MEETING OF THE CITY OF
CONNELL,
The regular semi-monthly meeting, of the City Council of
the City of
PRESENT:
Mayor
STAFF:
Public Works Director
VISITORS: Roger
Bailie, Chris Eskildsen, Cynthia Hayes, Larry Hayer, Burl Booker, Heather
Hinckley, Tom Fisher, Larry Hoffman, Merle Booker, Joe Escalera; Kevin Loresch,
DOC; Alan Schroeder, Anderson Perry and Assoc; and Kathy Bingham, Franklin
County
Motion:
Councilmember Quinton moved to approve the Consent Calendar as listed;
a)
Minutes of the
b)
Warrant Register
c)
Payroll of
Merle Booker addressed Mayor Walton and Council members and expressed his disappointment and disbelief that no one from the Board of the Columbia Basin Junior Livestock show (CBJLS) was approached in regard to the proposed sale of the property to Bruce Lierman. It was the belief of CBJLS that it was totally irresponsible and short-sighted for the City Council and Mayor to attempt to market this property with no apparent consideration for the adjoining property owners with vested interest. The city manager and Mr. Booker had discussed the expansion potential of the CBJLS grounds prior to the City acquiring the property from DNR. CBJLS did not believe that the current proposed sale offered the most benefit to the community or the most advantageous value to the City and requested that the City reconsider.
Mayor Walton advised that the City was continuing to work with the engineers on the surveying and short plat of the land.
In regards to the City Farm, Chris Eskildsen inquired about farming activities on the City Farm and expressed his concern that it was not in the best interest of the City not to farm the land, or in his best interest to not be able to spray.
Mayor Walton advised that as stated in the contract nothing could be done until closing nor could the City lease out the property to be farmed until the property was closed on.
Councilmember Klindworth commented that the City sold the farm land not to be farmed but to be developed for housing and an RV park. The City would like to see the land closed on so it could be developed.
In regards to the Lierman land sale, Councilmember Klindworth stated that the current Council had voted not to proceed with the land sale and that a second attorney opinion had been asked for in regards to the validity of the land sale.
Burl Booker also inquired as to the farm land not being farmed and commented that he knew of someone who would be interested in grazing to keep the weeds down.
Mayor Walton advised that the City’s hands were tied since they could not lease it out to be farmed and the land could not be farmed until it was closed on.
Mayor Walton made the following additions to the Agenda:
11 a) Lifting of Moratorium
13 a) Well # 6
Motion:
Councilmember Pruett moved to approve the agenda as amended. Councilmember
Mosbrucker seconded motion. Motion
carried unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING
- VACATING RIGHT-OF-WAY
Mayor Walton opened the Public Hearing at
There being no objections to the Mayor or Councilmembers participation in the hearing, nor any reason not to proceed, Mayor Walton proceeded with the staff report:
An application had been submitted by DOC to vacate a portion of Old’s Road that split the South DOC parcel from the north DOC parcel. The City currently had an easement in that area for the City’s sewer line. DOC’s concern, and reason for the request, was due to not wanting the potential of a street going in that close to the facility. Vacating the right-of-way would assist them in cleaning up their ownership.
Kevin Loresch, of DOC, reported that a utility easement would be maintained on that section. The utility easement would be 30 feet, instead of the usual 15, to create a buffer for future utilities.
There being no comments from the public Mayor Walton opened the hearing for comments from the Council.
Kevin Loresch noted that clearing the land of the right-of-way and only having the utility easement would make it easier when putting in the road to access the new facility as it would intersect with the existing right-of-way
Motion: Councilmember Klindworth moved to proceed with vacating the right-of-way on Old’s Road as long as the ordinance showed the utility easement and the width of the easement. Councilmember Pruett seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.
There being no further discussion Mayor Walton closed the public hearing
at
PUBLIC
HEARING – AMENDING SIX YEAR TIP
Mayor Walton opened the public hearing at
There being no objections to the Mayor or Councilmembers participation in the hearing, nor any reason not to proceed, Mayor Walton proceeded with the staff report:
The purpose of the amendment was to include an interchange at
Councilmember Klindworth put on the record that the interchange had been
discussed at the
Mayor Walton opened the public hearing to the audience for comments.
Chris Eskildsen
inquired about the continuation of
The continuation of
Mayor Walton opened the hearing for comments from Council.
Councilmember Boyer inquired if DOC saw the interchange as a benefit.
Kevin Loresch affirmed that DOC did see it as a benefit as it would be a
positive impact on traffic. The short area for exiting off of
Councilmember Boyer suggested a letter of support from DOC to assist in the application for funding.
Motion: Councilmember Pruett moved to approve the request to add the interchange to the Six Year TIP. Councilmember Boyer seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.
There being no further discussion Mayor Walton closed the public hearing
at
DOC
INFRASTRUCTURE UPDATE
Councilmember Klindworth inquired about who would cover any extra expenditures if the project went over budget.
REALTOR CONTRACT
Jeff Arlington had reviewed the realtor contract with the changes suggested at the last meeting.
