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Home My Public Portal AboutMinutes_City Council Work Meeting_03122019CITY COUNCIL WORK MEETING IONA COMMUNITY CENTER MARCH 12, 2019 6:00 P.M. PRESENT: Mayor Dan Gubler, Council President Rob Geray, Council Member Michael Thompson, Council Member Kathy McNamara, Council Member Peter Wadsworth, City Attorney Andrew Rawlings, Public Works Director Zech Prouse, Chief of Police Karl Bowcutt and City Clerk Keri West. ABSENT: None. VISITORS: None. ITEMS OF BUSINESS: Approval of Police K9 — Mayor Gubler stated this item was discussed at last month's City Council Work Meeting and the City Council directed Chief Bowcutt to calculate an annual cost of ownership for the dog. Chief Bowcutt stated the cost to purchase the dog is $400 with the initial shots and neutering. He also estimated the monthly expenses to be $85/month, which includes shots and food. Chief Bowcutt stated this to be an $8,000 value to the City, according to his research. Officer Hinton brought the K9 "Pyro" into the Council Room for the City Council to meet him. Mayor Gubler entertained a motion. Council Member Wadsworth made a motion to approve the K9 for the City of Iona to be trained and encumber the cost of $85/month, plus the cost of reimbursement of $400 for the cost of the dog. Motion seconded by Council Member McNamara. All in favor. Motion carried. Discussion of Amendments to Water Service Ordinance — Attorney Rawlings stated he has been directed to amend the majority of the Water Service Ordinance, with help and feedback from City employees. He mentioned the EDU Chart, as talked about at last month's meeting. He recommended including the entire chart in the Ordinance to show that the City is relying on specific information and it feels less random if a new category of business enters the City in the future. Council President Geray stated he agrees with incorporating the chart in its entirety, but he has concerns with using the numbers provided on the EDU chart for our City. Council President Geray requested more data to assure the numbers on the chart are accurate for businesses in the City of Iona and the amount of water actually used. He expressed concern that the chart does not include irrigation and also charges apartment units the same as a home on 1/3 acre lot. Director Prouse stated he can have data numbers ready by the next City Council Meeting to compare usage in the City to the EDU chart provided. Attorney Rawlings continued going through the edits and stated the land owner now needs to be held responsible for the water accounts. They are allowed to have a tenant, but the owner will be responsible for the bill. Clerk West added this needs to be communicated with all land owners and tenants. She continued and stated if the tenant wants to have the water account in their name, the owner needs to sign and understand that it will be their responsibility if their tenant defaults. Council President Geray agrees the owner needs to sign and acknowledge the water bill is ultimately their responsibility to pay. He does not want to presume the owner knows that already 1 when a tenant signs a water application. Attorney Rawlings agreed communication is essential to this type of account. He also stated we can change the water application form to allow an area for the owner to sign and acknowledge their responsibility for the account. Mayor Gubler directed Clerk West to add this to the newsletter for all land owners to be aware. Attorney Rawlings moved on to the next suggested edit on the Water Service Ordinance regarding metered and non -metered rates. Director Prouse asked if it is legal to bill a portion of the system at a metered rate and the rest of the system at a non -metered rate. Attorney Rawlings stated the code preserves that ability, but he hasn't looked into it further. Director Prouse requested Attorney Rawlings to research that more in depth, since that is the intention with Freedom Field Estates. Attorney Rawlings agreed. Attorney Rawlings continued and explained the water rate formula is calculated by multiplying the rate per EDU (which is established by Resolution by the Council) by the number of EDUs on the property. That rate is then multiplied by the multiplication factor based on the size of the service line, as stated in the connection fee section of the Ordinance. Director Prouse asked if the multiplication factor is appropriate in the monthly rate. Attorney Rawlings agreed it is not appropriate to have in the monthly fee and the City can choose to remove that from the City Code. Council President Geray stated he agrees the multiplication factor is not appropriate to add to the monthly rate. He continued by saying the point of the EDU chart is to accurately estimate and charge for consumption, regardless of the size of the line. Mayor Gubler directed Attorney Rawlings to remove the multiplication factor from the monthly fee and capture that in the connection fee. Attorney Rawlings continued and discussed the Seasonal Water Usage charge, which is currently an annual fee of $60. This fee only applies to non-residential accounts, with over 5 livestock animals. Director Prouse estimated this fee affecting less than 20 residents. Mayor Gubler suggested leaving this fee in the ordinance, with the option of enforcing it later. Attorney Rawlings moved forward to the section regarding temporary water shut -offs, such as snowbird accounts. He continued by saying those accounts will still be charged the equivalent amount as if they are here year round. They will be charged a $35 fee when they have their water shut off and when they return in the spring, they will need to pay a fee equivalent to the monthly amounts they were not charged. Mayor Gubler stated he would like Director Prouse to prepare data to compare to the EDU chart and they will discuss this Ordinance further at the April City Council Meeting. Attorney Rawlings stated this item does require a Public Hearing for City Council to approve. Mayor Gubler confirmed we will discuss all of the data in April and will hold the Public Hearing in May. Discussion of Arbor Day Celebration — Clerk West stated she has begun working on the Arbor Day Grant, which has a deadline of March 22, 2019. In the application, it requires a declaration when the City will celebrate Arbor Day. The Council discussed and decided to combine the Arbor Day Celebration and the Neighborhood Clean -Up and hold it on the first weekend of June. Mayor Gubler directed to have this be an annual event held on the same weekend each year. Discussion of Iona City Code 11-10-1: Filing Fees for all Zoning Applications — Clerk West stated the City Code still has the fee for most zoning applications as $50. She stated she believes the fee for these applications should be increased to better match the administrative costs. She has calculated the costs associated with these applications including publications, mailings and 2 administrative hours. Her calculations are close to $150 to cover all of the above mentioned costs to process the application. The Council agreed to the cost Clerk West calculated. Mayor Gubler directed the Council to hold a Public Hearing in April to raise the fees associated with zoning applications. General Water System Discussion — Mayor Gubler stated the City still doesn't have approval from the BLM for the water project. The City and Forsgren Engineers are working to obtain approval to stay within the proposed timeline. Mayor Gubler said if we are unable to obtain approval from the BLM in a timely matter, the City may dig the well on our property instead of the BLM property. Meeting Adjourned: 6:52 p.m. COUNCIL APPROVED: April 16`h, 2019 ATTEST: 011kt Keri West, City Clerk Dan Gubler, Mayor 3