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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCITY COUNCIL MINUTES SPECIAL WORK MINUTES SEPTEMBER 22, 2004 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES SPECIAL WORK MEETING CITY OF REXBURG September 22, 2004 7:00 P.M. STATE OF IDAHO ) : ss. County of Madison ) Present were the following: Mayor: Mayor Shawn Larsen Council Members: Paul Pugmire Donna Benfield Nyle Fullmer Rex Erickson- absent G. Farrell Young Irma Anderson Financial Officer Richard Horner P&Z Administrator: Kurt Hibbert City Clerk: Blair D. Kay PFC: John Millar City Attorney: Stephen Zollinger Pledge to the Flag Mayor Larsen welcomed the scouts to the meeting. 7:00 p.m.- Winter Parking & Snow Removal Issues John Millar reviewed the history of Rexburg’s winters in last five years. Five years ago the street department had one road grader and they hired a road grader to help through the winter months. The City used red cinders and now they have switched to crushed material that they receive from the County. The City later bought another road grader. They now run 4 road graders total. The Street Department spreads magnesium chloride before snow falls to help the snow so it will not stick to road. The roads will be sanded at the request of police. They maintain 2 people at standby to sand the roads. If anyone would like to request a street to be sanded they can call the police dispatch. Council Member Fullmer commented that he has called before and it works very well. If the roads need sanded during the day they can call City Hall. The roads that are sanded first nd are 2 East and Main Street. Plowing is usually started at about midnight that way cars 1 are off the road and plowing is done more efficiently. With all four plows out it typically takes about 12 hours to plow the city. They have a loader and back hoe that helps keep the alleyways and some parking lots clean. They purchased a truck from the County and th put a sweep type plow to help keep the south highways and 12 West cleared. On ndthst downtown Main Street to the railroad track and North 2 East to 7 North and now 1 South and Center Street they plow the snow to the middle of the road and then haul snow away. They plow all the other streets to the curb. Discussion on last winter’s snow removal. Discussion of snow removal from the sidewalks. The problem is when you plow the street the snow piles on the sidewalks. John calculated that there is 30 miles of sidewalk adjacent to curb in the City limits. John calculated that if they were to clear all of the sidewalks it would cost a minimum of $175, 000 to handle. If they were to do that, it would probably have to be contracted out. Council Member Benfield talked about maybe having adopt a block and people could plow their part of the sidewalks. The snow could be put in between the curb and sidewalk. Discussion of how much it costs the city to haul all snow from Main Street to the railroad tracks. It costs the City about $500 per block to plow and haul it per snow storm. As long as they are not going into overtime or hiring out then the costs can stay within the city street budget. John commented that other departments have equipment, and they can help with the snow removal. The Mayor commented that he would like to see plowing down West Main Street to the center and haul it out because the sidewalks are adjacent to the curb and it is wider than a 4 lane road. The Mayor commented that the children that walk down the sidewalks to the school have to walk along the side of the road because the snow is piled on the sidewalk. John commented that it would take more time to haul the snow away from that area and the Street Department may not get to that area until the next day. Council Member Fullmer commented that the four-wheeler has been a big help nd to plow the sidewalks in the downtown area. Plowing the sidewalks down North 2 East and Main Street makes it safer for people walking down them. Mayor asked about using salt. John has been looking into using a 4 to 1 mixture of salt and sand and they would have to purchase about $7500 worth of salt. Council Member Fullmer commented on trying to use salt if they can budget it. It could do some damaged to cars from the salt. If they wash their car a few times during the winter then it will not be bad for their cars. The 4 to 1 mixture is 4 parts sand 1 part salt. Council Member Young asked if it will be a problem with the storm drains. The new sweeper can help if there are any problems with the storm drains. Discussion of plowing the Smith Park pathways. The Nature Park pathways have been done for many years and Smith Park will also be plowed during the winter. Council gave direction to John Millar to use salt 4 to 1 and to plow to middle of Main Street to the golf course. 