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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Minutes - January 16, 20191 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 5:00 P.M. Employee Handbook Work Meeting Human Resource Director Hill reviewed the recommended changes to the Employee Handbook. TO SIMPLIFY AND CLARIFY CHANGES: Vacation Earning Schedule General: Upon initial eligibility from 48 hours to 72 MFD: Upon initial eligibility from 67.2 to 100.8 HR RECOMMENDATION TO CHANGE FOR RECRUITING. THESE AMOUNTS ARE PRORATED OUT FROM TIME OF HIRE. Vacation Cash out increase General: from 40 to 60 hours MFD: 56 to 84 hours HR RECOMMENDATION: NO CHANGE-ENCOURAGE EMPLOYEES TO TAKE TIME FOR REST AND RELAXATION Emergency Services (MFD and Police) may claim vacation if they pick up other shift coverage during a pay period. HR RECOMMENDATION: MAKE THIS CHANGE BUT ONLY FOR VACATION and NOT SICK. Do not pay time and a half for covering shifts. Holidays: Pioneer Day (July 24) All employees not just MFD HR RECOMMENDATION: ELIMINATE HOLIDAY FOR ALL EMPLOYEES, EVEN MFD. THIS IS NOT A RECOGNIZED HOLIDAY IN IDAHO. Patriots Day (September 11) For Police not just MFD HR RECOMMENDATION: CHANGE TO ALLOW POLICE THIS HOLIDAY AS WELL Sick Leave as it pertains to Workers Compensation: Change verbiage from: Sick leave benefits may be used to supplement any payments that an employee is eligible to receive from workers compensation insurance. To: Sick leave benefits will be used to supplement any payments that an employee is eligible to receive from workers compensation insurance. HR RECOMMENDATION: GO TO AN OCCUPATIONAL INJURY/ILLNESS BENEFIT-this will help balance holding the employee harmless and protecting the experience modification rate. EXAMPLE: Benefits under OIB will provide for leave equal to employee’s accumulated sick leave balance. If an employee has no accumulated sick leave they will be given 173 hours for general employee or 242 hours for Madison Fire Department employee equal to 1 month for all employees. This will hold employees harmless for a period determined by their sick balance or a minimum of 1 month. After the OIB is exhausted the employee can take advantage of other benefits to offset loss of income: use sick leave and vacation to cover the 40% not being covered because they are only receiving 60% from Workers Compensation Insurance, request a sharing of sick or vacation hours from other eligible employees, long term disability provided by City paid benefit with UNUM, accident insurance claim with Assurity. Limit use of OIB to one occurrence per year. OTHER CHANGES TO BE MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH ICRMP, LEGAL AND DEPARTMENT HEAD RECOMMENDATIONS. 35 North 1st East Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208.359.3020 x 2101 Fax: 208.359.3022 deborahl@rexburg.org www.rexburg.org City Council Minutes January 16, 2019 2 WOULD LIKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO GO FORWARD WITH DRAFT OF HANDBOOK THAT CAN BE PRESENTED TO NECESSARY REVIEWERS and Boards. Human Resource Director Hill reviewed the recommend changes to the sick leave policy as it pertains to Workers Compensation and explained the proposed Occupational Injury/Illness Benefit. Human Resource Director Hill said one of the benefits of adding the Occupational Injury/Illness Benefit to the employee handbook is that it takes away the forming of committee that would make the determination of which accident the city will cover 100% of the employee’s wage and which one is not covered. Council Member Flora asked if an employee receives assistance when filling out the applications for the city’s supplemental insurance. Human Resource Director Hill replied yes, she will assist any employee needing help with filling out the paper work for the supplemental insurance and with any questions they may have. The addition of this policy will also assists in discouraging city employees to misuse their sick leave. Council Member Smith asked how the amount of vacation hours accrued by the city employees and how it compares to what other business give their employees. Human Resource Director Hill said the amount of vacation time accrued by the employees is comparable to smaller businesses; however, the larger corporations are more generous with the amount of vacation time they give to their employees. Fire Chief Child said he would prefer for the Fire Department employees to be able to cash out more vacation time hours than the 40 hours they are currently able to cash out. He is not in favor of paying overtime to cover a shift for the employee that is on vacation. Council Member Mann said he understands the Fire Department’s concern with being able to cash out more vacation time hours because they need to cover a 24 hour shift. He asked Chief Child for his recommendation on the number of hours he would prefer the employees be able to cash out. Chief Child said 84 hours would be a great compromise; however, they would prefer to be able to cash out more than 56 hours. Fire Chief Child explained the Fire Department uses a computer program that schedules the next available employee to cover a shift. If that employee is the next person in the queue and has the same training of the employee taking the time off, they will be able to cover that shift. The Fire Department requires the same training; for example, if a paramedic goes on vacation his/her shift needs to be covered by a paramedic. Council Member Flora asked if there are enough Paid Call Paramedics to cover the full-time paramedic’s shift while they are on vacation. Chief Child said the Fire Department has four paid call paramedics. Council Member Flora asked if there are other city departments that have the same issue with having to pay overtime to an employee to cover another employee’s shift while they are on vacation. Public Works Director Davidson said he is in favor of encouraging city employees to take their vacation time instead of being able to cash out more vacation time. Council Member Mann mentioned when employees use their vacation time it promotes cross training. Finance Officer Nielson said the Police Department is currently allowed to cover a shift during the week they took a vacation day and get paid for both the vacation time and the shift they covered; however, in the current policy the Fire Department is not allowed to be paid the vacation time of when a shift is covered. This is one of the recommended changes to the handbook. The employees would be paid straight time for the vacation time they took during the week they covered a shift. This will help the employees having a hard time using up their vacation time. Council Member Flora said she would prefer to start with a lesser amount of vacation time to cash out and increase the amount of time each year and review the savings from not having to pay overtime to an employee covering a shift. City Clerk Lovejoy asked for the percentage of employees cashing out their vacation time at the end of the year. Discussion regarding the percentage of employees cashing out their vacation time. It was determined the percentage varies per department. 