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01032013CouncilMinutes CITY OF AMMON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES JANUARY 3, 2013 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL - AGENDA THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2013 – 7:00 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Steven Fuhriman at 7:00 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance – Councilmember Coletti Prayer – Councilmember Thompson MINUTES: None ITEMS FROM MAYOR: State of the City Address CONSENT AGENDA: Accounts Payable – Exhibit A ITEMS FOR/FROM TREASURER: PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: (5 Minute Limitation) PUBLIC HEARINGS: None ACTION ITEMS: 1. McCowin Park Spray Park Project DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1.City Well Lot Improvements – Well Lot 9 2.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 Clerk Rachael Brown City Treasurer Jennifer Belfield City Engineer Lance Bates Public Works Director Ray Ellis Internet Technologies Director Bruce Patterson 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 Coletti led the Pledge of Allegiance. Councilmember Thompson offered a prayer. MINUTES: None 14 City Council Minutes 01.03.2013Page of ITEMS FROM MAYOR: State of the City Address: Mayor Fuhriman read; what a wonderful place to live. The City of Ammon and Ammon residents are the greatest. We can all be proud of our City and its accomplishments. I would like to commend our City department leaders for the excellent work they have done in leading our employees to accomplish all the good things that have been done within our city. Charlie Allen reports from the building department that 2012 brought encouraging growth within the city. The number of new Single Family Dwellings starts was the best it has been since 2007. As of the end of November we had a total of 76 new home starts compared to 36 for the year 2011. Sometimes we tend to wonder just what does our building department do all day. Our building department staff performed a total of 2,473 inspections for the year, an average of ten inspections per day. Our staff participates yearly in training opportunities that are offered to keep them up on the latest code developments and new industry standards and materials. Thanks Charlie for your department’s hard work. Lance Bates heads up our Engineering department and keeps us all on our toes with his explanations and up to date information on City Policies and Procedures. His oversight and inspection on Sewer, Street, Water, Storm-water projects and facilities keeps us in line with State policies and rules. Thanks Lance for your insight and guidance. As of the end of 2012, Stacy Hyde our Fire Chief, reports that our Fire Department consists of three full-time firefighters and twenty- nine paid call personnel who responded to 124 emergency calls this past year. Stacy keeps his crew well trained. They received 6,887 hours of instruction. This breaks down to an average of 181 hours per person with an average of 3.5 hours of instruction per week. Thanks Stacy, we appreciate how well you do in keeping Ammon a safe place to live. What kind of city would we have without Parks? Ken Knoch keeps our parks looking great. Ken co-ordinates many hours of contributed labor as well as monetary contributions. Our thanks to Rocky Mountain Power to their $2,500 donation which was utilized in purchasing tables, chairs, umbrellas, loungers and a volleyball net around the pool. Boy Scout Eagle projects saved the city more than $4,150.00 through their efforts in painting, and repairing shelters, placing sod, installing signage, refinishing picnic tables and ball diamond benches, planting 50 trees and raising 56 sprinkler valve boxes in the various parks to make them safer. Our local Wal- Mart employees donated 250 hours of labor preparing and mulching park trees and donated $5,000 to help up-grade our parks. Thank you Wal-Mart, for your generosity. Thank you, Ken for keeping our parks looking great and managing Ammon’s recreational facilities so well. Our water, sewer, and streets department is led by Ray Ellis. Thanks Ray for doing a great job this year in transitioning our sewer system from Idaho Falls to our own system. This has required a great deal of planning and hard work to accomplish. On top of the th sewer project Ray was involved in a one-half mile reclamation project of 17 Street. By doing this project in house with city crews, Ray was able to save the City significant dollars. Additionally, city crews, with the help of Bonneville County crews and in th conjunction with the Intermountain Gas pipeline project, a mile of 49 South between Ammon Road and Crowley Road was reconstructed. Thanks Ray for creating a Public Works Department that probably accomplishes more per man hour than any other municipality of our size. Thanks to Bruce Patterson’s efforts, the City’s investment in fiber infrastructure has improved operations and reduced operating costs paid to outside providers by over $800 per month, while reducing the staff time required managing these operations’. This past year, we utilized excess city fiber to connect the first Ammon business directly with private providers. As a City, we are committed to continuing to partner with private providers in order to promote economic development. Our most significant accomplishment has been the new partnerships forged by the broadband department. We are proud to be a US Ignite partner. This has led Ammon to being listed as an awardee in partnership with the National Science Foundation and the University of Idaho in developing the next generation of emergency communication. These partnerships have established Ammon as a meaningful broadband participant on both the State and Federal level. They also allow us to participate in our