Loading...
07102008CouncilMinutes - Work Session CITY OF AMMON WORK SESSION MINUTES THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2008 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL AGENDA – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, JULY 10, 2008 - 4:00 P.M. Discussion Items: 1.City Water Situation 2.Intermountain Gas Franchise Agreement (Lynn Davis 542-6621) 3.Strategic Planning from Special Work Session (Dana) 4.Tiebreaker LID Proposal Results (Lance) th 5.Discussion on Enforcing Landscaping Etc. on 14 North. (Ron/Lance) 6.Parking Violations – Need for Adoption of Fees (Brian/Shawna) 7.City Code Changes – Title 10 – Chapter 9, Board of Adjustment, Chapter 29, Subdivisions, Chapter 34, Sign Code and Chapter 8, Enforcement - Part of the Certificate of Occupancy Issue (Ron) 8.Misc. MINUTES The meeting was called to order by Councilmember Kirkham at 4:00 pm. City Officials Present: Mayor Bruce Ard (arrives 4:35 pm) Councilmember Dana Kirkham Councilmember Brian Powell Councilmember Randy Waite Councilmember Rex Thompson Councilmember D. Ray Ellis City Planning Director Ron Folsom City Clerk Leslie Folsom City Engineer Lance Bates City Officials Absent: Councilmember Lee Bean DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1. City Water Situation: Founders Point Well #10 was discussed. They will go out to bid next Tuesday or Wednesday and it will be a 3 week bid period. Lance Bates believes the bid will open on August 8 and then a notice to proceed will occur in the middle of August. Councilmember Ellis inquired if we will be able to get the concrete poured in time. Lance Bates stated they will have to move quickly. The transmission lines are under way and Sommer Construction is doing that. Lance stated that the site piping goes down to Founders Point and the Sunnyside intersection. They are getting a change order ready for st Sommer Construction to put water lines in 21 Street from Well #9 to Well #11 which will extend their contract. They are on schedule on their project on Sunnyside and are putting in approx. 800 feet of pipe per day. HK will subcontract to do the paving, that way we won’t have to wait to the end of the project to pave it. Lance Bates stated the gas company contacted him and he told them to contact Keller. They would like to put in a 4 inch gas line up off the side of the road before it is repaved which we are trying to make happen. It was discussed it would be a good thing to do now. The gas lines won’t be as deep as our water line. Councilmember Kirkham inquired if the gas company would help with the cost of paving. Lance stated they will be farther off the edge than we are, so they won’t be touching asphalt. th Jeff Freiberg stated they hit some rock on 60East today, so that will be a small change order. He talked about 1500 feet up by the cemetery which would be another small change order. They also want to th replace some culvert on 45 East for the ditch because it is leaking which will be approx. $5000. Councilmember Kirkham inquired why Progressive will not help with the cost. Lance stated Progressive is alright if we leave it as is since there is limited damage; however, Lance feels it’s in the City’s best interest to correct it. Council agreed. 1 07-10-08 Work Session Minutes Lance stated they have been experiencing water pressure problems in certain areas. He has received a letter from DEQ and would like to respond to them as soon as possible. He asked the Council to look over his response. He talked about some re-piping they did at Well #9 last night which they removed some of the 6 inch piping and replaced it with 8 inch pipe. Councilmember Ellis explained they have 8 inch line feeding two 4 inch boosters. Lance stated they also replaced a T on the 8 inch line that feeds down hill with an elbow and they saw immediate improvement. They have been working on Well #8 and finishing up some of the major wiring and they hope to be up and operating before 8am tomorrow. Councilmember Powell inquired about the software. Lance explained he can only print one screen at a time. It was discussed they will need that information for next week’s meeting. Lance stated he will take different snapshots for each well. They have new data loggers out and will have that information next week. Council discussed the letter is okay to send. Leslie Folsom stated Shawna went out and warned people concerning watering. Some people have already received tickets. Lance stated there is not much information for Well #10. He has the plans for Well #11 and he believes they have been submitted to DEQ. Council inquired about the frequency of water calls to the office. Leslie and Lance stated they still receive calls but mostly about the times to turn off and on. Councilmember Kirkham talked about the public’s thoughts about the water issue and what they are expecting. It was discussed to have Shawna start at 5am and have someone to help her. Ron stated Ken has been letting her know about commercial places that are disobeying. It was discussed in order for her to ticket she personally has to see the water going. Ron talked about permits for new construction and the watering issue. Leslie suggested having a Citizen’s Patrol for watering issues. Council discussed what the Citizen’s Patrol does in Idaho Falls. It was discussed to have Kurt Velman and Shawna share hours. It was discussed that Kurt needs to be deputized and to put it on Thursday’s agenda. Ron talked about the new construction and having the systems go in but not issuing permits until later. They will have to hold off on landscaping. 