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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996.04.03 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES1 ~~ ~~ DATE: (040396) State of Idaho) County of Madison( ss City of Rexburg) Present were: Mayor: Council Members: Excused: city Clerk: Attorney: Finance Officer: Engineer: Pledge to the Flag. Recognition of Scouts. City Council 4/3/96 7:30 P. M. Nile L. Boyle Glen Pond Farrell Young Marsha Bjornn Kay Beck Nyle Fullmer Bruce Sutherland Rose Bagley Stephen Zollinger Richard Horner Joe Laird RE: GRANT PRESENTATION - HYRUM CONRAD & SUE COLLINS TOPIC: (20,100,,,GRANTS,CONRAD*HYRUM,COLLINS*SUE,FUNDING) Grant Presentation- Marsha introduced Hyrum Conrad and gave some background about what she had found out in St George about the grants they had received. When she was in St George she went in to the Regional Services Department and talked to them. The way they had totally funded their bike and jogging trails was with matching grants. They gave her a list of agencies and whoever they have contacted. They have so much money coming in that the city can't match it. After a survey the top priority of the community was bike and jogging paths. We need some place for the kids to go with their skates, bikes and where people can jog. (she discussed grants) She felt we needed on a part time basis a grant writer. She stated that Hyrum is well qualified in grant writing. He has done it for a number of years. He would have more time in the summer. Hyrum Conrad- He does both grant research and grant writing. To research out the type of grants available, you have to set up a research methodology that looks at the particular types of things that you are going to be hoping to fund. He described the grant opportunity for different projects. For the past year he has been working primarily with foundations and cooperations in terms of finding out what is available. He explained the grant categories where he thought the city could get grants. He explained the types of grants available. He told what was available locally. The mayor told him we all know there is a lot of money out there. We have gotten about 10 different grants for the Tabernacle. We have been successful getting grants. He explained the grant for jogging & bike paths through the Ice Tea Fund and that we have a drawing done by an Architect Landscaping company out of Boise. The mayor asked him how he wanted to be paid for doing the grant writing? He told him some of the larger cities have someone on staff full time to do grant writing, but Rexburg can's afford to do that. Hyrum said he could do it ae a consultant where he would hire his own secretary and so forth or he could do it as a part time employee and use city employees to do the secretary support and things like travel. He would discuss it with the council. Glen told him we would like to see something on paper, so they could look at it. He could do it full time in the summer and other than that a maximum of 20 hours per week. The mayor stated there is a lot of money there and we don't want to ignore it, we need a better effort to get the money. in the past Ann Zollinger has written several and been fairly successful and the Arts Committee have written some. Marsha stated if a person is going out to do the research, they need to be funded. '' sue Collins- she has been on the Arts Council helping Margaret Arnold. She felt we also need a facilitator. We need to collaborate to get grants. The city needs someone that could talk to people and agencies for grants during the day when they are in their offices. We need to cooperate as a region and community. A facilitator would go around and see what the needs are in the community and then start looking at the foundations who give grants. If we can't prove that we work together as a community and a region, we won't get the money. We then need a grant writer to actually write the grant in an educated fashion. You have to have someone that listens to everyone and understands everyone's problems and provides a solution. You need to create a network in Idaho who understands. The mayor asked her how she would like to be compensated for the grant writing? She felt the city should put up the money for her to look for the solutions not on a commission. There are a lot of hidden expenses at times. Most of the time you get more money in than you can match. The mayor felt as far as federal and state grants, he did not think anyone could do any better than E.C.I.P.D.A. has done. As far as government grants he did not think an individual could do any better. No one has politics with the state people than Ted Hendricks with E.C.I.P.D.A. There are a lot of foundation grants and if we had someone working just with those it would help. He also stated that it was something we need to pursue, but he was not sure how we could fund it. We could probably get a grant from the Consolidated Hospital every year if we were careful. The council recommended that Marsha, Richard, and the mayor meet together to look at funding possibilities. Kay suggested that it be a cooperative effort between city, county and schools. RE: FINAL PLAT: RAY WALKER