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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Workshop Minutes 08.12.2008MINUTES COUNCIL WORKSHOP AUGUST 12, 2008 6:30 P.M. COUNCIL CHAMBERS A Council Workshop was held in the Council Chambers and called to order by President Gay Easton at 6:30 p.m. on August 12, 2008. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: x_ Ernelie Eaton ~x Kate Hart _x Gay Easton Alex Wilkins _x_ Doug Poehls _x_ Mark Mace _x Chuck Dickerson _x Norm Stamper OTHERS PRESENT: Sam Painter Mary Embleton Bill Sheridan Kurt Mazkegazd James Caniglia Rick Musson Jan Fought Public In ut 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 Cauncid wild not take action on any item not on the agenda. There was no public input. Jo ce Jens Yellowstone Historic Societ :Sign in Riverside Park Joyce distributed a drawing of the proposed sign. Michelle Steffans prepared the sign design, which is more exciting than the previous proposal and is considerably less expensive. However, it is still beyond their budget. The wood sign would have writing in the middle, some cutouts and carvings of an old truck, beet fields, and a couple POW's. There would be river rock and mortar around the bottom, and rusty bazbed wire all around it to signify the pazk was a prison camp that was under fence and guard all the time. Michelle would do some staining and washing, and the colors would be muted and not vibrant. Joyce stated that, from a distance, the sign would call people to see what it says. The sign, which would be about 6'/z feet tall and 7 feet wide, would take about six to eight weeks to construct. The bid of $2,400 is over the Yellowstone Historic Society's budget. There was council discussion. The city will install the sign in Riverside Pazk. Joyce stated that the Yellowstone Historic Society would contribute approximately $1,500 far the sign, and she asked the city to point them in the right direction to find sponsors for the remaining cost of the sign. Gay stated that the issue could be presented to the Centennial Committee on Thursday. Joyce stated that the club would like to tell Michelle to start the project, but the financial issue is still there. She asked ifthe council was sure enough afthe finances to be able to start the project. Gay stated that the council could cornrnit to that. He stated appreciation for her hard work. Council Workshop Minutes of August 12, 2008 Planning: • Resolution -Vacate Maple Avenue in Russell Park and dedication of Lots 14-16, Block 2 James Caniglia stated that the resolution is for vacation of Maple Avenue, which runs on the east side ofRussell Park where the park services are located, and to dedicate the azea as a park. The resolution will be on the August 19~' council agenda. • Planning Board issue: o Discussion on considering changes to 17.0$.520(A) - "For any single-family dwelling - three passenger vehicles"; and 17.52.020(a) - "Single-family dwelling -spaces or gazages for four passenger vehicles" James stated that one section in the zoning regulations allows athree-passenger vehicle gazage and another place allows afour-passenger gazage. That needs to be clarified and can be done by a zoning district. James stated that more clarification is needed in the gazage ordinance, as it is a bit antiquated and very non-descript. The ordinance does not specify the size of structures, the footprint, the heights, or setback issues and the issues need to be addressed. James reviewed the Billings codes. Billings has a formula for the size of gazage allowed based on zoning types and/or the size of the lot. Billings does not allow gazages past a certain height and does not allow metal pole barn gazages. James asked for the council's direction on whether this would be an issue to pursue before the Planning Board for more discussion. The council had a brief discussion. Kate and Doug asked for more information and further discussion at the Planning Boazd level. Public Works Department: • Resolution -Agreement with St. Vincent Healthcare Occupational Health Services Kurt Markegard stated that the agreement with St. Vincent Healthcaze provides services for random drug testing, DOT physicals, and pre-employment physicals. It has been a good program and a valuable tool. The DOT requires drug screens of CDL drivers. The city's police and public works departments are on the random drug screening program Kurt asked the council to approve the resolution to provide these services. The resolution will be on the August 19th council agenda. • Resolution -Award bid for South Laurel Storm Water and Sanitary Sewer Improvements Kurt stated that the resolution is to award the bid for the project to go forward. Three contractors submitted bids for the project on South 1 ~ Avenue and Southeast 4a' Street to put in storm and fix the sanitary sewer. COP Construction was the lowest bidder at $1,324,194. Great West Engineering recommends that, if the funding is available, the city award the