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05122011CouncilMinutes-WS CITY OF AMMON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2011 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL AGENDA – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2011 – 4:30 P.M. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1.TRIPTA Proposal for FY 2011-2012 (Lynn Seymour)* phone 535-0356 2.Grow Idaho Falls Proposal (Linda Martin)* 3.Animal and Dog Proposed Code Changes (Ron) 4.Homeowners Park Landscape Water Rate Solutions (Kirkham)* 5.Possible Contract with Idaho Falls to Service Sewer Lines (Lance) 6.Lighting District Billing Amount Authorization for Payment 7.Set City and Department Priorities for Budget Year 2011-2012 (Jennifer) 8.Misc. MINUTES City Officials Present: Mayor Steve Fuhriman Councilmember Dana Kirkham Councilmember Lee Bean (left early) Councilmember Brian Powell Councilmember Rex Thompson Councilmember Sean Coletti Councilmember Russell Slack City Planner Ron Folsom City Engineer Lance Bates City Officials Absent: City Clerk Leslie Folsom City Attorney Scott Hall City Treasurer Jennifer Belfield Mayor Fuhriman opened the Work Session meeting to order at 4:30 p.m. at the City Hall Building located at 2135 South Ammon Road. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1. Animal and Dog Proposed Code Changes (Ron) : City Planner Ron Folsom stated the advisory committee has been working, for months, on a variety of changes. Margie Zirker, 3155 Rossen Street, Ammon introduced the people who served on the advisory committee; Robert Loveland, Ruth Deland, Judy Young, Linda Guay, Colby Burr, and David Zirker. She explained they have put together a presentation to give Council some comfort and show reasons for items they are suggesting for the Ordinance. She proceeded with a PowerPoint presentation showing some local experiences. She talked about a couple of situations. #1-cocker spaniel spent 4 years on a chain and discussed her personal experience and the circumstances. She explained that she had talked to the homeowner who was basically just a busy person and did not like to let them off their chain, because they would run away. She explained the living situation for these dogs and that she contacted the animal control officer from Ammon, but there wasn’t anything she could do because there are no ordinances in place to help remedy the situation. Margie explained after this situation she came and talked to Councilmember Kirkham and other staff members. After much discussion, they came up with a proposal. The proposal is to prohibit chaining or tethering of dogs and to require fenced enclosures as the primary outdoor containment. They did not come to this lightly and contacted other communities. They have two goals with this Council Minutes – Work Session 5-12-11 Page 1 of 6 proposal. Goal #1: To establish greater protection for City residents especially for children. She showed some pictures of people who were bitten / attacked by tethered dogs. She cited two expert opinions as to the effect of tethering dogs. She explained that one of the experts explained that the chaining of dogs produces isolation and induced aggression. The other expert explained statistically chained dogs are more dangerous than free running packs of dogs based on some statistics from a website. She defined chaining as chained to stationary object for long periods of time. Goal #2 is to provide more humane treatment for dogs. Slides were shown showing how chains can become embedded and how it injures the dog. Councilmember Kirkham asked if we are talking about an ordinance that would prevent tethering. Margie said yes. She inquired about areas where fences are not allowed? She explained the underground wire fencing is allowed. Councilmember Slack asked that the presentation be sped up. She showed the alternatives are a fenced yard or a dog run. She provided veterinarian recommendations for dogs of different sizes and activity levels. She provided references from other areas showing what they require for space in a dog run. She explained the committee requested a minimum of 150 square feet. Councilmember Kirkham expressed concern over enforcement. She explained things will happen that we wish did not happen, because we simply cannot address every situation. Council thanked the committee. Ron highlighted the suggested changes. 5-3-2 addresses dog fights, and referenced the state statute which relates to this issue. It was addressed there was a typo in Item C. In Item E, game cocks are also addressed. He highlighted changes to the ‘cruel impoundment of animals’. Councilmember Kirkham asked if this covered dogs locked in a car. Ron said yes. Councilmember Coletti suggested that some clarification should be made to the language showing that the misdemeanor penalty applies to everything covered in the ordinance (paragraphs 1, 2, & 3). 5-3-4 added ‘minimum’ to ‘adequate care’. 