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

June 14, 2004

The regular semi-monthly meeting of the City Council of the City of Connell was called to order by the Mayor at 7:32 pm in the City Hall and was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

ROLL CALL

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

STAFF:            City Administrator Art Tackett , Police Chief Rick Rochleau, City Attorney Terry Tanner and Deputy City Clerk Maria ChavezPeña.

VISITORS:      Larry Seibel, Anderson Perry; Kathy Bingham, Graphic; Tom Donahue, CRCC;  and Austin Davis, Connell Grain Growers.

PRESENTATIONS

Mayor Walton presented Yard of the Month to the following; Becky McGuin, Chris Goodrich, Roy & Mary Jane Brown, Harlan & Dorothea Haase, and Your Daily Cup.

CORRESPONDENCE

1)                  City of Othello – City of Othello would be holding a discussion on I 864 for elected and appointed officials on June 24^th.

CONSENT CALENDAR

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

Minutes of the May 24, 2004 Regular Meeting,

Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

CITIZEN COMMENT

Tom Donahue, Superintendent of CRCC, expressed that he would like to set a date for Council to tour the facilities.

City Administrator Tackett agreed to get together with Mr. Donahue to set a date for a tour.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Mayor Walton made the following addition to the agenda:

            Agenda Item No. 18 a. Agreement with the Port of Ephrata .

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

ORDER OF BUSINESS

USDA – WATER SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

            Larry Seibel of Anderson Perry reported on the following:

Phase I –  Mr. Seibel presented Change Order No. 9 to reconcile estimated quantities to actual quantities.  The change order would not change the funding amount.

Motion: Councilmember Sawyer moved to approve Change Order No. 9 to Morse Construction for decreasing the contract amount by $57,276.68.  Councilmember Boyer seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.

Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve Application for Payment No. 6 to Morse Construction in the amount of $38,774.77.  Councilmember Skoglund seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.

Phase II – Chip sealing would be done at Striker and Sagewood during the week of the 21st.

City Administrator advised that he had spoken to Public Works Director Munyan in regards to doing an overlay at Terrace Heights . 

Motion: Councilmember Martinez moved to authorize staff to proceed with the overlay at Terrace Heights .  Councilmember Skoglund seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.

Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve Change Order No. 4 to Pegram Construction in the amount of $133,197.85.  Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.

Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to accept Application for Payment No. 7 to Pegram Construction in the amount of $63,810.32. Councilmember Martinez seconded motion, Motion carried unanimously.

Phase III – Bid opening would be held on June 24^th for the reservoir.  The plans for Schedules G & H were submitted to DOH in Spokane .

 STREET PROJECTS - UPDATE

            Larry Seibel of Anderson Perry reported that Elm Street overlay would be done at the same time chip sealing was done during the week of the 21^st.

            City Administrator Tackett advised that a grant would be submitted for Adams Street .  The City would be required to match the $500,000 grant by 5% but would over match to receive additional points. 

City Administrator Tackett advised that there was approximately $10,000 of unexpended funds on the TIB grant for Clark Street and he discussed the possibility of purchasing school safety lights with TIB Staff who agreed to allow the expenditure.

Motion: Councilmember Sawyer moved to authorize the purchase of school safety lights for Clark Street .  Councilmember Martinez seconded, motion carried unanimously.

WASTEWATER FACILITY  

Attorney Tanner advised that he had spoken to Apollo and that they were still in the process of getting the necessary warranties from the pump supplier.

ENGINEERING AGREEMENT – ANDERSON PERRY

Mayor Walton advised that current City maps had several hydrant areas that had been left out.  Anderson Perry would create an electronic City street map.

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to approve the Engineering Agreement with Anderson Perry for an electronic street map not to exceed $2,000.  Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.

