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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Minutes - July 19, 2017.pdf 1 July 19, 2017 Mayor Jerry Merrill Council Members: Christopher Mann Jordan Busby Donna Benfield Tisha Flora Brad Wolfe Sally Smith City Staff: Stephen Zollinger – City Attorney Matt Nielson – Finance Officer Keith Davidson – Public Works Director Val Christensen – Community Development Director Scott Johnson – Economic Development Director Blair Kay – City Clerk 5:00 P.M. Work Meeting to discuss the recent AIC (Association of Idaho Cities) Conference topics – Sally Smith Council Member Flora went over some training classes that she attended at AIC (Assosiation of Idaho Cities) Conference. She shared some things that another city is doing to deal with short term rentals. She attended a class that discussed water and waste water operators and how they need to be recognized and paid appropriately for their knowledge and certifications. Her favorite class was Developing a Master Youth Plan. In Caldwell, they organized a task force to pin point what it is that the youth need. They developed a youth master plan. It has been a great program and they have had some great outcomes. Caldwell also has a savings plan that teaches parents how to save for their kid’s college education. The Caldwell Mayor said they always consider their youth in everything they do. If we can get our youth to thrive, we will have a thriving city. Council Member Flora also liked the fund finding class that Kuna put on. The city of Kuna reached out to everybody in their city and applied for numerous grants to fund improvements for their city. Mayor Merrill agreed that Kuna does have a great town connection for getting things done. Council President Smith also enjoyed the class about engaging our youth more. She would like to see our city engage our youth more. She referred to Boise and how they have an area where youth can paint the walls and they end up with beautiful paintings. They embrace art and our city doesn’t allow those kinds of things. She also attended the summer eclipse round table and learned that there is some money available through grants for cities. It is also possible to get the National Guard to come if you call it training. The City is going to have a community eclipse meeting on August 9th at 6:30 at the Tabernacle. Discussion about eclipse preparations. Council President Smith attended a class on Social Media and how Pocatello uses their Facebook page. They do surveys on their Facebook page. She asked who is in charge of our page. Todd Shannon the Marketing person does that. Smith said they even use it if a child is missing or a robbery happens. Pocatello feels that it has deterred some crime in their city. It’s good for community connections and letters of praise for community servants. Emergencies can be posted. 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 19, 2017 2 Information about the eclipse can be posted as well. You can also report on city councils. It’s important to be consistent. It’s also good to be pro-active and get any issues out quickly before the media does. Council President Smith reviewed the things she learned at a Planning & Zoning class she attended. There are some things that we are doing wrong. For example, at a second public hearing the applicant should not speak. Council should not become too familiar with the applicant but keep conversation formal. She also learned that motions should be spelled out not just, “I so move”. Council Member Smith showed council the preemption sheet that shows which states take more control over certain areas and which states don’t. She thinks it would be a good idea to meet with our state legislatures once a year before the legislative session. She also wants to be sure that the city has a strategic plan in place. Discussion about strategic plans. Planner Rindlisbacher explained what strategic planning means. Council Member Wolfe reviewed the training classes he attended. One of them was the short term rental class. Discussion about short term rental and the committee that is being formed for that. Council Member Wolfe learned from Senator Hill that the legislature agrees that the state statute on short term rentals sounds like it is not okay to outlaw short term rentals anywhere in the city. This law will have to be revisited by our legislatures. Discussion about booting. Council Member Wolfe also learned some things about Urban Renewal. Council Member Busby doesn’t like the forums at AIC. He does like the classes. He also noticed that at the awards banquet there were some areas where our City could qualify for some awards. Planner Rindlisbacher learned that LHTAC (Local Highway Technical Assistance Council) pays elected officials to represent their city on their board. He also went to the conflict resolution presentation and it was really good. He learned some good ideas on how to defuse conflicts. Mayor Merrill presented the obesity trends that he learned about. The High Five grant is to encourage communities to live healthy. Elected officials can have a role in healthy communities. Healthier population equals healthier economy. On July 26th there will be a webinar at 10 am to talk about identifying the things we already have available for a healthier community. 