Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Minutes 04.21.1992Minutes of the City Council of Laurel April 21, 1992 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 April 21, 1992. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Norman Orr Gay Easton L.D. Collins Donna Kilpatrick Lonnie Kellogg Bob Graham Ron Marshall Albert Ehrlick COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: None INVOCATION: Invocation was given by Alderman Collins. MINUTES: Motion by Alderman Marshall to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of April 7, 1992~ as presented, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. CORRESPONDENCE: Received a letter from the Yellowstone Conservation District regarding a composting program. Received a letter from the Department of Commerce, Building Codes Bureau, regarding the posting of a public not'ice that the City of Laurel has filed a written request, seeking to extend its municipal building codes jurisdictional area. Received the March activity report from the Yellowstone County Air Pollution Control Board. A handout from the MLCT District meeting was placed in each councilman's mail box. CITY CLERK & CITY TREASURER'S FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: The City Clerk and City Treasurer's financial statements for the month of March were presented. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick that the City Clerk and City Treasurer's financial statements for the month of March, 1992, be approved, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0~ ELSIE JOHNSTON - LAUREL MUSEUM: Elsie Johnston reported that Mildred Christian had contacted someone in Helena and learned that the Laurel Women's Club is still on the record as owning the Laurel Museum. They thought that Laurel should have a museum to celebrate the Centennial. She said that we have had no cooperation from the City Council whatsoever. The City has not been interested in the museum~ either by interest or financial support, so they came to the conclusion that we did not need a museum. Mrs. Johnston claims that the City has gone into the building while the club still leased it and moved things around and they couldn't find anything. She said that Dave Michael was very good in helping them find items. People have been calling Mrs. Johnston so they can get their items out of the museum but since they are no longer owners of the museum, as a club, she wants to know if the Council will see to it that the items are returned. Discussion regarding a list of items that were on display in the museum. There apparently is an inventory list that the museum committee does have. Ellen Ready had listed everything that was displayed in the museum, but apparently Mildred Christian has the list now. A question was asked regarding who went into the building and messed it up? Dave Michael reported that the Museum Committee was doing some Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 2 Council Meeting of April 21, 1992 remodeling, changing exhibits, and moving things around. To his knowledge, the City has never went in and moved anything around. He and Jim have gone in at people's request to help them find their items. Joe said that he had several complaints about a month ago that the City was in there with the door propped wide open and no one around. It was clarified that the City was not in there doing any work. Mrs. Johnston said that no Women's Club members have ever been in there without someone from the City being with them. The Mayor said the Building Committee will be in charge of returning the items to the owners. Joe said the problem is that no one on the Board of Directors of the Museum wants to take the responsibility for closing it. There are just a few ladies that want to see that it gets done. The Museum is involuntarily being dissolved by the State of Montana because they did not file their annual corporation report. The question was raised whether the City would be liable in any way by taking the responsibility for returning the items. Joe said all the City needs to do is state that we will assist the remaining Board Members, Mildred Christian and Ellen Ready, as fully as we can. CENEX TRANSPORTATION - INDUSTRIAL WASTE DISPOSAL: L.D. Collins read a portion of the Public Utilities Committee minutes. The minutes were not prepared in time to put in the notebooks for this meeting. The committee had a lengthy discussion to hookup to the City's sewer system. to allow this hookup. regarding the request by Cenex The committee made a motion not Jim Worthington stated that this was discussed at a previous Council meeting and an attorney was to draw up an agreement that was to be signed by both parties, guaranteeing that proper testing would take place. Jim said he called the State Board of Health to ask what the State's position is as far as the City allowing this type of a hookup. According to those who do the investigations~ the State has no problems with it but they told us to keep in mind that if there was ever a problem with the discharge, the City would be liable for additional testing and any penalties that would be assessed. With that in mind and the possibility of accidental discharge