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01.09.2014CouncilMinutes CITY OF AMMON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL AGENDA – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2014 – 4:30 P.M. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1.Sheriff’s Office Update 2.Broadband 3.Sidewalk Maintenance Program 4.Medical Coverage for Partners 5.Misc. MINUTES City Officials Present: Mayor Dana Kirkham Councilmember Brian Powell Councilmember Rex Thompson Councilmember Sean Coletti Councilmember Russell Slack (arrived at 5:00 p.m.) Councilmember Brad Christensen Councilmember Byron Wiscombe (arrived at 5:15 p.m.) City Administrator/Clerk/Planning Director Deputy Clerk Rachael Brown City Engineer Lance Bates I.T. Director Bruce Patterson Public Works Director Ray Ellis Building Official Charlie Allen City Officials Absent: City Treasurer Jennifer Belfield DISCUSSION ITEMS: Mayor Kirkham opened the meeting at 4:30 p.m. at the City Hall building located at 2135 South Ammon Road. 1. Sheriff’s Office Update: Sam Hulse, Captain with the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office said he thinks things are going very well with the contract. He said we are in a good place and things are moving forward. The Sheriff’s wants to make sure we are in front of the growth or change. As far as cost, we are coming out of a downturn; there is more building going on in the county. Policing is like any other service, it is driven by what is going on in the community. If you add a new housing addition it will require more services which will also require more policing; that will drive additional numbers and additional calls for police services. Right now we have good control of what is going on, and have a proper size contingent for what is occurring. Mayor Kirkham asked Sam his thoughts about a larger fiscal increase for the upcoming year. Sam said we did have a just fewer than three percent cost of living increase for their employees. That will drive into the contract along with the safety variable. He needs to go over the numbers to be accurate, but thinks the city is looking at a five percent increase. Councilmember Powell asked if the sheriff’s department was still covering one third of the D.A.R.E. program. Sam said yes, as long as all parties are willing to contribute. Mayor Kirkham said she does not expect any changes. Councilmember Thompson and Councilmember Powell have been assigned to the Sheriff’s office. Sam said he will get the numbers for fiscal 2015 to the Council as soon as possible. Mayor Kirkham said the sooner they have the numbers the better. Sam wanted the Council to be aware the department is looking at changing and updating the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system. Discussion ensued regarding the CAD System. 15 Council Minutes 01.09.2014 Page of Sergeant Jason Sorenson reported the number of service calls and arrests for the City of Ammon in the last calendar year. He reported that there were 9,400 calls for service, and of those calls there were 370 arrests. The Ammon officers are Nick Contreras, Mike Vasquez, Brad Croyer, Ryan Crumless, Dave Schwartz, and Michael Broderick and Sergeant Sorenson.Councilmember Christensen said he would be interested in knowing how many DUI’s there have been, and how many of those are convicted. Jason said he did not have that information, but he will have the numbers for them the next time they meet. He knows there are a lot of DUI’s, because one of the deputies on his shift gets quite a few. He has the highest in the sheriff’s office for DUI arrests. Mayor Kirkham said the Council is a little concerned with the City’s prosecution rate. Mayor Kirkham asked if the speed trailer was in use right now. Jason said it is in the hangars being charged. Mayor Kirkham said she would like it placed on Stafford Drive to give some awareness to the citizens, and to show that we are responding. Councilmember Christensen said he really enjoys a focus on the public safety issues, speeding is a public safety issue, officers sit in a place and wait to catch someone speeding; in his mind he would rather they were patrolling. Mayor Kirkham said she thinks there is a need for a balance, it is aggravating to see deputies parked and waiting but, it serves a purpose to the public. The only thing that is going to slow people down is being ticketed; when word gets around someone has been ticketed, people begin to take speed limits seriously. Jason said the deputies have MDT’s (Mobile Data Terminals) in their patrol vehicles, and they use the time to complete their reports. The parked cars are visible; people see them and check their speed. Kevin Casper said Ammon’s DUI numbers are between thirty and fifty per year. Kevin will have the spread sheet with the exact numbers at the next meeting. He asked Councilmember Powell to bring specific questions regarding prosecution issues and they will collect that data and compare it to other counties prosecution rates. Councilmember Powell asked Kevin to pull the data and e- mail it to Ron or Councilmember Thompson. Councilmember Powell asked if the data can be disseminated between City of Ammon and Bonneville County. Kevin said yes. Kevin reported that on the traffic issues the sheriff’s department does not like the image of being seen as ticket writers. We try to be responsive with the appropriate level of enforcement. Jason has to balance the few roads