project to COP Construction. If the council approves and the funding is available, the contractor would receive notice to proceed immediately, with a December 1 ~` deadline for completion. Kurt explained that the contractor will only disrupt 100 feet at a time, lay the pipe, backfill it, and continue. There was discussion regarding penalties if the project extends beyond December 1st. Sam stated that the contract with COP Construction has not been negotiated or signed yet. A liquidated damage portion of the contract could be negotiated into the contract, especially since it is a time sensitive project. A requirement for inspections by Great West Engineering could also be negotiated into the contract. There was a brief discussion regazding millings. Clerk/Treasurer: • Resolution -approving the ballot issue for the fire hall 2 Council Workshop Minutes of August 12, 2008 Mary Embleton stated that the resolution was prepazed in order to captwe the correct ballot language. The resolution explains why the city is asking voters for this assistance and states that the project will not go forward without voter approval. The council's decision last week determined how to go forward with the project as a voter approved levy, as allowed by statute in Title 15. The city needs to make swe the voters understand that the city will only levy what is needed. If the city had to levy $325,000 to make the annual lease payment, this yeaz it would equate to 49.22 mills. Mary contacted the Department of Revenue to get the updated information. Sam discovered that it is mandatory to show voters the impact it would have on $100,000 and $200,000 homes. Mary stated that Duane Winslow, the County Election Administrator, would review the document. Mary mentioned discussion regarding asking for assistance from the fire districts. The wording is flexible so that if other outside sowces of assistance come in, the city will only levy what is needed from the city voters. There was a brief review of past discussions about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's grant mechanisms and a Rural Development loan. Chief Administrative Officer: • Resolution -Rescind Resolution No. R07-21 for Task Order No. 13 with Momison-Maierle Bi11 Sheridan stated that the task order was for work by Morrison-Maierle far the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The task order dealt with the dischazge permit, which allows the city to operate the plant. The dischazge permit has been incorporated into the new contract with Morrison-Maierle Task the resolution approving Task Order No. 13 needs to be rescinded. The resolution will be on the August 19'~ council agenda. Executive review: • Appointments: o Public Works Director -Kurt Mazkegard The appointment will be on the August 19~' council agenda. Chuck Dickerson stated that Kurt is a great choice. Gay stated appreciation for Kurt's hard work during the centennial event last week. o Reappointment of Gay Easton to 3-year term, ending June 30, 2011, on the Yellowstone Soil Conservation District The reappointment will be on the August 19~' council agenda. • Discussion of resolution for Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 Mary recently received an e-mail from the city clerk from the City of Missoula asking if Laurel would do a joint resolution to send a message to elected officials in Washington to show support to reestablish passenger rail service on the southern route. The City of Missoula did a joint resolution to show united support from the county, the city, and the chamber of commerce. The mayor asked Mazy to ask the council if it would be interested in doing a similaz thing, and ask the county, the chamber, and the City of Billings to join in supporting this effort. Gay suggested contacting Mr. Green in Billings to see if his group is interested in supporting the resolution. Council Workshop Minutes of August 12, 2008 • Discussion ofordinance for creation ofUrban Renewal Agency Sam stated that he and Mayor Olson have been working to create the actual agency that will administer the funds received from the TIF District. He stated that the state code is very broad in that the council has the authority and discretion to vest as much authority in this agency as it wants to do. The council can give all or it does not have to have an agency. The council could designate itself as the agency. Basically, the agency studies the area, comes up with plans as to what projects should be considered, and how much money should be considered for the project. The mayor wanted to find out the council's thoughts. The mayor envisions the agency as a group of appointed citizens to give advice, counsel, and suggestions to the city council. The mayor does not feel that the board should have absolute discretion in approving projects and construction, but should make recommendations to the council. The council would make the decision on what projects aze actually going to be funded. Sam is currently preparing