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

June 6, 2006

The Special Meeting, of the City Council of the City of Connell , was called to order at 5:47 pm at Connell City Hall .

ROLL CALL

PRESENT:       Mayor Gary Walton , Mayor Pro Tem Ron Boyer, Councilmembers Monica Pruett , Rhonda Quinton, Kent Mosbrucker and Jim Klindworth.

STAFF:            City Administrator Art Tackett, Public Works Director Pat Munyan, and Deputy Clerk-Treasurer Maria ChavezPeña

VISITORS:      Kevin Loresch, Roger Bailie, Rhonda Erstad, Scott Frakes, Alan Schroeder, Kathy Bingham, Larry & Toni Hoffman, Mark Heider, Amber Heider, Kim Heider, Malinda Didier, and Pam Guilford.

ORDER OF BUSINESS

MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON

City Administrator Tackett advised that there were some concerns with the water and wastewater systems at the current CRCC facility as it housed approximately 600 inmates and was originally constructed for 400 inmates.   

Alan Schroeder provided impact amounts to the water and wastewater system for the extra 200 beds.  DOC was proposing to construct a new reservoir which would supply water to the existing facility and to the new facility.

In regards to wastewater, the 200 extra beds equaled 63 Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDU), approximately 8 acres of land. 

Kevin Loresch, of DOC, advised that CRCC would install a lift station at the existing facility to pump sewer to the gravity line that fed into Lift Station 5 and would vacate the line that went downtown.  DOC would propose that the City maintain the lift station once it had been completed and turned over to the City.

Impacts from the additional 200 beds totaled approximately $300,000. 

City Administrator Tackett suggested a workshop for further discussion.

Scott Frakes, of DOC, expressed that it was going to be significantly more expensive to put in a new system instead of upgrading the old one.  Mr. Loresch also noted that once CRCC was taken off of the City loop it would free up approximately 189 EDUs.

A workshop was set for June 12 at 6:00 pm to further discuss impacts.

NEW PRISON

            City Administrator Tackett requested a Prison Expansion Impact Meeting be set up for June 28^th at 6:00 pm at the City Hall.

            City Staff and Anderson Perry Staff attended a meeting with Bureau of Reclamation in Ephrata with Port of Pasco , DOC, and Franklin County where the easement issues were laid out. Bureau of Reclamation was willing to work with the City but were concerned that it would take 90 days to get the necessary approvals from National Environment Policy Act (NIPA) and the State Historical Preservation Officer (SHIPO).  The process would not occur in time to complete construction of the waterline before DOC would need water for construction.

Alan Schroeder advised that the best alternative was to redesign the water main and move it over to the west to go over property owned by DOC and Mr. Welch.  There would be some additional cost.  The City would still proceed with obtaining the road-way easement. 

Mr. Schroeder suggested a letter be addressed to DOC reviewing the items that need to be addressed; easements, road grade, and engineering cost.

Mr. Schroeder also brought up the need for Council to make a decision on proceeding on the design of the reservoir and wastewater system before knowing if the City would be purchasing the property as it could take 9 to 12 months before Council received an answer from Bureau of Reclamation.  Mr. Schroeder recommended they hold off on designing the reservoir and wastewater improvements at this time.

CRCC would need to start using the system within 27 to 29 months.

Council gave its consensus for Anderson Perry to proceed with an alternative route for waterline placement to be brought back at the next Council meeting.  

TRUCK PURCHASE

            City Administrator Tackett reported that the truck used to pull the float had broken down and was non repairable. 

            Public Works Director commented that he found a truck for $8,500 and was in good shape. It had less than 10,000 on a rebuilt diesel engine, the cab and body were in good shape. 

            Mayor Walton reported that he had received comments for and against the City purchasing the truck.

MEETING RECESSED

Mayor Walton recessed the Special Meeting to take a 2 minute break to look at the truck.

MEETING RECONVENED

Mayor Walton called the meeting back to order at 6:53 and proceeded with the special meeting.

TRUCK PURCHASE - CONTINUED

Councilmember Boyer inquired about looking into the cost for a truck rental for five months or cost of rental per trip.

Public Works Director Munyan would also look into the cost for insurance.

Kim Heider, JR Miss parent, expressed that the parents of the JR Miss had the responsibility of delivering the truck, build the float, drive the truck with the float to the parade, drive the float, then drive back.  It was now also the parents’ responsibility to find a truck to drive. 

Malinda Didier commented that last year the float had won an award at each parade.

Commented was that it seemed that if a town or city did not have a float to represent them at the parades then that town or city did not have floats that attended that community’s parade.  Having a float made a difference for the community.

Kim Heider requested that the names of those willing to help with float be provided to her and also requested that the City send thank you notes.

Larry Hoffman mentioned that they were looking into purchasing Othello’s float trailer as they no longer had a float.

More information would be gathered and brought back to the June 12^th Council meeting.

MEETING RECESSED

Mayor Walton recessed the special meeting at 7:12 pm to go into Executive Session for approximately 20 minutes to discuss a personnel item.

MEETING ADJOURNED

Mayor Walton reconvened the special meeting at 7:30 pm . There being no further business to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at that time.