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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 12.07.1999MINUTES OF THE CITY ( OUNCIL OF I IUR! L December 7, 1999 A regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Laurel, Montana, was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Mayor Chuck Rodgers at 7:00 p.m. on December 7, 1999. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Ken Olson Gay Easton Bill Staudinger COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Dirk Kroll GaW Temple Miles Walton (7:07) Norman Orr Bud Johnson Mayor Rodgers asked the council to observe a moment of silence in behalf of the veterans of World War II and the family of Miranda Fenner. Mayor Rodgers presented Vince Henman with the Wendy's High School Heisman Award for the State of Montana. Mayor Rodgers thanked Vince for being a team player and for his accomplishments in the community as a citizen, scholar and athlete. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Easton to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of November 16, 1999, as presented, seconded by Alderman Staudinger. Motion carried 6-0. CORRESPONDENCE: a. Wendy's High School Heisman: Letter of November 3, 1999. b. Laurel Chamber of Commerce: Distinguished Service Awards nominations. c. MMIA Risk Management Bulletin: Law Enforcement Assistance Program Update. d. Montana Department of Revenue: Shotgun Willie's application for transfer of beer/wine license. CONSENT ITEMS: a. Clerk/Treasurer Financial Statements for the month of October. b. Claims for the month of November in the amount of $531,170.20. c. Committee Reports. --Budget/Finance Committee minutes of November 15, 1999 were presented. --City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of November 16, 1999 were presented. --Emergency Services Committee minutes of October 25, 1999 were presented. --Emergency Services Committee minutes of November 22, 1999 were presented. d. Resolutions. 1) Resolution No. R99-53: A resolution accepting a bid for a new sewer jet cleaner. RESOLUTION NO. R99-53 A RESOLUTION ACCEPTING A BID FOR A NEW SEWER JET CLEANER. Council Minutes of December 7, 1999 2) Resolution No. R99-54: Resolution establishing and amending the rates and charges for ambulance calls and responses. RESOLUTION NO. R99-54 RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING AND AMENDING THE RATES AND CHARGES FOR AMBULANCE CALLS AND RESPONSES. 3) Resolution No. R99-55: Amending the title of the job description for Code Enforcement Inspector creating two job descriptions: Building/Code Enforcement Inspector and Fire/Code Enforcement Inspector. RESOLUTION NO. 1t99-55 AMENDING THE TITLE OF THE JOB DESCRIPTION FOR CODE ENFORCEMENT INSPECTOR CREATING TWO JOB DESCRIPTIONS: BUILDING/CODE ENFORCEMENT INSPECTOR AND FIRE/CODE ENFORCEMENT INSPECTOR. 4) Resolution No. R99-56: Resolution approving an agreement with Yellowstone County to provide G.I. S Services to the City of Laurel. RESOLUTION NO. R99-56 RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AGREEMENT WITH YELLOWSTONE COUNTY TO PROVIDE G.LS. SERVICES TO THE CITY OF LAUREL. 5) Resolution No. R99-57: A resolution approving the bid for a police car from Laurel Ford. RESOLUTION NO. R99-57 A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE BID FOR A POLICE CAR 6) FROM LAUREL FORD. Resolution No. R99-58: Budget Amendment Resolution. RESOLUTION NO. R99-58 BUDGET AMENDMENT RESOLUTION. The mayor asked if there was any separation of consent items. Alderman Johnson separated item 5.d.4) out of the consent items. placed on the agenda as item 6.e. Resolution No. R99-56 was Motion by Alderman Johnson to approve the consent items as presented, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 6-0. SCHEDULED MATTERS: a. Confirmation of Appointments. None. b. Ordinance No. 099-27: Home Occupations. First Reading. c. Ordinance No. 099-28: Telecommunications Towers. First Reading. Since copies of the above ordinances were not available for distribution to the council for their review before the council meeting, Alderman Johnson suggested that approval of both ordinances should be delayed until the next meeting. Alderman Walton arrived at the council meeting at 7:07 p.m. 2 Council Minutes of December 7, 1999 Motion by Alderman Johnson to postpone items b. and c., Ordinance 099-27 and Ordinance 099-28, until the next council meeting, seconded by Alderman Easton. Motion carded 7-0. d. Shelly Gams: Deferred Compensation information. Shelly Gams, a representative of Invest Financial Corporation, which is located at Western Security Bank, attended the council meeting to present some background and program information about the City of Laurel's deferred compensation program, the secondary retirement plan which is offered to the employees of the City of