REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
DECEMBER
18, 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 Ed Huber called the regular council meeting to order on
December 18, 2012 at 7:00 pm.
Council members present: Harry Gibbons, Mary Branon, George
Davidson, and Brian Kauffman. Valerie Spurrell was absent due to a family
emergency.
Others present: Brad Veile, Brian Tiegs, KJ Hanley, Derek Knecht
and Cheryl Loeffler.
Approval of Minutes
ACTION
Harry Gibbons motioned to approve the minutes from the December 4,
2012 regular council meeting, seconded by Brian Kauffman. The motion carried.
ACTION
Brian motioned to excuse the absence of Mayor Huber from the
December 4, 2012 council meeting; seconded by Harry. The motion carried.
ACTION
Approval of the Claims
Brian Kauffman motioned and Harry Gibbons seconded to authorize
claim vouchers #16901 through #16910 for $17,982.25 and EFTs for $1,940.87 as
presented. The motion carried.
Claims: $19,923.12
Payroll:
Total Claims: $19,923.12
Check Register signed by: Mary Branon, Brian Kauffman, George
Davidson.
Guests:
Brian and Rachel Tiegs- Building Permit #01-2012
Brian Tiegs presented the plans for an addition to their home at
506 Governor Moore Street, which has been approved by the planning commission.
They plan to start after the first of the year.
ACTION
Mary motioned to approve Building Permit #01-2012 for Brian and
Rachel Tiegs’ addition at 506 Governor Moore Street; seconded by George
Davidson. The motion carried.
Brad Veile
The Veile’s had some sewer issues at 305 E Norton and had questions
regarding the sewer mainline and responsibilities. He was given the sewer
packet from AWC, the Town’s insurance, at the time of his problems, but AWC has
denied the claim since the problem laid on their property and did not involve
the 6” mainline. Derek performed a dye test, which showed that the mainline was
clear. This test is performed as soon as we are notified of a sewer issue.
Derek viewed the CD, which Brad had provided and will look at the video that
was made when the Veile’s had issues a few years ago. Brad will make sure that
Derek gets the video. This may show something different than the CD.
The initial packet from AWC is for relief of liability when it
cannot be determined easily where the responsibility should fall and these
funds would pay for the camera work or any other test needed to identify the
problem. It pays up to $2000.
Since this 6” mainline crosses private property and has a few homes
sharing a line, Brad expressed concern about possible breaks in the mainline
causing sewer from other homes to back-up into their home. Whose responsibility
would that be?
Derek explained to him that if the main were to break, it would
definitely be the Town’s responsibility. It was explained that many of the
older homes did “share” a line but any new homes built or repairs made to
current lines, the lines will all be independent of one another, which should
alleviate some of these concerns.
Engineer’s Report
TD&H
Approval of ARC Electric progress payment #1 for the new lights on
Main Street.
ACTION
Mary motioned to pay ARC Electric progress payment #1 for
$50,143.60, not including the $2,639.90 retainage; seconded by Brian.
Century West
2012 Sewer Improvement Project
KJ Hanley presented the SEPA checklist for the 2012 sewer project
for council review. He stated that this is very similar to past applications.
The creek is not involved. The council will review the application and approve
it at the next council meeting. It will then be posted for comments.
The preliminary plans and cost estimate for the project are
completed and the railroad amendment will be started after the holidays.
Main Street Rehabilitation Project-Railroad to McNeil Avenue
KJ has put together the TIB consultant agreement for the Main
Street Project but we are still waiting to hear from Gloria Bennett from
Transportation Improvement Board (TIB).
KJ has been communicating with ARC Electric, who did the previous
lighting project to make sure that everything will work together with the new
project. He recommended that we get electronic copies of the as-builts for the
lights.
Pressure Tests
KJ has been working with the results of the pressure tests that
public works did around town. He commented that they all look good. Dennis and
KJ will be down on January 8 for a question and answer session about the Town’s
water pressures for the public.
OLD BUSINESS
Lighting
Jim Adams has been working on the lights in the various town-owned
buildings. The Town Hall, Post Office and the Community Center are almost
complete. It is so nice to have adequate lighting in the office. They are happy
at the post office. He will be coordinating with Derek to work this weekend at
the shop. He will be working with the Avista rebate to ask forgiveness if he
does not get the work completed before 12-31-12.
Replace Printer
The lease expired in September for the Xerox machine and an upgrade
has been put into the 2013 budget. Cheryl would like to go with another Xerox
machine, which would be smaller and still do the same things as the current
one. The 5-year lease is $82.69 plus tax per month with 2900 copies included.
Any copy above 2900 is .0089. This comes out to be about the same cost as the
ones we were looking at from ABC Machines. Xerox provides service for the
machine.
ACTION
Mary motioned to approve the Xerox proposal; seconded by Harry.
Motion carried.
Ordinance #371 Budget Amendment #2
ACTION
Harry motioned to approve Ordinance #371, Budget Amendment #2 as
outlined; seconded by Brian. The motion carried.
Sheriff’s contract
The cost to the Town for the 2013 Sheriff’s contract will be
$15,293, which is significantly lower than previous years. Explanation for this
reduction from Jeff Tower follows. For the 2014 budget, the base rate will be
$24,259.
