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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 03.31.2009MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP MARCH 31, 2009 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Mayor Ken Olson at 6:30 p.m. on March 31, 2009. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: X Emelie Eaton X Kate Hart Chuck Rodgers _x Alex Wilkins _x Doug Poehls _x Mark Mace _x Chuck Dickerson _x Norm Stamper OTHERS PRESENT: Sam Painter Mary Embleton Bill Sheridan Kurt Markegard James Caniglia Rick Musson Jan Faught Derek Yeager Pat Kimmet, CHS Refinery Ken Billingsley, CHS Refinery Chad Hanson, Great West Engineering Public InAut (three-minute limit): Citizens may address the Council regarding any item of City business not on the agenda. The duration for an individual speaking under Public Input is limited to three minutes. While all comments are welcome, the Council will not take action on any item not on the agenda. There was no public input. Laurel Volunteer Ambulance Service: • Appointment of Terie Obritschkewitsch Jan Faught introduced Terie Obritschkewitsch to the city council. The appointment will be on the April 7`h council agenda. Clerk/Treasurer: • Administrative Charges Allocation/Rental Allocation Mary Embleton presented the Review of Administrative Cost Allocation System & Development of a Right-of-Way Rental Charge, which was prepared by Miral Gamradt. Copies of the document were distributed to the council. The proposal is to change the way the city allocates the administrative charges as indirect costs for administration of work that certain employees and departments do for the Enterprise Funds. The city has charged administrative charges to the water, sewer, garbage and street funds as indirect costs. However, the auditors have found an exception to this method used to do this. The city contracted with Miral Gamradt to review administrative charges and to examine possible ways to fund General Fund costs to bring revenues to the General Fund and to assist with administration of the city. That will come in the form of a rental fee that will charge the water and sewer lines for location in the streets, which is similar to an easement for utility lines through state highways. In doing the research, Miral Gamradt found that the city has the authority to charge indirect costs to other funds. Statute allows the city to continue or modify the current method, rather than go with the auditors' preference of a direct cost method. Miral contacted other cities and the Department of Administration, and he can defend that Council Workshop Minutes of March 31, 2009 the indirect costs can be charged. Miral also found that the city's formula included 75 percent of the dispatchers' costs. The dispatchers' work involves water, sewer, garbage, and streets, but does not really require 75 percent of their time. In this proposal, Miral suggested reducing that to 5 percent, because the dispatchers are involved in dispatching emergency calls for water breaks, sanding, and similar events. Plugging the 5 percent into the formula would cause a shortage of monies generated back to the General Fund to help reimburse these indirect costs. The difference was about $56,000. Miral has reviewed the rental fee for water and sewer lines located under city streets. The streets are a general asset for the city, the water and sewer lines are under the streets, and the enterprise funds should pay a rental fee for being located in the streets. Mary reviewed the charts and figures included in the document. She explained the method Miral used to calculate the water and wastewater rental fee using the value of city streets and the amortization of street costs for the Water and Sewer Funds. The figure of $171,448 is the annual cost for the water lines to use the streets. The figure of $168,050 is the annual cost for the sewer lines to use the streets. The total annual fee that could be charged is $339,499. Since that is a lot of money to come from water and sewer ratepayers, Miral proposed a phase in of rental costs. The proposal included $125,000 the first year, with half from water and half from sewer. The maximum amount would be phased in up to a maximum of $339,499 by the year 2013. Mary stated that the proposal illustrates a way to recover more administrative costs in the form of a rental fee from the water and sewer back to the General Fund. There was discussion regarding the proposal, the possibility of going further in arrears if the proposal is not implemented, and the opinion of the auditors. The city will meet with the auditors to review the proposal on Friday. The auditors' comments will be distributed to the council after the meeting. Mary stated that the auditors had some input in the development of the methodology, and she believes their concerns have been addressed. Police Department: • Resolution -- Agreements with Beartooth Harley-Davidson for police motorcycles Rick Musson stated that the resolution and agreements with Beartooth Harley-Davidson are for three police motorcycles. This will be the seventh year the city and the police department have entered into the agreement for use of the motorcycles. The resolution will be on the April 7 council agenda. Public Works Department: • Resolution - Cenex sewer line tie-ins Kurt Markegard explained that the resolution would authorize the mayor to accept a proposal from CHS Refinery to relocate and modify