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08022007CouncilMinutesCITY OF AMMON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2007 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL AGENDA THURSDAY, August 2, 2007 CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bruce Ard at 7:30 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance – Councilmember Waite Prayer – Councilmember Bean MINUTES: July 5, July 12, and July 19, 2007 ITEMS FROM MAYOR: CONSENT AGENDA: Attached PUBLIC HEARINGS: None PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: ACTION ITEMS: 1. Inglet – Water/Sewer Connection Agreement 2. Preliminary Site Plan – L:incoln Industrial KVO Cabinets 3. Preliminary Site Plan – Majestic Acres – Simmons Professional Plaza 4. Preliminary Site Plan – Family Care Center 5. Electronic Water Meter Company Selections (documents pending) st 6. Authorization for Thermoplastic Crosswalk on 21 South 7. Approval of FY2008 Preliminary Budget DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1. Webb Construction – Single Lot Development – Well 9 Impact 2. Adoption of School Zone Crossing Standard 3. School Meters/Industrial Rates – Water and Sewer Connections 4. Increase in Meter Deposits 5. Misc. MINUTES The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ard at 7:30 p.m. in the City Building, 2135 South Ammon Road, Ammon, Idaho, with the following City Officials present: City Officials Present: Mayor Bruce Ard Councilmember Lee Bean Councilmember Dana Kirkham Councilmember Randy Waite City Administrator Bruce Rose City Planning Director Ron Folsom City Attorney Scott Hall City Clerk Leslie Folsom City Officials Absent: Councilmember Rex Thompson Councilmember Waite led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and, Councilmember Bean offered the prayer. th MINUTES: July 5, 12, and July 19, 2007. Councilmember Kirkham motioned to approve the minutes from July 19, 2007. Councilmember Waite seconded. Roll call vote: Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Waite – Yes, and Councilmember Bean – Yes. The motion passed. City Council Minutes 08/02/2007 -- 1 thth Councilmember Kirkham motioned to table the July 5 and July 12, 2007 minutes because of the absence of a quorum for approval. Councilmember Bean seconded. Roll call vote: Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Bean – Yes, and Councilmember Waite – Yes. The motion passed. ITEMS FROM MAYOR : Jeff Freiberg & Jim representing Keller and Associates stated they wanted to go over some water information with Council. Jeff stated everyone has a printout from the flow for Well #9 which has the capacity of 1875 gallons per minute. Water supply from Well #9 to downhill developments is between 850 -950 gallons per minute. He explained what DEQ requires and we have a water deficiency of 290 gallons per minute, if there are no housing developments. It was discussed there are 176 lots approved in the hills. The lack of water is with the assumption that the 176 lots are full. Jeff stated they were approached to build booster stations to increase that number of 176 lots. He stated he didn’t think they had enough water now to the support the water needs. Councilmember Kirkham stated they already knew that. Jeff stated it did not make sense to do the booster station until Well #11 has come online. Councilmember Bean inquired if you can increase the water for the valley. Jeff stated you would have to do a water analysis. He said you have 975 gallons per minute left to go up the hill. The fire code is 1000 gallons per minute so if a house caught on fire you wouldn’t even have enough to put out one house fire. Jeff stated the recommendation is not to push the booster station ahead of the tank. He also presented a site plan to Council and explained if they build that booster station in front of the tank it will be in the way of the tank construction. He recommended building the tank first and then the booster station. Councilmember Kirkham inquired where we are in the design phase and realistically when can we expect the tank to be completed. It was discussed by next spring we can start construction and then about 6 months until operation. Councilmember Bean asked what kind of effect Well #11 will have. Jeff stated you will have more pull up the hill, but he would have to put it in a model to see how it affects everything around it. : CONSENT AGENDA CITY OF AMMON CONSENT AGENDA Thursday August 2, 2007 License applications are pending in the City Office for the following: GENERAL BUSINESS LICENSE 2007: 1.NEWGENERAL BUSINESS LICENSE APPLICATION: th A. Connections Counseling & Consulting – Counseling – 3456 E. 17 St. Ste. #290 2.RENEWALBUSINESS LICENSE APPLICATION: A.American Yellowstone Claims Service – Collection Service – 3897 Taylorview Ln HOME OCCUPATION PERMITS 2007: 1.RENEWAL HOME OCCUPATION PERMITS: A.Lattimore, Holly/The Children’s Palace – Daycare – 2825 Salmon Street Councilmember Bean motioned to approve the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Waite seconded. Roll call vote: Councilmember Bean – Yes, Councilmember Waite – Yes, and Councilmember Kirkham – Yes. The motion passed. