City Council

CITY OF POCATELLO, IDAHO CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 AGENDA ITEM NO. 1: Council President Roger Bray called the ROLL CALL City Council Study Session to order at 9:05 a.m. Council members present were Roger Bray, Craig Cooper, Jim Johnston, and Gary Moore. Mayor Brian Blad arrived at 9:56 a.m. Eva Johnson Nye arrived at 10:22 a.m. Council member Steve Brown was excused. AGENDA ITEM NO. 2: Mr. Bray announced the Open Space OPEN SPACE ADVISORY Advisory Committee update has been COMMITTEE UPDATE rescheduled to the November 14, 2013 Study Session at the Committee’s request. AGENDA ITEM NO. 3: Kathleen Lewis, Chair Person; and Matthew PLANNING AND ZONING Lewis, Planning Manager; were present to COMMISSION UPDATE discuss the Commission’s goals and projects, as well as Council’s policies and expectations. Ms. Kathleen Lewis stated the Commission has seen an increase in activity in the area and started the process to update the City’s Comprehensive Plan. She noted the Commission will meet twice monthly to update the plan and have already held two public information meetings. In response to a question from Council, Ms. Kathleen Lewis reviewed the process to update the plan which includes reviewing population and other statistics for the community. The Commission would like plenty of public input so additional hearings will be held. In response to a question from Council, Mr. Matthew Lewis explained there is not a designated budget for the Comprehensive Plan update process. He noted it has been 10 years since the last update and City staff will process this to save on costs. Mr. Matthew Lewis added that after adopting the current zoning ordinance in 2008, it will take time to review and implement changes to the Plan. Commission members are asking for input from other entities such as the Open Space Committee and Bannock Transportation Planning Organization. Ms. Kathleen Lewis feels the more the Commission can coordinate with other entities the better the Comprehensive Plan will be. AGENDA ITEM NO. 4: Jon Herrick, Water Pollution Control WATER POLLUTION (WPC) Director; and HDR Engineering CONTROL FACILITY Representatives Mike Zeltner and Tom UPDATE DePuis; were present to update the Council on the WPC Facility Plan and methods for removing phosphorus. CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION 2 SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 Mr. Herrick explained the following items would be discussed at this session: 1) background of the WPC facility; 2) NPDES Permit; 3) Planning Process; 4) Preliminary Cost Opinion; and 5) Council guidance for the next steps. He noted the WPC facility has been removing phosphorus since the mid 1980’s and the last facility plan update was in 1997. Mr. Herrick added previously there were no effluent limits for phosphorus and the need is driven by the TMDL for the Portneuf River. Changes to the permit parameters and compliance schedule were also reviewed. Mr. Herrick noted compliance must be completed by December 31, 2017 and he would like the facility to meet the compliance guidelines by the end of 2016. In response to questions from Council, Mr. Herrick stated HDR Engineering representatives feel phosphorus amounts are higher in our area. He noted the amounts are not coming from household cleaning products or through a natural process, but feels it is from fertilizer. Mr. Herrick explained evaluations have been completed on this matter and two alternatives where identified to help with this issue. 1) primary sludge thickening/VFA enchancement, chemical additions, dual media filtration, and lagoon return improvements; and 2) primary sludge thickening/VFA enchancement, aeration effluent recycle, existing aeration basins upgrades, chemical addition, dual media filtration, and lagoon return improvements. Mr. Zeltner reviewed the costs to perform the treatment alternatives which included initial setup, operation and maintenance costs. He also reviewed disinfection alternatives and noted new storage tanks and a building for housing equipment would need to be constructed. Mr. Herrick mentioned as homes are constructed closer to the plant, there is a concern with the storage of chemicals used to process waste. He reviewed the benefits of UV disinfection such as: reduces public safety hazard; reduces planning and reporting for risks; avoids chlorinated organics and possible lower chlorine effluent limits; and increases sustainability (less chemical use). David Swindell, Chief Financial Officer, reviewed funding options and the possible impact on sewer rates. He explained rates for City utilities have steadily increased and these increases will help meet this new debt. Mr. Swindell does not feel sewer rates will be raised by double digits as a result of the proposed debt. He added the rate Pocatello sewer users pay for this service is very low when compared to other communities. In response to questions from Council, Mr. Herrick explained staff has researched the costs for composting if less property CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION 3 SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 is available for this use. He also noted commercial users that emit high amounts of phosphorus into the system are required to pay a higher rate. Mr. Bray mentioned that costs for the project could be kept down based