getting into the system and upsetting it, the committee recommend that the hookup not be allowed. Jim said in previous testimony, Cenex stated they would provide separation~ filters and testing situations that could be done at the City's discretion. This would be the only service on the line. Some felt that by allowing this type of hookup~ the City would have some control over dumping as opposed to the discharge that may be put into the car wash bays in town where we have no control. Mr. Wroge representing Cenex Transportation, addressed some concerns that the committee had. As far as testing of waste water, they would be willing to set up a composite tester that would give an ongoing composite of all sludge or waste that would go into the system. There would be no way they could hide anything that would go into the system and it would not be hard to tract them down since they would be the only ones on the line. The other question that keeps coming up is why Cenex Transportation cannot hook into the refinery's waste lines. Mr. Wroge said the refinery is currently undergoing a broad water investigation by the State Water Quality Bureau and he has been told by the refinery that it would be cost prohibitive to even try to hook up to their system~ due to all the regulations they are under. Page3 Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Council Meeting of April 21, 1992 In regard to a question about steaming out trailers, Mr. Wroge said they steam out trailers with petroleum and fertilizer residual. The petroleum waste goes directly into the refinery's systems and they are required to get a permit each time this is done. The fertilizer waste water is currently sold to a refinery employee who also farms on the side. There would be no residual going into the sewer system. Due to the confusion regarding the relationship between Cenex Transportation and Cenex Refinery, Mr. Wroge clarified that Cene× Transportation is not the refinery. The proposal being presented is strictly for use by Cenex Transportation and the transportation department is a separately run operation of Cenex. Mr. Wroge is the operations manager and he has no part in the refinery and the refinery has no control over him. Mr. Wroge clarified what Cenex Transportation's status is as a good neighbor to Laurel. His ultimate goal is to maintain good relations with the City of Laurel and be the good employer that they have always been. Aside from this issue, he is spearheading the total Cenex involvement in the Adopt a Highway program for this area that is being implemented by the State Department of Transportation which he feels also shows his interest in Laurel. Mr. Wroge concluded that with the multi trap interceptor system and proper testing, they can control any and all of the waste water. L.D. said the committee was concerned about the damage that could be done to the digester before testing would alert us that something was wrong. The sludge could not be put in drying beds, it would have to be loaded in barrels, securely wrapped and shipped to a dumping ground in Idaho. Our plant would be inoperable for a time and what would we use in the meantime. Who would pay for it? If it was in litigation, it could take years as is our experience with other issues involving the sewer plant. Bob Graham said the problems we are talking about could happen right now at any of our car washes in town. Mr. Wroge asked if the railroad has a hookup and what the difference would be between them and Cenex Transportation. It was stated they are not washing out trucks and they do not have industrial use. Dave Michael stated that at one time there was a diesel spill at the railroad and it was caught in the clarifiers at the plant before it went any further. The railroad paid the cost to clean it up. Ron Marshall questioned whether the sewer plant has the capability of catching unsuitable material before it would do damage. Dave said if it is a oil based product it may be caught because it would be floating on the surface but chemical products might not be caught. In regards to drawing up a contract with Cenex Transportation, Joe said that if the Council wants this, it would have 'to be done by someone with the expertise in this area because he wouldn't know what to write in order to fully protect the City. This would have to be a very detailed contract specifying everything in writing. He would like to find a city where they have this type of contract and talk to them to see if they have had any problems. Joe does not want Laurel to be the first city to do something like this. Joe said that the local company is a good neighbor but if something happened, it wouldn't be up to them to pay us back, it would be up to headquarters and we would not get paid back right away, especially when you are dealing with state fines and penalties. Motion by Alderman Graham to table this matter until some future date, seconded by Alderman Ehrlick. Motion carried 8--0. REQUIRING PERMITS FOR LOADING & UNLOADING: ORDINANCE NO. 1028 (first reading) ADDING SECTION 10.48.095 TO THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, REQUIRING PERMITS FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 