Kee marks first year at City Hall

By TERRI HARBER
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Water. Streets. Parks. Emergency protection.

This is just a short list of things a city manager thinks about.

And the manager has to figure out how to fulfill each of these needs in a way that satisfies most residents.

Oh, and doesn’t cost too much.

City government in Baker City has “such a close relationship with the community it serves,” said City Manager Mike Kee, who recently marked his first year on the job.

“Right or wrong — people really notice what we do.”

Then he smiled ruefully.

“The wrong things are remembered longer.”

City councilors just completed a performance evaluation of Kee.

“What I got out of this evaluation was some very valuable suggestions from my seven bosses,” Kee said. “For the most part, they think I’m meeting expectations.”

When asked to comment about Mike Kee, Mayor Dennis Dorrah said Friday that Kee’s “honesty, integrity and willingness to learn will allow him to take Baker City to a new level. I especially appreciate the way he works with city council and others to accomplish a great number of tasks.”

Conditions

“Being a native is a plus,” he said. “It makes a difference that I grew up here.”

Kee, 53, was raised in Baker City and graduated from Baker High School in 1976. People he’s known since his youth are among those who provide him with facts and “honest assessments — sometimes too honest.”

They’ve complemented the skills and knowledge possessed by Baker City government employees.

He said he’s found that the city employees are “fantastic, and terribly supportive. If they hadn’t been it would have made things terribly difficult.”

There are workers who’ve been around since Kee was living her the first time — people here for so long that they might be the only ones who can best explain where something is, or why something is the way it has been, for decades, he said.

Background

Kee returned to Baker City from Ontario, where he had worked in the police department since 1983, and as its chief since 1993.

Kee also served for several months as Ontario’s interim city manager and a shorter run as the interim city’s public works director.

He also worked as an adjunct professor of Criminal Justice at Treasure Valley Community College.

His own education is law enforcement-centered except for graduating from the Oregon Executive Development Agency in 1993.

Since taking the city manager job, however, he has been obtaining municipal management training through such sources as the League of Oregon Cities.

Looking backward, forward

Kee made a list of things either accomplished, moving forward, or in the works during the past year. This list includes:

• As the top goal of the city councilors and himself, department managers prepared a “conservative” budget for the  fiscal year that started July 1.

It contains reserve funds and insurance limits. He watched over the budget committee that prioritized use of funds for projects that city staff believes should be done, then saw that the priorities of the City Council also were taken into account. 

• There was a meeting held highlighting ways to enhance revenue. Some examples of resulting ideas: traffic school and burn permits — though the burn permits ultimately weren’t implemented because the councilors thought it would be better to punish code violators instead of making everyone pay a fee. 

• Planning of necessary water, wastewater and stormwater operations and projects while seeking ways to keep costs down continues.

• An analysis about whether the city needs an engineer ready before the end of the year.

• Kee is completing training as a risk manager through the city’s insurance company. It will save the city up to $3,000 annually in insurance premiums.

• “When we have the ability to share services, equipment and other things with (Baker) County it makes sense to do so,” Kee said. It saves money and is more efficient. The two governments continue their close connection. City Councilor and County Commissioner joint meetings are expected to resume in October, with one tentatively scheduled at 6 p.m. on Oct. 18 at the County Courthouse.

• The newly formed Parks and Recreation advisory board has been meeting since late summer. One of the board’s major tasks will be to create a parks and rec master plan as well as to look at ways the city might be able to save money or spend less to provide these services while ensuring that what’s provided is what the community needs and wants.

• Efforts continue to improve the veterans’ section of Mount Hope Cemetery. A larger number of volunteers soon will be needed and the quest is on for grant money to help pay for improvements — especially to begin straightening headstones and making the ground easier and safer to walk across. 

• The Resort Street upgrade project likely will be postponed to officially begin in 2013 instead of in 2012 while focus turns to obtaining enough money to bury the utility lines now strung along power poles. Preliminary underground work started this summer along Resort.

• A new time management system for city employees eliminates paper timecards and sends work records to their proper destination for processing with greater efficiency.

• City property that could be carried away by a thief has been inventoried, tagged and digitally documented. It saves money and helps with loss prevention, Kee said.

• Up to 20 employees have increased their insurance and participation rates and have saved the city thousands of dollars.

Fostering communication

• The new Baker City government website — www.bakercity.com — will be much more modern and easier to navigate around. It will have up to 60 pages of content. Online access to council meetings has been added to the city’s website. Videos of past meetings are linked.  

• The municipal code is updated twice a year as new laws are passed. It’s web accessible and searchable.

• New programming on cable channel 3 includes an events calendar and information about governmental goings-on. This will be expanded with an aim toward having it available on every television in every motel and hotel room in the city. Additional content still is being sought.

• Kee’s weekly newsletter, distributed by email (by request) and available at the city’s website, details a variety of city government projects as well as events and issues that aren’t exclusively governmental but of community interest.

• Every employee now carries a picture identification card. This allows residents to know who they’re talking to and allows them to have a contact person should they want to follow up with questions or concerns.

• Digital storage of city resolutions and ordinances is ongoing. This makes the material more accessible to the public and more efficient for city employees to retrieve and store.

As for his reception in Baker City over the past year, Kee said he has been pleased.

“I’ve been treated fabulously by the community. Overall there’s been so much support,” he said.

However, some people see government rules and regulations as nothing but road blocks. Many of those rules exist for a reason, he said.

City employees spend hours trying to solve problems for people. In many instances, there is more than one way to reach a solution. Kee emphasized that it’s usually worth the effort for most people to initiate discussions about city-related issues and problems.

“I invite people to call me with suggestions. That’s why I’m here — to help make the city operate better,” Kee added.

He concedes, though, that sometimes an issue can’t be resolved in a way that makes everyone happy.

The idea is to make it easier for residents to want to try, he said.

The Kee family still is trying to find someone to purchase their Ontario home. The original goal of leaving their old home for good by this past spring has changed because of the poor real estate market, however.

Kee invites residents to call him at 541-523-2040 or email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it