3 City Attorney Zollinger explained when calculating vacation time it is not based on matching the number of hours an employee is taking off; it’s about matching the number of days they are taking off work for example, the Fire Department employees only use 48 hours of vacation time to get 10 days off of work where a regular employee has to use 80 hours to get 10 days off. The Police Department employees work a 12 hour shift. He recommended the following numbers of vacation hours be cash out 40 for regular employees, 48 for Police and 72 for Fire. Fire Chief Child said the holidays that were previously in the union contract will need to remain in place until the Emergency Services Board reviews and decides on these changes. Finance Officer Nielson mentioned City Council is one third of the Emergency Services Board and questioned if they wanted to eliminate those holidays from the employee handbook draft. Council Member Mann said he would prefer to review the union contract to compare it with the changes to the employee handbook. Council Member Busby mentioned he was under the impression that the union contract was null and void. Chief Child explained when the union dissolved The Emergency Services Board agreed to take everything that was in the union contact and add it to the employee handbook. City Attorney Zollinger clarified the Emergency Services Board did not agree to have everything in the union contact be added to the employee handbook. They decided to take the relevant factors from the union contract to insure that those factors were added to the Rexburg City Employee’s Manual which becomes the governing document. They did not agree to add all of the elements of the union contract because there were a number of elements that were union breakers and they were not going to renew them under those terms. City Attorney Zollinger continued to clarify the brake down since the union dissolved has been that the changes to the employee handbook pertaining to the Madison Fire Department were not presented to the Emergency Services Board for their decision to ratify the proposed changes. This process creates a bifurcated employee manual. Chief Child said he, Richard Horner and Amber Steckley meet with the union representatives to decide which parts of the union contract were important to them so that those parts would be included in the city’s employee manual. The three of them Mr. Horner, Ms. Steckley and himself made the additions to the employee handbook. Council Member Busby questioned how long ago was the union dissolved. City Attorney Zollinger replied about eight years ago. Discussion regarding the city’s observed holidays. Pioneer Day is a holiday that only the Madison Fire Department has observed. Fire Chief Child said it is his responsibility is to maintain the integrity of the Emergency Services Board. If the integrity is lost we jeopardize the different powers between the three entities and that could drastically alter the Fire Department. He explained maintaining the integrity of the authority of the Emergency Services Board, City of Rexburg and Madison County is imperative. At times it is a difficult balance to deal with the three entities; he feels he is charged with keeping this balance. Council Member Busby explained his concerns with only allowing the Fire Department and Police Department to take these two additional holidays. This could cause the morale of the city employees not receiving the additional holidays to lessen. He would prefer to be more even across all city departments. Chief Child said he understands Council Member Busby’s concern; however, he prefers not to give any cause or reason for the Fire Department Employees to unionize. Human Resource Director Hill asked for clarification regarding leaving Pioneer Day as is in the employee handbook. City Attorney Zollinger said before dis-allowing the observance of Pioneer Day by the Madison Fire Department it will need to be presented to the Emergency Services Board to decide on the proposed change. Human Resource Director Hill also asked for clarification regarding the Occupational Injury/Illness Benefit. City Council said they were in favor of adding the Occupational Injury/Illness Benefit to the employee handbook. Finance Officer Nielson said the employer paid 4 long term disability insurance pays 50% of $4,500. after the deductions for Workman’s Compensation, Social Security, and retirement payment, etc. 6:30 P.M. City Hall Sophie a student at BYU- Idaho said the prayer. Mayor Merrill led the pledge. Roll Call of Council Members: Attending: Council Member Flora, Council Member Walker, Council Member Busby, Council Member Mann, Council President Smith, and Mayor Merrill. Council Member Wolfe 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. Presentations: Committee Liaison Assignments for 2018: A. Council Member Mann: Golf Board · Emergency Services Board · Development Workshop Council Member Mann reported his committees did not meet. The Golf Board will meet next month. The Emergency Services Board will meet soon to review the changes to the employee handbook that were discussed at tonight’s work meeting. He commended Mayor Merrill and the City of Rexburg staff for the cross country skiing trails and the sled hill at the Teton Lakes Golf Course. He has received great reports regarding these attractions. Mayor Merrill said he visited the golf course last Saturday and the sled hill was very busy. B. Council Member Busby: Airport Board · Traffic & Safety · GIS Oversight Council Member Busby reported the Airport Board met last week to discuss the feasibility of moving forward with the relocation of the airport. The Traffic & Safety and GIS Oversight Committees have not met. C. Council Member Walker: MYAB · Parks & Recreation · Trails of Madison County Council Member Walker reported the MYAB met last week to work on the design for the city flag. The Recreation Department is busy with the winter attractions at Teton Lakes Golf Course and the winter recreation programs. They are also gearing up for the spring recreation programs. Council President Smith: Legacy Flight Museum · Beautification Committee · M.E.P.I. Council President Smith reported the Legacy Flight Museum is opened on Saturdays only for the winter months. They have had a good turn out with patrons visiting the museum. They have also been busy with events taking place at the museum. She said she has an update on the airplanes at the museum. The museum has sold the Cardinal Airplane that was donated by Dan Pierce. By selling the Cardinal Airplane, they were able to pay off the 1943 Stinson Airplane that was purchased by John Bagley with his own funds. The city now owns the 1943 Stinson Airplane. Council President Smith reported the Fly- in at the Legacy Flight Museum and a free breakfast will be held on June 15th. Madison Economic Praters Inc. has not met; however, they have reorganized their board with a goal to focus on promoting and supporting entrepreneurial activities. They are working with the IRS to change their tax exempt status from a 501c3 to a 501c4. This change will allow them to more fully promote entrepreneurial ship in the city. Their focus will be more on business incubation education and some of the events include: Startup Weekend, Big Idea Competition, and Business Competition. MEPI is working with, the City of Rexburg, and the Urban Renewal Agency to start a Food Incubator using a portion of the High Five Grant. They hope some of the unused space that Urban Renewal purchased on College Avenue could house the Food Incubator. Individuals and food entrepreneurs will be able to rent the Food Incubator to produce their foods in accordance with Public Health Standards. This will give food entrepreneurs the ability to test out their ideas without the expense of having to buy a commercial kitchen. The interested food entrepreneurs will also be encouraged to attend the Startup Academy. The Startup Weekend will be held in March and the Business Competition will be held in May depending on the community interest of these two events. 