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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996.08.07 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES~~ ~.,- DATE: (080796) City Council 8/7/96 7:30 P.M. State of Idaho) County of Madison( ss City of Rexburg) Present were the following: Mayor: Councilmembers: Excused: City Clerk: Finance Officer: Excused: Pledge to the flag. Nile L Boyle Glen Pond Nyle Fullmer ~' Bruce Sutherland '~. Farrell Young ', Kay Beck Marsha Bjornn ''... Rose Bagley '.. Richard Rorner ' Stephen Zollinger & Joe Laird A motion was made to approve the minutes of July 17th by Nyle Fullmer and seconded by Bruce Sutherland. A11 Aye. RE: REPORT ON ASHTON FAMILY RENEWAL CENTER TOPIC: (20,140,,,ASHTON FAMILY RENEWAL CENTER) Roger Clark was at the meeting, representing the Department of Juvenile Corrections and he is the 7th District liaison. He gave a report on --- the Family Renewal Center. (handout on file). Glen asked him to tell ' what the audit findings were. Roger explained about the three boys that escaped in January which ie addressed in the handout. '_- Investigation Findings & Program Changes are addressed in the handout. The Family Renewal Center has fulfilled the contract and they are more than willing to listen to suggestions. RE: LEASING POLICE CARS DISCUSSED TOPIC: (20,140,,,LEASING CARS,POLICE DEPARTMENT) Ron Larson, of the Police Department, was at the meeting he introduced the council to Doug Roberts, Ken Garff Leasing Company out of Salt Lake City area. He told the council these people may be able to save us some money. They lease vehicles to municipalities with low interest rates and also you can just about name your payment structure for from a one to five year payment plan. The moat important thing municipalities have to have in the contract is a nonappropriation clause. This means there ie no obligation if you don't wish to go on and lease further. It is important that you can not indebt yourself in the future. He brought some copies of the contract for the city to review, which Richard took. They have several municipalities and counties in Idaho that lease from them. You can lease these vehicles on a year payment, which can start in front or you can set it to the end of the year. The price of the car is the same whether you buy it or lease it. There ie a maintenance contract which covers it up to $75,000 or $100,000 if you want. They deal with the local dealers. The lease does come with a fully equipped vehicle. The leases are running about $275 per month. You have the option of two different ways to lease the vehicle. You can either take it to a dollar buy out or if you would like we will take the car back at the end which they could work out with the Police Chief. There is no mileage charge. Rick Carlin, representing S.T.S. Communications Division, explained that the cars are brought over to their shop in Murray, where they put all the equipment on the cars. It will take about 60 days to get the cars in and about 10 days to get the equipment on the car. ,1'~~/ RE: DUST PROBLEM AT THE BRENCHLEY APARTMENTS TOPIC: (20,140,,,BRENCHLEY APARTMENTS) The mayor told the council about the dust problem at the Brenchley Apartments. One half of the road is gravel. We had some people that were unhappy about the dust. Farrell has been watering it with the water truck every day. The people that live there would be happy if we put the other half of that road in. Glen suggested that some counties have kind of an oil they spray on the roads. The mayor said you can't use oil now but there ie something you can use. RE: GOLF COURSE PROPERTY PURCHASE TOPIC: (20,141,,,GOLF COURSE) Discussion of the Golf Course Property purchase. We discussed this earlier when we were negotiating on that. Richard gave a handout on how it could be financed. (on file) The price would be $445,000 but $195,000 of that would be donated back, so the net price of the 51 acres would be $250,000. This would all be paid out of the golf fees. Neither the city or the county will underwrite this with any money that comes in except golf. Nyle explained that the thinking behind it was the potential loss of the Municipal Course to the Airport. If we loose the nine holes, they would put an additional nine holes on the interior, so we will have 27 holes of golf at the Teton Lakes Course. It would keep the amount of golf we have and we also think in the long run it will be less expensive to operate. The equipment would stay in one place and the employees would stay in one place. They would not be maintaining two golf shops, or two pro shops and not doubling the crew every place. The long term is to keep everything centralized which will save a little money. The mayor told them an offer has been made to see if they would accept the $150,000 with the payments as listed on the handout. The mayor said he did not know if they were going to accept it or not. Ted Whyte- His father-in-law is one of the owners so Ted has been involved. The relators have been trying to get it sold for them for a housing development which it was designed for and there is also an approved plat for a subdivision. Wally agreed to go ahead with the city and about two or three days after that they had an offer from a developer to develops it and turn it into a nice residential area. They want to annex it and have utilities. From looking at it from the community, what is the best way to go to benefit the city. In terms of revenue, the golf course would be buying it and paying for it out of additional green fees. This would basically take five years of additional green fees to pay for the ground. That is five years to pay off $200,000. The average development cost on a average golf course today is $50,000 to $75,000 per hole and you will be up from half to a quarter of a million dollars to develops the other nine holes. It will take five years to pay off $200,000 and several years to raise enough money to develops the other nine holes unless fees go up traumatically. Right now it