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HomeMy Public PortalAboutCouncil Minutes 2003 05/22MINUTES McCall City Council Regular Meeting Thursday, May 22, 2003 Table of Contents Call to Order and Roll Call Public Comment Consent Agenda Minutes of May 7, 2003 Minutes of May 8, 2003 Invoice Approval List Dated May 15, 2003 Payroll Report for Pay Period Ending May 9, 2003 AB 03-63 Assignment and Assumption of Airport Lease Kasey J. Lindsay AB 03-64 New Alcohol Beverage License McCall Angler, LLC. DBA Idaho Angler AB 03-66 Four Corners Project Pay Application No. 2 AB 03-67 BDPA Contract to Provide Assistance with Preparation of Performance Management System and Documents AB 03-68 Copier Lease Change for City Hall and Library AB 03-69 Revision of Golf Pro Contract AB 03-70 Police Advisory Committee Appointment Recommendation AB 03-72 Agreement with Toothman-Orton Engineering Boydstun St. Project Business AB 03-53 Conference Center Recommendation Public Comment Period on Conference Center AB 03-74 Transit Demonstration Project Proposal from Treasure Valley Transit AB 03-65 Water Fund Debt Restructuring AB 03-71 Memorandum of Understanding McCall Police Department & McCall Donnelly School District AB 03-73 Empire Estates Subdivision Final Plat Approval SUB-03-3 Reports Adjournment Page 1 of 8 May 22, 2003 City Council Minutes CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Mayor Colton called the regular meeting of the McCall City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. Mayor Colton, Council Member Arp, Council Member Muller, and Council Member Eimers answered roll call. A quorum was present. City staff members present were City Attorney Susan Buxton, City Manager Robert Strope, Community Development Director Lindley Kirkpatrick, Chief Appa, Public Works Director Bill Keating, and Finance Director & City Clerk Barbara Bauer. Mayor Colton announced that agenda bills 03-70 and 03-73 will be moved from the Consent Agenda to the Business section. PUBLIC COMMENT Mayor Colton called for public comment. No public comment was received. Mr. Dean Martens told the Council Members about Parks trees along the bike path near the Mill Creek Condominiums that were cut last October on the bike path. Until this week, no action had been taken even though the Tree Committee learned about this in January. He is bothered that this series of events occurred and that no action has been taken to address restitution for this action in a designated "Tree City." He also requested that the City look at internal communications so that actions are timelier in the future. Monica Trapp reported that the January Tree Committee Minutes note that she had provided permission to one individual to cut down some "sucker trees" but that is not the individual who apparently cut down the trees. Mayor Colton asked the City Manager to provide an update on the situation at the next Council Meeting and that staff assure that the committee minutes are being provided to the Council in a timely fashion. CONSENT AGENDA Minutes of May 7, 2003 Minutes of May 8, 2003 Invoice Approval List Dated May 15, 2003 Page 2 of 8 May 22, 2003 City Council Minutes Payroll Report for Pay Period Ending May 9, 2003 AB 03-63 Assignment and Assumption of Airport Lease Kasey J. Lindsay AB 03-64 New Alcohol Beverage License McCall Angler, LLC. DBA Idaho Angler AB 03-66 Four Corners Project Pay Application No. 2 AB 03-67 BDPA Contract to Provide Assistance with Preparation of Performance Management System and Documents AB 03-68 Copier Lease Change for City Hall and Library AB 03-69 Revision of Golf Pro Contract AB 03-70 Police Advisory Committee Appointment Recommendation AB 03-72 Agreement with Toothman-Orton Engineering Boydstun St. Project Mayor Colton moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Council Member seconded the motion. In a roll call vote, Mayor Colton, Council Member Arp, Council Member Muller, and Council Member Eimers voted aye. The motion carried. The City Manager explained the reason for the changes in the Golf Pro Contract. In response to a question from Council Member Arp, Chief Appa addressed the number of students on the Police Advisory Committee. The students serving who are graduating will be replaced by contacting government classes at the high school in the fall. Chief Appa explained to Council Member Eimers the reasons for the overtime usage during the last two weeks. BUSINESS AB 03-53 Conference Center Recommendation and Public Comment Period on Conference Center Lindley Kirkpatrick provided a brief overview of the Conference Center Recommendation and the process outlined in the attachments to the Agenda bill. The recommendation of the Ad -Hoc Conference Center Committee has not changed. The Council received a document clarifying several misconceptions in letters to the editor in today's paper and letters sent to the Council this week. Specifically, the City will not own the center, provide any direct on -going financial support to the developer of the center, that grant funds that will be requested will be for public funds that may only be used for public infrastructure improvements such as sidewalks and street lights, and that the feasibility study for the hotel rooms did include the new rooms at the Whitetail and the Holiday Inn Express. A brief review of the public funds requested in the final proposals. Mayor Colton gave individuals in the audience the opportunity to comment. Gary Edson asked for a clarification of the approximately $485,000 to in Urban Renewal funds that would be available for public improvements. Page 