2. Intermountain Gas Franchise Agreement (Lynn Davis 542-6621): Leslie stated Tim Clark from Intermountain Gas is here and they are looking at redoing the franchise agreement we have. th Tim Clark, Intermountain Gas, stated on October 20 the 20 year franchise agreement to operate the natural gas inside the city limits of Ammon expires and in order for them to continue to operate and for Ammon to get their 3% franchise fee, they need to renegotiate a new proposal. He gave them a 20 year proposal that he put together. They feel the agreement has worked fine and have no issues. It requires full approval of the Council. If any changes need to be made, they would like to work through the City Attorney. Councilmember Kirkham inquired if any cities have gone less than 20 years. Tim explained there are a few that have gone for 10 years but he would prefer 20 and he discussed the legislation regarding it. He talked about a “me too” clause that if any city gets more, so does Ammon. Councilmember Kirkham stated that Councilmember Bean is on his way and had a couple of concerns. He would like to change it from 3% to 4%. Tim stated that cannot be done. It is pretty straightforward. Tim th stated they can answer Lee’s questions by phone but the contract needs to be done by October 20 and there needs to be three readings. Tim stated there is a publication requirement and they are required by statute to pay for that so Ammon will place the publication in the newspaper and bill them and they will pay for it. Councilmember Kirkham stated they will review it. Ron inquired if they have it electronically. Tim does and he will send it to Ron. 3. Strategic Planning from Special Work Session (Dana): Councilmember Kirkham requested this issue be moved to the end of the meeting. Councilmember Kirkham stated we do not have an actual strategic plan written and she would like to see us create a 5 year strategic plan. She would like to wait till September and she would work with Ron on it. Councilmember Bean stated he would like the citizens to be an essential part. Councilmember Kirkham agreed that they should be involved, like the advisory committee. Councilmember Ellis stated he talked to his neighbors and his vision of revitalizing old Ammon and they have different views. He explained there is sentiment out there for a LID. He talked about the sewer maintenance equipment. Lance and he have not had a lot of time to talk about whether we would be better off with our own equipment. He discussed a preliminary sketch for a Public Works building which we will have to figure out how to pay for. He talked to Dean Mortimer about the City building and Dean 2 07-10-08 Work Session Minutes would like a letter of understanding. Councilmember Kirkham inquired as to what Dean envisions for the City Center. Councilmember Ellis stated it would be a three story similar to what is in the Back to the Future movie. It was discussed if we are willing to commit to the 2.5 acres of land. Councilmember Ellis stated they need a letter of understanding and they are looking at a 3-5 year build out. It was discussed we could trade. Ron will draft the letter and send it to Scott for review. Councilmember Waite stated he talked to Ken and he would like to see 3-5 acre parks in each mile and a 50 acre City park which has ball diamonds, etc. Councilmember Kirkham would like to have Ken take the map of the City and map where he thinks the parks would go. They will be discussing the recreation district tomorrow and exploring the option of bonding for the recreation district. The YMCA did a feasibility study for us to see how much private funding we could raise. They feel they could get about $3 million but it would not be enough for a center. They felt they could raise more in Idaho Falls than in Ammon. She will keep us posted. Councilmember Powell commented he is working with Bruce and Ron about getting fiber coming th down 17 Street. Councilmember Powell talked about working towards a grant for the fiber. It would thth work best if we could loop it. The theory was to tie in the fiber at 17 and Hitt and come up 17 to Ammon and down Ammon Road to Sunnyside and back down Sunnyside to Hitt. He thinks because it goes in front of Hillcrest there may be grant money from District 93 for fiber. He talked about running it down Hitt towards Lincoln towards the Industrial Park because the INL has expressed interest for fiber for a building there. If you control fiber, you control internet operations. Councilmember Powell will keep working on that. Mayor Ard stated Ted Hendricks wants us to do emergency bonding for water meters. Councilmember Ellis proposed a $500 fine for overwatering and to use that money to put a meter in. Councilmember Bean suggested having Ted come to our next session and give us direction. We can probably get it done in about a year. You need to have an engineer to come in and do it. We need to see if there is grant money out there and what we have in reserve. Leslie commented about a 4 day watering schedule for lawns and how Town & Country showed her how – it seems to be working. Councilmember Bean stated it depends on the size of the sprinkler system. Councilmember Bean stated he would contact Ted to come in and talk with us. Councilmember Kirkham stated if we get a plan for metering we can require it for new development. Council