6:30 P.M. City Hall Seth Clements said the prayer. Trent Vandersloot led the pledge. Mayor Merrill indicated that he learned from Veteran Bob Jones that the prayer should come before the pledge because it should be God before Country. Roll Call of Council Members: Attending: Council Member Flora, Council Member Benfield, Council Member Mann, Council Member Busby, Council President Smith, Council Member Wolfe and Mayor Merrill. 3 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. NONE Mayor Merrill turned the time over to Economic Development Assistant, Daniel Torres to present the winners of the Business Competition. Mr. Torres explained the competition and its success since it started seven years ago. This year Seth Clements won with an innovative way to track arrows after you shoot them. Mr. Clements explained that he invented an insert that goes inside the arrow and can be tracked with your cell phone. Bill Crawford took second place with a restaurant that does gas fired pizzas in 90 seconds. Third place went to a student group that formed a non- profit organization call “Taking on Domestic Violence”. Presentations: A. Need for Booting – Off Campus Housing Association (OCHA) Jarin Hammer with Beard St. Clair, Attorneys at Law in Idaho Falls was asked by the BYU-I Off Campus Housing Association (OCHA) to lay some ground work on booting. He wants council to know that there is another avenue to have legal booting. It’s important to consider the private property rights of apartment complex owners. In title 49-208 it gives a municipality the right to regulate parking. Idaho Code 49-222 allows owners of real property used by the public for vehicular travel to prohibit such use. This statute does give private property owners the right to take legal action on cars on their property. He argues that booting is not illegal. There is a state statute, #49- 1806, that allows towing. Mr. Hammer believes booting is less intrusive than towing and therefore would most likely be considered allowable as well. He urges council to look at private property owner’s rights. Booting is a better avenue for protecting those rights. He believes students would rather be booted than towed. Ordinance 911 was working and he doesn’t understand why this issue has been brought up at this time. Booting reduces harm to the vehicle. The cost is much less. He doesn’t agree with the argument that Attorney Rob Wood made that booting makes people criminals when they cut the boot off; actions create crime. Mr. Hammer believes Ord. 911 accomplishes what it needs to. No one else knew that this booting issue was going to be brought up at council two weeks ago. The agenda simply said amendment to ordinance. He thanked council for allowing them to present tonight or they would not have felt like due process would have been met. Senator Brent Hill was surprised that the City of Rexburg was considering banning booting. He tries to stay out of local issues but when Idaho Statutes were getting blamed he thought something’s not right. Towing and booting have been common practices throughout the state for a long time. Prohibiting booting on private property is a violation of private property rights. Senator Hill contacted Attorney General, Brian Kane, and asked if Idaho Code 49-229 prohibits booting. Idaho Statute #49-229. Injuring vehicle. Any person who shall individually, or in association with one or more others, wilfully break, injure, tamper with or remove any part or parts of any vehicle for the purpose of injuring, defacing or destroying the vehicle, or temporarily or permanently preventing its useful operation, or for any purpose against the will or without the consent of the owner of the vehicle, or who shall in any other manner wilfully or maliciously interfere with or prevent the running or operation of the vehicle shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Attorney General Kane responded in a letter that Senator Hill passed out to council and read out loud. (See letter below) Senator Hill stated that if towing is permitted then something less invasive such as booting would logically be permitted. Attorney General Kane indicated in his letter that the legislature may want to consider amending statutes like 49-1806 to allow for booting in addition to or in place of towing. Idaho Statute #49-1806. Removal of unauthorized and abandoned vehicle from real property. (1) Any person having possession or control of real property who finds an unauthorized vehicle standing upon his property is permitted to have 4 the vehicle removed if there is posted on or near the property in a clearly conspicuous location, in large print, a sign or notice that unauthorized vehicles will be removed at the owner’s expense and designating the name of the towing firm. Unauthorized vehicles need not meet the provision of section 49-102(2), Idaho Code, in this instance. (2) Any person having possession or control of real property who finds an abandoned vehicle standing on his property, where the property is not posted as set out in subsection (1) of this section, may contact an authorized officer, who must in turn comply with