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

January 10, 2005

The regular semi-monthly meeting, of the City Council of the City of Connell was called to order by the Mayor 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 Andy Sawyer, Monica Pruett, Roel Martinez, and Ron Boyer.

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

VISITORS:      Alan Schroeder, Jake Hollopeter Anderson Perry; Lynne Miller, Tri-City Herald; Kevin Wesley, The Wesley Group; Steve Larson, Mike Ormsby, water bond refinance; and Kathy Bingham, Graphic.

CORRESPONDENCE, PRESENTATIONS & APPOINTMENTS

1)                  Franklin County – Resolution regarding sales tax increase.

2)                  Emergency Dispatch Services – Copies of this agreement would be provided at the next Council meeting.

CONSENT CALENDAR

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

a)      Minutes of the December 14, 2004 Regular meeting,

Councilmember Martinez seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA  

Mayor Walton moved agenda item # 12 after agenda item #10.

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to approve the agenda as changed. Councilmember Martinez seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

ORDER OF BUSINESS

USDA – Water System Improvements

            Alan Schroeder of Anderson Perry advised on the following:

            Phase II –  The contractor had completed a number of items that had been requested of them.  Release of retainage would need to be approved minus costs for waterline repair.  The retainage withheld from the contractor was $50,526.90, a check for $49,070.27 would be reissued to compensate for $960.50 paid to Desmarais, and

$496.13 for a water bill for a broken line.  Council had previously moved to approve the retainage but due to issues the check was withheld pending approval for release from Council.

            Council gave its consensus to pay retainage of $49,070.27 to Pegram Construction.

Phase III  Reservoir – Jake Hollopeter from Anderson Perry reported that all of the site piping had been pressure tested.  The reservoir dome had finally arrived and Erwin was scheduled to begin installation of the rebar by the end of the week.  Due to the delay in the delivery of the tank a contract extension would be granted to the end of February.  Rural Development verbally concurred with the extension. Partial Pay Estimate No. 3 was presented to Council.

Motion:  Councilmember Sawyer moved to approve Partial Pay Estimate No. 3 to Erwin Construction in the amount of $63,478.68.  Councilmember Martinez seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

            Phase III Schedules G & H – Jake Hollopeter reported that to date L & L Cargile had  installed all 17,000 feet of the 16-inch water main.  Approximately 9,700 had been pressure tested.  The SR 260 open cut crossing had been completed and temporarily patched until spring when the contractor would provide a permanent hot mix asphalt patch.  The footing for the Well No. 9 well house had been installed and the site for well house No. 10 had been excavated.  The components for Well No. 9 and 10 had been removed and were being cleaned and inspected by the contractor.  The wells were also being cleaned.  Necessary repairs would be needed on the well components and a price quote would be coming.

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to approve Partial Pay Estimate No. 2 to L & L Cargile in the amount of $200,485.37.  Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

STREET PROJECTS

Clark Street :Alan Schroeder of Anderson Perry reported that there were still a few issues with the street lights on Clark Street .  He advised that he would contact ML Albright and inform them that Council was discouraged and would like to have something done by the next meeting or they would be taking action.

2004 Street Projects: Alan reported that paperwork had been received from Dept of Labor and Industries and would have a request for release of retainage at the next meeting.

R.R. Crossing – There was $250,000 designated for this project from federal aid.  Approximately $243,000 would go directly to the railroad and the rest would be used by the City to do some peripheral work to tie it into existing infrastructure. Anderson Perry would not be doing any more engineering work on this project.

AUTHORIZATION TO BEGIN ANNEXATION

City Administrator Tackett requested that Council approve authorization to begin annexation of the remaining portion of the farm.  The reasons for this included strengthening the City’s position regarding future water right transfers, enabling development to occur that could not occur outside the City limits because of County regulation, expanding the tax base, eliminating the City having to receive approval and paying permits costs from the County, and would assist in changing bond status from taxable to non taxable.

Motion: Councilmember Martinez moved to authorize staff to proceed with annexing the remainder of the farm.  Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

ORDINANCE NO. 776 – WATER BONDS

            Mike Ormsby of Preston/Gates/Ellis advised that in April of 2000 the City issued bonds to buy water rights and that since the City was not able to access the water right away these bonds could not be issued as municipal.  The City had been working on water right issues for the past two years.  By adopting Ordinance No. 776 the City would authorize payoff of the previously issued taxable bonds and would then purchase additional bonds, about half of which would be non taxable.  Since the City leased a portion of the farm not all of the water rights were non taxable. The City would be financing $5,000 less and the rate for taxable bonds had gone down. 

