The Cottage Grove City Council had a visit with Washington County Board District 4 Commissioner Wayne Johnson at its meeting Wednesday night.

“I’d like to start off by saying as a resident of Cottage Grove, I’d like to express my thanks and thank you for the work you’re doing, especially in these challenging times,” Johnson, a former city council member, said. “I know it’s not easy. You’re out there doing a lot of things. I just want you to know, it’s appreciated. It’s noticed.”

Johnson touched upon some items that the city and county work cooperatively on.

“There’s things that happen between the city and the county where residents don’t really know who it is, whether it’s a county or whether it’s the city. A lot of times, I know it’s easier if they do contact you,” he said. “Just reach out to me and we can start figuring out how we can help people instead of appearing to be frustrated with someone saying, ‘Well, the city told me it’s the county and the county told me it’s the city, and it goes back and forth. We’re all here to serve, so I just want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

He noted residents on 65th Street frustrated about a new water pipe that had to be installed.

“I know the resident was a little frustrated by the time he got to me,” he said.

Another instance is if a speed study on Cottage Grove thoroughfares is requested.

“That’s something that’s going to be discussed between the county and the city. That gets handed over to the state, and they do the speed study,” Johnson said. “The important thing to remember when you do these studies, you might not always get what you want. It’s a possibility they may actually increase the speed limit out there, because of where it is. That’s something the state decides, and then that’s something you have to deal with.”

Crosswalks are another issue, and Johnson stressed they have to be at controlled intersections.

“I had that discussion before when I was still on the city council and before I joined the county. I know we’ve talked about it. It’s been brought up before regarding the Holiday on Hinton. It’s kind of a dangerous situation. Crosswalks, if not placed in the right place, are actually more dangerous than not having a crosswalk. It provides a false belief of safety,” said Johnson. For example, like on Hinton, they come out of that roundabout, they’re coming up at 45 mph and, bam, you have that crosswalk right there at Holiday…. People aren’t expecting it.”

Mayor Myron Bailey thanked Johnson for his appearance.

“It was good to have you come and share some of the feedback because I even know under the one situation, about the break-ins at Ravine Park. I was actually talking with our police department, (Deputy Director of Public Safety Greg Rinzel), and he was reaching out to the county, and then I know you jumped in on that too, because anything that happens, whether it in the county park or in the City of Cottage Grove, we all work together,” Bailey said. “We’ll work with the citizens obviously to figure out some type of solution.”

“That’s a perfect example,” said Johnson. “The park’s a county park but it’s in Cottage Grove so people don’t know who takes care of it,” Johnson said. “It’s under construction as we know, and when it’s done, there are going to be cameras upon cameras down there to protect it.”

Council member Steve Dennis welcomed Johnson back.

“You brought up a great point here tonight so in the spirit of cooperation and the timely moment of you being here here’s something I would like to bring to your attention and see if we can get some help with,” Dennis said. “We had a pretty substantial snowfall yesterday. There are concerns that residents have with plowing and wanting to make safe access and a passable nature on 65th, which the county does the work from Newport all the way up, I believe, to Hinton. So I’m wondering if we could again in the spirit of cooperation, utilize your position, maybe to reach forward and see if we can get a little bit of enhanced work done in that area for our residents because it’s been a concern that a lot of people have had and yesterday it all kind of came flooding back again. So, if you could do that it would be fantastic.”

Johnson said the concerns would be relayed: “Absolutely. That’s a great example about what we’re talking about.”

One big issue that the discussion closed with is the possibility of the city’s Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, which the city now oversees, to get additional CARES Act funding from Washington County, which has put out requests for another round of funding that will close in early November.

“I am aware that there is a third round of money that’s being opened up for people to apply for, and I’m wondering if you could help us?” asked Dennis.

Johnson said the city will have to act fast with a request.

“The thing we’re running up against right now is time. We have to have the money distributed and spent by a certain time,” Johnson said.

The visitor’s bureau had been under the auspices of the chamber, and its tax status changed when the city took it over, and Dennis was hopeful that the county could look at it and see if funding would be allowable.

“I guess we really would just like to make it simple. If in the consideration of how your team and the county looks at this, if they open it up to the point where we could be included in that, I’m just asking if you could keep us in mind, and maybe reach out right away and let me know.”

“I definitely will,” said Johnson.