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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 09.11.2012 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP SEPTEMBER 11, 2012 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by President Doug Poehls at 6:30 p.m. on September 11, 2012. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Emelie Eaton _x_ Doug Poehls Bruce McGee x Mark Mace x Scot Stokes x Chuck Dickerson x Tom Nelson x Bill Mountsier OTHERS PRESENT: Heidi Jensen Monica Plecker Chief Rick Musson President Poehls asked the audience to stand for a moment of silence in memory of September 11, 2001. 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. Steve Krum, 249 24 Avenue West, Laurel, asked when the city would meet with the clubs at Riverside Park and the insurance company to determine what the clubs could do to return to outside shooting at the park. President Poehls stated that the issue would be addressed under Other items on tonight's agenda. General items There were none. Executive Review • Resolution — Budget amendment for fiscal year 2011 -2012 CAO Heidi Jensen explained the budget amendment resolution for fiscal year 2011 -2012. The budget amendment refers to three items that went over the budgeted amount last year. In the Gas Tax Fund, the overage was because the Public Works Union 316 contract was not settled before the budget was approved. The wages that came out of the Gas Tax Fund exceeded the amount allocated but did not run into a negative cash balance. The COPS Grant Fund went over its line item budget due to overtime. The COPS Grant receives an allocated amount and draws on that until the balance is zero. The line item did not go into a negative Council Workshop Minutes of September 11, 2012 cash amount, but it leaves less funding for this fiscal year. This fiscal year, the COPS Grant will go into the negative, which has been addressed in the budget, and the COPS Grant will be gone next year. The final item is the SID No. 111 Fund, which had additional cash money in the line item. If there is extra money, the city must pay the SID down quicker. • Resolution — Annexation of park land (Jake and Lois Bernhardt Parkway) Heidi stated that the council is familiar with the park land being called the Richmond property. She asked Planner Monica Plecker to present the information. Monica distributed copies of a map that showed the location of the property. The property was recently donated to the city and has been referred to as the Richmond property. It is located just north of West 12 Street and is a contiguous piece of property to the current city limits. The map showed that, with this annexation, the city will be expanding and surrounding property in the process. All adjacent right -of -ways and adjoining right -of -ways will also be annexed. Through most parts of West 12 Street, the city's current boundary goes to the center line, but the city will take in all of West 12 Street. The Public Works Department has no issues with that, as the city already maintains the street through an agreement with the County. This is a resolution of intent to annex and a resolution to annex will follow. Chuck asked regarding the annexation of three county properties, B01492, B01488, and B01487, and requirements for curb, gutter and sidewalk in front of those properties. Monica stated that the properties are not being annexed at this time and the curb, gutter and sidewalk issues would be addressed at the time of annexation. • Resolution — East Railroad Street traffic study Heidi explained the State's findings for the East Railroad Street traffic study. A diagram distributed showed the Laurel city limits. The resolution will increase the speed limit from 25 mph to 35 mph in the city limits, and the resolution will ask the County Commissioners to adopt the 35 mph speed limit on their portion of the road out to the greenhouses so the speed limit is 35 mph both directions. There was discussion. Chief Musson spoke regarding his concern for annexation of roads. The north side of East Railroad Street was probably not annexed with Entertainment Park Subdivision, and that becomes a traffic issue for the police department. • Resolution — Contract with Prorover for tree trimming (DNRC Grant) Heidi stated that the resolution for a contract with Prorover for tree trimming services is in conjunction with the DNRC Grant that the city obtained last October. She asked Monica to give an update since this is a planning grant. Monica explained that the city was awarded the grant through the Urban Forestry Program and there were a couple different components to the grant. The issue before the council is just for tree trimming services. The city went out for three quotes and the lowest of three quotes was to trim the trees for $50 /tree, no matter the size of the trees. The resolution would authorize a contract with Prorover for 2 Council Workshop Minutes of September 11, 2012 up to $16,000 for tree trimming. The city has identified areas of need for tree trimming, with the south side being the priority. The areas of need for tree trimming were determined by seeing the limited space available for emergency vehicles to travel on the south side. The deadline for the grant is December 31, 2012, so the tree trimming needs to be done before cool weather comes. There was a lengthy discussion regarding whether there were enough trees to trim for the $16,000 amount, how the trees were identified, the suggestion to contribute the tree chips to ZooMontana for trails, how Prorover would dispose of the chips, and whose property the chips become at the end of the project. • Ordinance — Home occupation business licenses (LMC 17.52.030) Heidi asked Monica to present the ordinance since it is a planning item. Monica spoke regarding the ordinance for home occupations. The main change is the review process within the city. As per current ordinance, the Planning Board would be involved in the process, but that is not currently happening. Star Public Works, Planning and the Fire Inspector actually sign off on it. The changes to the review process would allow for comment from Public