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None PUBLIC COMMENT REGARDING ITEMS NOT ON AGENDA: None ACTION ITEMS : 1. Inglet – Water/Sewer Connection Agreement: Mayor Ard stated he added this to the agenda due to a call he received. He stated this is one of the homes that did not get signed up for services. He wants to clarify what our stance is regarding the payment terms for repayment. It was discussed what discounts or terms we would like to be made available. Leslie Folsom stated she and Lisa would like to have a say in this since they would be handling the majority of the circumstances. Leslie stated that they are concerned about giving discounts because in time people will say don’t pay the amount because you will get it discounted when you come in to pay on a later date. Lisa stated the most amount of time we have gone is 9 months. Councilmember Bean stated he is not opposed to the policy we have now. Councilmember Kirkham stated she thinks the policy we have been using is effective. Councilmember City Council Minutes 08/02/2007 -- 2 Bean stated he would not go discount beyond 10%. Councilmember Kirkham stated there is an offer on the table in regards to this particular case and it sounds like they may not accept. It was discussed if they refuse, then you go back to the original proposal. Councilmember Waite stated he is concerned about if they ask for a discount, we give it to them; but if they don’t, we don’t give it to them. Scott Hall suggested having them not go through staff to get a discount, but come before Council to request a discount. Councilmember Kirkham agreed. 2. Preliminary Site Plan – Lincoln Industrial KVO Cabinets: Planning Director Ron Folsom explained where the property is located. He stated the reason there is a new site plan is because, after staff review, they had not designed it with a retention pond. He also mentioned there have been a few changes with parking. Councilmember Bean inquired if it meets everything we need. Ron Folsom explained it was approved last night. He also explained there are some changes that Alan Cunningham will explain. Alan Cunningham explained three items discussed last night at the P&Z meeting. The building size is 25 feet and it will be sprinkled. Councilmember Bean motioned to approve the Preliminary Site Plan for Lincoln Industrial KVO Cabinets. Councilmember Kirkham seconded. Roll call vote: Councilmember Bean – Yes, Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, and Councilmember Waite – Yes. The motion passed. 3. Preliminary Site Plan – Majestic Acres – Simmons Professional Plaza: Planning Director Ron Folsom explained where the property is located and changes due to staff review. There was not a retention or storm water pond. He explained that staff has not reviewed this new preliminary site plan. Councilmember Bean inquired if there was anything of concern with the changes. Ron Folsom stated there is not. He explained staff recommendations won’t come out till Tuesday. He also explained they originally had 4 accesses, now they do not. Councilmember Bean inquired if it meets code. Ron Folsom stated it meets all the setbacks he requires. Councilmember Bean motioned to approve the Preliminary Site Plan for Majestic Acres Simmons Professional Plaza. Councilmember Waite seconded. Roll call vote: Councilmember Bean – Yes, Councilmember Waite – Yes, and Councilmember Kirkham – Yes. The motion passed. 4. Preliminary Site Plan – Family Care Center: Planning Director Ron Folsom explained where the property is located. There are no landscaping requirements and meets our parking requirements. The main access will be off of Hitt Road and there will be a fire access off of Township. He explained they did consolidate some things due to budget reasons. Councilmember Bean inquired if they have seen a Preliminary Site Plan on this. Ron explained it was in 2003 and they expire after 18 months. Ron Folsom explained they are proposing the gravel road to be a secondary access for emergency access but the fire department is requesting it to be asphalt and the staff agrees. Councilmember Waite inquired how long it is until they plan to develop the rest of the property. Lisa with Harper Leavitt Engineering stated she is not sure when they plan on developing the rest of it. Councilmember Bean inquired how long the gravel road is and what building they are developing right now. Ron Folsom explained which building and the construction is getting ready. Councilmember Bean stated he thought we had required White Pines to make their emergency access asphalt also. Councilmember Bean inquired what kind of development the City of Idaho Falls has required for FCC access to Hitt Road. Lisa stated they aren’t requiring curb and gutter. Councilmember Kirkham motioned that we approve the Preliminary Site Plan for Family Care Center with the requirement that the fire lane be paved. Councilmember Waite seconded. Roll call vote: Councilmember Kirkham – yes, Councilmember Waite – Yes, and Councilmember Bean – yes. The motion passed. Councilmember Bean stated he would like to have some further discussion on the matter. He stated that the access needs to be developed at some point and time. He explained developers always pay the cost of development around them. He doesn’t want the City to get caught up with that development. He is surprised that the City of Idaho Falls has not required curb and gutter. Ron Folsom explained the reason they did not require it because the road was not improved, at that point. He is wondering if it is up to us to decide who is going to have to pay for it. Councilmember Bean inquired if our development agreement has a stipulation requiring they pay their portion to develop on Hitt Road. Ron Folsom stated he thinks it does and he will verify it. Councilmember Bean stated as long as that is there, then he won’t worry about it. Lisa at Harper Leavitt stated that they are actually responsible for 21.5 feet of the pavement once it is developed, she believes. 