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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 09.24.2013 MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP SEPTEMBER 24, 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 September 24, 2013. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Emelie Eaton _x_ Doug Poehls Bruce McGee x Mark Mace x Scot Stokes _x_ Chuck Dickerson Tom Nelson x Bill Mountsier OTHERS PRESENT: Heidi Jensen, CAO Kurt Markegard, PW Director Monica Plecker, City Planner Public Input (three - minute limit): There was no public input. General items: • Laurel Ambulance Service Appointment: Donny Morton The appointment will be on the October l council agenda. • City - County Planning Board: Mayor's appointment of Shirley Girard McDermott to fill a term ending June 30, 2014 The appointment will be on the October 1 council agenda. Executive Review: • Resolution — Bond purchase agreement for SID Nos. 115 and 116 Monica Plecker explained that the bond purchase agreement is one of the fmal steps for SID Nos. 115 and 116. The first few pages give the history of the resolution of intent to create the district, the notice of actual creation of the district, and the pooling of the bonds and selling them together. The total of the projects is a pooled amount of $181,500. The amount includes construction, a revolving fund for each SID, and the cost of issuance and rounding, which will be assessed to the district members. The payment schedule lays out the payments through 2028. The interest rate fluctuates but has an average interest rate of 5.02 percent, which Dorsey & Whitney advised was a good rate. The bond purchase agreement is with the Montana Municipal Cooperative. The contract also refers to the administration and management of the bonds, which will primarily be carried out by the clerk/treasurer. • Resolution — Levy assessment for SID No. 115 (PH on October 1, 2013) • Resolution — Levy assessment for SID No. 116 (PH on October 1, 2013) Council Workshop Minutes of September 24, 2013 Monica explained the resolutions to levy the assessments for SID Nos. 115 and 116. Approval of the resolutions on October 1 will allow the assessments to be put on the November and May tax rolls. The projects are underway and the three resolutions are the final steps for the two SIDs. • Resolutions — LURA Facade Improvement Grants Monica did not think the council had previously reviewed any facade improvement grants offered by the Laurel Urban Renewal Agency (LURA) for properties located within the TIF District. Most grant awards have been under $5,000, but the resolution for the program specifically says that any request above $5,000 needs council approval. Two applicants, Alpha Omega Restoration and Aqua Systems of Montana, qualified for $6,000 grants based on the criteria laid out in the program for the amount of frontage they have in the TIF District and the cost of the improvements. LURA recommended funding both applications at $6,000 each. The grants are a one -to -one match. Pictures and costs were included in the applications, as well as information about the projects. The first application is for Alpha Omega and the total estimated cost is $50,000. They included a reason as to why they felt that they were complying with LURA's mission statement for the grant programs and bettering the TIF District. Aqua Systems of Montana did the same. The final application from the Laurel Revitalization League is for a project cost of $1,970. Since the members of the Laurel Revitalization League are also members of LURA, there is a conflict of interest and the council must review the application. A grant from the Montana Cultural and Arts Association was secured for the mural in the Town Square and an awning was built over it. Lighting has since been added, and that is a qualifying improvement. The total cost was $1,970 and the amount of the grant is $985.00. Bill asked where the money comes from for the TIF District. Monica explained that the TIF District gets its funds from improvements made in the district and captures a part of those taxes. When the TIF District was created, it captured Walmart as an improvement and was able to generate funds. It does not pull taxes from anywhere else, but it actually just captures improvements. There was a brief discussion regarding recent improvements in the TIF District. • Resolution — Small Service Contract for pipe replacement at the Laurel Cemetery Heidi explained that this has been an ongoing project. The city went out for bid last year, ended up rejecting the bids, and is now going a different route. She asked the public works director to speak about the proposed plan and the bids received. Kurt Markegard stated that the city had a design to install a sprinkler system at the cemetery. The bids came in over $200,000 and the city did not have money to go forward with the project and had to look at alternatives. One of the alternatives was to pipe burst, which is a technology just came up recently. Contractors can pipe burst through an existing easement, which costs less than trench