2 Council Member Anderson asked about plowing driveways and hauling snow away for individuals. John has looked into hiring people with four-wheelers or backhoes and it becomes very costly and not all people need to have it done for them. Council Member Young commented on plowing driveways on request for those that need to have help to get it done and can’t do it themselves. It could be like the fall/spring cleanup. John went over the budget; they have $14,000 budgeted for sand and salt and $20,000 to the budget for hired out help. Discussion on how to find out who needs the help and who will not abuse the idea. Discussion of creating a list and maybe talking to students who want to do service projects that will help those who need help to plow or shovel snow. Parking Issues John talked about taking 15 years to build a system to have cars not park on the streets at night during the winter time. If they have to plow around cars then they can trap the cars in. If they are not on the streets then they can clean the streets easier. Discussion of allowing the cars to park on the streets around the University. John commented that if they let some people park on the streets then others could be mad. Council Member Benfield reported about Traffic and Safety meeting last night and everyone said to leave the parking situation the way it is. The Mayor talked about the apartment complexes that have a problem with not being able to park on the streets. They have to plow their parking lots out also and the apartment owners don’t know what to do. Stephen commented that the students do not understand why they can’t park on the streets because we have not had a lot of snow the last 3 winters. A citizen commented that the apartments are now supposed to plan to have a place to plow the snow to. The older apartments were not required to designate a place so they have a problem with snow removal. Council Member Young commented that he heard complaints that the main arterials are plowed during the night and by the time they get to the residential areas it is daytime. John commented that they can usually get their plowing done during the night. If they do get to the residential areas in subdivisions in the daytime they usually don’t have a problem because most cars are gone to work and they can plow the streets. Discussion about the dates that are set for not parking on the streets at night from stst November 1 to March 1. Discussion of changing the dates. If they wait for the snow to fall before setting the no parking on the streets, then the police department will not be st able to warn the people by taking flyers around 2 weeks before November 1. The Council decided to stick with the parking dates. Council Member Anderson asked if the streets around the college are the city’s responsibility. Within the interior of the campus then the college will be responsible for their own snow removal. On the adjoining streets they share the responsibility and will plow those when they can get to them. Council Member Anderson asked if the College has had problems cars parking on the streets that they help with. Stephen commented that the College basically does the same thing as the City. If the College has problems with cars, they will call and have it towed. Stephen commented that Salt Lake will tow 3 cars to a parking lot instead of impound fee and that way they pay a less fee. He doesn’t know if that will work well in Rexburg. The police officers will ticket if they see cars parked on streets in the winter when there is no snow on the ground. They give out a lot of warnings at the first of November and then again in January because of the new students coming to Rexburg. Discussion on how many snow plows are used for a snow storm. John commented that they use a minimum of 4 snow plows and they have the option to use up to 6 snow plows. The Mayor commented that the City needs to make sure to get the plowing done during the night so they will be done before the morning. Council Member Fullmer commented that there is room for improvement and he feels strongly about making sure the streets are plowed in the night. A suggestion was made to maybe contract pickups with blades to help get the snow plowed. Discussion on the apartments being less full this year. If there are not a lot of students because of the quantity of buildings then there won’t be as many cars so the parking lots will be less full. Mr. and Mrs. Pratt commented that even though the numbers are down, the amount of cars is still the same. Discussion of having other contractors being able to take the snow where the city piles it. Mrs. Pratt suggested maybe designating a certain area for night and day parking. Council Member Pugmire arrived. Council Member Young asked about the College using red cinders. The Mayor commented that the College was using red cinders to sand but now have agreed to not use them this year. Council Member Benfield made a committee report from traffic safety meeting that was held the night before because some of the requests have to do with this topic. It was th discussed that 7 south is in the process of becoming a 5 lane road with crosswalks and there will be apartments, the temple, and two stake centers along that road. There needs to be a way to protect the pedestrians that want to cross that street whether it is a tunnel, overpass, or signal. The Mayor commented that he has talked with the University and they talked about putting in islands or areas of refuge just through the crosswalk area. th John commented that they need to be thinking of possibly putting an overpass across 7 South and maybe design a place where it could be built. The Mayor commented that the issue has been addressed. Another issue that the Traffic Safety Committee also talked about west of railroad tracks, th how the Yellowstone Highway, 7 South, Pioneer Road, and Trejo how they come into that area and it will get worse with more apartments coming into that area. Council Member Benfield also talked about the intersection of Main Street and Pioneer Road. John commented that they have plans to buy the two houses on the corner and