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08142008CouncilMinutes - Work Session CITY OF AMMON WORK SESSION MINUTES THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL AGENDA – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 2008 - 2:00 P.M. NOTE TIME CHANGE FROM 4PM TO 2PM Discussion Items: 1.Budget Discussion 2.Personnel Manual – Work Committee (Bruce Patterson) 3.Notice of Award – Hill Tank #1 and Booster Station to Sommer Construction 4.Change Order Request – Well #10 – High Plains Drilling – documentation pending 5.Tiebreaker LID Presentations (Lance) a.Riedesel 5:15 – 5:35 questions 5:35 – 5:45 b.Schiess & Assoc. 5:55 – 6:15 questions 6:15 – 6:25 c.Keller Assoc. 6:35 – 6:55 questions 6:55 – 7:05 d.HBH 7:15 – 7:35 questions 7:35 – 7:45 6.Misc. MINUTES The meeting was called to order by Councilmember Kirkham at 2:10 pm. City Officials Present: Mayor Bruce Ard (arrives at 2:20 pm) Councilmember Dana Kirkham Councilmember Lee Bean Councilmember Brian Powell Councilmember Randy Waite Councilmember Rex Thompson (arrives at 2:35pm) Councilmember D. Ray Ellis City Planner Ron Folsom City Clerk Leslie Folsom City Engineer Lance Bates City Attorney Scott Hall City Officials Absent: None DISCUSSION ITEMS: It was discussed since Mayor Ard had not arrived to go to Item 2. 2. Personnel Manual – Work Committee (Bruce Patterson): Bruce Patterson explained that the management has requested the President of the Council and one other Councilmember and two members of the management team to meet to come forward on the policy manual again. Councilmember Kirkham asked the members who feels particularly invested in this that would like to be part of this committee. Councilmember Ellis requested to be part of the committee. The group will meet at the end of the meeting to set up an initial time to meet. 1. Budget Discussion: Councilmember Bean thanked the Dept. Heads in their efforts to be as a team to meet the budget balance. Councilmember Bean asked the management team if there was any concern with the amount of $37,000 approx. coming out of their individual budgets to cover this. All of the management was ok with the amounts. Councilmember Ellis inquired about the technology dept. and asked what the contract labor was. Bruce Patterson explained it is a yearly contract for server maintenance from Computer Arts Inc. They have a higher skill set than Bruce and are the City’s backup when he is gone. The contract is for $8000 which was the amount of the previous year. Councilmember Bean advised the council that Cody Gordon from the building department, put his notice in today so his amount is pulled for this year so the budget is now balanced and now shows a revenue excess. Councilmember Bean would like a zero balance so he requested to pull the extra $443 out of revenues and balance the budget to zero. 8-14-2008 City Council Work Session Minutes Page 1 of 6 Councilmember Bean asked why there was no revenue showing for animals and parking since they just passed an ordinance that would provide an opportunity to have some revenue for parking and animal. Councilmember Bean suggested adding a line item for this revenue that would be for “citations” and Dana recommended that, in addition, there be subcategories that break it down into Parking, Animal, and Water citations. One reason she feels this would be necessary is because the council is considering having their own animal shelter and it would be beneficial to know how much revenue was being received for animal control. It was agreed that animal citations should be kept separate because Caselle is not going to separate those citations and it is important to keep the animal revenue separate. Councilmember Bean requested changing general ledger item 10360110 to “citations” which would include water, parking, and animal. Councilmember Powell will get with Shawna to come up with a budget figure for revenues for this general ledger item. Councilmember Kirkham inquired if there was a list somewhere of all the CD’s held by the city. Councilmember Bean said that Jennifer had that information available and could print a report of it. Councilmember Bean explained that the City is doing away with reserve funds and will only have fund balances. These funds will be earmarked for future expenditures. Councilmember Kirkham stated that there is not a set project for expansion but it will happen. Councilmember Powell asked if $50,000 was enough for this. Councilmember Kirkham said it’s not but it’s all we can do at this time. Councilmember Bean stated at the end of the year with the audit the auditor’s breakdown where we want those funds. Bruce Patterson stated Jennifer and Ginette feel we have complicated things and there are ways to track it more