HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Minutes - June 12, 2019
Mayor Jerry Merrill
Council Members:
Christopher Mann Jordan Busby
Mikel Walker 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
Deborah Lovejoy – City Clerk
6:30 P.M. City Hall
Doug Ladle said the prayer.
Verlan Lauder led the pledge.
Mayor Merrill introduced Verlan Lauder and had Mr. Lauder tell about his experience in Europe for the World War II Veterans Tour that he recently went on for the 75th Anniversary of
the invasion of France.
Mr. Lauder shared his trip to Europe. He and his daughters attended a special ceremony for the veterans at the cemetery. There was about 12,000 people gathered around the grave sites.
President Trump spoke and Mr. Lauder really enjoyed that. His grandson escorted him to many other sites. The sleeper plane he flew in was amazing; he slept all the way across the
ocean both ways. France has a lot of grass and trees; it’s beautiful. The rail system was exceptional and fast, running 180 mph. They toured the main attractions. There is a big
airborn museum that he went to with his daughters. It has pictures all over the walls of the actual war. His daughters couldn’t believe what their dad went through in the war. He
loved the food, especially the scambled eggs for breakfast. Paris is a beautiful city and he was treated very well; he thinks because of his uniform. Everyone was thanking him for
his service and wanting to shake his hand.
Roll Call of Council Members:
Attending: Council Member Flora, Council Member Mann, Council Member Busby, Council Member Walker, Council Member Wolfe, Council President Smith, and Mayor Merrill.
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
New Employee Introduction: Joshua Merritt – Police Department
Mayor Merrill asked Officer Merritt to introduce himself. He is from Montpelier. He attended school for a few years in Rexburg where he met his wife. He introduced her, her name is
Tessa. He loves Rexburg, it feels like home. He did serve as a police officer in Montpelier for a few years. He is excited to be here to serve in Rexburg.
Presentations:
Sons of Utah Pioneers Fireside: “Our Pioneer & Pioneering Merchants” – Doug Ladle (208) 419-2376
Doug Ladle is the President of the local chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers. Their chapter is called the Upper Snake River Valley Chapter. They work hard to keep track of Rexburg’s
heritage. They will hold their annual pioneer fireside on Sunday, July 21st at 7:00 pm. Last year they had 280 people. The theme this year is “Our Pioneer & Pioneering Merchants”.
Everyone is invited. It will be in the North Stake Center. Louis Clements will speak first. Claire Thueson will follow. It will be a wonderful presentation. Refreshments will
be served. There will also be a musical number.
Committee Liaison Assignments for 2019:
Council Member Mann: Golf Board · Emergency Services Board · Development Workshop
Council Member Mann reported that the golf board has met a couple of times. They looked at the roof of the club house and the cooling system. Repairs are needed and they are waiting
for bids to come back for those repairs. Golf sales have been a little low due to the rain but the course looks good. Emergency Services has not met but they are getting ready for
their annual 4th of July pancake breakfast. This year it will be in front of the Fire Station on July 4th from 7 to 9 am. Development Workshop did the Chamber Forum today. It was
very interesting. Many businesses use their clients and he appreciates the merchants and the City for working with the Development Workshop and hiring their clients.
Mayor Merrill added that some of the people from the Development Workshop work at City Hall and he appreciates them. They do a great job.
Council Member Busby: Airport Board · Traffic & Safety · School Board
Council Member Busby reported that the Airport Board meeting was cancelled this month. The feasability study for the new airport is still ongoing. Traffic & Safety met but have nothing
to report at this time. Dr. Thomas said nothing is going on right now except for construction at the schools.
Council Member Walker: MYAB · Parks & Recreation · Trails of Madison County
Council Member Walker reported that MYAB is out for the summer. The Parks Department was busy last week with the Yellowstone Cup Soccer Tournment. The Parks Committee will meet June
27th and would like to have a work meeting with City Council sometime soon to discuss a five and ten year Parks Plan. They are currently working with Randall Porter and the Mayor on
replacing the trees in Porter Park. Recreation has been busy with the Teton Dam Marathon which was a major success. Baseball has started and T-ball and soccer are starting next week.
Rexburg Rapids is going full bore and so is the splash park. Trails of Madison County has not met.