sanitary sewer tie-ins to CHS trunk lines. Since the trunk lines are outside the city limits, according to rules, any modifications have to be approved by the council. A few months ago, CHS informed the city that they needed to modify some structures to relocate some employees and they would need to relocate sewer tie-ins to their existing trunk lines. Refinery Manager Pat Kimmet wrote to the mayor requesting approval of the proposal for the tie-ins. Kurt stated that Mr. Billingsley, with CHS, would show the maps for the project. Ken Billingsley distributed schematics to explain the plans. One schematic showed the existing system at the refinery, and the second schematic showed the proposed sewer system and the modifications. The current five main buildings tie into the CHS trunk line that runs north and south, and then ties into the Laurel city sewer towards the north end of CHS property. The second sheet showed the proposed sewer system and the three new buildings to house employees in glass resistant facilities. The new buildings will be in the proximity of the existing locations, but slightly different. As a result of being in a different location, different tie-in locations are needed for the sanitary sewer. The proposed schematic shows the three buildings in red and the proposed tie-ins into the CHS trunk lines. Once the three buildings are tied in, CHS plans to cut and disconnect the sewer connections from the existing buildings because they will no longer be serviced down the road. Four trunk lines will be cut and capped, one of which will be 2 Council Workshop Minutes of March 31, 2009 delayed until next year because of another related building project. CHS will not touch the city sewer lines, but just its own trunk lines. The scope of their plan is just to relocate employees, not to add any new employees or facilities. The resolution will be on the April 7th council agenda. • Resolution - Accept sign for Riverside Park (Eagle Scout project) Kurt stated that Eagle Scout Keith Wheeler spent a year designing and building a sign for Riverside Park. The Park Board will make a recommendation regarding placement of the sign in the park. The resolution will be on the April 7th council agenda. • Update of water intake lid project Kurt reported that the water intake lid project has been completed, which will insure that the intake screens will be protected from trees and debris that flow down the river this year. He distributed photos of the actual replacement of the lids. • Discussion regarding vacating utility easement at TenderNest Kurt stated that the city has been approached about the possibility of vacating a utility easement. This is not an alley, but is a utility easement that extends from Mountain View up to 12th Street. The city does not currently use it except for a sewer line, and the power and phone companies have power and phone cable running up the utility easement. The property owner recently annexed another parcel and wants to build another building to provide more services. Part of the plan is to build over the utility easement. Kurt had questioned whether the city would entertain that because of possible future needs to provide sewer services going north up Valley Drive. Randy Swenson hired Sanderson-Stewart Engineers to determine the possibility of relocating the sewer line for future needs. Kurt showed a drawing of the property, including the current buildings, the utility easement, and the proposed sewer line. The engineers provided an alternative way for the city to provide future sewer services and allow the sewer line to be moved. Randy would like to add on to the building going east, which would go over the utility easement. A city sewer line could go up the west side of a house Randy Swenson currently owns on five lots there. He would provide the city with a 20-foot easement to service the northern half of 12th Street and up Valley Drive. Kurt stated that Randy Swenson requested direction as to whether the council would review it, see the feasibility of releasing the easement, and come up with a plan to modify the sewer system for his and future properties. The existing sewer lines would then become private property and the owner's responsibility. Randy Swenson, 4510 Highline Drive in Billings, explained the plan to build an addition of five resident rooms and then turn the easterly part into a nice park with a gazebo. Eventually, he plans to build another building. He needs to build over the easement to be able to expand the square footage of the building. He would trade the ground to the west and still provide the easement, which our engineers thought would work equally well, if not a little better because there is less asphalt to disturb along 12th. There was further discussion. Kurt mentioned that Chad Hanson reviewed the proposal. Mayor Olson stated Randy and Kurt could continue to work on this and keep the council informed as to the direction. He stated that, at this time, the council sees the plan, and does not foresee any obstacles in the way of keeping in contact with Kurt and the council. 