City Council Regular Meeting

Star City Council Meeting Minutes August 2, 2011 Pre-Council Meeting: Mayor/Council Salary Discussion Mayor Nathan Mitchell called the Pre-Council meeting to order at 6:30 pm, at the Star City Hall, 10769 W. State Street, Star, Idaho. Discussion was held on the Mayor’s salary. The Mayor stated that the last discussion was in 2006 and as stated in Idaho Code the Council is required to make a decision seventy-five days prior to an election. Bell stated that he believes that the Council does not require salary increases, but believes the Mayor’s salary should be increased. The Mayor stated he does not believe his salary should be increased because of the person sitting in that position. Another person in the Mayor's position might not have the background he does and therefore it would not be right to pay for the Mayor's knowledge. Erlebach addressed letters in the papers by stating that the two writers should be ashamed of themselves. This was a discussion and should have been done at the Council table - not in the newspaper. McDaniel concurred with Councilman Bell’s discussion with regard to an increase in the Mayor’s salary; her thoughts are around $2,500 per month. Smith stated that he sent emails to the citizens of Star trying to solicit comments; he received several responses agreeing with him that salaries should not be increased at a time when people are out of work and that the public doesn't know when the meetings are held. Bell stated that he was not here to argue point that people are out of work, he has all the sympathy in the world. The point is, this is the start of the discussion and Smith circumvented the entire process. Bell stated that Smith has thrown a slant on what the public perceives; it's disheartening and disappointing. The discussion should have been at the meeting. The Mayor gave kudos to Smith on the emails he sends out, unfortunately this was the only one that had Smith's position statement in it. The struggle is that your (Smith's) email has already stated his position and wants the public to stop the process before the other three Council people start the discussion Regular Council Meeting: The regular meeting of the Star City Council was held on August 2, 2011 at 7:17 pm at the Star City Hall. Mayor Nathan Mitchell called the meeting to order and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. 1 Roll Call: Councilpersons Tammy McDaniel, Gary Smith, Tom Erlebach and Chad Bell were all present. Approval of the Agenda: Erlebach moved to amend and approve the agenda adding 6-C Hunters Creek top soil discussion, Bell seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Consent Agenda: McDaniel moved to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of Claims Against the City for July 2011 and Regular Meeting Minutes for July 19, 2011. Bell seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Public Input: Committee Reports: No Committee reports were given. Public Input: Dustin Christopherson, 675 N. Aspen Lakes Way, Star, Idaho, stated that he just wanted to tell Council what a great job they were doing of providing programs through Parks and Recreation and the coming addition of Hunter’s Creek is wonderful; he applauds the Council. Christopherson stated that he thinks Councilman Smith’s email was inappropriate. Bret Davies, 225 S. Long Bay, Pinewood Lakes, Star, Idaho, stated that he has questions. Why was the Council Retreat held out of the community and why aren’t salaries put to a vote? He is disappointed in comments from the Council as all he hears is the word “I” – it is not "I" - it is "we". He has never been to Council meeting and the sign out front was not updated. The Mayor stated that the retreat was held in Cascade and the reason is so that the Council can focus without answering phones or be interrupted. Regarding salaries and it being put to a vote, any question can be put to a vote, the Council has the discretion to do so. McDaniel asked Davies how long he had lived in Star. Davies has been in Star for six years. Denice VanDoren, 11071W. Frost, Star, Idaho, stated that the Council meeting agendas are on the web site, it is on the front reader board - these are public meeting. VanDoren ran huge ads in the paper regarding budget hearings and still no one showed up, so to insinuate that people don’t know is wrong. Smith stated that he went to people's homes and these are the items they discussed. Larry Clucas, 364 Long Bay Way, Star, Idaho, stated that he is disappointed in Smith's email; he believes it was sincere, but it was inappropriate. Clucas stated Smith's email list is not everyone and he believes this discussion should have happened between the Council not in the paper. Ulysses Mori, 10073 Preserve, Star, Idaho, stated he has lived here for eleven years. Mori stated that the salary issue is a management issue and believes the Mayor's salary is okay, but the Council could find a way to compensate him. Mori is disappointed in the way it’s working, it has a bleed over effect. He is President of the Star Chamber of Commerce. He was disappointed that Erlebach and Bell weren’t at the last meeting for the presentation the Eagle Mayor and Mary Mays made. Their presentation was at 6:30 pm. 2 Erlebach stated they were told the real meeting wouldn't start until 7 pm, that the 6:30 portion of the meeting was just meet and greet; both were there at 6:30 pm. Erlebach and Bell went upstairs to the Emergency Operations Center after they checked in. Mori stated that it must have been at a different meeting. Nona Janvier, 280 N. Hullen Place, Star, Idaho, requested that salaries not be raised. She appreciates the Mayors stand and she appreciates the work that he’s done. Citizens need to know. Terry Malarky, 23418 Blessinger Lane, Star, Idaho, stated that Bell alluded to the Mayors extra work and that is admirable and a public service. He does not believe overseeing a park construction project takes that much time. He has a background in that type of work. He believes the benefit packages that Council and Mayor get are substantial salary for part time jobs. He disagrees with Smith on unemployment number; he believes it's more like 18% not 10%. We all need to tighten our belts. The Mayor's position is a service oriented endeavor. Christina Flores, 1233 Bridger Bay, Star, Idaho, stated that she is the Director of the Star Outreach. Outreach