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

January 26, 2004

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

ROLL CALL

PRESENT:       Mayor Gary Walton, Mayor Pro-Tem Perry Skoglund, Councilmembers Monica Pruett, Ron Boyer, Roel Martinez and Andy Sawyer.

STAFF:            City Administrator Art Tackett , Public Works Director Pat Munyan, Fire Chief Robert Koch, Police Chief Rick Rochleau, City Attorney Terry Tanner and Deputy City Clerk Maria ChavezPeña.

VISITORS:      Alan Schroeder, Anderson Perry; Kathy Bingham, Graphic.

CONSENT CALENDAR

Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve the Consent Calendar as listed.

Minutes of the January 12, 2004 Regular Meeting.

Councilmember Martinez seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Mayor Walton made the following addition to the agenda:

            Item 9 a) – Application for Payment No. 5

Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve the agenda as amended. Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion.   Motion carried unanimously.

ORDER OF BUSINESS

USDA – WATER SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

Alan Schroeder of Anderson Perry reported on the following:

Phase II–  A sanitary sewer service line had been damaged during construction and had been repaired.

Phase III –  The design was under way and targeting for June construction.

STREET PROJECTS - UPDATE

            Alan Schroeder of Anderson Perry reported on the following:

            Clark Street : There was some confusion with the lights.  PUD now had everything to make the final connections.

Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve Application for Payment No. 5 to ML Albright & Sons in the amount of $28,345.81. Councilmember Martinez seconded motion, carried unanimously.

            Clark Street Rail Crossing: Currently working on a local agency agreement and pulling together a bid packet for spring.

WASTEWATER FACILITY  

This item was tabled to Executive Session to discuss possible litigation.

INTERLOCAL DISPATCH AGREEMENT

Police Chief Rick Rochleau reported that this yearly agreement had a few small changes.  Fire District # 3 had been removed from the agreement.  The fees had remained the same as the previous years.

Motion: Councilmember Sawyer moved to accept, and the Mayor sign, the Interlocal Dispatch Agreement. Councilmember Boyer seconded motion, carried unanimously.

ASP CONTRACT

City Administrator Tackett advised that the agreement for the necessary software update to the water meter system had been received and needed to be returned immediately which did not allow time to bring it before Council.  The cost of $1,500 was grant eligible.

Motion: Councilmember Sawyer moved to approve the ASP Contract for the software update to the water meter system, Councilmember Boyer seconded, motion carried unanimously.

CABLE TELEVISION SERVICE

            Attorney Tanner reported that there were not a lot of options.  The City could discontinue the franchise agreement, which would mean no cable, or condemn the system and take it over.

            City Administrator Tackett agreed to check with other companies to see if someone else would be interested in providing cable service to Connell.

PAYMENT OF BILLS

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to pay the payroll and bills in the amount of $241,298.93.  Councilmember Pruett seconded, motion carried unanimously.

COMMITTEE REPORTS Art Tackett

1)                  Main Street Committee would be looking at forming a Historic District.

2)                  Planning Commission would be holding a Public Hearing to approve the Comprehensive Plan.

3)                  Would be checking with MRSC on Conditional Use Permit procedures.

COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS – Councilmember Roel Martinez

1)         The City of Pasco was planning on building an agricultural center.

ATTORNEY REPORT – City Attorney Terry Tanner

1)         Next month Court would be on February 2.

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT – Public Works Director Pat Munyan

1)                  Hired a new employee

2)                  Bowling Alley would be opening back up with new owners

3)                  Camp Outlook was approved to build permanent buildings and would be meeting on February 5th to go over the blue prints.

4)                  Had met with the RR in regards to their truck crossing, discussed problems with flooding. Larry Seibel was doing some drawings to correct the problem. 

Council gave its consensus to have Public Works Director work with the railroad to correct the problem.

POLICE DEPARTMENT – Police Chief Rick Rochleau

1)                  Did not receive the surplus truck

2)                  Officer Quinton started teaching DARE

CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – City Administrator Art Tackett

1)                  Would be having someone do the land appraisals for the park expansion and the land south of SR 260.

2)                  Would be meeting with elected officials to discuss backfill.

3)                  Would be attending an IAC meeting Jan 27 in Spokane .

MEETING RECESSED

The Mayor recessed the meeting at 8:23 to go into Executive Session for approximately 15 minutes to discuss possible litigation in regards to the Wastewater Facility.

MEETING ADJOURNED

There being no further business to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at 8:43 pm .