9 Staff recommendation regarding 2057 East Maryland Lane Council Workshop Minutes of March 31, 2009 Kurt stated that the resident at 2057 East Maryland Lane spoke to the council regarding issues with the county RSID and the city's street maintenance assessment. Kurt stated that staff does not recommend de- annexation of the property and hopes the council would not consider de-annexation of the property. The property originally needed the water service in order to develop it. The property is in the city's growth area where the city limits will eventually expand, so staff would prefer the council did not consider de- annexing property needed for future annexation. Working with the County, staff recommends that the council annex the street in front of the property. The city would then take over maintenance of the street, and the county would release the property from the RSID. Bob Moats would like written documentation of the council's wishes to annex the street so the county could release the property from the RSID. If the property owner filed to de-annex and the council approved the request, the county would not want to release the property from the RSID. There was discussion regarding maintenance of the section of the road in front of the property, an agreement with the county to pay street maintenance costs for that portion of the street, and the possibility of providing sanitary sewer services to the property. Mayor Olson will direct staff to prepare the paperwork for the annexation of the roadway in front of 2057 East Maryland Lane. Planning Department: a Resolution - Annexation of East Maryland Lane and Alder Avenue James Caniglia stated that the county and city currently own half of the streets, and the sections were annexed after 2003, mainly with Iron Horse Station Subdivision. The right-of-way should have been annexed with the properties, and this resolution will get it done. The area includes Alder Avenue from 7th Street to the northern edge of Iron Horse Station Subdivision and East Maryland Lane from Alder going west a little past Iron Horse. There was discussion regarding repair and maintenance of Alder Avenue, which would be the city's responsibility. Mayor Olson stated that a 2003 state statute requires annexation of the full width of a street, and these streets should have been annexed with the annexation of the properties. a Utility tract at West 9"' Street - storm water retention James spoke regarding the creation of a utility tract west of 8th Avenue between West Stn and 7th Streets. This is part of the 8th Avenue project and MDT is in the process of assessing the land for utility tract for storm water retention. The utility tract is less than two acres with an easement for access. The city received the Mylar for signatures for filing, and the deed for transfer of land will come later and will be on a future agenda. Chief Administrative Officer: o Discussion regarding Storm Water Maintenance District Bill Sheridan explained the need to create a storm water maintenance district to collect and deal with storm water in the City of Laurel. The city's engineers will provide expertise regarding the proposed storm water maintenance district. The city needs to create more drainage ditches and ways to allow the groundwater to collect to a point where it can be removed from areas of development. Executive review: a Resolution - Local 316 Union contract Bill Sheridan stated that the contract has been reviewed to make sure it exhibits exactly what was negotiated. The payment for sick leave will remain at the current one-quarter payout at the end of an employee's service. Bill and other staff will review the contract again prior to council approval. a Resolution - Full-time fire chief jab description 4 Council Workshop Minutes of March 31, 2009 Mayor Olson stated that job description was designed for the needs of the City of Laurel and was reviewed by Associated Employers. Staff has been working diligently to ensure that funding is available for the position. The position will be posted in-house after the funding is finalized. • Authorization to request quotes for health insurance Mayor Olson stated that the Health Insurance Committee would meet prior to the next council workshop, and the item will be reviewed at the council workshop on April 14th Mary Embleton reported on the city's health insurance plan, which is part of a self-funded pool through MMIA. MMIA contracted with several third party administrators to administer the program Laurel has been in the self-funded pool for the last four years, and the five-year commitment will be up on June 30th. Mary received word from the Employee Benefits Program Manager at MMIA that the preliminary renewal rates will be officially released tomorrow. A preview indicated that the medical, dental, and vision will experience a zero percent increase this year for the city's custom plan. MMIA also offers four other types of plans, and those standard plans will be showing a decrease for Laurel's renewal rates. The information will be distributed to the employees, the Insurance Committee, the administration and the council for review. The work comp and liability renewals will also come on April 1 St. Typically, MMIA health insurance rates were not finalized until July 1St. This year, rates will be finalized by mid-May so e Voyees can make changes and decisions during the open enrollment period between May 15' h and June 15 . This year's industry trend for increase in medical inflation is 11 percent. Mary mentioned that MMIA is going to change its name to Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority, since it is not an insurance company. The paperwork will be available for the next council workshop. • Insurance Committee restructure Mayor Olson stated that a change in the structure of the Insurance