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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996.04.17 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES/~ ~` DATE: (041796) State of Idaho) County of Madison( ss City of Rexburg) Present were: Mayor: Councilmembers: City Clerk: Attorney: Finance Officer: Pledge to the flag. City Council 4/17/96 7:30 P.M. Nile L Boyle Bruce Sutherland Glen Pond Nyle Fullmer Kay Beck Farrell Young Marsha Bjornn Rose Bagley Stephen Zollinger Richard Horner A motion was made by Nyle Fullmer and seconded by Marsha Bjornn to approve the minutes. A11 Aye RE: HEALTH INSURANCE DISCUSSED BY EMPLOYEES COMMITTEE TOPIC: (20,105,,,HEALTH INSURANCE,EMPLOYEE COMMITTEE) The employee committee was at the meeting. Those attending were Cory Foster, Bob Foster, Gordon Harrop, and Bob Johnson. Cory Foster acted as spokesman. He thanked the councilmembers that visited the departments during council week. They felt it was a success and worked out well. They are going to continue to do this every year. They wanted to discuss Health Insurance and passed out a handout which listed other cities Insurance with the deductible and premium. One of the concerns they have gotten feedback from the employees is $1000 deductible per family or $500 deductible per person is quite high compared with other cities. The policy is a good policy for those families that have a lot of claims. Because the deductible is so high most of them are not meeting the deductible. That made them look at the insurance coverage at other cities. They realize that some of the cities are larger than Rexburg and some are smaller. The City of Rexburg employees have a higher premium and higher deductible than most other cities that they surveyed. This year our group insurance went up 4~ and the city budgeted for a 20~ increase. The employees would like to thank the council for the city picking up the 4~ increase in insurance. He felt the employees could take some of the credit for that because of the small number of claims. They had contacted Jason Nielson, the new Insurance Agent, and he explained that we have a very good plan. He presented some other plans that would be a possibility. One of the plans is to keep the current plan as we have but lower the deductible to $300 and the cost would be $180 per year increase on the premium per family. In talking with the committee, most of the members felt at this time most of them did not want to pay the extra amount of the premium which would be about $15 a month. Most of the employees would not want to pursue the change at this time at the cost of any future coat of living increases. The lower deductible would be more practical for most of the city employees. They realize that a lot of these cities have a higher tax base and there are a lot of circumstances that are a lot different. He asked the council to think about it and even possibly next year if when you budget to pick up the additional $180. RE: CITY COMMUNITY SERVICE WORK DAY SPONSORED BY EMPLOYEE COMMITTEE TOPIC: (20,105,,,SERVICE,EMPL0YEE COMMITTEE) The employee committee is sponsoring an employee work day on Saturday, May 18 from 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 Noon at the Nature Park. They had talked to Farrell Davidson and he has outlined a good days work and there are several goals they would like to accomplish. The employee committee and employees appreciate all the council does and the 1~~~.~ benefits we have. If the employees work at the Nature Park on that day we would donate labor for which the city can receive matching funds from the state. The employees would like to make the employee workday a regular event and any of the council members who would like to come they would like to have them there to work. Kay told them he felt this would be a worth while event and the council appreciates this. There has been a lot of donated work and equipment used at the park. Marsha stated she felt it was really generous for the '.... employees to donate their time. '.. RE: LIFE INSURANCE DISCUSSED ---- TOPIC: (20,106,,,LIFE INSURANCE) Richard stated that he had discussed the Life Insurance with the employee committee. He had received a quote from Blue Shield to buy life insurance for the same insurance that we have now, except on a child Blue Shield would take it to $5000 instead of $2500 after 14 days old or under 19 years. For the same cost plus the increase is less money. To increase it for employees from $10,000 to $20,000 it would cost the city $2400 and the employee committee felt they did not want to pursue it at the cost of a cost of living raise. Richard suggested getting a convertible policy. Mayor felt we would leave it where it is for now. RE: COSTS OF THE SUMMER RECREATION PROGRAMS DISCUSSED TOPIC: (20,106,,,RECREATION,RECREATION FEES,BUDGET,MADISON COUNTY) Michelle Jeppesen was at the meeting. She and other mothers have concerns about the costs of the summer recreation programs. She did not know why there was a $5.50 increase in the programs. She had checked with other cities and Rexburg is the highest. Our property taxes are lower and that may account for some of that. Soccer and T Ball went up to $27.50 and she would like to address those programs. She compared the cost with the Budget Copy she had. The mayor explained that this program is subsidized with taxes. Richard explained the budget and told her because of the expenses and costs they had decided at Budget time to increase fees. Some cities charge more for county residents than they do for city residents, but the city decided to charge the same. Kay questioned if the city puts in $12,000 to subsidize this program, if the county puts any money in when the fee is the same for both? The county does not put in any money for this program. Glen suggested at Budget time they discussed charging different for city and county residents and decided not to, but if we formed a Recreation District it would be county wide. Clair discussed about organizing the teams so every kid has an equal chance to play and how much time it takes. Mrs. Jeppesen suggested that they have a volunteer mother group to help with this. She also said it would help if they did not have to pay all the fees at the same time when soccer does not start until July. If they don't sign up all at once they have a late