REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING – DRAFT ONLY
March 23, 2010
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Pro-Tem Wekenman called the Council Meeting to order at 7:03 PM.
ROLL CALL: Council members present: Darcie Bagott; Roger Marcus; Mike Milano; & Randy Zehm. Absent: Mayor Echanove; Councilmember Snook; Councilmember Schorzman. Also present: Public Works Superintendent Dwayne Griffin; Police Chief Jerry Neumann; City Clerk-Treasurer Joyce Beeson; & Deputy Clerk Ann Thompson. Public present: Mark Bailey; Mary Estes; Pete Hertz; Dean Huber; Dale Tronsen. Councilmember Bagott MOVED to excuse the absences of Norm, Jeff, and Mayor. Councilmember Milano seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Councilmember Bagott MOVED to adopt the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of March 9, 2010. Councilmember Zehm seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
OPEN FORUM:
Mark Bailey : Google Request for Information/possible survey to city residents. Mark wants permission to email to city residents a broadband survey. This doesn’t endorse anyone but council should be aware that our current broadband provider may take offense to it because the survey is inviting criticism in a way. Councilmember Bagott MOVED , second by Councilmember Marcus to allow Mark Bailey to finalize the survey and email it the city’s list serve. Motion carried unanimously.
Mary Estes -Trees for the RV Park . The city received another $300 donation for trees for the RV Park for a total of $800. After speaking with different professionals regarding which trees to purchase, Mary has a list of twelve trees. They include a large variety of deciduous, drought tolerant trees, without thorns and ones that don’t drop a lot of berries. The total cost is $1,205 including delivery. There is a shortfall of $405 and Mary asked if the RV Park budget would be able to pay the difference. Clerk Beeson thinks there is enough money built into the budget. Councilmember Milano MOVED , and Councilmember Marcus seconded to pay $500 towards the trees. Ken Alsterlund has offered to donate some evergreen trees as well. Mary will talk with public works department for approval of the trees. In the future, the city may be able to offer people the option to purchase memorial trees. Motion carried unanimously.
Also, Mary spoke with Mitch at the P.O. about removing the old, overgrown shrubs at the P.O. and planting roses. She would like some help getting those shrubs out. There are probably residents willing to volunteer.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT: Supt. Griffin submitted a written report. In addition, we’ve almost completed the paperwork for the Interlocal agreement with the county for the chipper. Hopefully by next week we can get to chipping. So far we’ve sold 26 permits.
POLICE REPORT:
Chief Neumann gave a report regarding Reserve Officer Snead’s qualifications. He was certified as a Reserve Officer for the City of Palouse in 2005 and his certification has never been revoked and he remains in good standing. Last week he took the Reserve Officer Equivalency Academy exam and he got 86%. He is good to go. There is a little bit of training he is going to complete upon his return. Reserve Officers are VOLUNTEER officers (meaning NOT PAID). He volunteers so he can stay certified. He only gets paid for special events.
JFB REPORT:
There are a couple new volunteers for the FD. No FD calls in February. 6 EMS calls in February.
NEW BUSINESS :
Ordinance No. 867 amending Ordinance No. 847, specifying the date and circumstances by which residences in Breeding’s Addition must be connected to the municipal sewer. This language should have been included, and was intended to be included in Ordinance No. 847 but it was inadvertently left out. Mayor Pro Tem Wekenman read in its entirety Ordinance No. 867. Councilmember Milano MOVED , seconded by Councilmember Zehm to forego the second reading of Ordinance No. 867. Motion carried unanimously. After discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Wekenman read the ordinance by title only. Councilmember Milano MOVED to adopt Ordinance No. 867. Councilmember Bagott seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
COMMITTEE REPORTS/REQUESTS:
Parks, Cemetery, & Buildings-Randy Zehm, chair : The playground equipment company made a small change to the layout of the new equipment for safety reasons. Structure should be delivered on about April 6th and installed on April 19th if weather permits.
The Palouse Conservation District is planting 200 plants April 10th at the Palouse River Walk (old mobile home park site). They are looking for about a dozen volunteers.
Water & Sewer-Roger Marcus, Chair : Andy O’Neill has received our 2009 water usage information but has not analyzed the data yet. The goal of the efficiency report is to account for 90% of the water usage and the City is already at 90% so we’re in good shape. Some cities are only at 50% efficiency. We still need to put in meters for the grass strips along Main St., the cemetery, and a few other places.
Police, Fire, & Safety-Rick Wekenman, Chair : Rick reported they met to discuss the Officer Snead information.
CLERK-TREASURER’S REPORT:
We received another PRR today.
Regarding the abatement of that dangerous shed, Chief Neumann spoke with our BI again last week and there may be a change in home ownership; the possible homeowner has now been contacted about the situation. Chief will call Dan again tomorrow to see what timeframe the owner(s) were given.
ALLOW PAYMENT OF BILLS: Councilmember Zehm MOVED that the bills against the city be allowed. Councilmember Marcus seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.
ADJOURN: Councilmember Bagott MOVED to adjourn. Councilmember Zehm seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. The council meeting adjourned at 7:57 PM.
The following checks are approved for payment:
Claims Paid #2142-#2159 $10,409.25
Payroll Paid