Committee is needed in order to provide representation for both unions. The proposed change will be presented to the union representatives soon. • Street Stabilization Project Bill Sheridan stated the need for major street improvements in Laurel. The city has tried to identify how to improve the roadways in the community, and some sizeable amounts of money are available to do so. With the help of the city's engineers, the necessary improvements will be identified and prioritized. Bill stated that bidding out the street improvements will allow the city to ensure that major improvements actually happen this year. Chad Hanson, Great West Engineering, stated that the city crews do a great job of patching and maintaining streets, but there is only so much time and the crew cannot keep up. Street maintenance funds are building up because the city does not have the personnel to spend the funds quickly enough. Mary will provide the amount of money available in the Street Maintenance Fund. Chad and Kurt will figure out which chip sealing, crack sealing, and patching projects can be done with the available funds. He thinks a significant amount can be done with Mary's preliminary number of about $400,000. After the projects are determined, a bid package will be prepared. Task Order No. 10 is for Great West to prepare the bid package and help the city start bidding it. An amendment to the Task Order will be submitted for the construction part of the project. Chad stated that the city's Pavement Management System identifies the conditions of the roads and those that can be saved. Although there is not yet a construction timeline, Chad stated that the plan is to award the contract at the council meeting on May 19th. The resolution for Task Order No. 10 will be on the April 7th council agenda. 5 Council Workshop Minutes of March 31, 2009 • Legislative Updates Mary presented the status of several major legislative bills, including HB-6, HB-11, House Joint Resolution 33, HB-645, SB-390, SB-506, HB-658, and SB-58. House Bill 6 is the DNRC funding. Laurel had applied for a $100,000 grant for the water project, but it did not look like Laurel would make the cut. Things have changed and Laurel is on the list and might get the $100,000 for the water project. The bill is out of committee in the second house. House Bill 11 is for TSEP funding. Laurel applied for a $625,000 grant for the water project and the list restates the $750,000 grant for the sewer project. The bill is in the second house committee and another hearing is scheduled for tomorrow. House Joint Resolution No. 33 certifies the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) monies and that the state will certify that they will spend them. It references House Bill 645. This has to be done by April 3rd, which is a federal deadline. The bill has been returned to the first house with the second house amendments, so it is most of the way through the process. House Bill 645 is the ARRA appropriations bill, and Laurel has several requests in the bill. One request is $3.5 million for 8`h Avenue, which is under the MDT allocation. Barb Skelton, of the Federal Highway Commission, sat in the hearing today to help protect Laurel's interest in the project. There is also assistance for water and sewer projects in the bill. DEQ and SRF will have their lists of project recommendations by mid-April. City staff went to Helena to attend the public hearing for the DEQ and speak for Laurel's project, making sure they know the projects are shovel ready and meet the requirements for the ARRA funding. There are a lot of projects to review and the comment period ends this week. There would be two parts if Laurel is successful with both projects. One is principle forgiveness. Of the money Laurel can borrow to get the projects completed, a percentage of the principle will be forgiven, which ends up being a form of a grant instead of a loan. The remainder would be a loan at 1.75 percent interest. Laurel is definitely in the running for the sewer project and fought hard to get the water project on the list. Another portion of the ARRA money in HB 645 is the discretionary money. There is $10 million designated for cities and towns and another $10 million for counties to spend discretionary. The League of Cities worked on a formula to find a fair way to distribute the $10 million to all 129 cities and towns across the state. The Board approved the formula and the next day cities and towns had to submit how they would spend the money. Laurel's share will be $118,788, and the city nominated the mitigation of the irrigation ditch south of the Laurel Middle School as its project. Mary gave updates on several other legislative bills. • Appointments: o Laurel Urban Renewal Agency Advisory Members Mayor Olson stated that Steve Diefenderfer, Steve Solberg, Steve Zeier, and Janice Lehman would be the Advisory Members on the Laurel Urban Renewal Agency. The appointments will be on the April 7th council agenda. o Fire Department Officers Mayor Olson stated the following fire department appointments: Derek Yeager, Fire Chief; Terry Ruff, 1" Assistant Chief; Scott Wilm, 2nd Assistant Chief; and Will Guenthner, 3rd Assistant Chief. The appointments will be on the April 7`h council agenda. • U.S. Census Bureau- 2010 Census 6 Council Workshop Minutes of March 31, 2009 Bill recently responded to a telephone call from the U.S. Census Bureau, but has not received a call back yet. Bill