Corrections
were noted to page 2, Marketing, where two websites had been left out and to
page 3, General Provisions, no item B was listed, therefore, items C and D were
changed to B and C.
Motion:
Councilmember Boyer moved to accept the realtor contract with the changes
and additions as noted and to authorize the Mayor to sign.
Councilmember Quinton seconded motion.
Motion carried unanimously.
LIFTING OF MORATORIUM
Public Works Director commented that he had three different parties interested in purchasing city property to build an R.V. park. A lot of interest had also been shown in the Catholic Church lots as well.
There would be a real estate meeting March 30 with Jeff Arlington to go over pricing for City properties. Discussion of Eric Mauseth’s lot would also be on the agenda.
Motion:
Councilmember Klindworth moved to release the moratorium on
Mayor Walton noted that staff would need to look into ownership of the strip of property in front of the Community Center.
JUNK/ABANDONED VEHICLES
Public Works Director Munyan advised that he had contacted a couple of different groups in regards to how much they would charge to move those cars that did not meet the hulk vehicle criteria. The charges ran from $25 to $80. Oscar’s Towing agreed not to charge for moving non-hulk vehicles but he would only be able to do that on his time schedule and would do several at a time.
Chief Rochleau
commented that the problem around
Public Works Director Munyan requested Council approval to have a tow company that would be the best deal for the City to come in and start moving some of the non-hulk vehicles to the City Shop.
Council
gave its consensus to proceed with removing vehicles.
Public Works Director Munyan noted that a contract would be brought to Council for their approval.
Mayor Walton
reported that Council had previously approved entering into this agreement with
the County. Since that agreement there had been some changes to the original
wording. It had been discussed that ‘Section 8. Oversight Committee a) 3.’
would have a total of three representatives for Connell, Kahlotus, and
Commissioner Koch affirmed that Section 8 had been amended to include the three representatives.
Mayor Walton noted that there was an error to page 4 where it listed Richard Halverson as Mayor of Kahlotus instead of Donna Fone.
Commissioner Koch explained that the money would go through the County and that the residents of Connell would need to be made aware of the availability of the funds.
Mayor Walton provided information on the programs supported by 2060 funds.
This item was tabled until the next meeting.
WELL #6
Public Works Director Munyan requested Council’s approval to make the expenditure of having the pumps pulled to get a sample of the incoming water to be tested to determine that was the source problem.
Alan Schroeder requested that they be able to camera the well again.
Public Works Director Munyan also noted that not using the well would limit the production of water rights as the community grew. The wells did have combined water rights, with the exception of wells 9 and 10. This would allow the well to be eliminated and improvements made to well 8 to produce the water needed. If the nitrates were coming in deeper it would be best to move to a different source due to the expense of treating nitrates at that level.
Motion: Councilmember Boyer moved to pull the pump and check for nitrate levels on Well #6 and to camera it. Councilmember Pruett seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.
COMMITTEE /
DEPARTMENT REPORTS
PUBLIC WORKS – Public Works Director
1) Clarified that the City was the legal owner of the farm property and that Franklin County Weed Board would send the City the notification on noxious weeds. If the City did not take care of the weed the Weed Board would. They would then bill the City and but a lien against the property if the bill was not paid for. Staff would need to look into the contractual agreement with the developer in regards to maintenance on the property.
2) Had another pressure sewer main break. The break had been repaired. Needed to move forward with finding a solution. Some discussion had taken place with Apollo. It would cost about $60,000 to fix, Apollo offered a value of about $20,000 for placement only of the line. They would not pay for the lines. This offer was not sufficient as they were the major cause of the problem and should pay for the majority of the cost. To date about 9 or 10 breaks had been repaired.
3)
Working on
4) Steve Troundle had been down to look over the valve control project. Had a few things he wanted finished up before he released retainage on the project. He would stop back in a week or two to check on the project.
Councilmember Klindworth advised that staff needed to look into a new bill that was passed that required the City to file a form with the Department of Ecology to not have to pump the wells.
5) In regards to water rights, the City had approximately 277 acre feet of water rights that had been transferred. Well 6 produced more than that.
6)
The Interlocal Agreement between
POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT – Police Chief Rick
Rochleau
1) Last couple of weeks had been dealing with a small rash of graffiti. As time permitted, Officers had been doing some foot and bike patrol to try and catch them in the act.
2) Officer Turner attended a Child Seat Technician class.
3) Fire Arm Simulator training had taken place.
4) Working with Public Works with junk/abandoned vehicles.
MAYOR’S REPORT –
Mayor
1) Would talk to the city administrator in regards to getting the agenda packets out by Thursday.
2)
Community
3) Finance Committee meeting – to be set
4)
Real Estate Committee -
March 30th at
Councilmember Mosbrucker commented that he was in support of putting a building time frame on property that had been sold. The idea for selling property was for development and getting people into the community now and not for the property to be sat on for several years to be used as an investment.
There being no further business
to be heard before the City Council, Mayor Walton adjourned the meeting at