5 Council President Smith reported the Downtown Committee will meet in February. Council Member Busby clarified the Business Competition is not a set event. D. Council Member Flora: School Board · Rexburg Arts Council/ Museum of Rexburg Council Member Flora reported the School Board met to review the school bond fund report. The report shows how much funds are being used at each of the different schools. She said she and Council Member Busby are going to switch liaison assignments. She will be the city liaison for the GIS Oversight Committee and Council Member Busby will be the city liaison for the School Board since he already attends the School Board Meetings. Council Member Flora reported she met with Jackie Rawlins, Cultural Arts Director. They are working on four different grants for the Teton Story Telling and Arts Festival that will be held in August. They are planning on including local businesses to participate in the event. She encouraged the Arts and Craft businesses to participate in the festival. They are really excited about the upcoming events. She mentioned some of the events include: Rexburg’s Got Talent and The Harry Potter Wizard Ball. The Cultural Arts Department does an amazing job of transforming the inside of the Tabernacle into a magical place for the wizard ball. Council Member Flora reported the Museum of Rexburg applied for a grant to have a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian accepted the museum’s grant and they are going to send a Smithsonian exhibit to Rexburg. Alisha Tietjen wrote the grant for the exhibit. E. Council Member Wolfe: Planning & Zoning/Building · Urban Renewal Agency · Police Council Member Wolfe was unable to attend the meeting. Staff Reports: Public Works: - Keith Davidson Public Works Director Davidson reported currently the main items they are working on is snow removal and getting projects ready to go out to bid. They are also working on the Local Improvement District #48. The Public Hearing for LID 48 will be held later tonight. Finance: - Matt Nielson Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Budget Summary Report. The report is for the 1st quarter of fiscal year 2019 through December. The operating expenditures should be at 25% or less. The Police Department is at 24% and Public Works is at 31%. The reason why public works is higher than the 25% was due to the street repair contracts. They ended up paying for a lot of the projects that were in the fall of fiscal year 2018 which put them into fiscal year 2019’s budget. Those projects include the 2nd East and the 5th West. Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Capital Expenditures section of the report. The cost driver on the capital expenditures was the water reservoir by the Burton Elementary School at a cost of about $600,000. The city has only spent about nine percent of the capital so far this year. The expenditures will start accruing in the summer. The total expenditures the city has expensed are about 15% of budget. Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Revenues Budget Summary Report. The city has brought in about 15% of the operating revenues. The franchise fees are low because the city doesn’t receive the fees until the end of January along with a portion of property taxes. The city will receive about 2.5 million dollars in property taxes which is the largest disbursement of the year. In the Capital Revenues the city has brought in about $819,000. from the Department of Environment Quality loan. In the Capital Reserve Fees and Impact Fees there is a shift from last year’s. He said last year the fees were at about 170% of budget this year they are only at 12%. The Building Department doesn’t receive many permits during the first quarter because of the winter months; however, the fees are behind the trend from last year. Finance Officer Nielson reviewed Local Improvement District fund. In LID 47 there were several residents that gave a pre-bond payment on their assessment because they elected to pay it in full instead of financing their assessment. This is the reason why the fund has about $139,000. Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Total Revenues and Total Expenditures. The total revenues the city has brought in about 6.8 million dollars, they have expensed about 9.4 million dollars and is cash flowing 6 about 2.5 million dollars. This is typical for the first quarter of the fiscal year because a lot of the city’s receipts aren’t received until January. 7 Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Cash and Investments Balance Report. The total investments are about 25 million dollars. The short term investments less than a year are at about 13 million dollars. The one to five year investments are at about 9.8 million dollars. The over five year investments which is the diversified bond fund is at about 2.2 million dollars for reserves. There is about seven million dollars in the managed accounts between Moreton Asset Mangement and Zions. He said he and the Mayor discussed shifting more funds into the managed accounts so each account would have five million dollars. The funds will be pulled out from the Local Government Investment Pool. As the city recieves the property tax money, they will shift the collateralized funds back to the LGIP because there is 2.3 percent return. On the managed accounts the return is about three percent. 8 Finance Officer Nielson reviewed the Treasures Expenditures Report. In the Airport Construction Fund there is about $94,000. saved for construction projects. The Airport Board met to discuss a feasibility study and other items that the FAA will pay 90% of those costs; however, the city will still need a large fund match. The Airport Reserve has about $713,000. for the relocation of the airport. Their goal is to have 1.3 million dollars in reserve. The General Fund ended last year with 34% in reserve. The city’s policy is to end between 25% and 33%. The Sanitation Reserve is at one million dollars; however, the city has budgeted to purchase two sanitation trucks this year that will cost about half a million dollars. Finance Officer Nielson continued to review the Treasures Expenditure Report. The Sewer Reserve is at about 4.3 million dollar. The Street Reserve is at about 3.1 million dollars; however, at the end of the year last year there was about four to five million dollars in reserve. The Water Reserve is at about 7.3 million dollars. 