the provisions of section 49-1804, Idaho Code, in accomplishing the removal of the vehicle except under those circumstances set out in subsection (3) of this section. (3) Where access into or out of private property or substantial interference with the use and enjoyment of private property is created by an unauthorized or abandoned vehicle being parked or otherwise left on private property, the person owning or controlling the property may contact an authorized officer who may, without regard for the provisions of section 49-1804, Idaho Code, immediately proceed to have the vehicle removed to a garage or nearest place of safety. All other provisions of this chapter shall be complied with. Senator Hill agrees that the City Council can change their ordinance to prohibit booting in their community if they believe that’s good public policy but they need to be careful about thinking that state law requires them to do so. 5 Trent Vandersloot is the owner’s representative for North Point Apartments and serves on the board for Off Campus Housing Association (OCHA). He indicated that the city council has been great to work with in the past. He spent a lot of time working with council as they established the PEZ Ordinance. His association wants to help protect the community. As apartment owners, they have a responsibility to provide the product that they have committed to their residents. He feels that the current booting ordinance accomplishes that. Mr. Vandersloot observed that once word got out that the city may abolish booting, the students suddenly felt like they could park anywhere they wanted and his parking lot was full. The issue has blown up on social media. He wants to do the right thing. He chose this city to invest in because he loves this community. Banning booting would make him unable to provide the product he promises. Council Member Busby asked Mr. Vandersloot if he had any of those illegally parked student cars towed. Mr. Vandersloot said that they are unable to get a tow truck into their parking garage. Rachel Whoolery owns Windsor Manor and is president of the Off Campus Housing Association (OCHA). She spent a lot of money on nice parking stalls for her tenants. Her tenant parking garage has now become a public parking garage since the boot banning announcement. Two of the three floors of her parking garage are not accessible for tow trucks. Towing is expensive; whereas, booting is one third of the price of towing. Students don’t have enough money to pay for towing expenses. Damage to the vehicle can occur when towed. Booting has been proven to be a much better option for several reasons. The apartment owner can set the times when booting will occur. She does not have an issue with repeat offenders because once they have been booted they don’t do it again. Her visitor parking was full the day after this story came out because the students knew they could get away with it. The booting company takes time stamped pictures and emails it to the apartment owners. Their goal is to just keep their parking lots protected. She feels that the apartment owners and the booters have been working well together. Everyone has been struggling since this story aired. Giving them a ticket doesn’t work because they have no way of identifying the owner. The owner can throw the ticket away and drive off. She went over some of the options they have explored and none of them are feasible except for the booting. Mayor Merrill had Mrs. Whoolery explain her parking management plan. She said at her apartment they have the tenant pay for their own stall. The tenant pays $125 for a covered parking stall or $75 for an uncovered parking stall. There is a sign in front of every parking stall that says, this is reserved parking do not park here or there will be a $50 booting fee. If someone is parked in a tenant stall, the tenant calls RC Booting and then the tenant is allowed to park in visitor parking until the other car is removed. Her managers watch the visitor parking to see what cars are consistently using them and will put a note on their car to come talk to the managers. Council Member Busby asked how many boots were placed on cars during the past semester. Community Development Director Christensen explained that for reduced parking in the Pedestrian Emphasis Zone, which requires a conditional use permit, they must have a parking management plan. Also, in the infield redevelopment area where the parking was just reduced to 75%, they are required to have a parking management plan as well. The plan has to be approved by the city attorney. One request for the management plan is that the management is actively engaged 6 in the booting process so that booters aren’t just roaming and looking for improperly parked cars but that management is involved in that. Mrs. Whoolery explained that their managers are very busy with various issues. RC Booting, which is the company that Mrs. Whoolery uses, said they boot 3 to 5 cars per week at Windsor Manor alone. North Point is double that. Mr. Cobar of RC Booting said he does allow a short grace period for cars in after hour parking. Council Member Busby asked how many times police were involved. Mr. Cobar said four times due to students removing