4 Council Meeting of April 21, 1992 Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick that Ordinance No. 1028 (first reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Orr. A roll call vote was taken and all aldermen voted, "YES". Motion carried 8--0. PARKING IN ALLEYS PROHIBITED: ORDINANCE NO. 1029 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 10.48.100 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, PARKING IN ALLEYS PROHIBITED WHEN~ TO INCLUDE SECTION C Motion by Alderman Marshall that Ordinance No. 1029 (first reading) be passed and adopted~ seconded by Alderman Graham. Joe Bradley stated that Ordinance No. 1028 and 1029 are modeled after ordinances that Billings has. Anyone wanting to load or unload will need to purchase a permit and display it in their vehicle. This permit is separate from the city business license. More discussion regarding businesses such as beverage distributors and furniture stores. It was stated that the business is being transacted in Billings arid they are just delivering the goods. These businesses will not buy a business license and that is the reason for the delivery permit. Each vehicle would need to have a permit. More discussion regarding whether our local city businesses who are licensed, would also need to purchase a delivery permit. At this time a roll call vote was taken and all aldermen voted, "YES". Motion carried 8--0. FREIGHT LOADING ZONE RESTRICTIONS: ORDINANCE NO. 1030 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 10.48.150 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, FREIGHT LOADING ZONE - RESTRICTIONS, TO INCLUDE SECTION C Motion by Alderman Graham to amend the wording in Section C of Ordinance No. 1030 to read freight instead of passenger, seconded by Alderman Collins. Motion carried 8--0. Motion by Alderman Graham that Ordinance No. 1030 (first reading) be passed and adopted as amended, seconded by Alderman Collins. A roll call vote was taken and all aldermen voted, "YES". Motion carried 8--0. PASSENGER LOADING ZONE RESTRICTIONS: ORDINANCE NO. 1031 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 10.48.140 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, PASSENGER LOADING ZONE - RESTRICTIONS, TO INCLUDE SECTION C Motion by Alderman Kellogg that Ordinance No. 1031 (first reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Collins. A roll call vote was 'taken and all aldermen voted, "YES". Motion carried 8--0. ANNUAL FEE FOR TAXICABS: ORDINANCE NO. 1032 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 5.40.030 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, ANNUAL FEE FOR TAXICABS Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick that Ordinance No. 1032 (first reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Orr. Joe explained that our old ordinance required a business license from each driver and also the owner. This would require a business license from the owner only. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 5 Council Meeting of April 21~ 1992 A roll call vote was taken and all aldermen voted, "YES". Motion carried 8--0. APPLICATION PROCEDURE: ORDINANCE NO. 1033 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 5.40.040 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, APPLICATION PROCEDURE Motion by Alderman Kellogg that Ordinance No. 1033 (first reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Orr. A roll call vote was taken and all aldermen voted, "YES". Motion carried 8--0. APPLICANT TO BE INVESTIGATED: ORDINANCE NO. 1034 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 5.40.050 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE, APPLICANT TO BE INVESTIGATED Motion by Alderman Marshall that Ordinance No. 1034 reading) be passed and adopted~ seconded by Alderman Graham. call vote was taken and all aldermen voted, "YES". Motion 8--0. first A roll carried LICENSE CANCELLATION: ORDINANCE NO. 1035 (first reading) AMENDING SECTION 5.40.090 OF THE LAUREL MUNICIPAL CODE~ LICENSE CANCELLATION Motion by Alderman Ehrlick that Ordinance No. 1035 (first reading) be passed and adopted, seconded by Alderman Kellogg. A roll call vote was taken and all aldermen voted, "YES". Motion carried 8--0. EASEMENT FOR TEST WELLS AT WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT: Jim Worthington stated this pertains to a request from Cenex Refinery. The EPA and the State are requiring that there be an extensive ground water and subsurface investigation of everything south of the interstate, down the river and to the east. Part of EPA~s requirements are to provide test wells outside of their ownership bo show ground contamination. Four of the test wells asked for by EPA are located within our Waste Water Treatment Plant ownership area and they would like permission for the easements. The wells would be capped~ locked and sealed and would periodically be tested by the EPA. Motion by Alderman Marshall that general approval be granted for the easement to drill test wells, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. Joe will prepare a resolution for the next meeting. COMMITTEE REPORTS: --Ambulance Committee minutes of April 14, 1992 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Easton to enter minutes of April 14, 1992, into the record, Motion carried 8--0. the Ambulance Committee seconded by Alderman Orr. --Budget/Finance Committee minutes of April 7, 1992 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderman Marshall to enter the Budget/Finance Committee minutes of April 7, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Graham. Motion carried 8--0. