Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001.11.21 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL November 21, 2001 7:30 A.M. STATE OF IDAHO, ) County of Madison ) SS. City of Rexburg ) Present were the following: Mayor:Bruce Sutherland Council Members:Paul Pugmire Nyle Fullmer Donna Benfield Glen Pond Marsha Bjornn City Clerk:Marilyn Hansen Finance Officer:Richard Horner PFC:John Millar City Attorney:Stephen Zollinger Excused:Kay Beck Pledge to the flag. Nyle made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Donna. All voted aye, none opposed. The Mayor welcomed Shawn Larsen, a newly elected Council person who will take office in January, 2002. The Mayor also excused Kay Beck who has recently had surgery. Beer License Approvals Mayor read the beer licenses Broulims, 124 W. Main nd Horkley’s, 39 So. 2 West Horkley’s, 1021 N. Salem Rd. Glen made a motion to approve the beer licenses for those businesses mentioned. Nyle seconded by motion, all voted aye, none opposed. Ice Removal at Senior Center Elaine Anderson representing the Senior Center requested that something be done to take care of the parking lot at the Senior Center to reduce the amount of ice during the winter. Several of the patrons have had accidents during the winter because of the ice. Elaine mentioned the City is really good to remove the snow but the ice seems to be a problem. She also stated they only use about half the parking lot during the winter. It was suggested she meet with John Millar for an appointment to look at the lot and made arrangements for ice removal. th 4 Ward Church Pubic Hearing to Vacate Alley th John reviewed the existing alley behind the 4 Ward Church, to an area at the end of property owned by the church, it is an approximate 60-80' alley with no access. The Church is requesting this closure for the purpose of landscaping, easements will be maintained for utility purposes. This closure does not inhibit access to any of the adjacent properties. Public Hearing was opened. 1 Price Davenport - 432 Commanche Price owns part of the vacated property and wondered what property owners could do with that property. It will not make any difference at all to the property owners, nothing will change. No further comments the public hearing was closed. Glen made a motion to vacate the alley as suggested, seconded by Marsha. th Paul stated he and Nyle are both members of the 4 Ward and would declare a conflict of interest. All voted aye, none opposed. Final Plat Review Phase 1 for Henderson Subdivision The Council had earlier received a copy of the plat which John reviewed with them. He described the location of the property in question. John and the City Departments have reviewed this plan and it is recommended this plat be approved. Nyle made a motion to approve the final plat, seconded by Marsha. All voted aye, none opposed. Update on Projects John reported on three projects. First, the ongoing street project which is essentially complete. The project has been successful with good results, he has received positive comments from residents. The only one not complete is Bare Street and that has been held off to complete the water line first. Traffic Safety Committee looked at doing cross walk flags. John distributed information and reviewed with the Council. This has been done in Salt Lake and has been very successful. Traffic Safety would like to try these flags on an experimental basis at three intersections, those on: Center and 1st North stst 1 East and 1 North Mid-Main Street Estimated cost would be $1,500 to $2,000 for receptacles for the flags, the flags and signs. Salt Lake adopted the crosswalk program where neighboring businesses and neighbors adopted the cross walk and took responsibility for it. Discussion. Marsha made a motion to try this cross walk plan as an experimental project and recommended the Traffic Safety Committee proceed at John’s discretion. Motion was seconded by Paul, all voted aye. A company specializing in energy consumption to save power has taken a quick look at all usage from City Hall to main well pumps. They met last week with the City and reviewed the preliminary findings. Mostly the items dealt with little things like adequate setback timers on heat, minimal usage, motion activated lights, and this as done for free. To move to the second phase they would do a comprehensive report on energy usage, where it has been, where it is going. The next phase would be done by an engineering team with an indepth analysis for $3- 5,000. They would be looking at areas of significant power savings, then fund the program, do the work and they are paid from the savings. This has the possibility of being up to a $100,000 project to correct, they guarantee it will pay itself out in 10-15 years. John stated he and Richard are a little skeptical of the plan. It is hard to determine what is truth and what are figures over 10-15 years. Rather than spend to proceed with the study they recommend making the minor corrections like the nighttime lights, setbacks on thermostat, and motion sensors. He is input and guidance from Council to proceed. Glen stated he would like to look at the material before making a decision. It was suggested this be looked at again during another meeting. 