that have consistent speed issues. Kevin praised Lance, Ron, Ray, and the City of Ammon staff; in the last several years safety has gotten better. The sheriff’s department used to receive consistent complaints about traffic accidents. An example is the intersection at 17th Street and Ammon Road; since sanding and plowing has gotten better, the traffic ratio of accidents in the four months of winter is down. Good public service reflects on public safety. Because of recent growth, the numbers should be up for traffic issues, but they are down. That reflects good public service. Kevin said no one says thank you for spending more money on the roads, but the department no longer sees the number of accidents on the intersection that were worse in years past. The City Engineer’s oversight of design and compliance and analysis of traffic studies is very beneficial. When we deviate from recommended traffic procedures we typically have trouble down the road which causes enforcement problems for the department. Lance has been a resource on the traffic studies. It is nice to work together towards solutions. The data shows good decisions have made things safer for the community. Kevin said when growing, and building developments of a large scale, the department has suggestions for public safety such as lighting apartment parking lots. The department has been working with the private sector to light two existing lots, and car burglaries have dropped from 200 per year to 100. Good design plays a major role in public safety, and the Council plays a key role in making those decisions. 2. Broadband: Bruce Patterson introduced to the Council to two gentlemen from Fiber Com. Fiber Com’s intention is to be a wireless ISP (Internet Service Provider). They have approached Bruce, and have had discussions regarding using the City’s fiber network for back haul. They would also like to discuss with the City about co-location of sector antennas at the well houses. Councilmember Thompson asked what a back haul is. Bruce said they need to supply internet to a radio somewhere in the neighborhood. A wireless antenna will only go so far. They need fiber to feed it optimally; they do not have to feed it with fiber. They could do hops across radios which would affect the performance of the network. Councilmember Thompson asked if it would be slower. Bruce said yes. Fiber Com would like to use the City’s fiber. We currently furnish co-locations and space for Digis, formerly Microserv with a month to month contract. Fiber Com is looking for a similar agreement. They are requesting lit service from our C.O. We already have an agreement with Syringa to bring the internet to there, and use our fiber to transport it to the various well houses. Bruce has talked to Ray and Councilmember Powell, and they have some legitimate concerns regarding security for the well houses. It will be a 24/7 escorted service to the location. The representatives from Fiber Com are here to address those concerns and answer any questions, and have agreed to call Bruce if they need let onto the property. Mayor Kirkham asked if staff would remain there while they are on site. Bruce said not necessarily. Councilmember Christensen asked how many locations there would be, and how much revenue it would generate. Bruce said eventually six locations, and they would all be at the well houses. Bruce would like to see a separation from the well house antennas. Bruce said his issue is he has some construction to perform for antennas. Fiber Com is looking to negotiate to pay for some of the construction cost. Discussion ensued regarding the fees. Vince Call, of Fiber Com said they have been doing research on fiber and the speed of internet. The City of Ammon is lower on the receiving end of internet. Our goal is to increase the speed, but there hasn’t been the technology for it. The reason we are 25 Council Minutes 01.09.2014 Page of looking at the well houses is that it gives us a closer network to Ammon. The higher population density areas can receive higher functioning speeds. Councilmember Thompson asked how big of an area would be covered. Vince said five miles each antenna, the goal is to have a network that will broadcast out to everybody. The more robust network can self-heal if a pump house location does go down we can reroute to one of the other six locations. Councilmember Christensen asked Bruce if Fiber Com will become a contender for the Ammon fiber program if Ammon decides to provide fiber to homes. Bruce said he doesn’t personally feel that way; he feels we are wetting the appetite for other interested parties. Councilmember Slack said we want people that can provide service to our city. We want to make sure we are designing systems for our networks that allow multiple people to do what they need to do. Councilmember Coletti asked how often they would anticipate needing staff to let them on site. Tim McClanahan, Fiber Com’s engineer said the initial install will take a few days, and then there will be a week of testing; after that there would be maintenance every three to six months. The Council is ok with Bruce negotiating the contract. 