Laurel. Shelly stated that some of the City of Laurel's employees do not realize that a retirement plan is available to them, and she wants to inform them of the program. In the past, employees had the options of investing in a CD through Western Security Bank or participating in mutual funds through Invest Financial. In talking with the city's employees, Shelly has realized that this program is very underutilized with only a 15 to 20 per cent participation rate. She feels that the participation rate for the employees should be 85 per cent. This retirement plan does not cost the City of Laurel any administrative fees and no matching contributions are required. With the economy doing so well at the present time, Shelly explained that a benefit program helps to retain employees, but they need to be made aware of the program. Some changes will be made in the program. Shelly will be getting some different proposals from companies in order to provide a user-friendly program for the employees by providing telephone and Internet access to check their accounts. As the City of Laurel is the plan sponsor, reports would be made to the City Council on a regular basis. Shelly asked for direction from the council regarding specifics of what they want to provide for the employee retirement plan. Western Security Bank has a contractual relationship with the City of Laurel until November 2000. Shelly stated that Western Security Bank does not have the capacity to continue to administer the program after that time. The council had a lengthy discussion regarding the deferred compensation program. Mayor Rodgers stated that a committee would consider the contract for the deferred compensation program before the present contract expires in November 2000. Resolution No. R99-56: Resolution approving an agreement with Yellowstone County to provide GI.S. Services to the City of Laurel. RESOLUTION NO, R99-56 RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AGREEMENT WITH YELLOWSTONE COUNTY TO PROVIDE G.I.S. SERVICES TO THE CITY OF LAUREL. Motion by Alderman Johnson to approve Resolution No. R99-56, seconded by Alderman Temple. Alderman Johnson had previously shared concerns with Larry McCann about the City of Laurel's relationship with the county regarding G.I.S. services. The concern was not with the service, but that definite specifics would be stated in the agreement. Bud applauded Larry for his efforts in completing the agreement with very specific details provided. A vote was taken on the motion to approve Resolution No. R99-56. Motion carried 7-0. UNSCHEDULED MATTERS: Resolution No. R99-59: Change order by the City of Laurel to widen the channel in the Yellowstone River. 3 Council Minutes of December 7, 1999 RESOLUTION NO. R99-59 CHANGE ORDER BY THE CITY OF LAUREL TO WIDEN THE CHANNEL IN THE YELLOWSTONE RIVER. Alderman Johnson asked for direction from Joe Leckie regarding the process for this item. Joe Leckie explained that a motion was necessary for this item to be placed on the agenda and that a unanimous vote was needed to approve the agenda item. Alderman Walton asked for further explanation of the resolution. Larry McCann explained that Ganco Environmental Construction had agreed that only change orders from the City of Laurel would be accepted for the work at the river. Since no engineer or architect was hired for this project, Larry estimated that the width of the existing channel should be twenty feet wide and four feet deep. As the project was being done, it was necessary to widen the channel ten additional feet, making it thirty feet wide to the intake. Larry explained that the decision had to be made quickly so the contractor's work was not held up and the city's costs were not unnecessarily increased. Motion by Alderman Temple to place Resolution No. R99-59 on the agenda, seconded by Alderman Olson. Motion carded 7-0. Motion by Alderman Temple to approve Resolution No. R99-59, seconded by Alderman Johnson. Motion carried 7-0. Alderman Johnson informed the council that Kerwin Jensen, the Yellowstone County Planning Director, is scheduled to attend the council meeting on January 4th to present some educational information. c. Mayor Rodgers welcomed Commissioner Reno to the council meeting. Alderman Walton thanked the City of Laurel and the council members for making his term as a councilman very interesting, informative and highly educational. Mayor Rodgers thanked Alderman Waiton for his work as a councilman and encouraged him to continue serving on a committee. There being no further business to come before the council at this time, the meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m. Cindy~;e~n,~ecretada~~ ~( Approved by the Mayor and passed by the City Council of the City of Laurel, Montana, this 21st day of December, 1999. Charles G. Rodgets, ~ Attest: