Committee of the Whole

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE September 26, 2017 Page 1 Members Present: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky Members Absent: Barney To the Honorable Mayor and All Aldermen: Following are the recommendations of the Committee of the Whole meeting called to order at 4:15 p.m. on September 26, 2017: 1. The City Council approve the assessment roll for the 2017 nuisance abatements. (4198) ********** The above motion by Alderman Sipma, seconded by Alderman Podrygula, and carried by the following roll call vote: ayes: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky. nays: none. 2. The City Council approve the final payment of $82.94 be paid to the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) for the City share of replacing outdated signing on federal routes round Minot. ********** The above motion by Alderman Sipma, seconded by Alderman Podrygula, and carried by the following roll call vote: ayes: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky. nays: none. 3. The City Council pass an ordinance to amend the 2017 annual budget to decrease the capital expenses and revenues to split the purchase of the SRE Broom into phases. ********** The above motion by Alderman Sipma, seconded by Alderman Podrygula, and carried by the following roll call vote: ayes: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky. nays: none. 4. The City Council approve the sub recipient agreement with the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency and authorize the Mayor to sign the agreement. ********** The above motion by Alderman Sipma, seconded by Alderman Podrygula, and carried by the following roll call vote: ayes: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky. nays: none. 5. The City Council approve the assessment roll for 2017 demolitions. ********** The above motion by Alderman Olson, seconded by Alderman Podrygula. CITY OF MINOT COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE September 26, 2017 Page 2 Upon questioning by Alderman Podrygula about the financial implications of conducting demolitions, the Finance Director explained, this recommendation will special assess the demolition costs of the properties to the tax rolls and if not collected will be sold at a sheriff’s auction. The funds to demolish properties are budgeted in an account for nuisance abatements. In 2017, there was $500,000 budgeted and there is approximately $1 million available to handle these issues. There were no additional funds budgeted in 2018 but unused funds may carry over. Mr. Lakefield then explained, the funds recently granted from the County to the City. He said, there are $5 million in funds that the State Water Commission had programed for voluntary acquisitions of properties outside the city limits. There were several rounds of voluntary acquisitions but they didn’t have any other properties that wanted to be bought out voluntarily. The County was not able to use eminent domain proceedings because they were using state CDBG funds. The City has different matching funds available, are able to do acquisitions with eminent domain proceedings and are in need of additional funds. He continued by saying, the acquisition funds are to be used to acquire properties that are required for the flood control project. Abatement of the nuisance or “zombie” homes are a different issue. If those properties are not within the buyout zone for the flood control project, they need to go through the condemnation process to move forward with a demolition. Alderman Podrygula said he would like to know what resources are available to get rid of the “zombie” homes and an overview of the dollar amounts available and what is left to acquire. Alderman Straight said he received valuable information from the Building Official on this issue including the nuisance process and the need to strengthen our ordinances for nuisance properties. Alderman Wolsky asked if these properties have been paying taxes for the past six years since the flood. Mr. Lakefield responded by saying, he does not have that information readily available. He gave an example of one of the properties from the list and said the demolition cost is significantly higher than what the property is worth so the likelihood of collecting the taxes is probably very slim. Alderman Sipma commented, as a result of the flood map change, a lot of the properties will be in the floodway meaning no structure can be built there and the lot will be unsellable. Whereupon a vote was taken on the above motion by Alderman Olson, seconded by Alderman Podrygula and carried by the following roll call vote: ayes: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky. nays: none. 6. The City Council approve the final payment amount of $117,224.36 to be paid to Thein Well Company, Inc. for the Well Rehab Project. (4210) ********** The above motion by Alderman Sipma, seconded by Alderman Olson. Upon questioning by Alderman Wolsky, the Public Works Director explained, the well rehab increased the raw water capacity by about 1300 gpm. CITY OF MINOT COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE September 26, 2017 Page 3 Alderman Sipma asked about the future of the wells and their life expectancy once the addition of NAWS takes place. Mr. Jonasson responded by saying, the City will continue to use the wells to supplement the water that comes from the lake by using water from the Sundre or the Minot aquifer system. They will also be used as a prime source if anything should happen with the water from the lake. He added, these wells haven’t had a lot of rehab since they were put in, in the 1960’s and now they should last another 50 years. Alderman Wolsky asked about industrial uses for water and if Minot has potential to develop the economy to attract industries. Mr. Jonasson said, Minot’s raw water availability will far exceed the Water Plant’s capability. The goal is to have 26-28 million gallons per day with the expansions. Currently, during a peak, we will use about 14 million gallons per day. There will be added capacity to lure those kinds of industries. Whereupon a vote was taken on the above motion by Alderman Sipma, seconded by Alderman Olson and carried by the following roll call vote: ayes: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky. nays: none. 7. The City Council approve the final payment amount of $114,884.54 to be paid to Northern Plains Contracting Inc. for Aeration Blower Improvements. (4105) ********** The above motion by Alderman Olson, seconded by Alderman Sipma. Alderman Wolsky stated, the contract for this project doesn’t list the itemized unit cost like other contracts have and he would