MEETING OF THE CITY OF CONNELL, WASHINGTON
CONNELL, FRANKLIN COUNTY, WASHINGTON

August 13, 2001

The regular semi-monthly meeting of the City Council of the City of Connell was called to order by Mayor Walton at 7:30 p.m. in the City Hall and was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL 

PRESENT:       Mayor Gary Walton, Council members Roel Martinez, Monica Pruett, Jim Lobach, Ron Boyer and Perry Skoglund.

STAFF:            City Administrator Art Tackett, Chief of Police Rick Rochleau, City Attorney Terry Tanner and Deputy Treasurer Jeri Reinauer.

VISITORS:      Larry Seibel, Anderson Perry and Associates and Kathy Bingham, Franklin County Graphic.

CORRESPONDENCE/PRESENTATIONS/APPOINTMENTS

1)                  Richland Retired Senior Volunteers - Invitation for a breakfast to recognize retired senior volunteers.

2)                  WA State Liquor Control Board - Request for Special Occasion Liquor License for the American Legion Post 195 for September 7 & 8, 2001.  There being no comments or objections, the request was passed on to the approval of the Liquor Control Board.

3)                  Association of WA Cities - Regarding the impacts and losses of several initiatives.

4)                  City Clerk-Treasurer - Requested that all department heads have estimates of revenues and expenditures for the next fiscal year budget by August 27th.

5)           Mayor Walton appointed Mike Harrington to the Board of Adjustments to replace Kent Hansen who resigned earlier in the month.

CONSENT CALENDAR

Council member Skoglund moved to approve the Consent Calendar as follows:
    1)      Minutes of the July 23, 2001 Regular Meeting
Council member Pruett seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Mayor Walton made the following changes to the agenda;
     Addition of Item No. 17 a  -  Personnel Issue.
Council member Skoglund moved to authorize the agenda as amended.  Council member Pruett seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

ORDER OF BUSINESS

PUBLIC HEARING - NEAL SMICK ANNEXATION

Mayor Walton opened the public hearing at 7:40 pm on the annexation for property belonging to Neal Smick.  No objections were heard in regards to the Mayor or Council members participation in the proceedings.  None of the Council members had an interest in the property or issue nor stood to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of the hearing and affirmed that they could hear and consider the case in a fair and objective manner.

City Administrator Tackett outlined the area to be annexed and noted that the reason for the annexation request was the possible purchase of the property by the Department of Corrections.

There being no further comments the Mayor closed the public hearing at 7:42 pm.

ORDINANCE NO. 738 - SMICK ANNEXATION

Council member Skoglund moved to adopt Ordinance No. 738 relating to the annexation of property belonging to Neal Smick.  Council member Martinez seconded the motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

PUBLIC HEARING - MARYETTE CAMP ANNEXATION

Mayor Walton opened the public hearing at 7:45 pm on the annexation for property belonging to Maryette Camp.  No objections were heard in regards to the Mayor or Council members participation in the proceedings.  None of the Council members had an interest in the property or issue nor stood to gain or lose any financial benefit as a result of the outcome of the hearing and affirmed that they could hear and consider the case in a fair and objective manner.

City Administrator Tackett reported that the annexation request involved approximately 30 acres of property.  The City was interested in purchasing at least half of this property.  One stipulation by the owner was that the property be purchased in order for it to be annexed. 

City Administrator Tackett noted that the City was not ready to proceed with the annexation or purchase at this time and that the public hearing be continued till August 27th.

There being no further comments the Mayor closed the public hearing at 7:50 pm.

ORDINANCE NO. 739 - CAMP ANNEXATION

This ordinance was tabled to be brought back at the August 27th meeting. 

WASTEWATER FACILITY- PROJECT UPDATE

Larry Seibel of Anderson Perry was present to update the Mayor and Council on the progress of the projects.

Schedule A –The test run on the lift station was rescheduled for August 14.  Apollo was several months behind schedule.  Mr. Seibel requested that Apollo have a firm schedule to the City by the end of the week.  Part of the problem had been due to Farmers Electric not having their submittals in on time.

Schedule B - Construction was moving right along, the buildings would be set up by the end of the week, the irrigation lines, underground telemetry system, and control panel had been installed.  So far the contractor had done a good job and was ahead of schedule.  In the next couple of weeks, water would be pumped into the lagoons to test the systems in the plant.