the boot. Mrs. Whoolery concluded that the current system, Ord. 911, is working; please keep it the way it is. DJ Barney of Rexburg. Says he started the whole towing thing. He helped write Ord. 911. He is no longer in the towing business. He believes there has been a lot of half-truths spoke tonight. He believes the best thing is to set up a committee and address the issue right with real information. Tow trucks are not as bad as people think. You don’t have to tow every car or boot every car to get results. In most states, booting is not legal. He said you can look up license plates by getting an account with Access Idaho, an on-line company. He believes the city should form a committee with people who don’t have an agenda and have them sit down and come up with a plan that works for everyone. B. Parking Enforcement Services Association - Nathan Nuno (Kase Parking Enforcement) Mr. Nuno is the owner of Kase Parking Enforcement in Boise. He has been in the towing and booting business for 15 years. If the state statute that Attorney Rob Wood brought up could really make booting illegal, it would put him out of business. The ordinances that the city of Boise has are working well. Booting companies are required to have each employee get a background check and be finger printed. The City of Boise provides a photo ID that must be worn at all times. The booting company must have signs approved by the city that are large and reflective posted in no parking zones. They have parking management also. Andrew Hayworth is in charge of booters/towers in Boise. The booting company’s uniforms, signs, prices, and etc. must to be turned into the city for approval. Towing companies can’t tow a car without authorization. Mr. Nuno has a computer program he uses to trace the vehicle owner. His employees have body cameras. He doesn’t like the term predatory booting. If his employee did that he would fire them. Residents pay a lot of money for their parking stall and that should be protected. Time stamps are great proof for people saying they were only there a few minutes. Ryan Cobar owner of RC Booting reported that he bought RC Booting in January. He consulted with Attorney Rob Wood as he got started. He is also a student at BYU-I. He wanted to make the perception of booting better. He doesn’t like to admit to his fellow students that he is a booter. He does not hire hot heads; his employees must be calm and mild mannered. He has 3 employees. He never thought his small business would get shut down over night. He encouraged council to really consider what they are doing. Brett Sampson with BYU-I said he will look to council and abide by their decision. Rob Wood said he did analyze the state statute and disagrees with the attorney general. It’s a crime to disable someone’s vehicle. Booting leaves the car in place. Law enforcement does not want to be involved in private property. Property owners have the right to exclude someone from their property. Law enforcement has been getting called out more this year than in the past. This has been an issue for a long time and that’s why they took it into review. Law enforcement does not want to be involved but they are. He knows it’s not black and white and the government needs to 7 revisit these statutes and make some adjustments. Ordinance 911, as it stands right now, does not have the support of local law enforcement. Council President Smith asked how many incidents there are in a year. Attorney Wood said there have been 80 incidents in the past four years and 20 just in the first six months of this year. The conflict is between the vehicle owners and the booting companies. Council Member Benfield asked Attorney Wood if Attorney Zollinger is on the same page as him. Attorney Wood said he doesn’t want to speak for him but yes, Attorney Zollinger did agree with the analysis; that the plain language of the statute would apply to booting. There are two competing statutes – one allowing private property owners to exclude someone from their property but also one to not allow immobilizing someone’s property. Council Member Flora asked if statute 49-1806 was written before booting existed. Attorney Wood said it was revised in 1988 so yes it was before booting existed. Chief Turman said he and his department support Attorney Wood on this issue. This is a hard situation because they want to protect the property owners and the citizen’s rights. As Chief, he has to protect everybody. The problem he sees is the parking management plan because the management has been turned completely over to the booting company. Where the issue comes is when the booter has no compassion or good judgement. He sees students who get booted just because their permit was in the wrong place. It should be common sense and good human nature to say, put it in the right place and I’m not going to charge you the $60 for the boot. When people that have been hired by the apartment complex to come and do some work get booted and the manager tells the booter to remove the boot and the booter says no, it’s not right. The owner or manager should have the final say and he believes back in the day when managers had to come out and give their say, there were a lot less problems. He knows the