Bonners Ferry City
Council minutes
|
|
August 24, 2011 |
Mayor David Anderson called the special meeting
of August 8, 2011 to order at 7:00 p.m.
Present for the meeting were Mayor Anderson,
Council President Chris Clark, Council Members
Mike Klaus, Connie Wells, and Tom Mayo, Clerk
Kris Larson, City Administrator Stephen Boorman,
Assistant City Administrator David Sims, Police
Chief Rick Alonzo, Water/Sewer Supervisor Jim
Fritzsche, Fire Chief Pat Warkentin, Water
Department Treatment Operator Doug Ladely, and
Electric Department Supervisor Dan Rice. Also
present was Dave Gray.
The purpose of the special meeting was to
discuss a loader purchase and also discuss
fiscal year 2012 budget.
David Sims spoke to council regarding a loader
available from Rowand Machinery. He asked for
council direction as Rowand has a loader
available but they need to know how we will pay
for it. Option one of an annual payment of
approximately $26,000 per year is what Stephen
and David and John are recommending. This is a
municipal lease with the city owning the loader
after the five years. Mike Klaus said he has
been looking at how to balance the budget for
the general fund and a set payment for the next
few years would be easier to pay than have the
total amount come due at once. Chris Clark asked
about the buyback option. David said the lease
option takes us out of the buyback program. This
loader will reduce the amount of use on the
grader to help prolong its life. There are three
other loaders in the city’s fleet. John said if
the other loaders are faster we may be able to
retire the Euclid. Mike Klaus moved to purchase
the loader on the five year plan with a blade as
proposed by the street department. Chris Clark
seconded the motion. The motion passed – Mike
Klaus “yes”, Chris Clark “yes”, Connie Wells
“yes”, Tom Mayo “yes”. David will have a
contract for council’s approval at the next
meeting.
Mayor Anderson spoke of water rates and asked if
Jim thinks we should build a reserve to fix old
lines. Jim said this should be done to help
replace deteriorating infrastructure. He said it
does not take long to spend a reserve. If the
city had a larger reserve, we would not have had
to borrow as much funding for the water projects
that were completed. The infrastructure is aging
and needs to be replaced over time and in order
to maintain the services the public has come to
expect the city needs to have funds in a reserve
to keep the infrastructure upgraded. He said
there is not an alternate source and the test
well will show if this is a viable source. The
river pumps are old and the river water has
debris and the pumps would not last since there
is so much debris. The pumps are also old and
the river water is dirty so it must be treated
differently than the water from Myrtle Creek.
Jim said it takes a long time to treat the water
and the river water is difficult to treat. He
spoke of the large rate increase last year and
would like to plan for the future by having
smaller rate increases. He would like to see
money available if the test well proves to be
viable to develop that well. Jim spoke of the
water in the northside tanks and the water
levels at those tanks. He is concerned over the
depth of the water in the northside tanks this
time of year and the fire flows not being
adequate in Jim’s opinion. Standard residential
fire flow should be 1750 gallons per minute
according to Mike Klaus but there can be other
factors that affect this. Jim said the Hospital
is served directly by the city from another
source.
Mike Klaus spoke regarding the water and sewer
increases and said we tend to flat line for a
long time and then we see a large jump. He made
the comparison of a 1958 pickup and the water
plant. He said not too many people drove a 1958
pickup to the meeting tonight and if they did
they would have had to put some money into the
vehicle to keep it running. He said it is due
diligence to the community to try to keep up
with inflation so it is not such a burden to the
community. Mike said the steel tank needs to be
replaced as it is leaking and the northside tank
needs attention also. Mike thinks about the
employees and infrastructure that is
depreciating the same as he thinks they should
be kept up with inflation.
Mayor Anderson asked about the Sheriff’s Office
calling in a number and getting instant
information. Rick explained that the $7,000
request in his capital budget is for computer
networking with the Sheriff’s Office so the City
and the County will both be operating on the
same system for law enforcement. The greatest
cost is for licensing fees initially. The
maintenance agreement after that is about $1,000
according to Rick. Chris Clark asked about the
Drug Task Officer costs and if Rick thinks it is
worthwhile. Rick said it is and explained the
large drug bust that we had several years ago
and the money that was garnered. This funding is
used to pay for the Drug Task Force Officer
costs except for $15,000 per year that the city
provides. The city also provides the fuel and
repairs on the Drug Task Force officer vehicle.
Rick said there is a large seizure that is being
worked on with the federal government and the
Task Force. Mike Klaus commented that he likes
the idea of spreading out the cost of a vehicle
over several years. He said the problem is
storing the money in a place that is safeguarded
for the intended purpose.
John Youngwirth said we are about three years
behind on chip sealing but the asphalt is pretty
good. In 2012 budget he is looking at purchasing
an additional load of oil for chip sealing and
also the purchase of chips. There are quite a
few streets on the northside where the water
project took place. There are also streets all
throughout town but the northside is the worst.
