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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993.08.04 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES6 l City Council 8/4/93 7:30 P. M. State of Idaho) County of Madison( ss City of Rexburg) Present were the following: Mayor: Councilman: Excused: City Clerk: Finance Officer: Attorney: Nile L Boyle Jim Flamm Glen Pond Brad Liljenquist Farrell Young Bruce Sutherland Nyle Fullmer Rose Bagley Richard Horner J. D. Hancock Pledge to the flag. A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Brad Liljenquist to approve the minutes. All Aye RE: TAX WAIVER & CLEAN UP OF PROPERTY OWNED BY GANDY GIANCHETTA Gandy Gianchetta was at the meeting. He bought the Woodman Building and Mr Mack building and bought the property where the Recycling Building is located. It is getting to be an eyesore. The weeds need to be cut and there are broken boxes with a mess all around the building. It needs to be cleaned up. He had talked to the assessor and asked if the city was using it, if there was anyway he could get rid of the tax bill, which last year was only $66.14. They told him the city could send a waiver to the county for the period of time when they are using the property, so he wouldn't have to pay the taxes on it during that time. He did not want any rent, but he would like it cleaned up. The mayor said we would take care of the weeds and he would talk to Upper Valley Industries about cleaning up around the building. A motion was made by Brad Liljenquist to grant Gandy Gianchetta a waiver on hia property taxes on the area we are using for the recycling building as long as we are using it. Seconded by Jim Flamm. All Aye RE: BENEFIT CONCERT FOR CAROUSEL Brenda Anderson was at the meeting to discuss the benefit concert for the Carousel. She gave each councilman some tickets and asked them to sell them. She told them about the concert. It will be held August 19 at 7:30 P. M. She asked them to tell everyone about it. The mayor recognized the Boy Scouts. RE: PAVING OF 5TH SOUTH & HARVARD --- (SHERWOOD HILLS) Mayor Boyle reported on the paving at Sherwood Hills. They are paving 5th South now. He talked to the property owners on the West side of Harvard, and neither one of them want to participate in the paving. They see no value to themselves and wouldn't even care if they have an exit onto that street. Because we did approve the plat,. we can either let them pave 1/2 of Harvard and do something to keep the students from the apartments on the West coming out of their apartments on to that street. John Millar felt it would be better to pave 1/2 of the street and leave the other half and finish it right at a latter date. We would let them do it the same way they did it on the East side of Shoshone and leave it as a half street. The manager of Hillcrest Apartments was at the meeting representing Hillcrest Apartments on the West side of Harvard. He stated they did not want to participate in the paving. He asked if they pave it as a half street would they pave all the way across and curb and gutter on the west side of the road? The mayor told him not unless Hillcrest pays for it. It is the property owners responsibility to pay for it. The only way we can force them to pay for it is by an LID and that is a 3~ ~` possibility that the council has. The manager asked if it had been decided that it would only be 30 feet wide? The mayor told him all the right-a-way owned by the city right now is 30 feet. Glen Pond asked if they decided how they would control the traffic off the parking lots onto Harvard? The mayor said both property owners said they did not care if there was someway to do it. Glen stated that if you leave that open, the people that park behind the apartments will go that way and we don't want to allow that to happen, because you will break down that street, because it won't have curb and gutter on the other side and it will have more use coming from those apartments than we can imagine unless we put a barrier to stop it. Jim thought that was a decision we made at the last council meeting and we need to follow through with it. Jim said if we need to have an LID to finish it, that is the way we need to go. (discussion) He asked if anyone had talked to the people on the North (Shaddock Apartment) about finishing the street. The mayor said he would talk to them tomorrow. A motion was made by Jim Flamm and seconded by Glen Pond to allow the building of 1/2 of Harvard which is included in the Sherwood Hills Sub Division, and to work with the property owners on the West within the next 12 months to finish the edge on the West and put a barrier to keep the traffic off until at such time the West side is finished All Aye RE: NEW SWIMMING POOL DISCUSSED --- BOND ELECTION, ETC. Doug Smith and Mike Mitchell were at the meeting to give a new Rexburg City Pool proposal. They showed drawings of the proposed