Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 12.11.2012 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP DECEMBER 11, 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 December 11, 2012. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: _x Emelie Eaton _x_ Doug Poehls _x_ Bruce McGee Mark Mace x Scot Stokes Chuck Dickerson Tom Nelson x Bill Mountsier OTHERS PRESENT: Heidi Jensen Kurt Markegard Monica Plecker Public In (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 none. General items: • Laurel Volunteer Ambulance: Appointment of Doug Gursky The appointment will be on the December 18 council agenda. • Reappointments to the Laurel Urban Renewal Agency, Park Board, Police Commission, Board of Health, Yellowstone Historic Preservation Board The reappointments will be on the December 18 council agenda. Executive Review: • Ordinance — Sidewalks • Resolution — Sidewalk Replacement Policy Heidi stated that the ordinance for sidewalks and the resolution for the sidewalk replacement policy are being presented simultaneously and asked Monica Plecker to present the information. City Planner Monica Plecker explained the changes to the sidewalk ordinance. In LMC 12.04.010, the verbiage of state law has been reworded in a more concise manner, but nothing really changes. The major change is in the new section, LMC 12.04.020, which creates the residential sidewalk program. There are a lot of aging sidewalks throughout the city that are in need of repair. It is important to establish a residential sidewalk replacement program and have a program that stag including the planning, building and public works departments, can use to address complaints and identify a course of action regarding sidewalks. By creating a sidewalk program, the city would have an established policy. Council Workshop Minutes of December 11, 2012 There was discussion regarding the purpose of changing the ordinance in order to promote signing up for the program, the opportunity to give city staff the ability to present sidewalk replacement recommendations to the council, and the ability for staff to deal with complaints regarding sidewalks. Monica stated that the city attorney and MMIA reviewed the proposed Sidewalk Replacement Policy. MMIA was very supportive of having a residential Sidewalk Replacement Program because it will mitigate risk in the long term. The city would need to mark the sidewalk with some yellow paint to recognize the hazard and then send the property owner a notice for sidewalk replacement within thirty days. If the property owner fails to do so, the city has the option to enroll them in the residential Sidewalk Replacement Program. Submissions for the program would be evaluated by criteria, scored based on available funding, and presented to the council for final approval. There was discussion regarding the options of replacement versus grinding and/or filling a section of sidewalk. The program is for sidewalk replacement, but property owners would be required to get the sidewalk up to standard within thirty days. A copy of the standards for sidewalks would be provided for the property owners. There was further discussion regarding funding for the Sidewalk Replacement Program. Monica stated that the budget includes $29,000 for startup funds for the program. It will take time to get started, but once property owners are enrolled in the program and the city receives an annual assessment back, the fund will become a revolving fund. Regarding prioritization of the projects, Monica explained that the Building Department will examine the sidewalks for upheavals and cracks and use a score sheet to rank the safety issues of each one. The sidewalks with the maximum scores will be the top priority. Based on the available funding, the number of sidewalks replaced on an annual basis could vary. The program is not for the creation of sidewalks, but it is a sidewalk replacement program. To date, about thirty property owners have shown interest in the program. There was discussion about sidewalks being the homeowners' responsibility but the liability belonging to the city. Monica explained that MMIA reviewed the policy, which they felt was a step forward in encouraging and providing avenues for sidewalk replacement and in lowering the city's liability. The city council will review and make the decision regarding the stars recommendations for the Sidewalk Replacement Program. • Resolution — Task order for Great West Engineering for small water capital projects Heidi spoke regarding the task order with Great West Engineering for small water capital projects. The large capital items will be presented to the council in January. Kurt explained that the Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) identified water lines that need to be replaced and what to do with the deteriorating lines. The first proposed project is on Fifth Avenue between Main Street and Second Street. The second proposed project is on Cottonwood Avenue from Fourth Street to Seventh Street. The task order is for Great West Engineering to do the preliminary and final design phases, bidding phase, construction phase and post- construction phase of the projects. There have been numerous water breaks in pipes going to the four -inch mains, with a lot of breaks in the Fifth Avenue main, which is one of the main lines to the reservoir. With the most recent break, 2 Council Workshop Minutes of December 11, 2012 the water was forced over to the Fifth Avenue line and the main line going up Main Street was shut down, running the risk of breaking the line in that location. If that happened, the city would lose the ability to put any water in the reservoir. It is very important to get the line replaced, especially the first two blocks, and then to continue replacing the line all the way to the reservoir in future years. Kurt spoke regarding paving issues with the projects, the need to address all of the utilities and replace old water and sewer lines prior to repaving the street, concerns with curb, gutter and sidewalk issues and sunken curb boxes, and the need to install ADA corners. There will be further discussion regarding financing and the possible creation of an SID for the curb, gutter and sidewalks to make the project complete. There was discussion regarding the project on Cottonwood Avenue by the blue apartment building. City staff thinks this is a critical location for water main replacement, as it is a 4 -inch cast iron line with one of the oldest fire hydrants in the city. There was discussion regarding