the ordinance to create the agency. After that, a resolution to appoint the individuals and state the duties and powers will be prepared. He needs to know haw much authority the entity should have in order to draft the enabling ordinance. There was discussion. Norm agreed with the idea that it should just be a recommending board and final action should be held by the city council as the actual representatives of the citizens and taxpayers. Mark agreed that the elected officials should make the final decisions. Montana code requires five board members. The mayor is thinking about expanding the number of boazd members but having a core group of boazd members and then associate board members and staffto assist. The voters on the board would be the five members. Sam stated that the baazd is open to residents of Laurel, so it is very broad. Doug asked regarding a restriction to choose members that are business owners or residents within the district. Kate stated that the Budget/Finance Committee recently discussed having one member from outside the district. She stated that the ultimate decision authority needs to remain with the council. Emelie stated appreciation that it will help get discussion going throughout the community if there are people who aze not council members on the board. Mazk suggested that there must be consideration for who would serve on the board, as the Planning Boazd often has a difficult time getting a quorum together. Gay stated that this is Laurel's first TIF District and it is important that the council gets the process correct the first time. • Discussion of state statute regarding fireworks Gay stated that there was a lengthy discussion regarding fireworks at the department head meeting today. He stated that the city has an ordinance regarding fireworks. He asked Chief Musson to comment on this issue. Chief Musson has talked about the enforcement issue before. The biggest problem is the enforcement part of the fireworks ordinance. Because of enforcement issues, some cities have chosen to make fireworks legal for certain hours on the 4a' of July and some on the 3'~ of July. There are not enough police officers in any city or county to handle fireworks complaints. The Emergency Services Committee previously discussed this issue and it did not go anywhere. He spoke regazding the large fireworks and how to determine if something is big or not. There was a case in town several years ago that the ATF investigated and made a case on a situation, but that is their expertise. The city can make laws and change laws and still not be able to enforce them without a large amount of staff to do what should be done. On a police side, it is one of the most frustrating laws the police department 4 Council Workshop Minutes of August 12, 2p08 deals with every year. Thankfully, it is a short period oftime to deal with how to handle the fireworks complaints. There was discussion regarding the need. to at least try to address and enforce the fireworks issues, the possibility of injuries, states that have actually eliminated fireworks completely, states that sell fireworks all year, liability issues, cities with ordinances that allow fireworks for a short period during the 4~' of July, and the need to protect the citizens. Norm asked Sam if the city is open to liability at this point because there is an ordinance, whether it is enforceable or not. Sam stated that the fireworks issue has been discussed over a number of yeazs. Proposals to open it up to allow fireworks were not well received by the insurance company, so that was done away with. Restricting timeframes to light fireworks is a possibility, but it would not be allowed on city property. That leaves it to back yards. Sam stated that the bottom line is that the city has banned fireworks, and it cannot do much more regulating. A violator can be fined up to $500, whether they are shooting little or big fireworks. It is cleazly just an enforcement problem The best thing the city could do would be to hire 100 reserves on the 4~' of July and send them out to write tickets. Maybe the city would get enough revenue from the tickets to pay for the officers. Other than that, it is a difficult thing. Sam does not think the city is liable if somebody gets hurt while breaking the law. It is not a very genuine argument that, if the police would have been out patrolling and enforcing the ordinance, the individual would not have been lighting off fireworks. It is tough to make a case out of that. Doug stated that the Emergency Services Committee has reviewed the issue, and the consensus was that to change it causes different issues to rise up. If it were abolished, there would be a liability issue. But the other side is, because there is a law banning fireworks, it is an important issue. He gave the analogy that, if someone is in a group of people speeding, and a highway patml officer pulls one person over but not the others in the group, that is an enforcement issue. But