Council members K.C. Kuykendall, Marty Dunn, Kevin House, Karl Newell, and Debra Callahan, and Mayor Walt Gobel were in attendance.

Brandon Kelly presented a proposal to modify the fairgrounds horse track to host monthly car racing events. See story on Page 1.

Held a public hearing on property taxes. Hinchliffe said there is basically no change to property taxes, based on current projected value assessments.

Approved 2015-653 property tax resolution.

Held a public hearing on 2016 preliminary budget. Next year will be a planning year with few major projects. All water/sewer related funds were consolidated into one fund. There are no tax or water/sewer increases. A second public hearing will take place at the Dec. 16 council meeting.

Action to update the city personnel manual with items affecting the 2016 preliminary budget was tabled. A workshop to discuss the proposed updates was set for Mon., Nov. 30. See story above.

Council reviewed city’s Flood Response Plan.

Council approved authority for Mayor Gobel to sign contract with state, locking in funds for the Main Street Bridge replacement.

Mayor’s report: The Celebration Days Committee has met twice. Volunteers are needed, especially someone to head the ATV portion of the event.

Council reports: Callahan suggested making the Main Street fire station a warming station in the case of a power outage. Gobel said that could be done at the discretion of the Fire District. Kuykendall asked about the status regarding ownership of the water lines near the Port of Walla Walla’s industrial park off Millrace and Taggart roads. Hinchliffe will continue to contact Port for response.

City Clerk Report: The Preston Park restroom was heavily vandalized. See story on Page 1. The new city software is being installed and should be up and running by January, allowing citizens to make utility payments online. The fence around the old softball field has been removed and was repurposed to build backstops for the new Little League field. Anderson-Perry provided a list of capacity for all the city fire hydrants and a copy was given to the fire department. Discussed plans for repairing leaking water line under Touchet Bridge. A Fish & Wildlife representative will attend the December council meeting to talk about allowing hunting in the city’s watershed. Discussed Main Street Bridge replacement.