11012012CouncilMinutes
CITY OF AMMON
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012
AGENDA:
CITY OF AMMON
2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD
CITY COUNCIL - AGENDA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012 – 7:00 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER:
Mayor Steven Fuhriman at 7:00 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance – Councilmember Christensen
Prayer – Councilmember Powell
MINUTES:
September 13, 2012, October 4, 2012
ITEMS FROM MAYOR:
CONSENT AGENDA:
Business License
Accounts Payable – Exhibit A
ITEMS FOR/FROM TREASURER:
PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: (5 Minute Limitation)
PUBLIC HEARINGS:
None
ACTION ITEMS:
1.Utility Rates and Fees
2.Resolution 2012-015 – Adoption of Utility Rate Fees (if approved)
3.Misc.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
1.Misc.
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
1.Personnel Evaluations - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-b)
2.Real Property Acquisitions - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-c)
3.Pending Litigation - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-f)
MINUTES
City Officials Present:
Mayor Steve Fuhriman
Councilmember Dana Kirkham
Councilmember Rex Thompson
Councilmember Brian Powell
Councilmember Sean Coletti
Councilmember Russell Slack
Councilmember Brad Christensen
City Attorney Scott Hall
City Clerk/Administrator/Planning Director Ron Folsom
Deputy City Clerk Rachael Brown
City Treasurer Jennifer Belfield
City Engineer Lance Bates
City Officials Absent:
None
CALL TO ORDER:
Mayor Steven Fuhriman opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m. at the City Hall building located at 2135 South
Ammon Road. Councilmember Christensen led the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilmember Powell offered a prayer.
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MINUTES: September 13, 2012:
Councilmember Kirkham moved to approve the minutes, as presented. Councilmember
Thompson seconded. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Kirkham– Yes, Councilmember Thompson – Yes, Councilmember Christensen
– Yes, Councilmember Slack – Yes, Councilmember Powell – Abstain (Absent), and Councilmember Coletti – Yes. The motion
passed.
October 4, 2012:
Councilmember Kirkham moved to approve the minutes, as presented. Councilmember Thompson
seconded. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Thompson – Yes, Councilmember Christensen – Yes,
Councilmember Slack – Yes, Councilmember Powell – Yes, and Councilmember Coletti – Yes. The motion passed.
ITEMS FROM MAYOR:
None
CONSENT AGENDA: Accounts Payable – Exhibit A:
Councilmember Powell moved to approve the Accounts Payable
Exhibit-A, as presented. Councilmember Kirkham seconded. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Powell – Yes, Councilmember Kirkham
– Yes, Councilmember Coletti – Yes, Councilmember Thompson – Yes, Councilmember Slack – Yes, and Councilmember
Christensen – Yes. The motion passed.
ITEMS FOR/FROM TREASURER:
None
PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: (5 Minute Limitation):
None
PUBLIC HEARINGS:
None
ACTION ITEMS:
1. Utility Rates and Fees:
Ron explained the proposed increase of the water rate by 3% and the sewer rate by 3%. The
sewer would become $45.00 for each ERU (Equivalent Residential Unit). The monthly water rate in RP/RPA/RE zones would
increase to $46.00 and in all other residential zones would increase to $38.35. The water rate without the bond payment is $19.35,
with the bond payment being $19.00 per month. Scott Hall said as he recalled from the last sewer meeting, the City of Shelley is
paying $24.50 on their sewer bond. Councilmember Coletti said yes he thinks that’s right. Scott said he thinks they could get a push
from the region to increase our sewer bond to the same amount as the City of Shelley. Councilmember Coletti said the discussion was
that everyone would pay the same amount for the bond payment. Councilmember Kirkham said she doesn’t understand why our bond
payment and their bond payment need to be the same, because they are different bonds. She understands why both Cities need to have
the same connection rate and usage fee, but not the same bond payment amount. Discussion ensued regarding the sewer bond.
Councilmember Thompson said he had a meeting with Husk Crowther and Dave Forsgren and he feels they are trying to do
damage control after what he said to them the last meeting; Councilmember Thompson distributed documents he received from Husk
and Dave to the Council. Councilmember Thompson said according to Forsgren, the $9 the City pays for the sewer treatment includes
the amount it would cost to keep the 14 mile sewer line going and is included in their O&M. Councilmember Powell said if it includes
the maintenance of the 14 mile line, who is maintaining it. Lance said no one is maintaining the line. Councilmember Kirkham said
the City of Ammon is going to service the line in addition to the $9, and that’s why we just approved the service rates. Discussion
ensued regarding the sewer line.