is platted for 125 lots plus two condo divisions. Ted invisions $200,000 plus homes to be put in out there. There could be 60 to 70 half to three quarter acre lots for nicer larger homes. That is a tax base of about twelve million dollar, to general revenue. He hates to see the Municipal Go 1f Course closed for the airport expansion. The airport needs to be out of town. They have a cash buyer that will take it through the hoops to get it developed. The mayor told him we were not going to vote tonight on what to do. The city has no indication if those other sellers are going to sign or even want to sell. It will have to be approved in an open meeting. Legally we don't have to have a Public Hearing. Ted stated that it doesn't make sense that you can go into debt without a Public Hearing. Sally Smith- The concern is not only ae relators but as residents of the community. She would like to clarify about the investment if there would be an investment from the city and the county? Their feeling ie the golf course serves a select few. It would not be of the best benefit of everyone. if you would one day down the road have to put money into it to complete it. In five years there might be a whole different group of people sitting on the council. They also felt it ~-~~ ~'~~' really had not been discussed publicly. The mayor told her we would put it on the agenda in two weeks if we have any movement on it. introduction of the scouts. RE: LARGER PLAN REVIEWS DISCUSSED TOPIC: (20,142,,,PLAN REVIEWS,PLAN CHECKS) ... Discussion on plan reviews for Businesses and Apartments. The mayor '. told them Joe was out of town and would like to have some input on this issue, so we would discuss it but not take any action at this meeting. Sohn Watson, with J.R.W. Architect in Rexburg, discussed the issue. He '' felt the city has come a long way and has done some good things relative to the plan review process and building inspection. He felt _ there possibly was some growing pains in that process. He did see some problems specifically with some projects that he works with but there was a problem with the new jail and the expansion to the hospital. Both of those projects are extremely complicated, complex, and technical and they themselves are unique compared to a lot of other projects in the community because the hospital for example has to be reviewed and approved by a licensing regulatory agency out of Boise. He has to go through a plan review from that office. There is a pretty strict review in terms of life safety issues, exiting, fire codes, building types and on and on. He goes through that review with that office. Then he presents that same set of plans to be reviewed locally and it ie very difficult to do for any building inspector to take a set of plans as complex as an emergency room, a hydrotherapy room, a kitchen cafeteria and all of the code requirements that are essential for that type of a building. When these plans are reviewed in Boise they are reviewed in a preliminary manner, so the overall scheme is reviewed first for anything that is picked up in terms of functionally spaces, exits and so on. Then they are reviewed when they are totally done. There are 120 sheets in the jail plane. When the plans go to Boise they have the electrical, the fire marshal and all of the inspectors on '', that side of the state that goes through the plans and then he receives `"` a plan review back which they respond to and they are ready for bid and bring them to the city for review. The problem comes in for example if you interpret the U.B.C. literally you could actually require extra panic hardware in the cell of the new jail and so you get so it is not technically practical to do everything the code says. The code requires a lot of interpretation. There is some white, some black and a whole lot of gray in it. You know we are not going to put panic hardware on cells, our objective is to keep prisoners in the jail. We have other ways of handling their safety, such as smoke evacuations systems, fire alarm systems, and so on. The medical type of facility has its regulatory review and the same thing as the jail. The jail plans have been reviewed by a number of jail experts in Idaho and they have eat in the commissioners meeting and reviewed it in detail and their comment right to the commissioners is "this is the best set of plans they have ever seen". Then after that process he brings it to the city building department and ask for a plan review. He was not suggesting that the plan review be discontinued. It seems that there should be a way when there is a higher authority that is functioning within the state that there would be some consideration. For any medical facility designed by an architect or engineer, they could send a letter to the city building inspector saying this plan has been -, reviewed and here is a copy of the review by the regulatory agency in Boise and hereby request that there not be a plan review locally. That ', still does not take any responsibility off the architect or engineer. He is required to design by building codes no matter what. He felt that two months to get a plan review from the city is excessive. On these type of projects we can't sit for two months while we are waiting for a plan review. That has happened in this case because they are so complex and tough to review. If you are not familiar with a medical facility or a jail facility, it would be hard to do a through plan review. He does support the plan review process. He felt all of his plans that do not have higher authority should be reviewed by the city and he supports that process, even though he is required to design by code. l The mayor reminded the council that we had at one time passed that any plans that were drawn by an architect or engineer and stamped we did no plan check at all. That was before we had our own department and if they were not done by an architect or engineer we sent them to Idaho Falls for a review. There was one case that got us in trouble and we started doing