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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999.02.03 CITY COUNCIL MINUTES~ D2 DATE: (020399) City Council 2/3/99 7:30 P. M. State of Idaho) County of Madison( as City of Rexburg) '~ Present: Mayor: Bruce Sutherland Councilmembers: Kay Beck Farrell Young ~.... Marsha Bjornn Glen Pond Nyle Fullmer Paul Pugmire Attorney: Stephen Zollinger City Clerk: Rose Bagley Finance Officer: Richard Horner P.F.C.: John Millar Pledge to the flag. Introduction of scouts. A motion was made by Kay Beck and seconded by Farrell Young to approve the minutes. All Aye RE: TETON & SUGAR CITY WASTEWATER AGREEMENT TOPIC: (22,102,,,TETON,SUGAR CITY, WASTEWATER,AGREEMENT) Stephen handed out to the council a revised copy of the agreement between Sugar and Teton. This is the addition that needs to be signed as soon as Teton approves it. They have incorporated the Sugar City '.,... agreement into this one so there is a single agreement for all three entities. They kept the Sugar City agreement in place. RE: RUDD & COMPANY WITH 1998 AUDIT TOPIC: (22,102,,,RUDD ~ CO.,AUDIT) Brad Reed representing Rudd & Company was at the meeting to present the Audit. He gave a summary of the Audit. They have given a clean opinion. The financial statements are in good condition. He explained the audit. (discussion) A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Itay Beck to accept the audit as presented. All Aye RE: RETURN CHECK & WATER DEPOSIT POLICY - INCREASED TOPIC: (22,102,,,CHECKS,WATER DEPT.,WATER,DEPOSIT,FEES) Richard discussed the Returned Check and Water Deposit policy. We have not changed those for ten years. The average water bill right now is about $40 for a residence. Right now the council has resolved that a water deposit for a home is $35 and for a business it is two months worth of bill. It needs to be updated; he suggested to raise it to $50 or $60. The returned check fee right now is only $5. The average is about $20. Stephen said he would check the statute to see what the law allows. Richard told them this last year because of a lot of reasons our write-offs were horrendous. (discussion) If someone pays a deposit and they are current during 12 months in a row without a delinquency then we will refund the deposit. A motion was made by Glen Pond to change the deposit to $50. Seconded by Marsha Bjornn. (discussion) The mayor stated that we will watch it and see if we need to change it at budget time. All Aye to Motion. Stephen read the State Statue about returned check charge which states that we can charge $20 for a returned check. A motion was made by Paul Pugmire for the city to change the returned check fee from $5 to $20. Seconded by Nyle Fullmer. A11 Aye 1~3 RE: CITY WELLS TOPIC: (22, 103,,, WATER DEPT.,CITY WELLS,SMITH PARK, PORTER PARK) John Millar discussed the city wells. During October, November, and December in the Smith Parlc area we had numerous positive tests for coliform bacteria. He went back and looked at all the test data throughout that entire period and other than in that area there was only one positive test. Last week they retested both the Smith Park and Porter Park wells to see if the wells had any contamination. They ran two tests on each well. Smith Park well came up positive once and negative the other time. He recommended that well is not a critical well with the new line that was put in across from the high school last year, that well is not really needed for pressure and because of the number of bacteria hits we have had on that his recommendation is to shut that down permanently. It is the smallest well the city has and is only 94 feet deep. Because of the back up we have in that area he did not recommend at this time looking at even drilling a new well in that area. All of our wells are on the South East part of town except the new well. The Porter Par1c well is even a shallower well but there isn't any history of that coming up positive for bacteria. For now we can go ahead and use that well and monitor the well monthly at the well source and determine if we are getting any contamination there. If we are getting any contamination the city will need to make the decision, do we want to go in and drill a new well at that location or see if we can get by and eventually drill a new well farther out on the west side of town as we get into more critical need. (discussion) A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Nyle Fullmer to take John's recommendation. All Aye RE: PARKING AT THE MEDICAL FACILITY OLD BOWEN MUSIC BUILDING TOPIC: (22,103,,,MAIN ST.,PARKING,HANDICAPPED, PARKING,PORTERS) Parking for the Medical Facility (Quick Care Unit) housed at the old Bowen Building. They came in and requested handicapped parking. Sohn Millar reported and showed a map of the parking lot. The city parking lot behind Porters has 64 parking spots currently. According to the ,.... Uniform Building Code that requires three handicapped accessible stalls. He picked three locations. The sidewalk and curb and gutter along 1st East is in very deteriorated condition and has been budgeted for replacement. While they were looking at that they checked it see if there were other problems with that parking lot that could be resolved? He suggested that we reverse the plan for the entrance and exit through