Specifically what occurred with Fairfield is that your 2011
bill was based on statistics from 2009. When the settle and adjust was
completed, the Town of Fairfield actually used less service in 2011 than what
was estimated. Therefore, the county owed the Town a credit of $8,966. This
credit is being applied to your bill for 2013. The bill would be $24,259 if
there were not a credit owed for 2011. In addition to using less service in
2011, the Sheriff's Office had several reductions in staff from 2009 to 2011
due to budget cuts so our actual operational costs in 2011 were less than what
we estimated in 2009.
Finally, for planning purposes, the Sheriff's Office and the
County realize that the settle and adjust process could put a huge burden on a
small towns if we had several incidents or a large scale response in any given
year that resulted in more service than the Town could pay for. As a result,
the Sheriff lobbied the Commissioners to put a 10% cap on any increases for the
small towns. Therefore when the settle and adjust is done for 2012, the most
your bill could be for 2014 would be 10% more than your 2013 cost of $24,259 or
$26.685. I realize this is significantly higher than what you will pay this
year but your bill this year actually reflects a credit of nearly $9,000.
Set wages/benefits for town employees
Ed finished the employee reviews and gave the council copies of the
last two reviews along with his recommendations for employee salaries for 2013.
The staff has not seen any of his recommendations at this point.
Cheryl’s vacation accrual is to be added 1-5-13 but she has reached
the maximum allowable amount according to the Personnel Handbook. Ed asked the
council to give her until the end of January to use at least 80 hours of her
vacation time and to add to the accrual as she uses the hours. She is going to
move to salary instead of hourly. This way, she will not build up comp hours as
she is not paid overtime for the council meetings. Her comp time will be at
zero before 1-1-13.
All employee reviews were very favorable and the town has very
valuable employees with these four.
Ed’s recommendations are based upon merits and not across the
board.
Derek L Knecht, Public Works Supervisor 3.75% increase to $17.64
per hour.
Derek A Knecht Public Works II 5.4% increase to $12.65
Cheryl Loeffler Clerk/Treasurer 3.7% increase to $16.95 or $36,284
salary
Jeannie Jesseph Deputy Clerk $1 increase to $12.00/hour
Jeannie has asked for health benefits and would be willing to
negotiate benefit package costs but at the substantial cost of the benefit
package ($6876), part time hours and length of service (hired 5-1-12); Ed
recommended the customary $1 raise.
Ed then asked the council to approve a one-time bonus for the Town
employees to retain and reward key and highly skilled personnel and reward
outstanding development and performance in the departments worked. MRSC was
consulted on this action. He would like to give the full time employees $250
and part time $125 to be included in the next payroll.
ACTION
Harry motioned to approve pay and wage increases and the one-time
bonus as recommended by the mayor; seconded by Brian. The motion carried.
Public Hearing for Approval of Ordinance #372- 2013 Budget
Mayor Huber opened the public hearing opened at 8:46. Cheryl noted
that Fund 101 E Main Street Rehabilitation Project was incorrect. It needs to
reflect the remainder of the grant, Construction $78,769.24 and Engineering
$9,894.96 with total being $141,450.00.
With no public comments, the public hearing closed at 8:59.
ACTION
Mary motioned to approve the 2013 Final Budget Ordinance #372 with
changes noted to fund 101; seconded by Brian. The motion carried.
NEW BUSINESS
Piano and wood cook stove at Community Center
There is a piano in the Community Center lower level that has not
been used for several years and needs quite a bit of repair. Ed asked the
council if the piano could be given away as is, to which they all agreed. The
old cook stove is still in the furnace room. Cheryl will contact Jill Townsend
in Rockford about putting it on consignment in her store. The council recommended
accepting no less than $300.
Public Works Report
Water
Testing is on schedule and within limits. Soft start is scheduled
for installation on well #2 before the end of the year.
Sewer
All maintenance and repairs have been completed for this year on all
service pumps.
The light has been replaced at the influent building entrance;
screen room is on the list.
Testing is on schedule and within permit limits.
Contract for lift station maintenance from Whitney Equipment was
reviewed. The length of the contract is until 2017 but Derek will talk to him
lowering that to two years. The contract will not be approved until this
negotiated.
After working closely with Whitney Equipment this past week, Derek
and Derek believe that they could do the maintenance at the WWTF themselves.
Whitney Equipment had a bumper crane attached to the bumper, which did most of
the work. This could be purchased for around $2,600 and then be used for other
maintenance around town.
Roads
Plowing has started for the year Sander is working great and will
be used to sand the intersections and hills along the main routes.
There is a hole on Portland Avenue that needs attention.
Parks
Hart Park has been trimmed and the old growth trees lining
Fairweather at Hahner Field have been removed by Inland Tree Service.
The lighting issues have been fixed in Thiel Park along Main
Street.
Other
Request from Denny and Jeri Kay Thieren to adjust their excessive
water usage for the September/October billing. They have never used that many
gallons, 23,450. The most used in the last two years was 7,800. The reading had
been checked by both homeowner and public works. Due to the age of the meter,
there is a possibility that the numbers caught. Derek will replace this meter
soon.
ACTION
Mary motioned to approve the removal of excess water usage of
$227.90 for meter #173; seconded by Brian.
Website
Brian has the website almost complete. If anyone wants to see it
before it goes live, Brian is more than happy to have you stop by his home to
see it. Talk with Cheryl to get this set up.
Ed reminded the council that next council meeting is the selection
of the mayor pro-tem for 6-month period.
***The meetings in January will be January 8 and 22.
Complaints/Compliments
None.
Adjourn:
The regular meeting adjourned 9:28 pm.
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___________________________
Mayor Ed Huber Clerk/Treasurer Cheryl Loeffler
