DRAFT ONLY. Without council review or approval.
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
July 26, 2011
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Echanove called the Council Meeting to order at 7:02 PM.
ROLL CALL: Council members present: Tim Jones; Mike Milano; Connie Newman; Jeff Snook; Rick Wekenman. Absent: Cecil Floyd & Norm Schorzman. Cecil is on a scheduled vacation and Norm is ill. Councilmember Wekenman MOVED to excuse their absences. Councilmember Snook seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Also present: Public Works Superintendent Dwayne Griffin; Police Chief Jerry Neumann; Clerk-Treasurer Joyce Beeson; & Deputy Clerk Ann Thompson. Public present: Sharon Tharp; Pete Hertz.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Under Open Forum, Shelley Goertzen was representing Little Sprouts Child Care, not Little People Parks Project; Under Water & Sewer report, Supt. Griffin was also in attendance of the WSP meeting; also, added “Right now we’re on track for completing our WSP within the proposed time line.” Under Mayor’s Report, changed minutes to reflect the “Prospective Purchaser’s agreement is being considered by the DOE.” Councilmember Milano MOVED to adopt the minutes as amended of the Special Council Meeting of July 12, 2011. Councilmember Jones seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT- Supt. Griffin:
Asphalt crack-sealing is done. This year we had one pallet of material which is usually ample for the amount of work we have to do, but we ran out which shows our streets are aging. We’re done crack-sealing for this year but will schedule two days of crack seal next year. The county should be here August 8th to 11th to chip seal. Griffin recommended to council that all gravel roads be oiled next year.
POLICE REPORT-Chief Neumann:
The Mohr Street home has an offer of sale pending.
Still dealing with continual neighbor disputes that keep us busy.
We plan to start working on lowering the ceiling in the police building when Officers Dentler and Merry get back from vacation.
The police vehicle search is still ongoing. Rather than settling for something, we may have to go after it next year when we have a little more money in the budget.
JFB REPORT – Rick Wekenman:
Finances are normal. 3 fire calls in June, 8 YTD, which is below average. The 2011 grant will be opening soon for applications. We’re planning on applying for wild land firefighting equipment and truck intercom systems. The JFB moved to allow Chief Bagott to apply for this grant. JFB needs ratification from council to allow for that possible expenditure. Councilmember Wekenman MOVED that Chief Bagott be allowed to apply for this “Assistance to Firefighters” grant when the time is right. Councilmember Snook seconded and the motion carried unanimously. EMS had 4 calls in June, 25 YTD.
OPEN FORUM:
Sharon Tharp as a private citizen. Thanking the PCC board and volunteers for all their work on getting the new community center construction to this point. All the board members have done so much, all the nitty gritty stuff that has to be put together to make this happen. Sharon requested for them to get public recognition at the groundbreaking August 4th. They started out with $40,000 and now have $400,000. She asked council the City could do anything to help with the $20,000 shortfall in funding or any other kind of monetary support. She asked if the city could sponsor grant applications. Councilmember Newman MOVED to extend the allotted discussion time. Councilmember Jones seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Representative Susan Fagan may attend the groundbreaking so that may help honor the event. Mayor Echanove will make a proclamation to honor the PCC board and other volunteers. As far as expenses, the PCC is a privately developed organization so financially helping could be a major conflict of interest with public funds. The city cannot give money to a private organization. Perhaps the PCC can go to the Chamber for help with the community promotion end of it.
CLERK REPORT – Clerk Treasurer Beeson: Second quarter Treasurer’s Report. Joyce presented a written thorough budget narrative and Treasurer’s report. She is not anticipating a budget amendment at this time. Beginning with the July payroll she’ll be paying actual hours by fund for public works and deputy clerk. At the next council meeting there will be a resolution ready for the interim stating we will be doing payroll as it’s actually spent with the exception of the clerk’s which is percentage based. Other allocated expenses include things like fuel and shop time and communications. It is much more difficult to determine allocation for these types of expenses. All departments use fuel and shop time so the resolution will include an interim plan until we adopt a policy. She has been working with AWC and MRSC to see what other small cities are doing. It’s not cost-effective for a city our size to spend $.20 to track $1.00 to be split among 20 funds but a solution will be considered.