LAND SWAP

Austin Davis, of Connell Grain Growers, requested Council consider exchanging the property owned by Connell Grain Growers on the east side of Columbia North Industrial for the City’s storm drain collection site.  At one time Connell Grain Growers was going to put up a temporary building but now had the funding for a permanent facility.  Having this facility on the same side as the other buildings would save wear and tear on the streets.  Mr. Davis advised that he still needed to meet with Western Farm Services to discuss this with them.

Council requested Mr. Davis meet with City engineers to discuss feasibility.

LOAN REQUEST APPROVAL

City Administrator Tackett advised that the bank loan would be on a 20 year term.  A biological assessment was currently being done on the land. The City would have to wait for an appraisal before moving forward.

MEETING RECESSED

Mayor Walton recessed the regular meeting at 8:37 to go into Executive Session for approximately 10 minutes to discuss a personnel issue.

MEETING RECONVENED

The regular meeting was reconvened at 8:48 and the following business was heard before the City Council:

ORDER OF BUSINESS.

PERSONNEL ACTION – FYI AND APPROVAL

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to promote Deputy Clerk ChavezPeña to Deputy Clerk-Treasurer, Range 25 Step 1.  Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.

ORDINANCE NO. 770 – ZONING MAP CHANGE

City Administrator Tackett presented Council with an ordinance to make a change to the zoning map to rezone the property north of the large reservoir to Light Industrial. 

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to adopt Ordinance No. 770, making a change to the Official Zoning Map.  Councilmember Pruett seconded, motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. 2004-01- IAC TRAIL APPLICATION

City Administrator Tackett advised that the City had been given the property north of the right-of-way of Columbia Apartments.  The intent would be to finalize that as a trail with seating and low pedestrian lights.

Motion: Councilmember Martinez moved to approve Resolution No. 2004-01.  Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. 2004-02 – IAC PIONEER PARK EXPANSION

            City Administrator Tackett advised that this resolution would authorize staff to apply for a grant from IAC to purchase the property across the street from Pioneer Park and to construct a parking lot, a T-ball field, two softball fields, new slides for the pool, and a splash park.

Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve Resolution No. 2004-02.  Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.

SPEED LIMIT ON WEST CLARK

Mayor Walton advised that the City had received a request to change the speed limit on West Clark from 25 MPH (when children were not present) to 35 MPH (when children were not present).

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to change the speed limit to 35 MPH from the PUD building to City limits and once the new lights were installed the speed limit would be 20 MPH during school hours, when children were present.  Councilmember Pruett seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

PORT OF EPHRATA

Police Chief Rochleau advised that the only available EVOC course was in Ephrata since the City did not have an agreement with Hanford and could not train at the new course in Tri-Cities.  The cost to use the facility would be $115.00 per year.

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to authorize the Mayor sign the agreement with the Port of Ephrata .  Councilmember Boyer seconded, motion carried unanimously.

WATER ISSUE

Mayor Walton advised that he had been approached by Fernando Fernandez in regards to his water bill.  Mr. Fernandez had not been billed for several months and had now received a bill to get caught up. 

Mayor Walton requested that the City average the consumption as to not charge all of the overage on one month.

            Council gave its consensus to have the City average out the bill for Mr. Fernandez.

PAYMENT OF BILLS –

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to pay the payroll and bills in the amount of $175,904.72. Councilmember Pruett seconded, motion carried unanimously.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

CITY ATTORNEY REPORT – City Attorney Terry Tanner

1)                  The State Supreme Court ruled that DWL suspended 3^rd degree was unlawful.

2)                  Jude Cameron Mitchel was appointed to the Superior Court.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – City Administrator Art Tackett

1)                  Scheduled the Goals and Objectives meeting for June 28^th at 6:00 pm

2)                  Urban Growth Boundary request was approved by the County

3)                  Would be attending the meeting at Ocean Shores along with some of the Councilmembers.

MAYOR’S REPORT – Mayor Gary Walton

1)                  With summer here there were more kids playing load music

2)                  May want to look at doing justifications for overage on line items

MEETING ADJOURNED

There being no further business to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at 9:35 pm .