stated that the Census Bureau requested assistance from the city in order to provide an accurate count of residents in the City of Laurel. Mayor Olson asked Derek Yeager, who was recently voted as the fire chief, to speak to the council. Derek spoke regarding his fire service career with the Bureau of Land Management in Montana and future opportunities. • Council Issues: o Public Works Committee - Recommendation regarding Community Hope Mayor Olson stated that the committee recommended that a letter be sent to Community Hope outlining the cost for garbage pickup and stating the charge would remain the same. The letter would also outline the opportunity to use a yard container at the site. Mark Mace stated that Community Hope's director requested a reduction in the cost. The committee recommended leaving the charge at the current rate, as there are a lot of businesses that would also want a reduced rate. Community Hope has options with signage, surveillance cameras, and fencing. Mayor Olson will direct staff to prepare a letter to Community Hope. o Walking bridge on West 12th Street (Chuck Dickerson) Chuck Dickerson explained concerns with the conditions on the north side of the walking bridge caused by water and snow, as well as concerns with children riding bikes into the street on the south side. There was discussion regarding ownership and maintenance of the walking bridge and the surrounding property and ways to mitigate the issues. Kurt will contact the County Commissioners and the Public Works Committee will review the situation. o Condition of alley between First and Third Streets (Chuck Dickerson) Chuck Dickerson stated that the alley needs work. There was discussion regarding the drainage issues and the need for valley gutters, which again brought up the need for a storm water maintenance district. Other items: Chuck Dickerson recently visited the police department and was very impressed with the new office furniture and the work that was done. He commended Chief Musson for the work. Norm Stamper asked regarding the start dates for the South First Avenue mill and fill project. Kurt stated that the project will be let in May and construction should begin in June or July. Emelie Eaton attended the Laurel Urban Renewal Agency (LURA) meeting on Monday. The Agency wants to know if the projects they are considering would meet the council's expectations. Emelie wants to invite the Laurel Urban Renewal Agency to attend a council workshop to bring the council up to date. Emelie asked James to speak regarding the proposed projects. James has been invited to attend all the meetings so far. The LURA members are excited to be on a committee that has a good funding source. James was asked to update the council on the discussions and to find out whether or not the council would agree with the proposed projects. The Agency has discussed over a dozen topics of projects, and James has tried to guide them initially to do things that would increase the tax increment and thus pay for it in the long run. That includes things like grant matches for the demolition of buildings that cannot be saved, which is one of the higher priorities at this time. Right now, the biggest thing they are looking at is public art and the fiberglass animals often seen in downtowns throughout the country. The group would like to move forward with a project like that and use molds to 7 Council Workshop Minutes of March 31, 2009 make fiberglass locomotives for downtown. The Laurel Alive group has talked about doing it, but it is out of their budget now. James stated that TIF funds could be used to do this immediately. Cost estimates are not yet available, but a high quality mold could cost about $5,000, and would be the biggest initial cost. There was discussion. James stated that a questionnaire will be distributed to business owners and residents of the downtown district. The Laurel Urban Renewal Agency will be scheduled on the April 10 council workshop agenda. Emelie stated that the LURA had a list of four buildings that have historic value to the downtown. The Hurzler Building will be demolished soon, and Emelie reminded staff of the need to document the building prior to demolition. Mayor Olson stated that discussion regarding annexation of Riverside Park would be on the April 14th council workshop agenda. Mayor Olson asked James if the proper documentation would be available for annexation of the road in front of 2057 East Maryland Lane. James stated that it would take some time to get the proper documents, as a quit claim deed from the county might be needed. The annexation will be on the April 14"' council workshop agenda. Review of draft council agenda for April 7.2009:. There were no changes to the draft council agenda. Attendance at the April 7,_2009 council meeting All council members present will attend. Announcements: The Arbor Day celebration is scheduled on Wednesday, April 15th, at 6:00 p.m. in Firemen's Park. A twelve-foot Blue Spruce tree will be planted and a plaque presented in honor of Gay Easton. Doug Poehls will present a history of Firemen's Park and Kate Hart will speak about Gay Easton. The fire department and the public are invited. A Cemetery Commission meeting will be scheduled soon. The council workshop adjourned at 8:53 p.m. Respectfully submitted, IA _I_A? Cindy Allen Council Secretary NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of the Council for the listed workshop agenda items. 8