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Gold Hill city recorder resigns to move north GOLD HILL -- Carolyn Marks, city recorder, has resigned and is moving to Seattle, the City Council learned Monday. Marks was Gold Hill's city recorder for the past year -- working for four different mayors. "Because of the transitions, it's sometimes difficult for people to come in and hit the ground running," says Steve Rich, the city's attorney. "You have to acquaint yourself with what's going on. She was making progress." One of Marks' accomplishments was presenting a balanced budget to the Gold Hill City Council, which adopted it last month. The $2.2 million budget for 1999-2000 is $88,759 more than last year's. The budget allows $211,142 for public safety -- and includes two grants, one of which will beef up the city's law enforcement. The $114,180 federal COPS grant would pay for 1.5 new officer positions. The current public safety budget pays for one officer, whom the City Council hopes to hire later this month. The city's only officer, Dave Crawford, was fired last month after he was convicted of misdemeanor charges of coercion, assault and harassment. The public safety budget also includes $26,881 in contingency for emergencies, Marks says. Marks also made accounting changes to correct a $12,000 shortfall from last year's public safety budget, which resulted from misappropriated expenses in the prior year's budget process. Two other grants in the new budget will help with city water and housing. The city will get $670,000 this summer to replace water mains and another $390,000 for housing improvements. Marks, who holds a geology degree, brought grant experience with her when she came from her job as Jacksonville Visitor and Information Center manager last year. She helped obtain Oregon Tourism Commission dollars to create marketing kits for Jacksonville, among other projects. "It's unfortunate that Gold Hill has had so much political controversy, specifically over the public safety department," Marks says. "It has interfered with positive changes that could have taken place for the city. They could be applying for state tourism, transportation and public works grants to make this a better community for everyone." In other action, the City Council voted to refund $920 to Pete Arnold, owner of Gold Hill Hotel, for a tax he paid on state-owned lottery machines which are exempt from city taxes. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA