May 01, 2013
7:00 PM
Mayor
Micki Harnois called the meeting to order after the Pledge of Allegiance was
recited. Council members present were: Larry Van Every, Dave Thompson, and
Clint Stevenson and absent was Thomas Smith but excused. John Goyke
Clerk/Treasurer/Public Works Operator was also present.
Mayor comments:
Saturday
May 4th there will be a town wide clean up day event; it will start
at 10:00 Am and continue until 2:00 Pm. On May 11th there will be
the annual Town Chipping event being held at the Rodeo Arena area from 9:00 AM
to 3:00 PM.
Dave
Thompson’s, Larry Van Every’s, Steve Meyer’s vacant council position and the
Mayor’s position are all up for election this term.
The
Mayor met with a developer’s consultant for a senior’s housing project in
Rockford.
Committee Reports:
Tree City USA Committee
The tree’s for the park will be acquired and planted on May 02, 2013 in the Park. The Tree ceremony will be May 04th and three trees will be dedicated in Brad Marlow’s, Doug Pratt’s and Don Davis’s memory. The Town will remove some of the dead and dying trees in the fall the town may need a man lift to reach the tops of the trees.
April 17 Minutes
Larry
Van Every made a motion to approve the minutes. Clint Stevenson seconded the
motion, passed voice vote.
Ivan
Willmschen pointed out on page four, line 156 that the Sheriff’s Contract price
reads $250,000.00 and it should read $25,000.00, the Clerk/Treasurer said that
he would make a note of the incorrect number.
Checks
Clint Stevenson pointed out that the
Agricultural Building, Old Restrooms, Food Booths, Main Fair Building, Fair
Office and the White Shed accumulate power charges that the Town is covering,
but the clubs that use the building do not pay a fee or cover the costs that
the town is expending on the buildings. Clint Stevenson felt that the various
clubs that use the buildings should be paying the power bills for those
buildings and the town should not be paying the bills.
Clint then made a motion to pay checks
11970 through 11999 for a total of $31,802.43, with payroll of $4,530.33 and
claims of $27,272.10 and voiding check 11994 due to a misprinted amount on the
check. The motion was seconded by Dave Thompson, motion passed with a voice
vote.
Planning
and Zoning
P
and Z Chairman Howard Brutschy said that there was a development question on a
proposed building development on B Street. There was a question about water
pressure and water supply to the proposed development site. The proposed
development may have three to six houses with approximately 1800 square feet
per home. Another issue that may have to be addressed is unvacating several of
the streets; this process will have to be researched.
There was some discussion about
putting in a booster station for the project, the developer wanted to know if
he installed the booster station would there be a reduction in the hook-up fees.
There was further discussion of the cost of a booster station; it was estimated
that if the town installed a booster station it may cost up to $60,000.00
dollars, if the contractor put in the booster station it may be done cheaper.
There was further discussion about what this development would be classified
as, would it be a development, a subdivision, is it just one acre or eighteen
lots, would lot line adjustments be appropriate, could the developer charge
other projects that tie into the booster station as late comers fee?
Clint Stevenson remembered that the
ordinances stated that a late comer’s fee could be charged up to seven years
after the improvement was installed. The hydrant that is installed at the end
of the line on B Street does not have enough pressure or flow that is required
for a fire hydrant.
Steve Meyer felt that if a housing
development ties into the water line on B Street he should receive a late comer’s
fee as he was the one that installed the line at his cost.
Old Business
Arena
No
Further information was presented.
Sheriff Contract
No
Further information was presented.
Sewer Ordinance
Ivan
Willmschen asked what the ordinance was about, as he had not seen a copy of it.
Larry
Van Every said he was happy with the ordinance.
Clint
Stevenson made a motion to pass Ordinance 13-01, Larry Van Every seconded the
motion, motion passed with a voice vote.
Andrew Fricke Alley Vacation
The
issue has been sent to the Town Attorney for review. Steve Meyer wanted to know
if the issue could be resolved with a variance, the Mayor said no. The Mayor
said that she would call the Town Attorney on May 2nd to find out
what the attorney had discovered regarding how to precede.
Shoreline Master Plan Update
The
Mayor gave a brief overview of the maps and designations of the Shoreline Plan;
she further explained that the plan allows for the maintenance of the creek for
flood control. She further explained that the engineers are looking at the RCW
that allows the Town to maintain the creek two miles up stream and two miles
down stream from the town for flood control.
Larry
Van Every felt the plan should be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Board.
The
handouts that the Mayor had presented to the Council were copied and handed to
the P and Z Chairman Howard Brutschy.
Town Mowing
Jenifer
Cecil said that she was willing to volunteer to mow in one of the parks. Currently
Bill Harnois and the Creed’s are volunteering to mow and have been mowing the
parks.
Stan
Seehorn felt the Town tractor could be used to mow, but he felt the Town
tractor was not ideal for the Park/Fair Grounds area. He further stated that he
could look at the mowing deck for the Town tractor to assess what would be
needed to fix it so it could be used to mow the parks.
Larry
Van Every feels that the Town needs to get the word out to get more volunteers
and that the citizens need to talk to each other and encourage people to
volunteer.
USDA Grant/Loan
The
USDA loan/grant was discussed; the council discussed the interest on the loan.
The
email from Rick Rose was discussed. Larry Van Every wanted to know why there
was so much confusion on the terms of the loan and he wanted to know where the
confusion was coming from. There was discussion concerning the engineer and
what the engineer thought was a five year versus a ten year term on the loan.
It
was the consensus of the council to move forward with the loan and see what the
exact terms are concerning the interest and payback before accepting it.
Manhole cover in front of Hurds
Stan
Seehorn said that the broken manhole cover in front of Hurds is dangerous and
may cause tire damage an automobile drives over it. He felt that it should be
replaced and suggested that the state should be contacted to see if they would
fix it.
Missile Base Road Funding
Stan
Seehorn wanted to know when the money would be coming in to fix Missile Base Road;
he also wanted to know if the State DOT was going to pay to have it fixed. The
Mayor said that money will be available soon and the State WA DOT will not
accept the responsibility to fix it.
Local Business Licenses
Larry
Van Every wanted to know why the town does not issue and control what type of
business licenses are issued in the Town.
The
Mayor explained that currently there are over 200 businesses licensed from
Rockford and that the administrative costs of issuing those business licenses
would be too high.
Carrie
Roecks said that there used to be an ordinance that controlled solicitors and
that issuing a business license is as easy as issuing a dog tag.
The
Mayor explained that anyone can get the list of businesses for Rockford off of
the State Web site.
Larry
Van Every felt that it would be worth the Towns time to issue the business
licenses in Rockford so as to better control what type of businesses come to
Town. He felt that business’s such as the head shop could have been controlled
if the Town issued the business licenses.
The
Mayor said that the Town had to be careful restricting businesses like the head
shop because there has to be a legitimate reason to restrict a business.
Steve
Meyer said that the Town could control what type of business’s came to Town
with an ordinance.
Stan
Seehorn wanted to know how much revenue the Town was receiving from the 200
registered businesses in town.
The
Mayor said all these questions could be answered by visiting the State DOR
site.
Fire Department Insurance
Stan
Seehorn wanted to know who the contact person was for the Fire Department
insurance, he wants to review the policy with a qualified insurance representative.
Larry
Van Every wanted to know when the last time was that the Fire Department Insurance
was reviewed.
Stan
Seehorn was not sure when the last time was that the policy was reviewed.
The
Clerk/Treasure gave the contact phone number to Stan Seehorn for the AWC
Insurance Policy Coordinator.
New Business
Town of Rockford Property Sale
No
Further information was presented.
Six Year Street Plan
The
council will discuss it at the next meeting.
Town Work Shop to discuss Budget and Utility Taxes
The
Mayor announced that the work shop shall take place on June 18th at
6:30 Pm in the Fair Building at the park.
Larry
Van Every wanted to know if the Avista Utility Tax will be discussed. The Mayor
informed him that it will be on the agenda.
Sherri
Tyler wanted to know how the Town will inform the people of the meeting.
The
Mayor said that it will be posted on the reader board and it will be advertised
in the Town News Letter.
Contract for a Web Master
Larry
Van Every felt that this can be done in house with the town’s own server. Larry
Van Every said if the Town had its own server the Clerk/Treasurer could upload
the information as needed to the Town Web Site. Larry Van Every also said that if
the Town ran the web site itself the Town could offer the service to the
Nonprofit Organizations in the Town. He felt that the cost to the Town to run
their own web site would be $6.00 per year.
Sheri
Coumont said that the current web masters are still interested in running the
web site and that they are capable of getting the work done.
Dave
Thompson felt that the web site should be maintained by the Town.
The
Mayor felt that the current web masters were quick to respond when updates were
needed.
The
issue will be further discussed at the next meeting as no action was taken.
NPDES Permit
The
permit was handed out for review.
Medical Marijuana Sales
The
Mayor handed out examples of Medical Marijuana Sales ordinances restricting the
sales and business licenses. She explained that the Valley has five or six
dispensaries and Cheney has lifted the ban on dispensaries.
Larry
Van Every wanted to know who assumes the risk of the dispensary.
The
Mayor explained that the Jurisdiction is taking the risk, and the owners of the
dispensary are taking a risk.
