Fairfield, Washington
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
MARCH 20, 2012
7:00 P.M.
Note to persons reviewing this document: This is not a verbatim transcript. While an attempt has been made to document pertinent points, these minutes contain only a summary of the discussion and voting
Mayor Huber called the regular council meeting to order on March 20, 2012 at 7:00 pm.
Council members present: Harry Gibbons, Mary Branon, George Davidson, Valerie Spurrell.
Brian Kauffman was absent tonight.
Others present: KJ Hanley of Century West, Mark Matherly, Larry Zeug, Linda Head, Derek Knecht and Cheryl Loeffler.
Approval of Minutes
ACTION
Harry Gibbons motioned to approve the March 6, 2012 regular council minutes as presented, seconded by Mary Branon. The motion carried.
ACTION
Approval of the Claims
Claim vouchers #16580 through #16595 for $36,083.64 and EFTs for $1.519.53 were approved for payment as presented by Harry Gibbons, seconded Valerie Spurrell. The motion carried.
Claims: $31,663.34
Payroll: 5,939.83
Total Claims: $37,603.17
Check #16584 was voided.
Check Registers signed by: Mary Branon, Harry Gibbons and George Davidson.
Guest:
Mark Matherly lives in Fairfield and works for Du-Mor Recycling. He explained that his company has recycle bins that are similar to the one placed at the Valleyford Fire Station which take aluminum cans, newspapers, magazines and phone books. They also have a bin that could take cardboard. They have bins located in different communities that are used for fundraising by organizations such as the Lions Club. Mark and his boss are offering the Town of Fairfield bins for the aluminum cans and paper and a cardboard bin if needed. Mark would bring the bins to Fairfield in the company truck and take the full ones back. He would be donating his time to provide this to Fairfield. The company would then take the aluminum cans and give back to Fairfield the “can money” and use the paper recycling money to pay for the fuel for the truck to come down here. There would be no charges to Fairfield from Du-Mor Recycling. They do not have the ability to handle glass or plastics at this time.
The council thanked Mark and his boss for this wonderful offer. Ed explained that the council is still researching and want to find the best fit for the Town. The council does not want to offer the recycling to one company and then a few months down the road take it away because something better comes along.
Dave Patterson from Empire Disposal will be here next council meeting to present their recycling program.
Larry Zeug commented that charging the citizens for the recycling does not make sense especially with the hardships that so many people are going through at this time. The mayor and council all agreed with this comment.
Engineer’s Report
Century West
Sewer System Improvement Project
The funding agency, Spokane County Housing and Community Development, has examined their database and determined that Bowen Brothers are not excluded, disqualified or otherwise ineligible for Federal procurement and nonprocurement programs, according to the Excluded Parties List System. Therefore, Century West recommends that Bowen Brothers Construction bid be accepted as the lowest responsive bid at $77,712.55, which includes Additive alternate A. The available construction funding for the Sewer Improvement Project is $93,172.
ACTION
Harry motioned to award the Sewer Improvement Project for 2011 to Bowen Brothers, base bid amount of $68,438.65, Alternate A $9,273.90 with total bid of $77,712.55; seconded by Mary.
The motion carried.
The project should start around April 23 with 20 working days.
KJ will prepare the form letter that will be sent to the residents and businesses that will be affected by this project with a date set for the preconstruction walk through.
TD&H
Randy Noble sent an update regarding the Main Street project.
Fairfield/TD&H made a field review of the plans on 3/8/12.
Plans and Specifications are complete – Awaiting final comments and acceptance letter from WSDOT (expected at any time). Upon receipt of WSDOT’s acceptance letter, Randy will deliver the TIB documentation packet for Mayor Huber’s signature. Cheryl will then mail the packet to TIB for approval to advertise for construction.
UPRR’s agreement for Fairfield was mailed from California on 3/15 and has not yet been received which will need Council action review, accept and to allow Mayor Huber to sign. Once signed, UPRR will initiate the ordering of crossing materials. Since the UPRR agreement has not yet been received by Fairfield, Randy suggest that after the agreement has been received and reviewed, the Council hold a special meeting to authorize Mayor Huber to sign the agreement.
OLD BUSINESS
Water ordinance
The water ordinance will be reviewed by the council another two weeks. Cheryl will also come up with some wording to start the process.