managers are busy but maybe they need assistant managers. There needs to be someone involved that doesn’t stand to benefit financially. Chief Turman also indicated that vehicle owner information can be found by going through the DMV. The police department is not allowed to give out that information. Council Member Benfield commented that she saw some statistics out of Chicago and she is just happy that our biggest problem is parking. Corey Sorenson asked if someone pays for a parking spot and someone else parks there, isn’t that like stealing. Aren’t there misdemeanors on both parts; the person who parks illegally and the person who applies the boot? A gentleman from the audience commented that he believes in accountability and that the person at fault needs to be accountable. Items for Consideration: (This item was moved up on the agenda to coordinate with the discussion already in progress) A. Discuss BILL 1014 replacing Ordinance 911 by making changes to the booting and towing policy with a reference to State Statute 49-229. INJURING VEHICLE . Council Member Flora believes council should leave Ordinance 911 in place for now as they are not in a place to make any changes at this time. Council Member Wolfe agrees that there is room for improvement on this ordinance and they need to take all comments into consideration. At this time, they should leave Ordinance 911 intact and have some revisions in place before school starts back up in September. 8 Council Member Mann does not like predatory booting but he doesn’t like predatory towing even more. He also believes that they need to wait and revisit Ordinance 911. He sees 20 calls in six months as an obvious problem that needs to be addressed. Council President Smith agrees that this should be studied more. They need to consider when the original statutes were written. Council Member Busby thinks that 20 calls in six months is nothing compared to what they will see when the students come back this fall. He appreciates Senator Hill being here. Senator Hill welcomes any input from our city as the legislatures take a look at the state statute. Council Member Wolfe moved to table any changes to Ordinance 911 at this time and leave it in tact as is until they can look into it further; Council Member Benfield seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council President Smith The motion carried Council Member Busby asked about a task force. Mayor Merrill will schedule a work meeting. Council Member Mann would like to schedule that as soon as possible. Council Member Wolfe suggested next week. Council Member Busby would like to suspend the booting during the eclipse. City Council will meet next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. for a work meeting to discuss the booting issue. Invites will be sent out. Committee Liaison Assignments for 2017: A. Council Member Mann: Golf Board · Emergency Services Board · GIS Oversight · Development Workshop Council Member Mann reported there is a lot of Emergency Service Personnel out on fires already this early in the season. B. Council Member Busby: · Airport Board · Traffic & Safety · Trails of Madison County Council Member Busby reported his committees have not met. C. Council Member Benfield: Police · MYAB· Parks & Recreation Council Member Benfield reported the MYAB is on summer break. A couple of the Mayor’s Youth did show up for the parade. Recreation is busy with races. All the races have had increased participation. Expenses are down and income is up. She talked to Parks Director, Greg McInnes about the Rexburg Rocks game where people find hidden rocks in the parks. She reminded everyone to not hide rocks in the grass. They can continue to hide them in other places that are up out of the grass. The Police Department had their DARE car wash yesterday and they are preparing for the eclipse but for now, things are normal. The AK47 Bandit was caught which is good news. D. Council Member Smith: Legacy Flight Museum · Beautification Committee · M.E.P.I. Council President Smith reported the Legacy Flight Museum had their fly-in and served 1,000 people a pancake breakfast. The Beautification Committee has put up banners on Main Street. They are working on 9 getting vacant lots cleaned up and they will be presenting some beautification awards soon. The business competition was a great success. E. Council Member Flora: School Board · Rexburg Arts Council/ Museum of Rexburg Council Member Flora reported she met with the Rexburg Arts Council and they are working on a Christmas Messiah program for December. They have also been working on the story telling and arts festival for the eclipse. There will be a Star Party with some astronomers from Los Angeles in the parking lot at Rexburg Rapids on Saturday, August 19th at dusk. The Romance is being painted. Three ceiling panels are complete; they hope to have it all done by January. BYU-I donated over 200 chairs to the City and they will go into the Romance Theater. The Tabernacle stage is refinished and it looks beautiful. The museum has uploaded videos of stories from the flood. The School Board will move forward with the bond vote on August 29th from 8 am to 8 pm. Information can be found on the school district’s