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03272007CouncilMinutes - SpecialCITY OF AMMON CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2007 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA TUESDAY, March 27, 2007 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bruce Ard at 8:30 p.m. ACTION ITEM: 1. Proposed Fire District Contract MINUTES The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ard at 8:30 p.m. in the City Building, 2135 South Ammon Road, Ammon, Idaho, with the following City Officials present: City Officials Present: Mayor Bruce Ard Councilmember Lee Bean Councilmember Rex Thompson Councilmember Dana Kirkham Councilmember Randy Waite City Planning Director Ron Folsom City Engineer Bill Manwill City Administrator Bruce Rose City Attorney Scott Hall City Clerk Leslie Folsom City Officials Absent: None Councilmember Kirkham welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained the reason for the meeting: 1) the idea of bidding on the contract for the Bonneville County Fire District and 2) whether we want to make the move to join the District. ACTION ITEM : Councilmember Kirkham explained Stacy Hyde – fire chief - has gone over the numbers, so they understand that. The biggest thing they are hung up on is how they can guarantee the things that are important to us, and maintaining them if we do join the district. They are concerned mainly about keeping our department and chief intact. They understand the costs will mount each year. Councilmember Kirkham turned the time over to Stacy. Stacy stated the first year it will be $59,000 more, but every year after that in order to bring basically what the city is providing for the fire department up to an equal equivalent level of what the fire department would maintain for their side, you would have to pipe in more money and more money. His plan was if you don’t join the fire district within five years, it will be equivalent of what you’re paying for the City of Ammon to what they’re paying for the District. Councilmember Kirkham asked if she could clarify what he was saying, if they are not willing to join the District, then you aren’t really interested in us taking the contract, correct? Dick Fowler stated it puts them in a precarious position because they already provide service for Iona and if we provide service for the City of Ammon, he thinks legally it puts them in a position. Matt Morgan, Fire District Commissioner, stated the idea of the City of Ammon joining the fire district is not a new idea. He was a county fireman in 1989 and then was part of the merger between the city and the county fire districts in 1991. He resigned to pursue other interests in 1995. His father was a career fireman. He has watched the progression of Ammon and they are abreast of the fire chief. They are in support of the volunteer program. The county fire district had a volunteer program prior to the merger with the City of Idaho Falls. It is his feeling that the City of Ammon is ready for, or willing to entertain, going to the next level with a partially paid, full- time fire department, backed by the volunteers. The Fire District, we feel, with its relationship with the City of Idaho Falls is growing apart. There have different ideas on spending. He feels their “piece of pie” is getting smaller with each annexation by the City of Ammon and the City of Idaho Falls. They pull in Comore Loma and Black Special City Council Minutes 03/27/2007 -- 1 Hawk and that is all they have been able to bring back to the table. Their “piece of pie” is getting smaller and smaller, while the City of Ammon’s and the City of Idaho Falls is getting bigger. Councilmember Bean inquired if “bringing in” meant tax revenues. Matt Morgan stated yes. Councilmember Bean stated there are a lot of homes going up on Ammon and Crowley that bring a lot of revenue in. Matt Morgan stated that is correct, they have their new construction that comes on line. The City of Ammon, however, is getting a lot of development. Water line and sewer line are the bloodline for development. They do not have an actual gain and loss due to annexation on paper, but they could put it all together. The growth is only going to grow faster and more rapidly. The Fire District will annex and grow with the City of Ammon and provide the services needed for an area with the growth that Ammon is experiencing. The Fire District is about life saving. You can always replace burnt buildings, but you can’t replace one life. Councilmember Bean inquired as to why the “marriage” with Idaho Falls is falling apart. Matt Morgan stated they have an enormous appetite for money. Ralph Isom, Fire District Commissioner, stated they had done a recap of what has changed since 1991. They paid slightly under $500,000 to the City of Idaho Falls in 1991 to provide services for Bonneville County; it is now approaching $1.4 million today – that is in 16 years. They feel there is a better avenue of providing services and doing a better job – inspections of daycares, etc. He stated he was instructed by one of the city council (Idaho Falls) members to go get the maximum allowable rate increase every year by law and give it to them. Councilmember Kirkham inquired that their contract covers now salaries and services and that’s all? Ralph stated 90% of the money they collect is given to the City of Idaho Falls. 