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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works Committee Minutes 07.12.1999 MINUTES PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE JULY 12, 1999 7:00 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Gay Easton Bill Standinger Chuck Rodgers Jeanette Koch Bud Johnson Lorraine Craig Lan'y McCann OTHERS PRESENT: Lynda McNabb Wanda Barclay Robert Ryder Virgil Sharbono Judith Sharbono Irvin Weathermon Virgil Sharbono - Adiustment of sewer charges for property. Virgil Sharbono owns the properties at 717 and 719 West First Street. He purchased the properties as single units, and then they were joined together later. While the property was leased out last year, the meter at 719 West First Street was turned off and the water was run only from the other unit. Ten people lived in the house last year, and he requested that the present sewer charges be adjusted to reflect a single family sewer charge. Mr. Sharbono plans to turn the units back into rental units soon. Jeanette explained that the sewer average established for this property last year is $59.28 per month and the overall town average is $16.44 per month. Motion by Bill Staudinger to adjust the sewer charges at 717 West First Street to $16.44 per month for the July 10, August 10, September 10, and October 10, 1999 bills, seconded by Bud Johnson. Motion carried. Curb box at 501 West 12th Street. Wanda Barclay recently asked the city to lower her curb box. Since the curb box was bent, she received a curb box letter telling her to get it repaired. New street, curb and gutter were put in three years ago. Empire Sand and Gravel bent the pipe when they were digging up the street and Jim Flisrand had them straighten it. She stated that she asked Jim if it was all right and he said that it was fine. She feels that it is not her fault that it is bent since it was approved by the city. Larry McCann said that the $600 repair of the curb box is normally the property owner's responsibility. Motion by Bud Johnson to repair the curb box at 501 West 12th Street, seconded by Bill Staudinger. Motion carried. Bud suggested that the proper procedure to handle similar situations should be addressed in the code practices that are being drawn up. Pool Improvements. After the swimming pool closes on August 15th, Larry would like to sandblast it to look at its base. We can afford to sandblast it down, but we will be required to line it if there is no base. The city has put a considerable amount of money into the pool in the past years. Gay and Larry met with the Montana Govemment Local Energy Commission recently. There might be an opportunity for the city to receive some public money that has to be spent. Cenex has a good share available that is based on electric bills. Basic estimates for lining the pool mn at about $150,000. The city would need to decide whether to keep the pool or to get out of the pool business. That would be a tough issue for the council because there are many people who use and want the pool. Gay suggested that a task force should be formed after the necessary information has been gathered. Larry said that the pool should be a year-round facility to provide a greater benefit to the community. Bill stated that we should not put any more time and money into the present pool. A bond issue should be brought to the public in order to build a nice pool. Christmas to Remember - Firemen's Park on July 30th. There was no representative from the Christmas to Remember committee present at the meeting. Larry said that they requested to use Firemen's Park on July 30th. There was discussion regarding a resolution to designate authority to give permission for activities such as this without bringing it to the committee or council. Motion by Bill Staudinger to allow Christmas to Remember to use Firemen's Park on July 30th, seconded by Bud Johnson. Motion carried. Power at Thomson Park and Firemen's Park. Power was installed at Thomson Park before the 4th of July activities. The cost was $3,000 to have 110 installed in the boxes, and the cost was not a budgeted item. One of the vendors tore one of the boxes apart on the 4th of July, and he has been notified that he would be charged an extra $100 next year if he returns. Even if the firemen decide to move the fireworks display to another location, there would still be activities in the park on the 4th of July. The availability of electricity would allow other functions to be scheduled in Thomson Park. The plug-ins at Firemen's Park were wired directly to a transformer and were not run through a meter. That has been corrected. 2 There has been discussion regarding the ownership of the log cabin in Firemen's Park. Larry will propose to Joe Leckie that the city should draw up a lease for the Chamber of Commerce for the log cabin. The Chamber would be responsible to maintain the structure and the city would maintain the grounds. The Chamber of Commerce has been receiving requests from different organizations that want to use the building. Water in the street in Village Subdivision. Miles Walton had requested this item for the agenda. Ken Tolliver is parnping surface water from one of his trailers out into the street~ Larry sent him a letter telling him to stop, and he suggested trying to get the landowners in Village Subdivision to install a storm water system. Mr. Tolliver did not attend the Public Works Committee meeting. Larry will send him another letter. Gay mentioned that the wate[ is breaking up the street and ruining it. Leonard Fitchner - Costs for cleanup of sewer backup at 902 Pennsylvania Avenue. Leonard Fitchner made a claim against the city for a sewer backup into his basement. He filled out an insurance claim form, and the claim was denied. He asked Larry to put him on the agenda so he could ask the city to pay those costs, but he did not attend the meeting. Larry had the sewer videoed, and it shows that Mr. Fitchner's sewer line is connected incorrectly to the main sewer line. It should be connected at a 45-degree angle, but it is connected at a 90-degree angle. Gay stated that the city couldn't pay a claim after the insurance company has denied the claim unless there is a valid reason to do so. There was discussion about having a good will ordinance that would create a fund available to help with claims of such circumstances. The ordinance would have specific rules and each request would be evaluated on its own merit. Sweeping and chip seal request - Beartooth and 14t~ Street. Irvin Weathermon, 1412 Beartooth Drive, asked if 14th Street up to the ditch is in the city limits. The county dumps gravel on the street in the winter and the sand runs into the drain. Gay said that the city has an agreement with the county to sand that street. Mr. Weathermon complained to the county two years ago about the accumulation of sand on the street, and a sweeper was sent out in the middle of the summer. Nothing was done last year, so now there is two years' worth of sand accumulation on the street. Mr. Weathermon is concerned that the drain on 14th Street would become plugged if the sand continues