Council President Smith: Legacy Flight Museum · Beautification Committee · M.E.P.I.
Council President Smith reported that MEPI has not met. Beautification Committee has not met. Legacy Flight Museum is having a free pancake breakfast this Saturday, June 15th from
8 to 10 am for the Fly-In. The Apollo display will be here tomorrow to go up in the Legacy Flight Museum. It will be here until the end of September.
Council Member Flora: GIS Oversight · Rexburg Cultural Arts / Museum of Rexburg
Council Member Flora reported that she met with GIS and wrote an article about it for the newspaper. She is grateful for all they do. Rexburg Arts had a wonderful orchestra concert
and will do another one this fall. There is a Teton Film Festival that the city helps with. They had Jim Clark playing the organ to the first dracula silent movie. Lion King Jr. camp
started the beginning of June. There is a cast of 60 children. They have only practiced for 7 days. She showed a clip of what they have done already. The props are coming along great.
It will be performed July 5th and 6th. The harmony on the songs sounds amazing. The Romance Theater is getting a new HVAC installed right now. They are looking at the Tabernacle
to see if the grout between the bricks can be fixed.
Council Member Wolfe: Planning & Zoning/Building · Urban Renewal Agency · Police
Council Member Wolfe reported that Planning & Zoning met last week. Urban Renewal met and got updated on the various districts. They are finally closing out the Washington School district.
They have sold that property and the new owners are hoping to get the re-zone approved so they can move forward with their project. The Police Department had a wonderful special needs
picnic
yesterday. It was very heart warming to see the interaction of the police and the kids. It was a great turnout. He asked Chief Turman to talk about Team 5.
Chief Turman explained that they are partnered with the Team 5 Foundation. They came up last weekend and did a high intensive active shooter training class for them. One of the team
members is a Navy Seal and normally charges thousands of dollars to teach these training classes but we got it for free. They are coming back and going through the school system to
put together a plan of action in case of critical incident.
Council Member Flora thanked the Police Department for the special needs picnic. She has a child with Autism and she takes him to the picnic every year. She appreciates them. It’s good
for the kids to feel that connection and not be afraid of the emergency services people.
Staff Reports:
Finance: - Matt Nielson
Finance Reports
Chief Finance Officer Nielson said he will be publishing the edited budget next week and then on July 3rd they will have the public hearing. Tonight he has 9 adjustments to the budget
to go over.
Parks Department went in half with the Golf Course on a dethatcher. They also purchased a UTV for the cross country skiing but half of that was paid for out of the High 5 Grant. Wastewater
Collections has been off because of the gravity project that they now are not going to do. The 1.1 million contribution for that project will be taken out for now to provide more accurate
numbers for Wastewater.
Parks added the purchase of the Barney Dairy property including the Park Impact Study. They also pushed back the baseball quad until next year and decided not to do the shared parking
lot with the county. The Romance Theater needed an adjustment to get the budget to match what makes sense in the bidding process.
The Baseball quad got pushed back to 2020. Water Capital Construction ended up getting to more projects than thought which added 2.4 million. Most of that is due to the new water reservoir
by Burton Elementary which is being funded through DEQ proceeds and/or reserves that are in water.
Streets Reconstruction added the 2nd East construction because the work happenend in late fall but got paid for out of this fiscal year. Also needed to increase the budget for the LID.
For New Street Construction, the round-about and 7th South Rail Road crossing at Yellowstone is not happing until next year.
Golf budget had a few things moved around. They ended up building a bridge this year but have some money coming from sponsors on that. They had to purchase a trailer to move carts
around. They have been trying to address a cooling issue at the clubhouse. The project has expanded a few times but when all is said it done they should have a solution that takes
care of the problem with a high-end swamp cooler that will cover the whole building. The roof also needs redone and when they do the roof, they also need to add insulation. They have
asked for bids. Some funding will come from sponsors. County and City contributions will go up.
Officer Nielson is seeking approval from City Council to make the adjustments to the 2019 budget.