accurately. Councilmember Bean asked how we earmark items. Jennifer stated that we put it in as an activity. Councilmember Bean asked how we balance the budget. Jennifer said it just stays there. Ron stated with the flood plain money, it is being run through an activity code so eventually you would be able to print a report of all income and expenses on that activity. Councilmember Bean explained that the budget is totally separate from the audit. Councilmember Bean explained that anything the departments don’t spend will be in the reserve fund. Councilmember Powell wants the fire dept. to be responsible for their vehicles. Councilmember Bean would like to move vehicle replacement and building expansion under capital outlay. Councilmember Kirkham would like to keep vehicle replacement but not building expansion since we don’t have a plan for that at this time but she would like to see it brought back so we have the money for the future. Councilmember Bean stated that the City has done an extremely good job at managing their expenses which is why the fund balances can continue to grow. Councilmember Bean gave an example that if the fire dept. does a great job of saving then the money will carry over for the next year for items that will be needed in the future. Mayor Ard stated this will enable the dept. to handle future expansion. Councilmember Bean stated we have the best dept. heads we have ever had. He would put our dept. heads against any cities around here with attitudes and the way they run things. Councilmember Waite stated that parks need a new truck. The City is putting too much money into repairs. Councilmember Ellis wants to keep the building expansion of $50,000. Councilmember Bean stated that Ron’s expenses have been moved out of the building dept. Councilmember Kirkham asked Shawna how much revenue she has generated. Shawna said she had issued 42 citations since she started in September. Shawna stated the ticket has to be turned into the court house so if the recipient doesn’t pay then it will be turned over to the court. The court will take 10% of those that don’t go to court. Councilmember Bean asked if there are any citations being issuing here. Shawna said that water and parking will be paid at the City. Councilmember Bean stated that all interest goes into the general fund and then we allocate to the departments. In the future, we will be assigning the certificates to a department so the interest will go to that department. Leslie mentioned that she reduced the newsletters by one which will allow the City to produce three in the year. Mayor Ard mentioned part of the luxury we have had with the growth is that we could do this but we won’t have growth like the past. Councilmember Bean wants all the dept. heads to think like a business man and if we need more money, what do we do? Try to watch the depts. charging for services. Do we need to charge when we go out for a fire call? Councilmember Bean doesn’t know but we should look at raising fee revenues. Councilmember Waite explained the bike project is to connect the parks which will enable the City to get grant money for the future. Ron said we have been put on notice that we must continue connecting our trails or we will lose ITD grant monies. Councilmember Bean stated it will be an ongoing expense every year for just the striping. Ron stated he has to show he’s attempting to connect them. Councilmember Bean began the discussion on the street funds. Councilmember Bean asked what we can do with $200,000. Lance suggested we go out and get a few projects designed. Councilmember Bean pointed out that $500,000 has been cut out of the road department which is the department the council wanted to keep funded. This is one area we can’t fall behind on. Lance stated the price of chip seal has gone up 30% over the past year. New construction costs $40,000 - $50,000 per lane mile for chip seal. Lance is hoping to do all of First Street and a couple of small areas. He hopes that if it is designed and on the shelf we can get into a BMPO project. Councilmember Ellis stated the $2.5 million will never grow enough above inflation to pay off. Councilmember Bean recommends we go with this budget and put together a committee to create a comprehensive street plan which will help tie into BMPO’s plan. Lance mentioned the revenue from the highway user fees might be better than we have projected. Councilmember Ellis would like to cut in half on the 10 wheel truck and get a used truck. Lance said we can get a truck for $100,000 but asked whether it’s what we want and how long we will keep it. He further stated “I can find a truck for $50,000 but how much money do you want to put into it?” Councilmember Bean thinks we can lease a truck with 