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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 06.26.2012 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP JUNE 26, 2012 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 June 26, 2012. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Emelie Eaton _x_ Doug Poehls _x Bruce McGee _x_ Mark Mace _x Scot Stokes _x_ Chuck Dickerson x Tom Nelson x Bill Mountsier OTHERS PRESENT: Heidi Jensen Rick Musson Monica Plecker Brent Peters Shirley Ewan Kurt Markegard Nancy Schmidt Jean Kerr 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. Executive Review: • Budget Reports Heidi stated that, due to the decrease in building permits and the need to balance the General Fund, the city notified the building inspector last week that he would be laid off to part time (20 hours) effective July 1, 2012. He will be at 40 hours again if the building department picks back up in the future. At this time, the numbers were not there to support a full -time building position in the General Fund. Heidi spoke regarding the library budget. The budget committee (Heidi, Mayor Olson and Shirley) met with Nancy and two members from the Library Board in April to review the budget. There were no significant changes to the budget. Library Director Nancy Schmidt stated that there was nothing to bring to the council's attention at this time. Shirley explained that a half -time custodian position has been put into the budget and the contract with Covert Cleaning will end on June 29 The custodian will work at the library, which would be 11.5 percent of the custodian's salary. The custodian will also work at city hall, the city shop and the FAP building. An additional amount will be added to those budgets for the new custodian. Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2012 Heidi spoke regarding the fire department's budget. The fire chief wants to speak regarding the clothing line item, #226, which is currently at $35,000. That is a significant increase from 2008 and 2009. In 2010 -2011, there were a lot of purchases that should have been in the 2009 -2010 budget but they were receive after July 1 There was a significant increase in 2011 -2012 and the $35,000 is consistent with that. Chief Peters wants the line item to increase an additional $5,000 to $40,000. With the constraints in the General Fund, the budget committee felt it could not go over on that line item. Chief Peters stated that the clothing line is at $35,000 like last year. They are coming up on the 10- year life on the turnouts or the bunker gear. Last year, the department started replacing ten sets per year in order to stay compliant with the standards. The turnouts cost $2,100 to $2,200 per set and that is where the majority of the $35,000 in that line item goes. The remainder is for new hire clothing. There was discussion regarding funding the bunker gear in the CIP Fund. An item has to cost over $5,000 in order to be in the CIP, so the bunker gear does not qualify. There was further discussion regarding the fire company's solicitation of funds for the fireworks, the use of city trucks and fuel to do so, the expenses incurred by the city for the 4 of July event, and the fire department's service to the community. Heidi spoke regarding the police department's budgets and stated that Chief Musson has concerns about the training budget. There is $7,000 in the training budget this year, which is more than has been used in the past. However, he is concerned that will not be enough divided up among the current officers. Chief Musson is solely in control of the Federal Equitable Sharing Fund, which can be used for anything that the city is unable to budget for the police department. If money is not available to increase the training line item, the police department could use Federal Equitable Sharing Funds. There were no significant changes in the FAP budget this year. The COPS Grant will expire this year and the city will have to absorb the cost of $17,500 to keep Officer Childers employed this year. Next year, the city would need to absorb $75,000 to keep him employed. That it is a significant hit to the General Fund. If the General Fund cannot absorb the $75,000, the city would have to look into the fine writing on the grant and may have to lay off a police officer. There were no significant changes in the 911 Emergency revenues and expenditures. Chief Musson spoke regarding the police department budgets. Discussion included the line item of $3,000 for tires for a fleet of eleven vehicles, and the professional services line item for $4,500, which is used for testing of new officers, random drug testing, rape exams, etc. There was a question regarding the Federal Equitable Sharing Fund. Chief Musson stated that the funds come through drug forfeitures and the chief law enforcement officer is in charge of those monies, which cannot go into the General Fund. The funds are to be used for items that the city cannot put in the budget. Chief Musson compiled a wish list of items that the Federal Equitable Sharing funds could be used to purchase. The items include 13 Glock pistols at a cost of $5,317, twelve vests, 20 cameras and recorders for $16,180, thirteen tasers for just under $20,000 and radar equipment that could be placed on a trailer or on a pole. A vest grant would pay a certain amount for the vests, and the remaining amount could be paid for out of Federal Equitable Sharing funds. There was further discussion regarding overtime costs, reimbursed overtime and holiday pay, and the line item for training. 