He is anxious to see how the new distributor
truck will assist and make their work quicker.
John said the weather affects this a lot. Tom
Mayo asked about snow storage. John said it
cannot be very far away because he only has
three trucks so the turnaround time needs to be
quick. David asked how far away the snow storage
could be. John said in the downtown area.
Pat Warkentin said there was a wild land fire
near Wilson’s residence but it was in the
Paradise Valley Fire District. While the fire
department was responding to the wild land fire
there was an auto accident near the Oriental
Garden. A woman rear ended a truck at about 80
miles per hour but she was not injured. Chris
Clark asked Pat about annexation south of town
to the State shop and if this would add a lot to
the fire department’s load. Pat said the city
already responds due to the mutual aid
agreement. John commented that those people are
already receiving city services but not paying
for them. Pat said the fire department is paid
$11.78 per hour for fire calls and $6.75 per
hour for training. He would like to see this
increased about 25 cents per hour.
He also would like to see the Lieutenants be
paid a salary of about $50 per month and also
increase the other officer’s wages by about $25
per month. Pat spoke about the Cascade System
that the fire department received as a donation.
He said the fill station is a cast iron box that
the cylinders are in so when they are being
filled, if a bottle were to explode, it would be
contained. The value of the Cascade System that
was donated is about $9,000. Pat said there is a
grant that was just awarded for P25 compliant
radios from the Department of Lands. Chris Clark
asked about wage increases and if they are in
the budget. Clerk Larson told them there were no
wage increases in the budget yet.
Dan Rice spoke to council. He showed council his
credentials and told them about the amount of
education that it takes to become a lineman. Dan
spoke of a mapping system and how the city does
not have one. He said the electric department
just wants to live here and if there is enough
money coming in then it should be put back into
infrastructure and gave examples of rebuilding
lines. The electric department has kept up their
infrastructure. He said Bonners Ferry is behind
the times but the other linemen at Northern
Lights are paid $36 per hour. Bonners Ferry does
not have the tax revenue but infrastructure
needs to be kept up. There are Bonners Ferry
people that will replace our most recent retiree
at the electric department and hopefully the
next retiree. He would like to keep putting
money in infrastructure.
Mike Klaus asked about capital improvements. Dan
Rice said he would like to see a mapping system
put in place. He said if we can afford this
mapping system it would make us far ahead.
Mapping systems are huge in making the jobs
easier for the electric department. He said if
the electric system could be mapped then an
overlay could be added for water lines. Dan gave
the example of underground lines as well as
overhead lines. He said the public likes
underground lines much better.
Mike asked what Dan’s forecast is for each year.
He said replacing the underground wire that was
not buried in conduit. When there is an
underground fault on a primary wire it should be
mapped so when there is another fault it can be
located easier. Dan said there was some bad wire
from the 1980’s that only lasted about 15 years.
He said the electric department is fixing short
runs but the long runs would be too expensive.
Tom asked about mapping. David said we have two
quotes and there is another still to come in.
David said asset management would be a benefit
from a mapping program. Stephen said there would
be a contract situation or an employee would be
hired to maintain the mapping system. Pole
testing companies will GPS the location of the
electric poles. Dan said mapping is industry
standard. He said this will make it so when
there is an outage he can get the right size
wire and parts to take to the location of the
outage. He said a mapping system also tracks the
types of outages such as squirrels so the
electric department can put up squirrel guards
if necessary. Dan said for future prosperity we
need to keep up with the times.
Mayor Anderson said we all know the benefits of
mapping. David asked if council would like to
review mapping proposals at the next meeting.
Mayor Anderson wants this on the next agenda.
The group discussed sewer and the needed
improvements. Jim said the camera of the sewer
lines in Eaton Addition cannot be done due to
the unevenness of the sewer lines. Stephen said
there are springs in the area that are forceful
and they think this is causing the lines to
become uneven.
David would like to see a water and sewer rate
study. He said Stephen has looked into a study
with Gary Seliba who worked on the electric rate
study. David said we may want to wait until we
get the sewer master plan done but an
inflationary increase should be done.
Chris Clark asked about the additional days that
were awarded and if the employees liked this.
Rick said it would have been appreciated more if
there had been more days because the county got
nine days. Dan said it was appreciated but the
talk is that the county has better benefits and
got more days off. Jim and Dan said it was
appreciated very much.
The budget needs to be at the paper for
publication before August 19.
Dan Rice said Bonners Ferry has the lowest
electric rates.
Dave Gray said council is following the right
path.
At the next meeting council will present their
ideas on the raises and capital.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
/s/
David K. Anderson, Mayor
Attest:
/s/
Kris Larson, Clerk/Treasurer
|
|
Questions or comments? Click
here to
email! |
|
|