3. Sidewalk Maintenance Program: Mayor Kirkham said we have discussed this already, but Ray is looking for approval. The Council reviewed the policy. Ron explained the policy, and said it’s only for residential property.Councilmember Thompson asked if the applicant has to have the work done before the City would pay. Ron said yes. Ray will assess the sidewalks of the citizens that have applied, and the grants would be awarded for the sidewalks that are in the worst shape. Councilmember Christensen asked what the City’s liability is for not advising people their sidewalks need to be fixed, or not having it fixed. Ron said ICRMP (Idaho Counties Risk Management Program) said if the City knows there is a problem, and we do not make them fix it, then the City becomes liable. It is necessary to have a program in place to enforce it. We can enforce it and make them repair the sidewalks, or we can set $40,000 in the budget so we can assist. As part of the grant the City would remove the existing sidewalk, because we have a backhoe and a dump truck, and the contractor will frame and complete the sidewalk. It will save the property owner money since we provided that service. Ray said it saves fifty percent of the new sidewalk cost. Mayor Kirkham said Ray brought up a concern about the Original Town Site, and asked if it was a possibility that we would move away from sidewalks in the Hillview area, pull sidewalks out, and do away with curb and gutter to help repair these sidewalks. Her personal feeling is that we are not moving away from sidewalks. She feels comfortable offering this to the Original Town Site too. Discussion ensued regarding sidewalk issues in the Original Town Site. 4. Medical Coverage for Partners: Mayor Kirkham said she moved this issue to the work session to give the Council time to think and decide how they want to proceed. Ron said the same question came up when the City had insurance with Blue Cross. Ron explained that the State of Idaho must allow you to offer insurance; most of the contractors at the site offer it for partners, but right now we have very few employees it would apply to. It is a general question as to whether in the future we want it or not. Councilmember Powell said he thought we couldn’t do anything already forbidden by the state. Ron said Scott Hall said that, but he knows the INL offers insurance for partners. Ron said we would offer it to partners that had a legal recognizable partnership. At the time the legislation was passed coverage may have been allowed through common law, but Idaho is no longer a common law state. Another thing to take into account would be if you are offering coverage to partners who are not legally recognized, they are buying insurance that is very inexpensive. The bottom line is that you pay X amount for the employee, and we are charged roughly $570 or $590 to add a dependent. The employee pays $200, and the City would pay the remaining amount for the partner that is in a relationship not recognized by the state. Councilmember Powell said he thinks it is a good way to go, because there are people cohabiting but the relationship is not legally recognized by the State. Ron said the issue would be of people trying to take advantage of the coverage. Ron thinks there is some logic to thinking about what it costs the city and determining whether it is legal. Councilmember Slack said the problem is without a legally binding definition of what a relationship is; it is difficult to determine what cohabitation is. Is it a relative, a short term or long term relationship, or a friend? It becomes difficult to determine where the partner piece begins and ends without a definition. The legally binding piece solidifies it. Ron said that is the advantage of States that allow civil unions. Councilmember Thompson said there is a need to consider the City’s insurance premiums are paid for with tax dollars which is different from the INL or a private company with its own policy that pays for it from their own private funds. Councilmember Thompson said for the City itself, the more conservative route is how he would go. Councilmember Christensen doesn’t think we need to extend benefits. Councilmember Slack said he doesn’t know how we could have it any other way; it becomes so broad it will become a problem without something that binds. Councilmember Coletti said he agrees. Councilmember Wiscombe said he was going to defer to the rest of Council since this was his first night sitting on the Council. 5. Misc.: Mayor Kirkham will be attending the City of Idaho Falls Mayor Elect Rebecca Casper’s swearing in.She would like to encourage the Council to attend as well. 35 Council Minutes 01.09.2014 Page of Mayor Kirkham asked Ray if he is using something different on the roads, because she is happier with them this year. Ray explained that he purchased treated rock salt. The cost is $80.00 a lane mile. Councilmember Powell asked how long the treatment lasts. Ray said 24 hours. The rock salt is purchased from a distributor in Utah, but the company hadn’t planned on selling it to the City so we are limited to how much we can obtain and how much we can afford. Mayor Kirkham said this weekend will certainly be the test of how well it works since the forecast is calling for snow. Councilmember Powell asked how much of the treated rock salt the City has on hand. Ray said he had a truck load, but can’t get any more until next week. Mayor Kirkham said she and Ray have been talking about the pretreatment spray that the city of Idaho Falls uses, and if we have money left in the budget she would like the City of Ammon to get to a position to where we would be able to use the pretreatment spray also. Mayor Kirkham asked Ray what it