DRAFT ONLY. Without council review or approval.
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
March 22, 2011

CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Pro-Tem Wekenman called the Council Meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

ROLL CALL: Council members present: Cecil Floyd; Tim Jones; Mike Milano; Connie Newman; Norm Schorzman. Mayor Echanove, Councilmember Snook, & City Clerk-Treasurer Beeson are all on vacation this week. Councilmember Milano MOVED and Councilmember Floyd seconded to excuse their absences. Motion carried unanimously. Also present: Public Works Superintendent Dwayne Griffin; Police Chief Jerry Neumann; & Deputy Clerk Ann Thompson. Public present: Bruce Baldwin.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Councilmember Newman amended the March 8, 2011, minutes as follows: Under the water & sewer report, it should read “All current water extension requests….” not “w/s extension requests”; and Anderson Engineering is out of Walla Walla not Spokane. Councilmember Newman MOVED, seconded by Councilmember Milano to accept the March 8, 2011, minutes as amended. Motion carried unanimously.

PUBLIC WORKS REPORT: Garfield has requested Palouse buy our own set of blades for the chipper. They are $29 each and there are 4 needed. This is fair; Garfield only charges us $20/hour to use their chipper.

POLICE REPORT: We received three bids ranging from $9k to 18K to lower the PD ceiling to make it more efficient. Chief would like to forego hiring and make it a summer project for police department. The city will have to purchase materials and get help with the electrical. Chief will run some figures and estimates.

Regarding the “Rules of Conduct” sign at the park. Chief priced two, 3’x2’ signs made from a couple different materials. It should cost approximately $550 for both.

We had a police, fire, and safety meeting to further discuss the replacement of the Intrepid. Chief Neumann presented a mileage projection formula. There’s no way to determine wear and tear on the PD vehicles; mileage isn’t the only factor. What takes most people 1.5 hours to drive, takes an officer 5 hours because they slow-patrol. The Intrepid has only 50k miles on it but they’re hard miles. Two shift cables, a steering wheel, the oxygen sensor, etc. have already been replaced on the Intrepid. Much discussion ensued.

JFB REPORT: Only two fire calls YTD. The grant for the new turnouts has now been allocated; should have them soon. We have not yet been turned down for the 2010 grant we applied for last year for new radios so we may still get that grant. For 2011 grant applications we are considering new wildland fire boots. On the EMS side, we got one new member. May 9th is the date for conversion to short-band on our radios. There are more opportunities for EMS training if anyone is interested.

OLD BUSINESS:
Water Extension Policy – This policy has been discussed in-depth for the last few months. The city attorney has approved the policy. Councilmember Milano MOVED to forego the reading of the policy. Seconded by Councilmember Newman. Motion carried unanimously. This policy only deals with water extension requests. Councilmember Newman summarized the policy. Much discussion ensued.

NEW BUSINESS:
Resolution No. 2011-01: Water Extension Policy. Mayor Pro-Tem Wekenman read the resolution in its entirety. Councilmember Schorzman MOVED, seconded by Councilmember Jones to adopt Resolution No. 2011-01. Motion carried unanimously.

Bruce Baldwin, mgr of Palouse Grain Growers, has requested permission to install access gates across Spokane Avenue. That property is private and there is no reason for anyone else to be in there. This is a big investment, a profitable business, and we need to protect it. And we have a legal obligation to protect it. The plant is an FDA-approved barley plant and a kosher-certified plant, in addition to Homeland Security food safety requirements. As such, we are subject to extensive testing. The issue at hand is illegal dumping (particularly dead animals) on the property which could seriously jeopardize our compliance. We are proposing the city’s permission to put in a locked gate with keys given only to key personnel. The FD would have a key to the gate. To his knowledge, there is nothing back there but railroad right-of-way. Councilmember Schorzman MOVED, seconded by Councilmember Floyd, to allow Palouse Grain Growers to move forward with installing gates on their property on the west end of town. Motion carried unanimously.

COMMITTEE REPORTS/REQUESTS:
Parks, Cemetery, & Buildings-Tim Jones, Chair: Councilmember Milano reported Little Peoples Park Project still has money pledged to the city for new equipment at the park. He also heard back from the company who is generously donating curved benches for our RV Park.

Water & Sewer-Connie Newman, Chair: Have set two tentative dates for interviewing engineers for the Water System Plan.

Personnel & Pool-Jeff Snook, Chair: Rachel Witthuhn has been hired as the pool manager for the 2011 season.

Police, Fire, & Safety-Rick Wekenman, Chair: Met last week to further discuss the police vehicles.

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

ADJOURN: Councilmember Schorzman MOVED to adjourn. Councilmember Floyd seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. The council meeting adjourned at 8:47 PM.

The following checks are approved for payment:
Claims Paid: Ck. No. 3031 – 3044 $47,430.67

APPROVED: ________________________________ ATTEST: ________________________________