9 Mayor’s Report: Mayor Merrill reported he attend the Targhee Regional Public Transportation Authority meeting. They are struggling because of the federal government shutdown. They receive funds from the federal government through the Federal Transit Authority. The federal employees are not working so TRPTA is not receiving the funds they normal receive. TRPTA has had to cut back. They temporarily laid off their third party contracts such as their Human Resource Department. Their employee’s hours have been cut down. TRPTA has asked the cities that help support them to do in-kind work for them. The city has agreed to help them with their human resource needs and City Grant Writer Mary Flanary will be helping them with their grant writing after January because she is busy with the city’s grants. Mayor Merrill reported he received a letter from the Idaho Water Users Association Representative. In the letter it states the challenges with water and how every city is in need of it; however, there is only so much water available. The letter also stated that the association has been 100% successful on the bills that they have lobbied for at the legislature. The city is a member of and pays dues to the Idaho Water Users Association. He believes the association is doing well in making a difference in representing the cities and the water rights they need to operate. Mayor Merrill reported he attended a forum called East Idaho Leadership Forum in Idaho Falls. The forum was sponsored by Regional Economic Development for Eastern Idaho. The Idaho Technical Council Representatives from Boise attended the forum. The REDI group is doing a study to identify, what the region is lacking to be able to support certain industries. They 10 identified some of the items that are lacking which are sufficient infrastructure such as, power and broad band. They also identified a low percentage of people that have a bachelor’s degree or higher to expand their work force. Public Hearings: 1. 7:00 P.M. - Ordinance 1205 – Pursuant to Resolution No. 2019-03 for a public hearing at which the owners of property to be assessed within proposed Local Improvement District No. 48, ("L.I.D. No. 48") may appear before the City Council (the "Council") of the City of Rexburg, (the "City") and be heard as to the propriety and advisability of creating L.I.D. No. 48 and acquiring and constructing the Improvements, as hereinafter described, and as the time and place when and where the Council will consider the creating of the proposed L.I.D. No. 48 and the acquisition and construction of the proposed improvements, and hear all complaints, protests, and objections which may be made in writing and filed with the City Clerk on or before said time by any owner of any parcel of land to be assessed. Mayor Merrill explained the purpose of Local Improvement Districts. City staff is available to answer any question pertaining to the residents assessed cost for the improvements on their property. The assessed costs are estimated at this point, the actually costs are not determined until the bid for the work is received. He mentioned the financing options available to city residents to pay for their LID assessment. Public Works Director Davidson reviewed the maps of the properties included in Local Improvement District No. 48 on the overhead screen. 11 Public Works Director Davidson reported there were seven letters received and his office spoke with 12 individuals regarding some of their concerns pertaining to the LID. The majority of the residents he spoke with felt that their sidewalks curb and gutter are still in good condition. He said the city engineers will meet with the property owners in the spring to reevaluate the work needing to be completed. The property owners will only be charged the work that is completed on their property. Some of the properties on this LID have old sewer service lines that will need to be replaced. The goal is to replace the old sewer lines while the road is being reconstructed so that they do not cut into a new road when the sewer line fails. This will save the property owners about $10,000. by not having to cut into a brand new road. They will only replace the sewer lines that need to be replaced. Council Member Mann asked if a camera is used to determine if the sewer line needs to be replaced. Public Works Director Davidson said when the road is torn up; they will identify what type of sewer line was installed. If the sewer lines are the old Orangeburg lines, they will need to be replaced. These types of lines tend to collapse. If the old sewer line is outside of the roadway it will not be replaced. The city is trying to protect the road from additional road cuts. Council President Smith mentioned there is property owners concerned that some of the work is being duplicated. Public Works Director Davidson said there are some property owners that participated in prior LID #35. The city engineers will review the work completed on the pervious LID to make sure the work isn’t being duplicated. Council Member Busby asked if landscape stripes are being considered on some of the properties or is the sidewalk next to the curb and gutter. Public Works Director Davidson replied for the properties that have the sidewalk next to the curb landscape stripes aren’t possible because it would cut into the road by five feet on each side. The road would be narrowed to about 25 feet wide which causes difficulty with parking on both sides of the road. The landscape stripes are preferred for the life of the curb; however, at times they are not feasible. 12 Mayor Merrill opened the Public Hearing. Written correspondence: #1 Letter #2 Letter #3 Letter 13 #4 Letter 14 #5 Letter 15 #6 Letter #7 Letter Public Testimony in favor of the proposal (5-minute limit): Steve Oakey said he is in favor of the LID 48 because it would be a valuable improvement to his property. Mr. Dye said his is favor of the LID because his curb is need of repair. 16 Public Testimony neutral to the proposal (5-minute limit): Karen Lyles questioned where the grade of baseline starts for the ADA cross slope. She was informed that if the cross slope is off by more than two percent it will need to be replaced. Public Works Director Davidson explained the ADA specifications state the greatest cross slope a sidewalk can have is two percent. He said some of the driveways in this LID have a greater cross slope then the two percent allowed by the ADA specifications. She clarified the grade is measured on the sidewalk portion and not from the center of the road. Public Works Director Davidson replied that is correct. Ms. Lyles said her property has a storm drain in front of her house that doesn’t work properly. This summer when the fire department was blowing out the fire hydrants, the drain backed up very quickly. She contacted the city’s Wastewater Department to check the drain for blockage. They informed her that the drain and the storm line are not aligned properly. She asked if the drain will be fixed. Public Works Director Davidson said any of the storm drains needing repaired in this LID will be repaired. When the storm drains are