like to see that information included in the contracts. The Public Works Director let the Committee know, there is a separate contract for electrical work that will come later and should provide additional information. Whereupon a vote was taken on the above motion by Alderman Olson, seconded by Alderman Sipma and carried by the following roll call vote: ayes: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky. nays: none. 8. The City Council approve the Gap Financing Program for low/moderate income flood impacted homeowners known as Resilient Homeowner Buy-in to Minot Incentive. ********** The above motion by Alderman Olson, seconded by Alderman Sipma. Alderman Straight asked about the $60,000 in costs connected to buying a home outside the flood inundation area. The NDR Program Manager explained, HUD requires there to be a maximum cap established for a program like this. He said, they worked with models and determined this was a reasonable level to set. He added, this is the maximum and they expect most people to need less. Upon further questioning, Mr. Zakian said, gap financing programs have been used in other areas in the country but this is the first time the program will be used in this region. CITY OF MINOT COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE September 26, 2017 Page 4 Alderman Olson asked Mr. Zakian for the total dollar amounts available in the NDR funds for this project. He said, the total for this type of activity is $13 million but there is $3 million set aside for this program. Whereupon a vote was taken on the above motion by Alderman Olson, seconded by Alderman Sipma and carried by the following roll call vote: ayes: Jantzer, Olson, Podrygula, Sipma, Straight, Wolsky. nays: none. 9. Presentation of the NDR Souris River Decision Support Tool ********** The NDR Program Manager explained, the NDR Action Plan includes six planning tools that were identified in the original application. The Souris River Decision Support Tool will strategically address river management by creating models to test different scenarios. It uses past experience and hydrology reports to learn how to address issues in the Souris Basin and predict how to handle future events. He then introduced Steve Wolsfeld, of CDM Smith, to present the NDR Souris River Decision Support Tool. Mr. Wolsfeld gave an overview of the decision support tool. He said, they took the existing hydraulic and hydrologic model that was put together for the flood control project to use as the foundation for the tool. They can test various flood risks to identify water management strategies. They used data from the Canadian Reservoirs, the Alameda, Rafferty, and Boundary as well as the dam structures, looked at storage in Minot and the impacts on J. Clark Snyder National Wildlife Refuge. He described the overall goals of developing the tool including, prioritizing the buyouts in the most effective way to support the flood control project, potential cost reductions to the flood control project and operational enhancements to the dams at Lake Darling and the three Canadian reservoirs. He described the steps they took to develop the support tool by saying, they built alternatives onto the existing model to define hydrographs, routing, flood volumes and timing. They focused on three alternatives to help manage a flood similar to that of 2011. Alternative 1 would involve a change in dam operations at Lake Darling; Alternative 2 involves a change in dam operations at Rafferty, Boundary, Alameda, and Lake Darling; and Alternative 3 would increase storage in Lake Darling by raising the maximum available flood level to 1,606 feet. He compared the benefit to cost ratios of each alternative. He said, in the future, the support tool will be used in cooperation with other agencies in order to reduce flood damage risk. Upon questioning by Alderman Wolsky, Mr. Wolsfeld stated, they have demonstrated the support tool to the USACE and he can put together a workshop to show the City Council at a later date. Alderman Wolsky stated, he will be very critical of the decision support tool to ensure that it provides additional value that wasn’t already considered by the Souris River Joint Board. Alderman Straight asked about the cost in producing the support tool, to which Mr. Zakian confirmed, it was $599,000. Alderman Podrygula asked if the cost/benefit ratios developed from the data would put the City in a better position to receive funding, to which Ryan Ackerman responded by saying, it takes a ratio of 1 or higher CITY OF MINOT COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE September 26, 2017 Page 5 to be considered by congress. Once authorized, the greatest ratios receive funding first and projects are currently holding a ratio of about 2. He added, the Maple Diversion is 1.27. Mr. Wolsfeld responded to further questioning by saying, the decision support tool is a predictive model that can be used to run scenarios of what could be done differently to avoid a flood as destructive as in 2011. They can use past experience combined with data and predict outcomes of different situations. 10. Airport Activities, Reports and Project Updates. ********** The Airport Director stated, staff is currently working on the pre applications for 2018 projects, preparing the car rental contract, and discussing winter operations and training. The Perimeter Road Construction and North Apron projects will be completed soon. He then said the FAA has submitted their response regarding the 36th Ave NW Detention Pond and he will bring the information to the Council soon. Mr. Feltner said, there was a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new lactation suite located in the terminal. It was donated by ND Breastfeeding Coalition and will provide privacy for travelling mothers. He reviewed the statistics for the month by saying, the revenue enplaned passengers were down slightly from the previous month, the monthly load factor remained strong, rental car activity had its seasonal increase in August, and concessions are slightly below the minimum annual guarantee which is what the Airport collects in revenue. 11. Other Business ********** Alderman Wolsky brought up concerns raised by the Cemetery after they received several phone calls about potential deer hunting in the Cemetery. There is nothing that currently prohibits hunting, specifically at the Rosehill Cemetery. The City Manager suggested adding the discussion to the City Council agenda on October 2nd, especially due to the safety concerns for the employees who work at the Cemetery. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:11 pm. Respectfully Submitted, Kelly Matalka, City Clerk CITY OF MINOT