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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 08.13.2013 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP AUGUST 13, 2013 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 August 13, 2013. 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 Public Input (three - minute limit): Ken Blankenship, 665 Revolution Avenue, Billings, addressed the council with a proposal of bringing a minor league football team to Laurel. Mr. Blankenship has spoken with the School Board and has permission to use the field at the High School. The League would start in the spring of 2014. The League will be a LLC company and will obtain a business license from the city. The League will not go forward in Laurel unless there is a 100% commitment from the city. The League plans on becoming active in the Chamber of Commerce and other organizations within the city. The Mayor requested that Mr. Blankenship present the entire plan to the Council at a workshop on August 27 Heidi Jensen should be the city's contact person. Mr. Blankenship stated that there will be a press conference in the first week in September and the head of the League will be here from Utah. The League has raised $2,800 thus far and plans on giving $10,000 /year back to the community. The Mayor thanked Mr. Blankenship for his input and looks forward to hearing the presentation on the 27 of August. General items: • Laurel Ambulance Service: Appoint Joel Anthes, Jim Brown, Kevin Stein and Chris Emter The new volunteers were not present. Executive Review: • Resolution — Contract with Industrial Communications & Electronics Heidi explained that this contract is for the 911 services at the FAP building. Total contract cost is $17,656.50 /year. There were no questions. Council Workshop Minutes of August 13, 2013 • Resolution — Great West Engineering, Amendment No. 1 to Task Order No. 25 for the WTP Intake Emergency Plan Heidi informed the council that this is a contract with Great West to work on the weir. The dike has been removed from the river, but with spring runoff the weir had rocks that were moved by the high water velocity. Doug inquired as to whether we will have to remove the rock that has been added to the weir. Heidi said that eventually the rock will have to be removed. Doug asked if the Army Corp has been here to observe the problem. The city is tired of throwing rocks in the river only to have to remove them when the permitting is denied. Heidi stated the Corp has been here but did not meet with the city. A two year maintenance plan will be submitted to the Corp/FEMA this year. Doug inquired as to why the Corp keeps denying the permitting. Shannon Johnson from the Corp will not permit, after the fact and the weir was done prior to permitting, as an emergency remediation on the city's part. The city has met with all of the agencies and the agencies stand behind their employee's decision. Scot asked if any agency has an acceptable final fix that everyone can live with. Heidi stated that the agencies do not have an answer to the problem and at this time Shannon, from the Corp, will not commit to a resolution of the problem. The Mayor stated that the community has to remember that the Army Corp and FEMA are stewards of the river and they are just doing their jobs. The river is for everyone not just the City of Laurel. We are allowed to get water from the river without a permit or fine, but their jobs are to control use of the river, not to try and make cumbersome decisions for the city. The permits the city is requesting are against their rules and they are only trying to abide by their regulations. • Resolution — Great West Engineering, Amendment No. 2 to Task Order No. 22 for Riverside Park Bank Stabilization Heidi stated that this project is part two of a three part solution to the flood of 2011 and this project will be reimbursed by FEMA. FEMA has approved a $1.4 million fix for the Riverside Bank Stabilization Project. The engineers are allowed 10% of the total value of the project. This additional amount will allow 10% of the total cost. The additional amount that is being requested in this amended task order is $310,000. Tom asked what the three parts to the bank stabilization plan are. Heidi stated that the three parts are: 1) removal of the sediment under the bridges and create a diversion ditch, 2) stabilization of the south bank of the Yellowstone, adjacent to Riverside Park, and 3) continue to investigate ways for the city to proceed with a long term solution. The goal is to provide a solution that would be viable for many years. • Resolution — Amend Purchase and Procurement Policy Heidi stated that the city currently has a purchasing policy that is very convoluted and confusing for department heads, which led them to not comply with the policy. This was brought to the city's attention by the Auditors. The new policy has been shortened to make it easier to follow. The city was reminded many times by the Auditors that when creating a new policy, make one that staff would 2 Council Workshop Minutes of August 13, 2013 follow and we believe this will do just that. This new policy was reviewed and has been accepted by the department heads prior to be being presented to the council. • LURA update Heidi informed the council that city staff has worked with LURA over previous years and is finding it difficult to keep up with city business as well as LURA business. LURA is made up of business owners and employees in the TIFD, which don't have much time either. LURA would like to hire a contracted company or person to provide them with some direction, keep them on track and follow through with projects. The LURA committee would like to see more businesses move into town and get some projects