not working properly to keep the water off the roads, the water causes the roads to deteriorate rapidly. The costs to repair the storm drains are covered by the city. Ms. Lyles asked when the work will begin for this LID. Public Works Director Davidson estimated the work will begin sometime in May and end sometime in August before school begins. She questioned how long it would take to complete the work in front of her property. Public Works Director Davidson explained the contractor will make sure there is access get to her property while the work is being completed. He said it is difficult to estimate exactly how long the work in front of her property will take to complete. There are sewer stub outs that take longer to install a side from paving the road and replacing the sidewalks, curb and gutter. Ms. Lyles expressed her concerns with having the road in front of her property torn out for a long period of time. She asked how long she will not be able to use her driveway. Public Works Director Davidson replied up to seven days to allow enough time for the cement to cure. She asked if she could hire her own contractor to perform the work needed on her property. Public Works Director Davidson said yes, she can hire a contractor to do the sidewalk and driveway work. Ms. Lyles said she noticed that her property lines are different on the map she received from the city. Public Works Director Davidson explained the property lines on the maps the city uses are not exact; however, they are very close. In order for a resident to know their exact property lines, they would need to hire a surveyor to take the property’s legal description and pin the property lines. Ms. Lyles asked if the city will let her know where she can park when her driveway is not accessible. Mayor Merrill said the contractor will inform the residents when the work in front of their property will begin and where they can park their vehicles while the work is being completed. Van Christman said the LID notice for his property was sent to the wrong address. He asked how the costs were calculated for the LID. He calculated his property needs about 20 feet of sidewalk and about 40 feet of curb and gutter. The estimated costs of his assessment seem excessive for the amount of cement that is going to be poured. Public Works Director Davidson indicated the cost includes labor and the service sewer line. The estimated costs are based on previous bids and they hope the estimated costs are high to be able to obtain low bids. Mr. Christman asked if his assessment includes the service sewer line. Mayor Merrill replied yes; however, that cost will be deleted if the sewer line doesn’t’ need to be replaced. Public Works Director Davidson said they are replacing the sewer lines from the main line to back behind the sidewalk and not all the way to the homes. Mr. Christman said he believes he can get a private contractor to do the work for a lot less. Public Works Director Davidson said the residents can hire a private contractor to install the sidewalk; however, the city doesn’t allow the work on the curb and gutter to be done by a private contractor. Bryan Stewart Jr. questioned why his sidewalk needs to be replaced. Public Works Director Davidson explained to Mr. Stewart’s that his sidewalk may need to be replaced to meet the ADA specifications; the sidewalk could also be offset and deteriorated. The road is in need of reconstruction. Mr. Stewart asked if the fair grounds are being assessed. Public Works Director 17 Davidson replied they are not reconstructing the portion of the road along the Fair Grounds because there are constraints with some of the fairground buildings, some of them are right up to the curb. Mr. Stewart asked if he is going to have to pay for the cost of the main service line. Public Works Director Davidson explained if the city is replacing the main sewer line there is no charge to the residents; however, if the property owner’s service line is in poor condition then they will be charged for their section of the line, which is from their home to the main line. Mr. Stewart questioned the reason why residents are not allowed to hire a private contractor to install the curb and gutter. Public Works Director Davidson said there are several reason one being coordinating the time of when the curb and gutter is installed and the road being paved. Scott Bailey said he was given an itemized list of the cost for his LID assessment. He noticed in the itemized list that a large portion of his sidewalk and driveway needs to be replaced. On his side of the street all of the driveways are completely flat. He also noticed the estimated costs for his sidewalk and driveway portion was $6,000 out of the $10,800.00 he is being assessed. He asked about the percentage of cost sharing between the city and residents. Public Works Director Davidson said on existing sidewalk, curb and gutter, the city will pay $1.75 per square foot for sidewalk and $7.70 a linear foot for curb and gutter, the rest of the cost is paid by the property owner. Mr. Bailey said he is concerned with the total actual costs if he is paying a portion of the total actual cost he would prefer to know exactly what that portion will be. Mr. Bailey indicated the timing of this LID is not a good thing for him because he is trying to sell his home. He will continue to work with city staff to review the costs of his assessment. Public Works Director Davidson said the LID should be out to bid in a week so he should have actual cost from the contractor in early February. Ryan Malm questioned the administration engineering fee that is added to the LID. The engineering fee is 11 to 15 percent of the total project. He asked if the administration of the LID isn’t already part of the city engineer’s job and if it is aren’t they already being paid a salary. He is concerned that the residents are being double charged for the engineer costs. Public Works Director Davidson said in order to facilitate an LID project there is a lot of administrative work being done such as; measurements of the sidewalks, curb, gutter coming up with the estimates for the work, sending out the letters to the residents being assessed, placing the project out to bid, etc. City Attorney Zollinger explained about 18 years ago the City of Rexburg commissioned a study to monitor its engineering expenses when the work was being hired out. The study compared the costs of hiring out the work to bringing it in house and hiring engineers. The city on average was paying 25 to 30 percent when hiring out the engineer work. The city has reduced the engineering costs to 12% by hiring engineers to do the work. Joe Allen questioned if his property is being assessed a cost for the sewer line. His assessment indicates his driveway apron needs to be redone to be ADA compliant. He asked if his sidewalk and driveway were ADA compliant when it was built. Mayor Merrill answered ADA requirements change over time. Mr. Allen asked if municipalities choose which part of the ADA requirements they prefer to update. City Attorney Zollinger explained any time the city is going to reconstruct a road they are required to bring up the sidewalk to current ADA standards. Mr. Allen said the corner of the block near his property is already ADA complaint because of a sub-division that was built about eight years ago. Mr. Allen indicated in the research he performed regarding ADA requirements. He was unable to locate where it states that driveways need to meet ADA requirements. City Attorney Zollinger answered it’s not the driveway alone; when a property owner’s driveway is part of the sidewalk and the driveway’s apron exceeds the two percent cross slope that is when it needs to be redone to meet the ADA requirements. Mr. Allen expressed his concerns with changing the current slope of his driveway because it helps with not allowing the water from rain and melting snow get into his yard. He asked what he should do when the water floods his yard. Mayor Merrill said Mr. Allen should contact the city engineers to see if any modifications can be made; however, still remaining ADA complaint. 