City Council Meetings

CITY OF GREEN RIVER CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS NOVEMBER 10, 2015 The Governing Body of the City of Green River met in workshop session at 6:30 pm in the City Hall Council Chambers. Mayor Rust called the meeting to order. The following Council Members were present: Mark Peterson, Ted Barney, Allan Wilson, Brett Stokes, Gary Killpack, 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, Sanitation Supervisor Mark Pond, Director of Finance Chris Meats, Parks and Recreation Director Brad Raney, and Recreation Supervisor Katie Blood. Mr. Clevenger said staff has informed the public about tonight’s meeting by posting it on Facebook and the city’s website to encourage their input and they will continue to do so. Council has expressed interest in selling some of the lots that the city owns and while looking into those lots it was found the last appraisal was done in 2012 and it would be in the City of Green River’s best interest to get a new appraisal. The cost is estimated to be $1,400 so he suggests since he has not heard that anyone is interested in the property to hold off. Cease and Transfer Update Mr. Westenskow said the active cell at the landfill will be full in 2017, additional cells would require blasting to excavate and liners and leachate collection systems. Costs to operate the landfill are increasing. The closure of the landfill will stop normal operations. Some waste may still be needed to achieve final grade for drainage. A cap or liner will be installed once grades are met and monitoring will continue for 30 years. Staff has been looking at transferring waste to a regional landfill and is considering building a Transfer Station to facilitate the export of the waste. This will provide the opportunity for recycling, metal, yard waste and other diversion activities. The Cease and Transfer Schedule is:  Current landfill cell full in 2017  Finish Transfer Station design in 1st quarter 2016  Bid Transfer Station construction 2nd quarter 2016  Complete Transfer Station in the end of 2016  Complete closure design in 2nd quarter 2016  Begin closure grading in the 3rd quarter 2016  Open Transfer Station early 2017  Landfill cap 2017-2019 The city is permitted to build the Transfer Station. The Transfer Station will be built near the existing scale house. It will receive homeowner waste and can also receive commercial waste. The efficiency of the Transfer Station is it consolidates many small loads into fewer larger loads and uses larger vehicles eliminating longer trips. There will be a tipping fee that the city will have to pay. Commercial customers will have to decide if the tipping fee and landfill fees for labor and equipment to haul to our Transfer Station will be worth them not hauling to another landfill. The Transfer Station needs to be flexible because technologies, regulations, waste, and equipment changes. The basic structure of the building should accommodate operational flexibility. The scale at the landfill is not able to be calibrated any longer so the city is looking to change the fees from weight based to volume. Later this year a rate audit will be conducted the collection costs and the Transfer Station operations costs will be considered. Staff will do their part to educate and communicate with the public so there is less confusion and concern. Council Member Wilson asked if they considered travel time in the winter, wear and tear on equipment, fuel costs, and new or old trucks. Mr. Westenskow said all of those items are being considered. City Council Workshop Proceedings November 10, 2015 Page 1 of 4 Council Member Wilson asked if the consideration of these items will help determine the rate increase. Mr. Westenskow said yes. Council Member Wilson asked why they planned to build the Transfer Station at an entrance to town and if they will be able to keep it clean. Mr. Westenskow said there is a lot of value having it where people are used to it being and keeping it clean as well. They have considered how to make sure it is not an ugly building but the best one they can build. Council Member Wilson asked if the staffing level would increase or decrease. Mr. Westenskow said the Solid Waste is currently short and he does not see any need to lose people but it will depend on how it operates. Mr. Clevenger said the business is being changed so additional expertise maybe needed. Council Member Wilson asked if people can still drop dirt off at the landfill once the Transfer Station in completed. Mr. Westenskow said yes there is a need for it. Council Member Wilson asked if staff has had a chance to see other Transfer Stations in Wyoming. Mr. Westenskow said no but they do plan too. Council Member Killpack said some citizens that live close to the scale house are concerned with locating the Transfer Station at the same place. He asked why the Transfer Station can’t be located at the top of the hill. Mr. Westenskow said to move the Transfer Station to a different location would have to go before the DEQ for approval and could cost the grant to be lost. It was approved to be located at the scale house. Mr. Clevenger said the DEQ has approved where the Transfer Station will be located. If we stopped the process now it will cost us the funding. Mr. Westenskow said 50% of the waste is what you call stinky and the other 50% is construction waste and the stinky waste will be hauled to Solid Waste District #1 so most of the issue causing waste will be removed. Council Member Killpack said he agrees with the tipping fee being passed on to commercial customers. Mr. Westenskow said currently, the city charges a tipping fee to commercial customers at $80 so they will have to decide if driving over to Rock Springs and paying their $55 tipping fee is worth it for them to haul there or not. Council Member Killpack said he is concerned with the cost increases. He asked if there will be a rate increase to the residential customers. Mr. Clevenger said the city is subsidizing the costs already. To