new pool. Doug Smith explained, after the committee did a study on the old pool, they found that the old pool is inadequate. To fix it would be a financial burden and you would not come up with a workable facility. It has served our community very well, but is 30 plus years old. It now comes to the decision, can we continue to run this pool as it is? There are some dangerous things in the mechanical room, and things could happen to put the mechanical room and electrical equipment under water and it could be disastrous. The recommendation of the committee is to eliminate the pool and would like to propose that we remove the present facility and replace it with a new facility. It was felt that the present site is a very good place, and should be an outdoor pool. There was some thoughts about making the pool usable in the winter months. To put a cover over the new pool would greatly increase the cost. (presenting the drawing) The present pool is about 1/2 the size of the new pool. The dressing rooms and the reception room and lobby is four times the size of the building we presently have. The pool will take on the family need and take on the need of every swimmer there is. There are three diving boards. This is only a conceptional drawing. There are laps in the pool. There is an area that has "0" depth, safe for smaller children. The children's area is out toward the back, where parents can watch their children. They are proposing that they replace the slide with a new slide or possibly two slides because of the draw that it brings to the area and the revenues that it brings to the pool. The pool in Rexburg is a very important part of our community. If we abandon the idea, Dr Smith felt that the children would suffer a great deal. We have had several drownings in our area and probably would have many more if we did not have the City Pool to teach our children to swim and provide the programs. We probably could not carry on with the present pool and provide the same service. On hot days we are turning away people, because of the limited space. The proposal would be about One Million Two Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars to remove the present facility and replace it with a new facility, including slides. As the committee looks at it, there are two ways to finance the project. One way would be to go with a Recreation District. At first they felt a Recreation District would be a good idea, however it does create another level of government and things that would have to be monitored. (explaining handout, attached) As they looked at it as a committee, they felt the best way would be through some kind of a bond. It would be preferable if it were a county bond, where we would share the cost, but would be difficult to sell. They are proposing strictly a city bond and the pool could be in place at least a year ahead of a Recreation District. ~~ There had been considerable talk that if we pass a bond and it would be a city pool, and if we are going to charge people that come from outside the city an additional fee or if we are going to discount the fee for city people that come to the pool. They would leave the decision up to the council. There are pros and cons to charging additional money to those people that live outside the city. It would help make the people of the community feel that it was more fair, because they paid their tax dollars to build the pool. It would create some animosity among the people in the county or people outside the community. It might create enough animosity they would not come and we would loose that revenue they would bring here. The mayor asked what Idaho Falls does. Dr Smith told him they had heard they discount the ticket about 25 or 50 cents at the gate for community patrons that live inside Idaho Falls. Dr Smith told the council to proceed further they need the council's blessing and if they are going to proceed further they need to look at some way of financing. The mayor felt that a Recreation District at this time in this county would not work and the only way to fund it would be on a City Bond. There is not enough revenue to pay for it, so it would have to be a property tax bond which would take a 2/3 vote. The mayor told him they would have to do a fast selling job to be ready by November election. The cost of the slides are not on the handout, however, Mike did some checking and found that the most you would have to pay for two slides was $250,000 totally replacing the slide. The mayor asked Richard what it would cost on a million dollar bond. After checking, Richard stated that on a million dollar bond at 6~, it would be a little over $100,000 a year for 15 years. That figures out to be about $30 on a $50,000 tax base. Brad suggested that the approach the committee had was they were asked to look at the pool and the alternatives and they had come up with this recommendation and about all we can