18 Daniel Dewey said there has not been enough data or dissemination of information to the property owners regarding this LID. He would prefer to be shown pictures of where his sidewalk is falling at more than 50%. His driveway is flat and isn’t sure about the two percent cross slope. He said he would prefer to meet with a city engineer to review the work that actually needs to be done on his property. His assessment is $11,000.00; if there isn’t enough data this LID needs to be postponed until there is enough data. Mayor Merrill mentioned the city engineers can meet with any residents having questions about their assessment to review their specific situation. Mr. Dewey asked if the city engineers will have enough time to meet with the residents that have questions regarding their assessment before the LID is sent out to bid. Public Works Director Davidson explained the work on the LID will not begin until summer. The city engineers can meet with residents in the spring to review the work that needs to be done on their property. If they determine some of the items they are being assessed are not needed they will remove those items from their assessment. It is important to bid the LID now because the prices could go up if they wait until spring to bid the project. David Rock referenced the pictures and letter he sent to the city regarding his assessment for this LID. The letter and pictures are shown above. He reiterated his concerns stated in his letter and said he too would prefer to meet with a city engineer to review the work needing to be done on his property. He questioned how the residents can insure their property is being assessed correctly. There could be mistakes in their assessments. He said he read on the city’s website that LID’s are created when road reconstruction is needed. He doesn’t recall the road being reconstructed when LID 35 was created. Public Works Director Davidson said the LID process has changed since the creation of LID 35. In the past they were based on when the property exchanged hands the city would review that property to determine if sidewalk, curb and gutter needed to be replaced. City Council decided to change that to sidewalk, curb and gutter would be replaced when the road is being reconstructed Mr. Rudd said he is speaking on behalf of his father. His father has lived on his property for 40 years. The road needs to be reconstructed; however, his sidewalks are in really good condition. The only issue with his sidewalk is underneath the pine trees. He asked if the pine trees could be cut down when the sidewalk is replaced. Mayor Merrill indicated the pine trees could be cut down at a cost to the property owner. Mr. Rudd asked if they will only replace the sidewalk that needs replaced. Mayor Merrill replied yes, they will only replace the sidewalk that is poor condition. Steve Christensen questioned the financing aspect of the assessment. To his understanding, when the work on the LID is completed the residents will receive a recalculated bill of the actual costs of the assessment. The property owners will then have 30 days to pay the full assessed amount or a lien will be placed on their property. Finance Officer Nielson explained there are several types of financing options. If the property owner decides to finance the assessment the first payment would not be due until a year after the work is completed. The payment will include principal and an interest rate. The other option is to pay for the assessment on a monthly base through their utility bill. Mr. Christensen asked if the property owner decides to pay on a month bases, the interest is paid faster thus making the interest rate lower. Finance Officer Nielson said the city takes the interest for the whole year plus the principle and divides it over the 10 months. They apply the payment at the end of the year. Mr. Christensen requested that once the actual cost for his assessment is known he would prefer to have an amortization of his assessment if it were to be paid off in a year or in 10 years. He asked if the city is aware of what the interest rate will be to finance the assessment. Finance Officer Nielson said typically the interest rate is the prime plus one and a half percent. Prime is currently at 5 ½ percent the interest rate would be about 7%. The last LID that passed the interest rate was 6.75%. The interest rate is set by ordinance once the LID is finalized. Parker Thueson asked to meet with a city engineer to review his assessment and to explain the reason why his assessment is so high. He said he would be able to perform the work needed at a lower cost. 19 Jacob Hintze questioned if the map he received with the assessment letter has changed. He also asked if the blue lines on the map indicate the sidewalks needing replaced; if that is the case there is a section of sidewalk on the map shown tonight that was not on the map he received in his letter from the city. Public Works Director Davidson replied yes, the blue lines on the map indicate the sidewalk needing replaced; however, the section of sidewalk that was not shown on the map Mr. Hintze received is being take care of by the city. Mr. Hintze asked about the red lines on the map and what they indicate. He said he is being assessed 25 linear feet; however, the map indicates less linear feet of sidewalk needing replaced. Public Works Director Davidson the map shows an area and not the actual measurement of the sidewalk needed to be replaced. Scott Banta asked about the engineering fees of 12 to 15 percent does that include the hourly wages for the city employees that are doing that work. The 12 to 15 percent is incorporating the amount that would be paid to the city employees doing the work not a fee on top of their hourly wages. He said multiple people have already expressed concerns on the costs of the LID. He met with several city employees regarding his itemized assessment. His assessment is mainly for curb and gutter the cost of that came to $44.00 a linear foot at his cost. The city’s takes $7.00 of that cost. The sidewalk is $1.75 a square foot. He asked if the city’s total cost $51.00 a linear foot for curb and gutter and if there are other items being assessed than those fees include. Public Works Director Davidson explained the estimated