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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Minutes - June 06, 2018 June 06, 2018 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  4:45 P.M. CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING: Attending: Council President Smith, Council Member Busby, Council Member Wolfe, Council Member Walker and Mayor Merrill. Grifols Biomat USA Presentation – Rexburg Second Biomat Location Manager - Michael Prince Michael Prince, Tyler Stewart, Don Forning and Colin Seal with Grifols/Biomat USA were in attendance. Colin Seal presented the new Biomat Plasma Location that will be coming to Rexburg. The new location will start with a staff of 40 and go up to about 70 or 80 based on demand. Their current center on Main Street has 80 to 90 employees and 50 beds. The center on Main Street does an average of 1,845 donations per week. Mr. Seal explained the process of extracting plasma and the screening that all donors go through. Donors get a full physical every year. Donors can donate up to twice a week with 48 hours in between. He explained some of the diseases that the donated plasma treats. The new center, along with the current center, will employ a total of 150 people. They estimate that the economic impact in the first year will be close to ten million dollars for the local economy. Donors are compensated about $35.00 for each donation and that money is put onto a Grifols Pre-paid Visa card. That money is then spent in the local community. The total donor fees could be seven to eight million dollars a year, which in turn, is being spent mostly at local retailers. Mayor Merrill asked about where the plasma goes. The plasma goes back to the lab in Texas where it is fully tested several times and then sent to patients. The process takes 9 to 12 months. Plasma is in dire need in other countries because they don’t have the model that the United States has so they are willing to pay a lot for plasma from the United States. Council President Smith asked how many locations they have and if they are mostly in university towns. He explained that they have 195 locations in 32 states and it’s a mix of various types of locations. Council Member Busby asked for clarification on how many employees will be hired. There will be 150 total once both locations are up and running. It could eventually get closer to 200 employees. Council Member Busby heard that Rexburg has higher quality plasma; is that true? They replied that there are a lot of regulations and it is very strict. Even in Rexburg, there are those who don’t qualify for various reasons but they are grateful for anyone who is willing to donate. Mayor Merrill mentioned the parking and commercial facility that the City would like to build and asked if their company would be willing to lease some space there. They are definitely willing to look into that as they want their employees to have the parking they need and not using up retail parking around other stores. Mr. Seal thanked the city council. He said the new center should be opening in August and they will be inviting the City Council to take a tour of the new facility.  Salary Study– Terri Hill and Research & Business Development Center (RBDC) Human Resources Director Hill had the employees from the Research & Business Development Center (RBDC) introduce themselves. The RBDC will be doing the salary study. She explained why we do the salary study. The benefit of the salary study is attracting and keeping quality workers. The labor market is tight right now and we want to be able to keep good employees and be competitive. It also serves to help employees be accountable. She went over the criteria for this study. The study will be focusing on comparisons with towns that are similar to ours. There is some concern about losing employees to bigger towns and to the state, since one of the City benefits is PERSI and that can be carried over to the state. Classification and Compensation Study Criteria Fiscal Year 2019 Philosophy supporting Study 1. The City of Rexburg Mayor and Council Members have provided a competitive compensation system and benefit package for full time city employees in order to attract qualified applicants to the workforce; retain employees who have a commitment to public service excellence; motivate employees to maintain high standards of productivity; and reward employees for outstanding performance. 2. The foundation for this philosophy recognizes that city government is a service enterprise in which the city work force provides a critical role for the citizens that we serve. Maintaining a competitive compensation system is an integral, necessary, and expected cost of providing the delivery of city services and is based on the following compensation standards: (a) The cities overall compensation system, which includes both a salary and a benefit component, when taken as a whole, shall be competitive with relevant labor market averages. (b) Advancement in pay shall be based on job performance and market changes. (c) Pay for performance shall provide faster salary advancement for higher performers based on a merit increase matrix developed by the Human Resources Department. 