20% down and pay off over a 4-5 year time. Mayor Ard asked “what kind of truck are you 8-14-2008 City Council Work Session Minutes Page 2 of 6 buying for $200,000?” Lance has priced out a large capacity with a 10-13 yd. dump body. This isn’t an exact dollar figure just an estimate. Councilmember Kirkham advices to slash the dump truck in half then use the money out of streets for a capital improvement plan. Councilmember Kirkham will help Councilmember Ellis to search for someone who can help with the strategic planning. Ron stated Ken did not use the $5000 from last year and so it should be in reserves. Ted Hendricks presented information relative to the metering. The City can borrow the money from rural development at 3 ¼% which allows us to use the money for other things which will help justify getting the grant for all people who qualify. We will know if Pearl House is going to make it or not in 2-3 weeks. If it doesn’t make it, the State will come back and ask how the City is going to deal with it. The City can ask for an extended time to add more employment or go back to Family Care Center to see if they can pay the $500,000. The State in the past has been pretty lenient to cities and has never gone back after the community but they have new people now. Councilmember Bean advised that we need to budget expenses for the water and sewer bonds. Ted recommended budgeting for sewer at least 75% today which is $8 million. They were scheduled for 22 months but it looks like they will bring it in 18 months. Corp money will be spent first, Shelley second and Ammon third. We won’t sell the bond until we are completely through so we will have some costs associated with the interim financing. Ted is assuming approx. $5 million from the Corp. Ted advises we will probably need $14 million for water. If we do the meters next year, then we would have to open the budget again. Council commended Bruce Patterson for his fine job with the budget. Councilmember Bean noted that the interest was not included for water and will have to come out of contingency. Councilmember Ellis asked at what point the Woodland Hills odor situation will go away. Lance it won’t’ go away until the eastern interceptor gets completed. Councilmember Bean asked if we wanted to make any adjustments in sanitation. He suggested raising garbage rates from $6 to $10. Leslie stated we have approx. 4500 connections. Councilmember Bean stated we need $161,586 to balance revenues to expenditures. Lance has priced for 4000 containers. Councilmember Bean advised Lance to order 4500 plus extras for new housing. Councilmember Kirkham wants the new subdivisions to pay for the containers and the City will have them for purchase. Councilmember Kirkham thanked Bruce and Lee for all their efforts on an enormous job. Nick Draper, 1267 S. Boulevard, Idaho Falls from the Post Register inquired what the levy value was last year. Mayor Ard stated the cities share was $222 per 100,000 home values after homeowner’s exemption. Nick inquired why the budget was such a struggle. Mayor Ard stated our sheriff’s contract went up considerably and our expenses went up. Leslie stated our levy rate is .002228675 and the 2008 valuation for the City is $653,854,066. 3. Notice of Award - Hill Tank #1 and Booster Station to Sommer Construction: Lance Bates indicated that he had received the documents necessary to award the project for Hill Tank #1 to Sommer Construction and it needs the mayor’s signature to start the process of paperwork involved in this award. The council determined that this item would need to be an action item in a regular city council meeting. It was moved to the agenda for the next regular Thursday City Council meeting. 4. Change Order Request for Well #10: Councilmember Kirkham inquired as to the progress of Well #10. City engineer, Lance Bates, offered some encouraging news that at 250 feet they had produced more water, about 15 gallons per minute, and they were in the process of putting the well casing down. The contractor has exceeded their contract date and they have sent a letter to the City requesting a 30 day extension on their contract. Lance Bates asked the contractor to provide documentation of where they derived the figure of 30 days from. He had hoped to have that in time for this meeting, but had not yet received that documentation. Lance said that when he receives that documentation he would be willing to consider allowing some extra days on the contract, but whether it would be the full 30 days or not would be dependent upon what their documentation included. Lance Bates informed the council that the contract called out for $700.00 a day liquidated damages and those damages began on Tuesday, August 12, 2008. The letter requesting