website, msd321.com. Taxes will not increase with this 27-million-dollar bond. F. Council Member Wolfe: Planning & Zoning · Urban Renewal Agency · IBC Council Member Wolfe reported Urban Renewal did decide to give the funds needed to do the Center Street Project. Staff Reports: A. Finance: Financial Reports- Matt Nielson Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Dashboard report graphs. On the Cash & Investments graph it shows that we are currently investing 23 million right now and have 7.3 million available in cash flow. Recreation expenses are at 54% and that will go up quite a bit with the pool. June was bad weather for the pool but by the end of June we have seen warm weather and that has continued on so we have had strong revenue through the last month. This year is almost exactly the same as last year. Expenses, however, are up about $25,000 due to boiler problems and tile repairs. They have also added some benefit and wage costs with a part time maintenance person now. They are also in the middle of changing management at the pool. Street expenses are still low because they have not started crack sealing and some other things. Waste water expenses are high. Property taxes of 1.5 million dollars should be coming in soon. Community Development is high due to a lot of building permits coming in. 10 11 12 13 Public Works & Engineering: - Keith Davidson Approve the Application process Resolution 2017-08 to receive septic disposal requests from the public. Director Davidson needs approval for Resolution 2017-08, a new permit application process for public septic disposal requests. With the eclipse coming they need to clarify everything. They can take about 27,000 gallons from septic haulers. They need all the septic haulers to come in and renew their applications. They are putting in a new card reader at the gate of the waste water treatment plant. This helps monitor the comings and goings. Dump times will be normal business hours but if they have an emergency they can use their card. . Council Member Busby asked about costs. Director Davidson said it is $20.00 for the permit and then a per gallon charge. Each truck has a card associated with that truck so we know when they are coming and going. Council Member Busby asked if our system will be able to handle the flow during the eclipse. Director Davidson said it should, depending on how many people use the city toilets. The number of toilets limits how fast the flow can go. 14 Council Member Flora moved to approve Resolution 2017-08 Application process to receive septic disposal requests from the public; Council Member Busby seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council President Smith The motion carried Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program (DBE) for Rexburg – Madison County Airport, Rexburg, Idaho Director Davidson reviewed the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Plan for the Rexburg-Madison County Airport. Every three years they have to produce a methodology for how we are going to accommodate in our bidding process, Disadvantaged Business Enterprises. It’s a requirement for the Federal Government. Any time we are going to receive $250,000 or more in grant money from the Federal Government, we have to have it on record. City Council and County Commissioners have to be aware of it. It goes into our reports. This current plan will have no construction project, just studies for the next three years. Approve Low Bid from ARCO Electric for Riverside Park Field Lighting for $188,600. Council Member Busby moved to approve the low bid of $188.600 to ARCO Electric for the Riverside Park Field Lighting project; Council Member Benfield seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council President Smith The motion carried 15 Approve GDA Environmental Scope Change for the Rexburg Madison County Airport Public Works Director Davidson needs approval from the Mayor and City Council and the County Commissioners on the Scope of work change for GDA on our new airport facility. There are no cost changes but the scope of work changes. When they originally wrote the scope of work it was a pretty broad scope of work because we didn’t know exactly where we were going to end up so we wrote it broad to allow for a lot of different things. FAA originally said we could write in a letter saying we were good with amending the scope and Mr. Davidson took care of that but then they came back and said we actually want it a little more official. This amended scope is basically taking it and saying we’re not going to do a new ALP, Airport Layout Plan for the existing Airport, we’re just writing one for the new airport. Instead of doing two environmental assessments we have combined it into a larger one at the site that has been selected to allow us if we need to shift that runway alignment for wind so it gives us more flexibility in doing that. That’s what the scope of work change is. Council Member Busby moved to approve the GDA Environmental Scope Change for the Rexburg Madison County Airport; Council Member Wolfe seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council President Smith The motion carried Council Member Benfield commented on the email that