04082010CouncilMinutes-WS
CITY OF AMMON
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES – WORK SESSION
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010
AGENDA:
CITY OF AMMON
2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA – WORK SESSION
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2010 – 4:30 P.M.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
1.Group Home Signage (Ron)*
2.Emergency Management Plan Review for Council and Management (Stacy)
3.Fire Dept Budget (Slack)
4.Fire Fighters Association Clarification (Stacy/Russell)
5.Misc.
MINUTES
City Officials Present:
Mayor Steve Fuhriman
Councilmember Dana Kirkham (arrived 4:45 p.m.)
Councilmember Lee Bean (arrived 5:00 p.m.)
Councilmember Rex Thompson
Councilmember Brian Powell
Councilmember Sean Coletti
Councilmember Russell Slack
City Clerk Leslie Folsom
City Engineer Lance Bates
City Planner Ron Folsom
City Officials Absent:
None
The meeting was opened at 4:35 p.m. by Mayor Fuhriman at the City Hall Building located at 2135 S.
Ammon Road.
DISCUSSION ITEMS:
1. Group Home Signage (Ron)*:
Ron informed the Council that Councilmember Thompson asked him
to check the Curlew homes signage. He presented the Council pictures showing the signs. He explained these are
group homes, which are protected by the State of Idaho. The City doesn’t prohibit you from putting a sign like
“Brian’s House” and there is nothing in the ordinances against it. Ron said the intent of the group homes ordinance
was not to build a community of group homes, but the State didn’t want Cities to zone people out of the area. Ray
said as a whole it looks commercial. Councilmember Thompson said it has turned a residential area into a
commercial situation, which has changed the neighborhood. Councilmember Thompson said there is going to be 15
of them. Ron feels there is no legal reason to tell them they can’t do it. Councilmember Thompson would like an
ordinance to stop them from taking over a neighborhood. Ron stated the law says “for the purpose of any zoning
laws, ordinance or code the classification “single family dwelling” shall include any group residence in which eight
(8) or fewer unrelated mentally and /or physically handicapped or elderly persons reside and who are supervised at
the group residence in connection with their handicap or age related infirmity”. Councilmember Slack said he will
address some legislators to see if they can address this issue.
2. Emergency Management Plan Review for Council and Management (Stacy):
Stacy Hyde, 4125
East Wanda, Fire Chief showed the Council the PowerPoint for the Emergency Management Plan for the City. This
City Council Work Session Minutes 4-8-10 Page 1 of 3
contains the guidelines and procedures to follow after an emergency event has occurred. Ron said the Mitigation
Plan that he had brought to Council was for preparedness and prevention. Stacy had this Emergency Operations
Plan (EOP) giving guidelines and procedures for after an event happens that we didn’t know about. Stacy said
Mayor Ard signed it in 2007. Stacy has a printed version and he has now given Leslie a copy for the Clerk’s office.
Tom Lenderink from Bonneville County is in charge of the update. This is not a specific plan, but a lose set of
guidelines. It complies with all the federally mandated plans, ICS and FEMA guidelines. This plan is not a plan for
every contingency. There are four sections to the EOP. The base plan describes your structure and processes
comprising the countywide response. This section is not specific to any one type of incident. The second section is
the ESF which stands for Emergency Support Functions. These are transportation, communications, public works,
fire fighting, emergency management, mass care and included in that is law enforcement and military support. The
next section is the support annexes, and the last section is the appendixes. The Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
is located in Idaho Falls in the basement of the law enforcement building downtown. The EITC is the back up for
the EOC. An EOC is usually only opened up at a multi-jurisdictional level when there are large spread issues. The
Bonneville County Commissioners make up the commission and most of the contacts are made up of the Mayors in
the area. The EOP commission would contact the Mayor. From there the chain of command would be the Mayor,
Councilmember Kirkham, Councilmember Bean, and Councilmember Thompson. In the case of an emergency, the
Mayor will assign out people to different positions. This commitment to each position would be for 24 hours per
day for 7 days, without harming regular activities. Councilmember Kirkham asked about the City’s own issues
during an emergency, if the City would be responsible for taking care of its own matters. Stacy said yes, the City
would still be responsible for its own functions. Stacy put related positions in the front of the book with their
responsible areas listed. Stacy said the sheriff’s office has its own responsibilities that he feels would be handled by
the County. He went over the different department’s responsibilities. Stacy confirmed with Council that for City
purposes, that the City Clerk would be the same as the County Recorder. Council agreed. Jennifer would be
handling both the accounting and human resource area. Stacy inserted the planning and zoning department in with
the building department. He stated the mitigation plan dollar amounts were estimates for the City to get the items
done, not a commitment. The Lider system was already purchased by the County through a grant.
