City Council Meetings

CITY OF GREEN RIVER CITY COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS September 1, 2015 The Governing Body of the City of Green River met in regular session at 7 pm in the City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor Pete Rust called the meeting to order. The following Council Members were present: Gary Killpack, Mark Peterson, Ted Barney, Allan Wilson, Brett Stokes, and Lisa Maes. The following were present representing the City: City Administrator Reed Clevenger, Director of Public Works Mike Nelson, City Engineer/Utility Manager Mark Westenskow, Director of Finance Chris Meats, Director of Community Development Laura Profaizer, Chief of Police Chris Steffen, Fire Chief/Emergency Services Mike Kennedy, Parks and Recreation Director Brad Raney, and City Attorney Galen West. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Council Member Wilson moved to approve the agenda. Council Member Peterson seconded. Motion carried. (7-0) PRESENTATIONS The Mayor presented a State of Wyoming flag, a shirt, a plaque and some City of Green River items to Jerin D. Killingsworth for his service in the Wyoming National Guard. Chamber Board Member Trish Gregory gave a brief update on the Green River Chamber of Commerce. CITIZEN REQUESTS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS Resident Harris Foster said he would like the city to reconsider having a traffic light at the Flaming Gorge Way and W 4th North intersection. There was a light at that location a while ago and he said it helped keep the speed down and now that it is not there the speed level has went up and it is a dangerous. He has brought up this issue with city before and has been told the state regulates the lights. He asked a few members of the Highway Patrol and they said it is up to the city and not the state. He would like to know if there are any noise requirements regarding motorcycles not having unrestricted and un-muffled exhaust. They are very noisy in the late evening and he would like the noise to be stopped and people held accountable if they exceed the noise limits. He asked if the city could get water to the northwest area of the graveyard because there isn’t hardly any grass and it is very dry. The Mayor said the state is in charge of the state highways, not the city. He contacted Mr. Koloff from the Streets Department and he said the state contacted the city after they completed their traffic counts and compiled various information and they wanted to remove the traffic light there at the intersection. The traffic committee agreed so the state removed the light. It may be something the Traffic Committee should look into again since the times have changed and they just finished their traffic counts. Council Member Maes said the motorcycles are muffled and the noise can save the riders life. Council Member Wilson said he lives in the same location and he has noticed the speed levels have decreased since the Police Department has moved there. The light was removed because it was backing traffic up and caused problems when there was bad weather. As far as the noise levels of the motorcycles it isn’t any worse than the diesels in town so we would have to regulate all of them. He doesn’t have a problem with the noise levels. BOARD AND COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS Tree Board Council Member Barney move to confirm the Mayor’s re-appointment of Dorothy Krauss to a three year term on the Tree Board commencing September 2015 and terminating September 2018. Council Member Stokes seconded. Motion carried. (7-0) City Council Proceedings September 1, 2015 Page 1 of 4 RESOLUTIONS Submittal of a Mineral Royalties Grant R15-60: A resolution authorizing the submission of a Federal Mineral Royalty Capital Construction Account Grant application to the State Land and Investment Board on behalf of the governing body for the City of Green River for the purpose of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Replacement Facility Design Council Member Wilson moved to approve a resolution and a submittal of a grant application to the Wyoming Mineral Royalties Grant Program for a $1.2 million grant for the design phase of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Replacement Facility Project and to authorize the Mayor to sign the resolution and Grant Application in the amount of $1.2 million. Council Member Maes seconded. Council Member Wilson asked for an explanation. Mr. Westenskow said at this point they are at a funding request stage. They are trying to get into the funding cycles so they can get started on the process. They expect the design phase to begin approximately mid-year 2016 and it would take about a year. The construction phase would start approximately spring of 2018 and end 2020. The estimated cost is $30 million which includes the design, construction engineering, and the construction. The designing component is estimated to cost $2.4 million. The current Mineral Royalties Grant application will get us into the funding cycles. The $1.2 million which is half and the other half would be from a state revolving fund loan request that will be brought to council for approval in a month or so. The cycles are not the same with the loans and grants but this gets the project noticed by the state so they know the project is out there. This is just to get in the process to start the process and gives us the opportunity to work for more funding. The Mayor asked what the length of the loan will be and what percentages the loan will have. Mr. Westenskow said they are currently looking at conducting a rate audit later