planned and completed. Heidi has requested a job description from BSEDA and EBURD to retain such a company /person as an economic advisor. The purpose of this position will be to keep the TIFD moving forward. The Mayor added that LURA defmitely will benefit from a master plan with projects that can and will be completed in 2 -3 years. LURA and the city need to stand behind the master plan and help develop the business district. Bruce asked if the council will be exposed to the master plan prior to voting for it. He doesn't want to see anything far - fetched that the TIFD could not accomplish prior to sun setting. Heidi stated that what she has seen with EBURD plan was an extremely good plan and was accomplishable. Mark asked when the TIFD was formed. The Mayor stated that it was in 2007 and was capable of bonding for 12 years. The TIFD can be extended if any new bonding is longer than the sunset on the district. The Mayor would like to see the contracted employee /company touch on items like tax incentives, revolving loans where the city would work with a local fmancial institution to help fund new businesses, and promoting these items over time. • Council Issues: o Lease Task Force update Tom reported that the Lease Task Force has not met since his last report. The next meeting will be on Monday, August 19 at 5:30 p.m. Heidi mentioned that she has had two restoration companies go through the buildings at Riverside Park. Both groups have taken 2 -4 hours to determine what should be done to remediate the environmental concerns of unusable buildings. She asked them to fall into parameters of estimation that only included removal and remediation of the concerns, not full remodeling. She suggested that the Task Force wait until the estimates come back, prior to continuing on the leases. She estimates that it will be at least two weeks before she hears back from the restoration companies. The Rifle Club is cognizant of the ventilation problems and has been cautioned that potential concerns may be in the building. A sign has been posted on the door of the bathroom hallway instructing people not to use it. The Mayor stated that until there are safe limits of air quality, no one should be using the bathrooms in the buildings and port-a- potties should be set up by the organizations. 3 Council Workshop Minutes of August 13, 2013 o Update on 2011 Yellowstone River flooding event Heidi stated that the bi- weekly meetings have continued with FEMA. Since the last report two weeks ago, staff and Great West have been working to ensure all the permits needed to work on the diversion ditch and weir were applied for and received. Bidding for the bank restoration will be published in the next few weeks in the Billings Times and Laurel Outlook with a pre -bid meeting scheduled for August 28` After bids have been tabulated and the contractor chosen, work can begin as early as October, which is over a month earlier than anticipated. The Mayor stated that one item that has not been decided on yet is the boat ramp. Hopefully this will be decided prior to entering the river. Other items Nothing. Review of draft council agenda for August 20, 2013 • Ordinance No. 013 -01: An ordinance amending Chapter 16.6 of the Laurel Municipal Code titled "Subdivision for rent or lease" and to adopt a new Chapter 18 titled `Buildings for lease or rent review process," and to renumber and re- codify Chapter 18 as Chapter 20, all located in the Laurel Municipal Code. (Public hearing and second reading) The Mayor stated that this will be a public hearing on August 20 Attendance at the August 20, 2013 council meeting All council members present plan on being at the meeting on the 20 Announcements Doug — Nothing. Mark — Mark just returned from Portland and would like to extend his appreciation to staff for all of their hard work. After viewing Portland he has decided that the City of Laurel is a nice city to reside in. Chuck — Nothing. Tom — Tom would like to let everyone know that he agrees with Doug's comments on the river situation. Bill — Nothing. Scot — Scot mentioned that vehicles are parking up to the corners on 2 " Avenue and Maryland Lane which causes a problem viewing oncoming traffic. He would like to see these corners repainted to avoid traffic accidents. He is also interested in how the light district questions are coming along. Shirley stated that rather than develop a new district the city should extend the boundaries of the current district. We still need to know how much it will cost to install the lights. The Mayor stated 4 Council Workshop Minutes of August 13, 2013 that it will take at least one public hearing to restructure the light district. Staff will continue to work on this. Bruce — Bruce is interested in how much this 2011 flooding has cost the city. The Mayor stated that Shirley is currently working on what has been spent to date and the Mayor will report back to the council after the calculations have been completed. It may take some time as Shirley is currently working on preparing the budget for passage by the Council. Sometime in September, the Mayor will report back. Mayor — The Mayor would like to remind everyone that the preliminary budget will be presented to the council on August 27 with some minor changes. He would like to thank Matt Wheeler for his dedication to the city for the past four years and would request the council to also thank him should they run into him in the future. Recognition of Employees • Matt Wheeler — 4 years of employment on August 18 The council workshop adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, (itL< L Shirley Ewan Clerk/Treasurer NOTE: This meeting is open to the public. This meeting is for information and discussion of the Council for the listed workshop agenda items. 5