costs to plow the entire City. Ray said a good guess is $20,000. Mayor Kirkham complimented Ray for doing a good job. Mayor Kirkham said the Council microphones need to be repaired. She received some phone calls after the last meeting from people in the audience that were unable to hear what was going on. Other Councilmembers’ expressed that they had received similar phone calls. Ron explained that staff has been unable to keep the microphones from screeching. Mayor Kirkham said the audience felt excluded from the conversation, and they need to hear what is being said. Ron asked Bruce how much it would cost to upgrade the sound system. Bruce said to replace just the microphones, the cost is $100 each, but to upgrade the system it would be a few thousand. He would like the microphones to hang from the ceiling to reduce the amount of feedback sound that we are experiencing from the ones mounted on the desk. Mayor Kirkham asked Bruce to research the cost of repairing or upgrading the microphones. Mayor Kirkham askedLance about the $60,000 bill from EIRWWA (Eastern Idaho Regional Waste Water Authority) for the Ozone treatment for odor control at the lift station. She was not sure why it was billed to the City of Ammon. She spoke with Dave Noel, and they will discuss the billing at the meeting next week. The total bill was $90,000. The City of Shelley paid $30,000, and Ammon was billed $60,000. Lance asked what Dave’s explaination was. Mayor Kirkham said his understanding was that the City of Ammon was going to pay for it using the funds we saved on the screens. Discussion ensued. Mayor Kirkham would like one of the Council to sit on the INL Citizen’s Advisory Board. Councilmember Christensensaid he would be happy to. Mayor Kirkham said it is time for donations to the Spirit of Ammon Scholarship Fund, and she would encourage everyone to contribute. She would like to see the scholarship grow to a point that it is not only limited to EITC (Eastern Idaho Technical College). She would like to offer a scholarship to any young person in Ammon going to an Idaho school. Councilmember Coletti wondered if the Idaho Community Foundation could help put it together. He will look into it. Mayor Kirkham said she would like to encourage the Council to attend the scholarship award ceremony. Discussion ensued regarding the scholarship process. Lance gave Councilmember Thompson a draft copy of the proposed parking stall diagram. Ron said this parking design would work within the 9x18 requirements. Lance said this will also clarify the City’s policy. Councilmember Thompson commented this encourages diagonal parking. Councilmember Christensen said he was invited to do the TedxAmmon. It does not have anything to do with the City of Ammon it is just part of the name. It will be held at EITC. If you are familiar with TedxAmmon, this is a localized version. It is being held February 21st at EITC. There will be two ninety minute blocks of presentation separated by a dinner. Only 100 people are invited to attend. Councilmember Christensen asked the Council to let him know if they would like to attend. Mayor Kirkham said her goal is that by March to use the Work sessions for strategic planning. The department heads have been given specific assignments. She would like the Councilmembers to meet with their department heads and review the entire fee schedule for their assigned department. She wants the Council to understand what the fees are, and how they cover cost. She understands this may be a complicated assignment for some departments such as public works. Councilmember Thompson said he feels we need a metro police department. There is overlapping coverage with Idaho Falls. Mayor Kirkham said the Sheriff’s office is the regional police force. Councilmember Slack said Ammon and the County will eclipse Idaho Falls in roughly ten years. Councilmember Thompson said this is off topic but he would like to share data obtained from the police department regarding commercial property, particularly Wal-Mart. The data covers where the police went for the year, 15percent of the service calls were to commercial property, 15 percent to the schools, 35 percent to high density housing areas, and 45 percent residential 45 Council Minutes 01.09.2014 Page of houses. Wal-Mart’s property value at that time was $12.3 million. They paid $159,000 in taxes. The City of Ammon received $25,000 of those taxes. It costs between $100 - $115 per police response call. The sheriff receives 25 to 40 calls per month from Wal-Mart. The commercial property Wal-Mart does not pay for itself for police protection. This is also true of other commercial properties. The properties coming to the City of Ammon are not helping with taxes. Councilmember Slack said there are differentials to the data such as, how long an officer is at the scene. Picking up a shop lifter takes fifteen minutes, while dealing with a domestic violence issue in a high density area could take hours. Councilmember Thompson agreed; he said he likes having the data available. The commercial properties add convenience and employment for the residents. Discussion ensued regarding commercial property development. Councilmember Slack moved to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 5:57 p.m. ______________________________________________ Dana Kirkham, Mayor ______________________________________________ Ron Folsom, City Clerk 55 Council Minutes 01.09.2014 Page of