Council President Smith moved to accept the budget adjustments to the 2019 budget; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora None
Council Member Wolfe
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council Member Mann
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Officer Nielson reviewed the budget summary report through May which should be right around 67%. Arts shows 53% but is actually going to be about $100,000 over budget; however, with
the approved adjustments it should be okay. Emergency Services is doing well; they are forecasted to go over budget $300,000 but that is because of wildland and that has an offsetting
revenue. Planning is low because we haven’t had a planner. Rexburg Rapids is just getting started. Police is at 64% with the investigations division being at 70% and forecasted to go
about $40,000 over which is in large part because of the salary study.
Officer Nielson continued with capital expenditures. We have spent about 22% so far which is normal. For revenues, franchise fees are a little low and they are forecasted to be low.
Investment earnings are strong at 95% of budget because the rates went up. He and Scott have been working on a couple CD’s They just renewed one at 3% and are about to renew another
one for 2.9%.
Mayor Merrill asked about operating contributions. Officer Nielson said that would be like ambulance district paying their share of operations. It’s low because we are waiting on them
to pay their share.
Officer Nielson went on to explain that permits and licenses is at 57% so it’s going to end up really close to budget. Property tax is at 62%; we will get 1.5 million in July. In capital
revenue, he and Scott are working on a DEQ loan for 1.7 million.
Officer Nielson said overall, on an operating basis, we are at negative 1.1 million. On a capital basis, we are at a possitive 310 so we’re at a negative 806 so right now we are cash
flowing which means we are in good shape.
Officer Nielson showed the Cash and Investment report. We are investing 26.7 million right now.
Council Member Busby asked if we can pull money out of investments to apply toward a bigger street overhaul. Officer Nielson replied you can only pull it out of those that are street
investments.
Officer Nielson reviewed the treasurers report. He pointed out the 1.5 million for fire operations which means we are owed money from one of the three joint venture partners and most
of that is ambulance. Officer Nielson and Scott are going to change their transfers to a monthly basis and reconcile quarterly to make it more accurate. Golf is about $28,000 in the
red. Parks Impact is just short of 1 million dollars and that will be carried over for the quad project next year. He has three different people he is working with right now for some
loans. Sanitation has 1 million in reserve, that will drop by $300,000 when we pay the purchase orders on the trucks. Waste Water has 5 million in reserve, Streets at 3.5 million, and
Water at 7.3 million.
Discussion about Golf Course Construction loan.
Public Works: - Keith Davidson
Surplus Heavy Equipment Tires
Public Works Director Davidson is seeking approval to surplus some old grator tires.
Council Member Mann moved to approve the surplus of heavy equipment tires; Council Member Busby seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora None
Council Member Wolfe
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council Member Mann
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Resolution 2019-08 Accepting Idaho Transportation Department’s American with Disabilities Act (ADA) Idaho Program Grant Award for ADA Improvements on State Highways
Director Davidson asked for approval to accept the grant from ITD for $40,800 to improve ADA Ramps.
Mayor Merrill read the resolution.
RESOLUTION FOR ACCEPTING THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT IDAHO PROGRAM (ADA) GRANT AWARD FOR STATE FISCAL YEAR 2020
Resolution No. 2019-08
WHEREAS, the Idaho Transportation Department, hereafter called the STATE, has submitted an Agreement stating obligations of the STATE and the CITY OF REXBURG, hereafter called the CITY,
for ADA improvements on State highways; and
WHEREAS, the STATE is responsible for obtaining compliance with laws, standards and procedural policies in the development, construction and maintenance of improvements made to the Federal-aid
Highway System; and
WHEREAS, the CITY and the STATE are providing funds for this project; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
1. That the Cooperative Agreement to construct ADA improvements on State highways within city limits is hereby approved.
2. That the Mayor and the City Clerk are hereby authorized to execute the Agreement on behalf of the CITY.
3. That duly certified copies of the Resolution shall be furnished to the Idaho Transportation Department.
Council Member Wolfe moved to approve Resolution 2019-08 Accepting Idaho Transportation Department’s American with Disabilities Act (ADA) Idaho Program Grant Award for ADA Improvements
on State Highways; Council Member Flora seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Council Member Busby asked what strings are attached to this ITD grant. Director Davidson said the ADA improvements can only be done on state highways.