OLD BUSINESS:
Resolution 2011-05: Adopt transportation improvement plan. Mayor read aloud the resolution in its entirety. Councilmember Milano MOVED, seconded by Snook to adopt Resolution 2011-05. Motion carried unanimously.
Resolution 2011-06: Special Street Levy on ballot. Mayor read aloud the resolution in its entirety. A one-year excess property tax levy which will be used for street improvements and street oiling. Proposes an estimated $0.837 per $1,000.00 of assessed value in 2011 for collection in 2012. It has been at $40,000 for a few years now and council decided to keep it at that amount for now. Councilmember Newman MOVED, seconded by Councilmember Jones to adopt Resolution 2011-06. Motion carried unanimously.
Resolution 2011-07: Special Swim Pool Operation and Maintenance on ballot. Mayor read aloud the resolution in its entirety. A one-year excess property tax levy which will be used for operation and maintenance of the swimming pool. Proposes an estimated $0.586 per $1,000.00 of assessed value in the year 2011 for collection in 2012. This $28,000 levy covers about 50% of the annual pool budget. Councilmember Milano MOVED to adopt Resolution 2011-07, seconded by Councilmember Snook. The opening date is part of our overall budget discussion and we’ll be sure and educate the public on that. Motion carried unanimously.
Resolution 2011-08: Voted Regular 6-year EMS Levy. Mayor read aloud the resolution in its entirety. Setting a voted regular levy which will be used to continue existing ambulance service to the City by the City of Pullman for EMS purposes. Proposes an additional property tax levy in the amount of $.50 per $1,000.00 of assessed valuation for each of six consecutive years for provision of emergency medical services. Councilmember Snook MOVED, seconded by Councilmember Milano, to adopt Resolution 2011-08. State law allows Fire, EMS, and schools to run 6-year levies. Part of this money reimburses Pullman for ambulance transport. Discussion ensued about why Palouse contracts for ambulance services rather than maintain an ambulance service themselves. Motion carried unanimously.
Ordinance No. 890: Adopting property tax increase. Mayor read aloud the ordinance in its entirety. The dollar amount of the increase over the actual levy amount for the previous year shall be $1,166 which is an increase of one percent, plus an increase of $1,500 which is an increase of approximately 1.3 percent from the previous year, due to banked capacity. This is our state law, limiting our increase to 1% regardless of inflation. This is a councilmatic levy; it doesn’t go to voters. Councilmember Milano MOVED to adopt ordinance No. 890. Councilmember Newman seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Ordinance No. 891: Setting regular and special levy amounts. Mayor read aloud the ordinance in its entirety. As mentioned in the above resolutions, Special Street Levy is estimated at $40,000; Special Pool Levy is estimated at $28,000; Voted Regular EMS levy estimated at $24,335; General levy estimated at $119,686. A grand total of $212,021. Councilmember Milano MOVED to adopt Ordinance No. 891, seconded by Councilmember Jones. Motion carried unanimously.
COMMITTEE REPORTS/REQUESTS:
Parks, Cemetery, & Buildings-Tim Jones. Chair: Met with Palouse Conservation District staff to discuss the signage for the Riverwalk (former trailer park). Community Clean-up at the Riverwalk is scheduled for Aug. 27th.
Water & Sewer-Connie Newman, Chair: Taylor Engineering met with Supt. Griffin and had their official walk through of our water system.
Finance, Property, & Equipment-Mike Milano, Chair: Forecasting the beginning balances for next year. There is a need for a backhoe and that fund is very low but there may be some USDA money to help purchase that. Backhoe is a much-needed and much-used piece of equipment for Public Works. Also talk of having a different shop for PW or making improvements to the existing one. There are issues to having the city shop so near the well-head.
MAYOR’S REPORT:
Request from PCC to close Beach Street August 4th from 5-7pm for the groundbreaking ceremony. Staff will close it from the alley south to Main Street.
DOE wants to do some filming in Palouse on the Brownfield site.
ALLOW PAYMENT OF BILLS: Councilmember Snook MOVED that the bills against the city be allowed. Councilmember Wekenman seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
ADJOURN: Councilmember Snook MOVED to adjourn. Councilmember Milano seconded and the motion carried unanimously. The council meeting adjourned at 9:03 PM.
The following checks are approved for payment:
Claims Paid Ck. No. 3311 – 3329 $5,343.16
APPROVED: ________________________________ ATTEST: ________________________________
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