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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Minutes - July 6, 2016.pdf 1 July 6, 2016 Mayor Jerry Merrill Council Members: Christopher Mann Jordan Busby Donna Benfield Tisha Flora Brad Wolfe Sally Smith City Staff: Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney Richard Horner – Finance Officer John Millar – Public Works Director Val Christensen – Community Development Director Scott Johnson – Economic Development Director Blair Kay – City Clerk 6:30 P.M. City Hall Council Meeting Jet Merrill led the pledge. Todd Smith said the prayer. Roll Call of Council Members: Attending: Council President Smith, Council Member Flora, Council Member Mann, Council Member Wolfe, Council Member Busby and Mayor Merrill. Council Member Benfield asked to be excused. Accept the amended agenda: Two late additions were added to the agenda after publication; the introduction of Golden Tawzer and the bid for a new mini excavator. Council Member Smith moved to accept the amended agenda; Council Member Wolfe seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Flora Council Member Wolfe The motion carried Public Comment: not scheduled on the agenda (limit 3 minutes); issues may be considered for discussion on a future agenda. Please keep comments on point and respectful. Lisa Smith with the Standard Journal wanted to express her appreciation for the Ray’s Car Wash dancers at the parade. She videotaped them and some other groups. The video can be found on YouTube under 2016 Rexburg 4th of July Parade. 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208.359.3020 x2313 Fax: 208.359.3022 blairk@rexburg.org www.rexburg.org City Council Minutes July 6, 2016 2 Presentations: Mayor Merrill had Golden Tawzer introduce himself. He is the new Deputy Treasurer that will be replacing Jolyn Briggs. Golden started last week. He worked for the City back in 2010 and 2011 as a finance intern. He graduated from BYU-I with an accounting degree in 2012. He worked for Premier Performance for 3 ½ years as the assistant CFO and then at Qual-tec in I.F. as the CFO. He’s excited to be here. He’s the oldest of 8 children. He has been married 9 years to his wife Emily and they have 3 children. He is looking to pursue a master’s degree. CFO Nielson said Jolyn will retire in about a month. Committee Liaison Assignments for 2016: A. Council Member Mann: Golf Board · Emergency Services Board · GIS Oversight · Development Workshop Council Member Mann reported the Development Workshop had a big dinner at Smith Park on June 25th for all those who provide jobs for their members. He attended AIC in Boise and will let the Mayor report on that. B. Council Member Busby: · Airport Board · Traffic & Safety · Trails of Madison County Council Member Busby reported that the Airport Board meeting was canceled. Traffic & Safety met today. He introduced Jim Lawrence as a new committee member to the Traffic and Safety board. Jim has been in Rexburg for four years. He teaches civil engineering at BYU-I. He worked for the Utah Department of Transportation for six years and for Toole County for three years. Council Member Busby indicated that Jim will replace Virginia Pratt. Council Member Busby motioned to ratify Jim Lawrence to the Traffic & Safety Committee; Council Member Flora seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Flora Council Member Wolfe The motion carried Council Member Busby continued his report stating that there were three motions that were presented in Traffic & Safety today. One of them is right up Jim’s alley as he is going to have his engineering students design some traffic flow patterns for Yellowstone and University Blvd. They also recommended that flashing school zone lights be present at every school. The third item was about the number of students at the university impacting the city. The question was raised about what on campus is a ‘for profit’ area and if they are taxable. They are looking for additional revenue to help pay for traffic lights. Attorney Zollinger indicated that the City monitors very closely BYU-I’s tax exempt status. Mayor Merrill said that BYU-I has contributed quite heavily towards traffic lights. Council Member Busby also said that the intersection at 7th N and 2nd E was brought up in Traffic & Safety. He was wondering if a traffic study has been done at that intersection. There may be a need for a traffic light or something. City Engineer Keith Davidson indicated that they have looked into that. It’s too close to the traffic light on 2nd E and Yellowstone Hwy to the north to put in a traffic light. C. Council Member Benfield: Police · MYAB· Parks & Recreation Council Member Benfield was excused. 