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02112010CouncilMinutes-WS CITY OF AMMON CITY COUNCIL – WORK SESSION MINUTES THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2010 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL AGENDA – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2010 – 4:30 P.M. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1.Forsgren Presentation – Budget 2.Solar Panel and Windmill Co. Presentation (Steve) 15 minutes each presentation* 3.Hawk’s Landing Building Size Clarification (Dana/Ron)* 4.News Releases (Council 2-4-10)* 5.Misc. MINUTES City Officials Present: Mayor Steve Fuhriman Councilmember Lee Bean (arrives 4:50 p.m.) Councilmember Rex Thompson Councilmember Brian Powell Councilmember Russell Slack Councilmember Sean Coletti City Clerk Leslie Folsom City Planning Director Ron Folsom City Engineer Lance Bates City Officials Absent: Councilmember Dana Kirkham City Attorney Scott Hall City Treasurer Jennifer Belfield DISCUSSION ITEMS: Mayor Fuhriman opened the meeting at 4:34 p.m. at the City Office Building located at 2135 S. Ammon Road. 1. Forsgren Presentation – Budget: Dave Noel from Forsgren Associates presented the operational chart and budget, which is just an estimate. He stated they don’t have history. The primary costs will be power, labor and chemicals. He is currently running the plant. He is using the remainder of the force account to pay for his services, but this will probably only last this month. The City of Shelley is trying to supplement some of the expenses, with one of their employees named Shaun on a part-time basis. At nights if there is a problem, his phone will notify him. Propane constitutes the majority of the expenses. They have sent out for proposals to purchase the propane competitively Councilmember Powell asked if the Eastern Idaho Regional Waste Water Authority (EIRWWA) is looking at Ammon to supplement the expenses. Lance stated he feels the Regional is looking at the City to pay the $9 per equivalent residential unit (ERU). Dave estimates the expenses at $50,000 a month with propane eating up most of the expense. He doesn’t feel that there is any difference in cost when running at half capacity, compared to full capacity. Dave said Ammon is scheduled to start using the plant in the Spring of 2011. The Army Corps of Engineers will only give money for projects that can be used as standalone projects. It wasn’t possible for us to build the pipeline and use any of those funds, because the pipeline didn’t have anywhere to go. Councilmember Slack asked if Shelley is paying the full cost of their ERU’s with Ammon paying the balance. Dave said Shelley’s argument would be that if they had built it for their size, the cost would be substantially less. Councilmember Council Minutes 2-11-10 Page 1 of 4 Powell asked about equipment needed for maintenance of the lines. Lance added Ammon will have to maintain the lines ourselves or subcontract it out. Dave said the EIRWWA would lease the equipment when they need it, or purchase it. Dave said he will approach the EIRWWA for Shelley to pay up to $9 per ERU and Ammon the balance. Councilmember Powell stated his concern is building up a contingency. Dave feels they will be OK with that. Councilmember Thompson said if it is determined that the fee should be is $10 and then Shelley should increase to that. Dave said that the heating bills are dropping, since we are ending the winter months. Leslie asked Dave to advise her on what the EIRWWA board says and she will email this information to Ammon’s City officials. Councilmember Bean asked Dave to have Sandy call him, so they can work out the procedure. Leslie asked about the school ERU’s and if it was appropriate to stick with the 12.8 value, which is substantiated by the data. Councilmember Bean said we need to stay with substantiated values. 2. Solar Panel and Windmill Co. Presentation (Steve) 15 minutes each presentation*: Trevor Gerdes from Mountain View Wind Power presented a PowerPoint presentation concerning design and function of wind power. He discussed the advantages of grants and low noise of wind power and stated they look like light poles and keeping it local increases jobs. He would like the City to start designing an ordinance concerning wind power. Councilmember Coletti asked about cities with ordinances. Trevor stated the fall zone is always the issue. Councilmember Coletti asked which cities have done this. Trevor replied none at this time; they have been working with counties. Councilmember Powell asked about residential cost for wind power for 2-5 kilowatts. Trevor stated the cost was approximately $15,000. Councilmember Powell asked if Rocky Mountain Power is alright with this. Trevor stated yes. Councilmember Slack asked how tall it would need to be to be effective. Trevor said 50 feet is best with the blade needing to be approximately 25 feet. Councilmember Coletti asked how it affects property values. Trevor stated he’s been told it increases the value. Richard Staten from Idaho Engineering Consulting gave a solar panel presentation. Power generated would be fed back into the grid. The advantage is it keeps the extra power available for your personal use. Meter readings will be net readings, where power from the solar panels turns the meter back. There are new laws for PUC controlled companies that went into effect July 2009, which focus on renewable and conservation energy. He would suggest using some of the grant for renewable and conservation methods. Councilmember Powell asked if they could be put on water tanks. Carl Smith from Solar Electric gave previous data pertaining to placement of solar panels. Councilmember Powell asked about the return. Carl Smith said 5-8 years, but until he gets live data and does a complete study he can’t give exact data. Councilmember Coletti asked about warrantees. Richard said it’s a 25 year warranty, but would not include damage such as from kids throwing rocks. Councilmember Bean said it will be a 67 year payback. Charlie Allen, Building Official stated with actual monies from the Building and Fire Departments – his figures came back with a 23 year return, assuming every month has no more light available than December. Residential customers can get up to 30% of the cost back, but the City is getting 100% of the money as a grant. Councilmember Powell said the Federal government is helping residential customer return on investment with tax credits; otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense. Trevor