MEETING OF THE CITY OF CONNELL , WASHINGTON

  CONNELL, FRANKLIN COUNTY , WASHINGTON

July 10, 2006

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 Ron Boyer, Councilmembers Rhonda Quinton, and Jim Klindworth.

EXCUSED:      Councilmembers Kent Mosbrucker and Monica Pruett

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

VISITORS:      Sam Harris, Scott Frakes, Larry Hueter, DOC; Jake Hollopeter , Anderson Perry; Florence Ray; Gene Stocking; and Kathy Bingham, Franklin County Graphic .

APPOINTMENTS

Mayor Walton temporarily appointed Councilmember Boyer and Councilmember Quinton to the Finance Committee to review bills.

Mayor Walton requested names of interested individuals be submitted for Planning Commission as there would be a vacancy after July 18^th upon the resignation of Al Sorestad.

CONSENT CALENDAR

Motion: Councilmember Quinton moved to approve the Consent Calendar with a correction to the Minutes of June 26, 2006, Page 2 Citizen Comment – second to the last paragraph correcting ‘…CRCC who raised pigeons.’ to ‘…CRCC who raised pheasants.’;

a)      Minutes of the June 26, 2006 Regular Council Meeting

b)      Warrant Register for July 6, 2006 for $147.84

c)      Warrant Register for July 7, 2006 for $3,766.28

d)      Warrants for July 10, 2006 for $97,970.98*

e)      Payroll  for July 10 , 2006 for $ 10,816.38

f)        Motion to surplus vehicles a listed on attachment

g)      Motion to adopt Ordinance No. 807 Zoning Map Rezone for Hogaboam and Ollife.

* Note: this amount did not include $294,649.61 latter approved by Council during the meeting under Agenda Item No. 11 CRCC – Phase I N. End Water Main Project.

            Councilmember Boyer seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

CITIZEN COMMENT/NON-AGENDA ITEMS

Councilmember Boyer expressed that he had received some inquires in regards to the schedule for blacktopping for various areas of town.

City Administrator noted that Second Street was going to take more work than expected.

Mayor Walton inquired about the pro-rated share for M&M Motel and Michael Jay’s for asphalting and the cost of the drywell.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved to approve the agenda as listed. Councilmember Quinton seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

ORDER OF BUSINESS

PUBLIC HEARING – ANIMAL KEEPING

Mayor Walton opened the Public Hearing at 7:45 on the banning of all fowl within the City limits.

There being no objections or reasons not to proceed City Administrator Tackett proceeded with the staff report.

One of the issues was an increasing amount in the number of chickens and roosters inside residential areas.  CMC 8.12, Animal Keeping, defined fowl and discussed fowl in general. In CMC 17.60.030, Zoning, not more than three of a kind or a combined total of six pets were to be kept. There were a number of residences found that had more than the allowed amount. One way to solve the problem would be to ban fowl city wide in Chapter 8.  Another option would be to just get rid of roosters as the crowing was the issue, or the other option would be to deal with the problem by amending the zoning ordinance.

After the Staff Report Mayor Walton opened the Public Hearing for comments from the public.

Flor ence Ray , 419 N. Almira, conveyed that her neighbors had first brought in baby chicks earlier in the year, then around Easter the neighbors had brought in a fighting rooster.  She was later told that the baby chicks were also fighting roosters but they had not begun to crow yet.  Although the crowing was a bother, the main concern was with health issues, her bedroom window was 15 feet from where the roosters were being kept and the stench was unbearable, there were flies and feed was all over the ground.

There being no further public comment Mayor Walton opened the Public Hearing for comments from the Council

Councilmember Klindworth expressed that he was against having chickens inside City limits and would like to have the ordinance state that no chickens, rooster, hens etc be allowed in town.  

Councilmember Boyer also expressed that he would like to have all fowl banned from the City limits and was also concerned with the bird flu issue.

Councilmember Quinton agreed with Flor ence Ray in regards to her concern with health issues but also noted that there were some people in town who raised homing pigeons as a sport.

Attorney Tanner advised that pigeons were not defined as fowl and therefore would be allowed.

Deputy Clerk/Treasurer ChavezPeña furnished that when looking at a map of the City limits it included all areas that had been annexed.  If fowl were to be banned from all City limits then all areas that were annexed in the future would also be banned from having fowl.

Attorney Tanner indicated that special use permits were used for zoning and could not be used to grant special permission for allowing fowl if fowl were banned city wide. With respect to those residents who lived inside city limits but on the outskirts, it would come down to an enforcement issue.  Likely there would not be complaints for those living on the outskirts and, once the ban went into effect, law enforcement would be able to respond when there was a complaint

Mayor Walton closed the Public Hearing at 8:02 and directed staff to prepare an ordinance for the next Council meeting on July 24.

RESOLUTION NO. 2006-07 – PAYOFF OF COMMERCIAL LOAN FOR DNR LAND

            Clerk/Treasurer Eckman reported that when the City first received the loan from Community First Bank in October of 2004 to purchase the DNR property, the interest rate was at 5.25%.  At the present time the interest rate was at 8.75%, increasing the city cost as well as the cost to those that were buying on contract from the city.  Since the city was earning 4.9860% on investments it would be beneficial to pay the loan off with capital reserves and pay those funds back with interest out of the Commercial Development Reserve as lease payments and purchase funds came in. There were no capital projects currently planned that would impact the cash flow.

            Councilmember Klindworth suggested the City charge an interest rate of 0.25% above the LGIP interest rate being earned on investments to those individuals buying on contract from the city.

            Clerk/Treasurer Eckman read Resolution NO. 2006-07 and added Section 2 where the City approved charging an interest rate of 25 basis points above the LGIP interest rate that the City was earning on investments to those customers buying on contract from the City.

Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved to adopt Resolution 2006-07 as amended by Clerk/Treasurer Eckman.  Councilmember Boyer seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.   

FALL FESTIVAL – PARK ISSUES

            Kathy Bingham, Fall Festival , was present to discuss some issues with Pioneer Park .  A letter had been received by the Fall Festival Committee from the Benton/Franklin Health Department that advised that the restrooms had not been supplied with hand soap and had run out of paper towels and toilet paper. During temporary events approved toilet facilities must be available according to regulations. Kathy Bingham inquired as to whose responsibility it was to provide and maintain soap, paper towels, and tissue paper in the City restrooms.

            Another issue discussed was the need for more garbage containers along with smaller containers located throughout the park and the emptying of those smaller containers.

            Kathy also noted that currently a bulldozer was blocking the usual entrance used by the carnival and something would need to be figured out before Fall Festival .

CRCC EXPANSION – PHASE I NORTH END WATER MAIN

              Jake Hollopeter from Anderson Perry, presented Pay Estimate No. 1 for approval.  The contractor had made a lot of good progress and had installed over 4,000 feet of waterline.

Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved to approve Application For Payment No. 1 to Pegram Construction in the amount of $294,649.61.  Councilmember Quinton seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

            City Administrator Tackett provided photos of the project and advised that he would request that the pond be fenced to keep animals and humans out.

ORDINANCE NO. 801 – RV PARKS

            City Administrator Tackett provided that the purpose of this ordinance was to provide basic guidelines and suggested that it be adopted.  As issues came up changes could be made to the guidelines.

Motion: Councilmember Boyer moved to adopt Ordinance No. 801 relating to RV Parks, outlining a purpose, providing development standards and procedures for review and approval. Councilmember Klindworth seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

QUIET ZONE – NOTICE OF INTENT

City Administrator Tackett requested permission to submit a Notice of Intent to Federal Railroad Administration and to those state agencies who dealt with railroads. These agencies had sixty days to respond with comments.

            Councilmember Klindworth suggested staff apply for a 24 hour quiet zone to provide room for negotiation on the hours for the quiet zone.

Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved Council authorize staff to prepare and submit a Notice of Intent to the various agencies to establish a quiet zone. Councilmember Boyer seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

CRCC IMPACT FUNDS – 200 BED STATUS

City Administrator Tackett advised that at an initial meeting with CRCC two items had been discussed.  The first dealt with utilities and the redirection of the sewer line from Coyote Ridge to Pump Station No. 5 and an acceptance of EDU’s as a gauge for water impacts from the facilities.  The second item dealt with the potential amount and what types of information would need to be included to determine impact fees.  Mr. Frakes, CRCC Superintendent, would be checking with Olympia to ascertain the process and how to proceed.

Mr. Frakes was in attendance to answer questions. The request for impacts would most likely be made to the legislature.

CRCC – AUTHORIZATION TO ADVERTISE FOR RFQ’S

City Administrator Tackett expressed that after some discussion the Impact Committee recommended that the City obtain the services of a consultant to prepare a document that would address and establish a dollar amount for impacts to the City.  The initial impact on the General Fund could be as much as $50,000 to front the cost for a consultant.  The School District , even though they could not receive impacts, agreed to assist in the effort.  Other agencies would also be asked to participate monetarily.

Request for qualifications would be due August 14^th.

Motion: Councilmember Boyer moved to authorize staff proceed with the request for consultant qualifications.  Councilmember Quinton seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

FIRE CONTRACT

            Mayor Walton advised that he had visited with staff from Fire District No. 1.  A few minor changes needed to be made to the contract.  The Fire District had indicated they would not be able to provide a truck if all trucks were already out on a fire, this needed to be included in the agreement.  The Fire District had proposed $250 per truck per hour, Mayor Walton had looked into rates charged by other fire departments and suggested a counter offer be made and brought back to Council. 

POLICE DEPARTMENT – MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

            Chief of Police Rochleau requested authorization to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to join the Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX Northwest). LInX allowed member agencies to share information through secure internet access to a records database maintained by the Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS).  Funding for the program came from federal grant money.  The only thing that law enforcement agencies were asked to provide was their own computer with internet access. 

Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved authorize Chief Rochleau to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Law Enforcement Information Exchange.  Councilmember Quinton seconded motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

COMMITTEE / DEPARTMENT REPORTS

POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT – Police Chief Rick Rochleau

1)                  The 4^th of July had not gone to bad, had more complaints after the 4^th due to fireworks being sold in Mesa .

2)                   Still dealing with code enforcement of weeds, cars, junk etc.

3)                  Last few weeks had been dealing with pit bull problems and motorcycle accidents.

CITY ATTORNEY’S REPORT – City Attorney Terry Tanner

1)                  Several dog cases had gone through the court.  Declared one dog as dangerous and letters were sent out to the appropriate agencies.

2)                  Had a fair amount of DUI’s go through the court.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT – City Administrator Art Tackett

1)                  Would be setting up a Council Retreat for August.

2)                  Discussed transferring remaining irrigation rights at the farm to municipal rights with DOE. Also spoke to Mr. Tschirky in regards to an old well, it currently had no water rights issued but there was a possibility of purchasing additional rights.

3)                  The City field was being used by kids for soccer, checked with the insurance agency and there were no liability issues.

4)                  School District would be in attendance at the next meeting to discuss the athletic fields.

5)                  Dealing with County on a number of properties including the strip in front of the Community Center.

6)                  Leveling would take place at the Pioneer Park the following week with the slides to be placed in March. 

MEETING RECESSED

Mayor Walton recessed the regular meeting at 9:13 pm to go into executive session for approximately 20 minutes to discuss a personnel issue.

MEETING ADJOURNED

There being no further business to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at 9:38 pm .