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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 11.08.2011 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP NOVEMBER 8, 2011 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 November 8, 2011. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: _x Emelie Eaton _x_ Doug Poehls _x Bruce McGee _x_ Mark Mace _x_ Chuck Rodgers _x_ Chuck Dickerson _x Tom Nelson _x Norm Stamper OTHERS PRESENT: Heidi Jensen Public Input (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. General items: There were none. Executive Review: • Resolution — Allow Mayor to designate the CAO to sign small service contracts Mayor Olson stated that the resolution approving the proposed changes in the Purchase and Procurement Policy would allow the mayor to designate the CAO to sign small service contracts. As he is not always available, it would be in the city's best interests to delegate that authority to the CAO. • Resolution — ExxonMobil install groundwater monitoring well in Riverside Park Mayor Olson stated that some bad soil was uncovered a few years ago when the pipeline from the water treatment plant to the wastewater treatment plant was excavated and installed. At that time, the City of Laurel contacted the DEQ and DEQ subsequently asked Cenex to install four monitoring wells. One of the monitoring wells is on city property, and the City of Laurel allowed that without any cost. This is basically the same type of service. The DEQ told ExxonMobil to place monitoring wells throughout the area where the oil was found in order to monitor existing conditions for one year. A map indicated the proposed area for the monitoring well, which would be located just west of the shooting range in a remote area that is close to the river and does not have any buildings. There was discussion regarding whether or not the information gathered from the monitoring well would be accessible to the City of Laurel. Council Workshop Minutes of November 8, 2011 Heidi stated that the wells will be checked four times throughout the year. ExxonMobil has provided information at the city's request, so she thinks the information would be available through ExxonMobil or the DEQ. There was further discussion regarding issues with mosquitoes in the cleanup area, the mitigation of the mosquito issue, the thorough cleanup process provided by ExxonMobil, and the removal of the oil - soaked wood. • Resolution — Updated Yellowstone County Emergency Operations Plan Mayor Olson stated that the City of Laurel needs to approve the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) for Yellowstone County. A copy of the Emergency Operations Plan is available at city hall, and the scanned document will be emailed to the council for review. Heidi stated that Duane Winslow is designated as the DES Coordinator for the City of Laurel, the City of Billings and the Town of Broadview in the EOP. However, he has never updated the Laurel City Council regarding what his office is doing to prepare for new disasters and/or what they have done since the recent flood. Since the levee has not been built yet, flooding will happen again. After the council approves the EOP, Heidi will contact Duane about giving an update to the council. The city continues to cal the State DES Office to find out the status of the FEMA funds, but she suggested that Duane Winslow should be assisting with that. There was discussion regarding the emergency testing scheduled tomorrow around noon. Other items: There were none. Review of draft council agenda for November 18, 2011 There were no changes. Attendance at the November 18, 2011 council meeting Tom will not attend the meeting. Announcements Mark Mace mentioned that the switch for the lights on Eighth Avenue was turned on recently, but someone has already turned the switch off. There is no lock on the box and it also controls the warning lights for West School. Mayor Olson will inform Stefan Streeter regarding the problem. Chuck Dickerson asked regarding burning the weeds along 12 Street. Mayor Olson will contact the fire chief. Norm Stamper mentioned that the Elm Lift Station has a strong odor again and asked if there were some problems. Mayor Olson stated that an update would be given at the November 29 council workshop. 2 Council Workshop Minutes of November 8, 2011 Tom asked if the city had considered sending out another Laurel City Voice to inform Laurel citizens about the city's current issues. Mayor Olson stated that the Laurel City Voice is a useful tool and staff has also suggested that more information should be provided to the public. Emelie asked if the memo from Chad to Kurt was provided to the newspaper, and Mayor Olson stated that the information was provided to the newspaper. Emelie spoke regarding people that have spoken to her at her workplace about the council's decision to increase water and sewer rates. She stated that the newspaper article was well - written, but the article said that the new rate increase will include a surcharge for maintenance and upkeep. One individual told her that the council was costing the taxpayers this extra money because the city had not kept up the old system. She stated that the city would do well to get more information out to the public at this time. Mayor Olson stated that the process to prepare and mail the Laurel City Voice usually takes a month. Staff has also asked for the opportunity to provide information to the public, and he will try to get the process going. Emelie asked for an update regarding the status of the FEMA grants for restoration of the levee on the south side of the river. Heidi explained that the city contracted with Great West to restore the levee on the south side and Jeremiah Theys is the engineer. The application was submitted to FEMA and FEMA is in the executive review process as required for applications over $1 million dollars. The city received small amounts for the A &B projects, which are on the north side by the water treatment plant and the Rod & Gun Club. There is significant mold damage inside the Rod & Gun and the appliances and heaters need to be replaced. The levee had to go through another review, but the city wanted to make sure the process started before funding is granted. Jeremiah's first task was to take the 310 Form to the permitting agencies, including the DNRC, the DEQ, the Army Corps, and FWP, to sign off on the application. The permitting agencies met at Riverside Park to discuss three different options for rebuilding the levee. Our FEMA representative proposed the first option to sheet pile, but everybody was against that. The Army Corps would not even look at the permit application. The city only has $1.8 million and has to do whatever is the most economical. The second option is to rebuild the slope at a 4 to 1, but that would take up a huge amount of the park. The river is moving to the south and something is needed to push the river back to keep the water intake viable. The third option is a combination of sheet piling and a sloped method. Jeremiah is preparing the application to submit to the different agencies. Heidi stated that the city asked Exxon for their survey of the river bottom so the engineer could see the contours, any aerial surveying and surveying of the park. The information was sent to Great West engineering and saved over $200,000 of engineering work. Jeremiah recently asked for contact information for Exxon and Williston -Basin in order to find out exact locations of those pipes. Heidi stated that the process is incredibly slow and she contacts the state office twice a week to see if money has been received from the Feds and allocated to the City of Laurel. The city received some money to take out the sand bags on the north side and do some work on the water treatment plant side. About $50,000 worth of work needs to be done in the Rod & Gun Club and then the $1.8 million needs to be done. Heidi will provide updates to the council as information is available. 3 Council Workshop Minutes of November 8, 2011 Mayor Olson stated that more work was done at the Gay Easton bridge and it looks good. The committee will meet to discuss future improvements to the site. The council retreat is scheduled on Tuesday, November 22n at 5:30 p.m. The amendment to the agreement with ExxonMobil might be presented later in November or early in December, as ExxonMobil was not prepared for the special council meeting that was scheduled tonight. The council workshop adjourned at 7:06 p.m. Respectfully submitted, 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. 4