this year and that will help them identify what the rates will need to be going forward and what type of loan the city should go for. Council Member Killpack asked if the city is awarded the grant will the city have to get a loan to secure it. Mr. Westenskow said the mineral royalty’s grants will require a 50% match. We can go through a loan process to get the match. Council Member Killpack asked if there is a limit on what the city can borrow. Mr. Meats said it depends on how the city would like to enter the debt service. There are multiple ways such as; bonding, capital leases, state revolving loan funds. All of them have different capacities and issuances that can go in to. The lowest amount is a general obligation bonding method that can go only of a certain amount of the city’s property taxes, which is minimal. We can run a revenue generation bond but the best one is the state revolving loan fund since they can do a debt forgiveness loan which can remove some of the debt or give low interest rates. The city does have a few loans currently but none of them are going to diminish the debt capacity. Council Member Killpack asked when the city applies for these grants are all requirements for the grants reviewed before we move forward. He does not want the city to continue with a grant without even knowing what is required first. Mr. Westenskow said there will be some requirements but none are expected to be unusual. Mr. Clevenger said these are going to be similar to the loans the city has done with the transfer station. There will be certain things that will need to be met but that is all. Mr. Meats said the city already has grants in this capacity and are meeting all requirements of those grants. City Council Proceedings September 1, 2015 Page 2 of 4 Council Member Wilson said what if we get the loans for the $2.4 million for the design phase of the project the city will still have come up with the funding for the remaining $30 million so the rate will be raised. We need to make sure everyone knows the rates are going to increase to cover the costs but make sure we don’t raise them too much. Mr. Meats said that is why they will be conducting a rate study to see where the city will need to be in order to cover the loans. There are a lot of funding mechanisms out there so we have to look at every one of them. The goal is to make the rate increase as minimal as possible and also restructure the rates to be as fair as possible. Motion carried. (7-0) COUNCIL ACTION ITEMS Leads Online Agreement Council Member Peterson moved to allow the Mayor to sign a one year software agreement with Leads Online for the Investigations Division of the Police Department. Council Member Stokes seconded. Council Member Killpack asked if the $2,848 should be included in the motion. Mr. West said yes. Council Member Killpack moved to amend the motion and add the amount of $2,848. Council Member Wilson seconded. (7-0) Original Motion carried. (7-0) CONSENT AGENDA Council Member Wilson moved to approve the following consent agenda items. Council Member Stokes seconded. Motion carried. (7-0)  Community Service Agreements for FYE16 with; Flaming Gorge Days Inc., the Food Bank of Sweetwater County, Life R U Ready Project, RSVP, STAR Transit, Youth Home Inc., Sweetwater Family Resource Center, YWCA Sweetwater County Family Justice Center and the Green River Chamber of Commerce for a total amount of $188,820.  Landfill removal request by Rodger Larsen to remove a small step exercise machine  Minutes for: August 11, 20115 Workshop and the August 18, 2015 Council  Approval & Payment of Bills: Outstanding Invoices = $405,665.16 Prepaid Invoices = $106,052.59 Payroll Expenditures = $355,739.93 Pre-authorization Payments = $1,070,000.00 CITY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT Mr. Clevenger said the Lunch & Learn will be on August 16, 2015 the Hampton Inn. The city will be doing a presentation and he asked if any council member would consider coming. The Next council meeting will be on August 15, 2015 the workshop is going to be held on August 22, 2015 where they will discuss economic development planning. The Wyoming Best Practice Workshop will be October 8th & 9th, 2015 with the URA/Main Street. They are going to tour Rawlins and Laramie. The city can send three elected officials. He asked if any council members would be able to attend please let him know before September 16, 2015. He attended the FEMA workshop and he thought it was very good. He reminded everyone the Farmer’s Market only has two weeks left. CITY ATTORNEY’S REPORT Mr. West had nothing to report. City Council Proceedings September 1, 2015 Page 3 of 4 MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS Council Members Wilson, Peterson, Killpack and Stokes had nothing to report. Council Member Barney said the America Legion Riders will be hosting a freedom rally in a couple of weeks. Council Member Maes said she has attended most of the Farmers Markets which have been well attended and she is looking forward to next year. The Mayor said on September 16th, 17th and 18th he has the great honor of being appointed to the Board of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities and that is why he is unable to attend the Lunch & Learn. He asked Council President Stokes to attend and he said he would be able to attend. ADJOURNMENT Council Member Wilson moved to adjourn at 7:44 pm. Council Member Killpack seconded. Motion carried. (7-0) ____________________________________ Pete Rust, Mayor ATTEST: __________________________________ Chris Meats, City Clerk City Council Proceedings September 1, 2015 Page 4 of 4