City Council Meetings

CITY OF GREEN RIVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS AUGUST 12, 2014 The Governing Body of the City of Green River met in workshop session at 6:30 pm in the City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor Castillon called the meeting to order. The following Council Members were present: Mark Peterson, Tom McCullough, and Gary Killpack. The following were present representing the City: Acting City Administrator Chris Steffen, Director of Public Works Mike Nelson, Director of Finance Jeff Nieters, Director of Community Development Laura Leigh, and Parks and Recreation Director Allan Wilson. Destination Green River Station Depot Mr. Wilson stated the following facts: the City is legally bound to the terms set forth in its grant agreement with the Wyoming Business Council. The Community Facilities Grant program allocated $1,000,000 to the city in 2013 as part of a $3,142,215 renovation project. In the terms of that agreement, the City pledged to completely renovate Lynch Hall to such a degree that it could be occupied: and to fix the roof of all three buildings occupying the footprint. No renovations can take place at the Depot site until the hazardous material is removed from the building; in May of 2014 the City was award a $200,000 Brownfields Cleanup grant. The City’s cash match for the EPA Brownfields Grant is $22,943. The Depot is on the radar of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Quality as a Brownfield – or site containing hazardous contaminants. He presented the following three options for the council to consider. (1) In December of 2014, compose a letter to the Wyoming Business Council requesting a delay of the project for 2 years. Proceed with the planned cleanup of the building utilizing the grant funds from the EPA Brownfields program and hope that the City’s finances improve sufficiently to allow completion of the project as set forth in the grant agreement within the prescribed time frame. (2) Return the Wyoming Business Council Community Facilities grant. Return the EPA grant, and let the building go back to the Union Pacific. (3) Return the $1,000,000 Communities Facilities grant received from the Wyoming Business Council and consider applying for an alternate grant program in 2015. Move forward with the cleanup project funded by the EPA and look for funding to seal the “envelope” of the building preserving it until such a time that renovation can move forward. Mr. Wilson stated staff would recommend going with Option #1. Council Member Killpack asked how much the City’s cost would be to go with Option #1. Mr. Wilson stated it would cost the City around $2 million. Council Member Killpack asked Mr. Nieters how much money the City would have at the end of the current fiscal year if things keep going as planned. Mr. Nieters stated that the City would roughly have around $100,000 left over. Council Member Killpack stated that in the next fiscal year the City would only have to come up with around $1.5 million. Mr. Nieters stated they would have to come up with the $2 million because costs will go up every year, and that doesn’t include the architect. Council Member McCullough stated the City revenues have gone up, and if we go ahead with the cleanup with the money that is already earmarked for the depot, the City should be able to come up with the remaining money. City Council Workshop Proceedings August 12, 2014 Page 1 of 4 Mr. Nieters stated the City did not have a million dollars to spend in capital projects this year. Mayor Castillon stated the consensus grant money should be around the same as last year, and he asked Mr. Nieters if he had a projection on what the Simplot money would be. Mr. Nieters stated he has not received any numbers on the Simplot Grant. Mayor Castillon stated he thought it was around $60,000. He asked Mr. Nieters to follow up on the grant and see if he could find out the numbers. Mr. Steffen stated if the City is considering Option #1 that the council should try and get the two year extension, and cautioned if we go ahead with the cleanup of the building, the City might potentially be cleaning up a building they no longer own. He stated that although the sales tax did have a raise this month, there’s no way to know if it will continue to go up. He stated the City doesn’t want to be in a situation where they could run into problems. You hope for the best but you just don’t know. Council Member Killpack expressed his concerns about making any kind of a commitment until we see if we get the delay. He stated he doesn’t want to put the City in a bind. Mr. Nieters stated although the sales tax was up, we are still down around 10% compared to last year. Council Member McCullough stated the depot is the last part of the history the City has. He thinks the Council should go ahead with staff’s recommendation and go with Option #1. Pat Robbins, with the SLIB Board, stated that it’s standard for the board to give a 1 year extension. She has already talked to Cheyenne and knows they will give it, but the council should go ahead and ask for a two year extension. She also cautioned the council that with inflation, the costs will be considerably higher. She recommend going with Option #1 and see where they are at in a year. Council Member Peterson expressed his concerns on whether the depot will sustain itself after it’s built. Mrs. Robbins expressed her concern, and cautioned the Council to not put them in a situation that they can’t afford. She suggested trying to buy some time with the SLIB board, and see where the City is at the end of the next fiscal year. Mayor Castillon stated he was in favor of taking Option #1. He asked if the City could use the $200,000 from the EPA grant to match. Mrs. Robbins stated the EPA is a different grant, and couldn’t be used as part of the match on this grant. Mrs. Robbins stated the EPA grant they received no longer exists, so if they give it back, the maximum grant they would receive now would be $500,000. Misty Springer