said.
• The council will be looking into alternate grants and funding sources. The total estimated cost to renovate the building is $1.5 million. 
• City Administrator Ron Griffith recommended the council approve the printing of a Downtown Overlay District Architectural Design Guide. The guide is a pictorial supplement to the Downtown Overlay District Ordinance and is meant to inspire creativity and explain the written standards concerning building in downtown. Cost to print the guides will be $100, and the guide will also be available online. 
• City Clerk Rafael Avalos presented a plan to upgrade the city's connection from a T1 to a point-to-point connection. The upgrade is needed to implement the recent agreement with VC3 to create a virtual office in Auburn. The cost of the two new connections needed will be $1,500 a month for 10 mbps with Spirit Communications and VC3. The city currently pays $950 a month to CBeyond for 3 mbps.