own broadband future, which is critical to our future prosperity as a community. Broadband is the backbone of our future business developments and as such it will shape not just how we do business and receive entertainment, but also how we receive health care, manage finances, conduct business and even perform our jobs. For this reason it is essential that we remain engaged and continue to search for ways to leverage the City’s fiber investment to bring about a local broadband economy that is not just competitive, but a model for others. Thanks Bruce for your tremendous effort and hard work to bring about the fiber optic reality to the City of Ammon. With 22 miles of backbone fiber and 9 of the City’s 10 well/pumping locations connected we are well on our way to becoming a fiber connected city. Our front office is running so smooth under the direction of Ron Folsom that we hardly know they are there. They keep all the paper work done and files so well I can hardly believe it. In July Jennifer Belfield earned the credentials of “Certified City Treasurer”. A designation received from the “Idaho City Clerks, Treasurers, and Finance Officers Association. Congratulations Jennifer. 24 City Council Minutes 01.03.2013Page of I am proud to be the Mayor of an efficient and dedicated team of Employees and Department Leaders. Thanks to all of you, the State of the City is good and has a brilliant future. Your Mayor, Steve Fuhriman. CONSENT AGENDA: Accounts Payable – Exhibit A: Councilmember Kirkham asked Councilmember Powell if he was meeting with anyone about the Sheriff’s contract and wanted to know where we are with the DARE program as far as next year. It was left in the school districts hands to decide if they are going to pay one third. Councilmember Kirkham said she hopes that happens so it won’t have to be taken away. Ron said Police Sergeant Jason Sorenson has asked to be on the next work session to give an update for the Sheriff’s Office. Councilmember Kirkham moved to approve the Consent Agenda Accounts Payable – Exhibit A, as presented. 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. ITEMS FOR/FROM TREASURER: None PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: (5 Minute Limitation): None PUBLIC HEARINGS: None ACTION ITEMS: 1. McCowin Park Spray Park Project: Ken Knock, Parks Director, 2135 South Ammon road said that approximately eight years ago he had a drawing done of a proposed spray park. Ken presented a large map that indicated where the spray park would be in relation to the swimming pool. Ken said that at the time the drawing was completed the spray park estimated cost was $60,000 to $70,000. As time has passed and regulations changed, that cost is no longer feasible, and the cost would now be around $180,000. Ken explained that he is applying for a grant for $100,000 with $50,000 out of the Park Department budget and $50,000 hopefully from the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Councilmember Kirkham asked if Ken had budgeted for the $50,000 match. Ken said yes. Ken said if the City receives the grant, the plan for the $100,000 is to install a 30x30 pad with a center fountain and some auxiliary fountains. Ken explained that it would not require being fenced, but it does require its own filter system. He was hoping to go through the pool filter system, but he can’t because of cross contamination. Councilmember Kirkham asked if the spray park would be outside of the pool and if it would be at no cost to the citizens. Ken said yes, it would be outside the pool fence, and there would not be a cost to use the spray park. Ken said the City is looking at about $75,000 to complete the project. Councilmember Kirkham asked if the match would still be 50/50. Ken said yes. Councilmember Kirkham asked Ken to explain the spray park design. Councilmember Powell said he wondered how many people could use it due to the size. Ken said he is constrained by room because there is a main line sprinkler system that goes about 40 feet out from the fence by the swimming pool. Ken explained the design of the spray park wouldn’t hold a lot of people, but even if he built a 50 foot spray park, it still wouldn’t hold many people. Ken said there would be a center fountain and some auxiliary nozzles that would cross each other, and it would be on a zero entry to about 8 inches in the middle with no standing water. The fountain would be on an on demand timer with an activation switch; and if nobody is there, the water would not be running. Councilmember Kirkham asked where the used water would go. Ken said there would be a concrete storage vault for holding the water. Councilmember Christensen said the idea is for something that is freely provided and is not grandiose in scale. He has gone back and forth discussing this with Ken, because his perception of the spray park was to have it be bare bones, but at the same time he does not want to go to the effort to build something and two years down the road have to post a sign up that says out of order or shut down by the health department. Councilmember Kirkham said she feels the spray park is fairly premature because there is not a set design, but agrees that Ken should go out for the grant. Councilmember Kirkham would like to see an actual design before Council decides on any matching funds. Ken said he is going to get some current cost for the equipment, labor and the fountain costs. Ken feels it is worth the tax money and it will give more validity to the pool, attract more people to the park, and fits with the City’s mission statement of providing opportunity and creating open space for its citizens. Councilmember Kirkham said she would also like to see an outdoor ice skating rink where everyone can bring their own skates. She feels there needs to be more community based activities. Ken said the dirt field at McCowin Park would be ideal place for that. Councilmember Christensen reported Fire Chief Hyde said he could come out and spray water in there. One of the designs he looked at was a spray park that also becomes an ice rink. Discussion ensued regarding recreation ideas for the Ammon parks. Councilmember Kirkham said go for the grant and bring us the design. Councilmember Kirkham moved for Ken to seek the grant, and to bring back the design. 