Meeting Minutes

March 2002

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING March 12, 2002 Present: Mayor Einar Larson, Council: Mary Combs, Mike Holtz, Julie Jones, and Teri Zimmerman; absent: Rick Klein. Guests: Darrell Francis - City Superintendent; Craig Aldworth - USKH/Wyatt Engineering, Residents - Lucille Siddons, Mike Ocampo, and Marvin Gordon. Mayor Larson called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. Minutes from February meeting were given to council prior to this meeting. Julie made motion, second from Mike, and carried to approve the minutes as written. PLANNING - VARIANCE Application was received from Mike O. and Lucille for a side yard setback deviation to erect a garage with the same setback as an existing garage structure on their property located at 112 N 5th. Planning Commission held a public hearing at 6:30 this evening to hear public comment and gave a recommendation to the Council to approve the request. Mike H represented the Council for the hearing and reviewed meeting content with the Council. Mike made motion to approve the application from a 6' sideyard set back to construct a building with the same setback as the existing structure, second from Julie, motion carried. PLANNING - VARIANCE Applicant Don Havelick requested an extension for a setback previously granted on his property located at 15 S 7th. Planning commission reviewed prior application and recommended the Council approve an extension for another year. Council was given a copy at the meeting containing findings from the original application approved. Mike made motion to accept the extension of time for the variance, second from Julie, motion carried. PLANNING - CONDITIONAL USE APPLICATION Issues raised at the last council meeting were researched and provided to the council prior to the meeting. Specifically, the building inspector (at the time) stated he had never condemned the building. Given the Towns size and staff capacity, the council will continue to rely on State regulatory measures for business - public - employment safety requirements. Mike made a motion to approve the use for an Antique Store at 15 S 1st as recommended by the planning commission at the February meeting, second from Julie, motion carried. WATER - TOWER MAINTENANCE Darrell provided the requested residential meter reading to City Hall the latter part of yesterday. The USDA representative planned to be out of the office today, therefore unable to work the numbers to compile the grant/loan ratio figure to the Town by tonight's meeting. In the event the project may be able to still occur this year, council requested a special meeting be held upon receipt of those figures. Darrell discussed contingency plans that needed to be addressed, hindsight of the last time the tower was painted; ie: generator hookup, relief valve installation, and 24 hour monitoring of pumps. YARD WASTE - RESIDENTIAL BURNING, ORDINANCE 426 Quick mention: Lincoln County Public Works is applying for a grant to purchase a tub grinder. Controversial messages are being received from Department of Ecology (DOE) in respect to the Town obtaining a permit to burn at the yard waste site. Darrell spoke to permit department and advised him a permit would not be issued unless the town prohibited residential burning entirely. Another DOE contact in the same department emailed Debbie with a message from Bruce Smith (who attended our council meeting in 1998 in reference to Ordinance 401). Bruce listed recitals of numerous WAC's and interpretation that they 'prefer' that the town prohibits burning on a year around basis and that a permit would probably not be required for the yard waste site. Mike pointed out that sever people do not own a truck to enable them to haul yard waste across the highway. Rebuttal was noted that the Lions Club is hired annually and hauling yard waste is one of their tasks. Mary mentioned that we should not risk having DOE shut down the yard waste site, which would also ban a place for hauling of wheat dust and concrete. Mary made motion to prohibit residential burning, second from Teri, Ordinance 426 passed by majority, Mike opposed. STREET Main St. Reconstruction: Craig advised that TIB has approved a conditional sidewalk deviation, and invitation to bid has been published. An add alternate for a 2' shoulder has been listed to accommodate the deviation condition and will only be constructed if the bids come in low enough for the funding allocation to cover its cost. Craig reviewed plan drawings with the council and requested any addendums be submitted to him by March 18th. Pre-bid meeting is scheduled for Friday March 22nd, bid opening for Friday March 29th, and several local contractors have obtained the bid documents. Craig noted a breakaway square channel post that will be used for signs, a change from prior breakaway U-channel post that experienced some problems on the 3rd/4th Avenue project. In review, the state contractor has designated work to be done on SR2 for the period 4/1-4/7; if that contractor comes in as our low bidder, Main St. could be completed by May 1st. 3rd/4th and Country Rd - A notice of lien has been received from the Employment Security Department against the retainage held from Walker Paving in the amount of $ 5,397.21, this retracts previous release they submitted in October of 2001. Copenhaver is still holding a lien on the retainage as well. Department of Revenue has not submitted required notice for their release on retainage. Halme is scheduled to complete warranty work items as soon as the batch plants are in operation. 3rd Avenue Bridge: The guard rail change order work was completed by the contractor on March 6. SEWER - MONITORING WELL PROJECT Craig advised that Geo Engineers have submitted report to Department of Ecology on the well drilling having been completed and testing stage to occur over the next 2 years. MISC: Business Signs on SR2 Marjorie and Larry Peha have received a letter from WSDOT regarding a business sign for the Quilt shop located at the Gun Club. Because SR2 is a scenic byway, signage needs to be set back a certain distance from the highway, otherwise filed through a permit process. The Peha's were considering a request to the Council to place a sign near the Almira Centennial sign. Council discussed that something allowed for one business, would need to be allowed for all businesses. Consideration would be given if a design were presented for approval that could include any business wishing to participate in the advertising expense. (Since discussed with Marjorie, who will contact Kimberly Gormley for possible ideas) MISC: CenturyTel Line work (discussed after bills paid) CenturyTel has submitted plans for approval by the city to bury a line on South 7th. Because sewer lines in that area would conflict with the request as it stands, Darrell recommended the council approve with the condition the line is placed up against an existing retaining wall. MISC: Computer Software and Hardware Since the IRS changed the format to print W-2's, Council concurred to purchase a separate program to print the forms next year. The new HP printer was recently received from a grant issued through AWC. Teri advised that HP is generally compatable with DOS based programs, a patch for the DOS based accounting software may or may not need to be obtained. Nonetheless, neither of these two dilemma's have prompted a need to purchase any accounting software upgrades or maintenance contracts. Building Permits / Utility Accounts No building permits have been issued. 11 pink slips were mailed on February 28th. 3 paid in full, 2 have made payment plans, 1 has made payment without a plan. Council requested that Darrell follow through with enforcement and shut off service. 5 utility liens remain on file. Pay Bills Claims registers were given to council prior to the meeting. Mike made motion to pay bills, second from Julie, motion carried. Treasurers Report was given to council, inquiries were discussed, no new concerns were announced. Final February vouchers totaled $15,063.62 Warrants 5741 - 5770 Claims Clearing $ 8,909.53 Payroll Clearing $ 6,154.09 Preliminary March vouchers totaled $ 14,696.56 Warrants 5771 - 5790 Claims Clearing $ 9,214.63 Payroll Clearing $ 5,481.93 Meeting adjourned at 9:05.

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