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 6 Council Meeting of April 21, 1992 --City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of April 7, 1992 were presented. Motion by Alderman Collins to enter the City Council Committee of the Whole minutes of April 7, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. --City-County Planning Board minutes of April 9, 1992 were presented and reviewed. HOME OCCUPATION Jan Patenaude, 309 East 5th Street, has applied for a home occupation for a home marketing type business that will sell siding, windows, doors and patio coverings. There will be no traffic to the home and the merchandise will be picked up in Billings and delivered to the clients home. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to grant a home occupation to Jan and William Patenaude, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 7--1 with Alderman Collins voting, "NO". Bob Graham questioned whether anything can be done regarding the individual who plans on putting a feed-lot on the three acre plot. Cal Cumin said this is outside our zoning district and it is extremely difficult to expand the jurisdictional area beyond the one mile that we currently have. The Planning Board discussed the possibility of looking into some general land use development control ordinance that would cover the jurisdictional area that goes all the way to King Avenue in some areas. Motion by Alderman Kellogg to enter the City-County Planning Board minutes of April 9, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. --Fourth of July Planning Committee minutes of April 16, 1992 were presented and reviewed. The committee will meet next on May 7th and May 28th to handle the requests for different groups that would like to have a booth in the park. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to enter the Fourth of July Planning Committee minutes of April 16, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. --Garbage Committee minutes of April 20, 1992 were presented and reviewed. Jim Worthington said that in order to get the landfill approved for final closure, the State requires testing and soil analysis. In preparation for the permit for our transfer site, the State also has some very rigid requirements. In anticipation of this, Jim asked a consulting firm to give us a proposal of what they felt it would cost and what they would do to meet the standards set by the State and the EPA. Jim passed copies of this proposal around and asked everyone to review it and it will be discussed at the next Garbage Committee meeting. Motion by Alderman Graham to enter the Garbage Committee of April 20, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Motion carried 8--0. minutes Ehrlick. --Parks Committee minutes of April 9, 1992 were presented and reviewed. Motion by Alderwoman Kilpatrick to enter the Parks Committee minutes of April 9, 1992, into the record, seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. The Mayor appointed Mike Gauthier as Pool Manager and Curt Hoffman as Assistant Pool Manager. Motion by Alderman Collins to confirm the Mayor's appointment of Mike Gauthier as Pool Manager and Curt Hoffman as Assistant Pool Manager~ seconded by Alderman Orr. Motion carried 8--0. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 7 Council Meeting of April 21, 1992 Motion by Alderman Collins to approve the hiring as listed in the Parks Committee minutes of March 26, by Alderman Kellogg. Motion carried 8--0. of life guards 1992, seconded --Public Utilities Committee minutes of April 13,1992 were reviewed. Motion by Alderman Collins to sewer average because of a water Alderman Marshall. Motion carried adjust Curl Rose's sewer bill and leak under his house, seconded by 8--0. LITIGATION AT SEWER PLANT Jim Worthington stated that shortly after the sewer plant was constructed, a lawsuit was filed by Volk Construction and this has been an ongoing thing for the past six years. The suit filed was for payment on extra work required for completion of the project with approximately seventeen change orders requested. The second part of the suit claims that attorneys for both sides verbally agreed to a settlement approximately three years ago. The City's attorney, Andy Forsythe, the Mayor and Council agreed that there never was an agreement or any documentation of such an agreement. The claim by Yolk is for $ 260,000.00 and this could never be approved without Council or EPA action. Don Hackmann, City Clerk, testified before the Judge that there is no documentation concerning this agreement. The Judge will rule on this portion of the suit and if he finds in favor of the City, the suit would revert back to phase one which will determine a dollar amount for the change orders. Jim said the City received a letter two years ago from