City Council met in regular session on December 17, 2018 at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chambers of City Hall.
Mayor Lester presided:
Councilmembers present:
Scott Winkler
Mike Peterson
Pete Lane
Beryl Grant
Amy Farris
Dylan Canaday
City employees present were Chief Drew, Public Works Maintenance Supervisor Mager, Eric Jones, Attorney Green and City Clerk Kennedy. Public Works Director McFrederick absent.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
MINUTES: The meeting was called to order and the Council minutes of December 3rd were approved as presented by Councilor Peterson, second by Councilor Grant. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
VISITORS: David Watkins, J-U-B was present to provide a Water Study Update. The City staff has been great. They have done hydrant testing and it’s about 80% done. The process will include the capital improvement plan, rate evaluations, final recommendations and approval. David provided an overview of fire flow, along with the typical flow rate and duration with rankings by priority. The City staff has ranked them. On the subdivision east of town, there is low pressure there. If the City wants to encourage growth, the city will subsidize costs. The City can negotiate and have the developer put in some infrastructure and city do some other things. Public Works Maintenance Supervisor Mager will run some models in January in Lewiston to get better information. A big priority for the City is a well. If myrtle goes down it handicaps the City. Mayor felt there is two major issues: the high zone and a new well. Mager felt the new well was the priority and then the high zone needed to be addressed with maybe booster station redundancy.
The City talked about the Sewer Study project a few years ago and doing it back to back with the Master Plan update. The process involves building a model, calibrate it with flow monitoring and then can work on seeing what is necessary for future subdivisions. There will be a little parallel work with water and sewer in a couple months. It is about a year long process. On motion by Councilor Winkler, second by Councilor Peterson to authorize the mayor to sign the JUB Service/s Agreement for sewer study for up to $139,700. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Lane, Grant, Peterson. NO: none. The motion passed.
POLICE AND ANIMAL CONTROL REPORT: The department had 98 calls for service, 40 cases written, 32 citations, and 0 written warnings for November 2018. The computer records management system is on schedule to go live January 1st. Officer Brainard will start the police academy January 7th. The Martin Luther King March will occur on January 19th but it is only on the Main Street sidewalk, so it does not involve labor of the police department.
KLEIN LOGGING: Maylor Lester stated the contractor is done on the Klein property and has moved to the Sno-drifters. He drove up on Saturday to look at it and stated it looks really good. When the contractor is done at the Sno-drifters they will move over to the watershed.
SNOWHAVEN UPDATE: Clerk Kennedy stated Scott Wasem and Mark Vandlik have been working to get the hill read to open. They have all the employees hired and will open December 22nd if the hill gets enough snow. As of Friday, the 14th, they had 6” of groomed snow at the summit and 5” at the lodge.
On motion by Councilor Peterson, second by Councilor Lane, to accept the Personnel Committee Minutes of December 7, 2018 and December 10, 2018. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
BILLS: The bills, in the amount of $271,072.13 were approved and ordered paid out of their respective funds, on motion by Councilor Peterson, second by Councilor Grant. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
CITIZEN REQUEST ON 35MPH ZONE HIGHWAY 95: The City received a request from various citizens asking the City to rescind the vote where the City voted to extend the 35 mile an hour zone on Highway 95. Chris Wagner stated Senator Crabtree is working to get the speed limit on Johnson Cutoff lowered from 50mph to 35mph, then the algorithms on google will take drivers through Grangeville. If the speed limit is lowered, it will defeat his work to bring people into Grangeville. James Rockwell thanked the Council for hearing them out. ITD has been talking about having a bypass road at Johnson cutoff or by Tolo for 20 years. If they had political support from the city, he felt it would give ITD ammunition to go do something and say let’s open discussion again about bypass. He would like the City to reconsider their discussion on whether the City should move forward or rescind their agreement of 35mph zone. James said State street in Boise is 50mph with billions of traffic. Jeff Kutner felt the main reason for the speed limit reduction was the extra length of turning zone Cloninger’s would have to install if the speed limit wasn’t reduced. There are lots of places with higher speeds – Advance Welding and Twin House road are just a couple. He felt rescinding the motion would be a good thing. The Chamber board members got together for an informal discussion and wanted to see the motion withdrawn. Mayor Lester stated most of discussion was safety but when Councilor Grant asked, he then said he’d put in less footage of turning lane. Chief Drew stated he sees both sides but from a safety perspective, lower speeds are safer.