discussed putting them in now. Councilmember Powell commented we should put them in now, but wait to read them until we get the pressure issue under control. Leslie commented that people have called and have stated they will not be paying their full bill with the fluctuations of water pressure. It was discussed we will have to deal with it when the bills actually come in. Councilmember Kirkham commented about a flat fee from Oct-May and then pays the meter charges from May – Sept. Councilmember Bean commented about low volume toilets. Ron stated he agreed to sponsor a green building conference here in August. Councilmember Ellis talked about possible rebates for green building. Leslie talked about the problems where meters are located and we should have a standard meter height. None are electronically read yet. The Council discussed that we did have electronic capabilities on some and we had a reader. Lance stated he has never seen a reader. Ron stated he thought we had one also. Leslie stated we need to have a standard for the meters so they can be read easily. Council agreed. Councilmember Ellis suggested sending a letter to businesses to make them so they are readable. It was discussed the ones we are installing now can be electronically read, but we do not have the software and equipment yet for them to be read. Councilmember Kirkham talked about the police department study. We need to decide how much we want to spend since the County is currently at $1 million next year. Council talked about Rigby’s budget and Jefferson County backs them up. Bonneville County would have to back us up. It was discussed a study would be best. Councilmember Kirkham and Bean will be talking to a consultant about that. Ron talked about the flood plain and that it is moving along. The County bought an upgraded computer program. Lance Bates talked about the storm water design. We are looking at two types of regulations – one for residential and one for commercial. He suggested being able to have the storm water in the park area which gives us a park area. Councilmember Kirkham stated we need to get it formalized and adopted. It was discussed to commercially go to an underground system. 4. Tiebreaker LID Proposal Results (Lance): Councilmember Kirkham stated she has not turned in her 3 07-10-08 Work Session Minutes LID ratings yet but will turn it in tomorrow. Lance inquired if they would like to interview the top 3 or 4. Lance stated he has 5 different ratings and no consistency with them. Councilmember Kirkham stated after she turns hers in and if there is still no consistency, she feels we will have to interview them all. Lance stated he feels we will be able to choose a top three when they are all in. Councilmember Powell inquired if this is still the path we want to go in or if we are still thinking about a CID. Councilmember Ellis does not think we can use the CID here. It was discussed in the Tiebreaker area; we do want to do a LID. th 5. Discussion on Enforcing Landscaping Etc. on 14 North. (Ron/Lance): Ron Folsom stated it is not thth only 14 North. Ron talked about the issues with sidewalks in the 14 North area. The new constituents have been good about putting sidewalks in but they need direction regarding landscaping in that area. Councilmember Kirkham talked about the precedence we set with the Cottages area and we should do the same thing. Ron stated he talked to Shawna about it and the swale enforcement. Councilmember Thompson talked about White Pines landscaping. Ron stated they talked to Bruce today about sprinkler inspections regarding State code. It is mandated and we could be liable because we don’t enforce it. Ron talked about setting up a mechanism to get it followed through. It was discussed to have Ron & Lance set up parameters for inspection and talk to Charlie about it. Ron suggested Councilmember Ellis, Ron and Lance talk to Charlie on Monday. 6. Parking Violations – Need for Adoption of Fees (Brian/Shawna): Councilmember Powell stated Shawna needs to change how we do the parking violations and adopt a resolution because she has no fee structure. Shawna needs a violator’s driver’s license number or license number. The Council agreed to move forward. 7. City Code Changes – Title 10 – Chapter 9, Board of Adjustment, Chapter 29, Subdivisions, Chapter 34, Sign Code and Chapter 8, Enforcement – Part of the Certificate of Occupancy Issue (Ron): Ron discussed the changes are to meet the requests made by Council. Councilmember Kirkham inquired where we are at with the billboards. Ron explained they had asked Scott if they could waive the P&Z hearing. Scott said no. Scott would hope that we have it in place before they apply. We would have to grant it, but have special conditions in place. Ron stated what they did in the CUP and added item D. Councilmember Kirkham talked about the lighting and how bright it is. Ron talked about the subdivision regulations on the amended plats. We required a replat for lot lines. He has changed the language so the City Engineer and Planning Director can make the determination with the right to appeal to Council. Ron talked about Site Plan Review and added that Site Plans on lots being redeveloped have to submit a new Site Plan. He explained in section A they changed from City Council to Staff. It was discussed the proposed changes have to be done by ordinance and with a public hearing. Councilmember Kirkham inquired concerning the procedure after the Site Plan is turned