the one pulled over would still have to pay the ticket. In the same way, the police officers cannot cover every fireworks call that comes in during that period of time, but the city is doing what it canto enforce the ordinance. Norm stated that, in the short time he has been on the council, this issue has been beat to death every yeaz. He understands the feaz of somebody getting hurt and that it is the prime responsibility of every government body to protect its citizens. But the ordinance on the books, and he does not see what more the city can do or that there is a solution other than what is akeady being done. Rick stated that he is not advocating changing the ordinance, but he asked the council to think about the fact that Montana allows fireworks. He does not think anyone has sued Montana for getting hurt if they shot fireworks off. There aze no laws that ban shooting fireworks. Counties do not ban fireworks unless it is a fire hazard. Counties do not get sued, but cities think they are going to get sued. If there is a criminal or negligent act, the department goes after that. He agreed that the basic law seems to work except for the enforcement side of it. • Discussion of street maintenance assessment for 2057 East Maryland Lane Bill stated that more time is needed to resolve this item The city has a policy of annexation that the roadways, alleys, and other appendages need to be annexed when a piece of property awned by a private citizen is annexed. That was not done in this case. The city needs to ensure that we annex roadways and once that is established, the city needs to assess a maintenance fee. S Council Workshop Minutes of August 12, 2008 Janet Johnson, the property owner at 2057 East Maryland Lane, stated that the annexation of the property was done on April 18t. The statute that requires the maintenance for the annexation of the streets came about April 15t1i, after this piece of property was annexed. She referred to a letter from the County Commissioners, and stated that the only fair part wauld be to let the county take care of the street maintenance, which they have done for the last five years. She is assessed city and county fees and the county maintains the street now. She does not see how the city could maintain half of Yazd Office and half of Maryland. Her property borders East Maryland on the south and Yazd Office to the west. She stated that the city cannot maintain half of the street for either direction. She thinks the only fair thing would be to let the county take it over since the property was annexed before the statute was written requiring that the street be annexed in. Sam stated that he is familiar with this issue as it came to him before. He responded to the county and got the same response back. He told Janet that he thinks she is in a jurisdictional nightmare between the city and the county. There is a definite disagreement on who should be assessing what. Sam stated that the city's position is that this property was annexed to the city. The county is assessing a tax on property that is now inside the city. The county does not have any jurisdiction over the property since the annexation was finalized. Sam has been arguing this with the county and has not been able to get to the county attorney's office to actually debate it legally with statute and cases and point out that the city thinks the county is in error. Sam told Janet that the county should pay back the assessment. Sam asked for direction from the council to take this issue to the county attorney's oi~ice for debate in order to get these folks a decision one way or the other. Norm stated that he received a copy of Mrs. Johnson's letter, as this property is in his ward. He thinks that action is needed to get it resolved. Janet stated that she does not understand how the city could take over maintenance of the street since the county already does it. The county just chip sealed Yazd Office and did the whole thing. Her property is bordered by county roads. The city did not annex and she does not see how the city can annex property after the fact when het property was annexed before the statute was written. She does not think that is fair. The county maintains the street now, and it would not make sense for the city to take care of the strip on the west and the strip on the south Sam will review the issue and contact the county attorney's office. Other items • Resolution -Equipment agreement with DNRC Mary explained that the resolution is to adopt the agreement with DNRC. The equipment will be specifically listed on the agreement, and it will complete the unit for the heavy duty brush truck. The city purchased the chassis, got it painted, and it is now in Missoula ready to have the SKID installed. This DNRC agreement will give title to the city, but there is a condition that the city will go if DNRC needs this equipment on a fire. The city will maintain and insure the equipment and book it as an asset to the city. The equipment list will be included in the agreement. Bill showed the council a framed memento that the Chamber of Commerce presented to Mayor Olson during the Centennial Celebration last weekend. Mayor Olson asked Bill to show it to everyone. At the mayor's request, Bill will find a way to display it and other city mementos on the wall in the city hall entryway. 