2 Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2012 Heidi stated that the budgets for City Hall, the City Shop, and the Cemetery are the same. Heidi spoke about line item #366 in the Parks budget. The city did not receive any FEMA funds to repair the Rod and Gun Club, and the building is still unusable after last year's flood. There was $22,000 placed in the budget to do some of the repairs to make the building habitable again. There was $5,000 put in the budget to address the septic tanks that were ruined in the flood last year in Riverside Park. Expenses were incurred when the cabin was moved, and there will be additional expenses to move it to a permanent location. Repairs need to be done to the caretaker's house, as anything that was not in stone was ruined in the flood. The inside of the caretaker's cabin is also uninhabitable and work needs to be done before the city could reopen the park and advertise for a caretaker. Line item #366 for $3,900 is for the installation of an ADA lift at the swimming pool, which is mandatory to keep the pool operational. Kurt spoke regarding the 10 percent increase in electric costs and the needs and options for the 37 radios in the public works department. In the City Shop, he mentioned that the mechanic needs to get online to find information regarding a lot of the equipment they need to work on. Currently, there is internet connection at the city shop, so he has requested an internet connection there so the mechanic can research the information he needs. There was further discussion regarding the cemetery, parks, and city hall budgets and the ADA lift that is required for the swimming pool. • Discussion — Intent to create Elena Subdivision Park Maintenance District City Planner Monica Plecker distributed a handout of the Elena Subdivision Special Improvement District. The handout included a picture of the Special Improvement District and the areas that will be dedicated as parkland. The area is about 2.1 acres. The proposed improvements include a sprinkler system, some grading, tilling and seeding. The improvements have been estimated to cost about $80,000 and about $20,000 for maintenance. The Elena Subdivision Improvements Agreement requires that a Special Improvement District be created and a Park Maintenance District be created. The Elena Subdivision started in 2004 with the 2 filing. In 2009, the Senate bill regarding park maintenance districts was repealed. That was replaced with a special district, which provides the same end result but is different from a special improvement district. Monica received the information from Dorsey & Whitney on Monday and still needs to review what the special districts entail and how they differ from park maintenance districts. Dorsey & Whitney recommended that, until the city is ready to move forward with a citywide special district that is focused on parks, it would be best to create a special improvement district. The special improvement district would actually have annual fees associated with it in order to pay for the maintenance of the parks being created. Most SID's do not have annual associated costs. A council resolution is needed to determine the annual maintenance costs that need to be assessed. Monica is working with Dorsey & Whitney to prepare a resolution of intent to create the special improvement district. There was a question regarding the timeframe for the city to receive the tax assessments, complete the improvements and continue the maintenance. Monica stated that staff is in the process of determining the assessments. SID's can be assessed in a variety of ways, including street frontage. In this case, Dorsey & Whitney and city staff agree that it would only be fair to assess each lot the same amount in this case, as no one lot is benefiting any more from the parks than another lot. The resolution of intent will include a map of the area, the assessments and the budget of all associated costs. 