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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 02.27.2007MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP FEBRUARY 27, 2007 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 February 27, 2007. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: x Emelie Eaton _x Kate Hart _x_ Gay Easton x Vonda Hotchkiss _x_ Doug Poehis Mark Mace _ Chuck Dickerson _x Norm Stamper Sam Painter Perry Asher Mary Embleton Jan Faught Rick Musson Steve Klotz Larry McCann Mark Richards Scott Wilm 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 minute& While all comments are welcome, the Council w411 not take action on any item not on the agenda. • None Clerk/Treasurer: • Resolution - Approving the Capital Improvements Plan Mary Embleton explained that three resolutions deal with the Capital Improvements Plan. The long CIP process has produced some good results. The three-year accumulation of wants and needs for the city went through the formal process and will be done annually from now on. The fast resolution creates a Capital Project Fund for the library and approves the proposed CIP, which was attached to the resolution. Mary reviewed the attachment, which listed the recommended projects and the funding sources. The amount of $233,500 will come from the General Fund reserves. Most of the items on the list will be funded with cash on hand through the reserves and with some existing CIP funds. Two big ticket items will require additional funding through loans. A schedule of payments was requested from the Intercap Loan department at the State level through STIP to provide an idea of the terms of the loan and the annual payments. The ambulance would cost $120,000. The proposal is to transfer $5,000 from the General Fund to add to what is already in the CIP Fund, and the remaining $60,000 would have to be financed through a loan. That would incur a debt service payment of about $13,500 a year for a five-year loan. The $13,500 will be debt service and appropriated each year in the budget. The other big ticket item, the urban interface pumper, is estimated to cost $325,000. Of that amount, $75,000 will be transferred from the General Fund to the existing CIP funding, of which the fire department will contribute $25,000. The proposal is to finance the remaining $225,000 for ten years with an annual debt service payment of about $27,000. That Council Workshop Minutes of February 27, 2007 amount would be venting from the annual fire district revenues of $200,000. The purpose of this piece of equipment would serve both the city and the districts, so it seemed like a logical way to fiord it. For the city hall phone system and the color copy machine, the proposal is that total of $24,000 come from other fimds that will contribute to those two items. The Enterprise (Water, Sewer, and Garbage), Building, Street Maintenance, and the Planning Funds will each contribute to those items. Both pieces of equipment will be in city hall and will service all the functions of city hall, which justifies having the other funds help pay for the items. The commercial lawnmower and the court copy machine will be funded with SID cash. Mary explained that there was a surplus of money from old SID's in the SID Revolving Fund a couple years ago. By statute, the city can only hold a certain percentage of current debt in the fiord, so the excess was transferred to the General Fund, as per the auditor's recommendation. In the last audit, the auditors said that the money did not need to be tracked for SID purposes any longer. The money can be used for capital improvement. The last two items on the list did not necessarily go through the rating process. The complete list resulting from the rating process was included with the resolution. Some of the items were not presented for approval this year and will have to wait until additional funding is available. The process used did not identify the last two items on this list, including land and building purchase and a suburban for the ambulance. These items were determined to be needs. Of the $233,500, there was $16,000 in excess for some immediate needs. The amount of $6,000 was put into land and building purchase for expansion to address space needs. The suburban for the ambulance was deemed to be an important need for the immediate future, and it was also funded. Mary explained how the CIP amount of $233,500 was determined. The budgeted appropriations were approved last September when the council approved the budget of $2.9 million. The reserves were $932,000, which was nearly 32 percent of appropriations. The goal was to use a 25 percent reserve factor, which resulted in the $203,500 figure. The $30,000 from the SID Revolving Cash was added to that amount, which totaled $233,500. It was deemed appropriate to reduce the reserves to 25 percent so the city should never go below $729,000 in reserves at any point in time. This was the first step in the process to present the CIP. Upon approval, the next step is to amend the budget. • Resolution - Budget Amendments Mary explained the budget amendment resolution to amend the reserves appropriation and revenues for the various fiords. When the budget was adopted in September, no capital was approved in the General or CIP Funds. If the CIP recommendations are approved, the budget amendment resolution is needed in order to appropriate the recommendations