Council Minutes 03/04/1982
March 4, 1982
CITY OF AMMON
200 March 4, 1982
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Mayor and City Council:
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 P.M. by Acting Mayor Russell N. Swensen with the
following City Officials present:
Acting Mayor Russell N. Swensen City Clerk Deon Hemingway
Councilman Thayle D. Monson Public Works Director Hayse L. Whiteley
Councilwoman Carol A. Dille Engineer DavidE. Benton
Councilman Robert D. Williamson Attorney W. Joe Anderson
Absent: Mayor George Wehmann, out of town
Also present during the meeting were Scout Leader Michael Forman and Scout Jason Forman,
2060 Dove Drive.
The pledge of allegiance to the flag was conducted by Acting Mayor Swensen and prayer was
offered by Councilman Williamson.
According to Councilwoman Dille, the citizens committee for park improvements had a meet-
ing just prior to the opening of the City Council Meeting and have their plans coming
along for Peterson Park. A special activity, Ammon Arbor Day, is scheduled for Saturday,
tlfay 1, and all residents will be invited to participate by donating trees, or money for
trees, and helping with the planting on that day, with a list of approved types of trees
to be prepared. Mention was made of the budgeted amount of funds for park work and Council-
man Swensen noted that the 4-H group is working on picnic tables.
Councilman Williamson reported that four City employees--Tom Reese, Gene Simpson, Gerald
Hale, and Kelby Wilcox--are now attending the weekly training sessions for the Volunteer
Fire Department. He noted that representatives of the Bonneville Fire District have in-
dicated a desire to attend a City Council Meeting to discuss the possibility of the City
of Ammon joining the Fire District because of a concern for the need to have better trained
people to respond to daytime fires in Ammon. It was pointed out that this would require an
election and, if approved, would be funded by an additional tax on property in the City.
Regarding fire insurance, Councilman Williamson explained that one company informed him
that, if Ammon residents use Idaho Falls as an address for insurance purposes, the rate
is the same as in the City of Idaho Falls. With reference to a letter from the Idaho Falls
Fire Chief, Councilman Williamson stated that notice was given that Idaho Falls is not
able to help with fire fighting in Ammon at this time. He recommended that it be kept in
mind that Idaho Falls will have a 1954 pumper in good mechanical condition to sell for
$4500 probably in September of this year. The report on law enforcement for the month of
January was reviewed by Councilman Williamson. Also, he requested and was given Council
approval on a format for the Hydropower Review Committee to use in evaluating the pro-
posals received, with the scoring to be based on criteria listed in the Requests for
Proposal which were sent out to interested firms.
Public Works Director, Hayse Whiteley, informed the Council about a special arrangement
which was made and completed to send the street sweeper with operator out to the INEL
Westinghouse site, for an appropriate fee, for a clean-up project in preparation for
the visit of a Navy Admiral at that location. Other matters mentioned by Mr. Whiteley
were recent repairs on the garbage truck, use of the pumps in the water system, and his
attendance at a meeting with officials of the Bureau of Reclamation on flooding.
In response to a question by Attorney Anderson asking if the City wishes to intervene
in the new Utah Power & Light Company rate-increase case, a motion was made by Council-
wo~an Dille and seconded by Councilman Monson to authorize the City Attorney to file a
petition of intervention in the pending UP&L case; voting was Dille yes, Williamson yes,
Monson yes, Swensen yes; motion carried unanimously.
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Attorney Anderson reviewed the events and decisions which led up to an amount being de-
ducted, as an offset for court fees due to the City, from the payment to Bonneville
County in September of 1981 on the 17th Street project. He noted that this was the
subject of discussion when he, Councilman Swensen, and HIil.~se Whiteley met recently with
the County Commissioners, the County Attorney, and the District Attorney. It was ex-
plained by Attorney Anderson that the County officials pointed out that, even though the
City should be entitled to the court fees in question, the money had been disbursed
according to law immediately following collection and an internal adjustment of funds,
as suggested in a letter to the County (dated Dec. 3, 1981), is not possible since the I
District Court Fund is separate from all other funds and is not under the control of
the County Commissioners. Attorney Anderson expressed concern that this matter is affect-
ing the attitude of the County regarding cooperation with Ammon in other matters, such as
the purchase of gravel and the law enforcement contract, and he recommended that the
withheld amount of $1,550.25 be paid at this time so that the County Road and Bridge De-
partment can have the money that is due on the 17th Street payment. Councilman Swensen
stated that the tone of the meeting with the representatives of the County was adamant,
and he felt the need to pay the bill in order to have good relations in being able to
work with the County in the future. Comments by Councilman Williamson and Councilman
Monson indicated agreement that the matter needs to be solved. It was the expressed
feeling of Councilwoman Dille that there is a principal involved in continuing to main-
tain that the court fees are still due to the City and should be paid by some means.