restoration. The Cemetery Commission discussed how to move forward with the project and split the project into doing the pipe replacement from the pump to the cemetery. Some VFD improvements, variable frequency drives, on the existing pump could be done to 2 Council Workshop Minutes of September 24, 2013 regulate it better. In future fiscal years, the Cemetery Commission could ask the council for more funding. About $140,000 is budgeted for this project. Kurt explained the easements that go through the Gabrian's property and the adjoining Lot 3, which is an easement from 1946. Another easement goes through the Schessler property across the road. According to the plat, the waterline goes underneath trees and a shed in someone's yard. It is an easement, not public right -of -way. If the city were to dig a new waterline through there, it would disturb all that soil. The Cemetery Commission recommended that staff go to the council with the lowest economical reasonable project, which is to pipe burst. Kurt explained the proposal and contract with Castlerock Excavating for $74,700 for the project. Since the State will not allow pipe bursting under the highway, they are requiring installation of an 8 -inch casement pipe underneath Buffalo Trail Road for the 6 -inch pipe to run through. Castlerock will secure the permit, deal with the DOT, put in an 8 -inch pipe bursting pipe through the 4" and then come back through and pull a 6" pipe. The contractor will also connect the pump using HDP, high density poly, so there will not be any gaskets and it will not leak. Chuck asked regarding the statement in Exhibit A that "This proposal is to be constructed in accordance with Montana Public Works and all associated addendums and City of Billings modifications." Kurt explained that the city uses the Montana Public Works Standards and the City of Billings engineering department does modifications specific to Billings. In Laurel's water main projects, the city adopts those in the project manuals. Billings did a good job of modifying the Public Works Standards and the contractors are used to them. Laurel does not have its own separate standards, so a lot of Laurel's projects incorporate the standard modifications from Billings. Kurt stated that there is no Public Works Standard for pipe bursting. There will be no trenching but might be a little asphalt restoration, since they will have to dig up Groshelle Boulevard where the waterline is underneath the asphalt. Kurt informed Castlerock Excavating that there will be no change orders for the project. He explained that a second bid for the project came in at $95,550, which is about $21,000 more. He also received bids to split the project, but the two bids totaled only $1,500 less than Castlerock Excavating's bid for the whole project. Kurt stated this recommendation to spend the extra $1,500 in order to have one contractor for the whole project. There was a question and a brief discussion regarding putting the casing in to keep the road from collapsing in the event of a leak outside the 6 -inch line. Kurt stated that the project should be completed this fall. Mayor Olson asked Scot to take the information back to the Cemetery Commission. • Council Issues: o Lease Task Force update 3 Council Workshop Minutes of September 24, 2013 Heidi reported that the city received two quotes for building repairs. ServPro is willing to take everything out of the buildings and make them environmentally clean, but then the city would need to hire a contractor to do the finish work. The second person only gave estimates for the restrooms. Heidi is trying to contact him to find out why he is not interested in doing the rest of the buildings. She will continue to work to bring a contract for the council's approval. o Update on 2011 Yellowstone River flooding event Heidi received an email today from the city's FEMA contact that stated that the Project Worksheet for the boat ramp has been finalized and the money will be deposited into the state /federal account. That is the final amount of money that was anticipated for the south bank restoration. Great West Engineering anticipates construction to start within two weeks. They have figured out what the contractor will use for the dam situation. The insurance issues are also being finalized prior to construction. There will be no winter shutdown on this project, so the contractor needs to move forward as quickly as possible. Regarding the fmal design and any potential winter work that is needed, Great West is going to call the Army Corps of Engineers representative in Helena to find out if the city can get temporary weirs or temporary rock in the river permitted, whether it means moving the existing rock and replacing it or coming up with another type of solution that could keep the intakes functional this winter. Great West is anxious to keep the long -term solution moving forward and plan to have something to present to the city by the end of the year. o Discussion — Cherry Hills Subdivision in Light District No. 2 (Emelie Eaton) Mayor Olson mentioned that Emelie brought the item