3 Mayor Merrill reported that four members from MYAB attended AIC in Boise along with their advisor, Mary Flanary. Police Chief Turman reported a year and a half ago they put in solar powered speed signs at Lincoln Elementary. Madison School District agreed to partner with the City and match those. Randy Lords the Assistant Superintendent, bought two more signs recently for Adams Elementary. The Police Department just purchased another speed sign and it will go in at Kennedy Elementary. By next year, all the elementary schools will have solar powered flashing radar signs. Council Member Busby asked when the Middle School will get the lights. Chief Turman said it depends on what the priority is. Council Member Busby also asked what the cost is on the lights. Chief Turman said they are $3,000 to $5,000 depending on the sign. Chief Turman announced the D.A.R.E. car wash will be July 15th at Ray’s. D. Council Member Smith: Legacy Flight Museum · Beautification Committee · M.E.P.I. Council President Smith reported the airshow was a big success. She thanked all those who helped out; the police, city employees and everyone. It was a great day. The 4th of July Parade was also great with so many people participating. E. Council Member Flora: School Board · Rexburg Arts Council/ Museum of Rexburg Council Member Flora reported the Arts Council participated in the 4th of July Parade. They did the Mayor’s Heritage Festival float. They passed out candy and fliers to promote the new Heritage Festival coming up on September 24th. This is a new festival that they will be done every year. The School Board had a presentation by Larry Prescott who teaches photography at the high school. They have become nationally renowned for their photography class. This class is number one in the nation. The class creates books and puts them into national contests and win every year. The School District ratified their 2017 budget which includes a new step ladder pay scale for the teachers. They will vote on an operational levy to extend the 2014 levy for two years. Tisha Flora has requested approval of “Devin Wengreen” as a new member of the Arts Council. She has been active in the arts and has a lot of talent and energy to bring to the arts council. Council Member Flora moved to ratify Devin Wengreen to the Arts Council; Council Member Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Flora Council Member Wolfe The motion carried F. Council Member Wolfe: Planning & Zoning · Urban Renewal Agency · IBC Council Member Wolfe reported Planning & Zoning canceled last meeting. They will meet tomorrow with a full agenda including a couple public hearings. Urban renewal will also meet tomorrow. Council Member Smith asked about the work meeting with Planning & Zoning in two weeks; it will be Wednesday, July 20th at 5:00 p.m. 4 Staff Reports: A. Finance: - Matt Nielson 1. Review Utility Rate increases and set public hearing and advertise. Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the current utility rates; he indicated an increase was not necessary this year. He showed some sample bills on the screen. There is no change to rates for sewer, water or garbage. Garbage will have less fixed costs and increase in volume so it balances out. Council Member Busby asked about always keeping some small increase every year so that when there is an increase it won’t be so much. Officer Nielson recommends that we wait, because any change would be very minimal. 2. Review amended Fiscal Year 2016 Budget and set public hearing. Finance Officer Nielson explained that any request over $10,000 must be approved and he has about six of those. He reviewed the budget adjustments. Public Works thought they would spend more on the waste water project last year but didn’t and will need to spend that this year. This was already approved; it’s just a timing issue. In Planning & Zoning, there needed to be an adjustment due to a grant from the state not being available on time. Some projects needed to be covered with general fund money and then that grant money will be available in the future. The state agreed to pay $27,500 towards the bill for Envision Madison. Council Member Mann asked if we have that in writing. Engineer Davidson said no, but its based on when the grant was signed. We are still dealing with the same personnel. Finance Officer Nielson continued with the adjustments. He said last year they anticipating spending one million on a new street shop but only ended up spending about $200,000. The money is in the construction fund as carry over, we just need to put it in the budget. The traffic signal upgrade on 7th S and Yellowstone was part of the 2017 fiscal year budget. They are having trouble with the loops not working so instead of putting the money into the loops to fix that, they would like to put that money into the camera system that they were going to do next year anyway. Council Member Flora asked if they did something to fix the loops problem because it’s working better. Mayor Merrill said they set it on default so it’s on auto cycle all the way through. Finance Officer Nielson said the airport construction is also a matter of timing. Several projects carried over from last year to this year. Nothing is changing, just matching the budget. The airport relocation budget will actually have $160,000 instead of $80,000 moved in from reserve. Council Member Busby asked if the county is staying with us on this as far as matching. County Commisioner, Todd Smith said they are probably not staying with us but they are doing what they can. The City and the County are both saving as much as they can towards possible airport relocation. Council Member Busby motioned to accept these budget adjustments to the 2016 Fiscal Year Budget; Council Member Wolfe seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Flora Council Member Wolfe The motion carried Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the amendments to the 2016 Appropriation Budget: The original budget set for Fiscal Year 2016 was $76,726,000 and then through the year, the amendments totaled $6,448,800 which gives a final budget of $83,174,800. Public Works is about 75% of the budget and that is because they have over 20 million dollars worth of water and sewer projects going on right now. Officer Nielson asked for a motion to set the public hearing for consideration of an amendment to the 2016 Fiscal Year Budge for July 20th at 7:00 p.m. 5 NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING CITY OF REXBURG, IDAHO Notice is hereby given that the City Council of Rexburg will hold a public hearing for consideration of an amendment to the 2016 fiscal year budget by appropriating additional monies received by the City of Rexburg, said hearing to be held at City Hall, 35 N 1st E, Rexburg, Idaho at 7:00 pm on the 20th day of July, 2016. All interested persons are invited to appear and show cause, if any , why such budget amendment should or should not be adopted. City Hall is accessible to persons with disabilities. Anyone desiring accommodations for disabilities related to the budget documents or to the hearing, please contact City Hall, 359-3020 at least 48 hours prior to the public hearing. This Notice can be provided in a format accessible to persons with disabilities and/or persons with limited English proficiency upon request. Se le puede proveer esta notificación en un formato accesible para las pe rsonas discapacidades y/o personas con conocimientos limitados del inglés a pedido. FUND ORIGINAL AMENDMENT FINAL GENERAL 10,422,100 208,800 10,630,900 STREET OPERATIONS 3,014,500 320,000 3,334,500 RECREATION 189,200 61,800 251,000 TABERNACLE OPERATIONS 125,200 6,300 131,500 POLICE SMALL GRANTS 55,700 1,800 57,500 POLICE ANIMAL CONTROL 130,900 8,900 139,800 EMERGENCY SERVICES 2,794,000 (18,500) 2,775,500 WASTEWATER OPERATIONS 7,402,500 1,071,500 8,474,000 BUILDING SAFETY/P & Z 1,657,200 129,200 1,786,400 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS 419,500 (2,800) 416,700 STREET SHOP CONSTRUCTION 212,000 639,000 851,000 SEWER CAPITAL RESERVE 3,279,900 877,700 4,157,600 ROMANCE THEATRE 83,100 15,700 98,800 STREET NEW CONSTRUCTION 3,023,900 50,000 3,073,900 AIRPORT CONSTRUCTION 170,800 478,900 649,700 AIRPORT RELOCATION - 160,000 160,000 SEWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION 3,000,000 2,441,500 5,441,500 REXBURG ARTS COUNCIL 97,400 (3,500) 93,900 ARTS COUNCIL TRUST - 2,500 2,500 NON-AMENDED FUNDS 40,648,100 - 40,648,100 GRAND TOTAL 76,726,000 6,448,800 83,174,800 Council Member Smith moved to set the public hearing for July 20 , 2016 at 7:00 P.M. to amend the 2016 Appropriation Budget; Council Member Mann seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Flora Council Member Wolfe The motion carried B. Public Works: Keith Davidson 1. Approve bid on a new mini-excavator – City Engineer Keith Davidson reviewed the bids for a new mini-excavator. 6 Discussion: Council Member Wolfe moved to award the bid for a new mini excavator to Honnen Equipment for $29,809.53; Council Member Flora seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Flora Council Member Wolfe The motion carried C. Engineering: Keith Davidson reported that they are working with the property owners on 5th west for sidewalk, curb and gutter. They have been meeting with several of the property owners on the west side of the road. The meetings have gone well. Mayor Merrill indicated that they did have a group meeting with the neighbors. Council Member Busby hosted it at his house. Council Member Busby thanked Public Works Director Millar and City Engineer Davidson for coming out. It makes a big difference for those neighbors. Mayor Merrill reported that Community Development Director Val Christensen came to work today for a few hours. He will be building up to working more hours. D. Community Development: Natalie Powell reported that the big thing this month was Paddington Court got started on their project. They’ve had the foundation in the ground for eight years. The inspectors have been very busy because of all the large projects going on. Building Valuation Report 6/1/16 to 7/1/16 7 Mayor’s Report: Mayor Merrill reported that in the RPO meeting Cindy Robison, who is the County Road and Bridge Supervisor, expressed her appreciation for the help that the county gets from our Streets Department. He said that the City also appreciates the County’s help. Also in the RPO meeting, Tim Solomon with Rocky Mountain Power talked about Poleline Road. We know that sometime in the future we will need to widen that road. Mayor Merrill attended the AIC Conference in Boise along with some staff and City Council Member Mann and Flora. Council Member Mann said that in one meeting some officials from Idaho Falls expressed concerns about having so many budget adjustments and they were told by the lawyer that was there, not to worry about it. The lawyer said if you are doing a good job, you have to have adjustments. Council Member Flora enjoyed meeting different council members and hearing what their