5-3-8 section E changed to allow chickens. This fits with Idaho Falls’ and Iona’s ordinances. Ron read the entire suggested ordinance applying to having chickens in a residential zone. He discussed the 6 square feet rule in the ordinance. He stated Iona allows 2 square feet. The enclosure has to be at least 20 feet from the foundation of the home. Councilmember Bean asked if Council could just take the suggested changes and review on their own. Ron said yes. Councilmember Slack asked for a quick overview without reading them. Ron reviewed items done to the section dealing with dogs. Confinement and control had the bulk of the changes. He talked about primary living area being where a dog is kept for 12 hours or more. Councilmember Kirkham asked how we are going to let people know. Ron said when they purchase an owners license or possibly through the newsletter. Some notification will need to be done by the enforcement officer. Councilmember Kirkham asked for comments. Councilmember Thompson has some issues with some of the items. He mentioned an issue with a collar size stipulation as an example for small dogs such as Yorkies. Ron suggested that he will email it to Council in Word and then they can insert comments and send it back. Councilmember Slack asked when Council was thinking that it would go to a vote. Ron stated they would like to adopt it, as soon as possible. Councilmember Kirkham agreed that there is need for discussion. Councilmember Bean asked if an ‘enclosure’ was a yard. Ron clarified that there is a minimum for an enclosure of 150 sq. ft. Councilmember Kirkham stated that they have a lab and they had her when they were in transition in an apartment. She had a really small space, but not permanent. Shawna Avery stated that this was intended to address permanent living situations. Councilmember Slack asked that Council have time to discuss it. Councilmember Kirkham said that was reasonable and that Council needed to look through it and be prepared. They would discuss it in the June work session and then put it on the agenda to pass. 2. Grow Idaho Falls Proposal (Linda Martin)*: Linda Martin, 151 N. Ridge, Suite A, Idaho Falls, Grow Idaho Falls handed out some packets that highlighted what Grow Idaho Falls does for the community and Ammon. Their website contains buildings that are available for incoming businesses and work with anyone that has an interest in the area. Grow Idaho Falls was involved with Chick-fil-A, listed the old TSR building as a site that could be used by an incoming business, helped City staff in trying to obtain NTIA grant funding for fiber and referred emergency recovery businesses to locations in Ammon where they could locate. Grow Idaho Falls requested more photos of Ammon for their website. Over the past year they have had 15,000 people visit their website with 17,000 hits. She asked what Ammon would like to see on the website and requested increased funding. Councilmember Bean asked if the materials handed out are on the website. Linda said yes. Councilmember Bean asked that our gigabyte fiber be added. Councilmember Kirkham asked where their demographic information came from. Linda Council Minutes – Work Session 5-12-11 Page 2 of 6 stated she usually has her interns do it, but they have not had one for over a year and half and it may be somewhat out of date. Councilmember Bean asked if the water provider could be changed from Falls Water Company to the City of Ammon and the same with sewer. Ron suggested that he and Bruce Patterson work with Linda to get the information updated. Councilmember Coletti asked if we could get the Mayor’s Business Day to be held at Hillcrest High School, as well. Councilmember Coletti noted that the Ammon Day’s schedule was posted on the Grow Idaho Falls website and stated that he hoped it would happen again next year. Linda said that they will post anything we send to them. She talked about the events link on the website. Councilmember Bean asked how they appoint directors. The largest contributors generally are selected to make the rules and they look for people that are compatible and have great sources of information. She stated they need contacts to be invested in Grow Idaho Falls. She stated they vary from 20-25 voting members. Councilmember Bean asked, because he did not see representation from Ammon. It was discussed Mayor Fuhriman is on there and Ron is listed as an alternate. Linda introduced Steve Free with NAIC Commerce One who is the president. 3. TRIPTA Proposal for FY 2011-2012 (Lynn Seymour)* phone 535-0356: Lynn Seymour was not present for the proposal presentation. 4. Homeowners Park Landscape Water Rate Solutions (Kirkham)*: Councilmember Kirkham started the discussion concerning setting up a water rate for the landscape areas. She stated they have been debating the numbers. She stated she talked to Brad earlier in the week and he has a matrix to plug the numbers into. She stated they have come up with a new zone called a “residential green space” zone that would charge $1.20 per 1,000 gallons up to 500,000 gallons and then it would move up to $1.50 per 1,000 gallons beyond that. The rate is currently $1.98 per 1,000 gallons. Rob Phelps, 6325 Tower Castle Loop – Hawks Landing, Doug Daley and Curtis Johnson from Founders Pointe asked what a residential home pays for the larger lots and if they could pay that rate. Council said no. Rob asked if the rate could be set at $100 per acre. Councilmember Kirkham stated she spoke with Adam Serr and they felt that this usage based rate was sustainable. Councilmember