Councilmember Kirkham said she thinks the Council agrees that it is necessary to increase the sewer rate. Councilmember
Thompson said the City is still subsidizing the sewer with reserves, and said if we are ever going to take care of the original town site
we need to have money set aside to do that. If the Council had started in 1980 with the increases of 3% per year, the City would be at
this rate anyway, and would have had money saved for future projects. Councilmember Powell said the Council is looking down the
road at a $12 million project expansion for the wastewater plant in the City of Shelley, and also looking at the upgrading of the lines in
the original town site at $6-8 million dollars. Councilmember Kirkham said even raising the sewer rate 4% every year the City will
still be deficient. Councilmember Powell said he drove down Midway a couple times today and the road is falling apart and needs to
be replaced; why not when City staff are replacing the roads, take a look at what pipes are there and replace the lines at the same time.
Lance said even when we put down the IBSD separator line, the City ended up repairing a lot of the water lines, but we didn’t actually
tear out and put in new pipe. Discussion ensued regarding the water lines in the original town site.
Councilmember Kirkham asked the Council if they are in favor of a 3% increase to the sewer rate. Discussion ensued.
Councilmember Christensen said his hesitation isn’t that he is not in favor of raising the sewer rate. He is looking at FY2012; if you
look at the City’s end of year budget, you can’t look at the waste water and make any determination because there is so much capital
expenditures you do not know what is what. Councilmember Christensen said he is comfortable raising the sewer rate, but with the
understanding that the money the City has set aside in reserves needs to be used to pay down the bond.
Councilmember Kirkham said she thinks that is fair, but in reality the Council will not know if there are any reserves left
until the bond is closed. Councilmember Slack said he sees two uses for the money; the first is to pay down the bond, and the second
is the additional train. Councilmember Christensen said he thinks the Council needs to secure additional growth and plan for that in
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the future. He is afraid that the Council will raise these fees to the point where people no longer want to come to the City of Ammon.
Councilmember Kirkham said Ammon’s growth has been slow for the last two years due to the economy, but also because our fees
are higher than the County and the City of Idaho Falls. This has been the reality of having to do these bonds. Councilmember Kirkham
said the bond has been set to pay off based on the City’s population in 2005, and hopes there is enough growth that we don’t need to
continue raising the fees.
Councilmember Kirkham said the water proposal was to not raise the water fee, because it is an arbitrary number right now.
Discussion ensued regarding the proposed water rate increase. Councilmember Powell said he could go either way with the increase,
and explained that a 3% water fee increase will not get the City where it needs to be, but if the Council does increase the water rate by
3% then he would like to see the funds put back into the reserve that we took out to subsidize the rate to begin with. Councilmember
Powell said the City took $500,000 out of reserves to subsidize the water rate over the last couple of years. Councilmember
Christensen asked Jennifer according to the Sept 2012 financials we were supposed to pay $1 million on the bond, which we did not
do, but we paid $415,000 in interest. Jennifer said when we do the budgeting we show everything in the income statement, all the
revenues and expenses we are going to do. The bond is a liability on the balance sheet, and when we make the payment every month it
reduces the liability on the balance sheet and the interest shows on the income statement.
Councilmember Kirkham said she understands where Councilmember Christensen is coming from in not wanting to put a
hardship on the community, but at the same time it’s good to return what has been taken from reserves; and the argument that you
could make that this why the City has reserves. She is willing to support the idea of not raising the water rate this fiscal cycle, but the
reality is that in the next fiscal cycle it will have to be raised; but the question will be how much. Councilmember Kirkham hopes we
will have the answers; either the City will go to meters, or we will not use meters but start saving for the project in the original town
site. Councilmember Christensen said staff has demonstrated they are efficient with the assets and resources they have. We have been
able to live within the budget we have and can make do for another year. We need to look at our next year’s budget and ask ourselves
if we can operate within the budget without the 3% rate increase. He thinks the answer is yes. Discussion ensued regarding meters.
Councilmember Slack said he feels it will be less expensive in the long run if the Council raises the rates now. Whatever we don’t
raise now to put into reserves for future expenses, we will have to bond to update the pipes in the original town site. He asked Jennifer
how much a day we pay on interest for the sewer project. Jennifer said on the sewer we pay $1,364.40 per day in interest and the
water $1,148.62. Councilman Slack said that is $1,300.00 a day we could have in reduced expenses if we had started saving the
money 20 years ago. Councilman Slack said this is not an investment account; It is putting money aside for a capital expenditure that
we know is coming.
