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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000.11.01 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES DATE: (110100) MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING November 1, 2000 7:30 p.m. STATE OF IDAHO) County of Madison) SS City of Rexburg) Present were the following: Mayor:Bruce Sutherland Council members:Kay Beck Paul Pugmire Nyle Fullmer Marsha Bjornn Glen Pond Donna Benfield City Clerk:Marilyn Hansen Finance Officer:Richard Horner P.F.C.:John Millar City Attorney:Stephen Zollinger Pledge to the flag. Mayor Sutherland had each scout in attendance introduce himself with his name and troop number. Marsha made a motion to approve the minutes. Motion was seconded by Nyle, all voted aye, none opposed. RE: DONATION TO SENIOR CITIZEN CENTER TOPIC: (24,19,,,NELLESEN*KEITH,SENIOR CITIZENS CENTER) Mayor Sutherland presented a $500.00 check to Elaine Anderson and Ruth Smith for the Senior Citizens Center. The money was donated by the Pederson Foundation from Orem, Utah, which company owns the Apex Company in Rexburg, an apartment complex and are in the process of st building another apartment complex on 1 West. RE: EMERGENCY SERVICES CHIEF TOPIC: (24,19,,,EMERGENCY SERVICES,FIRE DEPARTMENT,AMBULANCE, LARSEN*SPENCER) The Fire and Ambulance Departments have been combined to become one department known as Emergency Services. Kay Beck made a motion to confirm the appointment of Spencer Larsen as Emergency Services Chief. Glen seconded the motion, all voted aye, none opposed. RE: WASTEWATER AND WATER BUILD-OUT STUDY TOPIC: (24,19,,,WASTEWATER DEPARTMENT,WASTEWATER,WATER DEPARTMENT, WATER) John requested approval from the Council to proceed with a build-out study for the water and wastewater departments to get a good determination of what the needs will be in infrastructure over the next 20-30 years in light of the potential growth of Rexburg. Hoffman Associates has given a price of $17,000 for this study. John recommends acquiring a computer modeling program. As growth continues the growth load can be imposed on the present facilities program and it will give a good idea what the need really is. The program is approximately $1500.00 for 1 each department. Glen made a motion to proceed with this study, seconded by Marsha. All voted aye, none opposed. RE: PUBLIC HEARING FOR GENE PALMER, HIDDEN VALLEY SUBDIVISION TOPIC: (24,20,,,PUBLIC HEARINGS,PALMER*GENE,HIDDEN VALLEY,L.D.R.1, ANNEXATIONS) John reviewed the annexation of the Hidden Valley Subdivision on the east side of Rexburg. Ten lots were annexed last year in Phase 1, this additional ten lots for Phase 2 have been through the Planning & Zoning process and been approved to be annexed and zoned LDR1. The Mayor opened the public hearing, there was no comment, the public hearing was closed. After some discussion with the Council, Glen made a motion to approve the recommendation of Planning and Zoning and approve this project for annexation. Donna seconded the motion, all voted aye, none opposed. RE: DALE SNOWDER, M.E.D.C.O. PROPOSAL TOPIC: (24,20,,,SNOWDER*DALE,M.E.D.C.O.,R.D.A.,BUSINESS PARK,RITE AID, DEVELOPERS) The Mayor introduced Clair Boyle from MEDCO and Dale Snowder. The time was turned to Dale Snowder to present what his firm is and what they do. Dale had made a presentation to the RDA, Regional Development Alliance, earlier this week His company has a business they are attempting to bring to eastern Idaho and need a manufacturing facility for a unique new product that has minimal, if no competition. The product concerns health and safety and may save lives. This product is a stick that checks your saliva for whatever is in your blood, including blood alcohol content, 7 major drug groups, HIV virus, pregnancy, certain protein and enzymes for breast cancer and also for diabetes. They have sold over $8,000,000 of this product but corporate headquarters has no place to manufacture this product. He gave an explanation as to other cities that have approached them, what they have offered to have the company locate in their area, the future potential financial statistics, companies potentially ready to purchase this product. The Board of Directors are all prestigious men that are independently wealthy and have put a great deal of their own money into developing this product. Dale reviewed all the federal, state and various departments they have conversed with concerning this product and what and where the product can be used. The second year revenues from the company are conservatively figured to be $61,000,000, third year revenues are expected at $114,000,000, fourth and fifth year revenues will be somewhere between $300-$400,000,000. Employment figures are between 100- 200 in the first year, up to 500 individuals in year five. The wages this company will be paying are well above average for a community like Rexburg and Idaho Falls. For 