in, P&Z reviews it, and then staff reviews it. Councilmember Thompson will review it and Council will not see it unless it is suggested that they see it. Councilmember Kirkham talked about putting them in the back of their packets so they can see them. Leslie talked about the future and how they will be able to access them at home. Ron talked about Item 10-29-15, where lots are fought over by family, etc. It was discussed to put judicial orders in there so if it is split up, they do not have to allow building permits. He added that Lance will be able to also charge fees. Ron talked about the sign code and the changes that were made. They will publish in the paper the changes being made, but they do not have to publish all the details. Councilmember Kirkham suggested changing the times to 11pm to 6 am. Ron talked about the enforcement section and who can sign the Certificate of Occupancies. He explained they added the penalty clause back in. Councilmember Bean inquired about Billboards and Section B. He inquired if all billboards “were” required and what it is supposed to say. Ron stated he wanted to address one other issue. He used the example of the townhouses behind Edwards Theatres. They will not be able to build a townhouse, so they have to build apartments. Ron feels we should allow townhouse development for that size. Ron explained if they could build 1000-1100 square foot townhouses it would look better and the density would be better also. He would suggest we change R3 and R3-A. Councilmember Thompson talked about the reason we did it in the first place. Ron explained 4 07-10-08 Work Session Minutes what we were trying to accomplish at the time and they can still only put 20 units per acre. Councilmember Thompson stated you could only put 18. Council discussed that they were okay with making the change if the limit is 18 and building size is 1000-1100 square feet. 8. Misc.: Councilmember Kirkham inquired if anyone has had time to look at the personnel manual. It was discussed to put it on our August work session. She suggested that everyone take time to look at it. Councilmember Powell inquired if employees have inquired about the sick bank and what would happen with their sick hours. She stated if we have the Personnel Manual done we can put it in the payroll system and have it clean cut. Ron talked about the way we do sick leave today. It was discussed that it encourages them to be gone rather than be here. The management have tried to create a plan to reverse this issue. Lance stated that Rocky Mountain Power called him about the options we have for street lights. The owner operated, like we have now, is no longer available. In the new subdivisions coming on, they have three different options: 1) they own them and they maintain them, we pay close to $7 per month per pole more than we are paying now, 2) we own them, maintain them and deal with them, 3) they put in the pole, a meter is installed (covering six poles), we pay the meter charge, service charge and the maintenance charge. They would like to know which option we would like to do. Lance suggested we own them which is close to $19 per month. It was suggested to do a contract, if we own them also. Ron stated he had a lady, Carma Ellis, who is doing a home occupation. She will be selling essential oils and showing people how to use them. So according to our ordinance, she would need a background check. She is okay with that. Lance talked about the Stafford Smith situation. Mayor Ard stated he talked to Mayor Fuhriman and let them know. It was discussed that Stafford does not know the situation yet. Council discussed dispatch options. Councilmember Bean feels Idaho Falls doesn’t have the right to charge us a fee. He feels it needs to be done by resolution. He stated it is not their system either. Councilmember Bean talked about the ownership of the system by Bonneville County and having them force the agreement. They have allowed Idaho Falls to run it. Councilmember Kirkham inquired if we want to start this fight when we are looking at police services right now. Councilmember Bean talked about the negotiations requesting the County charge Ucon and Swan Valley also but to date they have not paid in. Councilmember Bean feels we are in the best negotiating position because Paul Wilde is up for election. Councilmember Kirkham stated her concern is we are in a tenuous negotiating position right now with more issues. It was discussed to maybe pick up the battle next year. We pay $72,300 per year and they are not charging the other cities. Councilmember Bean suggested to Councilmember Kirkham to tell Paul we will pull it off the table, but Councilmember Bean is very passionate about this. We will go back to the original contract from last year, but he will not let it drop. th Councilmember Powell inquired about seal coating 17 Street. Lance stated they talked to the th County about it and they said they would not do 17 Street for us. The County will do other streets, but not th 17 Street. The County is worried about traffic control and complaints. Bonneville County may do the th miles from 45 East to Ammon Road. Lance will ask them. Councilmember Bean motioned to adjourn. Councilmember Waite seconded. All in favor, the motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 6:20 pm. ___________________________________________ C. Bruce Ard, Mayor ______________________________________ Leslie Folsom, City Clerk 5 07-10-08 Work Session Minutes