MEETING OF THE CITY OF
CONNELL,
The regular semi-monthly meeting, of the City Council of
the City of
PRESENT:
Mayor
STAFF:
City Administrator
VISITORS: Ana
Tapia, Roger Bailie, Jim Riddell, Brad Quinton, Brittney Quinton, Brady Quinton,
Sterling Joyner, Lee Crowther, Jed Crowther, Joel Crowther, Stephanie Crowther,
Diana Crowther, Neil Crowther; Alan Schroeder, Anderson Perry; and Kathy
Bingham, Franklin County
City Attorney Tanner administered the Oath of Office to
re-elected Mayor
Motion:
Councilmember Klindworth nominated Councilmember Ron Boyer for Mayor Pro
Tem. Councilmember Pruett seconded
motion. Motion carried unanimously.
1) Margery Price: Seminars on Minutes-Taking Techniques and Parliamentary Procedure for Boards and Councils.
2) WA State DOT: 2006 Standard Specification for Road, Bridge, and Municipal Construction had been sent out for review.
3) B/F Health District: Appointment to the Board of Health.
Motion:
Councilmember Klindworth moved that the Mayor continue to represent the City on
the Board of Health. Councilmember
Monica seconded motion. Motion
carried unanimously.
4) WA State Liquor Control Board: Liquor License for La Guerrence. No objections.
5) WA State Liquor Control Board: Liquor License Renewals for: Hazy’s, Leprekon, Michael Jay’s, and R & R Quick Mart. No objections.
6) AWC Legislative Bulletin: House Bill 2323, regulations on ADU’s.
Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve the Consent Calendar as listed:
a)
Minutes of the
b)
Minutes of the
Councilmembers Boyer and Quinton seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.
Kathy Bingham noted that the Chamber was looking for nominations for the Man, Woman, Educator of the Year. Chamber Banquet would be held February 2nd.
Roger Bailie, School District Representative, inquired about the property being sold to Mr. Lierman and requested that arrangements or accommodations be made for easements if the School had encroached on City property.
Public Works Director Munyan advised that he and
Councilmember Boyer voiced his concern over the letter sent out in regards to the nitrate levels and requested that Councilmembers receive a call informing them of what was going on.
Public Works Director Munyan updated Council on the status
of the nitrate level in the water and that the water was safe to drink.
Mayor Walton made the following additions to the Agenda:
16 a) Retainage
of New Position
Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve the agenda as changed. Councilmember Quinton seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.
USDA: CONTROL VALVE
Alan from Anderson Perry reported that Quality Backhoe Service anticipated doing the physical work in February and presented a Partial Pay request for materials and parts.
Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve Partial Pay Estimate to Quality Backhoe Services in the amount of $2,002.65. Councilmember Boyer seconded, motion carried unanimously.
CRCC OFF-SITE WATER FACILITIES ASSESSMENT
Alan Schroeder
reviewed the CRCC Off-Site Water Facilities Assessment report provided by
Anderson Perry. The report described the City of
Councilmember Klindworth inquired about getting estimates on expanding the system even more in case the city wished to build north.
Alan Schroeder discussed the possibilities of expanding the new reservoir that would need to be built and agreed to put the request out for bids two ways to include the potential expansion of the system.
COMMUNITY ACTION COMMITTEE
Attorney Tanner advised that the Community Action Committee requested to have a member from Council be on their board.
Mayor Walton suggested the item be brought back at the next meeting so that Council could think it over.
BIO-SOLIDS GENERAL PERMIT APPLICATION
Alan Schroeder advised that the Department of Ecology required a Bio-Solids General Permit Application and that Anderson Perry was preparing that for the City.
LIERMAN PROPERTY PURCHASE
Councilmember Boyer voiced his concern that the property appeared to be advertised inappropriately and that the City needed to communicate with others such as the School or Livestock.
Councilmember Klindworth expressed that with his experience in real estate it did not add up to leave the poorest acreage out of the sale. A possibility would have been to have the buyer pay for the full 45 acres and deed off what he did not want. Councilmember Klindworth suggested that when the City advertised property for sale a map should be included.
Council discussed the cost to the City to cleanup of the property.
Public Works Director commented that the City could not sell the wastewater plant or the utility easement.
Motion:
Councilmember Boyer moved to cease sale of the property, Councilmember
Mosbrucker seconded motion.
Attorney Tanner advised that since a prior motion had been made to authorize the Mayor to take action and the Mayor was still authorized pursuant to that prior motion to take that action regardless of the current motion made. If the current motion were to
pass it would conflict with the prior motion. Attorney Tanner advised that Council obtain an independent legal assessment of that action since his advice was that the Mayor was duty bound to sign the contract. Attorney Tanner commented that the property was identified properly even without the legal description and that from a legal perspective there were no requirements to advertise the land. Several meetings had been held on the issue, the issue was published and others were invited to bid on the property and no other offers or inquires were received.