20% of the work force the wages will be between $7.50-$12.00/hour, the next 30% goes from $8.50-$15.00/hour, the next 30% goes from $15.00-$25.00/hour, the top 20% is between $30-$40/hour. These are projected wages for the first two years. Employees of this company will have security clearances, good driving records and other clean job records. The R&D facility is expected to have between 20-30 professional people in the first two years. The intent, besides the high base wage, is to employ college students and internships, students with backgrounds in chemistry, engineering, manufacturing, biology and all the related fields. They will need at least a 100,000 sq. ft. building, built in four phases at 25,000 sq. ft. within the next five years. In summary they need the building, educational resources with high quality people and a community that is willing to support this in the long term. With that many employees there will be issues regarding traffic, utilities, taxes and all the other things that come with companies that sustain a long growth record. The biggest demand on utilities will be a three- phase power for compressors. Dale is on the Board of Directors as Director of Operations, has manufacturing and professional experience. On the Board of Directors, who just joined last Friday, is Dr. Richard Lew, the Medical Director of UCLA. Another person on the board is Major John Miller, who was second 2 in command to Collin Powell during Desert Storm, who is a tactician and understands issues dealing with localities and demographics. Budweiser approached this company about 3 weeks ago with a request for $5,000,000 in product by Christmas which can’t be done. Now they want it by the Super Bowl on February 22, to put a 30 second commercial on television for $20,000,000, they want a performance bond that the product will be delivered on time which cannot be done without a facility to manufacture. Discussion on what makes this product a secret, which is the packaging. The competition is almost nonexistent except for a Home Health Care product that offers this to private consumers at $15.00 a test. This particular product will be sold between $1.50 and $3.00 a test and they hope to manufacture it for less that $0.50. Dale wants to know if the community will support this type of growth, the company does not want to get locked into a situation that 5 or 10 years from now when the revenue becomes high they will be scalped with taxes and utilities. They have been looking at the old Ernst facility in Idaho Falls, the old Fred Meyers building in Pocatello, Don Archibald and Dick Broulim from Rigby have been looking for property and locations in the Rigby area. The Mayor introduced members present from MEDCO, Mitch Neibaur, Glen Walker, Ted Whyte, John Watson and Clair Boyle. Time was turned to Clair for a report from MEDCO. Clair showed a drawing of a 100,000 sq. ft. building and how it would fit within the business park. MEDCO is proposing to the Council that the proposed location of 4.6 acres be donated for this project. Dale has told his Board what a great place Idaho is and the resources available. They are big city people but do not like the idea of putting the business in Los Angeles. Dale has been working with Dick Johnson of the Idaho Department of Commerce, and the Director of the Idaho Department of Commerce will be here next week, Jim Bowman with IDEC is getting a reception set up with Governor Kempthorne in November, all to sell Idaho to the Board of Directors. Dale feels if the City came to the Board with the commitment to offer this land, the Board would make a commitment as to longevity, number of employees, so forth. He does not feel the Board would be resistant to this proposal. The biggest complaint he gets is getting flights into Idaho Falls. He has a meeting set up with American Airlines and Horizon requesting assistance in fares and schedules. The CEO of American Airlines has agreed to talk and agreed to work with them when they get to a certain visitation number. There is an airport in Rexburg, the corporation has a Lear jet that can be used, they cannot bring everyone in that way, so the question will be will Rexburg be willing to expand the Rexburg airport or provide a shuttle from Idaho Falls. Points brought up to consider were: The proximity of Rexburg to Jackson, Yellowstone Park, Sun Valley. Young professionals are looking for places to live with privacy and some amenities Proximity to great ski areas Quality people Cost of production Transportation costs Wintertime road closures R&D capabilities Can BYU-Idaho provide individuals that the can learn biology and chemistry A possible synergism with ISU and BYU-Idaho ARTCO is a large shipper, how do they do it Melaleuca is a large company also shipping AMET is a supplier to NASA 3 Mayor suggested a meeting with President Bednar of Ricks College, Norm Doerring of ARTCO. Clair mentioned they were setting