REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING – DRAFT ONLY
Without council review and approval
February 8, 2011

CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Echanove called the Council Meeting to order at 7:08 PM.

ROLL CALL: Council members present: Cecil Floyd; Mike Milano; Connie Newman; Norm Schorzman; Jeff Snook; Rick Wekenman. Absent: Randy Zehm. Also present: Public Works Superintendent Dwayne Griffin; Police Officer Brian Dentler; Clerk-Treasurer Joyce Beeson; City Attorney Stephen Bishop; & Deputy Clerk Ann Thompson. Public present: Bruce Reim from Canfield & Associates.

Mayor read aloud Councilmember Zehm’s letter of resignation effective immediately. Councilmember Schorzman MOVED and Councilmember Newman seconded, accepting his resignation. Motion carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Under “Streets & Sidewalks”, Councilmember Floyd asked that the following sentence be added: “Councilmember Floyd added that the issue for him is that the process is taking too long.” Councilmember Milano MOVED to adopt the amended minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of January 25, 2011. Councilmember Schorzman seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.

PUBLIC WORKS REPORT: Supt. Griffin submitted a written report. Councilmember Wekenman voiced his concern with liability of allowing residents to use the compost and chips.

POLICE REPORT: Officer Dentler submitted the January 2011 Activity Log.

COMMITTEE REPORTS/REQUESTS:

Streets & Sidewalks-Cecil Floyd, Chair: At the last meeting we agreed to move forward on three street projects. One of them was to submit a request to TIB to reclassify a few streets as “arterial” which has been done. The next step is to get estimates for the construction projects.

Water & Sewer-Connie Newman, Chair: Received from Atty. Bishop today a draft of the SEP. Committee will review prior to bringing to council for adoption by resolution.

Police, Fire, & Safety-Rick Wekenman, Chair: Officer Merry’s unofficial 4 year contract will be up within the next year. It’s unfortunate we weren’t able to provide pay increases, however, Officer Merry is pleased to renew an unofficial commitment for additional years. Options are being considered for a police vehicle. At this point they are still moving forward with replacing the Intrepid sometime this year and hopefully replenishing the reserve fund so we can replace police vehicles approximately every three years. Councilmember Newman asked how the motorcycle plays in for value towards purchase of new car. It was mentioned that grant money was used to purchase that cycle so there is probably some obligation to keep it. Police vehicles take a lot of beating since so many of the hours are idle hours rather than highway miles. If they are kept too long they are eventually worth nothing.

Parks, Cemetery, & Buildings: The Little People’s Park Project has pledged to make improvement to the cushioning under the play equipment and they are still working toward replacing some play equipment at the park.

Finance, Property, & Equipment-Mike Milano, Chair:
Clerk-Treasurer Beeson provided a 4th Q 2010 Treasurers Report and financial summary report narrative. She asked council to look it over and bring her any questions. Mayor commented that the costs to run the pool are approximately $15,000 a month; by delaying pool opening by two weeks last summer over $6,000 was saved. Our pool manager remarked that during that two week window, we would’ve been open only 2 days due to the poor weather.

MAYOR’S REPORT: SEWEDA gave us a copy of their county-wide recruiting video of the Palouse. Once permission is granted, he would like to distribute it.

Mayor read aloud a letter from Upper Columbia RC&D asking city to renew dues of $150 year. Councilmember Newman will investigate whether or not this would be worthwhile.

Brownfields Update – MFA sent their Assessment Report to DOE for technical review and that’s where is currently. The DOE will come back with what they would recommend as the best clean-up for that site. The cost associated with the particular clean-up Ecology requires will dictate how the city moves forward. The city does not own or possess the property yet and nothing has been invested by the city toward clean-up at this point. Atty. Bishop said the technical review part is going to be lengthy and we were forewarned of that. Once that’s done the threshold issues become, 1. Will there be funding to deal with whatever DOE says is the solution to the problem? If there’s no money for it we’re done. 2. If it looks like we can put together a program to do it, do we want to accept the liability? If this puts the city in a tenuous side, Atty. Bishop will recommend we don’t do it. We’re hoping DOE will have some feasible solutions for the city. Clean-up dictates the reuse. We need to wait and see what DOE recommends.

The .09 grant cycle has started. Qualified projects would promote economic development. The State is not funding the .09 program but the county has $100,000 available this year to award. Discussion ensued about possible projects for .09 funding.

ALLOW PAYMENT OF BILLS: Councilmember Schorzman MOVED that the bills against the city be allowed. Councilmember Milano seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.

ADJOURN: Councilmember Snook MOVED to adjourn. Councilmember Wekenman seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. The council meeting adjourned at 8:11 PM.

The following checks are approved for payment:
Claims Paid Cks. No. 2936 – 2963 & EFT $7,033.82

APPROVED: ________________________________ ATTEST: ________________________________