and start the process of procuring the recommended acquisitions. The $233,500 that was discussed on the previous resolution will come from the General Fund and reduce the reserves. The Planning Fund will contribute $1,500; Building Codes will contribute $6,000; Street Maintenance will contribute $2,000; the Water Fund will contribute $6,000; the Sewer Fund will contribute $6,000; and the Garbage Fund will contribute $2,500. All of the money will be channeled into the Capital Projects Fund, for a total of $257,500. • Resolution - Fund Transfers Mary explained that the next step in the process is the actual transferring of the cash to the different funding levels. An attachment to the draft resolution detailed each line item of the process. A spreadsheet summarized all previous and proposed acquisitions in the General Fund. Some items were funded outside of the program, including the playground equipment at Thomson Park, the 9-1-1 System, and the CAF System for the fire trucks. Grant money was available to purchase the playground equipment at Thomson Park. Mary stated that the CIP will be a living document that will come forward at least annually for review as the process gets back on track. This gives a good history 2 Council Workshop Minutes of February 27, 2007 and background of what has been accomplished so far, and the city is taking a big step by catching up this year. Although some items were not funded this year, the plan is to set aside increments of funding annually for purchase of needed larger ticket items. Mary explained that the CIP process begins at budget time. Department heads receive a capital outlay request sheet, which is submitted to begin the process of determining the needs of the departments. The requests are then rated by the department heads. There will be further discussion regarding how to better implement the process to go along with the budgeting process in the future. The three resolutions will be on the council agenda on March 6a' Administrative Assistant: • Resolution - Assignment of Montana Engineering & Administration, P.C., to Great West Engineering, Inc. Perry explained that the resolution assigns Montana Engineering & Administration to Great West Engineering, Inc. The two companies merged, took one of the names, Great West, and the city has a contract with ME&A and needs to recognize the merger in the contract process. • Resolution - RFP for Engineering Services Per; removed this item from the council workshop agenda. • Resolution - Vehicle Use Policy Perry removed this item from the council workshop agenda City Attorney • Ordinance - Cemetery Commission Sam stated that the mayor requested an ordinance modifying the composition of the Cemetery Commission. The Cemetery Commission would have the same number of members; however, the four residents of the city would be changed to two members of the city and two members in Yellowstone County at-large. Mayor Olson explained that LMC requires that the members be residents of the city; however, one long-time member of the commission is not a city resident. The change is also needed because the proposed Veterans' Cemetery will be located near the city and in the county. The city's interaction with the Veterans' Cemetery will include more opportunity for people outside the City of Laurel to be active as participants, and he would like to have that representation on the board. The Board would include the mayor, two council members, two citizens of the City of Laurel, and two members-at-large. This would give flexibility to allow the two members-at-large to be in or out of the city limits. Mayor Olson will present the proposal at the Cemetery Commission meetini on Wednesday. The draft ordinance will be presented again at the council workshop on March 13 . Executive review: • Legislative updates Mayor Olson updated the council about HB-2, which is the fiuiding and ranking of the City of Laurel's $750,000 TSEP Grant for the wastewater project. While the legislature is recessed on Thursday and Friday this week, he will contact the legislators regarding the issue. 3 Council Workshop Minutes of February 27, 2007 The GO bonding proposal to increase the level of 1.51 percent of the assessed valuation to 2.5 percent passed through the committee and Senate and has been transmitted to the House. A House bill regarding racial profiling is an issue which the Laurel Police Department opposes. Chief Musson and Officer Mark Guy testified against the issue in Helena last week. Racial profiling would be an unfunded mandate to collect information to send to the attorney general's office. The city does not have the funding to hire employees to tabulate the information daily and get it to the attorney general. • Update on issues at the asphalt plant • Update on abatement codes There was a lengthy discussion regarding the issues at the asphalt plant. Mayor Olson stated that the city's abatement or concern for one particular issue should not supersede what is considered to be a normal concern for the rest of the community. The city can only be as forceful to one entity as it is to the rest. Steve Klotz stated that MRL has hired a contractor to address the problems and to abate the hazards. MRL is still trying to get a contractor to reutilize the tanks for storage of a non-hazardous substance for road treatments. MRL has obtained a demo permit for the building across from DJ's and has hired a