cities are facing. She learned a lot about economic growth. She came away with some good ideas. Mayor Merrill agreed that it is good to network with other cities. His goal is to have smart economic development. Public Hearings: A. 7:00 P.M. Tentative Appropriation Budget for 2017 – CFO Nielson Finance Officer Matt Nielson presented the proposal. This is for the Fiscal Year 2017 Budge which runs October 1st to September 30th. The City’s total budget is $76,902,000. The operating budget is just shy of $27,000,000. The general fund contingency is high because they are anticipating some things such as a study for IT, etc. They shifted an additional $100,000 from the general fund to streets. They anticipate doing the Center Street project next year, 5th West from 1st South to 4th South project and reconstructing 4th West. They are looking at adding a traffic signal at University Blvd. and 7th S. There will also be continued construction on 2nd East, by Walmart. Property taxes that the City receives are about 4.3 million. The City gets 25 percent of property taxes. There will be on-going water and sewer projects. Also, in the budget, for the third year in a row, is the baseball quad. Council Member Wolfe wondered how all the budget meetings went. Officer Nielson said they were good. To balance the budget, they had to cut $273,000 out of the general fund. He felt like the department heads were great to work with. They usually have a meeting where they all come together and they get their axes out and start cutting each others budget. This year, Officer Nielson and Mayor Merrill went through the list, made recommendations and approached the departments individually and it worked out better. Council Member Busby asked about the principal forgiveness on the waste water treatment and if any of that has been forgiven yet. Officer Nielson said they can’t forgive it until we know how much we are going to borrow. Council Member Flora asked if the forgiveness is based on how much we borrow so we try to borrow the full amount and then get forgiven for that amount. Officer Nielson said yes, that makes the most business sense. If there are projects we need to do we should do them. Mayor Merrill opened the public hearing. Written correspondence: - NONE Public Testimony in favor of the proposal (5 minute limit): NONE Public Testimony neutral to the proposal (5 minute limit): NONE Public Testimony opposed to the proposal (5 minute limit): NONE 8 Mayor Merrill closed the public hearing. Deliberations: Council Member Busby motioned to approve the tentative Appropriation Budget for 2017 and consider Bill 1146 first read; Council Member Flora seconded the motion; Council Member Mann reminded everyone that they spend all of May working on this budget. It is not a quick decision. Mayor Merrill said it does appear that they spend 80 million dollars real fast, but there has been a lot of work and effort that goes into it. Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Flora Council Member Mann Council Member Wolfe Council Member Busby The motion carried Items for Consideration: A. Air Bed and Breakfast (Airbnb) – Vacation Rental by Owner (VRBO) Mayor Merrill said that nothing needs to be decided tonight but wanted to bring it up for discussion. Attorney Zollinger explained that Airbnb was created by a guy in New York when he discovered that he could turn an air-mattress into a profitable bed and breakfast. Vacation rentals have been around for a long time. The internet has made them more popular and Rexburg has recently experienced more of these. Enforcement has been lax; we have not policed it. If a complaint comes in, Compliance Officer Natalie Powell contacts the owner and informs them of the laws. To date, the phone calls that have been made have resulted in one hundred percent of them discontinuing their businesses because they were all in non-compliance areas. Referring to the map found on Airbnb Rentals for Rexburg, there are a couple homes that would be eligible to operate a nightly rental provided they registered as a business. Currently, there is nothing in the Development Code that defines rentals for less than 30 days other than hotels, motels, bed & breakfast and lodging homes and those are only allowed in certain zones. Attorney Zollinger indicated that they are looking for guidance from city counsel on this issue. He said they just received a complaint this morning. Compliance Officer Powell gave the owner a call and explained the rules. The lady was upset because she cannot bring her home into compliance. Council Member Wolfe asked what the requirements are. Attorney Zollinger said there is no such thing in City of Rexburg for nightly rentals other than hotels, motels, bed and breakfast and lodging houses and in LDR1 there are no rentals allowed. Council Member Mann asked if we issued a business license to those Airbnb rentals. Attorney Zollinger indicated that none of them have registered their business. It’s a misconception that registering with Airbnb makes them legal. Mayor Merrill commented that he doesn’t want to over regulate new businesses but if issues do come up there could be problems. Council Member Smith wondered if parking is a problem. Attorney Zollinger said it could be a problem in the winter. Most have to park on the street. Council Member Wolfe asked if we differentiate between bedroom rentals and whole home rentals. Attorney Zollinger said that a total home rental may be a little different as far as the number of vehicles coming in. It is also possible to swap homes and get around the actual business of rentals. Anything less than 30 days belongs in business districts not residential neighborhoods. Council Member Mann doesn’t think we should shut them down but he doesn’t want to transform residential areas into revolving businesses. 