fee. They can sign up for swimming later and it would help if they could sign up for soccer later. Nile said where a family is on a budget it is hard if they have several children. Richard told her about the scholarship program. Discussion on putting all the soccer games at the same place, so if a family has more than one child playing soccer they could all be in one place. Clair suggested that they would check and see if they could sign up soccer later. RE: HIRING OF GRANT WRITER DISCUSSED AND APPROVED TOPIC: (20,106,,,GRANTS,SUDGET) At the last meeting we looked at hiring a part time person to write grants. We would hope to get some grants to help recreation, and the arts. They had a meeting with the mayor, Glen, Marsha and Richard. They decided it would not work unless we take the gamble and take at least $2000 out of the Contingency fund and see if someone can write grants and make it pay. Possibly if we spent $200D we might get back $10,000. Glen asked if we get the $10,000 would we be able to get the matching funds? It would help if we specified that they would not be for matching funds, because he was not sure we have any money for matching funds. The mayor suggested that we could match with in kind work. The mayor read the job description for a Grant Writer. Glen t~. `~ discussed funds and where we are short and if we would have to rob something else to pay for this and what do we rob? Richard explained that budget wise there is a contingency in the general fund and he suggested that it would be an investment with a possible pay back. A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Bruce Sutherland that we take $2000 and proceed to hire someone to write grants. A11 Aye The mayor stated we would advertise in the paper for a Grant Writer. Richard suggested that it might cost that much for research. Marsha expressed that she thought it was important. If we need to rob somewhere we need to. It should be a priority. She discussed several cities that have gotten jogging paths with grants. Farrell asked if we -- have a specific project in mind for them to go to work on or would it be $2000 per grant? The mayor stated it would be mostly research. Farrell questioned if it would include the actual writing of the grant? The mayor stated it could be for research and writing a grant. Bruce questioned what if they do the research and they come back and charge to write the grant? Richard suggested that after they do the research then we will see where we go and how much it will cost to write the grant. RE: GREEN BELT COMMITTEE FORMED TOPIC: (20,107,,,GREEN BELT) The mayor stated that they had met today to form a green belt committee. There would be a meeting Tuesday, May 7 at 6:00 P.M. at the Soil Conservation Service. Basic American Food is not willing to let the green belt go through their property. RE: REPORT FROM PLANNING & ZONING - NEW BOARD MEMBER, PARK PLACE APTS. TOPIC: (20,107,,,PLANNING & ZONING BOARD) Marsha reported on the Planning & Zoning meeting. We need another member to replace Eric Erikson, he is not able to continue to serve on the board. She suggested Doug Smith. She told the council about an ---- article in the Logan paper about a fine to a resident for pulling out a tree. She also discussed the problem with some apartments that took out the landscaping and put asphalt in. The mayor told her that he, Glen and Marsha need to meet with the owner on Monday. RE: SWIMMING POOL REPAIRS TOPIC: (20,107,,,SWIMMING POOL) Clair Boyle wanted to discuss a problem at the Swimming Pool. For the last few years we have had a problem with the pool loosing a considerable amount of heated treated water and it is costing a lot of money. They took some steps to find out why and they think they have found a leak. It will necessitate digging up the side of the pool from the bottom about 8 feet and patching it and putting in new P.V.C. It will cost about $7078 and that would include plastering the shallow end of the pool. In the past they have had bids as high as $23,000 to do the total pool. He looked at the deep end. They have put new the around and it looks okay, but the shallow end is bad and we have a lot of kids get blisters and cuts on their feet. We can save some money in the loss of heated water. The gas bill for 3 months to heat the pool is $14,000. The mayor stated these repairs would be nearly the whole budget. (discussion) A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Bruce Sutherland to approve the $7078 to fix the leak. A11 Aye RE: GRANTS TOPIC: (20,107,,,GRANTS) Stephen told the council there are some grants they have approached him to write. He wondered if the city wanted to use this $2000 on getting a grant written on grants we know exist. Law Enforcement have several you can get. He does not have the time or expertise to write grants. The mayor reminded the council of the A.I.C. Conference in June at Post Falls. You need to get your reservations this week. / ~~ ` RE: PROCLAMATIONS TOPIC: (20,108,,,PROCLAMATIONS) The mayor read a Proclamation for Motorcycle Awareness Month for May. He then read a Proclamation for "Families Can Make A Difference Day" on Saturday, May 11. Families throughout our community will be properly informed and encouraged to participate in this worthwhile spring clean ;.. up project. There will be service projects in the city and he asked the council to think of things that need to be done. The council felt '.. it would be a good thing. Monday May 13 is Tabernacle Appreciation Day. They will have an open house on that day and have some women at the Pioneer Park from the Civic Club telling about the history of Madison County. The mayor told the council that the women from the Civic Club have really been working hard on the Pioneer Park. That night the Contabille Singers will have a concert and charge tickets and all the money will go to Tabernacle funds. We need to proclaim May 13 at Tabernacle Appreciation day. A motion was made by Ny1e Fullmer that we make those Proclamations and authorize the mayor to sign them. Seconded by Marsha Bjornn. All Aye A motion was made Nyle Fullmer and seconded by Kay Beck to approve the bills. All Aye Discussion about the Green Belt and Committee Meeting. A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Farrell Young to adjourn. A11 Aye Mayor, N~1 ~oyle f,/ "~ City Clerk, Ros f~ag],eS