is working on a school supply drive; items can be dropped off in several places around town. Flores stated that 46% of our elementary children are on subsidies. Old/New Business: Audit Report Review – The Mayor stated the audit was approved at the last meeting. He asked Council for any questions. Smith stated that always in the past, the auditor was here to present the audit. The Mayor stated that we could schedule our auditor to be here for a review, there were some items that came up that he couldn't be at the last meeting. Smith would like the auditor to review the audit. Impact Fee Agreement – The Mayor stated that this agreement was for Pavilion Commons. The original agreement was not filed; so we are trying to get it taken care of now. The agreement has to do with a park that was donated as an elementary school site; the city would credit impact fees towards this. Cliff Brown, City Legal Council, stated that the deed needs to have a reversionary statement in it that states if the school does not use the property as a school site, ownership reverts back to the City. Bell moved to approve the Impact Fee Agreement for Pavilion Commons, McDaniel seconded the motion. All aye: motion carried. Hunter’s Creek Soil Discussion – The Mayor stated that the rough grading has been done at the park and there is an enormous amount of rocks. We did not add dirt to Blake Haven Park and it was sand and gravel with grass over it and it is now brown. Council approved the $12 a cubic yard price at a previous meeting. A four inch cover is estimated at 8,000 yards. Bell moved to have the Mayor authorize the contractor to put in four inches of topsoil, Smith seconded the motion. Bell amended his motion to include - "not to exceed 8,000 cubic yards and put in place", Smith amended his second. All aye: motion carried. 3 Public Hearing: 2011-2012 Budget - The Mayor declared the public hearing open. The Mayor explained the process: he will review the budget line item by line item, then questions from Council and then questions from the public. The Mayor reviewed the budget. Davies asked where the $500,000 will come from if the grant monies come in. The Mayor stated that the grant will dictate where we spend it. Davies asked about line items 350-10 and 350-11. The Mayor stated that 350-10 is from people renting parks and 350-11 is from the programs we run that people sign up for. Davies asked about 415-69 bank fees. The Mayor stated that it is off set with revenues from above. Mori stated that the public has the current and proposed budget, but there is no profit and loss statements. He would like to see these by adding a column. The Mayor stated that we could add the column and that he looks at it each month. Mori is more than welcome to come look at the audit report. Malarky asked about why the increase to $15,000 for parks this year. The Mayor stated that it was the expense for park and recreation programs, not maintenance. Christopherson stated that he does not feel the tax is a burden, the levy is fine. He does like that we spend less and less each year and that we save money. He understands that the City has been doing that all along and it's the reason we can buy property when prices are low. He also likes that one time monies are separated from ongoing expenses. The amount we spend on parks and recreation is awesome. He tried to find a hole in the budget, but couldn’t find it. He thinks we should approve it. Jason Rowley, 9705 Compton Court, Star, Idaho, stated that the City has four employees. He asked if there were job descriptions. The Mayor stated that there were no official job descriptions. There has been a Council discussion in the past and Smith has expressed that he was unhappy that there were no job descriptions. The Council voted on having job descriptions and it was a tie vote, with the Mayor voting no. Rowley asked how the employees are compensated and who does the performance evaluations. The Mayor stated that he does the performance evaluations on a daily basis. Malarky stated that we all cherish the park open spaces and he concurs, the budget is quite manageable and appropriate for this economy. He would like the Council to always be conscious of the economy. Mori stated that he thinks it would be difficult for the Council to approve this budget. He would like to see the profit and loss column on this budget. The Mayor closed the public hearing. 4 Bell is comfortable with our budget. We have seen what happened. We need to move ahead. Very comfortable with approving this. He would like to move forward. Smith does have a concern regarding salaries for employees. Without a job description for each of them it is hard for him to tell what the criteria is. He can’t move ahead. Smith recommends that we get job descriptions in place prior to approving the budget. McDaniel stated that in her professional experience working for Fortune 500 company and for the government, if you have a job description to as to what their duties are, there is more of a tendency to not want to cross over and do what needs to be done. McDaniel moved to approve the proposed budget for 2011-2012, Bell seconded the motion. Roll Call: McDaniel, Erlebach and Bell - all aye: Smith - nay. Motion carried. Reports: Council – McDaniel stated that she didn't agree with the debacle over salaries and she is upset that she was disturbed at work by The Idaho Statesman reporter. She does not want to be contacted at work. Smith stated that there is a District 14 meeting at Rembrandts and public is invited. Erlebach stated that the River Walk can be used now. There were 72 people using it when he was down there and 42 cars were parked in the lot. Bell stated that the LDS Church is again asking for community work service projects. Mayor – The Mayor stated that COMPASS is having a meeting to update transportation and land use programs. The Ada County Highway District is asking cities to sign a cost sharing agreement. It basically states that the cities will pay for landscaping and they will pay for the roads. The Mayor stated that Hunters Creek is waiting on the top soil; they hope to have it seeded in September. Please support the school supply drive if you can. Adjournment: The Mayor adjourned the meeting at 9:25 pm. Respectfully submitted: Approved: ___________________________ _____________________________ Cathy Ward, City Clerk Nathan Mitchell, Mayor 5