May 10, 2004

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

May 10, 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, and Ron Boyer.

EXCUSED: Councilmember Monica Pruett

STAFF: City Administrator Art Tackett , Public Works Director Pat Munyan, Police Chief Rick Rochleau, and City Clerk-Treasurer Joan Eckman.

VISITORS: Larry Seibel, Anderson Perry; Annie Pillers; Michael Echanove, District 9 candidate; Ross Bushong, Car Show; Julie Poulson, Float Committee; and Kathy Bingham, Graphic.

CORRESPONDENCE

1) Mid Columbia Library District – Appreciation Party May 15^th at 2:00 pm .

2) AWC – Proposal for AWC wellness program was approved.

CONSENT CALENDAR

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

Minutes of the May 10, 2004 Regular Meeting, correction to page 3, “PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT – Mayor Walton” corrected to “PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT – Public Works Director Pat Munyan ”.

Councilmember Martinez seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

CITIZEN COMMENT

Michael Echanove, Mayor of Palouse and a candidate for District 9, introduced himself to Council. Mr. Echanove had ten years of local government experience in rural Eastern Washington .

Mr. Echanove also noted that when Officer Reed worked for Palouse he helped start the process to improve the roads after a deadly accident in the area near Palouse. Road work would be done in that area this summer.

Ross Bushong advised that he and his wife Melissa had volunteered to head a committee to provide a car show during Fall Festival weekend. The car show would be open to more varieties of cars, details were still being worked out.

Mayor Walton commented that watering the flower pots on main street had become an issue due to direct supervision of inmates and increased responsibilities for the public works department.

It was suggested that it an article be placed in the paper to “adopt a pot”.

Julie Poulson, who arrived at the closing of the meeting, introduced herself as a co-coordinator along with Kim Heider of the float. Advised that there was some concern with some of the equipment. Fire extinguishers were purchased. Julie advised that a meeting with the City, Chamber, and Float Committee would be beneficial to determine who was responsible for what.

Public Works Director Munyan advised that the City would need to look into insurance for the float truck since the insurance company advised that City vehicles were only to be driven by City employees.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Motion: Councilmember Sawyer moved to approve the agenda as listed. Councilmember Martinez seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

USDA – WATER SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

Larry Seibel of Anderson Perry reported on the following:

Phase I – Morse Construction hired Pegram to handle all the punch list items except for the handrail on top of the reservoir. Mr. Seibel presented change order 2-B for hydroseeding.

Motion: Councilmember Boyer moved to approve Change Order 2-B from Morse Construction for hydroseeding in the amount of $2,238.28. Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

Phase II – The contractor had been out correcting some of their work. Chip sealing would not be done until the weather was right.

Phase III – Received approval on the crossing permits for the pipeline from the farm to Connell on SR 260. Had not received approval for the crossing permit for SR 395. SR 395 crossing would be placed out to bid two different ways.

City Administrator Tackett advised that he had met with the Benton Franklin Planning Commission who approved the request to expand the Urban Growth Boundary, which now would have to be reviewed by the State and then the County Commissioners .

STREET PROJECTS - UPDATE

Clark Street Rail Crossing: Larry Seibel of Anderson Perry reported that the environment report was approved and the City would not have to do a biological assessment. As soon as funding was released, and the City was notified, supplemental agreements would be done with the railroad and WASHDOT to get the project started.

WASTEWATER FACILITY

Attorney Tanner advised that he had been in contact with Apollo and they were working out the details for extending the warranty on the pumps.

CLOSED RECORD HEARING – CRITICAL AREAS ORDINANCE

Mayor Walton opened the closed record hearing at 8:08 pm .

City Administrator Tackett advised that the adoption of an updated Critical Areas ordinance was required by Growth Management. The Planning Commission had reviewed the update and recommended its approval. A Critical Areas ordinance map was included as an attachment.

City Administrator noted that an ordinance would be presented at the May 24^th Council meeting.

Mayor Walton closed the closed record hearing at 8:15 pm .

CLOSED RECORD HEARING – AMENDMENT TO THE ZONING MAP

Mayor Walton opened the closed record hearing at 8:15 pm .

City Administrator Tackett advised that last winter the Planning Commission had reviewed a change in the existing zoning map. At that time they recommended that the zone be changed at the time of adoption of the Comprehensive Plan and Future Land Use map. The Comp Plan and Land Use map had now been adopted by Council and the Planning Commission recommended changing the southwest corner of North Columbia and SR 395 from Highway Commercial to Light Industrial.

Mayor Walton closed the closed record hearing at 8:20 pm .

ORDINANCE NO. 767 – ISSUING WATER BONDS

City Clerk-Treasurer Eckman reported that the initial portion of the USDA loan was coming to a close and would be payable May 31^st. Bonds would need to be issued and sold in order to payoff the loan to Bank of America for interim financing. City Clerk-Treasurer Eckman provided Council with a summary of Ordinance No. 767 providing for the issuance and sale of water revenue bonds.

Motion: Councilmember Sawyer moved to adopt Ordinance No. 767 issuing bonds. Councilmember Skoglund seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

PAYMENT OF BILLS

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to pay the payroll and bills in the amount of $91,286.16. Councilmember Pruett seconded, motion carried unanimously.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

FIRE DEPARTMENT – Fire Chief Robert Koch

1) Fire hydrants were being flushed and tested

2) Looking at purchasing an ambulance for surplus by the Hospital District

3) A few areas, such as the reservoir, needed to be measured for fire flow

CITY HALL – City Clerk-Treasurer Joan Eckman

1) Audit for 2002-2003 would begin the week of May 17^th

2) A history section had been added to the web site

CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – City Administrator Art Tackett

1) Attended a Downtown Development meeting in Tacoma , information received would be shared with the City’s Downtown Development Committee at their June meeting

2) Received correspondence from IAC that the two applications submitted were received and reviewed.

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT – Public Works Director Pat Munyan

1) The pump motor for Well Five had to be rebuilt

2) Adams street crossing should be back up in a couple days

3) Booster pump at the farm burned up

4) Front end loader was sold

5) The pool was up and running

6) Pot holes were being patched

7) An old valve was opened on Elm Street causing a few washouts that had to be fixed, the problem would be corrected

8) Leo Fernandez was certified on the pool

POLICE DEPARTMENT – Police Chief Rick Rochleau

1) Officers would be attending a class on assault and evidence collection

2) May 20^th Angie Escalera would be graduating from the Reserve academy

3) Would be attending a Chief and Sheriff’s conference May 24

4) Looking at doing EVOC training in Ephrata

MEETING ADJOURNED

There being no further business to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at 9:53 pm .