Powell asked what the meter showed the usage to be. Rob said the meters last month read 330 thousand gallons and the other meter was 219 thousand gallons. He stated his bills from Oct – April was for 10,000,000 gallons of water. He stated the meter was shut off. Rob said that there was a problem with the meter reading usage through the winter. He stated that the only amount they could support would be $300 per meter. They have tried to conserve. Councilmember Powell asked why they have to have a fixed rate. Rob stated it is on a sensor. Councilmember Thompson stated that a fixed rate will cost you more. Rob said that it has to be set he can’t get homeowners to constantly be changing up and down. Councilmember Thompson wondered if there was an average. Lance stated there was a point when they were using more than a million gallons each month. Councilmember Kirkham stated that Quail Ridge used over 1,000,000 each month of the summer last year. Lance said to remember that all the water that goes up the hill is pumped twice - once to the hill tank and then out to the lots. Councilmember Powell stated that Lance has provided some good information to Council, so that they could relate the water used in those areas to the power bills for the locations that supply those areas. He explained Quail Ridge was using 2.77%. He explained it came out to 50 cents per 1,000 gallons for power only. He provided the rationale on how he came up with how much it costs per 1,000 gallons of water for the water department to supply the service. This figure subtracted out the capital outlay and power since it was already figured and it came out to 73 cents per 1,000 gallons, plus the 50 cents. Lance asked about the bond payment. Councilmember Kirkham said every person is paying the bond payment in their monthly bill. Councilmember Bean stated the budget is for an entire year. Councilmember Powell stated he based it per month. Doug Daily, 6287 Founders Pointe Drive argued that the residential rate should work when you relate it to the acre. He talked about putting the homeowners association on $100 per acre year round and then they have a budgeted amount they can work with. He feels it is a win-win situation. Councilmember Powell agreed, but stated there is no accountability in that plan. It was discussed it happens with residential customers. Councilmember Powell stated that this is the reason that the City is installing meters throughout the City. Doug stated he would personally object, because his lawn is sprinkled by potable water and feels it is not logical to sprinkle his lawn with potable water. He wonders if they are losing money on residential customers. Council said yes. Councilmember Council Minutes – Work Session 5-12-11 Page 3 of 6 Kirkham stated that the rate is based on 5 months. Councilmember Bean asked how Council would feel about setting a fixed rate based on usage from the previous year. Councilmember Kirkham stated she could support it, but it would have to be based on the calculated cost to supply Quail Ridge. Councilmember Powell would support a fixed rate, but asks how to prevent abuse. Councilmember Kirkham stated that some want a fixed rate for the summer; some want it for the year. Doug explained the rationale behind why they want a fixed rate and why it doesn’t matter if it is for the summer or the year. Councilmember Powell emphasizes why he and the Council support usage based fees. Councilmember Slack asked where the City should make up the money lost from the residential rate. Doug said he would like to know why we are losing money. Council discussed because residents don’t want a rate increase. Councilmember Bean asked if the association would accept his solution. Doug said his concern is that the rate is known and they could plan for it and that the association can budget for. Doug says he wants to pay exactly the same for his lawn as the common lawn space. Councilmember Kirkham stated the City should meter his house, so we could have a viable argument. It was discussed there is already a meter pit in new construction from 1990 to present. Councilmember Bean asked if Council would accept his proposal. Councilmember Slack asked because we are moving towards metered rates, why we would want to move backward. Doug talked about where is the point when residents decide to not water their lawn, because they cannot afford to water their lawns. It was discussed that there are very few cities still on a flat rate. It was discussed there were canals at one point for Quail Ridge, but the developer gave it away. Councilmember Kirkham stated you cannot make people pay their homeowners fees; it is dependent on people who want to see their community improved. Councilmember Slack stated the homeowner associations were given two options. Councilmember Bean said the Council needs to determine the issue. Councilmember Powell discussed Quail Ridge could reduce their bill in half by watering every other day. It was discussed there are four acres right now and to pay $100 per acre would be $400 per month billed for an entire year. He explained the $1.20 per 1,000 gallons is the cheaper way to go. There was concern expressed that not all HOA’s are represented. Kurt Johnson, 3875 Founders Pointe