their attorney saying they would settle out of court for $ 475,000.00. At that time the city responded saying we would settle for $ 100,000.00. A short time later, Volk came back and said they were withdrawing their offer and going to court. We are now waiting for a decision from the Judge. Jim said that in talking to the attorney in the last week, Volk has come back with a counter offer and is willing to settle out of court for $ 175,000.00. The City has made no response at this time. Jim is checking with EPA to get their position on this and a meeting will be set up with our attorney. Lonnie Kellogg stated that the one who is walking away from this whole thing is HKM Associates. He hopes the City has learned its lesson and will tie the engineering firm into these lawsuits in the future because we are paying for their mistakes. STATE WATER SAMPLING Dave Michael explained that cities the size of ours are required by EPA to start sampling for lead and copper by July of this year. We have to come up with a plan for submitting 40 samples between July and December and another 40 between January and June of next year. This will be discussed in committee and a plan will be brought back to the Council. The city will have to pay for testing and the lead test will run approximately $17.00. Dave said that in January the EPA is accelerating Phase II and Phase V which is for organic and inorganic materials und those tests may run in the thousands of dollars. Dave said that the testing is on a rotation basis and if we do not have problems it could be several years until testing is required again. Motion by Alderman Collins to enter the Public Utilities Committee minutes of April 13, 1992, into the record~ seconded by Alderman Kellogg. Motion carried 8--0. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: None MAYOR'S COMMENTS: The Mayor stated that Friday, May 15th is a National Day of Recognition for Peace Officers who died in the line of duty. City flags will be flown at half mast in honor of the officers. Cal Cumin sent a letter 'to Mr. Voeller regarding the travel trailer that he is living in on weekends and Cal wondered if anything has been resolved on this matter. Minutes of the City Council of Laurel Page 8 Council Meeting of April 21, 1992 Chuck stated that a copy of this letter .was Committee and the Public Buildings and Parking the zoning problem. Cal questioned why it Committee. sent to the Police Committee to address went to the Police In regard to a question, Cai explained that the ordinance is enforced on a complaint basis. Several complaints were received regarding the Voeller's trail, er and so Cal followed up by sending them a letter informing them that they are in violation of the zoning ordinance. Since the City does not have a full time violations officer, we act on a complaint basis only. Cal said we have the option to change our ordinance and he suggests that we do just that. It is strictly a zoning ordinance, not a police issue. If you don't like what the ordinance says, then change it. Bob Graham questioned whether the Council can grant a special provision in certain circumstances without actually changing the ordinance. Cal stated that if you do this, you will be opening a pandora's box of trouble. You will be having requests for variances of all kinds, all the time. His recommendation is that if you want to allow travel trailers~ change the ordinance to reflect the circumstances when you would allow it. This is a zoning issue and Cal strongly suggests the Council not let this issue slide. Cai recommends that you go through the formal process to change the ordinance. The Planning Board, in conjunction with the City Attorney, would look at it and they would change it to reflect what the city feels. The feeling seems to be to allow travel trailer for short periods of time. This would then go through the public hearing process and come before the council. Cai said there are two issues here. One is the parking of these units on the streets and we already have an ordinance that says we can park them for five days. The other ordinance addresses the issue that you cannot use them as a residence to live in for any period of time unless you are in a designated mobile trailer park or ~ppropriately zoned area. It was stated that the Police and Parking Committees can still address the issue by doing the leg work and then report to the Planning Board. A drafted version of the ordinance will be drawn up for the Planning Board's consideration. PROCLAMATION The Mayor stated that on April 30th, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Public Library, an awards ceremony will be held for individuals and organizations that have been working with youth in our community. This is being put on by the United to Serve America Campaign. In honor of this, the Mayor proclaimed April 30, 1992 as United 'to Serve America Day. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time~ the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. Donald L. Hackmann, City Clerk Approved by the Mayor and passed by the City Council of the City Laurel ~lontana, this 5th day of May, 1992. Chuck Rodgers'l, May~ of ATTEST Donald h. Hackmann, City Clerk