a contract extension was received on 8/11/2008. The contractor has indicated that there will be 20 days of testing on the well required before it is completed. The council suggested that they would consider allowing for a twenty day extension to cover the testing time, but they would not allow additional time for drilling. The contractor has had the ability to be on site for 90 days. This contractor has been on site for 60 days. The City has a letter from the contractor stating they could drill this well in 45 days. At the beginning of the project the contractor was informed that the City would not consider extending this project beyond the contract date. Councilmember Lee Bean suggested that the City grant the 30 day extension with a fee of $10,500.00 for the extension in an effort to keep the contractor going to complete the project. If they get into the testing stage and request another extension then the council would consider the option of liquidated damages. Councilmember Kirkham expressed concern that liquidated damages are part of the contract and the contractor is aware of them and should be held accountable for them. The council inquired of Lance Bates if the contractor was responsible to complete the project even though they might be beyond the contract date. Lance indicated that the contract required the contractor to complete the project even though they had exceeded the completion date and liquidated damages were being accrued. Lance indicated that the project was nearly completed, but it had taken them longer than the contractor had anticipated reaching the necessary well depth of 315 feet. Councilmember Kirkham asked to hear the opinion of Harper-Leavitt engineering on the matter. Jared Bragg of Harper- Leavitt Engineering was asked if he felt that this delay could have been avoided. He felt that they possibly could have avoided some of the delays such as 8-14-2008 City Council Work Session Minutes Page 3 of 6 unforeseen equipment failures. But, he felt that the first 45 days of the project the contractor was not on site and adequately involved in the project. This lack of work and involvement seems to be the biggest cause for the project exceeding the contract date. The council questioned why the contractor had not approached the council before now about possible delays. Lance Bates indicated that as the contract date approached he told the contractor that liquidated damages were approaching and they had not requested any additional time on this job. It was after that conversation that the contractor then sent a letter to the council requesting the additional time to complete the project. The council agreed to carry this item to the next council meeting and see what progress the contractor has made at the point. Then they would allow the contractor to give an exact time to complete the project and a more informed decision on an extension could be made. It was felt that the pressure of knowing the liquidated damages were accruing would encourage the contractor to complete the job in a timelier manner. 5. Tiebreaker LID Presentations (Lance): a. Riedesel 5:15 – 5:35 questions 5:35 – 5:45 Aaron Brick 2022 Falls Ave, Twin Falls Idaho – Resale Engineering and Mike Pepper – K & B Planning. In their consideration of the Ammon LID Proposal they put together a team with extensive traffic and transportation background. They suggested that the first part of the plan be a planning portion to clearly identify what needs to be done in the area. This plan would include a traffic analysis and traffic counts to establish the base network. This study would identify base issues and project traffic flows into the future. They will then offer a list of project suggestions that would work well with the LID funding source. The next phase would be LID funding. There would be significant community involvement with area involvement to help understand why an LID is applicable for the project. It is important to make sure you have community support to help support the next phase and to determine what the assessment will be based on. The assessments can be based on square footage, front footage, and benefits to those property owners who are being assessed. Phase 2 would be the what, where, cost, community, and funding. This would include the formal process of forming the LID, design, bidding, and construction. The project if started now, would reach the start of construction around the first of June 2010. They would keep on schedule and budget. Aaron has worked on two other LID projects (Jerome and Buhl) both of which were downtown improvement projects. Councilmember Kirkham asked what the scopes of the projects were. Aaron stated they were in combination with other funding sources. The LID