85% of that goes to wages and compensation. Matt interjected that the Fire District, four or five years ago, the Commissioners, prior to his involvement, had never taken in excess of 2% of the 3% allowed by law. Councilmember Kirkham stated she met with Dean Ellis yesterday. Councilmember Bean inquired to Stacy about the ongoing cost and how long it will escalate. Stacy responded he would like to have a new levy from the City equivalent to the levy coming from the County. The District is a .0014, which is $140 per $100,000 per year. Councilmember Bean asked if they join the District, then they stop funding the fire department. Councilmember Kirkham stated at some time we will have to have a full-time fire department and bear the burden. We will have to get more money from the citizens to accomplish this. Councilmember Bean stated we also have the sheriff’s department and the street department that want a “piece of the pie”. We only have so much, and they have half of what most people have around here. Councilmember Kirkham stated we may have to raise it eventually. Councilmember Bean stated he doesn’t think people will have a problem with the cost. He is saying for $140 per year, it may be beneficial to put it up for election now. Dick Fowler, Fire District, said the beautiful part of this, is that, it wouldn’t necessarily be the .0014. If Ammon came into the Fire District, there would be no real reason for the Fire District to maintain this level. The levy would decrease because there would be more residents. Councilmember Kirkham stated there is no question that dispatch would cost them more. Right now we are at $68,000 and for sure we would be looking at $270,000 because we would be looking at our own. The Bonneville County Commissioners have stated we could have the 911 equipment free. The $270,000 would be to staff it for 5 dispatch personnel. The county has talked about a new building and possibly leasing space for the dispatch. Bonneville County Commissioners, the Fire District and City of Ammon are having trouble with the City of Idaho Falls all because of money. Dick Fowler, Fire District, stated he would like to line out what he sees as an “A – Z transition”. They are in a situation where they have until May 1, they have X amount of months before the October 1 – their deadline is May 1 where they will serve notice to Idaho Falls that they are not going to resign their contract with them. Time is of the essence. Bonneville County Fire District owns the firehouse on Lincoln and Woodruff. Ammon has one here. The City of Idaho Falls knows the Bonneville County Fire District is financially solvent and they don’t like it. Matt Morgan stated they would like to have their own firehouse by Skyline High School by October 1. Matt Morgan stated the City of Ammon could do a resolution to get in and the City of Ammon could do a resolution to get out. Mat proposed that the District would lease and/or purchase the Ammon firehouse and equipment. Councilmember Kirkham inquired as to what would happen to our people, fire chief, etc. Matt Morgan stated that he would make a motion that they would hire Dick, their current liaison officer, as a broader consultant. He would work with Stacy who has the experience and the time with Chubbuck. Stacy would become the Bonneville County Fire District Chief. He would have a one-year contract, which would be renewable annually. It would either be an eighteen or twenty paid positions. Councilmember Kirkham inquired who would be in the hiring process. Matt Morgan stated he would want Stacy and Dick involved in the initial hiring. For every one position available, they have 140 applicants. It was discussed, what the City of Idaho Falls would do, regarding maintaining their fire employees. It was discussed they are union and cannot be let go. They will have to put out the money to cover salaries. Councilmember Kirkham asked how Brad feels about this. Brad stated he has a conflict of interest, as he is an employee of City of Idaho Falls, as maintenance. He feels that City of Idaho Falls offers a better quality of service Special City Council Minutes 03/27/2007 -- 2 with the amount of men they have. He does feel it would be a good thing though, because they could supply the quality of service that is needed. Councilmember Kirkham stated she is worried about the media frenzy on this. She wants to know that all the commissioners are on board before making any decisions. She would like to take the high road on this and let them say what they will. Councilmember Bean inquired if the District is committed to the increased cost for dispatch. Ralph stated yes, they agree to do that. They understand the consequences. It was discussed how many commissioners Ammon would have. Ralph said there would have to be some boundary adjustments. Ammon could be allowed just short of the majority. Councilmember Bean would like to have one commissioner from Ammon, maybe two. Ralph stated it might be two depending on how it works out. Matt inquired to the Council if they feel it is time to have a full-time expansion of the fire services. Mayor Ard stated they know that it is the direction they need to go. Matt stated this is a good time for both sides. Matt Morgan stated it brings credibility for developers that come in also. Councilmember Bean inquired if they could have Doug Nelson, the Fire District’s attorney, get with Scott Hall, the Ammon City attorney, and have them discuss it. Matt Morgan stated he spoke to the Idaho Falls mayor about the issue. Matt Morgan feels this is inevitable. Councilmember Bean stated that if we have the ability to pass a resolution for this, then it provides them an opportunity as a council and mayor to say you have asked for this, so here it is. He does have one question; in terms of the emergency response. the City of Idaho Falls always sent out a truck with an ambulance, would that still happen. Matt Morgan stated they would continue to do that. You can “cherry pick” out of the 140 applicants that have the EMT certification, it has been happening in Idaho Falls for years now. Councilmember Bean stated if they make this move, we owe it to the citizens to have prime candidates for the job(s). He would be willing