straighten that intersection to connect with Airport Road. Council Member Benfield commented that the Committee also brought up the issue of nd South 2 East turning into the College Dorms and making a third lane to be able to put a 4 nd turning lane in. Discussion of the whole South 2 East needing to do something with putting in left turning lanes at the intersections and maybe taking parking off for about 100 feet on one side of street. nd Discussion of synchronizing the signal lights on North 2 East by Wal-Mart since the lights so close together. John commented that he will be talking with the Transportation Department. John said that the problem with synchronizing the lights is that if one light turns then the other one will turn also even if there are no cars at the other intersection. nd Council Member Benfield also brought up lengthening light at the intersection of 2 East and Main Street and making left turn lanes there. There was talk about having a roundabout at that intersection and taking out the signal light and using the light at a different location. th The Traffic Safety Committee voted to change the speed limit to 35 on South 12 West. The road needs to be painted in the center as no passing at the intersection. The neighborhood feels that the road conditions are not as good as they were before the annexation and they feel that they have been made narrower. John commented that the road is not narrower, it just looks like it is because, and there is more of a shoulder now. The culverts have not been touched, but it is because they are visible now. John commented that it is a safety hazard and it needs to be worked on. There will be two interns at the next traffic safety meeting and they are going to start a safety program on campus. They will be handing out flyers advising against jaywalking and promoting safe use of crosswalks. The Mayor reviewed over what was discussed earlier at the meeting. Van Elg, with Rexburg Housing, commented about problems with plowing Apartment parking lots because students can not park on the streets at night. Van commented that the College does not allow cars to be parked in the parking lots at night now and that has caused even more problems. The Mayor suggested that the College could maybe plow a field to designate for cars to park at during the night. The Mayor commented that it has taken 15 years to educate the community to not park on the streets at night during these certain months. Van commented that a lot of things have changed in 15 years and to be open to making different solutions. Van commented that they have to get snow off their parking lots just as much as the City has to get the snow off of the roads. Council Member Benfield asked about with the vacancies of some of the apartments then there should be fewer cars. Van commented that the number of cars has not changed and some students are bringing more than one car. It was suggested to give only one parking permit per student or try to encourage students not to bring their cars. A comment was made that the apartment owners do not want to make it less appealing to rent their apartments because there is a lot of competition. It was discussed that if the City allows people to park on the streets then the city could have the possibility of paying for damages to cars due to cars being covered with snow. 5 A citizen suggested maybe allowing parking on the streets at night every other day in certain areas. Van suggested another option could be that the campus could make it more walking friendly. The College could change the price of their parking permits from $5 to $50 and then more students would be more willing to walk to school. Since more student housing is being built further away, it is creating more traffic and more parking problems. Council Member Fullmer commented that if they allow parking at night certain days around the campus then the City isn’t being fair to everyone. If the City allows some people to park on the streets at night and we have a big snow storm and plow around their cars and block them in then people will complain that the City is not doing a good job with snow removal. A manager of an apartment complex commented that the way they take care of snow removal is to put signs up saying when their cars need to be out of the parking lot for snow removal. Council Member Pugmire talked about the campus is on a hillside and that makes for a unique situation and it is not like any other town. He feels that the snow removal from the apartment parking lots is a private problem. The City’s responsibility is safety and moving traffic. Van commented that he feels that if there is a problem in the City then they should help to make a solution and by doing this then it could help with the traffic situation. Van commented that the City should open its doors to different solutions. Council Member Young commented that it is why they are having this meeting. The Mayor recommended that we should look into asking the University to use their parking lots during the night. Discussion of plowing half of the street one day and the other half of the street the next day. If they don’t get the roads plow and then it freezes the City may not be able to get the ice off the roads for many days or months. The Mayor commented that they will proceed with what they have been doing with the snow removal and the Council is willing to take some more suggestions that will help solve the snow problems. Adjourned 6