2 John reported the Christmas decorations are up, tree being decorated, the lights will be fired up the night after Thanksgiving as usual at 6:00. Other items discussed was the striping on the north side of Broulims, the need for a stop sign in the Starlight neighborhood where the Evergreen Subdivision enters. Discussion. This matter is on the next agenda for the Traffic Safety Committee. Committee Reports Paul requested a new member of the Board be assigned., the suggested name was Cory Knapp. The Mayor will proceed with this request. Donna wanted to state for the record that the Recreation Committee had met, reviewed all the applicants for Architects of the recreation center and had chosen the top five applicants. John reported the chosen applicants had been notified and interviews will be held on Monday at 1 hour intervals from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This will be a public meeting for anyone who would like to attend. Nyle reported on the meetings held by the Employee Committee. They are working on compensation plans to implement a plan to reduce Workman’s Compensation, loss of days, loss of time and this plan will be presented sometime in the next month. Planning & Zoning Committee has been requested to make a presentation to the Lion’s Club next Wednesday. Donna will attend and take one or two of the members of the Planning & Zoning Commission with her. Mayor’s Business Toni Coronado, representing the Employee Committee reported that the Committee was looking at a safety incentive for this year. The plan was for jackets, which jacket was passed around, for employees not having accidents in 2001. The jackets are priced under $100. This year there are only 2 or 3 who have had accidents. She discussed a “Bingo Program” which would be implemented for next year. This program is best explained by watching a video which she hopes the Council will watch. Video will be presented at a special meeting in December. Discussion concerning cost, especially right after the budget process, in favor of implementing the safety program, there should be some kind of compensation, not willing to support jacket at this point for that cost, include in new program extra incentive for safety in past years, too much to add to this budget at this point because there was no program already in place, less expensive incentive for this year. Paul questioned if the Council’s reluctance was the money or the fact there was no program in place. Discussion that it was both, that it should be for a program that was already in place. The Committee requested ideas from the Council concerning incentive for being safe for this year that could be presented at the benefits meeting on December 13. Richard suggested setting a special meeting for the Council on an early morning meeting to review a proposal for safety for 2002. This proposal could then be presented in general at the Benefits Meeting on December 13. It was suggested setting the meeting for next Wednesday or Thursday to review this matter. Idaho Housing Mayor reported on the meeting with Idaho Housing, some of the Council and several members of the BYU-Idaho. It was suggested there be a housing survey taken by Idaho Housing. Idaho Housing would participate with the survey, the college is reviewing whether they want to participate. The Mayor needs approval to spend between $10-15,000 for the survey which will cost upwards of $30,000. Idaho Housing will pay for half to a third of total amount, depending if BYU-Idaho participates. Discussion that this survey would give the City some good information, would entice developers to develop, give the City a handle on apartments, especially in basements, on the advantages and disadvantages to the City to participate in this survey, the impact on the present build-out study being done by Hoffman Associates, BYU-Idaho, and getting private sector to participate in study. 3 John felt there were a myriad of changes in Planning & Zoning and the Board is only running on projections, there is no feel for housing needs in Rexburg, this study would be a good investment in future. Donna felt she would like to make knowledgeable decisions, there is no information to do that at this time and this study would help in the future. Further discussion. John suggested the Council to move to next step then come back with a firm proposal. Paul made a motion to instruct the City staff to prepare a proposal for the housing study. Donna seconded, all voted aye, none opposed. Nyle stated he had been approached by a County Commissioner concerning 1000 North to encourage the Council to take into account growth in that area in not allowing a lot of ingress and egress on that road and to take into account it is a main arterial. Glen made a motion to pay the bills. Paul seconded the motion. Discussion. All voted aye, none opposed. Adjourned. ___________________________________ Bruce Sutherland, Mayor _________________________________ Marilyn Wasden, City Clerk . 4