do is put it before the voters. Mike Mitchell told the council we need to either go for a bond or do some major renovation in the next several years. The mechanical system is a nightmare. A lot of work needs to be done. Jim asked what they thought the revenues would change to based on the revenues for the last five years, if we put this new facility in with two nice slides and twice as much pool area with some nice dressing rooms? Dr Smith stated the committee had discussed how many of them do not take their family there because of the dressing rooms and the facility, based on that we could expect at least 1/3 and we may double it. Mike stated there are two things to look at; that pool is probably the biggest used pool around and it draws in more money when we are open. He also stated if you look at how many of the council and employees use the pool, and look around the neighborhood at how many children and families use the pool, you will know that it is a valuable part of Rexburg. If you don't do anything to the pool you will be taking a valuable part away from the city and you will have to find something else to take it's place. Glen said everyone on the council wants a new pool, but they need to know how to put it together. Jim Flamm stated that he would hate to see us build it, without putting in a nice slide, which would make it become a Recreation Center. Mayor Boyle said he would not be in favor of putting it in a building and going year around, because you loose too much money that way. He felt it would be nice to have somekind of a bubble to extend the season. Dr Smith said he did not think we had looked at the price of a bubble, but he did not think they were that expensive and you can utilize them all year around. (discussion on going with a City/County pool, it was felt that this is a bad time) Tim Taylor stated that he would like to address the rest of the park, It needs to be updated. The mayor said there is money available for bicycle grants, but if you get it too big the city won't vote for it. ,~ ;~ z '7 , A motion was made by Jim Flamm to move forward for a November Bond and the committee to move ahead to improve the plans. Seconded by Brad Liljenquist. All Aye. The mayor said we need to do a good selling job to the public. J. D. Hancock recommended that we have neighborhood information meetings. Clair said the pool right now is not ADA accessible. Dr Smith suggested that they go to P.T.A. and try to sell it. The council told Dr Smith that the council appreciated all the work they had put in on this project. RE: AGREEMENT WITH NEW MIDDLE SCHOOL ABOUT WATER AND RECREATION FACILITIES EXCHANGE Clair Boyle was at the meeting to give a report. Clair and the mayor had met with Superintendent Orr. They had a proposal concerning the property at the Middle School. Last spring they made every effort to obtain a permit to drill a well for water for the new Middle School but it was turned down. Surface type irrigation was ruled out. We are running out of places for kids to go and play. The ball diamonds are operated about every workable hour and to get on to practice is almost impossible. Superintendent Orr has proposed that we have an agreement similar to the one we have at Community Park, and we could use the Middle School facilities and could have at least three ball diamonds and an additional three soccer fields and other recreation facilities. At the present, we are using the gymnasiums at the tune of about $13,000 a year, if they were to rent those facilities to us instead of just letting ua use them. Superintendent Orr proposed to the Mayor and Clair about the city providing them water for irrigation of the grounds of the Middle School at no cost in exchange for using the facilities at no cost. The mayor explained how we handle Community Park. At the Middle School, they would do the upkeep, all we would have to do is pay for the water and we would have the use of the ball fields. If they were to pay for the water, it would be about $3000 a year. This would be a better deal for the Recreation. A motion was made by Jim Flamm and seconded by Brad Liljenquist that we enter into an agreement with the School District that we use the ball fields and facilities at the Middle School and in exchange we will furnish water for irrigation of the Middle School grounds at no charge. All Aye RE: EMPLOYEE & EMERGENCY PARKING AT THE SWIMMING POOL Clair discussed that at the Swimming Pool they had painted a lot of the curb yellow for safety reasons. He proposed that we have one spot reserved for pool employees. If there is an emergency and he or Mike has to get there quick and their cars are parked out in front in unmarked cars, they get a ticket. They would like one sign put up marked "Pool Employees Only". A motion was made by Glen Pond that we have one spot reserved for Employee and Emergency parking. Seconded by Brad Liljenquist. All Aye. RE: REXBURG SIGN SOUTH OF REXBURG Clair informed the council that the Rexburg sign has been erected South of Rexburg. There is a part in the middle that can be changed to designate different events to be held in Rexburg. Clair asked the city if they would consider paying the power bill for the lights to the sign. They are putting a time clock on the lights and they would be operated about six hours a day, and the coat would be about $30 a month. A motion was made by Brad Liljenquist that the city will pay the power to the sign. Seconded by Farrell Young. All Aye RE: RICKS COLLEGE HOMECOMING Ricks College Homecoming is on September 11 and want the council to ride in the parade. It was suggested that the council ride on the new Fire Truck. v RE: REPORT FROM THE CANAL COMMITTEE The mayor made a report on the Canal Committee. Duane Nielson will chair the committee. He wants to start with a fact finding, which he will do. He will check on all the options and come back in two to four weeks and make a report. He is going to work to get the figures together. RE: STREET LIGHTS ON 5TH SOUTH The mayor told the council that they are paving 5th South and we have had some people requesting some street lights on that street. He felt that Bruce and Nyle could check on the need for lights. RE: SERVICE AGREEMENT WITH UTAH POWER FOR UNDERGROUND POWER TO THE NEW TRAFFIC LIGHT BY WALMART AND WENDYS We have a service agreement with Utah Power for underground power to the new traffic light by Walmart and Wendys. A motion was made by Brad Liljenquist and seconded by Jim Flamm to approve the service agreement. All Voting Aye except Glen Pond who abstained. RE: GARBAGE CONTAINERS AND PICKUP AT THE HOSPITAL The mayor read a letter from Keith Steiner of Madison Memorial Hospital. He is concerned about the changing from the garbage bins to the new system. They have just paved and made a special area for the bins and he wished the council would take a long look at it. (copy on file) It was suggested that we could pick it up more often so they would not need as many containers. Jim Flamm gave a report from Planning & Zoning. One thing we are having a problem with is people are building without permits and they go ahead and build and are out of compliance. RE: NEW ROOF AT TABERNACLE, A.D.A. REQUIREMENTS, ETC. The mayor gave a handout for putting on a new roof at the tabernacle. John Watson, Architect, had written up three different ways to repair the roof without charge. (copy on file) He said if he were to choose, he would go with (A). The recommendation of the board was to bid (B) and (C). Glen Pond asked if we have any information on how often that building is used. The clerk told him it was used continually. The mayor told him that the Art Performances have a lot of people attend. Glen asked if we were covering the cost of heating and where are we with expenses and revenues on the Tabernacle? Jim Flamm said he would like to see the participation that is at the Tabernacle. He went to a performance one evening and they were happy to get twenty people there. That was a couple of years ago. Glen Pond said it looks like we subsidize that at $12,000 a year. The mayor stated that to do the roof, it would have to come out of the general fund contingency and would have barely enough to pay for it. Glen asked if we could put it in next years budget? Glen Pond asked if we would need to bring that building in compliance with ADA? The mayor told him we would be required to. Glen stated that it would be expensive. The mayor said we have already done a feasibility and there are grants available under ADA. Jim asked if we have an overall on what the building is going to cost us or will it nickel and dime us to death? We need a 5 or 10 year plan. Reviewing the budget. Farrell Young stated that the only other option is to abandon it and tear it down. The mayor said if we keep it we need to make it ADA accessible. Jim felt we need a projection for 5 years. Nile said he thought the roof is an emergency. Jim suggested that we go with solution "C". Jim wanted to get figures on the usage, how many people attending the ~~U different events, what the benefits to the community are, and what the projected 10 years costs are going to be. We need to know more than just we want to keep our tabernacle. There has to be a cost value relationship somewhere. The mayor felt most people want to keep it. Brad stated that there is a feeling in the community that it is an asset and would like to see us keep it and keep it in good repair. The mayor stated that it will be somewhat supported by taxes. A motion was made by Farrell Young to proceed with the bids for all three proposals and in the process work up the figures on the usage. Seconded by Brad Liljenquist. All Aye A motion was made by Jim Flamm and seconded by Glen Pond to approve the bills. All Aye Meeting adjourned. •r Mayor, Nil L. Boyle City C erk, R B ley 1 1