3. It is the intent that regardless of specific budgetary conditions from year to year, it is vital to fund necessary compensation adjustments each year to maintain market competitiveness in the compensation system. In order to provide this funding commitment in difficult fiscal conditions, it may be necessary to increase revenues, or to prioritize and eliminate certain functions or programs in city government, or to reduce the overall number of city employees in a given year, or any combination of such methods. Criteria of Study Established to ensure that full time positions in city employment are competitive to the market (Market refers to whom we compete with for employees) Full-time positions will be compared to like public entities with similar population and number of employees within the public sector in the state of Idaho. If a similar position is not in the public sector within the state of Idaho, neighboring states with like population and positions may need to be considered. Comparisons will be made with State of Idaho positions that are similar, as well as local private sector employees where positions may compare in the competitive market. Study will seek to compare positions that share similar job titles along with job duties and responsibilities. Salary ranges, not actual wages, will be compared. If the study suggests a change in the grade of a position, it does not affect the current wages of the employee in that respective position; it does affect the salary range and long-term earning capacity for the position. If a wage change is recommended immediately, it shall require approval by the City. Discussion about benefits and comparisons to other cities along with cost of living in other areas. Council Member Busby asked how long the study will take. Director Hill said the study should be done by mid-July. Council Member Busby asked about merit pay. The study will be looking at some comparisons. Director Hill will get the council copies of the performance evaluation matrix system that we currently use. Discussion about merit pay.  TRPTA Future Goals & Objectives - Bob Fitzgibbons & Amanda Ely Mr. Fitzgibbons is the Assistant General Manager of TRPTA. He presented their mission statement and who they are. He showed some facts and talked about the funding levels for TRPTA. They receive local match money from various cities. They also receive money from Medicaid, grants, and basic fares. Total fares for 2017 were $47,912. The contribution from the Federal Government in 2017 was 1.5 million dollars.  TRPTA is requesting the usual $7,000 from the City of Rexburg for 2018 but due to increases in costs they are asking the City to give $15,000 for 2019. Mr. Fitzgibbons reviewed their operating costs and the total local match needed to run urban demand services. Funding Request  Mr. Fitzgibbons reviewed the number of trips originating in Rexburg.  Mayor Merrill asked who rides the buses and why. Amanda Ely replied that it’s mostly seniors, people with low to moderate income and people with disabilities. Council Member Busby asked how we justify funding TRPTA verses Rolling Shuttle or some other private business. Ms. Ely said Rolling Shuttle does take Medicaid but their drivers don’t have to be first aid and CPR certified; therefore they don’t qualify for federal aid. Discussion about fixed routes.  City Council Budget Work Meeting – To set Tentative Budget for Fiscal Year 2019 – Matt Nielson Chief Finance Officer Nielson presented the budget highlights. He explained that he was able to balance the budget at $62,838,100 which is an increase over last year by 3.2 million. The operating budget is 30.5 million. The largest increase is coming from the Fire Department, Water Department and Sewer Department; mostly personnel costs with some operational costs as well. The General Fund was balanced with $160,000 contingency for unforeseen increases in expenditures. Officer Nielson went over the general fund balance carryover on page three of the Budget Highlights Packet. He explained that every year he gages what the carryover will be. At the end of 2017, we carried over 4.3 million which is 41% of expenses. Our accounting practice is to have between 25% and 33% in reserve, so we were high for that year. This year; however, he shows the general fund forecasted to lose about $200,000 so at the end of the year we will carry over about 4 million which is 34%. He and the Mayor looked at it and found that if they were to carry over $322,000 into the 2019 budget, then we would end at about 31.5% which is still a pretty healthy reserve.  Officer Nielson indicated that there will be about 8.2 million dollars’ worth of street projects next year but a large part of that is Urban Renewal. Urban Renewal has 3.7 million dollars’ worth of street projects in the 2019 budget that they are going to fund. Officer Nielson pointed out the projects list on page one of the Budget Highlights Packet.  Officer Nielson reviewed the property tax revenues. Property tax revenues are estimated to increase about $260,200 to a total of $4,817,300. The current city property tax levy rate is at $432 per $100,000 of taxable value, which is still one of the lowest for most cities in southeast Idaho and other similar size cities. The animal shelter will need to change a part time employee to a full time employee. Up to 1.5 new full-time equivalent personnel positions are included in the budget. Community Policing-Animal Shelter is requesting to move a part time position to fulltime. The Wastewater department is requesting to add 1 full time position to be split 50/50 between treatment and collections Officer Nielson indicated that utility rate increases of about 6% are being recommended for water and sewer starting in October. He will be meeting with the Mayor, Director Davidson and Council Member Walker, Council Member Busby and Council President Smith next week to decide the new rates. They will meet Tuesday, June 12th at 8:00 a.m.