Drive testified that the water rate will stop people from putting in large lawns. Councilmember Kirkham stated the ordinance states you can only develop ½ acre. Kurt stated there are a lot of ways to reduce water costs and feels education is important. He would like to see “water police”. Councilmember Kirkham said we do have an enforcement officer. Councilmember Powell talked about the best way to conserve water is to meter it. Kurt said he feels the homeowners should rip out ¾ of the landscaping and put it into zero landscaping. There are homeowners in the country with 3 acres that are paying $400 a month to Rocky Mountain Power to water their lawns and they are reviewing removing their lawns. Kurt Johnson stated he has a meter in his house. He stated they have a 1 ½ inch pipe, but installed a 1 inch meter. He stated the PSI remains the same, but the GPM is not. Kurt Johnson would like the rate to be fair across the board. Councilmember Kirkham asked what he thinks about the two options. He feels people on the hill have not managed the water well. Councilmember Kirkham talked about managed green spaces. It was discussed, at the time, it was a flat rate. 164,000,000 gallons were used in the City of Ammon in the month of August. Lance said it was billion gallons. Councilmember Powell said it is $60,000 per month for electricity to run the pumps. Kurt asked if they have authority to change the current areas. Ron explained they have never required them to have turf. Ron talked about parks and retention ponds. If it is a park, the majority needs to be grass. Kurt discussed there are grasses that don’t require as much water and wondered if the City would want to adopt the kinds of low-water grass that can handle our climate. Doug Daley inquired if we are already at capacity during the summer months. Council said yes. Councilmember Bean stated we are at capacity of how much we are allowed to pump, per water rights, not pumping capacity. Lance talked about the different water rights and the City has a singular system. Rob Phelps approached the microphone again. Councilmember Kirkham discussed that Hawks is a PUD and it is different than Founders Pointe. Rob stated he lost a home sale, because of the water issue. He is not concerned about a flat rate. Councilmember Thompson figured his personal use of water rate, which is about 67 gallons per minute - $42 per month to water his lawn. It was discussed the $1.20 does not include the bond repayment. 5. Possible Contract with Idaho Falls to Service Sewer Lines (Lance): Lance stated he has written a letter to Idaho Falls requesting a price for maintenance. It was discussed that Chris, from Idaho Falls, thinks there are some cost savings in areas, but Forsgren feels it would be a cost increase. Councilmember Bean stated he does not want to start construction on the IBSD separator line, until IBSD has a plan as to how to take over providing Council Minutes – Work Session 5-12-11 Page 4 of 6 service to those IBSD customers that will end up on Ammon lines. Councilmember Powell stated he talked to Scott Hall about it and we will temporarily take those customers. IBSD will have to pay connection fees. It was discussed that there may not be a plan in place by the time required. Scott Hall wrote a letter to their attorney about this separation. Lance will be at the IBSD meeting tomorrow and talked about an agreement being in place before connecting the points. Lance talked about when we sign the contract, if this is when they will give us a check for $2.4 million. Councilmember Bean asked Lance to check with any private companies for some maintenance, as well. 6. Lighting District Billing Amount Authorization for Payment: Councilmember Kirkham stated this would be a simple change to adjust the minimum amount that can be paid without going to the board and recommended the new minimal amount to be $50. Councilmember Coletti thought that was acceptable. This will prevent the board from having to hold a meeting just to approve payment of a power bill. Councilmember Bean suggested that a listing be provided for review, even though, they won’t need to approve every bill. Jennifer clarified that a listing will be provided on a quarterly basis. This item will be on the agenda, because it will need a motion. 7. Set City and Department Priorities for Budget Year 2011-2012 (Jennifer): Jennifer Belfield opened by reviewing the budget drafts and what has been sent out by the department heads. She wants to make sure we all are headed in the same direction and we all agree on the main priorities. She would like to know the main city priorities from the Council. Councilmember Bean requested that Councilmember Kirkham be here for discussions about overall City priorities. Jennifer asked about the electrical franchise fees and what fund it should be in. Councilmember Bean suggested the street fund. It needs to be designated for road improvements. th Councilmember Bean said a priority is to start budgeting and planning for the improvement at Hitt and 17. Councilmember Bean requested that 30 minutes, during the June work session, be allocated for Chris Fredrickson th from the City of Idaho Falls to give a presentation regarding the design and plan for 17 and