JOSEPH — A larger-than-usual audience turned out for the final Joseph City Council meeting of the year, Thursday, Dec. 10, when the council gave its approval to a sewage treatment facilities plan and bade farewell to Mayor Teresa Sajonia as she presided over her last session.

Brad Baird of the engineering firm Anderson Perry and Associates presented the council with a finalized plan for the more than $3.8 million project. He noted it has been more than 20 years since any the city made significant upgrades to the facility and it is not in compliance with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

“It’ll get you back into compliance with DEQ,” he said.

He said the cost estimate is about $1 million lower than a previous plan. The city will have until late 2023 to adjust sewer rates so it can make its first payment on the loan to cover the cost of the project.

Sajonia reminded the council the project would require about a $10 increase in monthly sewer rates. Baird said some cities faced with a significant increase opt to break it up into multiple increases rather than hit residents all at once.

Sajonia said it’s the price of waiting too long to address the need for upgrades to the sewer plant.

“This is one of the things that, after 14 years, we all have made mistakes in our careers on the council,” she said. “This is one of these things about whether or not we raise rates and then we don’t do it. Then what happens is these things increase in price. … It’s just the nature of the beast.”

Public Works Director Levi Tickner agreed, saying if the city refused to go along with the plans, the DEQ would begin implementing fines and ultimately force the city into compliance.

“We’ll start getting fines and more and more fines,” he said.

Baird said he is sure the DEQ would not get too harsh as long as the agency knows the city is working to remedy the situation. The council voted to adopt the facilities plan.

The other major event at the meeting involved Sajonia’s handing over the reins of city government to her successor, Belinda Buswell, who defeated Sajonia in the Nov. 3 election. It also involved filling two vacant council seats and preparing for the councilors who voters elected in November — sitting Councilors Kirsten Rohla and Matt Soots and new Councilor Stephen Bartlow.

The deaths of Marty Hamilton in November 2019 and Richard Pointer in July created vacancies on the council. Six people applied for the two seats, and the council voted Thursday to appoint former Councilor Kathy Bingham and newcomer Tamera Jones to fill the seats.

Jones wasn’t present Thursday, but Bingham took her oath of office and immediately joined the council.

As part of her departing address, Sajonia spoke highly of the late councilors,

“There are two councilors I dearly wish were here so I could thank them: Marty Hamilton and Richard Pointer — they deserve so much credit,” the mayor said. “They worked so hard to change what was broken.”

Sajonia read a long list of what she perceived as her — and those of the council and city staff — accomplishments during her 12 years as a councilor and two years since she was appointed mayor. She included recommendations to current and incoming city officials to maintain ethical and transparent practices.

In other matters, the council:

• Heard a proposal from Business License Committee members Soots and Bingham to require all businesses in the city to complete a registration form. They assured the council it is not a business license and does not include permission or prevention to operate a business, but it’s simply informational. Cost for the registration will be minimal, they said.

• Approved a resolution to provide 25% of the city’s share of Wallowa County Hotel Motel Tax to the Joseph City Chamber Business Association to help promote tourism.