Works and Fire Inspection, and then the Planning Department would actually sign off on it to approve or reject the application. It also allows for an appeals process. If the applicant were denied their request, they could submit a letter to the city that would bring them before the city council to determine whether or not the home occupation license would be granted. • Annexation update Heidi stated that, two weeks ago, the council and especially Council Member McGee indicated an interest in pursuing annexation of various properties that are city -owned or surrounded by the city. She stated that there are a lot of types of annexation. The city attorney has put together a presentation about annexation, and Monica and Heidi will give that presentation to the council in October. There was discussion. The presentation will be scheduled on Tuesday, October 23' • Council Issues: o Discussion — Park closure times (Scot Stokes); curfews (Chuck Dickerson); tagging (Scot Stokes) Heidi stated that she asked Chief Musson to speak regarding the park closure times, curfews and tagging. Chief Musson spoke regarding park closure times. One of the biggest reasons for park closures is to keep campers out of the parks. The public can use the parks in the daytime, evenings and even in the darkness until midnight according to current ordinance. Current park closure is from midnight to 6:00 a.m. Chief Musson mentioned the unique events in the parks, including the ball fields, fireworks on the 4 of July, and the possible issues with closing the parks before events end. He stated that the park closure has been at 12:00 midnight for years and it works for the City of Laurel with very few problems. 3 Council Workshop Minutes of September 11, 2012 There was discussion regarding confusion with the closure of Kids Kingdom from dusk to sunrise and the closure of Kiwanis Park from midnight to 6:00 a.m. and the timeframe for officers to respond to calls. Chief Musson provided examples of six random calls about Kiwanis Park, with the slowest response time being seven minutes and the fastest response time being one minute. The six calls were received between 5:18 p.m. and 11:42 p.m. There was further discussion regarding the hours for Kids Kingdom and Kiwanis Park, enforcement issues, people's civil rights to be in the parks, the need for common sense in setting park closure times and curfews, and the lack of a noise ordinance in Laurel. Chief Musson stated that on Sunday through Thursday, curfew is at 11:00 p.m. for anyone 17 years and under, and an 18- year -old is an adult. On Friday and Saturday, curfew is 1:00 a.m. The curfew ordinance was in effect before he got in the business thirty years ago and has been a functional curfew. Chuck suggested that the park closure time and the curfew should be the same. If the park closure time is at midnight, he thinks the curfew should also be at midnight from Sunday through Saturday. Heidi asked Council Member Dickerson if he would like an ordinance change presented as an Executive Review item on September 25 and he agreed. Chief Musson spoke about tagging, which is done by gangs when they put their mark on a wall and another gang tries to tag over it and mark their territory. Chief Musson recently spoke with Officer Brew, who is an expert on gang issues. Officer Brew has found one iffy tag but cannot say that it is affiliated with a gang. The tagging is mostly vandalism. Chief Musson spoke further regarding tagging, vandalism, possession of burglary tools, laws about selling aerosol cans to minors, the need to continue to review tagging, issues with cleaning up graffiti or tagging, and requiring a timeframe to do so. • Discussion — Line item in budget for Transportation Plan (traffic study) and ordinance change for signage decisions (Emelie Eaton) Heidi stated that Council Member Eaton's question was in regards to the Transportation Plan, one of the CIP items in the budget. Since the city had not made any specific line item allocations for traffic studies this year, Council Member Eaton had asked about an addendum to the Transportation Plan to include a traffic study on Cedar and South 4 Heidi stated that would be doable. If the Transportation Plan uses all the money allocated in the CIP, the traffic study would not be able to be done on that particular item but could be done with a budget amendment to allocate some funding for traffic studies this year. The line item for traffic studies would then be included in future budgets. Regarding the ordinance change for signage decisions, Heidi explained that the current process includes the police chief and the public works department. This ordinance is on the list of issues that the code enforcement department will review this winter. There are a lot of issues in the LMC that do not make sense, such as the signage ordinance, listing of the city engineer that should be the public works director, and things that are not done now. o Discussion — Resolution of support for city staff (Tom Nelson) 4 Council Workshop Minutes of September 11, 2012 Tom asked if the council was interested in a resolution of support for the city star to officially recognize them for all the work they have done above and beyond what is expected during the last year. There was discussion regarding council members' statements that are put into the minutes as a matter of record and the suggestion to personally thank the staff for their work. Other items Curtis Lord, 418 West 12 Street, represents the Laurel Rod and Gun Club. He stated that the Rod and Gun Club would like to ask permission to shoot trap on Sundays through the end of the year, starting at 1:00 p.m. for two to three hours. Tom stated that the task force will forward a recommendation to the council at the workshop on September 25 The task force plans to meet with the Rod and Gun Club once before that meeting. Curtis asked for consideration of the request to be approved at the next council meeting. Tom stated that the next workshop is on September 25 and the following council meeting would be on October 2" There was a question regarding the status of the leases at Riverside