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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1982.10.06 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES~~ MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 6, 1982 State of Idaho) County of Madison( City of Rexburg) A meeting of the City Council for the City of Rexburg, Madison County, held October 6, 1982, at the City Hall. Present were the following: Mayor: John C. Porter Councilman: Morgan Garner Sander Larson Jim Morris Councilwoman: Darlene Blackburn Also Present: Mary Smith, City Attorney Rose Bagley, City Clerk Richard Horner, Treasurer A motion was made by Sander Larson and seconded by Darlene Blackburn to approve the minutes. All Aye. RE: DR CRANDALL PRESENTS A PRELIMINARY PLAN OF MEDICAL BUILDING Dr. Crandall was at the meeting to present a preliminary plan on his new medical building. Mayor Porter read the action from the Planning & Zoning Committee. It was recommended by them that the plot plan be accepted as .drawn .with 22 parking spaces and a variance recommended for 15 ft. from the south building line to the existing fence. Dr. Crandall was advised to straighten out the property line if possible, before building so that the variance would not be required. Dr. Crandall said he would still need .the variance, cause the variance allows them to build within 15 feet of the property line. A motion was made by Jim Morris and seconded by Morgan Garner to approve a variance on Dr. Crandall's lot as recommended by the Planning & Zoning Board for the south of the .building to be 15 feet from the existing fence. All Aye. Dr. Crandall said they need a variance for the parking also, they have 22 parking spaces in the parking. lot, it should require 28 parking places according to the zoning requirements. The Planning Board felt that the parking right .across the street in front of the old hospital building could be utilized as off street parking which .could be shared, they noted that the doctors could possibly park in the hospital parking lot. They recommended Dr. Crandall seek a variance on that also. Mayor Porter said the Planning Board did not think that he needed a variance. He suggested that .if he could get a statement from the county saying they would allow them to use their parking that would be all they would need. Dr. Crandall said they would usually have about 10 patients per hour and would be short six parking places. The mayor told him to get the letter and file it with the city. RE: KEN BENFIELD REQUESTS SECTION OF STREET ABANDONDED Mr. and Mrs. Ken Benfield was at the meeting to make a request. He .said. last year the council had okayed him to put a driveway through a city street. He now had bought the property behind his house, and now owns all the property around .his house and he does not want an easement there. He wanted that section of street abondonded, showing the council the survey map.. The council ask if he was buying the property on a contract. . Benfield said he was, and Bob Siepert was holding the contract in escrow. Mary Smith said we would have to pass an ordinance to .abandon the street. The council told Mr. Benfield he would have to get a letter from Mr. Siepert that he understands what we are doing and a copy of .the letter should be given to the city council. A motion was made by Jim Morris to abondon the street pending receiving a letter from Bob Siepert that he understands what is being done and pending the necessary legal procedures being completed. Seconded by Sander Larson. All Aye. RE: REPORT ON CROSSING GUARDS Sander Larson reported on the meeting that was field with the PTA about the Crossing Guards on 5th West and Main. Marjorie Whatcott, principal of Kennedy School and Diane Allen, president of the PTA at Kennedy School was at .the meeting. Sander said there was obviously quite a bit of concern expressed by the parents. Blair Siepert reported to the PTA on the survey the police had made on the increase of the amount of traffic since the opening of .the freeway. The average speed of all the cars going through was about 36 mph, some were going slower and some were going 40 mph and 50 mph. Because it is a four lane highway it makes it extremely difficult for children to cross the street ~~ Two things were talked about, a tunnel or a bridge; both of which would probably be out of the question. The figures for the cost of the bridge would.~be about. $200,000, and that would have to be cleared .through the state highway department.. They discussed a signal light which would be difficult because the traffic is funneling off the freeway and it would also be a long wait. One of the other considerations was a flashing yellow light on some signs, these cost $1000 each and if you had one coming from the east and west it would .cost $2000 plus $200 per year. to maintain; also on the sign when the light was Flashing the speed would be reduced to 20 mph. The city. would have to petition the state to have that done. The other alternative .was the crossing guards, it was suggested and the school board moved that they would set aside for crossing guards $2500 with the idea that the city with conjunction with the county try to work out some money to match that amount to get the crossing guards. They felt that the crossing guards should be under the direction of the principals so they can notify them as to the days and times they would be needed. Chief Siepert said he .would be more than happy to furnish them with the proper safety equipment and train them.. Jim Morris ask how much money the PTA agreed to put in as parents. Sander said .that a lot of the parents there were willing to put up some money, but there was .,no set figure. He said he did not think it was strickly the families that live in that particular area's responsibility. Jim Morris said he had heard opposition to it the other way. Sander Larson said there was a problem all over town we need to be aware of, in the past two weeks there have been some Ricks College students that had been hit in the crosswalk, one student lost his life. He reminded the group that we were talking about lives and the $2500 or the amount that the city and county would share would be a pretty small amount to pay when we are talking about lives. Jim Morris said he thought it should be a four-way participation the school, the PTA, the county, and the city. Sander Larson suggested that we possibly use some Revenue Sharing money or some of the money that is set aside to run the golf course. .Sander Larson said he thought it was about time we look at the children in this community and their safety. Mayor Porter said the council realize that something has to be done, in the meantime he and Richard would check over the. budget and .see how much money the city .could .put up for