Councilor Winkler had negative input from businesses and positive input from the general public. The general public felt speeds should be slower. Mayor Lester blamed himself for not having more discussion at the original council meeting or delaying the decision for additional comments. He had also talked to Senator Crabtree and he’s working with the highway district to reduce the speed limit to 35mph on Johnson Road and he recommends the city reverse their decision. Councilor Farris stated safety is where she sits. Councilor Canaday received several negative comments on changing it to 35mph. Councilor Lane stated no one had visited with him; however, he sees the point the citizens stated in their letter of waiting to see if the new development creates enough traffic to need a reduction and then let ITD change it if necessary. Then it is solely ITD’s decision. Councilor Peterson stated he wished he had this info before he voted last time.
Chief Drew stated from a safety aspect, his department will work traffic through that area. The City could get complaints for those getting pulled over.
On motion by Councilor Grant, second by Councilor Canaday to send a letter to ITD that after further consideration the City would like the road to stay the way it is through Grangeville, and not to lower the speed limit. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present. Clerk Kennedy will the write the letter and contact the sheriff see if he wants to sign it too.
SURPLUS: On motion by Councilor Peterson, second by Councilor Farris to surplus the 2002 Chevrolet 2wd pickup with a $5,500 value. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
Chief Drew stated Spirit Lake police department is stuck with the old system. Their cameras are failing at same rapid rate. We only have 2 left that work but the Chief doesn’t want to charge them for something that has no guarantee that will work. On motion by Councilor Lane, second by Councilor Winkler to surplus the old police body cameras with an exception to the surplus rules and donate them to Spirit Lake police department. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
PAWN, SECONDHAND & JUNK STORE LICENSE: On motion by Councilor Winkler, second by Councilor Peterson to approve the 2019 applications submitted by the following business for pawn, secondhand & junk store licenses.
• Brian Perry d/b/a B & B Bargain Store
• Syringa General Hospital Foundation d/b/a Syringa Auxiliary Thrift Shop
• Craig & Rhonda Clovis d/b/a Sissys Thrift
• Sherry Jolliff d/b/a Sherry’s Closet Treasurer Thrift Store
Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
FLAGS ON DECORATIVE LIGHT POLES: The City has received a request from the Farmer’s Market to place flags on the pole. The City would like to make sure it’s ok with the Council to allow flags on these posts if the requestor buys the brackets. The City would install brackets and retain ownership of the brackets for other use. The requestor would have to put their own flags up and work with the clerk to complete the application with Idaho Transportation Department.
Councilor Winkler wanted everyone to go look at the light posts and envision the size. The bulldog banners are smaller. Everyone should look at them and see the size and flag mounts. This will be discussed on the next agenda. Clerk Kennedy will let Farmers Market know in case they want to attend.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR DISCUSSION: Councilor Grant reported on the personnel committee’s recommendation to have an administrator. Since Mayor Lester took over he’s been dealing with a lot of things other elected officials may not have time for. Clerk Kennedy already deals with Snowhaven, Library and Pool and would be available to them for answers. Councilor Winkler felt it was a great option for the City. There would be continuity with a change in council/mayor. Councilor Grant also stated it would make her happy from a financial standpoint to have the treasurer separated out. Mayor Lester stated he will work on a job description for the administrator getting additional information from other cities. Winkler stated the Mayor would oversee the administrator and the administrator would be in charge of all the department heads. Grant stated the City would be more cohesive and it will help in the future. Everything should run through city hall. It gives future councils and mayors more guidance as anyone can be elected and they don’t have to know anything. All the sudden you can make life for the current department heads horrible. You need consistency. During research, the committee was very surprised there are smaller cities than Grangeville that have administrators. Councilor Lane stated when a department head has a concern and needs an answer, they can go to the Administrator, rather than waiting for the Mayor. It allows for more efficiency. This would alleviate waiting for the Mayor to get back to them. Most questions from the pool, library and Snowhaven currently are directed to Clerk Kennedy.