Park. Tom explained that two buildings can be occupied but the rest of the buildings are not occupiable and leases cannot be issued for them. The two buildings that can be occupied already have leases, although one has expired. The leases will be presented to the council at the next workshop. Information is needed about the septic system and facilities at the park. Steve Krum asked about meeting with the city's insurance representatives to see what the clubs could do to alleviate any concerns regarding liability issues. The club has shot at the park for the last 60 to 70 years and not had any issues and all the sudden they cannot shoot anymore. Tom stated that the task force will try to meet with both clubs before September 25 Daryl Johnson, 671 Teepee Trail, Billings, is the president of the Laurel Rifle Club. He has talked with Fish, Wildlife and Parks about getting grants to update the facility to make it legal to shoot for whatever the insurance company requires for fencing, card readers, more dirt for berms and more controlled access. No money is available until the club has a lease. The last lease was with the Rifle Club and that has expired. With that last lease, they got almost $9,000 to put into the city's building. They need a negotiated lease in order to continue their programs. He stated that the clubs have worked well in the past and he is sure they can get through these issues to make it safe to have an outdoor shooting range. Tom will contact him regarding a meeting. • Resolution — Donnes, Inc. contract Heidi stated that the request for quotes for the emergency work at Riverside Park for the exposed waterline went out and only one quote was received from Donnes, Inc., which is the company contracted for the emergency work two weeks ago. The resolution is to accept the bid from Donnes, 5 Council Workshop Minutes of September 11, 2012 Inc. in order to move forward with the construction as soon as possible. The bid is $3,035 more than the amount the city received from FEMA. Heidi asked FEMA this morning if they would make up the difference. The amount of work the city would have to do with FEMA to obtain the $3,035 is not worth it, so the city will just make up the cost from the Water Fund. The amount of evidence required to supply to FEMA and the amount of time it would take staff and the engineering firm would exceed the $3,035 in about a day. Heidi explained that the weir needs to stay in place. The weir that was placed is quickly becoming not enough, as the water table has decreased significantly in the last two weeks and the back end of the intake is exposed. There is about three to six inches of cover between the lids and the top of the river. She informed FEMA today that the city might be back in the water again this week. Great West will do some underwater depth measurements as to how much scour was actually lost last year and determine another solution if the weir is not enough. The city might look at ways to clean out the old intake and rent pumps to pump water into the old intake and gravity feed it into the plant. The irrigators did not shut their water off yet so the water did not rise as hoped. Great West says there is no perfect solution to these problems. Mark mentioned that the Public Works meeting went down to the river during last night's meeting. At that time, Kurt said that the water was coming down the Yellowstone at 21 cubic feet per second. The last time that occurred was in 1932. At anytime, depending on the demand, the pumps could cavitate and lose suction. There is talk about getting another pump in there and pumping into the old intake. Heidi stated that would be a significant amount of work, as the old intake is full of compacted sediment and has been out of service over a decade. Although optimistic that the old intake would work, there are no guarantees. The city will do everything possible to use the current intake. There was discussion regarding water conservation, the October 15 date for the irrigators to turn the water back, and this year's dry and hot season. Review of draft council agenda for September 18, 2012 • Ordinance No. 012 -04: An ordinance amending Section 5.08.040 of the Laurel Municipal Code titled "Contractor's license and bond requirements" located at Chapter 5 of the Laurel Municipal Code. (First reading — 08/07/2012; PH — 09/04/2012; Second reading — 09/18/2012) • Ordinance No. 012 -05: An ordinance amending Section 2.10.080(A) of the Laurel Municipal Code titled "Public Hearing" located at Title 2 of the Laurel Municipal Code. (First reading — 08/21/2012; PH — 09/04/2012; Second reading — 09/18/2012) Attendance at the September 18, 2012 council meeting All council members present will attend. Announcements Tom stated that a meeting will be scheduled with the clubs. Mark reported on the Park Board's public comment meeting regarding viability of a skate park in Kiwanis Park. Several people that spoke were not in favor of it. The Park Board basically recommended a letter of support from the council to the skate park committee that, if a suitable place is found for a skate park, the council would consider supporting it. Although an unusual process, it 6 Council Workshop Minutes of September 11, 2012 would mean that the Park Board /steering committee could continue looking for a location and donations from different foundations. President Poehls stated that the different foundations need a letter of support so the committee can start soliciting funding from the foundations. A letter of support would state that, if an appropriate place is found and approved, the council will support building a skate park. Mark stated that a lot of activity has been generated in Kiwanis Park because of Kids Kingdom, the horseshoe pit, and the basketball court. He thinks that any park within a residential area would have the same problem with the skate park, so a location in a light industrial or commercial might be best. President Poehls stated that thoughts are with the veterans and the issues faced by our country on September 11 every year. The council workshop adjourned at 7:50 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