Councilmember Kirkham said she thinks that we continually discuss what our future is with the water but, we never make a
decision, and we are at the point that we need to make a decision whether to meter or not. Discussion ensued regarding metering the
water. The Council requested information be compiled on the water usage at various sized lots in the City and the cost in today’s
dollars of the upcoming projects. Councilmember Powell asked Lance how much it would cost to put in a well. Lance said drilling
was $85,000.00 and the buildings were another $120,000. Councilmember Kirkham pooled the Council about the increase.
Councilmember Thompson, Councilmember Powell, Councilmember Slack and Councilmember Coletti are in favor of increasing the
water and sewer by 3%. Councilmember Christensen is not interested in raising the water rate. Councilmember Kirkham said she
wanted to make sure that Councilmember Christensen is clear that the Council wants to look at paying down the bond when we get
there, but there is no guarantee that is what is going to happen. Councilmember Kirkham said she could go either way on the water.
Councilmember Powell said when we had the public hearings; residents said $9.00 would have been better than $11.00.
Councilmember Christensen said that was when they were faced with a big increase. Councilmember Powell said we got to that point
because we did not increase fees like we were supposed to do, and he does not want to make that mistake again. Councilmember
Kirkham said she knows the Council talks about future issues, and she is conscious of what future members of the Council will have
to face because of her decisions.
Councilmember Slack moved to approve Resolution 2012-015 – Utility Rate fees, as presented. Councilmember Powell
seconded. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Slack – Yes, Councilmember Powell – Yes, Councilmember Coletti – No (because he feels
the Council should give the residents a year off without an increase on the water), Councilmember Kirkham – No, (because she
believes that it’s ok to live within our means for a year and figure out what we need to be saving, and work towards that, but there is
going to probably be a yes next year), Councilmember Thompson – Yes, and Councilmember Christensen - No, (for all the fore
mentioned reasons, and to live within the existing budget).
Mayor Fuhriman was asked to break the tie vote. Mayor Fuhriman – No (because the Council needs a plan for why the
Council is increasing the rates, and to have a ten year plan in place, but with the knowledge that he would ask for a 5% increase next
year instead of only 3%) The motion failed.
2. Resolution 2012-015 – Adoption of Utility Rate Fees:
Councilmember Kirkham moved to amend the resolution to
omit the water increase, and amend the effective date to December 1, 2012. Councilmember Powell seconded. Roll Call Vote:
Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Powell – Yes, Councilmember Coletti – Yes, Councilmember Thompson – Yes,
Councilmember Slack – Yes, and Councilmember Christensen – Yes. The motion passed. Councilmember Christensen would like to
use the existing reserves to pay down the sewer bond and close the bond as soon as possible.
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DISCUSSION ITEMS:
1. Misc.:
Ron explained that every month the City receives a monthly construction report; the schedule shows that the
City of Idaho Falls has issued 86 residential permits this year, and Ammon has issued 64. Ron said based on our population we are
doing considerably better than Idaho Falls and their rates are considerably less than the City of Ammon. Discussion ensued.
Councilmember Thompson distributed documents he received from Forsgren and Associates for the Council to review. He
said Forsgren will most likely be coming to the Council to explain their position.
Councilmember Coletti asked Ron if he was able to find an ordinance for sewer discharge in the City of Ammon. Ron said
that staff is drafting one. Councilmember Coletti asked if the ordinance would be based on the EIRWWA model. Lance asked who the
director of EIRWWA was, because the Director has a lot of specific duties in the EIRWWA ordinance. Councilmember Kirkham said
th
they meet again December 12, and asked Lance if that was soon enough to obtain the information. Lance said yes.
EXECUTIVE SESSION:
1. Personnel Evaluations - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-b)
2. Real Property Acquisitions - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-c)
3. Pending Litigation - Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-f)
Councilmember Kirkham moved to adjourn into executive session pursuant to Idaho Code 67-2345 (1-c&f). Councilmember
Slack seconded. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Slack – Yes, Councilmember Christensen – Yes,
Councilmember Thompson – Yes, Councilmember Powell – Yes, and Councilmember Coletti – Yes. The motion passed.
The meeting adjourned at 8:26 p.m.
___________________________________________________
Steven Fuhriman, Mayor
__________________________________________________
Ron Folsom, City Clerk
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