the costs for the two projects, the work that Great West will provide for the $159,000 task order, the hourly billing charges from Great West for completed work, the need to get the engineering completed for the projects so they are ready when funding is available, the possibility that costs could increase, the CTEP grant application that will be available to update the city's PER, and possible cost savings if both capital projects were done simultaneously. Staffs proposals for large capital projects will be presented to the council on January 22" • Resolution — Authorize WBI to use city property to retrieve pipelines Kurt stated that the City of Laurel is trying to rebuild the Riverside Park bank. WBI has two pipelines that are exposed in the river and Great West Engineering asked them to remove the pipelines so the city can do the work. Part of the federal process with FEMA is to identify all of the utilities in there and make sure they are abandoned or out of the way. WBI is asking the city for permission to use city property to access the lines and remove them from the river before spring runoff. As per the city attorney, the council needs to authorize WBI to use the right -of -way because it is city property. • Resolution — Change Council Workshop on December 25, 2012 to December 26, 2012 and Council Meeting on January 1, 2013 to January 2, 2013 Mayor Olson stated that the resolution would allow the council to have a workshop on December 26 instead of December 25 and a council meeting on January 2° instead of January 1 Other items There were no other items. Review of draft council agenda for December 18, 2012 If responses are not received for the reappointments to the Historic Preservation Board and the Board of Health, they will be removed from the agenda. Attendance at the December 18, 2012 council meeting All council members present will attend. Announcements 3 Council Workshop Minutes of December 11, 2012 Heidi Jensen had distributed a letter to the council that gave an update on the river. There were questions and discussion regarding right -of -way and access of the Yellowstone River, stream and access laws for fishing, and requirements regarding the long -term effects of doing work in the river. Heidi summarized her letter. Mayor Olson, Kurt, Heidi and Great West Engineering met yesterday, as there were some ice concerns in the river. Kurt had driven down to Duck Creek and saw an ice jam, which is a good thing for the city because it will back the water up. However, while he was there, the ice jam broke, and the concern of ice on top of the water intake became a problem again. They looked at the sediment and what was needed to get it out. Great West has been working on this project and the delays have been with BNSF regarding the city's permit request. The city is still under the August emergency declaration and needs to find a contractor, name the contractor on the request to the railroad, send in the $3,600 fee and hope for an expedited review in order to begin making a ditch to the old water intake. This would provide a backup if the ice jam does not occur at Duck Creek and the ice becomes too heavy or thick above the current intake and causes a loss of suction. Heidi informed the council that this project might move very quickly, depending on the ice conditions and the need to dig the ditch. The city would proceed as fast as possible under the required guidelines and will continue to work with the Army Corps and inform them with the proper notice. The goal would be to have the river back up and not have to do this project, but if it does not, the work will be done quickly. There was discussion regarding weirs, the ditch, the elevation issues with the city's intake structures, and the violation with the Army Corps from the weir that is in the river and their directive to remove it by a specific date. City staff will meet with the Army Corps, FEMA officials, the County Commissioners, and representatives from the Senator Baucus' office on Wednesday, December 19 at 8:00 a.m. at the library. Mayor Olson stated that the Rotary will present the check for the gym floor and the State Volleyball Championship banner will be presented at the game on Thursday night at the high school. The council workshop adjourned at 7:35 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 CITY HALL City Of Laurel 115 West l' Street Public Works: 628 -4796 P. 0. Box 10 FAX: 628 -2241 •' Water Office: 628 -7431 Laurel, • Montana 59044 To: Laurel City Council From: Heidi Jensen, Chief Administrative Office cc: Mayor Olson Date: December 11, 2012 Re: River Update As per Mayor Olson's request the following is an update on the potential for a project at the Yellowstone River to proceed quickly. Sediment deposits under the Montana Department of Transportation and Burlington Northern/Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad bridges needs to be removed to create a ditch to convey river water to the City of Laurel's old intake. The decreased river flow over the current intake could become compromised due to weather, leaving the City in search of a back -up. Great West Engineering and city staff have been working to come up with alternatives to supply Laurel with a reliable water source. These alternatives have been narrowed down to the creation of the ditch and the city has prepared the necessary permits to enter the river to construct this ditch. These permits also include getting permission to clean out from under the BSNF Railroad and the Montana Department of Transportation bridges. The BSNF railroad has indicated that an expedited right of way agreement will cost $3600.00 in order for the city to proceed under their bridge. City staff is in favor of doing whatever it takes in order to complete the sediment removal. The Army Corps has indicated that all excavated sediment must be removed from the river channel with this work in order to keep it from washing down stream next spring. The City staff concurs that any more sediment deposits cannot be tolerated around the intakes. Under the emergency declaration made by the City an expedited contractor selection and project start date may be done. City staff and Great West Engineering are continuing to work with the Army Corp of Engineers to come into compliance with our violation upon construction of the emergency weir and dyke. All attempts to comply with their requests for removal will be thoroughly investigated and if necessary extensions applied for. City of Laurel is an EEO Employer Equal Housing Opportunity