5. Electronic Water Meter Company Selections (documents pending): Councilmember Waite stated to the public that they had originally planned to have a work session regarding this issue before this meeting, but it was cancelled. He explained they were looking into different companies that provide water meter services. Councilmember Waite stated we could speck out all three systems so that we can have a comparison for cost but we could not make a decision tonight. Leslie Folsom stated the biggest concern is cost and they are leaning towards Neptune or Sensus. Councilmember Bean inquired to the representatives of Neptune about when they speak of a “drive-by”, what you consider that is. Joel Davison, Neptune Technology Group, stated that the term is used loosely in the industry. A mobile system is a system where there is typically a vehicle or person that moves around and then picks up the reading in a certain fashion. It could be a range of choices from a computer, etc. He explained from a City Council Minutes 08/02/2007 -- 3 marketing standpoint, they promote their hand-held as a “walk by” system. He explained ones that have, a sort of computer, attached are promoted as mobile drive by systems. Realistically, you can take a hand-held and drive with it. Councilmember Bean inquired about their hand-held and if they can continuously drive by and pick up readings, or do they have to point to the meter and click. Joel explained the technology they use does not require a button to push to accept the account. The drive by sits in the truck and reads automatically. Scott Hall inquired if the garbage man is driving around picking up garbage and has it in the seat of his truck, can it read the meters while he is picking up garbage. Joel explained it can. Councilmember Bean stated currently they have a number of Sensus meters already and wants to know if we would have to replace those. Joel explained they do not have to change them out; they are compatible with each other. Joel explained the higher the wattage, the greater the distance. He also explained you have to take into account the frequency and the methodology of the actual radio. Councilmember Bean commented we could have some additional discussion on the subject with the information we have. Sensus explained how their system works. Scott Hall inquired with garbage man example; he would have to push a button each time. It was agreed that he would have to. Councilmember Bean stated that is in one system, and Sensus does have another system that is a step up from that which compares with Neptune, but that is where they had the disparity with cost. Councilmember Bean inquired which of the two companies would interface better with Clarity. Leslie Folsom stated she believes they are equal in that aspect. Councilmember Bean inquired what specks we need to look at regarding the companies. Councilmember Waite stated they have costs of each system, but feels they aren’t the same system. Leslie Folsom agreed. It was discussed it comes down to the unit you want. Councilmember Bean inquired to Sensus what the difference between the hand-held and the drive by. He explained the drive by is like 72 of the handhelds because of the amount it can receive. The drive by is designed for cities that want to read 30,000 meters per day. He feels a hand-held would be adequate for the City. It was discussed what would have to change if you started with a hand-held and upgraded. They explained only the listening device would change, the software, etc. remains the same. Councilmember Waite inquired about any possible discounts. Sensus stated Rick has asked for a price and the numbers they gave were just options. He explained they can demo the product and feels they need more information before making a decision. Badger Meter stated he would like to speak up. He explained there has been a tremendous amount of information with respect to automated meter reading systems. He explained they have a product that serves both purposes for a reading device. They have a hand-held that sits in a cradle that is attached to a very high powered receiver. It is priced in between a hand held and a mobile collector, but reads with the same efficiency as a mobile collection device but much less expensive. Badger explained the GPS system interacts with the reader and colors the meters that have not been read so you can go back and reread them. He is unsure if that is feasible for a garbage truck on his route. Scott Hall stated they really aren’t looking to hire someone to go around pushing a button. Councilmember Bean motioned to table the discussion until the next council meeting. Councilmember Waite asked the representatives of the companies to come and demo their products when they next meet again. Councilmember Kirkham seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Councilmember Bean – Yes, Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, and Councilmember Waite – Yes. The motion passed. st 6. Authorization for Thermoplastic Crosswalk on 21 South: Councilmember Kirkham stated she thinks we do want to have the thermoplastic