On motion by Councilor Grant, second by Councilor Winkler to create a new job title of city administrator and redistribute duties in city hall. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Lane, Grant, Peterson. NO: none. The motion passed.
ORDINANCE NO. 928
(Ordinance No. 928 in its entirety on file in the City’s Ordinance File)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF GRANGEVILLE PROVIDING FOR THE AMENDMENT OF TITLE 1 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE CITY OF GRANGEVILLE BY THE DELETION AND REMOVAL OF CHAPTERS 7 AND 8; PROVIDING FOR THE RENUMBERING OF TITLE 1 OF THE MUNICPAL CODE; PROVIDING FOR THE REPEAL OF ORDINANCES OR PARTS OF ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; AND PROVIDING FOR THE ORDINANCE BECOMING EFFECTIVE UPON ITS PASSAGE, APPROVAL, AND PUBLICATION.
On motion by Councilor Peterson, second by Councilor Grant that the first reading be approved, that the rules be suspended, the second and third readings be waived and the ordinance be approved and adopted. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Lane, Grant, Peterson. NO: none. The motion passed. Mayor Lester then declared Ordinance No. 928 duly approved and adopted.
RESOLUTION NO. 261
(Resolution No. 261 in its entirety on file in the City’s Resolution File)
The following resolution was introduced by Councilor Peterson who moved for its adoption. Second by Councilor Winkler.
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF GRANGEVILLE PROVIDING FOR THE LIST OF APPOINTIVE OFFICERS OF THE CITY; AND PROVIDING FOR THE TERM OF OFFICE.
ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Lane, Grant, Peterson. NO: none. The motion passed. Mayor Lester then declared Resolution No. 261 duly approved and adopted.
APPOINTMENT OF ALL CITY APPOINTIVE OFFICERS: Mayor Lester appointed all City officers as listed below. On motion by Councilor Winkler, second by Councilor Grant to confirm the appointments of the appointive officers.
• City Administrator – Tonya Kennedy
• City Clerk – Tonya Kennedy
• City Treasurer – Janell Arnzen
• City Attorney – Adam Green
• Public Works Director – Jeff McFrederick
• Police Chief – Morgan Drew
• Fire Chief – Bob Mager
ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Lane, Grant, Peterson. NO: none. The motion passed.
LIBRARY BOARD: Mayor Lester vised with Betty Nafziger and she agreed to be on the board. He would like to appoint her. On motion by Councilor Farris, second by Councilor Lane to appoint Betty Nafziger to the Library Board with a term of 1/1/19-12/31/23. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
SYRINGA HOSPITAL AND CLINICS HANDICAP PARKING: Bill Spencer submitted a request for a handicap parking area on West North Street east of the new entrance to the clinic.
Public Works Maintenance Supervisor Mager stated the hospital needs to paint and sign it at hospital expense and labor. On motion by Councilor Winkler, second by Councilor Peterson to allow Syringa to paint their handicap parking area on West North Street east of the new entrance to the clinic. Motion carried by a unanimous vote of the Council present.
EXECUTIVE SESSION: On motion by Councilor Peterson, second by Councilor Canaday to enter executive session according to Section 74-206 (c) Land Acquisition. ROLL CALL VOTE: YES: Canaday, Farris, Winkler, Lane, Grant, Peterson. NO: none. The motion passed.
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 P.M.
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Wes Lester – Mayor
ATTEST:
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Tonya Kennedy – Clerk