said remember these are based on today’s power rates. Steve Paynor from Utah discussed City ordinances. He has written or helped write them in Utah, which started out conservative, then became more lax with their requirements. They have more problems passing wind turbine, ordinances than solar panel ordinances. People get used to them, so they don’t notice them. Councilmember Thompson asked about the feasibility of putting solar panels on the tanks. He said there might be structural issues. Councilmember Powell asked if there was anything in the building ordinance. Charlie Allen said he would have to ask about the pounds per sq. ft. Ray Ellis said his research shows the solar industry is very close to a new generation solar panel that almost doubles their efficiency. He would hesitate until we know that technology is online and we know it exists. There are some positive signs and the research backs up what they think they can do, but it needs testing and release to the market. Even if it is included in a 30 year mortgage for a homeowner, you can’t make it pay for itself. Councilmember Bean recommended that we look at an ordinance for solar, not wind. Charlie stated they figured in 165 200-watt panels, and that cost came up to $134,000, the labor to install was $15,000 and there was the cost of an electrician. The total came to $255,000. He based his figures off of minimum power production, with savings. John Chatburn called him and asked to remove the grant on the windmill, which lowered the total by $85,500. Since this reduced the amount we applied for, we may not be able to Council Minutes 2-11-10 Page 2 of 4 get all 165 panels. Charlie said the return on investment would still work out to 22 years. Ray said they are finding conservation measures are giving a 5-year payback on money invested. 3. Hawk’s Landing Building Size Clarification (Dana/Ron)*: Ron stated Destination Homes are going back to Utah. Councilmember Slack said their homes cost $40,000 more. Ron stated that everything they showed us was multi-levels and now they want to build ranch style. People are going to smaller single level homes. Ron said the item under review is not changes, but clarifications. They have more units of section 2, which has multiple stories above grade. The current agreement language states the “combined levels of each residential building shall be a minimum of 1400 sq. ft. with a minimum 900 sq. ft. footprint, plus a basement”. This language failed to exclude the garage. Ron has examined changing the language to the “combined levels of multi-stories above grade of each residential building, shall be a minimum of 1400 sq. ft.” Ron stated his problem is if we were to adopt this change, there would be houses that would not qualify. The average double car garage ranges between 450 and 500 sq. ft. The PUD Agreement requires a double car garage, so a ranch home including the garage would have a footprint of 1700 sq. ft. Lance said the driveway to the garage will now be on the front of the houses. People are asking for single-level houses. This will not change the density per acre. Jeff has seen this and is comfortable with it. Ron said they would have to show us how a ranch home would set on the property and they would need to design and show us the north and south elevations. Councilmember Bean asked if the Council has to approve every plan. Council stated they didn’t have any issues with this. Ron will make an amended master plan and bring it back to Council. 4. News Releases (Council 2-4-10)*: Councilmember Coletti passed out a revised draft of the news release policy. Councilmember Bean asked how they would handle things like the police department. Councilmember Coletti said he hadn’t given that any thought. Councilmember Powell stated the objective is to define the news for Ammon. Councilmember Bean said we could put out a press release, but they won’t put out what we do. Councilmember Coletti said it’s for our own news. Leslie asked about when the paper calls and is requesting information, how does the staff handle that. Councilmember Coletti said he would add a section to the policy. Bruce Patterson said that there is no way to mandate to the Council, but you can put policies in place for employees. The Council defines routine and non-routine. He said it looked like Councilmember Coletti would have the final say. Councilmember Coletti said someone needs to have the final say on what is printed, but there would need to be some Council guidance. Bruce said to come back to staff to create the release, which would then be submitted for Council approval. Councilmember Bean suggested keeping the policy to new releases. Lance said with the new billing statement going out we have an opportunity to write comments, because this is going out to all the citizens. Is this considered a news release? Councilmember Slack said those are not news releases, but routine City questions and answers. Councilmember Powell said “like the CD and the parks software”. Councilmember Coletti would have liked to have this in place when the Mayor gave his state of the City. Bruce said the website and management of that is also relevant. We have the City logo, which we have no policy about and we have social media such as face book or twitter. Council decided to have the policy just cover news releases, at this time. 5. Misc.: Ron said he would like to see the covenant/annexation agreement fee for utility hookups outside City limits removed. The $1000 was meant to cover the cost of the hearing, but you wouldn’t initiate annexation of just one property. Typically you would annex at least 10 or 12 properties. Ron said he thinks this fee is a mistake. He recommends getting rid of it, since non-residents will be paying 1 ½ times the utility rate paid by residents. He said, people say for $1000 I’ll just fix the well. Council agreed to allow Ron to proceed with this. Ron stated this can be done without posting, since it is a reduction in charges. Councilmember Bean motioned to adjourn. Councilmember Slack seconded. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Bean – Yes, Councilmember Slack – Yes, Councilmember Coletti – Yes, Councilmember Powell – Yes, and Councilmember Thompson – Yes. The motion passed. Council Minutes 2-11-10 Page 3 of 4 The meeting adjourned at 6:08 p.m. _____________________________________ Steve Fuhriman, Mayor __________________________________ Leslie Folsom, City Clerk Council Minutes 2-11-10 Page 4 of 4