Council Minutes 04/05/1979
April 5, 1979
98
CITY OF AMMON
April 5, 1979
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Mayor and City Council:
The meeting was called to order at 7:40 P.M. by Mayor George Wehmann, with the following
City Officials present:
Mayor George Wehmann Clerk Deon Hemingway
Councilman Russell N. Swensen Attorney W. Joe Anderson
Councilman Francis Lee Asst. Engineer Brad Nield
Councilman David Rowberry Auditor Walter Clapp
Absent: Councilwoman Carol A. Dille and Public Works Director Hayse Whiteley
Others present during the meeting were Milton Tate and Garth Cunningham.
The pledge of allegiance to the flag was conducted by Mayor Wehmann; the invocation was
offered by Councilman Lee. Minutes of the previous meeting were not ready for approval.
An application filed by Milton Tate, 2995 Midway Avenue, requesting a variance to build
an additon on his garage to within five feet of the side property line instead of the
normal 7t feet was considered. It was determined that the application was in order and
that the applicant is the owner of the adjacent lot on which a basement house is located.
Councilman Lee moved to grant Milton Tate a variance as requested in his application.
The motion was seconded by Councilman Swensen; voting was Lee, yes; Swensen, yes; Row-
berry, yes; motion carried.
Mayor Wehmann called upon Auditor Walter Clapp to review the City finances in connection
with making a decision about whether or not to award the bids for the pump and water
pipe needed to con~ect Well #7 to the City water system and a piece of waterline on
AmmonRoadas authorized by the Council at the March 15, 1979, meeting and which was con-
tingent upon determining that the funds are available. An observation was made by
Mayor Wehmann that the 1% issue and the fact that the State Legislature has restricted
the amount of property taxes that can be collected in the next fiscal year to what is
being collected this year puts the City in a "tax crunch" situation. After the figures
were presented and the matter was thoroughly discussed, 'approval was indicated by the
Council members to a recommendation made by Mayor Wehmann that the funds be borrowed
from the bank to pay for the Well #7 improvements and waterline as called for in the bids,
and that the park project now under way under a Bureau of Outdoor Recreation Grant be
eliminated upon the completion of the existing contract work in order to use revenue
sharing money which would have been spent on the park project to repay the bank loan.
Garth Cunningham of Ellsworth Engineers stated his business as representing the developer
relative to finalizing the Annexation A reement for Tie Breaker Vill e Div. No.3 and
Remaining Portion, on which the public hearing was held on May 1 , 197 , and approval
for annexation was acted upon at the June 21, 1978, meeting. Copies of the proposed
agreement were distributed for study with action to be taken at the next meeting. Mr.
Cunningham also inquired about the status of the Development Agreement for Aimee Ann
Estates, and it was the opinion of the Mayor and Council that the Attorney should pro-
ceed with the preparation of the agreement for signature without the requirement for
sewer dry lines and the City Engineer is to provide the information about the size of
well, etc., that would be acceptable for future use by the City.
In response to a request by Mayor Wehmann that the Council give consideration to approval
of a salary increase for Hayse Whiteley, Director of Public Works/Building Inspector,
based on a review of his services during the past year, Councilman Rowberry moved and
Councilman Swensen seconded that the Council accept the promotion of Hayse Whiteley
from Grade 7.3 to Grade 8.3 effective March 16, 1979. The voting was all in favor;
motion carried. The salary for the new office employee, Doris Smith, was also discussed,
and it was moved by Councilman Swensen and seconded by Councilman Rowberry that Mrs.
Smith be hired starting at Grade 1.1 on the salary schedule; the voting was all in favor,
motion carried.
Mayor Wehmann referred to the sewer-treatment billing received from the City of Idaho
Falls, which included an interceptor-line fee and a 10% administrative cost fee, as in-
dicated in the Idaho Falls Sewer Cost Analysis report for the previous year. He noted
that he talked to EPA officials in Seattle about these fees recently and was advised
that, since provisions for these fees are not in the contract, they are not valid. He
indicated that he intends to write a letter to Idaho Falls Mayor Campbell about this
matter so that a mutual agreement can be worked out. Mayor Wehmann pointed out that
EPA strongly recommends that the City of Ammon start planning now to work toward going
together with the Iona-Bonneville Sewer District and take over the sewer maintenance in
a few years. He mentioned also that the EPA people gave some help in what to do on the
sewer leakage problem by recommending that an independent engineer and maybe an engineer
from EPA be called in when the representatives of the City meet with the representatives
of H-K Contractors (formerly Hartwell Construction Company, the sewer project contractor).