9 Mayor Merrill opened it up to the audience for comments. David Wood lives on Shoshone next to an Airbnb home. He is against it. He’s not fond of having all kinds of different people in his neighborhood. His daughter started renting out her home in St. George and the city shut her down. He can’t imagine hotel owners being happy about this. Mayor Merrill believes that allowing vacation rentals causes a reduction in affordable housing. Council President Smith asked what zones it would be allowable in. Attorney Zollinger said in HDR1 and in commercial districts with a conditional use permit. Council Member Flora asked if we get a lot of complaints. She reviewed other cities ordinances regarding vacation rentals. She found the ones that are regulated are friendlier. Some solutions she found was in Chicago if they have one strike their out. If it’s a nuisance ordinance they get three strikes and their out. Neighborhoods can petition to not allow vacation rentals. Discussion on types of cities where this works and where it doesn’t. Council Member Mann asked if this is more of a summer thing for Rexburg. County Commissioner Todd Smith is surprised how many there are in the city. He can see how it can become a growing problem. He would like to work together with the City, as some rentals are in the county as well. Compliance Officer Powell suggested that they contact each of them and ask them to register their business, and then they will be checked for safety, parking, zoning, etc. Council President Smith asked if we need to police it every day or wait for complaints. Council Member Flora would like more public input. Council Member Wolfe thinks that the big problem is people renting houses. There will need to be some regulations. He has always been for someone doing what they want with their property but there has got to be limits. He can see potential problems but he can also see opportunities. Attorney Zollinger said in the meantime, we will just respond to complaints. Steve Oakey has used Airbnb. He is against regulation. People should be able to manage their property as they wish. The city should manage the streets and sidewalks and the people should manage their own property. This is a fantastic opportunity for people. It doesn’t bother him if people rent out their homes. People should maximize their assets. Council Member Flora asked Mr. Oakey about Shoshone where the neighbors have complained. The listing says that you can have 20 people and bring your pets and you can drink. He thinks that whatever regulations are already in place should be sufficient. Council President Smith asked about people parking on the lawn and diminishing the value of the property. Discussion over regulation. Council Member Mann agrees that with enough public input and research we can come to a compromise. 10 Map of Airbnb Rentals in Rexburg Calendared Bills and Tabled Items: A. “LAND USE ACTION” – Bills Recommended/Approved in a Land Use Public Hearing Procedure (Recommend Suspension of the Rules): – NONE B. BILL Introduction: – NONE C. First Reading: Those items which are being introduced for first reading: 1. Bill 1146 Appropriation Budget 2017 Council Member Busby motioned to consider Bill 1146 for Appropriation Budget 2017 first read; Council Member Flora seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Flora Council Member Mann Council Member Wolfe Council Member Busby The motion carried D. Second Reading: Those items which have been first read: – NONE E. Third Reading: Those items which have been second read: - NONE Mayor’s Business: Mayor Merrill met with BYU-I President Gilbert and discussed police help and the Heritage Festival and President Gilbert agreed to co-sponsor the festival. 11 Consent Calendar: The consent calendar includes items which require formal City Council action, however they are typically routine or not of great controversy. Individual Council members may ask that any specific item be removed from the consent calendar for discussion in greater detail. Explanatory information is included in the City Council’s agenda packet regarding these items. A. Minutes from June 15th, 2016 meeting; B. Approve the City of Rexburg Bills Council Member Flora moved to approve the Consent Calendar containing the minutes and the city bills; Council Member Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Flora Council Member Mann Council Member Wolfe Council Member Busby The motion carried Council Member Wolfe would like to be excused from the next meeting; he will be out of town. Adjourned at 8:24 P.M. APPROVED: ____________________________ Jerry Merrill, Mayor Attest: _______________________________ Mary Flanary, Deputy City Clerk