3 Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2012 There was a question regarding bonding against the SID in order to do the work in advance. Monica will check on that. The payback timeframe for the SID will be stated in the resolution of intent. Mark asked if the tax code numbers in Elena Subdivision would be excluded from a future citywide park maintenance district. Monica stated that this is an attempt to assess annually for maintenance until a special district is created for parks citywide. Until a citywide district is initiated, the city is allowed to assess them. Once a citywide district is approved, everyone has a clean slate. There was further discussion regarding the land improvements, the sprinkler systems, the fact that no playground equipment is included, the need to go to bid for the project, estimating the costs so the SID is not underfunded, Chuck's request not to do improvements in parkland areas where there are still vacant lots, the location of Elena Subdivision, and the waiver of right to protest that was signed in the Subdivision Improvements Agreement. • Resolutions — Fire District Contracts Heidi stated that the city has received signed agreements from all of the fire districts. Chief Brent Peters stated that the current contracts with the fire districts will bring revenue of $261,521 into the General Fund. These include Fire Districts 5, 7, 8, LUFSA, Laurel Airport Authority and the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch. The contract with CHS Refinery still needs to be negotiated. With the new CHS buildings, the department needs to assess the best way to approach fire protection. The options are to have a contract with them for fire protection inside the refinery and those buildings or District No. 7 could bring them in for tax purposes. Chief Peters plans to meet with Mr. Kimmet at CHS soon. Brent explained that all of the contracts increased by 4 percent or 8 percent. This was determined from the call volumes to the districts and the services offered to the districts. There was a question regarding the one -year contracts for the Airport Authority and the Yellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch, as Fire Districts 5, 7, 8 and LUFSA have three -year contracts. One -year contracts have always been offered to the two entities, but Brent will look into it. • Resolutions — SRO Contracts Heidi recently met with Superintendent Bronk to discuss the SRO contracts. The contract for the Laurel High School is $50,862 and the Laurel Middle School contract is $51,137, which is 70 percent of the officer's wage for the year. Last year, the city subsidized over $3,000 for the Middle School as the school was not able to fully fund the SRO. • Resolution — Amendment No. 3 to Task Order No. 10 with Great West for street maintenance Heidi stated that the Public Works Department wants to go out to bid for chip sealing on Southeast 4 Street and other chip sealing and crack sealing projects within the city. This resolution will allow Great West Engineering's services during the bidding process, project management, and then on -site monitoring during construction. Kurt and Heidi met with Great West to review the streets in the street assessment program that detailed which ones should be completed this year and which ones could wait for another year. 4 Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2012 • Resolution — Renew contract with Dr. Thomas Bennett, Medical Director for Laurel Ambulance Service Mayor Olson removed the item from the agenda. • Resolution — MOU to 316 union contract (Court Clerks) Heidi explained the MOU to the 316 union contract regarding the court clerk positions. The union fmally agreed that everything was acceptable. The MOU included Addendum A, which placed the Court Clerk I at grade level 3 and a starting wage of $13.00/hour. The MOU will allow the city to post the Court Clerk III position and to advertise for a Court Clerk I to Court Clerk II position, as a part-time position at this time. • Council issues: o Discussion — Status of skateboard issue on Valley Drive/l Avenue (Chuck Dickerson) Heidi and Mayor Olson attended a 911 communication workshop last week and asked the Sheriff and Chief Musson to stay afterwards to discuss the skateboard issues on Valley Drive and First Avenue. Chief Musson and the Sheriff both understood that it is a public road and the skateboarders have every right to use it. As long as no complaints have been filed, increased patrol is not likely to happen. It is a public road, they have not committed any crimes, they have as many rights as a bicyclist, and as long as they are not endangering a motorist and there have not been any complaints, they will not do anything on that street. Chuck stated that the main thing was the safety factor. If something happens up there, this issue has been addressed and the city tried to address it for safety reasons. There was a lengthy discussion regarding skateboarders following the same rules as bicycles, filing complaints, whether the city or county should respond to calls at this location, the need to have the media publicize the issues with bicyclists, skateboarders and people that use other modes of transportation on the city's right -of -ways, a question whether the officers could be cross deputized, the request to have the police department patrol the area, issues regarding jurisdiction, and the possibility that the skateboarders are Billings' teens that are involved in an initiation process. o Discussion — LURA's use of TIFD funds for positions (Emelie Eaton) Heidi, Mayor Olson, Monica Plecker, Emelie Eaton, Shirley McDermott, Dean Rankin, and Judy Goldsby attended a Tax Increment Finance training session in Miles City