… Officer Nielson continued to review the Budget Highlights. Major utility construction projects include the continuation of the major upgrade to our water facilities. The water project will provide needed production, storage, and delivery capacity to meet the current water demands and future water demands as our population grows. The water upgrades will be funded with a combination of operating reserves and a loan from the Department of Environmental Quality of up to $11,100,000, which includes principal forgiveness of up to $2,211,300. We project to spend over $12,000,000 on the water improvements over the five year project and complete the project by the end of the calendar year 2020. The Wastewater treatment plant improvements were substantially completed by the end of calendar year 2017, but included in the fiscal year 2019 budget is $ 2 million for a gravity fed sewer line to provide improved collections and expand capacity for the North West side of the city. The contributions for the sewer line project are still being determined and will include claw back fees to be paid by future development. Wastewater has also budgeted $200,000 for VFD blower replacements, $200,000 for SCADA system upgrades at lift stations, $250,000 for a lift station rebuild at Millhollow, and $70,000 for a sewer study for collections. The Airport Relocation Master Plan Study will continue through 2019 and we hope to complete the Environmental Assessment portion of the study by fiscal year end. These projects are funded approximately 90% by the FAA, up to 5% by the State of Idaho, and the rest by the City and the County. The City is setting aside reserve funds to meet their portion of any match if a final decision to relocate the airport is made. The city projects to have $817,600 of reserve set aside by the end of Fiscal Year 2019. The City has budgeted $1,600,000 to construct a new baseball/softball quad at Community Fields and the projected completion date of this project is fall 2019. We have a verbal commitment that we hope to solidify with a written memorandum of understanding with the school district for this project in the near future. Funding from the Urban renewal agency and the parks impact fees will help make this project possible. A tentative budget amount for a Dog Park is included in the budget and we hope to finalize some plans for a possible joint parking lot near Nature Park with the county in 2019. $200,000 for an additional restroom at Nature Park is also budgeted. We anticipate setting aside funding for new trail expansion and connections beginning in 2019 as well. Other Major projects and purchases in Public Works include the following:  A new Backhoe ($140,000) and Loader(s) ($350,000) Streets  Two new Garbage Trucks ($480,000) Sanitation The budget includes an increased amount of funding dedicated to the remodel and restoration of the Romance Theatre ($172,000) and Tabernacle ($74,000) buildings. A decision will need to be made on the irrigation system at the Legacy Golf Course in 2018 with construction occurring in 2019 to address the concerns at that location. Golf also has budget capital replacement for a greens mower and fairway aerator and tractor to be shared with the parks department. Officer Nielson believes they should take a full increase for sewer since they still have to haul the old waste this year. There is 2 million in sewer for a gravity fed sewer line by Walmart. The airport relocation master plan was moved down to $100,000 since that process has been slowed down a little. The baseball quad should be started this summer. A new backhoe is needed as well as loaders and two new garbage trucks. $200,000 is budgeted for an additional restroom at Nature Park. Officer Nielson reviewed the General Fund Transfers.  There is a big increase for the Romance Theater to get the remodel done. Recreation needs to go up, mainly because of The Zone which is not paying for itself. Labor is the biggest fee. From now on, the Finance Department is going to vet each recreational activity to decide if it will make money. Recreation is subsidized by close to a quarter million dollars a year. Animal control will go up. Fire will also increase because of personnel. Council Member Busby asked what the benefit is for sending our fire fighters out to other places. Officer Nielson said that money goes back into the department in different ways. Discussion about money from fires. Officer Nielson pointed out some changes to capital purchases. STATEMENT OF UNDERSTANDINGS ON BUDGET MANAGEMENT For the 2019 Budget (Year Ending 9/30/19) 1) Expenditures, including all capital items, will be managed so that short falls in total revenues are offset by cutbacks in expenditures in the General and Street Funds. 2) All capital purchases over $100,000 and construction projects over $100,000 and their related operating and maintenance costs must be in the budget and will be reviewed and approved by the City Council before any funds will be committed to the project. 3) All hiring of employees to fill a previously existing position that was vacated must have approval from the Mayor. The Mayor and/or Department Head should still continue to report these vacancies and rehires to the City Council under their respective department report or the Mayor’s report. 4) All new employee positions, if not approved in the normal budget process, must be pre-approved by the City Council.  6:30 P.M. City Hall Council Meeting Jacob Householder said the prayer. Michael Price led the pledge. Roll Call of Council Members: Attending: Council President Smith, Council Member Busby, Council Member Wolfe, Council Member Walker and Mayor Merrill. Council Member Flora and Council Member Mann asked to be excused. 