crosswalk and we want to get it done before school starts. Councilmember Bean inquired if this crosswalk is at our expense. It was discussed it is. Ron Folsom stated you can say if they decide to put a crosswalk in, require it to be thermoplastic. Bruce Rose explained the cost difference. Guy Bliesner, School District Health and Safety Coordinator, stated if they begin a bussing process they will do it forever. He explained they are limited by drivers and equipment and feels bussing is not an option. Councilmember Bean inquired what they are asking to eliminate on this. Guy explained they could get away with bussing kids one year and write for a grant for their budget purposes. Roger stated they don’t have funds budgeted for that. Guy suggested going back with what they installed at Woodland Hills. It would be a painted crosswalk and no lights, simply signs. Ron has a concern with speed coming down from that hill. He feels the lights are a safety issue. It was discussed what the signage involved and the costs of the lights around the sign. Councilmember Kirkham commented they may not get grant money and they need to take that into consideration. Councilmember Kirkham commented we have Bridgewater paying out there. Ron Folsom explained Bridgewater is interior. Councilmember Kirkham stated she feels stronger about having the lights. It was discussed we are making an exception here and we need to take that into consideration. Roger and Guy stated they were discussing and have decided to install it as designed. Guy asked for them to get some developer help on this. Councilmember Bean asked them to give them an idea of where their schools will be so we can do that. Roger explained he doesn’t always have an idea of where they are going. Councilmember Bean stated we need to develop a policy of some sort. It was discussed to have every developer pay a portion of costs for future crosswalks City Administrator clarified that Council wanted this on work session for next Thursday. Councilmember Kirkham would like the schools feedback on what they think is appropriate for developers to pay for. City Council Minutes 08/02/2007 -- 4 7. Approval of FY 2008 Preliminary Budget: Councilmember Bean explained the new budget to the Council. No changes have been made. Councilmember Kirkham motioned to approve the 2008 Preliminary Budget and approve the notice of public hearing. Councilmember Waite seconded. Roll call vote: Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Waite – Yes, and Councilmember Bean – yes. The motion passed. DISCUSSION ITEMS : 1. Webb Construction – Single Lot Development: Ron Folsom explained he has received calls on this property regarding development. He stated this lot is involved with Well #11. He explained that Webb’s request is that want to buy the property and build one house on it. They would like to know if it goes through the annexation process can it be hooked to sewer and water where it is one house. Mayor Ard explained they have a secondary water source and stated he does not have a problem with a single home there. Councilmember Bean inquired how we monitor the water. It was discussed we put a meter on the property as part of the annexation agreement. Councilmember Bean stated he is going to recommend we put meters on every home. He stated the reason for that is we are starting to meter and we may as well put meters on. Councilmember Bean stated he does not have a problem with it but to let them know we will meter it. 2. Adoption of School Zone Crossing Standard: Previously discussed. 3. School Meters/Industrial Rates – Water and Sewer Connections: It was discussed about adjusting the bills for the schools. Roger stated he would like to see that. He stated they went from $4000 in May to about $13,000 last month. He stated they would like to utilize the surface water and pull away from the City’s water. Even with rate adjusted, it will still be a hard cost for them to pay. They appreciated whatever the City can do to help with the rates. Councilmember Bean inquired if they were aware of how much water they use at Sandcreek. Roger stated they had no idea. Roger stated they will do what they can to conserve the water there. Leslie gave Roger a copy of what amount is going out of each location. She explained that is just the water rate and not sewer. He asked if there could be a rate change during the summer months as a suggestion. Councilmember Bean stated he feels we need to look at installing meters in high use buildings. He explained we have to meter churches next and other high users. Councilmember Kirkham stated her only concern is the bond issue. Councilmember Bean talked about metering by the summer of 2009. Councilmember Bean inquired where we are at on our meter deposits. Leslie stated we are at $375. Ron Folsom stated the City of Idaho Falls is now requiring meter pits similar to ours now. Ron Folsom suggested that because we allow developers whatever size water line they want in a house, we should tell people we will charge more for larger than an inch line. Ray Ellis, 2940 Sawtooth, stated this month there will be coming about a proposed standard for the nation concerning green building and it will be open for public comment. He stated we would like to maintain our current quality life. As we look at a long term policy as a city to give incentives for people or developers to go green, he will get that standard available to