REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING – DRAFT ONLY
January 25, 2011
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Echanove called the Council Meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
ROLL CALL: Council members present: Cecil Floyd; Mike Milano; Connie Newman; Norm Schorzman; Jeff Snook; Rick Wekenman; & Randy Zehm. Also present: Public Works Superintendent Dwayne Griffin; Police Chief Jerry Neumann; Officer Brian Dentler (partial); Clerk-Treasurer Joyce Beeson; & Deputy Clerk Ann Thompson. Public present: Pete Hertz; Don Snekvik; Charlotte Snekvik; Kay Youngblood; Lynn Youngblood; Calvin George.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Under mayor’s report, remove the sentence “These three people refuse to attend council meetings to discuss their requests”. Councilmember Schorzman MOVED to adopt the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of January 11, 2010 as amended. Councilmember Snook seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT:
Supt. Griffin reported the only damage from the high river water was all the displaced bark at the park. Public Works want to organize a work party of volunteers to help move the bark back into place. There was discussion about possible solutions: chicken wire, ecology blocks. Not sure what will work.
There was more improper dumping at the chipper pile. They located him via the on-site video cameras and the police are in the process of making contact.
POLICE REPORT:
The river gauge was a great help with the floodwaters. It was very accurate. No surprises.
Ongoing dog issues: this January we’ve issued 3 infractions for dogs at large and a handful of warnings.
Durango just got out of shop with 105,000 miles. It’s in good shape. The Intrepid is in the shop and has some sensor issues and is idling funny. Still like to move forward with a more traditional patrol vehicle for small town community policing while there is still some value left in Intrepid.
Chief asked council to peruse his handout for the parks rules signs and offer him suggestions.
JFB REPORT:
Jeff Snook reported they continued discussions on the ambulance contract with the City of Pullman. Because of levy amounts in the rural districts, the City of Pullman would like to charge an additional $100 fee each time they come to Palouse.
EMS had 10 calls in December and 72 total in 2010. Fire had 1 call in December and 27 total in 2010.
The bids for the turnouts were as follows: SeaWestern (bid 1) $34,199.76 (bid does not meet spec.); L.N. Curtis $36,401.91; General Fire $38,988.69; SeaWestern (bid 2) $39,135.44. The Palouse JFB voted to accept the bid from L.N. Curtis as the bid that meets specifications. Councilmember Snook MOVED, seconded by Councilmember Floyd to ratify the JFB’s acceptance of L.N. Curtis bid of $36,401.91 for turnouts. Motion carried unanimously. Clerk Beeson pointed out there will now be a budget amendment at next council meeting so JFB can spend their grant money.
Mayor appointed councilmember Milano as our third representative on the JFB. Councilmember Schorzman MOVED, second by Councilmember Snook, affirming the mayor’s appointment of Mike Milano to the JFB. Councilmember Milano abstained and motion carried.
COMMITTEE REPORTS/REQUESTS:
Water & Sewer-Connie Newman, Chair: Re the Service Extension Policy (SEP), it is expected back from Atty. Bishop in early February for council review. The SEP will serve as a working policy and procedure document for anyone who wants to extend water to a new development. We meet those requests now but there is no official policy and procedure on that. With this policy, it will be very black and white. Discussion ensued whether the SEP will be part of our city code or a policy and what the difference is. Policy allows the greatest amount of flexibility; it’s not codified so it can be modified easier. Policies still have to go through council. Once we have a SEP, council will discuss further whether to codify any or all of it.
The WSP is required by the DOH and we are working with the DOH to complete it. Councilmember Newman is anticipating up to two years before completion. Costs are estimated upwards of $50,000, primarily for engineer. It’s a long, complicated, technical document. The water and sewer committee is currently reviewing engineer SOQ. In the next three months we will have our engineer hired and will lay out the plan. In addition to the engineer, we will use current city staff and consultants (like RCAC). When we go to DOH pre-planning meeting we can discuss grant money available. We will be doing asset and equipment inventory as well. Having the WSP in place will qualify us to apply for specific funding otherwise not available to us. We will have to update it every 5 years. Councilmember Wekenman brought up Andy O’Neill of RCAC telling the city not to be in a hurry to hire an engineer on this because RCAC would be able to participate enough to cut back on our costs. Councilmember Newman explained there are some sections of the WSP that MUST be done by an engineer. Andy O’Neill cautioned the city not to pay an engineer to produce documents that already exist. The DOH expects an engineer to already be hired prior to our preplanning meeting with them. Connie is optimistic we can come in under $50,000. She said our predicted water reserves due to pending rate adjustment can potentially be designated towards our WSP. Engineers are motivated because they also want to be chosen down the road for our larger projects like new water reservoir.
Streets & Sidewalks-Cecil Floyd, Chair:
Councilmember Floyd questioned the time it’s taking to respond to a street opening request received over a year ago. Clerk Beeson clarified it’s not a street opening, it’s an easement and it’s currently with Atty. Bishop. The issue is who owns the road. It has never been determined that the city even owns the road. The fact that it’s in the county may have something to do with the time it’s taking.
Committee met with Gloria Bennett of TIB. We identified a couple projects we’d like to move on: Where Mohr Street meets H Street (just outside elementary school) kids walk on Mohr Street because the sidewalks are in such disrepair. Mohr may need to be reclassified as an arterial. We would like to also reclassify West Whitman Street from Hwy 27 to Mill Street. By reclassifying these two streets, they could become potential projects for TIB. The definition of an arterial is a street that connects to a major hub (like the school). The third project is putting a multi-purpose pathway along Cove Road for residents of the South Hill to access downtown. There are no sidewalks and it forces people to walk along basically a highway. Once we hit Hwy 27, we would have to work with DOT.
TIB calls for projects in June, so prior to that we need estimates and definitions of what we want to do. Sidewalk safety and arterial reconstruction are projects TIB funds. Some consultants will give estimates for free. Councilmember Floyd MOVED for council approval, seconded by Councilmember Zehm to move forward on potential 2011 projects. Motion carried unanimously.
MAYOR’S REPORT:
When we closed CDBG last fall we made a loan payment of $40,000 to AWB for our outstanding debt for Breeding’s Addition sewer extension project. Our balance is currently approximately $12,000. This will be the third year we vote to extend the loan. Mayor would like council authorization to sign the note to extend it from 1/1/2011 to 1/31/2012. Councilmember Newman MOVED to sign the extension of the note with the balance of approximately $12,000. Seconded by Councilmember Milano. Motion carried unanimously.
Canfield & Associates is coming Feb. 8.
ALLOW PAYMENT OF BILLS: Councilmember Milano MOVED that the bills against the city be allowed. Councilmember Zehm seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.
ADJOURN: Councilmember Schorzman MOVED to adjourn. Councilmember Snook seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. The council meeting adjourned at 8:29 PM.
The following checks are approved for payment:
December 30, 2010 Claims Paid Ck. No. 2900 & 2902 – 2907 $7,158.54
January 26, 2011 Claims Paid Ck. No. 2901 & 2908 – 2916 $9,115.23
APPROVED: ________________________________ ATTEST: ________________________________