By Sheila Corson
Chronicle staff

     Tonasket Police could tap into a new program to get three free scanners and printers for their vehicles to make paperwork easier and reduce errors on traffic and accident reports.
     Police chief Rob Burks presented the possibilities to city council members during their Sept. 9 meeting. The program, called eTRIP (Electronic Traffic Information Processing), allows the barcodes on licenses and registrations to be scanned into an in-vehicle laptop and tickets printed in the car, Burks said.
     According to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission Web site, the program was designed by multiple state and local agencies to reduce errors in paperwork and save time.
     Each year, nearly 160,000 collision reports and more than one million traffic tickets are processed in Washington, according to the Web site. The state Department of Transportation estimates and a national study found that about 10 percent of all tickets and collision reports contain errors, the site continued.
     Burks said the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs has offered the three free scanners and printers to police departments. Since Tonasket is small, three may be all it needs, he added.
     Any additional would cost the city, he said.
     Once the police officer has scanned the driver's license and registration, the information is sent to all the necessary agencies, Burks said. That eliminates having to copy paperwork to send off, he explained.
     Also, in the case of an accident, police can scan the information of all parties and print copies for each of their records instead of having to take the time writing the information down, Burks said.
     In addition, eTRIP comes with a diagramming program for accidents, so that police can just drag and place icons on a page and print it instead of drawing the accident scene freehand.
     The only unknown cost is printer paper, which comes on a 600-page roll so officers don't have to load paper frequently, Burks said. He said he is not sure what a replacement roll would cost, but believes that all the money the city will save on other papers and ticket books will make up for it.
     Burks said he will gather more information on the program and continue to pursue it.
     In other business, the council:
     - Set the budget session schedule for the rest of the year, all on regular council meeting nights:
     Oct. 14, 7 p.m., revenue sources public hearing.
     Oct. 28, 7 p.m., preliminary budget hearing, set tax levy.
     Nov. 4, 5 p.m., budget workshop and 7 p.m. budget workshop hearing.
     Nov. 25, 7 p.m., final budget hearing.
     Dec. 9, 7 p.m., adopt budget.
     - Accepted a bid from Basin Paving for the Locust Avenue overlay project for $102,170. Basing Paving was the only bidder.
     Funds also were accepted from the state Transportation Improvement Board to cover all costs of the project.
     - Approved the first payment to William Emfinger for construction of the salmon viewing platform for $10,231 for mobilization.
     - Voted to pay Joseph Martinez, who had worked for the city through the Colville tribal TANF summer work program, but had worked 24 hours past what the tribe would pay him.
     Public works superintendent Bill Pilkinton said Martinez was a great worker who did a good job for the city. Council said they had "no problem" paying him for his work.
     At the rate of $8.07 per hour, Martinez' pay came to $193.68.
     - Heard from councilwoman Jean E. Ramsey that Steve Mattson will hold free bookkeeping classes at the Tonasket Visitors and Business Resource Center for 10 consecutive Mondays. Ramsey said he will continue as long as there is interest.
     - Approved the shared use of the Day Park Oct. 11 between the Tonasket Farmers' Market and Harvest Fest activities. Third Street will be shut down for Harvest Fest events.
     Harvest Fest previously was called Salmon Fest.