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04092009CouncilMinutes-WS CITY OF AMMON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES - WORK SESSION THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2009 AGENDA: CITY OF AMMON 2135 SOUTH AMMON ROAD CITY COUNCIL AGENDA – WORK SESSION THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2009 – 4:00 P.M. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1.Proposed Building Dept. Fees (Charlie) 2.Contracting with Iona for Ammon to do Iona’s Inspections(Charlie) 3.EMS Quick Response Unit (Stacy) 4.Regional Sewer Project Responsibility for Maintenance and Operation (Jenn) 5.Budget for 2009 – 2010 (Council) 6.Misc. MINUTES City Officials Present: Mayor Bruce Ard Councilmember Dana Kirkham Councilmember Lee Bean (arrived at 4:50 p.m.) Councilmember Brian Powell Councilmember Randy Waite Councilmember D. Ray Ellis City Clerk Leslie Folsom City Treasurer Jennifer Belfield City Engineer Lance Bates City Officials Absent: Councilmember Rex Thompson City Planning Director Ron Folsom City Attorney Scott Hall Mayor Ard opened the meeting at 4:00 p.m. at the City Office Building located at 2135 South Ammon Road. DISCUSSION ITEMS: 1. Proposed Building Dept. Fees: Charlie went over his fee structure comparisons which show that on the smaller units 0-3500 sq ft, it would be less than they were previously being billed and a little more on the larger units of 3500-4500 sq ft with the State fees much higher. The City is still $100 less than the State. The President of the HBA was comfortable with this and wondered if we need to raise it more. Charlie advised that any inspections of the same property and project over three will have an additional charge which will affect someone wanting the City to teach them how to do the project. This will help the expenses with the people who don’t make the corrections and they have to go back over and over. The State fees are based on square footage so the public is familiar with this. He doubled the old fees on the sq footage and changed the plan review fee to 10%. It is based on $88 per sq ft and Charlie feels it is accurate for buildings. Councilmember Ellis asked how he could prove his numbers. Mayor Ard said they could bring in their figures. Councilmember Powell said the tax assessors are all over the board. Charlie said he feels we are closer now than before. Charlie said they have so many hours into it and feels they can defend it. Charlie stated he separated the commercial from the residential. 2. Contracting with Iona for Ammon to do Iona’s Inspections: Charlie said we are a little higher than Iona. Charlie said they have a new subdivision opening up. Charlie asked the Council if they wanted to go higher than 60/40 or if they want to do the inspections. Councilmember Powell said he wouldn’t have a problem this year 4-9-2009 Council Minutes Page 1 of 3 but would like to look at it next year. Leslie suggested the extra inspection fees are kept by Ammon. Charlie said he would see that this is done. Councilmember Powell stated he thinks it’s a good idea and if we can help them and they can keep us busy this is a good thing. Charlie said it would be a good thing for them. Charlie said there is a grant for above code which we qualify for. The City has just broken through a barrier with the Dept. of Energy and we can now register through “fed connect” but now we have to write the grant. Do we want to outsource? Charlie stated he would like to apply for $75,000 - $100,000 which is to add or retain staffing and it’s not matching funds. Bonneville County has $700,000 available. Mayor Ard said we would have to show that we kept staff. Councilmember Powell said to take two people and add benefits. Charlie said he has just started and they are trying to get registered. Leslie said with Ken, Stacy and Bruce Patterson helping Charlie, she feels he can do the grant. Councilmember Powell requested from Charlie that when he gets ready to submit the grant Council would like to review it. 3. EMS Quick Response Unit: Council tabled. 4. Regional Sewer Project Responsibility for Maintenance and Operation: Jennifer said the last item on the management report is the sewer project and the auditors would like to know who maintains the lines. Mayor Ard said we will own our own lines and we will be responsible, whether we maintain them or subcontract it will need to be determined. Councilmember Ellis said the transmission line will be owned by the Regional Sewer Project and they will maintain it. Mayor Ard said if Judy has questions, have her call him and he will try to answer her questions regarding the sewer project. There are some decisions that aren’t complete and final. 5. Budget for 2009 – 2010: Jennifer said the only increase is the housing valuations. In the conference that Jennifer and Leslie attended they were able to get updated State Revenue Sharing numbers, so she could include those details. This is the best information that we have, at this time. She presented the March financials and it has the second quarter allocations which are close but there will be changes for depreciation and when she is finished with it, she will override SharePoint. She did talk with Blackfoot and Rexburg concerning their pay scale. Jenn said we pay a lot for attorney services, so she has created a spreadsheet with 2007-2008-2009 to show how much the figures have changed. She wants to be sure our approach is the best way available to the City. She showed a Cooper Larsen invoice which had a fee from Anderson, Nelson, and Hall. Councilmember Bean said he thinks she will find Scott spends a lot of time with the City and it is fair for us. Councilmember Bean said the bill for Cooper Larsen was for mediation and they hired Anderson, Nelson, and Hall which had nothing to do with the City. The Council advised Jennifer they didn’t want to look at the numbers. Councilmember Powell said it was good for her to question the item. Jennifer advised the Council that she has now fixed the financials to show overtime reflected separately. Councilmember Bean addressed the Council and