SUBDIVISION APPROVED TOPIC: (20,101,,,BARNEY DAIRY ROAD,FINAL PLATS,SUBDIVISIONS,ARTERIALS) John Millar presented the Final Plat for the Ray Walker Subdivision. This is located on the North side of the Barney Dairy road. All the lots have homes on them except "I". This basically finishes it up paper work wise to conform with state law. Planning & Zoning have reviewed it and approved it and it will be taken to the county for their approval. Stephen told the council the only recommendation was an easement. John said he had discussed with Ray and with other neighbors the possibility of taking the bend out by J. Fred Smith's house and cutting across that corner. Ray is willing to do that. John had met with Dell and Sheila Barney and they are not interested in doing that right now, but they didn't close the door on it. This plat allows for it to go either way in the future, so that can be worked out. It would take about 6/10 of an acre of Dell Barney's property. There has been several accidents on that corner. There is no dedicated right-a-way on that road. This does dedicate 30 feet on the north side for half of a 60 foot right-a-way through there. Marsha asked if this was not considered as an arterial? John said the P&Z discussed that and the county did not want to as he understood. The mayor stated that it is too late to do anything on that road, it is built on both sides. Brooke Passey stated that the county is looking at by passing that road on the south of Keith Walker and going straight to the east and - connecting with the cemetery road and making that an arterial and eliminating the Barney Road as an arterial. '. A motion was made by Kay Beck and seconded by Farrell Young to approve the plat. Glen asked John at one time in Rexburg Heights we ended up bringing water and sewer to them and they never did annex the Rexburg Heights area. The reason was because sewage was coming on top of the ground. Is there any problem with the number of homes being built out there that that will become a health issue and be another thing the city has to look at down the road? John said there had been no indication of it but he had n.ot done a real study of it. They had discussed with Ray the possibility of getting sewer out to that area at some point in time. The mayor stated that with the density of those houses out there it is not a matter of if it will happen, but when it will happen. With the problem with ground water in the Rexburg area J ~ ~~` there is a possibility of contamination. A11 voting aye to the motion. RE: IMPROVING LIGHTING - STREETS & PARKS TOPIC: (20,102,,,LIGHTING,SAFETY,PARKS,POLICE DEPARTMENT,LIGHTS, STREET LIGHTS) Ron Larson, Rexburg Police Department, was at the meeting to give a follow up report of what they had found out since the last meeting about changing the lights. At the last meeting after talking with Les Mecham, with Utah Power & Light, he thought it would cost $225 to change out a light. After doing some checking he told us we could ---- change out the doors in the lights which would almost cut the light cost in half plus labor so we are looking at around $150 per light. Before we were talking about changing the light part which included the ballast and everything which would be $225. Now in talking with Les while he road around with him for two hours one night, he said he thought we could do it for $150 or less, if we just change the doors out. We could keep the old lights so if the city ever needed them. Ny1e Fullmer road with him one night for two hours and they went around and looked at the lights. They felt the most critical was 1st South. Ron purposed the following lights: 1st West & lst South, 1st East & 1st South, Center & 1st South, it would also be good to have one on College Ave and 1st South. On Center there needs to be some tree trimming. There is one in Porter Parlc that needs some tree trimming plus adding the stronger lumination. In light of Smith Park being vandalized, two lights would help in Smith Park, but at some point in time we need two or three new poles in the park. That will cost around $695 to $700 for the pole, light and labor, however he is not proposing that at this time. Right now he would like to see increasing the lumination on a couple of the lights and then go from there. He is proposing two lights on the South side of Smith Park and two lights on the North East side of Porter Park as well as the ones on 1st South. He tried to get the exact dollar figure and feels he is pretty close with the $150 figure. A11 of the street lights would cost only $1500. The mayor said Ny1e Fullmer felt we should go ahead with it. A motion was made by Farrell Young to go ahead with the proposal for eight lights or not more than $1500, seconded by Kay Beck. Kay, Farrell, Marsha voting aye. Glen Pond abstaining. Motion carried. RE: SPRING CLEAN UP MONTH OF APRIL 1996 TOPIC: (20,102,,,SPRING CLEAN UP) The mayor told the group that we will have spring clean up for yard waste during the month of April unless we need to extend it because of the weather. A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Farrell Young to approve the minutes. A11 Aye RE: MEDICAL INSURANCE 4$ INCREASE PAID FOR BY CITY TOPIC: (20,102,,,MEDICAL INSURANCE,BUDGET) Medical Insurance was presented by Richard Horner. (handout) Blue - Shield will be raising their rates 4~. The only option is who pays the '.. increase the employee or the city? (discussion) A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Farrell Young that the city will pick up the '. 