upon which option is chosen. In response to questions from Council, Mr. Swindell explained if the City is going to move forward with the project, funding will need to be obtained as soon as possible to meet the permit time- line requirements. He mentioned the item could go before the voters through the bond election process. However, if the voters do not approve the bond, the City will still need to move forward with the project. Mr. Swindell mentioned although the City obtained funding through the Department of Environmental Quality in the past, these funds are no longer available. Mayor Blad joined the meeting at 9:56 a.m. Mr. Bray turned the chair of the meeting over to Mayor Blad. Dean Tranmer, City Attorney, reviewed the process to implement an impact fee for this project or consider implementing impact fees in the future to assist with increased expenses. Mr. Tranmer noted if thicker biosolids are applied to open land, it will result in additional costs for the City because there is a byproduct that will need to be dealt with. He explained the land available for biosolid application is located near the airport and this land has other economic value as well. Mr. Tranmer noted that industrial users will use more sewer capacity because of the additional process for treatment. It was the Council’s consensus to have staff research Alternative No. 3 as outlined and to consider using the UV method for disinfection because chlorine is not used in the process. Mayor Blad called a recess at 10:10 a.m. Mayor Blad reconvened the meeting at 10:18 a.m. AGENDA ITEM NO. 5: David Swindell, Chief Financial Officer, PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR and Jerry Higgins, Treasurer, were 2013 SEPTEMBER present to discuss proposed “September” BUDGET AMENDMENTS amendments to the current Fiscal Year 2013 budget. Mr. Swindell reviewed the analysis of the end of year proposed budget amendments and noted a Public Hearing will be held regarding the amendments on September 19, 2013. CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION 4 SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 Council member Nye joined the meeting at 10:22 a.m. It was noted proposed amendments to the budget are the result of grants received and expenses/revenue that could not be foreseen previously. Mr. Higgins will oversee the September 19th public hearing and be available to answer questions from the Council and citizens. AGENDA ITEM NO. 6: David Allen, Airport Manager, was present AIRPORT STAFFING to discuss and seek Council’s guidance PROPOSAL regarding operations staff issues at the Pocatello Airport. Mr. Allen outlined a proposal that would allow police personnel to be released from performing airport operations/duties. Mr. Allen gave an overview of security changes at the airport since the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center event. He reviewed the Police Department’s involvement and security challenges at the airport and noted TSA is no longer providing funding to have police officers stationed at the airport. Mr. Allen noted the City is currently paying for a police officer to be stationed at the airport for 18 hours a day and feels this is not cost effective. He explained Council instructed staff to research other ways to fill these positions. One option was to have Fire Department staff help fill the positions. However, after researching this option, it was found that Fire Department staff cannot perform the critical tasks that must occur at or very near the same time they would be in standby status for emergency response. In response to questions from Council, Mr. Allen explained his proposal would require police presence at the airport only during loading and unloading of passengers. Instead, he would like to hire three airport staff positions to provide a routine presence in the terminal and around the airport grounds during the operational day. This proposal is within the $100,000.00 guideline already proposed by Council. Mr. Swindell explained if Council approved the proposal, it will cost $100,000.00 to hire two positions. He suggested the additional cost could be solved with $51,000.00 reduction in the Police budget because they will no longer need to hire part-time officers to fill these positions. He also suggested ideas that would generate $59,000.00 in additional revenue for the City. Mr. Moore stated he feels this proposal meets the guidelines directed by Council that were discussed at an earlier session. David Gates, Fire Chief, confirmed Fire Department staff located at airport must be available to perform their designated duties CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION 5 SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 when flights are interacting with the airport. As a result, staff would not be available to assist with loading and unloading of passengers. Mr. Johnston mentioned that business flights are flying out of the Avcenter and do not affect security at the airport. However, he is concerned with cutting back on landscaping or other maintenance/care of the airport facility. In response to questions from Council, Mr. Swindell stated if housekeeping issues arise at the airport, part-time staff could be hired just for this purpose. Mayor Blad adjourned the meeting at 10:49 a.m. APPROVED: BRIAN C. BLAD, MAYOR ATTEST: RUTH E. WHITWORTH, CMC, CITY CLERK