Members of the Vader City Council convened on Wednesday, Oct. 15, for their second regular meeting of the month to discuss a number of agenda items.
Among the items, the most discussed included the ongoing drafting process for the city’s 2026 budget, and the council held one of the official public hearings for the budget during Wednesday’s meeting.
During public comment, local resident Tim Lamb, who lives just outside the official city limits, asked if city staff had any plans to soon consider annexing his urban growth area (UGA) neighborhood, as he has issues with a property owner allowing people to camp and use drugs on his property and has not been satisfied with the response from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office.
Additionally, they also approved turning Vader City Hall into a Haunted City Hall for Halloween, to coincide with a Trunk-or-Treat event also going on in Vader on Oct. 31.
Then, the topic of once again starting Vader City Council meetings with an official prayer was discussed by the councilors. An official prayer had been discussed earlier this month during the council’s first regular meeting as previously reported by The Chronicle, but the council made no official motion on the topic as not all councilors were present.
Despite still having a quorum, the present councilors, while disagreeing about whether to hold an official prayer, were in agreement that all councilors should be present to vote on an issue like this.
During this past Wednesday’s meeting, Councilor Michael Ferguson — who was not present earlier this month — did attend the meeting virtually, but Councilors Nicole Hansen and Mike Parsons were unable to attend due to work obligations.
Because of this, the councilors in attendance on Wednesday once again chose table making any motion on adding official prayer to their meetings until all five were in attendance together until their next regular meeting on Monday, Nov. 3.
On a less serious note, councilors at Wednesday’s meeting unanimously approved a proposition to temporarily close down Eighth Street between A and B streets in Vader to set up a Haunted City Hall at Vader City Hall on Halloween.
“Some members of the public and city staff are interested in decorating city hall like a haunted house for Halloween night and setting some stuff up outside,” Vader Mayor Joe Schey said.
The Haunted City Hall will coincide with the Trunk-or-Treat event in Vader on A Street between state Route 506 and Sixth Street from 6 to 8 p.m. on Halloween.
As for the budget drafting process, Schey said they have preliminary numbers right now but they are most likely to change, as they are still waiting on official property value assessments from the Lewis County Assessor’s office.
During the budget’s public hearing, Lamb also commented on property value assessments including his own, which many other county residents have taken issue with over the past few years now.
“The taxes on that house are roughly $100,000 more than I could sell that house for. So I hope as we go forward on taxes, especially if we become part of the city, that the taxes are real. I have gone ahead and gone through the appeals process, even had an inspector come out and had him walk through my house, still the same thing,” Lamb said. “And I don’t have a problem with paying taxes, just sent mine off the other day. But darn it, if I can’t sell my house for what the tax assessment is, I think something’s wrong with that.”
Schey stated that even if Lamb’s neighborhood was annexed into the city, property tax assessments for levy rates would still be handled by the Lewis County Assessor’s Office.
“The city, what it does have control over, is its portion of the levy,” Schey said.
Its portion of that levy is only about 10%, with the rest of the levy going to the local fire district, cemetery district, the Timberland Regional Library and both the county and state governments.
“Also the county has a fairly substantial roads tax. Members of the city don’t pay the roads tax, and they don’t pay the library tax,” Schey said. “Those do get replaced by the city tax, which is less than those other two. More than likely, by coming into the city, your taxes would go down a little bit. Probably not much, but a little bit.”
Property taxes were not the main reason Lamb was asking about the city incorporating his neighborhood, the Enchanted Valley Drive neighborhood just south of Vader along Olequa Creek.
Safety and crime concerns stemming from activity on a neighboring property of Lamb’s are what brought him to Wednesday’s meeting.
“I don’t know if any of you have been into the Enchanted Valley, if you’ve been down my street, I live on Olequa Court, if you do come down there, I highly recommend you carry a gun,” Lamb said. “It’s a drug den, we have a slum landlord that has nothing but drug-abusing tenants camping. Trailers and motorhomes would be nice, but they’re living in tents.”
He added he’s lived in the neighborhood for three and a half years now, and has seen the property in question only get worse during that time.
“We took this problem to the (Lewis) County commissioners, basically got nothing but lip service. They promised to do enhanced sheriff’s patrols in our area. From my experience, and I’m home almost all the time, the only enhanced sheriff’s patrols that we get is when I call in a criminal to have them come pick them up. The county has tried to issue citations to the slum landlord, who is a major drug user himself — does no good, they have no bite in it,” said Lamb.
Additionally, Lamb claimed the property owner himself was from Portland, Oregon, and was “years” behind on his property taxes.
According to the Lewis County Parcels’ website, the property owner is Justin Butler, who is listed as a Portland resident, and currently owes $2,674.15 in property taxes this year, with the last payment listed in the parcel’s history being made in 2022.
Schey informed Lamb that currently, no UGA annexation talks are being held, but they will be discussed next year. He also stated that if it were annexed, all properties would be subject to the City of Vader’s municipal code.
“If that area were to be annexed in, we do know that code enforcement is going to be a vital part of that. That’s one of the reasons why we’re talking about private code enforcement options, so there can be someone dedicated to that kind of thing,” Schey said.
During the council’s first meeting this month, discussion was held about contracting with 4LEAF, Inc., to handle code enforcement as city staff have had issues with enforcement in the past, and some find it uncomfortable as they are often dealing with their neighbors in the small South Lewis County community. 4LEAF is a nationwide construction management firm specializing in public works inspections, building safety and fire resiliency and more, according to its website, with its Pacific Northwest office in Tacoma.
“A second firm is preparing their statement of qualifications for the city,” Schey said.