As a matter of information, Mayor Wehmann reported that Senator Frank Church will be here
at the location of the City Building in his mobile office on April 24th from 1 to 3 P.M.
in order to meet with any residents that would like to talk with him. Other items men-
tioned by the Mayor were that perhaps consideration should be given to establishing a
late charge of 11% on delinquent accounts,that the assessed valuation of the City of
Ammon as notified by the County Clerk's office on March 7, 1979, is $L},174;376, and that
a letter has been received from the Sheriff's Office to advise that the County cannot
guarantee continued arrangements for small animal control after Oct. 1, 1979, due to the
expected budget cuts as a result of tITe 1~ lnltlatlve.
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April 5, 1979
It was brought to the attention of the Council members that a letter has been re- ~~)
ceived from Paul Benton of Salt Lake City asking for the annexation of approximately
43 acres of land formerly owned by Mel Brown located north of 17th Street and adjacent
to the City's Well No.7 property, and this will be before the Planning and Zoning
Commission at its next meeting.
With reference to the letter written by Councilman Rowberry to the Chairman of the
County Commissioners regarding payment on the extra costs for the ~7~h.Street Project,
it was noted that corrections in the dollar amounts were made and lnltlaled by County
Engineer Bob Gray when the letter was delivered, and that Mayor Wehmann felt the need
to call the County Engineer and talk with him further in relation to obligating City
funds beyond the time of the present administration.
Councilman Lee reported that a letter of justification is needed in order to put in an
application for a surplus fire truck, and he is working on that.
In response to information presented by Countrilman Swensen, it was decided that the City
is not interested in a 6-x-6 truck that is available through surplus since it does not
have a dump bed, and that a determination can be made in another 30 days about whether
or not funds can be spent on a new copier which has been in the office on trial.
Councilman Rowberry's report indicated that Servisoft Water Conditioning Company has
received a letter from the Health Department regarding the dumping of brine at their
business on 17th Street, but he will check with Jeff Bergeson of the Health Department
again since the letter does not address the City's concern about the situation satis-
factorily. He noted that the Planning and Zoning Commission had worked out several
problems relative to parking-lot entrances, etc., at the public hearing on the annexa-
tion of a church building site on the east side of Ammon Road between 17th Street and
Brookfield Lane and recommended that the City Council approve the proposal; in view of
this and because of a time element that is involved in the church construction schedule,
the Council members were contacted by telephone and agreed to setting the date of a public
hearing before the City Council at 7 P.M. on April 19, 1979, and the legal advertising has
been done. Regarding his assignment to notify the owner of Ammon Produce Company of the
requirement to hook on to the sewer, Councilman Rowberry mentioned that he talked to Mr.
Ernest Martin who indicated no problem with this directive but asked for a delay until
the plant is on a down time and r~1.testedsome instructions from the City Public Works
Director on how to get the job done properly.
Engineer Brad Nield reviewed information on the type of water meters which would be
needed at the Eastgate Mobile Village and quoted a cost ~1500 each plus vaults and
installation; Councilman Rowberry agreed to advise the trailercourt manager of these
facts and to work with him further regarding the revised water, sewer, and garbage rates.
It was reported that the meters at Pheasant Estates have been raised to be in a better
position for reading and Waterworks Equipment Company is doing some research to determine
what should be done so that the meters will record correctly. A payment request from
o & F Construction in the amount of $3375 for L.I.D. #8 work was submitted with an ex-
planation that the water and sewer mains and service lines are all completed but the
water meters are not installed yet.
An agreement which would authorize the State Highway Department to make an inspection of
the Sand Creek Bridge on 17th Street was discussed and approval was given to the following
resolution: WHEREAS, the Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Highways, herein-
after called the State,has submitted a Cooperative Agreement stating obligations of the
State and the City of Ammon, Idaho, for Bridge Inspection under Federal Aid Project
BR-NBIS(807); and WHEREAS, the State is responsible for obtaining compliance with laws,
standards and procedural policies in the development made to the Federal Aid Highway
System when there is Federal participation in the costs; and WHEREAS, certain functions
to be performed by the State involve the expenditure of funds as set forth in the Coopera-
tive Agreement; and WHEREAS, the State cannot pay for any work not associated with the
State Highway System; and WHEREAS, the City is fully responsible for all project costs;
and WHEREAS, it is intended that the project shall be developed so as to receive Federal
Participation; NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED: 1. That the Cooperative Agreement for
Federal Highway Project BR-NBIS(807) is hereby approved. 2. That the Mayor and the City
Clerk are hereby authorized to execute the Cooperative Agreement on behalf of the City.
3. That duly certified copies of the resolution shall be furnished the Idaho Transporta-
tion Department, Division of Highways. The cost to the City under this agreement was
listed as $45.00.
Claims in the amount of $3,563.85 were presented by the City Clerk and were approved
for payment.
It was moved by
adjourn; voting
ATTEST:
Councilman Swensen and seconded by Councilman Lee that the meeting
was all in favor; meeting adjourned at 10:20 P.M.
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