advised them as to how to go about it this year. Jennifer is as accurate as she can be with the information available at this time. Councilmember Bean asked how to allocate it for the next year. Mayor Ard said the estimate is revenue sharing will be down 7%. Councilmember Bean said he wanted to talk about several different items. He feels we have a great parks director and doesn’t want to stifle him but should the funds go into Public Works. Councilmember Bean stated he wants to look closely at the technical department and do we need to continue with all the high tech. Councilmember Ellis said on the administrative side, he would say yes, we are going to need him less, but on the public works side with the technology involved in the new water project coming online we are going to need him more. Councilmember Powell said the police and fire will also be important for technical. Councilmember Kirkham said we will have to stay with Bonneville County for the next year. Councilmember Bean said Bonneville County is on notice that we won’t see much of an increase this year and have asked Sam to justify the numbers. Councilmember Powell asked if we can go back and ask for a 10% decrease. Councilmember Bean said they gave Sam a copy of Steve’s proposal. Councilmember Powell asked why we can’t go back to them and say we can only pay $700,000 and what can we get for that. Councilmember Kirkham said we have tried that approach before and they have said this is what it will cost. Councilmember Kirkham said once you incorporate you are required to provide police service and the County only has to respond to life and death instances. Councilmember Bean said the fine revenue is in direct proportion to the time spent in the City and feels if we had someone here fulltime there would be more fines. Councilmember Bean said he did offer to go to a different formula. Councilmember Powell 4-9-2009 Council Minutes Page 2 of 3 said it was good we started looking for other avenues and letting them see it. Councilmember Powell has been working with Stacy and some discussions with the district and wants the Council to look again at joining the district. If we joined the district, the City could put the money back into roads. The property tax on a $100,000 home for the district will go up $4 a month per home. This occurs with the home ownership exemption of $75,000, so when you work the figures and most homes have a post-exemption value of $100,000 and these won’t show an increase. Councilmember Bean said if you are going to sell it, then it has to be based on more than cost. Councilmember Powell said we are coming to a fork in the road, where we need to make a decision and get the numbers put together. The biggest benefit of joining the district will be Areva and it will drive the value down again. Councilmember Kirkham said we all saw the benefit of joining the district, but have to have the gumption to handle the outcry. Councilmember Bean said we aren’t asking, we are informing. Councilmember Powell said there is no other option; we can’t sustain the fire department under the current financial conditions. Councilmember Bean asked if the district would cease their contract with Idaho Falls. Councilmember Kirkham said they could not get another building up on the west side in time. Councilmember Powell said he has a timeline. Councilmember Bean said the firefighters union will fight us tooth and nail. Councilmember Bean said go to the district and say they are interested and put a proposal together for us with the service for Ammon. Councilmember Ellis asked if they would buy us out. Councilmember Powell said some of it he doesn’t agree on, and some of it we wouldn’t care. Councilmember Kirkham said if we are ever in a position now would be the time. Councilmember Kirkham said she doesn’t know if it is the right thing to do, but it is a necessity. With the growth of the City, we can’t maintain the fire department as is. Councilmember Ellis said the majority don’t want us to grow. Councilmember Bean said that’s true wherever you go. Councilmember Ellis asked about the fire station on the hill. Councilmember Powell said the district has an ambulance follow the fire truck, at all times, on the districts equipment which is an unnecessary expense. Councilmember Bean said he would like to see us move forward. Councilmember Ellis said we are at a breaking point; we have to make a huge investment in the fire department or join the district in order to maintain our level of service. Councilmember Powell said we can’t do it this year but we have to prepare for it in 2010. Councilmember Kirkham said we can do it this year. Mayor Ard said he thinks we have to look at the district. We tried to be as forthright as we could and the people who came were dead set against it. Councilmember Bean said let’s have a special session, since it will be extraordinarily long and we can get a consensus of where we want to go. Councilmember Kirkham said we will lose control and we have to accept the fate just like the police force and we can’t worry about it anymore. Leslie asked the Council to remember to protect the fire inspections for business th licenses. Council decided to set a work session meeting for May 20 at 2 p.m. with the district discussion from 2 – 3 p.m. and management strategic planning from 3 – 7 p.m. Councilmember Kirkham said look at your departments and then come back to Councilmember Bean stth by May 1. Councilmember Powell stated he will call the railroad about the tracks on 17and the need for repairs. 6. Misc.: None Councilmember Bean motioned to enter into executive session pursuant to provision of Idaho Code 67-2345, subsection 1 (a) for personnel reasons. Councilmember Kirkham seconded. Roll Call Vote: Councilmember Bean – Yes, Councilmember Kirkham – Yes, Councilmember Powell – Yes, Councilmember Waite – Yes, and Councilmember Ellis – Yes. The motion passed The meeting adjourned at 5:53 p.m. ___________________________________________ C. Bruce Ard, Mayor ______________________________________ Leslie Folsom, City Clerk 4-9-2009 Council Minutes Page 3 of 3