the parking lot and provide two handicapped stalls at the North East corner and one adjacent to Porters. Positioning at that location, two of them would be wheel chair accessible also. There was also mentioned, granting exception for people going to the Medical Center when they use that parking lot. The mayor felt we should not make exception to our parking ordinance. If they are parked longer than two hours for an emergency we can look at it but if not it will be their responsibility to accommodate their patrons. The mayor felt they needed to present the plan to those businesses in that area. He and John would talk to them. RE: SIDEWALKS ON NEW LOTS TOPIC: (22,103,,,ROSEWOOD,REALTORS,SIDEWALKS,LINCOLN SCHOOL) John told the council with regard to realtors that have the lot across from the Lincoln School for sale. They have offers and by summer they they will be developing those lots and put the sidewalk in. RE: DOWNTOWN PARKING TOPIC: (22,1~3,,,PARKING,APARTMENTS,ZONING ORD.,GRANDFATHERED) Marsha asked about parking for apartments in the downtown area. Stephen told her the parking lot behind Sherry's and next to the theatre and the lot on the South East Corner of Center and Carlson Ave is City Parking lots and can be used for overnight parking. (discussion on parking) The mayor suggested that maybe we need to review the downtown parking especially for the older buildings that have apartments upstairs. Discussion about the parking in the ally by A.M.E.T. Nyle ~~,i~ suggested if any of those old buildings came in for a permit to remodel we need to review the parking. Stephen told the council that the apartments in the old downtown area are in compliance with the Zoning ordinance they were in existence and are grandfathered. There is parking for those apartments on College Ave behind the old Idamont Hotel and they are grandfathered. They were assessed for parking in the city parking lots. RE: AIRPORT REGULATIONS FOR PROTECTIONS FOR CHEMICAL SPILLS TOPIC: (22,104,,,AIRPORT,CHEMICAL SPILLS) Airport Regulations for protections for chemical spills. The mayor stated that was covered by the council and a copy was given to the council and is on file. Stephen said this can just be a policy procedure and he has tried to explain it to the airport board. There is no need for an ordinance. They manage the airport and can by policy establish the rules and regulations that govern. This body can establish the rules and regulations for the airport as one of the governing boards and it has been done. RE : Y2IC TOPIC: (22,104,,,Y2 K, DEPARTMENT HEADS,RICICS COLLEGE) Y2IC- Richard gave a handout of a rough draft of the city procedure that the department heads have established for an emergency contingency plan as well as Y2K. The department heads have had meetings and gone over this plan. He explained the plan. This will give you an idea of what we are doing and in the future you will need to approve the plan. There are five phases to the plan. (1) Awareness Phase, (2) Assessment Phase, (3) Renovation Phase, (a) Validation Phase, and (5) Education Implementation Phase. (copy on file) He showed a video. The mayor discussed that we need to be prepared for any emergency. John discussed some concerns. On March 12 the college is sponsoring a Table Top exercise to go through a scenario of January 3 when the students are coming back to school and what are we going to do? We will sit around a table with all the community leaders including our department heads. We maybe can do it latter on to discover any other problems and coordinate. We will also need to share this plan with the public in the end so the public will ]snow what to expect. The department heads are going to have a meeting on February 16 at 9:30 A.M. It~has been roughly suggested that we prepare for a two week period with fuel and for generators for electricity, or gas. RE: GRANT FOR THE JUVENILE PROGRAM TOPIC: (22,104,,,GRANT, JUVENILE,POLICE DEPT.) Grant for the Juvenile Program- Stephen presented the plan. (copy on file) The city feels like this money would be better used by malting application for the full amount to provide for funds for (1) To enable juvenile courts and probations officers to be more effective and efficient in holding juvenile offenders accountable and reducing recidivism. (2) To establish and maintain interagency information sharing programs that enable the juvenile and criminal justice system, schools and social services agencies to make more informed decisions. What they are asking for is that a new computer be purchased and be placed in the police department which would be connected directly with the State Juvenile Corrections System which would give us an on line access to juvenile offender records. Currently we have to go to our court and they have to go to the state system. The grant people have been contacted and feel very strongly that this would work. The seconded part of that is the coordination between school and law enforcement and juvenile corrections would add money to the existing dog program we have. This would enable the officers to spend a few more hours in the schools. The school district have indicated that they would request the presence of the dog on a once a month basis at their schools. With this grant money we would be looking at approximately one years wages for that