paid for the lighting, benches, trash cans, etc. which the others would not pay for. Councilmember Kirkham asked if they have done a project, like this, which is totally funded by an LID. Aaron answered no. Councilmember Powell inquired if this covers the design phase. Aaron answered no you would still have to go out for bid. Councilmember Thompson asked how you collect all the money to pay off the construction. Aaron stated they borrow the money from the bond bank and the constituents would pay back the loan with the City backing the loan. First Street would probably be our best chance at getting other monies. Councilmember Ellis asked if they see a reason to do a CID in combination with an LID. Aaron answered since the CID’s are so new, they are not that familiar with them, at this time. b. Schiess & Assoc . 5:55 – 6:15 questions 6:15 – 6:25 Kent Fugal is with Project Engineering Consultants, a regional firm with offices in UT, NV, AZ, and ID established in 1983 in Phoenix. Their Idaho Falls office is located at 1810 West Broadway. They have as a sub- consultant, Schiess & Associates. Ryan Peterson, PEA and Kurt Roland from Schiess & Assoc. were also present. Why we should hire them? Qualified key personnel, good understanding of the LID projects, track record of successful projects and we are local. Their key personnel are Kent Fugal PE, PTOE 19 years experience, Ryan Peterson, PE, PTOE asset management expert, Paul Snarr, LID Specialists 30 years experience, Kurt Roland, PLS 20 years experience in surveys, Paul Scoresby, PE 18 years water/sewer experience, and Roger Sorenson, PE 23 years experience civil infrastructure. LID’s have specific responsibilities for Council, City Clerk, City Treasurer, Attorney, Engineer and Financial consultant. The engineers’ role, which they would have, is to study conditions and improvements – preparing formal description, finding property ownership, defining preliminary roles and final roles, and assisting with public outreach. Items that raise their heads are divergence of expectations, public acceptance and buy-in. They have a track record of success with numerous completed projects over the years, both full service and civil firms. They have received many awards. Their Idaho LID and bonded related projects include St. Anthony, Fairfield, Homedale, Fremont County, Shelley, Idaho Falls and Nampa Highway District. Councilmember Powell asked if they have a timeline. Kent they have approximated durations for each task with a total of approx. 8 months. Ryan stated it is based off of what they think would be the scope of the area. Councilmember Kirkham asked how you would go about selling this to the public. They would hold an LID summit right away and find out what the people think the standards should be and what they would like. They would show them what the alternatives are. Councilmember Thompson inquired if there is someone on their team that has that skill set? Kent feels they have a couple of people who 8-14-2008 City Council Work Session Minutes Page 4 of 6 could help us with that. A lot of people’s information comes through the rumor mill and they would reach out to talk to the people to keep the rumor mill in check so they can react on real information. Councilmember Kirkham asked if there is any other funding available to us on a project like this. Kent stated there are a number of grant programs available and would pull items for the council to review. c. Keller Assoc. 6:35 – 6:55 questions 6:55 – 7:05 Mike Jaclowsky, Jeff Freibert, and Randy Grove Legal Council just recently worked with Kuna on a $30 million LID. They have nine people on board now and close to 76 staff members in 4 offices with 30 as professional engineers and 3 professional land surveyors. Their methods in project approach are 1. LID Master Planning, 2. LID Creation and Legal Structure, 3. Communication, 4. LID Funding Package, and 5 Key Project Task and Goals. Randy Grove stated there are very limited methods for City financing via LIDs. LIDs target areas that will benefit from what you are doing. They are created by two different ways – one by citizens and the other by council. They can also be imposed but most are done voluntarily. One of the hardest items is how to determine who will benefit from the project which generally takes approx. 