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. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 34 City Council Minutes 01.03.2013Page of City Well Lot Improvements – Well Lot 9: 1. Councilmember Kirkham said she asked Ron to put this on the agenda because she received a call from Ed Biddulph about an article that was in the newspaper about well lot 9 seeking community input regarding using the lot for a community garden and other ideas. Councilmember Coletti said it was in the City newsletter too. Councilmember Kirkham thinks suggestions are appropriate for other well lots but, this lot is unique in the sense that the decisions were already made as to what would happen to the lot. Councilmember Kirkham said she asked Ron to go back to the development agreement and found out there is not one. At the time Quailridge was annexed into the City, the County was doing all of that for us. Councilmember Thompson asked where the subdivision is located. Ron showed where the Bit ‘O Heaven subdivision is located on the map. Ron said the interesting thing is that it says two acres but, it is actually only 1.02 acres after you remove the dedication for the roadway, and one acre basically including the well lot. Ron said one suggestion was to use the lot for a dog park and another for an indoor swimming pool. Ron said the waiver from the CCR’s states what the City is going to do, and it is signed by all the property owners and is effective as long as the City owns the property. The City has an obligation to landscape and maintain all improvements on the lot. The City can’t put a storage tank on the lot, and item five says if the lot is not used for well and water distribution, that the waiver will be withdrawn and it has to be turned back into a residential lot. Scott Hall said the history is that subdivision has CCR’s that prohibited this type of project going in. As part of the Quailridge and Cottages division, George McDaniel had to donate the well and put the well on this lot. Five or six years after the fact, we found out this lot is a part of Bit ‘O Heaven and had a restriction that there could not be a well on it, so the waiver was reached with the land owners. Councilmember Kirkham said that is what she recalls. Councilmember Kirkham said we understand that we are not going to take comments from the community, and that the City has an obligation to landscape it and maintain it. Discussion ensued regarding the property and the drainage. Councilmember Kirkham said it has been a decade since this agreement was made, and nothing has happened with the exception of the well house. We haven’t landscaped and the people have been very patient with us, and she feels the reason we are hearing from them now is because they read the article in the newspaper; they are saying you haven’t done what you said you would do and want confirmation that we are not going to do something different and we will honor our agreement. Ray said during the reconstruction the sprinkler system was destroyed. Councilmember Powell asked how the sprinklers were damaged. Ray said by reconstruction activities. Discussion ensued regarding the sprinkler system. Ron said we would have to be very cautious if we did more than landscaping it, because there is nowhere to park. Councilmember Christensen asked Ray and Ken if they knew how much it would cost to landscape it. Councilmember Kirkham directed Ray and Ken to get some numbers for the landscaping. 2. Misc.: Councilmember Christensen said he would like to put together a citizen initiative of volunteers that would go out and help elderly people who may not live in condominium neighborhoods and need help shoveling their sidewalks or at least their driveways. Councilmember Coletti said that’s a good idea. Councilmember Kirkham said Frank Corey is always expressing interest in volunteering. Scott said the City has a volunteer agreement that any volunteers would need to sign. Councilmember Slack would like to go through the end of year financial statements on the next work session. Ron will place the item on the work session for January 10th. Jennifer will put a hard copy of the yearend financial statements in the individual Council member boxes. Councilmember Slack asked Jennifer to prepare a one page departmental reconciliation. Jennifer said she would make time to do that. Councilmember Kirkham handed out the IBSD Agreement to the Council and said tonight is the last night to review it and give suggestions before it goes back to Cindy in the morning. She and Ron worked on this and have done their best to incorporate what the City is trying to say and keep the verbiage that is important to them. Councilmember Kirkham stated she needs a date that all the Council can attend the appreciation dinner. Councilmember Kirkham mentioned possible dates in February for the Council to choose from. February 22nd at 6:00 p.m. at the Red Lion was the date chosen by the Council. Discussion ensued regarding possible locations within the City of Ammon for the appreciation dinner next year. Councilmember Kirkham moved to adjourn into executive session pursuant to Idaho Code 67-2345 (1- 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 7:55p.m. ______________________________________________ Steve Fuhriman, Mayor __________________________________________________ Ron Folsom, City Clerk 44 City Council Minutes 01.03.2013Page of