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora None
Council Member Wolfe
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council Member Mann
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Council Member Busby asked about the email they all got regarding the traffic signal at the intersection of University and Yellowstone. Are we ready to make those changes? Mayor Merrill
said he will reply to the email and the plan is to make the changes before the students come back in the fall. There is a lot of confusion at the light with two arrows.
Council Member Busby also asked about the states part in road repairs. The state did come through and filled some pot holes.
Mayor’s Report/Business:
Mayor Merrill reported he met with the Idaho Commision on Hispanic Affairs. They were impressed with the outreach from Madison Cares and the City. They realize that we are aware of our
hispanic population. The Fall River Coop is having a meeting Saturday but that’s the same day as the fly-in. Interviews will be Monday for the City Planner position. He has been having
discussions with a contractor that has a CHP machine that converts natural gas into electricity. Mayor said they have also been meeting with some solar contractors looking for ways
to save money at the pool and other public facilites. He met with the few people left on the TRPTA board. They are looking at divesting the assests and paying the bills. He met with
people about broadband strategy for a more robust broadband. He passed around a booklet from Blue Cross that has the Park Street Park project that was partially funded by the Community
Transformation grant.
Items for Consideration:
Ordinance No 1214 Rezone URD & City owned properties to Mixed Use (MU) and Public Facilities (PF) respectively #19-00278 – Staff Recommendation to Suspend the Rules and Consider Third
Read – Stephen Zollinger
Attorney Zollinger presented the parcels. The property on Trejo and Mariah is now under city ownership and needs to be zoned Public Facilities as well as the Steiner property, the lift
station on 12th West, the Barney Dairy property, and a lift station south of Hampton Inn. The corner on 2nd West and 1st North has been purchased and is under contract. The new owner
is requesting Mixed Use (MU) as it is already surrounded by Commercial and Mixed Use. Staff recommends suspending the rules on this ordinance so the developer can move forward. There
were no staff reservations with respect to infrastructure.
Council Member Walker moved to suspend the rules for Ordinance 1214; Council President Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a roll call vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora None
Council Member Wolfe
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council Member Mann
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Council Member Walker moved to approve Ordinance No 1214 Rezone URD & City owned properties to Mixed Use (MU) and Public Facilities (PF) respectively #19-00278 and consider it third
read; Council Member Flora seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Council Member Mann is concerned about the storm drain pond area on Trejo being made into a park. He wants it to stay a water retention area. Attorney Zollinger said they will simply
develop it beyond its grass but it will always remain a strom drain pond.
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora None
Council Member Wolfe
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council Member Mann
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Calendared Bills and Tabled Items:
“LAND USE ACTION” – Bills Recommended/Approved in a Land Use Public Hearing Procedure (Recommend Suspension of the Rules):
Second Reading: Those items which have been first read:
Ordinance No 1213 Annexation of 2 Locations: Location 1 - N Hill Rd Enclave zoned Rural Residential 1 (RR1); Location 2: 829 S 5th W (Steiner Property) zoned Rural Residential 1 (RR1)
#19-00169 – Stephen Zollinger
Council Member Flora moved to second read Ordinance No. 1213 - Annexation of 2 Locations: Location 1 - N Hill Rd Enclave zoned Rural Residential 1 (RR1); Location 2: 829 S 5th W (Steiner
Property) zoned Rural Residential 1 (RR1) #19-00169; Council President Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora None
Council Member Wolfe
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council Member Mann
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Third Reading: Those items which have been second read: NONE
Mayor’s Business: Next City Council meeting will be July 3rd at 7:00 am.
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.
Minutes from June 5, 2019 meeting
Approve the City of Rexburg Bills
2019 Firework Stands Permit Approvals
Council Member Wolfe moved to approve the Consent Calendar containing the minutes and city bills and approve the 2019 Firework Stands Permits; Council Member Flora seconded the motion;
Mayor Merrill asked for a vote:
Those voting aye Those voting nay
Council Member Flora None
Council Member Wolfe
Council Member Busby
Council Member Walker
Council Member Mann
Council President Smith
The motion carried
Adjournment 7:56 P.M.
APPROVED:
________________________________
Jerry Merrill, Mayor
Attest:
_____________________________
Mary Flanary, Grant Writer