clarify, residential customers will still have curbside pickup so nothing will change for them. Commercial customers will have to decide if they want to take their loads to Rock Springs or dump them here. The goal is to make the Transfer Station look nice and stay clean. Council Member Killpack asked if they will separate recyclables at the Transfer Station. Mr. Westenskow said they will have facilities available at the Transfer Station but the exact details will have to be worked out. City Council Workshop Proceedings November 10, 2015 Page 2 of 4 Council Member Peterson said he would burn the trash and asked what the fines were for burning trash. Mr. Westenskow said he would not recommend an incinerator for Green River since there is not a high enough need for it. Council Member Peterson asked if there was going to be enough room for the building at the location and how the traffic flow will be. Mr. Westenskow said the building will be located right where the old scale is. The scale will be in the back of the scale house and a driver would drive in to the left of the scale and loop around to the garage doors to dump the waste they have. The busiest days are Saturdays so the flow of traffic should be fine since there will be four doors for people to use. Council Member Peterson asked how big the building will be. Mr. Westenskow said it will be 60ft by 100ft. Council Member Peterson said the building does not seem very big. Council Member Stokes said the building is plenty big compared to the current building. Council Member Wilson asked how many loads a day will they take to Rock Springs. Mr. Meats said they have evaluated and worst case scenario they would haul three times a day with two trucks so six per day. Council Member Wilson said there can be a rate change for residential customers. Mr. Clevenger said that is correct. They are not sure if there will be an increase or a decrease but they know the structure will be reviewed. Mr. Meats said there will be rate changes whether or not they are an increase or decrease he is not sure. This project started eight years ago and at that time he stated that if they went forward with lining the cells he would see increasing the fees for Solid Waste to $50. The rates won’t get close to this at all. The rate audit that will be done will help put the rates where they need to be. Council Member Wilson asked if metal like refrigerators, bikes, ect. will be stored outside. Mr. Westenskow said he would anticipate a vendor will be brought in and they will provide a bin for people to put those items in and when it is ¾ full they will come and pick it up. The Mayor said this is occurring because of the Federal Government through the State is encouraging cities to move to regionalize and it is all about groundwater protection. Mr. Westenskow said that is correct but it is not a new requirement. The requirement came out in 1989 so this is something that the State of Wyoming was able to defer due to our climate. The Mayor asked if the city will have to drill any more monitoring wells. Mr. Westenskow said they do not think so. Recreation Center Update Mr. Raney said they just finished the first season of Flag Football for K-3rd grade and the turnout was great. They started a youth Zumba class and it has been very well received. The Recreation Center had their first shut down to clean and paint. He recognized staff for working behind the scenes at the Mine Rescue event. They have 23 teams signed up for the Tough Turkey Volleyball Tournament. There are 18 teams from out of town. They worked with local hotels to provide a special rate. City Council Workshop Proceedings November 10, 2015 Page 3 of 4 They would like to have a Holiday Membership Promotion to increase Recreation Center use and awareness, increase overall revenue and help citizens commit to their health. The promotion would be November 30 through December 11, 2015. Details are one month of free membership, annual memberships discount is applied immediately, monthly free memberships is given on the 12th month after 11 consecutive months paid by auto-pay. Each person who signs up is able to get free goal setting consultation and support throughout the year. If council agrees then he will bring it forward for approval on next week’s agenda. Council Member Maes asked if the savings would be only for the monthly memberships. She said it is great to see 23 teams signed up for the Tough Turkey Tournament. Mr. Raney said the savings is for both annual and monthly memberships. Mr. Clevenger said staff wants to market and brand each of the departments. Council Member Wilson said it is a great idea. The Mayor said this is a quality of life issue and the city is encouraging citizens to participate. He thinks it is a great idea. City Administrator’s Report Mr. Clevenger thanked everyone involved in the Cease and Transfer Project for their hard work. All of the events and items at the Recreation Center are going well. He will not be here next week he will be in Cheyenne. Chief Steffen will be acting city administrator while he is gone. He wished the Wolves good luck! Mayor and Council Reports Council Member Stokes said he will not be here at the next council meeting. Council Member Killpack said the more communication that the council can get out to the citizens is good. He thanked everyone for their presentations. Council Member Maes thanked everyone for their presentations and to all involved in the Toy Run. Council Member Barney also thanked everyone for their presentations. Council Member Peterson had nothing to report. Council Member Wilson echoed everyone’s comments. He reminded everyone about the Veteran’s Day Program, November 11, 2015, at 11 am, at Lincoln School. The Mayor wished the Wolves good luck. He reminded everyone to honor our Veterans. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:42 pm. ____________________________ Pete Rust, Mayor ATTEST: ______________________ Chris Meats, City Clerk City Council Workshop Proceedings November 10, 2015 Page 4 of 4