Hitt. Councilmember Bean feels we need to budget for this. Capital improvements were discussed. Lance stated he has a draft report from one of the engineering companies. He stated there were a lot of different options looked at for that intersection. Jennifer stated we don’t want to budget the full amount for next year. Ron stated they have not approved the franchise fee ordinance yet. Councilmember Bean stated we should call Rocky Mountain Power about th it. Ron said he will call them. Councilmember Bean feels we should budget $250,000 for 17 and Hitt, but we need to start with the design first. Councilmember Bean asked Jennifer if she is looking for things we will definitely do next year. Councilmember Bean stated we can wait on some of this until another session. Councilmember Slack feels we should go through each department and then hit the big ones. Jennifer invited the department heads to come to the meeting tonight and explained what we did for 2009. She explained some of the priorities for last year, such as fiber and parks. It was discussed we did not balance last year. Our expenses need to be less this year. We had to dip into savings and Council is not comfortable in doing this again. Councilmember Slack stated the Fire and Parks and Recreation priorities. There were a lot of donations to the Fire Department for the refill station, so they really don’t have a lot of priorities for next year. He would like them to think about a replacement vehicle fund. He also would like us to rethink the Fire District options and there may be an option for a partnership with Mountain View Hospital for EMS. The Parks department needs additional part-time help during the summer. He would like to purchase a $30,000 spray trailer. He talked about $35,000 in capital outlay for this section. He wants to hire an additional person in the Parks department for events, etc. Councilmember Bean said he doesn’t feel we should be hiring right now. He talked about $15,000 in capital outlay for the pool. The diving board will be illegal next year, so he would like to replace it with a water slide. He also talked about grants. If he tries to get a $100,000 grant he has to have a 50% match. He would like to do some fixing at Peterson Park, bathrooms, shelters, etc. Councilmember Powell asked Ken to call him concerning the ball diamond maintenance. Councilmember Bean talked about the building department and they feel pretty set. He stated they may not have sufficient revenue to cover expenses in that department, however. Councilmember Thompson stated the general government will pretty much stay where they are. Councilmember Powell talked about the Fiber and IT side, there may be some contracts coming in. He talked about getting the schools on board first. They would like to negotiate on a couple of towers. He would like Council Minutes – Work Session 5-12-11 Page 5 of 6 to allocate the $600,000 this year again, even though they may not use it. Most of the amount came from the water, but some may come from savings. $600,000 from water and $600,000 from general. Councilmember Bean inquired if a portion of our billing set aside was for bond repayment. It was discussed there is not a line item for it yet. Bruce Patterson talked about where he was in the budget for the fiber. He needs to know if that will be transferred now, in this year, in order to plan his budget. He talked about the school district options. Councilmember Coletti talked about the sheriff’s contract and an increase of $30,000 – not including the dispatch. The Sheriff’s department officers are anticipating the fiber connection to the Fire Department. They are concerned about how many residents of Ammon know that they are here. They lose money going to Idaho Falls for things they should be able to handle. It was discussed to have a sign on the Fire Department to show there is a department here. They would like to start the negotiation on the sheriff’s contract earlier this year. Each department head will meet with his or her Councilmember and in June everyone can work through the budget. Jennifer will modify the checklist to send out to everyone. Councilmember Bean stated there will need to be a special work session to cover this, because it will not work in a regular work session. It was discussed to schedule it when Councilmember Kirkham is here. 8. Misc.: Councilmember Slack asked about commercial duplexes. There is one water line coming in and they are being charged when the other side is empty. Councilmember Powell asked how you know when it gets occupied. Ron said with businesses that vacate there are several who will move in and it might be months before the City discovers it. Lance explained you would have to ensure each unit has its own metered line and each meter is being read. Councilmember Kirkham motioned to adjourn. Councilmember Powell seconded. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Powell – Yes, Councilmember Slack – Yes, Councilmember Coletti – Yes, and Councilmember Thompson – Yes. The motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 7:03 p.m. _____________________________________ Steve Fuhriman, Mayor __________________________________ Leslie Folsom, City Clerk Council Minutes – Work Session 5-12-11 Page 6 of 6