FAIRFIELD, WASH.
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING

MARCH 6, 2012

7:00 P.M.

Note to persons reviewing this document: This is not a verbatim transcript. While an attempt has been made todocument pertinent points, these minutes contain only a summary of the discussion and voting.

Mayor Huber called the regular council meeting to order on March 6, 2012 at 7:00 pm. Council members present: Harry Gibbons, Mary Branon, George Davidson, Valerie Spurrell and Brian Kauffman.

Others present: Randy Noble of TD&H, KJ Hanley of Century West, Anthony and Mary Sparks, Tom Smith from St. John Hardware and Cheryl Loeffler.

Approval of Minutes

ACTION

Brian Kauffman motioned to approve the February 21, 2012 regular council minutes as presented, seconded by Harry Gibbons. The motion carried.

ACTION

Approval of the Claims

Claim vouchers #16561 through #16579 for $34964.62 and EFTs for $5,030.98 were approved for payment as presented

by Harry Gibbons, seconded Brian Kauffman. The motion carried.

Claims: $33,638.76

Payroll: 6,356.84

Total Claims: $39,995.60

Check Registers signed by: Mary Branon, Brian Kauffman and George Davidson.

Engineer’s Report

Century West

Sewer System Improvement Project

Bid opening was March 2, 2012 with five bids opened. Currently, Bowen Brothers appear to be the low bidder at $68,438.65 with Alternative A at $9,273.90 and B $25,523.00 for a total of $105,302.91. Bowen Brothers has done work in Fairfield and has been hired by the Town on separate occasions and the Town has always been very satisfied with their work. The bid was low enough that the first additive could be completed. Accelerated Construction and Excavating, LLC is the second lowest bid with base bid at $78,862.19, Alternative A $10,024.11 and B $24,271.69 for a total bid of $113,157.99. They are the construction company that put the pedestrian bridges in Thiel Park. The CDBG grant is for $112, 283.00

Abe Bowen does not anticipate starting until May. They have 20 working days to complete the project. Right now, they are scheduled to have the job completed June 8. Mary brought up the fact that Flag Day is June 9 and that is cutting it very close. KJ will move the ending date to June 1.

A walk-through pre-construction meeting will be held for all of the affected homes and St. John Hardware in that area so everyone will know what it going on and what to expect. A letter will also be sent notifying them of the project.

Portland Avenue

Notification was received from Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and Spokane Regional Transportation Council (SRTC) that the application to reclassify Portland Avenue to a rural major collector was rejected but that they would accept it as a rural minor collector. (By description, a major collector is Carlton and a minor collector is Bradshaw.) The Town could write a letter to WSDOT and SRTC requesting to reclassify Portland so traffic can be rerouted from Carlton to Portland. The next time that Gloria Bennett is in town, KJ will set up a meeting to walk Portland. She may have some different ideas to utilize to get it reclassified. As a minor collector, there is no funding from WSDOT or SRTC. KJ, as an engineer, does not think that it is realistic to make Portland an arterial. It would require major work and funding to get it to the condition it needs to be for an arterial. Harry brought up the point that Portland has a very poor base and is costing the town quite a bit of money in maintenance. He suggests doing the project in sections.

TD&H

Randy Noble presented the estimate of $190,000 from Union Pacific Railroad for the crossings and this was then cut in half so Fairfield’s portion would be $85,000. The original application listed the crossing at $144,000 so this is significantly lower. The Town is responsible for 5% of this amount. On Thursday, March 8 at 8:00 a.m., Randy will be in town to walk the project with the plans to get a better understanding of the project. Anyone is invited to walk the project with Randy and Ed.

The council accepted the UPRR estimate so the railroad can now initiate an agreement with Fairfield for the work. This agreement must be executed before UPRR will order materials.

Ed discussed the possibility of having the asphalt in front of the post office and city hall repaired while the contractors are in Fairfield. The records room took in water during one of the storms due to the condition of the asphalt. Since the Main Street project is already below budget, Randy did not think that TIB would have any problem with stepping in to help fix this problem. He will check with Gloria Bennett about this.