Attorney Anderson commented that it is not practical to go into litigation for the amount
of money that is involved. It was moved by Councilman Monson and seconded by Councilman
Wil~iamson that the City pay $1,550.25 to the County as advised by the City Attorney;
votlng was Monson yes, Williamson yes, Dille no, Swensen yes; motion carried.
March 4, 1982
March 18, 1982
201
mEST: L ~
CITY CLERK ~
Claims to pay in the amount of $12,547.61 and vouchers totaling $8,971.21 for payroll,
etc., paid since the previous meeting were presented by_ the City Clerk and approved.
Councilwoman Dille moved to adjourn; the motion was seconded by Councilman Monson; voting
was all in favor; the meeting adjourned at 9:10 P.M.
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CITY OF AMMON
March 18, 1982
Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Mayor and City Council:
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 P.M. by Acting Mayor Russell N. Swensen with the
following City Officials present:
Acting Mayor Russell N. Swensen
Councilwoman Carol A. Dille
Councilman Robert D. Williamson
City Clerk Deon Hemingway
Public Works Director Hayse L. Whiteley
Engineer David E. Benton
Planning Commission Member Kathy Dansie
town)
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Absent: Mayor George Wehmann (out of
Councilman Thayle D. Monson
Attorney W. Joe Anderson
Also present during the meeting were Don Ellsworth of Ellsworth Engineering, Shauna
Hammond, 3110 Ross Avenue, Loren Peterson, 2950 Geneva Drive, Rodney Bryan, 3810 Geneva
Drive, and VonCille Lasley, 255 Tie Breaker Drive.
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The pledge of allegiance to the flag was conducted by Councilman Williamson and prayer
was offered by Councilwoman Dille. The minutes of meetings on January 7 and January 21,
1982, were approved as written by motion of Councilman Williamson, seconded by Council-
woman Dille, voting all in favor.
Loren Peterson represented the residents who are interested in the Peterson Park improve-
ments and presented suggested plans for a shelter, playground equipment, and tree planting.
He explained that he has been checking on materials and that labor will be donated.
Councilwoman Dille noted that it will likely be possible to hire a tree-digger with
operator from the City of Idaho Falls for about $15.00 per hour if enough residents
wish to donate trees of the right size and species that can be moved. It was recommend-
ed by Councilman Williamson that the drawings for a shelter which Mr. Peterson had
prepared be checked by the City Engineer to be sure the plans are all right. Council
members agreed that treated logs must be used for the playground equipment and pro-
fessional help will be needed when the cement work is done for the shelter. Target
dates were set as follows: Saturday April 17, shelter pad; Saturday April 24, shelter
structure; Saturday May 1 (Ammon Arbor Day), tree planting; month of May, playground
equipment. A reminder was given that the final date on the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation
grant for these park improvements is June 30 of this year.
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An application for a non-commercial kennel license for Roger Terrill, 2940 Ammon Road,
was considered and found to be in order with the required signatures of approval by
neighboring property owners. Councilwoman-Dille moved to approve the application as
presented for the year of 1982. The motion was seconded by Coun ilman Williamson;
voting was all in favor; motion carried.
According to a report by Councilman Williamson, the Hydropower Review Committee met on
March 11 and made a recommendation that the firm of Gibbs & Hill, Inc., be selected to
make the feasibility studies on the four hydroelectric projects for which the City has
preliminary permits, with the selection being based on the criteria approved at the
last Council meeting. He offered the information that the scores were as follows,
with high score being the most desirableflarthe City: Crippen Consultants 580, Gibbs
& Hill, Inc., 688, Forsgren-Perkins 332. It was~~Kee'~ C2uRci+mtn Williamson that
the City of Ammon enter into a letter of inten!/,pendl5g ~ 1orffiat'cggtract being
written by the City Attorney, for work in following through on the hydroelectric pro-
ject proposals. The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Dille; voting was unanimous
in favor; motion carried. A letter of thanks is to go out to the members of the Review
Committee, who will be retained to check the feasibility studies as they come in.
In response to an inquiry by VonCille Lasley, with comments by Councilwoman Dille, it
was indicated that it would be all right for Mrs. Lasley to try to get a girls. soft-
ball league started in the City, with scheduling for use of the ball fields to be
arranged through the City Public Works Director to coordinate with the Little League -
and Knothole programs.] ,Other matters relating to the ball fields on which Council-
woman Dille asked for comments from the other Council members were concerned with lime
on the foul lines, storage facilities for ball equipment, chain-link extensions from
the backstops, portable home-run fences, and watering at night.
Regarding the Planning and Zoning Commission, Kathy Dansie reported that a public hearing
on amending the comprehensive plan will be coming up soon.