contractor for that. The city is following the abatement code, has requested inspection, and has identified the things that cause the asphalt plant to be a dangerous building. The city has noticed MRL that those are a present hazard and that they need to come up with a plan and timeline to either abate the nuisance by bringing it up to code or by tearing it down. The city does not have the option to tell MRL which option to follow. There was further discussion regarding the timeline for abatement, the city's alternative to abate a nuisance, the expense and possible litigation involved with abatement by the city, the city's goal to protect the public from hazards that exist on a particular site, the issue that MRL does not own the buildings, and the suggestion to change the zoning to avoid having an asphalt plant in that location. Steve stated that there has been progress on three MRL sites where a lessee has abandoned the property to MRL, which is not an ideal situation for them The city has seen quite a bit of effort by MRL to address some of these items. Sam suggested that the city review the process by which the asphalt plant was originally allowed at this location. Sam stated that it appears the city is acting properly within the abatement code. The city has given the proper notice, has monitored the issues, and things are getting repaired. The city's ultimate remedy would be to go to court, take over the site, abate the problems, and then go back to the owner for the costs of abating it. The city would have to hire many staff people and buy or lease equipment to do this. The remedy would be very expensive, the money would not be recovered for many years, and it would probably be hotly litigated. Sam stated that, as long as the property owners are remedying the problems as the city points them out, that is the best possible solution at this point. The ultimate hammer is a pricey hammer and the city needs to keep getting cooperation from the property owners. The ultimate goal is that the staff needs to protect the health and welfare of the citizens. • Clarification of ward boundaries 4 Council Workshop Minutes of February 27, 2007 Sam recently sent an e-mail to the council regarding the issue of changing the city's voting structure from wards to members-at-large. Sam explained that the council would need to adopt an ordinance providing for the change. The ordinance would be taken to the voters at the next election. If approved, it would be put in place. Mark Mace asked regarding changing the ward boundaries to include new subdivisions and annexations. Further research will be done and the item will be on the council workshop agenda on March 13th. • Laurel Fire Department: Request for permission to set off fireworks on July 4, 2007 Chief Wilm requested permission to set off fireworks at the football field on July 4, 2007. According to LMC, the mayor can authorize permission for fireworks displays. • Appointments: o Emergency Services Committee - Emelie Eaton o Historical Board - Emelie Eaton o Tree Board - Vonda Hotchkiss o BSEDA - Vonda Hotchkiss Mayor Olson stated that the appointments will be made at the council meeting on March 6th. Doug Poehls requested another appointment to the Emergency Services Committee. Mayor Olson asked that the appointment be delayed in order to review the parameters for appointments of the committee. Other items Doug Poehls stated that the Emergency Services Committee drafted a letter to MRL regarding the issue of rail crossings and the incident when all three crossings were blocked when an ambulance call was received. The letter informs MRL that the city would appreciate not having that happen again. Vonda Hotchkiss requested that Mrs. Frickel be updated regarding the building across from the Owl. Mayor Olson has spoken to her and will also direct staff to write a letter to her. Vonda asked if there is an ordinance stating how long a building can be empty. Steve is not aware of such an ordinance. Sam stated that the issue deals with property rights, and the city cannot tell a property owner that a building cannot be vacant. Kate Hart stated that the Park Board will meet on Thursday, March I? at 5:30 p.m. Emelie attended the Emergency Services Committee meeting on Monday and was pleased with the professional attitude towards some difficult situations. Mayor Olson plans to meet with Dr. Ken Weaver on Friday to discuss the topics for the council retreat in March. Mayor Olson presented an additional agenda item at this time. An ordinance to repeal the current Chapter 16 of the LMC and to replace it with a revised and updated Chapter 16 is needed in order to comply with the mandatory changes adopted by the State of Montana Legislature. Subdivision 5 Council Workshop Minutes of February 27, 2007 regulations are addressed in Chapter 16, LMC. Copies of the Subdivision Regulations document will be distributed to the two newest council members and the clerk-treasurer's office. The first reading of the ordinance will be on the March 6m council agenda. Review of draft council agenda for March 6, 2007 There was no discussion. Attendance at the March 6th council meetine All will attend. Announcements Kate commented on the new maps on the council tables. Mary Embleton thanked the department heads for their work on the Capital Improvements Plan. The council workshop adjourned at 8:04 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. 6