6 Council Workshop Minutes of August 12, 2008 Gay stated that it was a nice gesture from the chamber to present that to the city. Gay stated that there was a good turnout for the Centennial event and he thanked Kurt Markegard for his work on the event. Review of draft council agenda for August 19, 2008 • Johnson Controls - Presentation of Performance Contract on August 19~ Mary stated that representatives from Johnson Controls will be in Laurel on August 18'~ and 19th to make assessments of the energy improvements. Johnson Controls is required to provide periodic reports to the city. Attendance at the August 19~ meeting There was no discussion. Announcements Chuck mentioned that a Centennial Committee meeting is scheduled far Thursday, August 14~', at 7:00 p.m. Copies of the proposed sign for Riverside Park will be distributed to the Centennial Committee. The council workshop adjourned at 7:41 p.m. Respectfully submitted, P, „ ,~„ ~uPe,-„ "~ .A ~_ 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. 7 R1A TERIALS The design for tl~e sign is an idea, l wanted the design of it to be interesting enough to get peoples attention so that they will want to read what it is all about. Please do not feel you can not make changes or give your suggestions. 1 want the image of the sign to be what your vision of the importance of the historical site is. The sign itself would be made of pine or cedar 2" thick . Measuring 6' wide by approximately S' high.. The top of the sign with the hill area and the POW's will be cut out above the 5 foot area to give the si{,n more dimension and interest. This will add another foot or so in height in those areas. The sign will have hand carved hills, beet fields, an old faun truck. The larger POW's will he cared out as well as a couple in the fields working. The bottom part of the sign will be carved to look like the river rock. and mortar on some of the buildings at the park. The carving not only gives great detail and dimension but will stand up through time. There will be rusty barbed wire coiled around the sign to represent the camp being fenced in. This will also add about a foot to the .finished width of the sign. The entire sign would be stained in a medium colored brown. The POW'S will have a dark army green colored. wash on their uniforms and the lettering. will be a white washed color. Soxne of the other areas of the sign will also have a wash type coloring. My thought was to keep the colors more muted not vibrant. There will be a brown metal panel, that will be bolted down in the middle of the wooden sign. It will have all the information printed on it in white lettering. The lay out and information would be approved by Joyce before being printed. Joyce has put together some great information and has spent many years and hours gathering it all to ensure it's accuracy. This will then be bolted onto the main wooden sign. The finished size of the sign will be about 6 '/~ foot tall by 7 feet wide. Time to construct: 6 to 8 weeks Cost: $2400 If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at the below number. Michelle Steffans 628-8841 -~, Riverside Park, Laurel - A World ~7Var 1<I POW Camp During World War II, Aix~erican anxied forces captured enemy soldiers, in German and .Italian uniforms. Nearly 500,000 POWs, captured during battles in North Africa and Europe, were imprisoned in camps throughout the United States. 'Temporary ~crork camps were set up in as many as 191ocations around Montana. One was here at Riverside Park. During the fall of 1944, prisoners of war were sent to the Yellowstone River Valley to work the local sugar beet fields. Sugar, refined from the beets, was used to make alcohol which went into munitions and rubber. The prisoners of war, mostly Ge1711ar1s, worked during the spring thinning of the beets and tlae fall harvest. At Riverside Park, POWs moved in during the spring or fall for a period of 10 to 21 days. They spent all sumruer here in 1945. The prisoners wore govei-nznent issued (G.I.) dungarees or denims with PVIW painted on each leg in letters six inches high and a jacket with tl~e bold large letters PW on their backs. They were supervised by a ya~ilitary police guard. Although. World War II ended in 1945, POWs ~rere back the next. §pring..In 1946 the United States repatriated. the last prisoners. None rcn~ained in our area. Y'e.llowstone Historical Society 2UU8 Total includin<, title = 216 words G.. -: ~, ~, --~ ;;~^~. Ccc~ r~ ~N J~A_ ~.. X~' `"r Ij'T). ~.. R ~% ~.. ~-'>< ~" .r ~-- ~. ~~ ~~ ~~: - .,- -`- ,~ ~~~t f,, w. ,, ' Wrf :~ ~` >~ _~. ~-.:. 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