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. Jacob Householder works for a non-profit organization called The Columbus Center for Constitutional Studies based out of Cedar City, Utah. He showed a website for a conference they are putting on this fall called Healing of America. It will be at the Tabernacle on Oct. 13, 2018 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m... The purpose of this conference is to educate and perpetuate the principles of the Constitution and teach people how to be good citizens and to stand up for freedom and principles. He is looking for businesses that would be willing to sponsor them. They are putting on a 5k, and some other fund raisers. More information can be found at their website, www.healingofamericaconference.org. Presentations: Introduce the new Parking & Safety Attendant for the Police Department – Kierra Belk Kierra is from Idaho Falls. She got married and moved to Rexburg 6 months ago. She served a mission in Pennsylvania. Her previous job was working with special needs adults. She is excited to work for the police department. Staff Reports:  Finance - Matt Nielson Officer Nielson reviewed the reserves fund. The street fund will carry over 2.5 million and even with the forecasted projects there will still be over 2 million carry over next year. The sanitation fund should have $850,000 at the end of 2018 but after the purchase of the new sanitation trucks, it will go down to below $500,000 at the end of 2019. Water has 6.7 million in reserves. Next year they will need to decide how to finance the DEQ loan. At the end of 2018 there should be about 2.9 million in reserves in the Waste Water Operations fund. The capital reserves will be exhausted with the pasteurization project and even by the end of 2019 there will not be any reserves in the capital because of the bond. Sewer will drop if they do the gravity fed line by Walmart. The General Fund was about $700,000 short but they were able to make some adjustments to balance the budget leaving a current deficit of $300,000. The red shows the biggest changes.  Officer Nielson would like to advertise the tentative budget. The total budget ended up being $62,838,100. He would like council’s approval to advertise it in the newspaper and set the public hearing for July 11th, 2018 at 6:45 p.m... Council Member Busby moved to approve the advertising of the tentative budget and set the public hearing for July 11, 2018; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried  Public Works and Engineering - Keith Davidson Approve low bid for 5th West Street Improvement Project Public Works Director Davidson presented the bids for the 5th West Street Project. Depatco was the sole bidder; however, the bid came in much higher than anticipated. The staff sat down with Depatco to see where some costs could be lowered. The original bid was higher than their projected costs but with some adjustments, they were able to get it down to a more reasonable total. Director Davidson recommends awarding the bid to Depatco at this point for a total of $453,995.00. The 5th West street project should start within a few weeks and take about 90 days.  Council Member Wolfe moved to accept the bid from Depatco for $453,995.00 for the 5th West Street Improvement Project; Council Member Busby seconded the motion; Council President Smith asked if future price increases were figured into the bid. Director Davidson said they were. Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried Approve low bid for Street Sweeper Public Works Director Davidson presented the bids for the new Street Sweeper. Metroquip met all the specifications; whereas, the others bidders did not. He recommends awarding the bid to Metroquip for $269,664.00.   Council Member Walker moved to approve the low bid of $269,664.00 to Metroquip for the new Mechanical Street Sweeper; Council President Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried Director Davidson gave an update on the restrooms at Evergreen Park. The restrooms are almost done but the sod will not be established by the time of the airshow on June 16th so Director Davidson informed the contractor that the city would take responsibility for any damage done to the sod during the airshow. Director Davidson said Jack Zollinger Construction will be fixing the road by the Library on 1st North next week so that section of road will be closed for a few days.  Community Development – Bret Stoddard Building Official Stoddard reviewed the Building Valuation Report for May. He indicated that Providence Square on 5th West is the big project this time.   Council President Smith asked how many buildings will be at Providence Square. Official Stoddard thinks there will be eighteen buildings. Council Member Busby asked about the high school permits. Official Stoddard replied that last he heard, there were some details still being worked out before those permits could be issued. Council Member Busby asked about the two single family additions on the report. It looks like there could be a mistake because they seem too high. Official Stoddard will look into that; it could be a typo that will need to be fixed. Mayor’s Report: Mayor Merrill said he heard from the owners of Oswald Automotive and they are very appreciative of the city staff for helping them get their business going. They said that Rexburg is way better to work with than Idaho Falls. Mayor Merrill read a letter from the Idaho Public Risk Management Association about HR Director, Terri Hill. She has completed a two year public risk management certification program through the Idaho Public