to accumulate in it. Larry has scheduled the storm drains to be cleaned before winter. Mr. Weathermon said that nothing has been done to the street since it was paved in 1983. Larry added 14th Street to the chip and seal list. Terry Fink- Assistance with alley approach improvement. Terry Fink was not present at the meeting. Mr. Fink replaced an alley approach on Seventh Avenue between Main and First Streets. He wanted the city to assist with the cost, but Larry already told him that would not happen. Larry stated that the city would be setting a precedent if we assisted with this, and the city needs to establish a defmite street, curb and gutter and sidewalk policy. Gay suggested that the whole alley should be blacktopped since this alley approach is used for a private parking area. A similar situation exists at the parking lot by the Laurel Outlook. Gay said that a policy should be established. Update on Water Plant progress. The project is now ninety days behind schedule. Larry has informed Morrison-Maierle and the contractors that no additional money would be paid until the project is completed. Monitor, a Salt Lake City computer firm, is the contractor that is delaying the progress. Until they get done, the city will not accept bills from anyone. The city is still holding $11,000 from the piping project. There is another sinkhole at 4th Street and 1st Avenue that was caused by compaction problems. This is the third or fourth sinkhole. Larry notified Gary Gray, of Gray Construction, and will give him a couple of days to respond. If there is no response, Larry will contract to have the work done and will take the cost out of the $11,000. Larry is planning to have public open houses at the plants around the time school starts. Information needs to be published about the progress of the sewer plant and water plant projects. Larry has explained to Dave Mosser that the twelve-month guarantee starts when the City of Laurel has accepted the project. There have been ninety days of problems so far, and the list continues to grow. The city still owes $100,000 on the project, but the contractors will not be paid until the project is completed and accepted. It was discovered last week that one of the valves, LC-l, will not shut off properly. The contractor said that would require a contract change order, but Larry did not agree and told them to fix it. Larry was informed that Mountain Action Electric has been contracted to cause the completion of the punch list. That is acceptable as long as Monitor and Grover Construction agree with it and realize that they are still responsible for the work. Once-a-week garbage pickup on the east side of First Avenue. Once-a-week garbage pickup on the east side of First Avenue will begin August 1 st. Residents will be notified and the new pickup schedule will begin as soon as the appropriate number of cans has been delivered in the alleys. The summer employees will hand deliver primed material regarding the new pickup schedule to each residence. When this begins the south and east sides and Village Subdivision will have once-a-week garbage service. Once-a-week garbage service will be completed throughout the rest of Laurel by next year. Four additional cans will be placed in each alley. 4 Garbage Rate Study. Double-Tree was the low bidder on the garbage rate study, but they have not started it yet. Although no time schedule was specified, Double-Tree had indicated that the study would be completed by the end of July. Rules and Regulations - Morrison-Maierle. Larry presented the Rules and Regulations that were drawn up by Morrison-Maierle. Ken Haag suggested that the Rules and Regulations should be adopted with an appeals procedure included. Lan'y suggested that they be adopted with some changes in the water billing issues. The City Council would not have to address problems unless a citizen filed an appeal. About one-third of the ordinances could be eliminated after the Rules and Regulations are adopted. The ideal way to adopt them is by ordinance that would allow the City Council to change them by resolution, The water billing issues that concern Larry include how to treat the late-paying and non-paying citizen. He emphasized that city employees should not have to turn on the water for citizens after working hours or on weekends. He suggested that a task force should be formed to consider these issues. Motion by Bud Johnson to form a task force to go through the Rules and Regulations and return to the committee with proposed changes, seconded by Bill Staudinger. Motion carried. Gay Easton appointed Jeanette Koch, Lorraine Craig, Phil Curry, Mary Embleton and Larry McCann to this task force. Gophers - Water Plant. There are problems with gophers digging holes at the water and sewer plants. The DEQ suggested shooting the gophers. They have been poisoned at the sewer plant, but they cannot be poisoned at the Water Treatment Plant in case they would fall into the water. Larry wants to purchase a gas-powered pellet rifle for this purpose. The rifle would be under Duke's supervision. The gophers are located in the bank of the settling pond and need to be removed soon. After the problems with the beavers, Fish and Game instructed us to shoot animals that cause problems at the plants. We cannot do so on private property, but Cenex has given permission for Carl to trap beavers on their property to prevent the beavers from damming up the ditches. Bud suggested that Larry ask Joe about the issue. Police Department needs to monitor the Public Works Department radio. Ken Haag recommended that the Police Department should monitor the Public Works radio during the off hours and on weekends. There was an incident last Saturday at the container site, and Larry does not want a similar situation in the future. He requested that the committee ask the council to authorize Rick Musson to require the dispatchers to monitor the Public Works radio during the hours that City Hall is closed. Mayor Rodgers will inform Rick of the requirement. Paving of street on 4th Avenue north of 12th Street. The residents who want the street paved did not attend the meeting. The street is divided between the county and the city limits. Larry is waiting for a reply from Conunissioner Kennedy regarding the issue. There are similar situations throughout the city, and an agreement needs to be reached regarding how to deal with them. The residents want to pave the street, but they do not want to put in curb and gutter and sidewalk. If we allow that for one, then it cmmot be required for other residents. There are places in the city where curb and gutter and sidewalk have never been installed, and a decision needs to be made about the requirements in the future. Garbage can at Sixth Avenue and First Street. Lorraine mentioned that there is only one garbage can at this location. The residents of the five apartments and the single-dwelling homes use that single garbage can. There should be one garbage can for every three houses. Larry will have another garbage can delivered. The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Cindy Allen City Council Secretary 6