3 of 8 May 22, 2003 City Council Minutes Jean Odemark asked for additional clarification of the Urban Renewal tax structure and the impact on city services created without the additional funding. She also expressed concern that adequate parking for the Convention Center be on the site and the potential for sufficient funding for the process. The entire project will be started at the same time. Elaine Romono noted that the facts she obtained are from on-line sources. She questioned the amount of grant funds currently in place and noted that the study showed that there is not adequate demand to support additional hotel rooms. Pat Fraley spoke in support of the recommended location for the Convention Center because of the proximity to the City Golf Course, the lake and the downtown business district. Harry Stathis expressed support for the recommended location because of the importance of increasing our Gary Edson expressed concern about the impact on City finances when providing services after the development of a convention center inside the Urban Renewal District rather than building outside of that district. He believes that there could be other projects in the Urban Renewal District, such as the development of a marina, if a Convention Center is sited outside of the district. He also expressed concern about the amount of the public funds that will be used and the additional competition created for existing hotels when the feasibility studies show that there would not be enough business. He asked if there are individuals on the Urban Renewal Agency Board or the Ad Hoc Committee with a financial or other interest in any of the sites. There are no known conflicts. He raised concerns about the traffic that will be created in this area and that road improvements need to be part of the improvements paid for by public funds. Steve Benoit noted that the Urban Renewal District includes approximately 100 acres. There are 320 parking spots on site. The developer will work with the Urban Renewal Board on a redesign. There are several road changes that are already in the planning stages for the next few years. Mayor Colton closed the public comment period and noted that Rod Carlson had contacted him with similar concerns to be shared with the Council about adding new hotel rooms. The entire City contribution to any Convention Center development will be limited to co-sponsorship of grant applications for public improvements. The funding must be in place for either developer when they apply and obtain grant funds. Even if the City and a developer request grant funds, they may not become available. A primary grant application evaluation criterion is the details of a specific location. Council Member Eimers expressed concern about ignoring the recommendation of a Committee formed by the Council. Page 4 of 8 May 22, 2003 City Council Minutes Council Member Arp noted that the specific sites being considered in the Feasibility Study did not include the Holiday Inn Express site. She also has heard from a number of individuals who believe that it would be worth waiting to see how well the new convention space at the Holiday Inn Express draws business back to McCall or wait for the Stevens group to build a hotel before adding a specific Convention Center to handle 400 for a seated meal plus conference meeting and breakout rooms in separate space. Lindley Kirkpatrick noted that the two of the four grants that have been identified have quarterly application deadlines that would move an application to September and two have open application periods. The City Council will not be involved in design approval. The advantage of having the City involved in the Grant Process is the involvement of the City Grant Writer. It would be possible to have the Urban Renewal District pay the City for the time to have the Grant Writer assist them and sponsor the grants in order to completely remove the City from the process. There is a loss of revenue to the City if a Convention Center is built inside the Urban Renewal District rather than outside the boundaries. Mayor Colton moved to direct the staff to move forward in making grant applications in support of a conference center at the site in the Richard Steven Group proposal by the end of this calendar year. Council Member Eimers seconded the motion. Mayor Colton, Council Member Eimers and Council Member Muller voted aye and Council Member Arp voted nay. The motion carried. AB 03-74 Transit Demonstration Project Proposal from Treasure Valley Transit Bill Keating reviewed the May 14 recommendation of the Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) to approve the proposal from Treasure Valley Transit to provide a four month demonstration project in McCall. The demonstration project would provide fixed route and limited on -demand service from June 12 through September 20. The demonstration project will be provided at no cost to the City of McCall. Additionally, the TAC recommends that City staff evaluate the demonstration project to determine if a permanent transit system should be pursued. Richard Koontz spoke on behalf of the Transportation Advisory Committee and reviewed the history of this process. TVT will track the origin and destination of all services provided in order to provide data for future funding applications that might relate to transportation services. Bill Shweinler from Treasure Valley Transit stated that as part of this demonstration project, van service will be provided on a one hour loop between 7 am and 9 pm daily beginning on June 13, 2003 in a route shown in the material