officers time while he was in school. A motion was made by Nyle Fullmer that we accept the proposal as presented. Seconded by Glen Pond.All Aye Stephen said this money would be administrated by a committee. The computer would be to tie directly to the J.C.C. System. ~b~ RE: GRANTS COMING UP TOPIC: (22,105,,,GRANT,HIICE PATH,BEAUTIFICATION,SMITH PARK) John Millar explained a possible grant that is coming up. As stated in the new Highway Transportation Act there is a T21 program. There are grants available for communities on a competitive basis. A grant application will have to be written. There are about thirteen items the grants can be used for .from bike paths, road side beautification, to historic preservation and several other things. He felt the two that would be applicable to Rexburg would be road side beautification such as the interchanges or continuation and expansion of the bike path. The grants are due on March 22 and are limited to a maximum of $500,000. It is a sliding scale match. For a $100,000 grant it is 2% up to for $500,000 a 10% match. That can be either a cash. match or an in kind match. Is this something the city wants to pursue and if so is there a committee that wants to work with this? This would be for the physical year 2002 construction. Discussion. Stephen stated that donations of property would work as well. A motion was made by FCay Beclc to move forward with the grant. Seconded by Paul Pugmire. The Bike path committee is already in place and could work on it. John said he could write the grant. The mayor told the council that Dave Payne has been working to put a Grant together for a jogging path around Smith Parlc. He felt he should be included in on this committee. RE: CITY ORGANIZATION CHART TOPIC: (22,105,,,STREET DEPT,SANTIATION DEPT) The mayor gave the council a City Organization Chart. The street and sanitation departments have been moved together. There were no objections to the chart. The mayor told the council they had chosen a new Sanitation Worker. RE: STATE/LOCAL AGREEMENT SOUTH INTERCHANGE TOPIC: (22,105,,,2ND W.,STATE,STOP LIGHT) .john Millar told the council they had the agreement for the State/Local Agreement for 2nd West on down to the South interchange. This is a legal agreement with the state of Idaho that gives them money to continue with the project. Currently it is scheduled to be constructed in 2006. If the city moves forward with it, the current increase with federal allocations it could be moved up to the fiscal year of 2003. The state local agreement is for $7000. RE: RESOLUTION 99.03 SOUTH INTERCHANGE AGREEMENT TOPIC: (22,1O5,RE5,99.03,2ND W.,STOP LIGHT, TRAFFIC LIGHT,STREETS) Mayor Sutherland read Resolution 99-3 to accept the agreement. Discussion on the stop light out on the old south highway. The programming on the stop light is scheduled for February 22. A motion was made by Paul Pugmire and seconded by ICay Beclc to approve Resolution 99-3. All Aye RE: SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING TOPIC: (22,105,,,SAFETY COMMITTEE,STREET DEPT,STREETS,TRAFFIC) Kay Beclc told the council the Safety Committee will meet on the 4th Tuesday of every month at 10:30 A.M. if anyone has anything that needs to go before them. They are dividing the city into sections and looking at it for any problems. A motion was made by Glen Pond and seconded by Kay Beck to approve the bills. All Aye A motion was made by Nyle Fullmer and seconded by Glen Pond to go into executive session regarding a personnel matter. P_11 Aye Meeting reconvened ~D~ RE: SNOW PLOWING DISCUSSION TOPIC: (Z2,106,,,ZOLLINGER*JACIC, SNOW PLOW,STREETS,STREET DEPT) Stephen discussed with the council a plan to get the snow plows out at a better timing schedule and asked the council for their opinion. He had tal]ced to Jaclc Zollinger and felt that it might work better if Zollinger make the decision as to when the plows go out and check with Farrell and get his okay. Zollinger has a procedure where Jaclc is up at 2:00 A.M. on to check the roads and make a call as to how quick they should go out. With Farrell living out of the city it makes it more difficult for him. (discussion) It makes it more sensible for the contractor who is on site to make the call. Nyle Fullmer asked about putting blades on the dump trucks to clears streets. The council felt we need to review the snow removal plan in general. Possibly we could invest in a bigger truck with a blade on it. There are a lot of things we haven't looked at. John is working on setting up a plan for snow removal and putting it on the computer. Some of the council brought up the point that we do better than other cities. The mayor said he didn't care about other cities, we need to just worry about Rexburg and do the best job we can. The council felt we need to try it with having Jac1c Zollinger do the call out. We need a standard procedure. John could make the decision as to how much snow we have when they need to start plowing and could come up with recommendations. Stephen said there had been a formal complaint from the Dispatchers on the way the plowing was handled in the last big snow storm. John told the council the sanding trucks are called out by the Police. Meeting adjourned ~ ~~1~ -- ~~' ~ Mayor, Bruce Sutherland 1 1 i' I ~ ~G iil~(:`-i fG'ff City Cleric, Rose Bagley'" /"