DRAFT ONLY. Without council review or approval.
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
May 24, 2011

CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Echanove 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; Jeff Snook; Rick Wekenman. Also present: Public Works Superintendent Dwayne Griffin; Police Chief Jerry Neumann; Clerk-Treasurer Joyce Beeson; & Deputy Clerk Ann Thompson. Public present: Doug Willcox; Mary Rosen, PCD; Jennifer Bois, PCD; Carrie Kyser, PCD.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Councilmember Wekenman MOVED to adopt the minutes of the Regular Council Meeting of May 10, 2011. Councilmember Milano seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.

PUBLIC WORKS REPORT: Supt. Griffin submitted a written report. In addition, there has been a lot of garbage/debris in with the chipper & compost piles: rocks, gravel, bricks, chicken wire, pop and beer cans, etc. One handful of rocks through the chipper and we have to replace the blades at a cost of $120. It’s taking a lot of time to go through and separate out the debris. This is a service we’ve worked really hard to get for the community and if the abuse doesn’t stop we may have to discontinue.

POLICE REPORT: The new vests and radios helped with the duathlon. The city staff put up the Parks Rules signs at the park. Chief is working with Bagott Motors in the search for a used car; they’re waiting for the used car market to go back down. There are ongoing dog issues; there is a maximum of three dogs per residence, no exceptions. If you have three dogs, you cannot even temporarily dog-sit others.

OLD BUSINESS:
Approve Animal Contract. Nothing on the animal contract has changed other than the dates. For a cost of $900 it allows us to take up to 16 dogs to the Humane Society. Last year we sent approximately 12 dogs. It is a 24/7 contract. The city has no way of kenneling dogs here in Palouse. Councilmember Schorzman MOVED, seconded by Councilmember Snook authorizing Mayor to sign the agreement with the Whitman County Humane Society. Motion carried unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS:
Palouse Conservation District: powerpoint presentation on native plant sign for Palouse River Walk: This project was originally funded by DOE, PCD, & the COP. It has always been planned as an indigenous site. To someone driving by it may look like it needs to be cared for but it is supposed to look like this, particularly until the plants grow. Native grasses are imperative for riparian areas. The intent of the sign is to welcome visitors and let the public know that it is a native vegetation planting site. Discussion ensued about sign type, sign placement, wordage, pricing, etc. The PCD has approved some funding towards the sign. Councilmember Jones will continue working with the PCD.

Mary Rosen reported due to the composite material used in constructing the memorial bench for Bill Broughton, Mary cannot find any company able to engrave or make a plaque for it. However, the Pullman SD staff wants to honor Zena Broughton so the suggestion is, instead of trying to make a plaque for the bench, PSD will purchase and have placed next to the bench a large boulder memorializing both Bill and Zena. They will deliver it but public works will have to set it in concrete.

Mary Rosen wanted to make sure council was aware the USDA has cut the funding for the coordinators for the Upper Columbia Rural Conservation & Development but the council is still in tact.

Resolution 2011-04: purchase of a police vehicle under special market conditions. Mayor read aloud the resolution in its entirety. Councilmember Milano MOVED, seconded by Councilmember Snook, to adopt Resolution 2011-04. Motion carried unanimously.

Brownfields Update: We are waiting for the state legislature to set the budget. Mayor will be meeting with MFA, Ecology, and the city attorney. The main points of discussion will be 1) The project must include 100% clean-up funding; 2) The project must include a consent decree that would cap future liability to the site; & 3) Develop a strategy that would implement the possible clean-up. After this meeting, MFA will put together an Addendum to the contract. There is $20,000 left unspent in the IPG agreement. The addendum would allow MFA to define the scope of the clean-up strategy and put together a funding package for the clean-up phase.

JFB REPORT: 0 fire calls in April, 3 YTD. 3 EMS calls in April, 17 YTD. Had a rigorous training in Colfax with about ½ our dept in attendance. The new turnouts worked very well. Still no word on the 2010 radio grant. We’re waiting for the 2011 grant cycle to open up. Conversion to narrow band radios went well. DOE said no on the dinosaur burn. There are currently 19 community residents using the donated emergency dialers.

COMMITTEE REPORTS/REQUESTS:

Parks, Cemetery, & Buildings-Tim Jones. Chair: Councilmember Milano got a quote from First Step for putting in wi-fi at our RV Park. It is one of the most common requests from guests at the park. Because of our deal with First Step, there would just be a one-time charge of approximately $1,800 with no monthly fees. The RV Park still has money to spend on this. Councilmember Milano will talk with Frontier as well to find out their costs.

Streets & Sidewalks-Cecil Floyd, Chair: Meeting with the school again on Thursday regarding Mohr Street. The easement request for the old dump road has not come back from the attorney yet. The road is very precarious and would be difficult to maintain. Cecil encouraged council to go look at the road. One idea worth looking into is for the city to give Glen Curtis the road and have Curtis give the city an easement so all liability would belong to Curtis.

Personnel & Pool-Jeff Snook, Chair: Had a personnel/pool meeting. We’re looking at opening the pool on June 23rd.
Waiting to speak with pool manager before final decisions made.

Water & Sewer-Connie Newman, Chair: Connie reported that they would like to continue to negotiate a contract with Taylor Engineering and setting the scope of work in developing the WSP. They would like to consider a “not-to-exceed” budget. Connie asked the finance committee to propose a cash flow plan that would show how we plan to meet the expenses of the WSP over the next 18 months. One of our objectives of taking on some of the responsibilities was to cut our costs. A great deal of work has already been done by staff and Andy O’Neill of RCAC and we want to make sure whether or not casts can be reduced because of it.

Finance, Property, & Equipment-Mike Milano, Chair: The annual report will be going out by May 31st.

MAYOR’S REPORT:
Candidacy filings began.

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

ADJOURN: Councilmember Snook MOVED to adjourn. Councilmember Schorzman seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. The council meeting adjourned at 8:59 PM.

The following checks are approved for payment:
Claims Paid Ck. No. 3164 & 3166 – 3180 $17,145.80
Ck. No. 3165 replaced voided Ck. No. 2761

APPROVED: ________________________________ ATTEST: ________________________________