provided to Council. In addition, those who are disabled or elderly can call for individual on demand "door to door" service. Judi Watkins, of Nampa stated her support and view of the integrity of TVT based on her work with the Nampa RSVP program and Senior Center. The surveys will be taken when people are riding and will be available at the Chamber of Commerce office or even to put in the local newspaper. Page 5 of 8 May 22, 2003 City Council Minutes Council Member Arp moved to approve the Treasure Valley Transit proposal for a four month demonstration project and direct City staff to evaluate the demonstration project and coordinate with the TAC. Mayor Colton seconded the motion. All Council Members voted aye. The motion carried. AB 03-65 Water Fund Debt Restructuring Robert Strope reviewed information provided to the Council Members on the summary of total debt service reflects options for restructuring debt. Part of the reason that this is a possibility is the result of a confidential settlement that requires caution in discussing financial specifics not contained in the information provided to the Council. After reviewing the options, option #4 is the best choice and is the recommended course of action. All options leave the DEQ State Revolving Fund loan in place. Concurrent with the restructuring, staff will develop a recommended water rate schedule for presentation to Council. Staff is pursuing options for funding needed improvements to the water system using remaining SRF loan authorization. Costs associated with the debt refunding that can be included in the SRF loan will be included. The City has also asked DEQ to subordinate their loan, and although they have a policy of keeping all debt on parity, there have been exceptions made in the past. Council Member Eimers moved to approve option #4 as presented as the optimum debt service restructuring option and direct the City Manager to work with staff and bond counsel and financial advisors to restructure the water fund debt and authorize the Mayor to sign all required documents. Council Member Arp seconded the motion. In a roll call vote, Mayor Colton, Council Member Arp, Council Member Muller, and Council Member Eimers voted aye. The motion carried. AB 03-71 Memorandum of Understanding McCall Police Department & McCall Donnelly School Chief Appa reviewed the Police Advisory Committee recommendation regarding the Memorandum of Understanding be adopted by Council and authorize the Chief of Police to sign. There have been some changes since the original MOU that have been incorporated into the new agreement. With full staffing at the current level, this can be done in conjunction with 24/7 community police coverage. The school will be providing funding for special activities and training, but that is all of the funding the school has available. If this program does not work as anticipated, the agreement can be terminated. The involvement of school staff in program design was discussed. Council Member Muller moved to adopt the Memorandum of Understanding and authorize the Chief of Police to sign. Council Member Eimers seconded the motion. All Council Members voted aye. The motion carried. AB 03-73 Empire Estates Subdivision Final Plat Approval SUB-03-3 Page 6 of 8 May 22, 2003 City Council Minutes Lindley Kirkpatrick reviewed the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Commission regarding the Empire Estates Subdivision Final Plat. The complete record for SUB-03-3 was provided to Council members. The Planning & Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on May 6 and recommends that the City Council approve the subdivision final plat. The legal description has been corrected and an additional condition of approval that was in the record has been added to the revised draft. Mayor Colton moved to adopt the draft Findings & Conclusions and approve SUB-03-3. Council Member Muller seconded the motion. All Council Members voted aye. The motion carried. REPORTS City Manager — Robert Strope Council Member — Marilyn Arp The Bike Rodeo last week was well attended. Officer deVerteuil did a great job on this rodeo working with the hospital. Downtown parking concerns continue to be raised by citizens. There is not enough off- street parking available to allow changes in the parking ordinances. At this point, staff has not had a chance to review the mix of parking space times throughout the city. Up to now, the Police Department has not made parking enforcement a priority. If the Council wants this to change, it can be done quickly. The enforcement needs to be evenly applied regardless of who owns a car. Another option is to encourage peer pressure by concerned business owners to keep employees from monopolizing the parking spaces. There were questions about changing the parking in the downtown area to diagonal rather than parallel spaces. The Council would like to encourage voluntary compliance by local business people, assisting downtown business owners to apply peer pressure in order to avoid the need for stronger enforcement or meters if the problem continues. Mayor - Ralph Colton Kudos need to go out to the Clean-up Committee for their good work. ADJOURNMENT Without further business, Council Member Eimers moved to adjourn. Council Member Muller seconded the motion. All Council Members voted aye. The motion carried. The Council adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Page 7 of 8 May 22, 2003 City Council Minutes Al---- 4Ra ph C Iton, May ATTEST: Barbara Bauer, Finance Director/City Clerk Page 8 of 8 May 22, 2003 City Council Minutes