the whole thing city wide, but we do need to look at it. He suggested that we table it for the next meeting. Joe has put a lot of time in on the jail plans and we need to look at it as to how much local plan check do we need on some of these plane. Nyle stated the reason we got into the plan review was to ensure our liability was covered and that is why we said before if they were stamped by a licensed architect, the liability was on the architect or engineer that had signed off on the plan. It seems that we are doubling up and spending a lot of time on something that we should not be spending time on. The mayor stated that the instructions to the building inspector is to go by the U.B.C. Glen stated that he did not think that anyone on the council has told him that but by passing the the U.B.c. then Joe has taken it upon himself to see that those are in compliance to the U.B.C. He did not think that Joe is out of line except he has taken what we have passed in an ordinance. Maybe we need to discuss it with him and see if there is some compromise in the middle, because we could use Joe for other things that would save us other money. This will be tabled for the next council meeting. RE: SIDEWALK L.I.D. TOPIC: (20,143,,,SIDEWALKS,L.I.D. #29) The mayor felt the council needed to give some direction on the sidewalk L.I.D. for this year and also what we are going to do in the future and how the council wants to approach it. Do we want to do some other L.I.D.s, we have mentioned 3rd East and Harvard. We need to decide if the council wants to proceed on those things. The L.I.D. for this year is about ready to go, we are still working on the ones that have appeals. We need to go through each of those, so we can come up with a price before the L.I.D. hearing. The mayor told the council he would get a copy of all the addresses and a copy of the testimony that was given on objections. The mayor told the council that Farrell had a concern about sidewalks on Ricks Avenue because it is so narrow. Glen reported that the homes on Ricks Avenue are so close to the street that if you take five feet over, you would be almost on their doorsteps. There are extenuating circumstances on some of the streets. RE: LINEAL FOOT CHARGE TOPIC: (20,143,,,LINEAL FOOT CHARGE) The mayor discussed the lineal foot charge in the older part of town for water and sewer. He agreed that the developer should pay part of that, but he wondered if there should be any exceptions to that. Nyle felt we should deal with them on a case by case bases. (discussion) A motion was made by Nyle Fullmer that we maintain the policy as it is and deal with it on a case by case bases. Seconded by Bruce Sutherland. All Aye RE: TRIP CHARGE FOR GARBAGE PICK UP DISCUSSED TOPIC: (20,143,,,TRIP CHARGES,GARBAGE PICK UP) The mayor discussed the $20 Trip Charge on returned call back for garbage pickup. Randy Landoi~'s container at hie apartments was not dumped because someone had come by and put some lumber and building materials in the dumpeter and we could not dump it. He called and we told him we could not dump it and he said he did not put the materials in it but we still charged him a $20 trip charge to dump it. Madison Coop had a truck parked by the dumpeter too close so we could not empty it, but it wasn't their truck but we charged them a $20 trip charge to go back and dump it. Nyle felt we should work with people and not just have a cut and dried rule. Glen stated that there are always people dumping in the dumpsters in the alley behind First Security Bank. We have signs on the l dumpsters but it does not help. There was a question if there are signs on all the dumpster. Ny1e asked how often the dumping happens? The mayor said it happens on an average once or twice a day. Glen stated we need to catch people and fine them $300 to alert people that they can't do that. Salley Smith stated that a lady she knew had a lot of garbage packed in the dumpster and they did not dump it all. When she called City Hall, she was shocked that it would cost $20 to have it dumped even though it was not emptied completely. The mayor said he had a complaint from a widow that had grass in her container which did not dump out and it smelled, but she had to wait two more weeks to get it dumped because of the $20 trip charge. Farrell Young suggested that we might be getting a black eye for the strict rules. Maybe we need some Public Relations for the city to enhance our reputation. Kay suggested that they put their grass or garbage in bags. Bruce Sutherland stated that he is responsible for his garbage container at his business. Nyle asked if it ie the same dumpsters on a regularly bases that are having problems? It was felt they need to be consistent on the time they dump the garbage. It was suggested by the council that we keep track of the businesses and give them the first dump free if there is a problem, but then inform them they are fore warned and from then on they will have to police their dumpster or it will cost them. The mayor felt we need to send out another letter warning them and telling them what cannot be put in the dumpsters. RE: WATER FOR EMPTY LOT ON 2ND EAST TOPIC: (20,144,,,WATERING,LOTS,PORTER*LINDA & RANDALL,2ND EAST) Water for the property on 2nd East. Nyle reported on what he found out after researching the minutes. (discussion) It was felt we need to draft up something in writing that they will sign saying they will let the public use the property if the city provides water. Table it to the next meeting. RE: COURTYARD ADDITION PLAT APPROVED (CORNER OF 5TH WEST & MAIN) TOPIC: (20,144,,,COURTYARD ADDITION,PLATS,STH WEST,MAIN STREET, HOMESTEAD CONSTRUCTION) Bruce reported from Planning & Zoning that they had approved the plat for the Courtyard Addition on 5th West and Main. A motion was made Bruce to approve the plat. Seconded by Kay. A11 Aye A motion was made by Glen Pond to approve the bills, seconded by Bruce Sutherland. A11 Aye Meeting adjourned. ti Mayor ile L. Boyle ~~ i7 :~ .~ Ci~lerk~, Rose agley"~