up a lunch with Frank Vandersloot of Melaleuca which would be a great time to meet with these other people. Dale would need to know within the next two weeks the feelings and commitment of the City of Rexburg. Discussion of the possible use of the Rite-Aid building in Valley River Shopping Center until a building could be built to facilitate the business. Paul made a motion that the City enter into negotiations with MEDCO to explore and examine how the City can participate in this project and that it be done immediately with the intention of completing no later than the next Council meeting to be held November 15, 7:00 a.m. Nyle seconded the motion, all voted aye, none opposed. It was also agreed to hold a Work Meeting on Thursday, November 9 for this project. Discussion concerned items to be mentioned for a presentation: Educational Resources Parties including AMET, Melaleuca, Ricks College, ARTCO, provide testimonials and recommendations that Rexburg is a supportive community The availability of international linguists from Ricks College (Melaleuca international call center) New fibre optics system Transportation, particularly addressing air Shipping of product Best Skate Park in the area THTH RE: ANNEXATION OF 5 WEST AND 7 SOUTH TOPIC: (24,22,,,ANNEXATIONS,5TH WEST,5TH SOUTH,11TH SOUTH, HARDING*GALE,REXBURG HEIGHTS) thth Stephen discussed the proposed annexation of residents on 5 West from 5 South to David Beck property on the west side of the road. Steve Danielson and Greg Furrows are the only ones on the west side that have not responded to the annexation offer. The residents involved in this annexation are already on water and/or sewer or both. Discussion concerning residents on the th east side of 5 West and their opposition to annexation. th Stephen’s recommendation was to annex everyone west on 5 West, Gale Harding and the Dick Davis Trust property. Those residents then would all be contiguous to city property and at their request could be annexed as they wish. They would then have to each come to the City for their development agreements and would not have to wait for someone else to be annexed. th Paul made a motion to proceed with annexation of the residents on the west side of 5 West from th 5 South to and including the property owned by David Beck. Nyle seconded the motion, all voted aye, none opposed. Paul also suggested and Stephen recommended that the annexation of Rexburg Heights subdivision be pursued next year at a reasonable pace. John gave an update on the status of the projects. RE: WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT TOPIC: (24,22,,,WASTEWATER,WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT) The Wastewater Treatment Plant is done with the exception of the paving of the drying beds, which will be done as soon as the weather allows. RE: NORTH HIGHWAY/SALEM HIGHWAY PROJECT TOPIC: (24,23,,,NORTH HIGHWAY,SALEM HIGHWAY,ROADS,PAVING) 4 The North Highway has the paving complete, will open to traffic by Saturday and as soon as the weather allows it will be striped. The power company is moving the power line on the east side of the road, the widening for the turning lane at Cemetery Road will be completed next year. RE: WATER SHOP TOPIC: (24,23,,,WATER SHOP) The Water Shop doors will be put on tomorrow which will then complete that project. RE: SNOW REMOVAL TOPIC: (24,23,,,SNOW REMOVAL,EQUIPMENT,MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE, SNOW PLOW) The equipment is ready for snow removal. There is a meeting next week with sales people concerning the magnesium chloride which is being seriously considered. They have a used piece of equipment which originally priced at $54,000 and can be picked up for approximately $15,000, then if it doesn’t work out, the equipment can be resold. Discussion concerning the use of magnesium chloride, plows, brush plow, cleaning the jogging path and sweeping off business sidewalks. It was decided that Stephen and John would visit with the downtown merchants concerning cleaning off the sidewalks. RE: HANDICAP PARKING TOPIC: (24,23,,,PARKS,HANDICAPPED PARKING) Donna had received a call regarding no handicap parking spots at the parks. Each park has handicap parking by the curb cuts. RE: FALL CLEAN UP TOPIC: (24,23,,,STREET DEPARTMENT,YARD WASTE,CLEAN UP,FALL CLEAN UP) Paul had received comments concerning the good service provided by the Street Department with respect to yard clean-up and that the residents have appreciated the service. He requested John relay this information to those in that department. Nyle made a motion to pay the bills, seconded by Marsha. All voted aye, none opposed. The next City Council meeting will be held November 15 at 7:00 a.m. Glen made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Nyle. All voted aye, none opposed. _________________________________________ Bruce Sutherland, Mayor ______________________________________ Marilyn Hansen, City Clerk 5