was sent to council about the pot holes on 7th South. Director Davidson said they are working on them and it will be easier now that college is out. She would like to see it posted on social media that things are being taken care of. Council Member Smith asked about Center Street Project. Will it be paved before the eclipse? Director Davidson said they are trying to get there. They have added a few items and are trying to put things in place for the future. Mayor’s Report: Anne Allred the city employee for recycling had her last day today. She is moving. He showed some problems with some of the trees that are dying off up top. There is a disease that is going around that’s very contagious so watch for that. There is a spray for that. He talked to Tom Palmer at the Waste Water Treatment Plant and they have been trucking in sewage from Idaho Falls to add to our treatment plant to get enough bio-organisms going for the new system. It takes about a month to get it all cooking. Public Hearings: 6:45 P.M. (First read BILL 1170) Amending the 2017 fiscal year budget by appropriating additional monies received by the City of Rexburg. Mayor Merrill opened the public hearing. Public Testimony in favor of the proposal (5 minutes’ limit): None Public Testimony neutral to the proposal (5 minutes’ limit): None Public Testimony opposed to the proposal (5 minutes’ limit): None 16 Mayor Merrill closed the public hearing for deliberations. Deliberations: Mayor Merrill asked for a motion: Council Member Mann moved to approve and first read BILL 1170 - Amending the 2017 fiscal year budget by appropriating additional monies received by the City of Rexburg; Council Member Busby seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Wolfe Council President Smith Council Member Busby The motion carried Council Member Flora asked Officer Nielson to explain to the audience what they just did. Officer Nielson explained that every year they set their budget a year in advance and a lot of changes happen that have to be amended by vote. Calendared Bills and Tabled Items: A. “LAND USE ACTION” – Bills Recommended/Approved in a Land Use Public Hearing Procedure (Recommend Suspension of the Rules): 1. BILL 1168 – Annexation and Rezone approximately 20 South 12th West – Rural Residential 1 (RR1) to Community Business Center (CBC) for the east 250' as described in the legal description; the rest of the parcel remains Rural Residential 1 (RR1) – Ringel The property (17 00211) located at approximately 20 South 12th West shall be, and the same is hereby annexed to the City of Rexburg and is hereby declared to be a part of the City of Rexburg, Idaho and rezoned from Rural Residential One (RR1) to Community Business Center (CBC) for the east 250' as described in the legal description. The rest of the parcel will remain Medium Density Residential 1 (MDR1). Council Member Wolfe moved to suspend the rules for BILL 1168 Annexation and Rezone approximately 20 South 12th West – Rural Residential 1 (RR1) to Community Business Center (CBC) for the east 250' as described in the legal description; the rest of the parcel remains Rural Residential 1 (RR1) – Ringel; Council Member Benfield seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a roll call vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Flora Council Member Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe The motion carried 17 Council Member Busby moved to approve and third read BILL 1168 Annexation and Rezone approximately 20 South 12th West – Rural Residential 1 (RR1) to Community Business Center (CBC) for the east 250' as described in the legal description; the rest of the parcel remains Rural Residential 1 (RR1) – Ringel; 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 Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe The motion carried B. BILL Introduction: – NONE C. Second Reading: Those items which have been first read: – Appropriation Ordinance: BILL 1169 – Tentative Appropriation Budget for 2018. Council Member Flora moved to consider BILL 1169 – Tentative Appropriation Budget for 2018 second read; Council Member Wolfe seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Flora Council Member Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe The motion carried D. Third Reading: Those items which have been second read: 1. Delay 3rd Reading for corrected legal: BILL 1160 – Annexation and zone change from Rural Residential One (RR1) and Transitional Agriculture One (TAG1) to Low Density Residential Two (LDR2) for property in the Impact Area for the City of Rexburg. This property is located at approximately 950 Barney Dairy Road, Madison County, Idaho Mayor’s Business: 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 July 5th, 2017 meeting B. Approve the City of Rexburg Bills 18 Council Member Busby moved to approve the Consent Calendar containing the minutes and city bills; Council Member Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Benfield Council Member Mann Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council President Smith The motion carried Adjournment 9:19 P.M. APPROVED: ________________________________ Jerry Merrill, Mayor Attest: _____________________________ Mary Flanary, Deputy City Clerk