to pass a resolution, knowing they can revisit it and pull out if needed. The Fire District would have to prove to the City of Ammon they can provide the service needed. Ralph found it an interesting statement that Chief Ellis said about “media frenzy”; he is bothered by that statement. They feel they have legitimate reasons for their change and taking care of the taxpayers. Matt said he spoke to Chief Ellis after their last meeting and asked him if it is or is not a benefit to the City of Ammon to join the Fire District. Chief Ellis said yes, it is in their best interest. Leslie Folsom inquired about business licenses and fire inspections. What will be the agreement on handling those? Bonneville County presently takes care of that. He does not see it changing; The City would continue to do it how they do now. The District would be for fire prevention only. We would still keep our fees and work with the fire department. Matt Morgan stated he would be employed by the Fire District. It would be new territory and they would go back to the Bonneville County Commissioners. The fire marshal would be doing plan checks on new construction for both the City of Ammon and Bonneville County. There would be a fee charged, just like the City of Idaho Falls charges for fee checks. Councilmember Bean said he would like to make sure Stacy is covered. Dick stated he would like to see a two year initial contract and then renewable each year after that. Chris Ford would be protected by Stacy and his employment contract. Councilmember Kirkham inquired to Councilmember Thompson and Councilmember Waite regarding their feeling on the subject. Councilmember Thompson stated he doesn’t like the tax increase. He questions if we have an adequate fire department present, then why change it. Matt stated the money would actually go back to the City of Ammon because they would be leasing property. Councilmember Bean stated the perception of the people of the City of Ammon is the fire department service is not adequate. He has heard people’s concerns every election concerning the fire service. It was discussed that citizen’s house insurance rates will go down with a full service fire department. Matt asked what the response time is now. It was discussed the difference between volunteer response time and full time service response time. Matt stated response time is going to be much quicker and that can make a big difference in emergencies. It can be the difference between life and death in a heart attack. He brought up an example of Ammon’s response time on a fire he was involved in stopping. Councilmember Waite said he is total support of this. He knows our citizens realize we have to step up to the plate. He believes this is the answer. th Councilmember Bean suggested we get Doug and Scott together to prepare a resolution by April 5. Councilmember Kirkham stated they need a week to figure out the logistics on this. Stacy asked the Council whether they would want to do this for one year then go to the commissioners or just go to the commissioners out of the gate. It was discussed, with the resolution, they can still pull out. Councilmember Kirkham stated she will be surprised if we can do this by resolution. Brad stated there is a clause for them to be able to do it. He doesn’t have the numbers in front of them, but it has to be by the City Council and the Commissioners decision together. Special City Council Minutes 03/27/2007 -- 3 Councilmember Bean inquired to the Mayor what his thoughts are on this. When he first came in, he wasn’t in favor because he thought we were going in a totally different direction. He thinks it moves us faster, we are moving in this direction anyway. Leslie Folsom and Brad looked up on the internet the Idaho Statutes regarding the resolutions. It looks like it can be done by resolution with statute 50-224. Councilmember Thompson inquired that it will be an annual thing. It was discussed, yes, it would be. Councilmember Kirkham stated we need to educate the citizens on what they are gaining with the tax increase. Matt stated people will understand the EMT response time, which is what matters to them. Matt stated the response time is a legitimate concern. Volunteers are not there ready and waiting. Response time can be the difference between life and death. Stacy said the advantage is the full-time firefighters can be on the scene accessing the situation so when the volunteers get there they can go immediately to work. It was discussed most of the fires are in the county. That is where volunteers come in handy. Councilmember Kirkham asked Brad if he feels the people of the county are losing with this option. Brad stated “no, I don’t”. Matt stated Ucon may head in this direction also. It was discussed the volunteer program has been an excellent program, but we have basically outgrown it. Councilmember Kirkham stated she will talk to Scott tomorrow and see where we are headed. Ralph stated they are not out to hurt anyone, they just want to take a serious look at this. Councilmember Kirkham mentioned it always affects the senior citizens the most. Leslie Folsom stated that they are the ones that will have need of the emergency medical services. Ralph said they also have the circuit breaker relief. Matt said the exposure will be good for the City too. It was discussed what the trucks would have as names on the side. Matt said the City of Ammon would deserve to have some recognition on those trucks. Councilmember Kirkham motioned to adjourn. Councilmember Waite seconded. All in favor, the motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 10:25 p.m. ___________________________________________ C. Bruce Ard, Mayor ______________________________________ Leslie Folsom, City Clerk Special City Council Minutes 03/27/2007 -- 4