them as soon as he can get a copy of it. Mayor Ard commented about the water conservation program. Leslie Folsom commented about the industrial rates. A lot of the buildings in question are warehouses and are not a commercial entity. She would like to see a possibility to add the industrial to the professional office space. Leslie stated we do these based on zones. Councilmember Bean stated he does not have a problem with it. Councilmember Bean asked Ron to have Rick find out what the cost is for a water meter for ¾ to 1 inch line. Ron stated they are really close. He would like to see a break with all the line costs for meters. It was discussed the cost of the image unit is covered with the $375. Ron Folsom commented that Jackson sells the plumbers a standard meter for the plumbers to hook onto the Jackson water system. They don’t make a profit, but just assess the fee which allows for a universal meter. It was discussed we just set a standard for the City meters. Ron commented we need to make sure that meter is available. It was discussed the meters last at least 25 years. 4. Increase in Meter Deposits: Previously discussed. 5. Misc.: Ron Folsom stated we have site plans reviewed by an outside engineer since we don’t currently have one. He inquired if we could ask Keller to review these for us. It was discussed to talk to Keller about the plan reviews. Scott Hall inquired about the garbage and if there has been any follow up. Councilmember Bean explained st their goal is to have everything purchased by May 1 of next year. Bruce Rose explained we can “piggy back” on others for now. Mayor Ard stated PSI called him and offered us to come up and look at their containers and equipment. City Council Minutes 08/02/2007 -- 5 Guy Bliesner, Bonneville School District, stated looking over the original safe house for schools proposal, st the possibility exists that 21 Street may be a higher priority than Midway. It may be able to move the portion of the st grant at Midway to 21. Councilmember Kirkham stated that would be great. Councilmember Waite inquired what he would do about Midway. Guy stated there would be a couple of things they would have to do, but they are generally happy with him right now. He stated he would discuss it with IDT. He said the only problem would be meeting the opening school deadline. He stated they will get a crossing guard there. Ron Folsom inquired if Councilmember Thompson will be here for the work session. He stated Jeff Hawks will be coming in from California and wants to make sure we have enough people there to merit him coming. Councilmember Bean stated he feels Hawkes Landing will want to talk about a sewer agreement. Mayor Ard stated Jeff Hawks inquired about reimbursement possibilities. It was discussed there would be. Ron explained what Hawkes has been requesting. Councilmember Bean stated he would like to send a notice to them back as a term sheet rather than an agreement. He feels they need to understand it has to be part of the reimbursement agreement. Councilmember Bean commented to send to the rest of the Council our recommendations and proposals for their benefit of the work session. Councilmember Bean recommended we need to sit down with Roger and Kent Foster to have some discussion before that next meeting. Bruce Rose stated that is planned already. Councilmember Waite inquired about the Jessica Lewis claim. It was discussed this was Circle S and where we dug up the wrong line. It was discussed we need to follow up on this. Leslie stated she didn’t realize which one they were talking about and yes it has been turned in as a claim. Councilmember Kirkham stated her neighbor called her that lives on the corner of Fieldstone and Fieldstone Court regarding the French Drains. We have dug the hole and it is 16 feet deep and 10 feet wide. He stated to her that he spoke to someone and they told him we were out of money and were not going to finish the project and it could be up to a year before anything gets changed. She would like to see us finish that French Drain and request that we not dig another hole unless we are sure it can be finished. Councilmember Bean commented to begrudge our staff not to tell people we are out of money. It was discussed it was whoever was digging the hole. Councilmember Bean inquired to Bruce where we are at on that. Bruce stated it should be filled by next week. Bruce stated the only constraint is if we plan for overtime on it. Councilmember Kirkham asked the rest of Council to approve overtime for this project. Mayor Ard okayed the overtime. Leslie Folsom stated there are a lot of people not signed up for garbage. Councilmember Bean suggested just start to bill them even if they have not signed up. Leslie inquired if the billing starts from now or past. It was discussed to bill them starting now and if they don’t pay the bill then turn them over to collections. Leslie Folsom discussed we need to refund money back to IBSD that we collected monies incorrectly on four accounts – four were only IBSD and two were IBSD and Falls Water. It was discussed to send a letter to IBSD and Falls Water. Councilmember Kirkham motioned to adjourn to executive session for personnel. Councilmember Bean seconded. The meeting adjourned at 10:40 p.m. ___________________________________________ C. Bruce Ard, Mayor ______________________________________ Leslie Folsom, City Clerk City Council Minutes 08/02/2007 -- 6