City Administrator Tackett reported that the dedication date for the wastewater facility had been changed due to the difficulty of finding a speaker.  Mr. Tackett advised Council that he had been in touch with the Governor's Office and would be working to coordinate the dedication to allow for the Governor to be present.

WATER SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS - PROJECT UPDATE

Larry Seibel of Anderson Perry was present to update the Mayor and Council on the progress of the projects.

Phase I - The pre construction conference was held and work was scheduled to start on August 20th.  The line would be expanded farther than originally planned in order to connect with the water line from the developer.  A lift station would then be installed at this connection point.  Mr. Seibel did note that a problem had been detected where the water and sewer lines would cross a gas line.  This would need to be reviewed to see if the lines would need to be relocated.

Phase II - The design work was continuing.  Once the design had been completed there would be an in house review before being brought for review by the City.

Mayor Walton disclosed that he had spoken to several concerned residents about damage done to their landscaping.

Mr. Seibel commented that very few residents landscaping would be effected by the construction.

SELECTION OF TIB CONSULTANT

City Administrator Tackett reported that the Street Committee met and reviewed the proposals submitted by the consultants and they decided to recommend Anderson Perry for the project.  A contract would need to be drawn and reviewed by the City Attorney and then submitted to TIB for approval.

Council member Lobach moved to appoint Anderson Perry as the Engineer for the design and construction administration for Clark Street Phase I. Council member Martinez seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

USE OF COMMUNITY CENTER

City Administrator Tackett reported that the City had been approached by a church group to utilize the Community Center for church services weekly on Tuesday nights.  Local residents involved currently attended a church in the Tri-Cities and wanted to ascertain the feasibility of starting a church in Connell.  The City had been approached before by a similar request by another church group and the City did not allow usage of the Community Center.  This request is different in that they requested Tuesday night which did not have much use.  Staff was concerned with the ongoing nature of this request as they requested usage for up to a year.  City Administrator Tackett noted that maybe it was time to review the Community Center's policy once again.

Council gave its consensus to deny the request.

SHANNON & WILSON ENVIRONMENTAL PROPOSAL

City Administrator Tackett reported that Dona Parks from Shannon & Wilson had spent quite a bit of time going over the Ben Casper property for the environmental analysis.  The proposal amount, if nothing strange were to come up, was set at $4,250.  If additional lab tests needed to be run there would be an additional cost between $2,000 to $5,000.  Mr. Casper had committed to pay half of the $4,250 for the environmental analysis.  His current asking price was $50,000.

Council requested that further negotiation take place on the property price before they committed to the environmental analysis.

This item was tabled to be brought back at the August 27th meeting.

CODE ENFORCEMENT ISSUES

This item was moved to executive session.

PERSONNEL ISSUE

This item was moved to executive session.

PAYMENT OF BILLS –

Council member Lobach made a motion to pay the payroll and bills in the amount of $148,842.90.  This amount included $34,531 to Big Bend for the power line to the wastewater facility.  Council member Martinez seconded the motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

Planning Commission - City Administrator Art Tackett

1)                  A Planning Commission meeting would be held August 21th for the final review of the draft Comprehensive Plan.  The Plan would then be brought to the August 27th meeting.

  Police Report - Chief of Police Rick Rochleau.

1)                  Officer Quinton started the Police Academy.

2)                  Officer Boyer was set to start the Police Academy in October.

3)                  Had a couple of burglaries and a vehicle prowl.

4)                  Would be bringing some parking laws to Council for their review.

5)              Discussed was the U-turn problems in front of the post office.

City Attorney's Report - City Attorney Terry Tanner

1)            Suggested that the City develop a policy for the use of public facilities.

City Administrator's Report - City Administrator Art Tackett

1)                  Provided Council with a Project and Activity Status report.

2)                  Had submitted most of the grant requirements for IAC to Olympia.  Hoped to see approval in September to start construction on the athletic fields at the school.

3)                  Would be meeting with Sam Gunderson on August 14th in regards to the golf course.

MEETING RECESSED

The Mayor recessed the regular meeting at 8:37 p.m. to go into an executive session to discuss code enforcement and personnel issues.

MEETING ADJOURNED

The regular meeting was called back into session at 9:04 p.m.  There being no further business to be heard before the City Council of the City of Connell, Mayor Walton adjourned the regular meeting.