3 months. CID’s are more flexible and he would be a resource for this. Jeff Freiberg has identified several items that would go with the project. The first would be First Street from Hitt Road to Ammon Road with a proposed signal at Tiebreaker, Ammon Road and possibly Curlew. Four way stops are unsafe and don’t work well with five lanes. Second would be John Adams Parkway from Hitt Road to the school and down to Ammon Road which would relieve some of the pressure off Tiebreaker. Third would be Curlew which would be a half mile section intersecting John Adams and First Street. The last project would be Tiebreaker from Chasewood to First Street with traffic calming measures eliminating the stripes, however, with the other construction Tiebreaker might be solved. Another thth project would be 17 Street from Ammon Road to 45 which could use 5 lanes with curb and gutter. Project team would be Mayor Ard, Jeff would be the project manager Jim Mullin would be the principal in charge, Lance and Ron, etc. Randy Grove stated most communities think that growth should pay for itself. Bonding is cheaper but most communities won’t support it. The challenge is keeping people from fleeing the LID fees. If people perceive a benefit, they will support it. They assessed it by ADU because it could be tied to a benefit. You can identify different areas of land with different benefits. Their time line is to develop a plan by May 2009 and doing bids in September 2009. Councilmember Thompson noticed that most of the benefits are from the East and West, not from those who are adjacent. Mike stated one of the most difficult items is defining who gets the most benefit. Councilmember Powell can you use a city boundary, county boundary or just one municipality only. Randy said it’s usually sponsored by one board and if there is another portion in other entities then you have to have another board meeting with them which can create a situation. An LID doesn’t go on the tax bill and the city administers the whole thing. The CID does go onto the tax rolls. He feels we could go to a CID but you have to have 100% participation. d. HBH 7:15 – 7:35 questions 7:35 – 7:45 th Mike Arneson HBH Consulting 1970 E. 17, Ste. 203, Idaho Falls, ID. 83404 Mike Henry and Ty Briggs conducted the presentation. Mike’s experience in LID’s is immense. They want to discuss 5 points they consider important 1. Personalities with residents, 2. Done Locally, 3. Local and Project Experience, 4. Cost Savings because they are familiar with the Tiebreaker Area and 5. they want to work with the City of Ammon. They did the engineering site plans for Biolife and White Pines, traffic study for Riverbend Manor, which is located in the Tiebreaker LID area, and 15 other LID projects. They have conceptual designs for extensions of John Adams Parkway and Curlew Drive. They have prepared a traffic study including the intersections of thst Curlew/17, Tiebreaker/1, Tiebreaker/John Adams and others in the area. Mike Henry, President of HBH Consulting Engineers stated this would be their most important project in Idaho. He has 40 years of experience in this field and dealing with a lot of public processes. Anybody can do the engineering section and traffic would be a little more complicated but the most important is bringing the citizens along. Councilmember Powell asked who would be the main sales guy. Mike Arneson stated it would be himself. I believe strongly in creating a team to be on a committee – residents, commercial and people who own the big projects of the land then a series of four public meetings so they see clearly that this isn’t happening in the back room. Tagging on a link to the Ammon website – questionnaires, flyers and knocking on people’s doors. This project team would have many ways of communicating the project and why they are being shaped the way it is. Mayor Ard inquired about the time frame? Mike has a 9-10 month time frame which gets us to the creation of the district. Councilmember Thompson stated there have been 700 housing units in that area and the people who live there have already paid for their infrastructure - why should they pay more? Mike would show it increases safety and ease of the area. One of the things you look at with an LID is you have to be able to show that there is a benefit to the person. 8-14-2008 City Council Work Session Minutes Page 5 of 6 6.Misc.: Councilmember Kirkham asked if we want to call Guy Blisner to pull the crosswalk. Councilmember Thompson feels they need them to go out onto First Street. Councilmember Kirkham will call Guy in the morning. Councilmember Powell mentioned that Stacy has found a tender truck for $20,000 and this would help Founders Point since we don’t have the pressure now. He could put it onto contract for $800 a day and pay it back. Council recommended not purchasing the tender. Councilmember Powell motioned to adjourn. Councilmember Ellis seconded. All in favor, the motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m. ___________________________________________ C. Bruce Ard, Mayor ______________________________________ Leslie Folsom, City Clerk 8-14-2008 City Council Work Session Minutes Page 6 of 6