crossing guards and also .talk to the county commissioners and see how much we can get them to share on the cost. Diane Allen said. the people that was at the meeting and said they were willing to put up money for crossing guards was people with children only at the Kennedy PTA. Mayor Porter said eventually he thinks we will not only have to have a crossing guard at that corner but also some flashing lights. .Mayor Porter told them he would meet with the county commissioners to see if they will share in the cost. The mayor also said the city does not want to ddminister it, we want to pay a flat fee to the school and let them pay the crossing guards. RE: REQUEST TO HAVE THE POLICE CHECK INTERSECTION 4th. SOUTH AND CENTER Sander Larson said he would recommend that we talk to the police, and have them go to 4th South and .Center by the college and do a study of the traffic and speed because it is a city street and there have been two accidents there in the last 2~ weeks. Mary Smith said that crosswalk is not very heavily marked. Sander thought we should check into some flashing lights saying student crosswalk, and possibly reduce the speed to 20 mph. Mary Smith said she traveled that street a lot and also the street in front of the Kirkham Auditorium and one of the big problems is the kids walk into the street from all directions. Sander said the college is addressing the students about this problem at the assembly on Tuesday and also in ..the school and Rexburg paper. He thought possibly having. more signing and marking the intersections plus reducing the speed was needed. -- RE: PETITION FOR 4 WAY STOP AT 1st East and 2nd South Mayor Porter said we have a petition for a 4 way stop sign at 1st East and 2nd South, which was signed by a Iot of students and also property owners in that area. The mayor said the problem on that street is on 2nd South coming from the east going west you have quite a grade there and when it is slick there you can't stop. Mary .Smith said she has observed that sometimes people will come down that street going north and will not stop at the stop sign. The mayor said there have been quite a few accidents on that corner. Mary said she didn't think if the people came to a complete stop going east they could get up the hill. The mayor said he would have the police do a study on that intersection and make a recommendation. RE: TRAILER COMMETTEE REPORT Morgan Garner said the .Mobile Trailer Commettee had a meeting last night and finished the requests they .had to meet with trailer home owners. They had decided that each one of the commettee would give a written report as to there feelings on each case and then they will meet on October 28 and determine their recommendations to give to the council. Mayor Porter said in the meantime each councilman should go over the minutes and go look at the trailers in question. 7~ RE: MAYOR REPORTS ON LEGISLATURE MEETING. AND OTHER CITIES POLICIES ON POLICE CARS Mayor Porter said he went to a legislature meeting, while he was there he talked to the Pocatello people and they told him they have-not bought any new police cars for a couple of years and .what .they were doing is putting new motors in them and a new drive line and converting them to propane .gas. They think they are saving a lot of money, he thought maybe we could go down to Pocatello and see what their program is, maybe it would be a good idea for us. The Idaho Transportation Department sent a letter today with a sheet in it about considering LPG, he gave each councilman a copy. RE: REPORT ON MEETING AT MC CALL Richard Horner reported on the meeting at Mc Call, he reported on the Investment Program the City of Boise. had which would be a good idea for Rexburg, about an LID computor program he had gotten from Pocatello free. He discussed direct deposits to our account on utility bills with a 10% discount for one month for people participating, we have about 49 accounts like that now possibly we could increase that to 150. It would save the .city postage and help the city cash flow. He will start on that right away. Rose Bagley reported on the meeting. She had attended the the personnel meeting. They recommended evaluating .the employees and getting job descriptions, on every employee and then go from there. They discussed that we should always advertise for jobs even for the minor jobs rather than just hire out of our application file. They. talked about in house training of our employees. The police and fire have training programs, but the water, street, and sanitation do not have training programs. A suggestion would be a defensive drivers training, training on safety, the police and insurance companies would do this.. This would prevent some of the accidents. They suggested .taking pictures on the job and have Farrell point out what they are doing and the correct way to do things.. Possibly with the college here we could have some of those people come down and help train the employees. They suggested that .you have someone over personnel working with the department heads. They talked about .sick leave, as you know it is abused by employees, some cities when they have four times .sick time off during the year make the employees come up with proof that they have been sick and can have supervisors go to there homes at anytime and check on them. There was a meeting on Planning and Zoning and we need to see if we need to change some of the things we are doing. RE: BUILDING PERMITS FOR SEPTEMBER Mayor Porter reported on .the building permits for September, total revenue from them was $237.00 for 15 building permits. RE: AUDIT AWARDED Mayor Porter reviewed that at a previous meeting we approved negotiating with Rudd DaBell and Hill if they would lower their bid we would give it to them. On that day we negotiated with them, they lowered their bid to $6500 which was the low bid, so we awarded the bid to them. RE: RIBBON CUTTING ON NEW HIGHWAY Mayor Porter told the council that Friday at 2:00 P. M. on Highway 33 there would be a ribbon cutting on the new highway. RE: FARWELL PARTY FOR LOU SOMMER The mayor announced on Oct. 26 at 7:00 P. M. there would be a farwell party for Lou Sommer at the Fire Station. RE: LOU GILLESPIE DIED The mayor told the council Lou Gillespie died while the mayor was hunting. We didn't send a card or flowers. He said he would wirte a letter to the family to show we appreciated him. RE: -LOGO DISCUSSED Sander Larson ask the mayor where the City Logo was. He told him it was at Porter Printing getting finished up, we need to find out how many we .need for each department. A motion was made by Darlene Blackburn and seconded by Sander Larson to approve the bills. All Aye A motion was made by Morgan Garner and seconded by Darlene Blackbur to adjourn. All Aye Ma ohn C. Porter /7 e Bagl~ ~