cost for curb and gutter is $43.00 a linear foot minus the $7.00 that the city cost shares and also adding the 12 to 15 percent engineer fee. Mr. Banta said he has conducted some research regarding the cost of curb and gutter installation. A contractor generally charges between $18 to $22 per foot for curb and gutter. He said he is forced by the city to pay about $44.00 per linear foot for the curb and gutter because the city doesn’t allow the property owner to install their own curb and gutter. City Attorney Zollinger said the city bids thousands of feet of concrete for curb and gutter per year. The city has to take the lowest responsible bid. Mr. Banta said this is one of his concerns that the city charges double the cost then what a private company charges for curb and gutter. Mr. Banta expressed his concern with heavy equipment driving through his property. The property owners on his street recently tied into a new water line and there was heavy equipment driving through their properties which causes damage to the curb. He said he feels he is being held responsible for something the city damaged. Jennifer Christensen said as a home owner and rental property owner in the city she asked what the residents can do to keep the storm drains from filling up with trash and soot. She questioned what the city is doing to keep up with the maintenance of the storm drains. Mayor Merrill said the city has recently hired additional personnel to help maintain the storm drains. Public Works Director Davidson said if a resident notices a clogged storm drain to bring it to the city’s attention. Deanna Cooley asked the following questions. How long ago did the city hire an engineer? City Attorney Zollinger answered a city staff engineer was hired about 23 years ago. Mrs. Cooley asked if the city’s engineers are paid on an hourly or salary base. City Attorney Zollinger said some of the city engineers are paid hourly and some are on a salary base. Deana Cooley asked who owns the sidewalk, curb and gutter, the city or property owner. City Attorney Zollinger replied the City of Rexburg citizen trust; it is right of way property. Mrs. Cooley asked if the city pays for the roads with taxes money. Why doesn’t the city pay for sidewalk, curb and gutter? City Attorney Zollinger replied the adjacent property owners pay for the sidewalk, curb and gutter. She said she believes it is illegal for the property owners to pay for sidewalk, curb and gutter. City Attorney Zollinger replied there is state statute regarding Local Improvement Districts. Mrs. Cooley asked for the number of the state statute that refers to LID’s. Deanna Cooley indicated the LID notice she received was vague; it did not include a map or a breakdown of the costs for her assessment. The notice was a blanket generalization of things that would be down with a total cost at the bottom. She said if she is expected to pay for this LID, she would prefer to have an itemized list of what she is paying for with the cost and the reason why she is being charged for that item. Mrs. Cooley suggested before moving forward with the LID more information needs to be provided to the property owners. She would prefer the notice to be more concise for every property owner so they know exactly what is being covered, who exactly is 20 responsible for the payment of the work and how it is legal to charge the property owner for the work. She questioned the validity of the property owner’s responsibility of paying for sidewalk, curb and gutter. Deanna Cooley said she has owned her property for seven years. In that time period the city has dug up the water lines three times during one of those times there was damage to the curb and gutter. She contacted the city to inform them of the damage. The city did repair the damage to the curb and gutter; however, the work wasn’t done correctly. The city is now asking them to pay for the work that wasn’t done correctly. Mayor Merrill said city staff will review the work to determine what was done incorrectly. Public Testimony opposed to the proposal (5-minute limit): Bill Cooley said most of the concrete on his property has been there for about 20 years. The sidewalk has minimal scaling and he would prefer not to replace the sidewalk. He has noticed that concrete doesn’t last as long as it did in years pass. There are properties where sidewalks are being replaced every five years because the concrete isn’t as durable. He does not want to pay to replace the curb and gutter to have to pay for it again in five years. Mr. Cooley requested a city engineer meet with him on his property to explain the reasons why his sidewalk, curb and gutter need replaced. There is concrete from the local provider that is not up to par. The concrete is not lasting as long as it did years ago due to chemical imbalances. He questioned if the asphalt road really last 40 years. Public Works Director Davidson said the roads are designed to have a 20 year life cycle; however, the funds are not available to replace the roads every 20 years. The weather plays a factor in the life of the road. Council President Smith explained before she was a city council member she participated in a LID. She met with the city to question the reason why her curb and gutter needed replaced. A city engineer explained that when a road is reconstructed if the curb and gutter are inferior it allows for water to penetrate and undermines the road. The city has a five year road plan to address the roads that are in need of the most repairs. It is important to bring the curb and gutter up to standard to maintain the integrity of the road. Mayor Merrill mentioned the city has certain specifications to try to make sure the materials used are going to last long; it isn’t a guarantee. The city tries to do their best to get good quality workmanship. Mr. Cooley said he doesn’t understand why the section of curb and gutter that the city replaced two years ago on his property needs to be redone. Public Works Director Davidson said he would review that section to determine if it needs replaced. Mr. Cooley said he doesn’t agree that it’s the property owner’s responsibility to for pay the replacement of the curb and gutter, especially when they have already paid for it once. He explained when a new house is built the property owner pays to have the sidewalk, curb and gutter installed and turns them over to the city as right of way. The city should then take the responsibility for replacing the sidewalk, curb and gutter. There are cities that have this practice. In Utah the property owners don’t pay for sidewalk, curb and gutter. City Attorney Zollinger said in Utah cities own their streets meaning the city can sell a street. In Idaho a city is not allowed to sell a street. Mr. Cooley said the city owns and controls the street, sidewalk, curb and gutter; however, property owners pay to maintain them. He believes it is unethical to charge the property owners for something they have no control over and to pay on an individual base and not as part of taxes. Mayor Merrill said LID’s are the process in which improvements are made to sidewalks, curb and gutter. If the plow causes damaged to the curb the city will replace the section