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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 02.22.2011 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP FEBRUARY 22, 2011 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by Council President Doug Poehls at 6:30 p.m. on February 22, 2011. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: __ Emelie Eaton _x_ Doug Poehls _ Kate Hart _ Mark Mace _ Chuck Rodgers _ Chuck Dickerson (6:36 p.m.) _x Tom Nelson _x Norm Stamper OTHERS PRESENT: Sam Painter Shirley McDermott (LURA) Kurt Markegard Shirley Ewan Public Input (three - minute limit): There was no public input. General items There were none. Clerk/Treasurer: • Resolution: Award a three -year contract for auditing services with Olness & Associates. Shirley Ewan stated that bids were received from Olness & Associates, Denning, Downey & Associates, and Anderson Zurmuehlen & Co. Olness & Associates submitted the lowest bid, the city is happy with their work, and staff recommends approving another three -year contract. The resolution will be on the March 1 sc council agenda. • Resolution: Authorizing the city to purchase from the State of Montana Property & Surplus Bureau Shirley stated that the resolution allows the city the benefit of buying property surplus through the State Surplus Purchasing Program. Since the city's procurement policy requires checking prices, this would be a good way to find items cheaper. The resolution will be on the March 1 ' council agenda. Laurel Urban Renewal Agency: • Presentation regarding RFP for Architect/Engineer for the Facade and Technical Assistance Programs Shirley McDermott stated that the Mayor asked her to attend the meeting tonight. The Request for Proposals (RFP) supports Resolution No. R10 -112 and Resolution No. R10 -116, which approved the Technical Assistance and the Facade Improvement Grants. Shirley stated that LURA needs some professional expertise to assist with the two programs and council permission is needed to proceed Council Workshop Minutes of February 22, 2011 with the RFP to hire an architect or an engineer on a per hour basis as needed. The two resolutions have some limitations in terms of money that LURA can spend for the professional expert. Shirley Ewan explained that she and Mayor Olson recently discussed LURA's need for professional assistance for the Technical Assistance and Facade Improvement Grants, as well as the streetscape plan. The RFP would give LURA the authority to spend up to $10,000 to hire architects or engineers on a daily or hourly basis. A resolution will be added to the March 1 council agenda. Public Works Department: • Resolution — Accept bid for sweeper Kurt Markegard stated that the resolution accepts the bid for a street sweeper that was demonstrated to the city a couple years ago. It took a couple years to get the CIP funding in place. One bid was received for the three -wheel broom street sweeper, which is a mechanical sweeper. The city's previous street sweepers have been vacuum sweepers. The problem with the vacuum sweepers is that they can suck up asphalt and create potholes. This mechanical street sweeper has two brushes on each side that bring the debris to the center, pick it up on a mechanical broom, and dump it into a hopper. The hopper can actually dump into a container or dump truck. Kurt passed around pictures of the street sweeper to the council. The mechanical sweeper should be able to pick up the fireworks debris after the 4 of July. Kurt stated that he had an estimate of $135,000 when he prepared the budget last year, but the bid came in at $137,000. Titan Machinery offered the city $1,000 trade -in on the old street sweeper that has been parked for six years and has been declared as surplus property. Titan Machinery also offered the city $11,860 trade -in for the other sweeper, but the city wants to keep it as a backup sweeper. There was discussion regarding the sweeper model, the pros and cons of a mechanical sweeper versus a vacuum sweeper, the repairs recently made to the city's current sweeper, the funding for the new sweeper, the additions of air conditioning and city radio capabilities in the new sweeper, the short turn radius of the new sweeper, and the capabilities to use both sweepers to get the city's streets cleaned. The purchase price of the street sweeper is $137,733.48, minus the $1,000 trade in for the city's old sweeper, for a final price of $136,733.48. The resolution will be on the March 1 council agenda. • Girls Scout Troop #2226: Letter regarding puddles at school crosswalks Kurt stated that the letter expressed concerns about water puddles at Graff School and ice buildup on the sidewalks at West School. Regarding the issue at Graff School, Kurt explained that the school buses run over both ends of a steel culvert at that intersection. Everything from First Avenue drains to Wyoming, through that culvert down to Washington, turns up Washington and goes into the new inlets recently installed, goes into the ditch that runs out toward CCS Refrigeration, and then dumps into the East Laurel Ditch that eventually makes the way to the Nutting Drain. When that culvert is run over by buses and heavy pickups, they crush the corners down. Water goes through the culvert and it starts collecting ice and freezes shut. Most east /west culverts without much of a grade freeze and north/south culverts freeze solid due to leaves and debris that plug them up. The jet rodder can be used to clean out the culverts, but often nature just has to take its course. Kurt explained that the best way to resolve the issue would be to