stated that as of the first of October, the City will be entering into an agreement with the Federal Government with the EPA which is the Brownfield grant. She stated the City would be remiss in not following through with the cleanup of the depot. Mayor Castillon stated we need to put the depot options on the September 2nd agenda for a vote. He stated at the time of the award, the grant was the top project, the City had the money and the commitment, but it was reallocated to the Police Department. Discussion on Sidewalk Replacements Mr. Nelson gave a presentation on the funding for capital projects. He stated the funding comes from the 6th Penny, General Funds, Wastewater Funds, and Water Funds. The 6th Penny Projects are selected by the City by current policies. He stated you can’t choose new 6th Penny projects until the old ones are completed. The General Fund money is from the 1% optimal use, and the sale tax it is used for the streets and sidewalks. The Water Fund revenue City Council Workshop Proceedings August 12, 2014 Page 2 of 4 is from water bills and is used for water projects, streets, and sidewalk patching. The Wastewater Fund revenue is, from utility bills, and is used for waste water projects, patching streets, and sidewalks. He listed all of the projects going on in the City this year. Mayor Castillon asked if the policy over the years has been to patch streets and not full asphalt. Mr. Nelson stated that is usually the case. He stated it’s usually only a full sidewalk and street repair when it is a 6th Penny Capital Project. Mr. Nelson stated that typically they would try to do one project a year that comes out of all the funds. Council Member Killpack asked Mr. Nelson if there were restrictions on what you can use the water and wastewater enterprise money for. Mr. Nelson stated that generally each enterprise fund is only used for their specific projects. Council Member McCullough stated he thinks the citizens should have the same opportunity as the other citizens in Green River to use the 50/50 sidewalk program. Mayor Castillon asked if there were any plans to replace all the sidewalks and the streets. Mr. Nelson stated there was, but they were all 6th Penny projects. Mayor Castillon asked if there was ever a time when the City would come in and replace sidewalks that were in bad shape. Mr. Nelson stated there wasn’t. They don’t look at the condition of the sidewalks, they base their projects on the street repair. Council Member McCullough stated other cities have an assessment in place where they make the homeowners replace their sidewalks. Council Member Killpack asked if there were any citizens at the meeting that would like to express their opinions to help the council members make a decision. Mrs. Leigh stated why the 50/50 Sidewalk Program came into place, and the criteria for meeting the 50/50 Sidewalk Program. Mayor Castillon asked how many citizens participated in the program. Mrs. Leigh stated that she didn’t have a count of how many used the program, but generally, every year since the program was put in place back in 2011, all the money allocated to the 50/50 Sidewalk Program was used, and they usually have a waiting list. Council Member Peterson stated because the budget was so tight this year, they had to cut out some projects, and the 50/50 Sidewalk Program was one of them. Angie Shutran urged the council to look at a policy change on how they replace streets and sidewalks, and to not tear up the streets multiple times. She also expressed her concerns on why Firehole Street was always pushed off the 6th Penny list. She suggested the council look into patching some of the sidewalks as that wouldn’t cost the City as much money. Council Member McCullough stated he thinks the council should put the 50/50 Sidewalk program back into place. Mrs. Shutran stated a lot of the citizens on her street can’t afford to do that. She stated the City needs to put something in place to start fixing the sidewalks. Council Member Killpack stated that they can’t replace some citizen’s sidewalks without replacing all the sidewalks in the City. City Council Workshop Proceedings August 12, 2014 Page 3 of 4 Council Member McCullough suggested on the next 6th Penny Ballot, maybe the Council should look into putting $500,000 for sidewalks to start replacing the sidewalks in the City. Mayor Castillon stated it would take a policy change to do what the citizens were requesting. Council Member Killpack stated they only got half of what they asked for in the 6th Penny money, and it cut out a lot of capital projects. Dave Kasper asked if the 50/50 Sidewalk program would only be for residential. Mrs. Leigh stated it was for both residential and commercial. Council Member McCullough asked for the 50/50 Sidewalk Program to be put on the next council meeting agenda. City Administrator’s Report Nothing to report Mayor and Council Reports Council Member Killpack thanked the citizens for expressing their concerns. Council Member McCullough reminded the citizens to attend the River Festival this weekend down at the Island. Council Member Peterson thanked the citizens for attending the meeting. Mayor Castillon thanked the citizens for bringing in their concerns and stated the council would look into the policy changes for fixing the streets, and sidewalks. He reminded the citizens that the Police Department Ribbon Cutting is this Saturday, August 15th. He reminded the citizens that school starts Monday, August 18th, so be cautious and watch out for children in the crosswalks. He stated he had a citizen request the change of Iowa Street from a one-way to a two- way. He explained that the fire code requires the street to be so wide, and the width of Iowa Street does not allow it to be a two-way street. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm. ____________________________________ H. Castillon, Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________ Jeffrey V. Nieters, City Clerk City Council Workshop Proceedings August 12, 2014 Page 4 of 4