Councilmember
Boyer withdrew his motion based on Attorney Tanner’s opinion and felt that
Council should try to obtain independent legal council to try to fix the
situation.
Motion did not pass as it was
withdrawn.
JOB DEVELOPMENT FUND PROGRAM – AUTHORIZATION APPLICATION
City Administrator Tackett request authorization for the Mayor to sign a pre-application for the State’s new Job Development Fund Program. This grant program provides funds for the state to build infrastructure for economic development projects. The application that the City was submitting was geared toward providing infrastructure (water, sewer), road construction, etc. for a proposed industrial site north of the City’s existing Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved to authorize the Mayor sign the pre-application for the Job Development Fund Program. Councilmember Pruett seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.
City Administrator Tackett reported that he had talked to Jack Olson,
Project Manager for DOC, and that they discussed hiring a building consultant to
perform plan reviews and building inspections since the City did not have a
building inspector experienced in this type of construction.
Mr. Olson would look into providing the City with an advance on the
permit so that the City could have the costs of the building inspections group
covered from the beginning.
Council voiced some concern with spending the money received on permits to retain a building consultant and requested staff return with cost estimates to retain such a firm or hire additional staff and an estimate on the cost of the expected building permits.
LAND SALES
City Administrator Tackett reported that a moratorium had been placed on the sale of all City owned property for 90 days until such time the City could seek professional assistance in marketing and selling of the property. The next step would be to go out for Request for Proposals (RFP’s).
Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved that the City prepare and publicize RFP’s for a real estate firm to advise the City to possibly sell City land. Councilmember Mosbrucker seconded motion, motion carried unanimously.
JANUARY WORKSHOP
Mayor Walton advised that although January 16th was a holiday, a workshop would be held with City Administrator Tackett and Council to go over city land.
City Administrator Tackett noted that he would like to discuss the new prison, land sales, water development, industrial energy park, general policy, goals and objectives.
Council requested the meeting start at
Attorney Tanner advised that at a workshop or Special Council meeting the items of business to be conducted are only those that are advertised and on the agenda.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT
City Administrator Tackett advised that staff would like to change how the meetings were conducted and would like to suggest that agenda items be introduced at the first meeting of the month to be discussed and then be placed on the Consent Calendar for the following meeting. This would give Council a chance to think about those items.
RETAINAGE OF NEW POSITION
Mayor Walton advised that there had been a problem with giving customers consistent information.
Public Works Director informed that the new position had helped free up time and provided one person to answer questions related to building permits and zoning.
Councilmember Boyer suggested an independent study on workload be done as he believed that City staff was not overworked.
Councilmember Klindworth inquired about having the new person also provide building inspections and having him trained to do so.
Motion: Councilmember
Boyer moved to not retain this position.
Attorney Tanner advised that the position had been budgeted and that it was in the Mayor’s authority to hire and fire whoever was in the budget. Council could not take action to terminate or cut the position absent a change in the budget.
Motion
could not continue.
PAYMENT OF BILLS
Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to pay the vouchers and payroll in the amount of $183,851.11. Councilmember Mosbrucker seconded, motion carried four to one with Councilmember Klindworth voting against.
DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT – City Administrator Art Tackett
1) The Downtown Committee was looking at doing another mural. They were also applying for their 501c3
2)
A Park & Rec Public Hearing would be held to discuss the
location of the
FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORT – Fire Chief Bob Koch
1) Working on National Fire Reporting System.
CITY ATTORNEY – City Attorney
1) Would be meeting next week with Apollo.
POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT – Police Chief Rick Rochleau
1) Had some issues with pocket bikes. Provided handouts in regards to RCW’s on motor scooters and pocket bikes.
PUBLIC WORKS – Public Works Director
1) Provided Department of Health letter regarding nitrate levels.
Alan Schroeder advised that a video inspection had been taken of Well #6, which was the source of the problem, at 206 feet below ground there was a large cascading water flow coming into the well. Options to fix the well would be looked into.
1) An accident occurred on the section of North Burke that was not paved, inquired about barricading the section.
Councilmember Klindworth suggested filling the hole and fixing that section.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – City Administrator Art Tackett
1)
The Feasibility Study on the
2) Newly Elected Official meeting January 13 and 14
3)
Council workshop January 16th at
4) AWC CLAC January 25th and 26th
5) Provided map of land ownership to Councilmembers.
There being no further business
to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at