forward after the Budget/Finance Committee's discussion regarding finding out who requested the light district. He asked Scot if he remembered who contacted him about a light district. Scot will check his email. Mayor Olson stated the need to find how many there are and if the people are contiguous to the existing lighting district. If they are contiguous with the existing lighting district, it could be fmancially better to expand the district to include them, as forming a new district would be a considerable expense. Mayor Olson stated that it would best be solved by the citizens forming a task force to get the proper amount of signatures to have this go forward. Other items • Resolution — Residential Sidewalk Replacement Program Monica stated that the council adopted the ordinance for the Residential Sidewalk Replacement Program in January 2013. The city's full -time code enforcement officer has worked very diligently to get quotes from contractors to replace some of the sidewalks. Staff recommends that the five sidewalks listed in the resolution be approved, as the resolution requires that council must approve the list by the first Monday in October. The five sidewalks were evaluated with a criteria scoring sheet and were rated based on their proximity to schools, how bad their cracks were, and how bad the upheavals were. Based on the worst scoring sidewalks, these five are the best of the bad. The goal is to do five this year and five next year to show residents that this is a recurring program. The assessment will not be on this year's November or May tax rolls, but 4 Council Workshop Minutes of September 24, 2013 they will be before the council by next October 1st. The contractors are too busy to work on the sidewalks until next spring. The score sheets are available for review in the planning office. Residents can become a part of the Residential Sidewalk Replacement Program by submitting a letter that includes the address and states the desire to be enrolled. Staff will then score the requested sidewalks and add them to the list. There was discussion regarding the 30 people that are enrolled in the program, the plan to get the assessments on the tax rolls next year, the sidewalk replacement program in the City of Billings, and the inclusive staff involvement in the development of Laurel's program. Review of draft council agenda for October 1, 2013 • Public Hearings: 1 o Ordinance No. 013 -02 Floodplain (PH /second reading) The public hearing and second reading for Ordinance No. 013 -02 will be on the agenda. o Levy of special assessments in SID No. 115 o Levy of special assessments in SID No. 116 Attendance at the October 1, 2013 council meeting All council members present will attend. Announcements Doug mentioned that the Emergency Services Committee had an interesting meeting last night, as it was one of the first times in two years there was no discussion about dogs, cats, chickens, or snakes. The committee discussed police, ambulance and fire issues and plans to have the three entities give presentations in order to be an advocate for the departments. Doug stated that an emergency services levy will be needed at some point. Mark asked regarding the missing trees in front of city hall. Heidi explained that the junipers were causing some allergy issues in the building and had reached their functional beauty lives. Some natural grass stalks that require very low maintenance and some bulbs will be planted, and some red rock that was removed from the Yellowstone River will be placed there in commemoration of the 2011 flooding event. Bill commented about the Emergency Services Committee meeting, as he thinks Rick Musson brought up a valid point. The city can plan all it wants, but it is fruitless if there is no funding for the plan. Scot asked regarding the faded yellow paint on the curbs on Second Avenue and Maryland, as someone parked a truck and trailer there and a car was hit when the driver pulled out and could not see. Mayor Olson stated that staff would look into it. 5 Council Workshop Minutes of September 24, 2013 Mayor Olson attended last week's MDT meeting about the west interchange and the potential of having access to the interstate for emergency responders. The fire chief, police chief, ambulance director, public works director and the city planner attended. Everyone had good input in the concerns the city shows for the project coming forward. Mayor Olson will distribute the answers to the questions that were asked. Mayor Olson attended MDT's open house last Thursday and had the opportunity to talk to Director Tooley, who took over for Mr. Lynch. Mayor Olson informed Mr. Tooley of the city's concerns about the west Laurel interchange not going over the railroad tracks, that the council is aware of the situation and backs all efforts to make it happen, that Laurel has urban funds available, and the possibility of forming partnerships within the county commissioners and CHS Refinery. The council workshop adjourned at 7:17 p.m. Respectfully submitted, a eee-/- 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. 6