4~ increase. A11 Aye RE: RANEE MAGEE HIRED TO DO COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TOPIC: (20,102,,,MAGEE*RANEE,COMPREHENSIVE PLAN) The mayor told the council that it was recommended by the Planning & Zoning that we hire Renee Magee to do our comprehensive Plan with her proposal Alternative A. A motion was made by Marsha Bjornn that we accept the proposal from Renee Magee for Alternative A seconded by Glen Pond. All Aye r+ e~\ > w~ RE: MODEL ENERGY CODE TOPIC: (20,103,,,MODEL ENERGY CODE) Joe explained the options for the Model Energy Code. He felt he needed to study it more. The Water Resource Department handles the energy code. There are three options, the Watson 5, 4 Computer Analysis to figure the energy values of the building or the Prescriptive Code the State Legislature passed or the Model Energy Code. Glen asked if we went with the Watson, who is going to run that program on those homes? Joe said the building department would do it. Glen asked how we would fund that, it is a time consuming process. The mayor said we have until July 1 and told Joe to get the input from the builders and council. RE: PARALLEL PARKING ON MAIN STREET DISCUSSED TOPIC: (20,103,,,PARALLEL PARKING,MAIN STREET,TRAFFIC SIGNALS, STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT) The mayor told the council the State Highway Department has wanted us to change to parallel parking on Main Street. There is a lot money available from the Federal Government for safety projects. They notified us that Main Street Rexburg would qualify to do this and would pay 93~ and the State would pick up the balance. If we proceed with this and apply for the grant it won't be popular. Joe explained we are looking at a modernization or updating of the traffic signals along Main Street and 2nd East so that just being partially traffic activated as they are now with vehicle detectors on the side street there would vehicle detectors on Main Street and a left turn lane. We would be looking at updating our traffic signal system, stripping the left turn lanes, re-stripping the parking and trying to get a traffic signal at the 2nd East and 4th North intersection. The mayor told him there was a petition to put a signal up at 2nd North. Joe felt 4th North would work best. Glen asked if that was what the state proposed? Joe said no the state did not propose that. Farrell asked how many fewer parking places would there be on Main Street? Joe said he didn't know until we got the aerial photography. They would also need to do a parking utilization study to determine how much the parking spaces are used for how long a time during the day. The mayor said the state told him we would either need to hire a traffic engineer or they would do it themselves. This won't be popular with the merchants, so the council needs to decide if they want to do it. Kay suggested that we do the utilization study and get the aerial photography and see what it shows. The council agreed. The mayor stated we need the most fair look at it we can get. Glen stated that there is a problem coming out of the alley by the City Hall onto Center Street. If there is a car parked there, you cannot see an on coming car until you get out on the road. The mayor agreed. Kay stated there are two or three like that around the city. We need to look at it. RE: CITY GIVES $2500 FOR HANDICAPPED RAMP ON 2ND E. & MAIN TOPIC: (20,103,,,2ND EAST,MAIN STREET,COURTHOUSE,HANDICAPPED, TRAFFIC SIGNALS,INTEASECTIONS) Proposal of improving the pedestrian traffic across 2nd East and Main by the Courthouse. The proposal from the county was for the city to put in $1000 and do the handicapped ramps which will probably cost another $1500. Stephen asked if that could go with the safety on Main Street? The mayor stated that would not come soon enough. A motion was made by Earrell Young in the spirit of cooperation with the county, it is a worthwhile project that we contribute up to $2500 for the light and handicapped ramp, seconded by Marsha Bjornn. Those voting aye Marsha and Farrell. Those voting nay Kay and Glen. Kay felt it was unfair to the City taxpayers. With a two to two vote the mayor would cast the deciding vote. He agreed with Kay on this area, but he felt the city was obligated on traffic safety. The mayor voted yes on this issue. Marsha had some questions about airline tickets and other issues that had been discussed at the last meeting. She discussed that many people had contacted her about closing all businesses on Sunday and about the red cinders. She asked about the apartment inspection ordinance. Stephen told her we are working on a new ordinance. ;, , f ~ ~t ~ ~., A motion was made by Glen Pord and seconded by Kay Seck to pay the bi11e. A11 Aye. Meeting adjourned. ~~ -L ,./ Mayor, ile L. Boyle v ~~ ~ f~~ ~,~ Sri ~ ~C~=~ City Clerk, Rose B~gle~'