Steve Larson of Richards, Merrill & Peterson provided a summary of financial information to Council. The City would save a little over $31,000 a year for a total savings of $777,543 over the 20 year period. There was also a call feature that would allow the bonds to be called in five years with no premium to retire the bonds.

Mayor Walton read the title of Ordinance No. 776.

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to adopt Ordinance No. 776 for refinancing of the water bonds.  Councilmember Sawyer seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

MEETING RECESSED

Mayor Walton recessed the regular meeting at 8:16 pm to go into executive session for approximately 30 minutes to discuss the employee contract with Teamsters.

MEETING RECONVENED

The regular meeting was called back to order at 8:50 and the following business was heard:

AUTHORIZATION TO DISPOSE OF SURPLUS EQUIPMENT – PUBLIC WORKS

Public Works Director Munyan advised that they had old water meters and street signs that he would like to surplus.  A list would be presented at the next meeting.

AUTHORIZATION TO DISPOSE OF SURPLUS EQUIPMENT – POLICE DEPT

            Chief of Police Rochleau presented a list of items of computer parts that he wished to surplus.

Motion: Councilmember Sawyer moved to authorize the surplus of the items listed by the Chief of Police. Councilmember Pruett seconded, motion carried unanimously.

COULEE CORRIDOR – POTENTIAL ADVERTISEMENT & BIG EVENT

City Administrator Tackett advised that the Coulee Corridor approved the City’s request for membership.  The Corridor was updating its major tourism publication and a brief description of the city would be included. Cost for this would be $595 which could be taken out of the hotel/motel fund.  Other organizations and business in Connell were also being contacted to submit adds.    In addition, the Corridor would be holding its “Big Event”, its major yearly fund raiser, in Soap Lake on January 29.  Staff would be in attendance with a display for the City.

GOLF COURSE – RFP/RFQ AUTHORIZATION

City Administrator Tackett reported that staff had been approached by a couple of development groups in regards to building the golf course and housing development.  Because there was more than one developer interested the City would need to advertise for RFP’s and RFQ’s.  A review committee of 5 to 7 people made up of various organizations as well as Council and staff would  need to be formed to review the RFP’s/RFQ’s.

Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to authorize advertisement of RFP/RFQ’s for the golf course. Councilmember Martinez seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

PAYMENT OF BILLS

Motion: Councilmember Skoglund moved to pay the vouchers and payroll in the amount of $447,797.64, Councilmember Pruett seconded.  Motion carried unanimously.

COMMITTEE / DEPARTMENT REPORTS

BF COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS ­– Councilmember Roel Martinez

Councilmember Martinez advised that he would no longer be able to serve on the board for the BF Council of Governments.

City Administrator Tackett urged that the City needed to have a representative on that board due to potential for funding of projects and requested that someone from Council serve as a representative.  

ATTORNEY’S REPORT – City Attorney Terry Tanner

1)                  Had to miss court that morning, had another prosecuting attorney attend in his place.

CITY HALL – Deputy City Clerk-Treasurer Maria ChavezPeña

1)                  Busy preparing for year end.

2)                  Received notice that the Wellness program had received the materials application from WA State Dairy Council.

PUBLIC WORKS DEPT – Public Works Director Pat Munyan

1)                  Doing inventory of supplies and equipment.

2)                  Cleaning up the shop yard.

3)                  Doing maintenance work on the well houses.

4)                  Working on the cross connection program.

POLICE DEPARTMENT - Police Chief Rick Rochleau

1)                  Officer Lee Reed had taken a job as Chief of Police in Asotin.

2)                  A Civil Service meeting was held to start the process of testing for a new officer.

3)                  Received tasers from a grant.  Would be implementing use policies and training.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – City Administrator Art Tackett

1)                  Would be participating in a review panel for TIB.

2)                  Would be in Spokane January 12 and 13 at meetings.

3)                  Met with BDI and a representative from the County’s waste department to look at grants.

4)                  Received the IAC contract to expand the athletic fields at the high school.

5)                  Suggested to Council that the City look into assuming the cable service in Connell.  

MEETING ADJOURNED

There being no further business to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at 9:28 pm .