No
action was taken on this issue.
Public Works
Ivan
Willmschen explained that the Lions Club looked at the bleachers and felt that
they can be refurbished to meet code, and will pass a compliance test if fixed.
It was the consensus of the Council until the bleachers are fixed that they be
removed from service and placed at the Town Shop.
Ivan
Willmschen asked if the Town had a culvert to install at the park. The
Clerk/Treasurer/Public Works Operator said that the Town does not currently own
a culvert to be installed at the park.
Carrie
Roecks said that the Town should install a French Drain around the park.
It
was discussed that if the ditch around the park is not fixed that those that
attend the car show will not attend it this year.
Cathy
Creed said that the car show is important for the Town.
Steve
Meyer said that the Town could fix the ditch around the park by placing fabric
down in the ditch and then filling it with large river rock to create a French
Drain. He felt that the town could buy two yards of rock and some fabric to
accomplish the task.
The
council felt that the public works operator should contact Rick Hauf to get a
quote for the rock and report back at the next meeting.
The
Clerk/Treasurer/Public Works Operator informed the council that the Geiger Work
Crew had been in Town cleaning sidewalks and streets, and that the Rockford
Youth Club had been cleaning sidewalks in the Down Town area.
The
Clerk/Treasurer/Public Works Operator informed the council that this would be
the last week for discharge at the lagoons as pond three was almost empty.
Steve
Meyer said the Town needs to pick up the large asphalt chunks along the road
and break them up and put them in the potholes. He then said the Town needs to
rent a large asphalt heating machine to heat the road and the patches and then
roll the roads to get rid of the pot holes.
Public Comment
Robert
Tollefson: Does not feel that the Town should pay to install a Booster Station
and that if a Booster Station is installed that the developer should not get a
discount. He further wanted to know who was going to pay for the electricity to
run the booster station.
Carrie
Roecks: The minutes on Line 167 regarding the Fricke Alley vacation did not say
that the town attorney would be reviewing the issue. She further wanted to know
if the bleachers are fixed can they stay on the town insurance. The
Clerk/Treasurer Public Works Operator asked if the bleachers are refurbished
will the Lions Club take possession of them and put them on their insurance.
Carrie Roecks said that the Lions Club does not want the Bleachers on their insurance.
Ivan Willmschen said that the bleachers benefit the Town and the Town should
take care of them and the insurance. The Mayor explained that if the Bleachers
are refurbished they can stay on the Town Insurance. The Mayor said that she
looked into the price of new bleachers and that would cost the town approximately
$6400.00
Ivan
Willmschen: The town needs to look into getting a new insurance company.
Carrie
Roecks: Felt that there is a public perception issue with the current staff;
she was told that someone saw the part time Maintenance Operator Jerame Clark
mowing the flood control dikes and that he hit several rocks while mowing and
that is why the mower is broke. Carrie Roecks further stated that people saw
him mowing over trees with the mower deck. The Public Works Operator/Clerk
Treasurer said that the mower deck was not broken because of the use by Jerame
Clark, and it was explained that Jerame Clark was spoken to about mowing rocks.
Clint
Stevenson: said that the Town needs to get the current water specifications up
to date and that the Council will have to make a decision about development
because the current regulations are out of date.
Cathy
Creed: Wanted to know when the new rates
for the Trailer Court were passed, it was explained that she has never missed a
council meeting and did not hear about the rates being passed in an open
council meeting. The Council explained that they did vote on the issue in an
open Council meeting.
Larry
Van Every: Discussed that it has been an interesting time getting along with
people, reminded everyone that there is an open council position and that some
of the people that are attending the meeting tonight should run for the
position. Larry Van Every said that he likes a good argument and good
representation is key, it is really important to make the wills and desires of
the people known.
Bill
Creed: Read the Open Public Meeting Act law to the council and for the record.
Steve
Meyer: Last meeting the Council violated the open public meeting act when they adjourned
the meeting and then held a discussion on the new head shop and what needs to
be done about it. Steve Meyer asked what the Council was trying to hide from
the public by not having the discussion in an open public meeting. The Mayor
explained that the Council is not trying to hide anything. Steve Meyer then
explained that when the council was at the table there was a quorum present, by
adjourning the meeting, remaining at the table and then discussing new business
the Council is conducting a meeting, and because the meeting was officially
closed the Council is Violating the open public meetings act.
Phil
Evans: Explained the penalties for violating the open public meeting act, he
said that the State can issue fines and even prison time for violating the law.
The Mayor then adjourned the meeting at 8:55
PM.
______________________ _______________________
John
M. Goyke Micki
HarnoisClerk/Treasurer Rockford Mayor
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