install a concrete valley gutter, which would entail milling back the street 40 -50 feet each direction of the intersection so the buses 2 Council Workshop Minutes of February 22, 2011 could go through the dip and allow for the water to run across it. Handicapped ramps would also need to be installed. He does not think the school would participate, but the city could identify this as a construction project and pay for it out of street maintenance funds to deal with the storm water issues. Kurt and Mayor Olson met with Stefan Streeter of the Department of Transportation last week. They discussed the bulb outs and the rocks at West School that make it impossible for the staff to remove snow off the sidewalks and in the crosswalks. Since there is no place to plow the snow, the snow goes up on the rocks. Then the snow melts during the day and freezes across the new handicapped ramps every night. Kurt stated that this is partly a maintenance issue of putting out some ice melt, and part of it is getting rid of the rocks that are creating the snow melt and new ice every night on the sidewalks. Stefan Streeter will have the State's engineering firm look at this issue, as they did not think about snow removal when the rocks were put in. Kurt mentioned that the CIP included a one -ton pickup with a snow plow and sanding unit. The new pickup should be in use by next week and should help alleviate a lot of the crosswalk issues. The Girl Scouts should talk to the school about getting more ice melt. Mayor Olson will be asked to write a letter of response to the Girl Scout Troop regarding the issues. The issue will be on the next council workshop agenda for further discussion. There was discussion regarding a storm drain master plan. Kurt stated that ME &A developed a storm water PER, but the city does not have a way to pay for it. Storm water maintenance and cleaning come out of street maintenance funds. If storm water maintenance is done, it takes away from patching. If patching is done, it takes away from snow removal. A PER identifies how to go forward with storm water removal throughout the city. Typically, the only way to fund it is through a storm water maintenance district where each property owner would be assessed. The council could choose to move forward and create the storm water maintenance districts. A different formula would be used for property in the central business district, which can build up to 100 percent of the lot and essentially all of the water is runoff versus a residential unit which can only build up to 30 percent of the lot coverage. Kurt stated that the council could identify the valley gutter project at Graff School as a project to budget with the annual contract for patching and street maintenance repairs, as storm water removal is part of street maintenance. The city could get an estimate on the costs and then budget the project. It is not as simple as taking out the culvert and putting in valley gutter because the streets were built up to accommodate the culverts. That will have to be taken down and cut out at least 50 feet, including the whole intersection at Wyoming and East 6 There was discussion regarding intersections that need to be sanded and the City, County, and State's participation in plowing and sanding efforts. Executive Review: • Council Retreat — February 26 Donuts and coffee will be available at 8:30 a.m., the council retreat will start at 9:00 a.m., and the discussion will continue through lunch. • Council E -mail This will be discussed at the council retreat on Saturday. 3 Council Workshop Minutes of February 22, 2011 • Budget process Department heads are working on their budgets, which are due back to the clerk/treasurer by March 15 Budget presentations will be scheduled soon. • Ordinance correction Sam Painter stated that the medical marijuana zoning ordinance was adopted last week. Somehow a typographical error in Section 17.08.761 made it through a couple of council meetings, planning board meetings, and public hearings. Since it was found after the ordinance was adopted, the ordinance process is required to correct the error. Section 17.08.761 is titled "Medical marijuana dispensary or dispensary" but the body of it referred to medical marijuana cultivation facilities. The two words need to be changed. Sam stated that this does not have a negative impact on the city legally. The business licensing ordinance contains the 1,000 feet restriction as well, so this really has no impact other than it needs to be fixed prior to codification in the red book. The ordinance process includes a first reading, public hearing, and second reading of the ordinance. Sam again explained that the medical marijuana zoning ordinance was adopted on February 1s and will be effective in thirty days. This ordinance amendment will only change the word "cultivation" to "dispensary" in section 17.08.761 in the ordinance. Other items Tom asked if the new city planner would be introduced at the council meeting on March 1st. Doug stated that the Emergency Services Committee would discuss the fireworks and chicken issues at the meeting on Monday, February 28 Review of draft council agenda for March 1, 2011 A resolution regarding LURA's request for an RFP to hire and architect and/or engineer will be added to the March 1 council agenda. Attendance at the March 1, 2011 council meeting All council members present will attend the council retreat on February 26 and the March 1 council meeting. Announcements There were none. The council workshop adjourned at 7:16 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen Council Secretary 4