OLD BUSINESS

Recycling in Fairfield

MRSC was contacted about the $2 being added onto the utility bills. Paul Sullivan stated that since the town does not already provide a garbage service, legally we could not add this fee. His suggestion would be to add a utility tax onto the water. In order to receive the $2 from each household, approximately 9% utility tax would need to be added. The council and mayor all had reservations about taxing water to subsidize the recycling. The suggestion is to not charge our residents for recycling but to divert a portion of the 6% utility tax that we are already collecting from Avista from the streets to recycling. Cheryl is still working with Suzanne Tresko on the Department of Ecology grant.

Harry was concerned that Empire Disposal had not been contacted about the possibility of lower revenues and that the citizens should be notified that Empire would probably raise their rates to compensate. Since the Town does not contract with Empire but it is done on an individual account basis, it is not the Town’s responsibility.

Mary and Anthony Sparks, who were unable to attend the public hearing, expressed their thoughts on an additional fee plus their concern about some of the people not being able to actually utilize the recycling dumpsters. They already do their own recycling and garbage. They also asked if a location had been chosen, which it has not.

ACTION

Mary motioned to approve participation in the six-month trial period of the recycling with Sunshine Disposal with the contingency that the other four communities sign on; seconded by Brian. The motion carried with George and Harry abstaining.

Community Center

Cougar Wireless is offering the Town internet security at the community center. The council selected a Level 3, which protects against pornography and non-family friendly access and from sharing sites that contain viruses. Cheryl will notify Cougar of their choice. She will also find out if this will be available at both hot spots.

The lower door handle is broken so access is limited through the upper door until it is fixed. Parts had been ordered from Wholesalelocks.com but were incorrect.

Youth activities begin 3-8-2012. So far John and Jeanie Jesseph and Jon and Maureen Rinker have signed up to chaperone.

Background checks will be performed. Cheryl checked with Roger Neal from RMSA about sharing the background checks with other organizations such as Fairfield Care and the churches and as long as the applicant is willing (get it in writing) to share their background check (and those that aren’t would be a big Red Flag,) he think that sharing the background check is a good use of resources.

The article that Nina Culver wrote for the Valley Voice about Levi’s Room has generated the donation of a Brunswick fullsize pool table. This is in very good condition. A full-size pick-up and some muscles are needed to get this from the home in Spokane Valley. Please let Cheryl know if you would be able to do this.

NEW BUSINESS

Water ordinance

When the state auditor was here, one of their suggestions was to update the utility ordinances, especially about delinquent payments and lien placements. The council received copies of sample water ordinances from Tekoa, Almira and Rockford along with our own. They will review all of these and come back to the next meeting with changes they would like to implement.

Staff meeting

The staff and Ed met last Thursday for a breakfast meeting to discuss the upcoming projects.

2012 Spring Yard Debris Day

The annual Spring Yard Debris Day is scheduled for April 28 from 9-3. A free home composting class will be offered on the same day at the Community Center at 10:00.

Public Works Update

WATER

• Total Free Chlorine is staying at a constant .2
• Injector pump is being replaced in well house #2.
• Soft start system quotes are being prepared for wells 1 and 2.

WWTF

• UV lights have been cleaned and operating at 100% disinfection rate.
• Testing is on schedule and staying within limits. 

PARKS

• Garbage and debris picked up on a regular basis, branches from high winds etc.
• Prepping mower for spring duty, repairing J.D. 316 for liquidation.
• Final research on new mower purchase, narrowed to two choices, John Deere industrial/commercial model and Grasshopper 72” Diesel.

 ROADS

• Plowing and sanding have been going great with late season snow and ice.
• Continuing with pothole repair in paved areas, grading of gravel roads will commence upon favorable road conditions (proper moisture content).
• Sight at Seward and Second is still too soft for travel and remains sectioned off.

Fire Extinguishers have been serviced for the year, good until March 2013. It has been recommended by Oxarc to install 20lb. Purple K Fast Flow Ext. by the towns propane tanks per NFPA #102010.

Also a second bid for replacing lights and fixtures in town properties on the Avista rebate program is being compiled for council review.

Other:

None.

Review Complaints & Compliments

2-22-2012: Blowing insulation from trailer removal. The owner was contacted and guaranteed that it would be resolved as soon as possible.*Cheryl will make a personal contact with the owner as soon as possible. There have been some health issues and the snow recently so clean-up activity was basically halted.

Adjourn

The regular meeting adjourned 8:59 pm.

______________   __________________________

Mayor Ed Huber     Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Loeffler