3. Fire Dept Budget (Slack):
Councilmember Slack said the Fire Dept has some items that need to be
replaced. Stacy went over air compression. They have paid Norco $5824 to fill the bottles, plus they have used the
Idaho Falls, Central and Regional trailer that has saved us approx. $5000. They haven’t used the packs for training,
since it costs every time they are used. You can’t use a normal compressor – it has to be a special one to keep the
moisture and oil out of it. The City uses 2600 PSI, but a lot of other fire departments have to use 5200 PSI.
Councilmember Slack said we have had two firefighters go down during a fire, due to running out of air. The City
can buy it outright for $45,190 or you can lease purchase of six payments and it would be $9500 per payment, which
equals $57,000 over five years. He would like to use the money from his reserve funds to pay for the system. Leslie
asked Stacy to look at the State purchases, to see if the City can piggyback for the items needed. Stacy said he will
look into this. Stacy thinks the cost is $40-$50 per tank. We have a 44 tank capacity for a fire, which lasts 30
minutes each.
Concerning the fire on Vaughn, we ran out of air and had to send someone to Central Fire District to fill the
tanks. Norco was closed and when they called Idaho Falls they weren’t available.
The system life is 20 plus years. Councilmember Powell said he’s not opposed to this, but wants Stacy to
shop around. Stacy said when buying used, you have to watch the replacement parts and you have to have 3 phase
power to use it. Councilmember Powell asked about three phase power in the fire department. Stacy said they don’t
have that in the building. Council would like three options for purchase hopefully under $25,000.
Stacy said when they did the hydro testing on the bottles this year he thought they were steel cylinders, but
they are banded aluminum. Air Gas sent 22 bottles back, since they will be out of service in 10 months. Half of the
bottles will not be able to be serviced after September, so they won’t have enough packs. The best quote is $12,540
for half of the bottles to bring the number needed back up. These are low pressure bottles. The Buddy Breather
would cost $8,250 to upgrade the 22 packs. Fireman’s Supply is the authorized servicer of the packs. They
currently have 8 packs out of service, due to design issues. To fix the 8 backpacks will cost $1311.75. Currently
3-4 units have air leaks in the packs. Councilmember Slack said the total cost is $22,101.75, which is for a low
pressure system. The City of Ammon cannot share with other entities, since the others are high pressure systems.
City Council Work Session Minutes 4-8-10 Page 2 of 3
To go to a high pressure system from Fireman’s Supply would cost $59,933.50 to upgrade the 22 packs, including
44 new bottles. Elene Curtis quoted 20 packs for $102,000. SCBA Safety quoted 20 packs with 40 bottles for
$55,700. He would like to pursue is Dalmation Fire Equipment from Windsor, CO. Their quote for 25 packs with
50 bottles and an additional 4 bottles for RET that will last one hour and 50 masks for $48,697. He would also like
to use the reserve fund for this. Councilmember Bean asked if he had done bids yet. Stacy said no. The reserves
are approx. $220,000 and he would like to spend between $90,000 - $95,000. Councilmember Slack said these two
upgrades would help with training. Stacy feels they should last at least 10 years. Chubbuck has had theirs since
1994 and they are still using them today. He would like to replace half this year and the remaining half are seven
years old, so we can replace them in intervals. They are a very reliable pack. These have mechanical gauges versus
electronic gauge, a buddy breather, and a high-pressure bottle. Councilmember Slack said he feels it would be
worth the extra money for new, rather than trying to upgrade the old. Stacy said we have to keep the old ones in
inventory until 2012 due to the grant, but we could try to sell them after that. They all come with masks plus an
additional 25 masks. Councilmember Bean said we need to check with Jennifer to see if we have already
appropriated the reserve funds. Councilmember Coletti stated there would be some savings from the purchase of
air.
4. Fire Fighters Association Clarification (Stacy/Russell):
Stacy said the volunteers are now
employees and they wonder if they can still continue with their association. Councilmember Slack feels that the
City doesn’t have a right to stop them, as long as they keep it separate from the City. The letterhead will be
changed. Councilmember Kirkham said fund collections would need to be kept separate. Councilmember Slack
said he will check on the use of the City fire trucks during association fund raising events.
5. Misc.:
Leslie reminded the Council of the Special Meeting with ICRMP next Wednesday. The
Council would like land acquisitions, parks and recreation employees (and their relatives), and drug-testing
discussions. Leslie will be checking through her past minutes for the items mentioned and let Jim McNall know.
Councilmember Powell motioned to adjourn. Councilmember Kirkham seconded. Roll Call Vote:
Councilmember Powell – Yes, Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Bean – Yes, Councilmember
Thompson – Yes, Councilmember Slack – Yes, and Councilmember Coletti – Yes. The motion passed.
The meeting adjourned at 5:54 p.m.
_____________________________________
Steve Fuhriman, Mayor
__________________________________
Leslie Folsom, City Clerk
City Council Work Session Minutes 4-8-10 Page 3 of 3