today. Heidi stated that it was an opportune time because she knew Council Member Eaton was concerned about LURA's use of TIFD funds for various positions within the city. When LURA hired Ann Clancy for some consulting work, it was stated that LURA is interested in marketing itself, doing some marketing for the city and some rebranding of the TIF District to recruit business. One idea was to hire a consultant or contractor that would work with the city, since the city oversees the TIF District and works with LURA to get that process going forward. The question came up today and it is legal for the city to contract with someone. The person, who could be a graphic designer, a marketer or a consultant, would not be an employee of the city. They would be a contracted employee that would be paid out of the TIF District. If the contract was more than $5,000, it would be done in a contract resolution for council approval. LURA will move forward with this rather quickly as they are interested in fulfilling their charter as quickly as possible. o Discussion — Public hearing procedure (timeframe for waiting to vote; ex parte matters) 5 Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2012 Mayor Olson spoke regarding the public hearing procedure and the timeframe for the council to vote on an issue. Per LMC, the council conducts a public hearing and then has to wait at least one week, but not longer than the next regular council meeting, before making a decision. He spoke regarding ex parte communication. If the council had a discussion regarding an issue, and then one council member had further discussion with some friends about the issue and the rest of the council was not informed, there was ex parte communication. That council member could make his decision with information that he received outside of what everyone else received. The public hearing process and wait to vote until the next council meeting invites ex parte. A majority of communities hold a public hearing and schedule a vote on the issue on the same agenda in order to eliminate the ex parte. An ordinance would be required to change the process. Mayor Olson cautioned about having five or more council members together at an event, which could give the perception that they are talking city business. He encouraged the council members to be cognizant of the public perception, even if they are not really talking about business. o Discussion — Roll call votes for all council votes Mayor Olson stated that most other entities call for aye /nay votes for resolutions and roll call votes for ordinances. If a vote is difficult to understand, the mayor will call for a division of the house or a roll call vote. Other items There were none. Review of draft council agenda for Monday, July 2, 2012 The resolution and agreement for the Medical Director will be removed. The budgets for the Enterprise Funds and the CIP will be presented at the July 10 council workshop. Attendance at the Monday, July 2, 2012 council meeting Scot will not attend. Announcements Tom stated that the Cemetery Commission will meet in July to discuss current issues and then again in the fall after the budgeting cycle begins. Some other water issues and ways of supplying water to sprinklers are being discussed. Two task force members and the mayor will meet with MMIA on July 13 to discuss the issues regarding the leases. A task force meeting will be scheduled and posted soon. Bruce stated that a meeting is scheduled on Friday at 9:00 a.m. for discussion regarding the trip to the Bakken. The Emergency Services Committee discussed the dog ordinance last night and will continue to pursue that issue. Doug asked for an update on the railroad lease and the water fill station. 6 Council Workshop Minutes of June 26, 2012 Heidi stated that the city attorney sent the lease to the railroad, and the city received an email yesterday saying that they have reviewed it and forwarded it to their legal team. The next step is to actually apply with the railroad. As for the water fill station, she had asked the public works director to check on a water fill station that was for sale in Douglas, Wyoming. He did that and is also doing some research of other communities that recently purchased water fill stations and different alternatives. City staff needs to meet to discuss this further. The council workshop adjourned at 8:29 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. 7 6/26/2012 - u� City of Laurel Planning Department LLL111(1 .3k- tL,Lfl L sJ Ji - v Special Improvement District Proposed Special Improvement District 7 4 4 t4t 4 r.aibb. / 4 ,,4- 41 1• 41 ,-7 4 07 0 ,/,., ' CIO t y1 4 u . i • 91,725 sq. ft. � � � 2.1 Acres • •1 • $80,000 Estimated Improvements • $20,000 Estimated Maintenance r t. , r 1 6/26/2012 Elena Subdivision • Requires the creation of Special Improvement S I A District. • Requires the creation of a Park Maintenance District. Le gislation •Senat Bill 58 repeals Park Maintenance b Distr Action • Proceed with Special Improvement District 114 1 How this SID is Different from others••• Annual maintenance costs 2