Community Center
Kirk’s Doors came down to fix the lower door and had to order parts. He just notified us today that it would take up to two weeks to get them.
It has still been difficult to get a committee together for the youth activities. Two meetings have been held with very little adult participation. Alene and Cheryl would like to have this committee take over the youth activities by having volunteers lined up and have a calendar of events. Levi’s Room has been open for two Thursdays with two kids coming. Getting the word out has been difficult so the council agreed to check into advertising through Liberty School. Cheryl will contact Sharon Mix.
It is sometimes difficult to get volunteers to provide cooked meals for the Senior Souper. A chair is needed to help keep this running smoothly.
Light fixture replacement
The quote from CED to change the T-12 to T-8 lights in all of the city-owned buildings came in. The report states that it would take 9/10 of a year to break even between the Avista rebate and energy savings. The prices were for the fixtures only. Ed had asked for a labor component installation guide from CED. This would provide a guideline for potential contractors to give a bid.
CED also has flagpole light fixture available that could replace the one at SCOPE and the post office.
Mary will contact Platt to get another work-up for this.
Facebook
Cheryl and Valerie and still trying to find a time to get together.
Signature cards
This will be tabled until next meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Sewer rate questions
Two residents are requesting to have their sewer rates reduced due to homes being vacant. Ed explained that each connection is part of the sewer system. The rates are dictated by the dollar amount of the loans that it carries and the expensive Department of Ecology testing and regulations. One possibility is for the homeowner to disconnect
their sewer from the system and pay for connection fees in the future. The Town is allowed a certain amount of connections so if someone were to disconnect now and wanted to connect in the future, they would run the risk of the quota being met and no additional connection being available. At the present time, there is no reduction in sewer fees for empty homes.
The property owner of one of these homes did request a refund of the overpayment of the lien that had been placed on his property. This check was issued at this council meeting.
Rights of Entry Agreement for TIB Project #2-E-895(001)-1
The Town received the Right of Entry Agreement between Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and Fairfield, which will allow WSDOT access for the 2012 chip seal project at 2nd Street, Lake to Bradshaw and West Bradshaw – within city limits to Highway 27. This project will be paid with Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) funds and will have no financial burden on the town. The funding is for $45,438.
ACTION
Mary motioned to authorize the rights of entry agreement to WSDOT for TIB Project #2-E-895(001)-1; seconded by Harry. The motion carried.
Flag Day 2012
Flag Day will be held on June 9, 2012. There was some discussion about the Fun Run.
Cemetery mowing contract
Cheryl will contact the people that have shown some interest in mowing the cemetery. The applications will be accepted until 4-3-2012.
The Memorial Day Event will be Saturday May 26 at 1:00. The Cemetery Board would like to have the council participate.
Public Works Update
WATER
- Public Works Dept participated in a meter sizing, replacement and repair class, also included where and how to tap water mains. Classes were at WETRC training facility in Spokane Valley
- Total Free Chlorine Residual is staying between .2 and .3
- Replacing injectors at well #1 along with injector plumbing
- Sent two LMI injector pumps to Spokane Instruments to be repaired
WWTF
- Ducks are moving in for the season, bringing up PH levels
- Testing is staying well within limits
- Juggling flows between E.Q. Basin and Aeration to stay within discharge limits. There is a noticeable difference with the repairs that have been done with the I&I
PARKS
- Picking up of branches and debris from upper and lower parks
- Preparing mowers and weed eaters for spring duty
- Bathrooms will remain closed until there is no hard freeze in the forecast, to avoid busting pipe
ROADS
- Potholes are being turned over and graded as weather permits. Pavement is being patched with Perma-patch asphalt repair
Other: Metal has been fabricated to replace missing piece on lower Community Center door trim. Had to fabricate pieces to finish trim on upper fire escape door also and paint grey to match.
The security cameras can be replaced for about $250.
ACTION
Mary motioned to approve of the expenditure, not to exceed of $300, to replace the security cameras in Thiel Park; seconded by Valerie. The motion carried.
Lawnmowers
Derek will have a presentation between the John Deere and Grasshopper machines ready for the next council meeting.
Other:
None.
Review Complaints & Compliments
3-12-2012: Letter complaining about sewer charges for empty house. A letter will be sent from Mayor Huber addressing this issue.
Adjourn
The regular meeting adjourned 8:59 pm.
Mayor Ed Huber Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Loeffler
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