of the damaged curb. City Attorney Zollinger explained if it is regular wear and tear, or the curb and gutter are deteriorating, and no longer functioning at capacity, it will be assessed to the adjacent property owner. Mrs. Cooley read the section of her letter that states. “In addition to paying property taxes which should already fund these types of improvements, there are bonds or levy’s which are proposed and put to the vote of the people for water, sewer improvements etc. There has been no such notice of a 21 bond, levy or vote”. She said this project includes sewer. Her property has had sewer back up into her property. She believes there is a sewer issue on the section of the road she lives on. Mrs. Cooley mentioned the alkaline levels in the cement that has been poured are not what they should be and that is why there are concrete failures around the city. City Attorney Zollinger said we are receiving failing concrete from all of the providers in Southeast Idaho because the aggregate is creating the problem with the new cement materials. There has been a corrective methodology in place for the last 12 years to correct the problems. Discussion regarding the chemicals and brake down analysis for concrete and the reason why the life of the concrete isn’t as long. City Attorney Zollinger mentioned state statute title 50 chapter 17 relates to Local Improvement Districts. Mr. Banta said he read title 50 the use of selling bonds to pay for LIDs, he asked if this is an option the city will consider. Mayor Merrill said LIDs were established long ago with the reason being that the adjacent property owner pay for the sidewalk, curb and gutter. Mr. Banta questioned the ethical reasoning for an LID’s. The property owner doesn’t have control over the use of the sidewalks, curb and gutter. The city has this control, shouldn’t they be the ones to pay for the replacement of the sidewalks, curb and gutter. Council Member Mann said if the city were to pay for curb and gutter plus the cost of the road. There would not be sufficient funds to repair or construct new roads. Mayor Merrill closed the public hearing. Council Member Flora mentioned she too has participated in an LID before she was a city council member. Local Improvement Districts are a way to help the city stretch the tax dollars for road maintenance. She agrees it may not be a perfect system; however, she doesn’t believe a bond would pass if only certain sections of roadway were improved. The failure of the bond would cause the city to not have sufficient funds to pay for the replacement of curb and gutter. Public Works Director Davidson said the city is about a million dollars behind on road maintenance each year. Mr. Cooley asked if the fair grounds were on private property would the city force them to move the buildings to accommodate a sidewalk. City Attorney Zollinger explained when there is a building in the right of way the city will ask the owner to move the building or create accommodations to deed the city a portion of their property to meander the sidewalk onto their property. Mr. Cooley said when a resident is on a fixed income it becomes difficult for that person to pay for the LID. City Attorney Zollinger said there are financing options available. The city has yet to foreclose on a property for not making an LID payment; however, a lien is placed on their property if the LID has not been completely paid off. Mr. Banta said the power company recently added sidewalk to their property. He asked if the power company or the city paid for that sidewalk. Is the power company going to be forced to replace their curb and gutter? Mayor Merrill indicated the power company paid for their sidewalks and they will be assessed for their curb and gutter. When an LID is created all adjacent property owners are assessed including, the school district, religious owned property, private industry, etc. Mr. Banta asked if the city will force the power company to come up to code with buffering on their property. Mayor Merrill replied that is correct the city is working with them on a landscaping plan to create a visual barrier. Council Member Mann moved to first read Ordinance 1205 creating Local Improvement District No. 48; Discussion: Council Member Flora indicated if anyone wishes to meet with city staff to review their assessment or if they have questions regarding a particular item. City staff is more than willing to meet with them; Council President Smith seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None 22 Council Member Walker Council Member Busby Council Member Mann Council President Smith The motion carried 2. 7:15 P.M. - Resolution 2019 – 02 Fee List Amendment – Matt Nielson 23 24 25 Mayor Merrill opened the Public Hearing. 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 Mayor Merrill closed the Public Hearing. Discussion Council Member Mann indicated the rate increase for the senior golf pass was not advertised in the newspaper. It was determined that there were several fees that were missing in the advertisement. A new public hearing will be advertised for the fees that were missing in the newspaper advertisement Council Member Flora moved to approve Resolution 2019 – 02 Fee List Amendment as it was advertised in the Standard Journal; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Walker Council Member Busby Council Member Mann Council President Smith The motion carried Items for Consideration: A. City of Rexburg Employee Handbook Review and adopt changes – Terri Hill Council Member Walker moved to adopt the First Draft of the City of Rexburg Employee Handbook subject to change after being reviewed by the Emergency Services Board and City Department Heads; Council Member Busby seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Walker Council Member Busby Council Member Mann Council President Smith The motion carried Calendared Bills and Tabled Items: A. “LAND USE ACTION” – Bills Recommended/Approved in a Land Use Public Hearing Procedure (Recommend Suspension of the Rules): B. Second Reading: Those items which have been first read: None C. Third Reading: Those items which have been second read: None Mayor’s Business: Mayor Merrill reported he received a $1000.00 check from the Blue Cross Foundation for completing the Walktober Challenge. He has arranged to donate $400.00 to the Madison Middle school $200.00 to Kennedy, Lincoln and Adams Elementary Schools. These schools were the ones that responded to his request to have him walk with their students. Mayor Merrill said he will be presenting the checks to these schools tomorrow. 26 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 January 9th, 2019 meeting B. Approve the City of Rexburg Bills Council Member Busby moved to approve the Consent Calendar containing the minutes and city bills; Council Member Walker seconded the motion; Mayor Merrill asked for a vote: Those voting aye Those voting nay Council Member Flora None Council Member Walker Council Member Busby Council Member Mann Council President Smith The motion carried Adjournment 9:50 P.M. APPROVED: ________________________________ Jerry Merrill, Mayor Attest: _____________________________ Marianna Gonzalez, Deputy City Clerk