Risk Management Association. They feel that Terri a great asset to the City of Rexburg. Mayor Merrill attended the Town and Gown Conference last week. He liked that it reaffirmed to him what a great place we live in. Public Hearings:  Items for Consideration: Conditional Use Permit (1800191) for Dog Grooming business in a Mixed Use zone – 107 North Center Street – JoAnn Hope Planner Rindlisbacher showed the location of the proposed CUP on the overhead screen. Planning & Zoning is very supportive of this permit. There were no conditions discussed. Council Member Busby asked if there will be dog boarding there. Planner Rindlisbacher said the business will not have any boarding of dogs there. This will be just a come and go grooming business. Council President Smith moved to approve Conditional Use Permit (1800191) for Dog Grooming business in a Mixed Use zone – 107 North Center Street with them meeting all staff requirements; Council Member Wolfe seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried  Conditional Use Permit (1800193) for Dormitory Housing in a Mixed Use zone – 220 South Second West (Arbor Cove) – Johnny Watson Planner Rindlisbacher clarified a question that had been asked earlier about bicycle parking requirements. The requirement for bicycle parking is not in the code for areas outside the PED that’s why Community Development Director Christensen added it to the staff recommendation. Council Member Wolfe moved to approve Conditional Use Permit (1800193) for Dormitory Housing in a Mixed Use zone – 220 South Second West (Arbor Cove) ; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried  Street Name Change – Sky Meadows Subdivision – changed a portion of Wind Song Drive to Stone Drive - extending Stone Drive to the intersection of Ridge View Drive – requested by Brandon Hall (property owner in area of consideration) Planner Rindlisbacher explained where this location is. He explained the section of road to be changed and why the better break would be at the intersection.  Council Member Busby moved to approve the Street Name Change in the Sky Meadows Subdivision, changing a portion of Wind Song Drive to Stone Drive - extending Stone Drive to intersection of Ridge View Drive; Council President Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried Appoint Remaining Members for the Parks Committee and Trails Committee Mayor Merrill reviewed the people already on the Parks Committee and the Trails Committee. It is proposed that they appoint Darrik Farmer and Jeremy Lamoureux to the Trails Committee and Tom Widdison to the Parks Committee.   Council Member Walker moved to ratify the proposed new members to the Parks Committee and the Trails Committee; Council Member Busby seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried Approve 2018 Fireworks Stands  Council Member Busby moved to approve the 2018 Fireworks Stands; Council Member Wolfe seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker 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): – NONE BILL Introduction: – NONE Second Reading: Those items which have been first read: NONE Third Reading: Those items which have been second read: Ordinance 1185 – Annexation of 1130 & 1138 University Boulevard in a Community Business Center (CBC) zone into the City of Rexburg. Council Member Wolfe moved to approve and consider third read Ordinance 1185 – Annexation of 1130 & 1138 University Boulevard in a Community Business Center (CBC) zone into the City of Rexburg; Council President Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried Planner Rindlisbacher informed City Council of the numerous public hearings that will be coming up for the City Council Meeting on June 27th since there will be two Planning & Zoning meetings between now and the next City Council meeting, due to the rescheduling of city council to accommodate those going to AIC in Boise.  Mayor’s Business: Proclamation 2018-03 – National Parks and Recreation Month – July 2018 Mayor Merrill read Proclamation 2018-03 – National Parks and Recreation Month.  Mayor Merrill also added that the Recreation Department will have different activities in the parks every Thursday throughout the summer. Council Member Wolfe moved to ratify Proclamation 2018-03– National Parks Month for July 2018; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried Council President Smith reminded everyone that the air show is on June 16th from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m... The dinner will be the night before at 6:00 p.m. at the Legacy Flight Museum and she could use some help from council with that. 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 May 16, 2018 meeting Approve the City of Rexburg Bills Council President Smith moved to approve the Consent Calendar containing the May 16th minutes and city bills; Council Member Busby seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 74-206(c) - To acquire an interest in real property which is not owned by a public agency. Council Member Walker moved to go into Executive Session Per Idaho State Code 74-206(c) - To acquire an interest in real property which is not owned by a public agency; Council President Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a roll call vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council President Smith None Council Member Busby Council Member Wolfe Council Member Walker The motion carried Executive Session started at 7:29 P.M. Executive Session ended at 7:50 P.M. Adjournment 7:50 P.M. APPROVED: ____________________________ Jerry Merrill, Mayor Attest: _______________________________ Mary Flanary, Deputy City Clerk