City Council Regular Meeting

Star City Council Meeting Minutes May 3, 2016 The regular meeting of the Star City Council was held on May 3, 2016 at Star City Hall, 10769 W. State Street, Star, Idaho. Mayor Chad Bell called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm and all stood for the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call: Councilmen David Hershey, Richard Lockett, Trevor Chadwick and Kevin Nielsen were present. Approval of the Agenda: Lockett moved to approve the agenda, Chadwick seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. Consent Agenda: Lockett moved to approve the Consent Agenda consisting of: Regular Meeting Minutes of April 19, 2016, Claims Against the City for April 2016 to include the bill addendum and the Parkstone (Heron River) Final Plat, Phase 8, Chadwick seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried Public Input: Layla Lockhart, 10158 Wyatt Earp Drive, Star, Idaho, stated that she is new to Star and likes the community. She is an artist and would like to lend her skills to help with the City’s vision. She would like to serve on the Beautification Committee. Jenny Kaylor, 880 N. Union Way, Star, excited about ice rink and green belt. She stated that there have been kids standing on top of dugouts at Hunter’s Creek Park and we need to prevent that. There are also sink holes along the sidewalk next to the canals near the school. She wanted to discuss the early morning incident where 911 was called and police were called, but did not respond very quickly and she knows the Council is in talks about their contract renewal. The Mayor stated that the response was quite slow, but it was due to the 911 system – it had the wrong address, the officers did respond in a timely manner. Regarding the kids on the dugouts, we are open to suggestions. The sink holes are in the subdivisions and the pathways belong to the subdivision and it is an HOA issue. Neilson stated that she needed to work with her HOA – it is their property. As far as the park in Pavilion, plans are to put in a dirt track. Kaylor asked if there was anything for foothill trails. The Mayor stated that there is BLM property, but no pathways are planned right now. Old/New Business: 2014-2015 Audit Report – Jared Zwygart passed out audit books to the Council. Zwygart stated that page three and four are the auditor’s opinion. Zwygart reviewed the audit. Financial statements are two fold governmental wide. On page five at the end of September 30 the City had $1,743,000.00. Zwygart talked about dollars owed to the vendors. In reality, the City’s 1 books do not show fixed assets. Assets are much less. The carry over to next year is $1.9 million. On page 20, we had budgeted for $3 million for revenue and $3 million was collected. Land was donated so we increased the revenue. Expenditures were budgeted at $3.5 and we spent $3.1 million. Overall the current revenue paid for current expenses. On pages 22-23, it reflects more details of budget. The park land we received was put under donations. On pages 23 & 24, expenses are in line with anticipation, we did not go into contingencies. Miscellaneous expenses are from bonding. There were hardly any changes to the monthly charges. Council can make decisions on the financial statements today. There is a letter of compliance with no issues. Zwygart stated that Ward had talked to him regarding cash investment policies. Zwygart cautioned Council on any rules that are written regarding investments, cities have gotten into trouble doing that. If they are written stay with state and county rules. The City’s investments are safe. On page 17 fixed assets were reviewed. On page 18, the scholarship fund is still at $8,000. There were no issues. Nielsen asked if there were issues regarding management policies. Zwygart stated that there was before regarding no receipts for credit card use, but now there are no issues. Policies were put in place. There are two credit cards. Credit cards are getting more use in the world. Zwygart stated that they don’t look at management, but books are in order. The Mayor stated that for public information, we have one credit card for the Mayor and one for Ward and both are kept at City Hall. If they are used, they come back with receipts. Zwygart stated that there is a management letter stating that there are no issues with the audit. Zwygart thanked the Mayor, Council and staff. The Mayor stated that we would accept or deny the audit at the next meeting. Public Hearing continued from April 19, 2016 – Craftsman Subdivision – The Mayor asked for any ex parte or conflicts of interest from Council, hearing none the Mayor asked staff to speak. Ward stated that she had given the Mayor and Council an updated letter regarding the letters that have come in since the last public hearing date and the private road considerations. Scott Stanfield, Stanfield and Mason, stated the ACHD report was finalized and received, they received questions from Ward regarding private roads and have complied with Keller Associates requirements for sewer and water. The Fire Department requirements can be met as required. They do provide hammerhead turn arounds. ACHD’s report did not allow direct access to New Hope Road, so they moved to private roads. They are stuck between the City Ordinances and ACHD. Stanfield asked what the Council would like to see along there. Stanfield stated they talked about a variance to the private road. The plat complies with all the letters they have received to-date. Chadwick asked if it is possible to cut lots back to connect to the regular subdivision and run the sewer and water along the road. Stanfield stated they can’t access a road to that area. The depth of the northeast properties is the problem. Chadwick asked what some of the other options are. Stanfield talked about a variance, they don’t include that portion of the preliminary plat and wait for ordinances to change or ACHD policies can change, or maybe approve it as a public road. 2 Lockett asked if they could extend the roads up through lots 26 & 27. Chadwick stated we are talking about sewer and water under the road. Stanfield stated that it doesn’t solve all the problems. Lockett showed a road going across the ditch and putting in cul-de-sacs. Stanfield stated they could extend the road to the west area but the four lots to the west of the big sections are not deep enough. Chadwick asked what ACHD is thinking on not allowing the roads that close to an intersection. Stanfield stated that this the last phase of the subdivision. Lockett stated he wants to see stub streets to both north properties. Stanfield stated that Council could condition the stub streets upon approval. Nielsen asked what the city’s policy is on private roads. The Mayor stated we don’t allow private roads and if we did allow them, they would have to be built to ACHD standards. The Mayor explained that when the private roads disintegrate in 15 years and no one wants to pay for the maintenance or repair, residents then want ACHD or the City to pay for repairs. Stanfield talked about the turnarounds for the private roads. They would comply with all of the requirements. The map shows the road to be 33 feet. It is ACHD and the right-of-way that is the problem on the private roads. Lockett asked about the depth of the lots. Stanfield will set up a private road funding mechanism from private lots for funding. Chadwick stated that phase 5 is the problem, but we could approve it at a later time. Chadwick asked if the applicant would change your phases. Stanfield stated that maybe the best way is to approve everything south of the ditch. Thayne Berry of Parkcrest Homes, stated the northern section right now is open for development. They have the opportunity with two different scenarios: Watterson the owner of the private parcel wants to buy the property; and it could be turned into commercial with opportunities like storage units. We want the main portion of the subdivision approved. Berry talked about the ponds. People want to build in Star. They love Pecht’s projects. If they buy the private lot from Watterson they will have an access point. The marketing for the project is going well. Stanfield stated that they need to be careful of the stub roads if they don’t own the property. No reason to put a stub road in if there is no house there. It can be conditioned. Public Input: Stanfield was the only person that signed up. The Mayor closed the public hearing. No other comments were received from staff. Council deliberations. Hershey stated government regulations don’t mesh. He personally thinks, after listening to everything, that Council should approve phases one through four, require the stub roads be put in, wait for phase 5, and approve all the other regular conditions. The Mayor stated they need to re-phase everything south of the ditch, phases one through four, and put everything north of the ditch in phase 5. 3 Chadwick stated he is for the project and he is for approving everything south of the ditch with the stub roads. There is a lot of potential for growth of the City, there is possibly a commercial use that could go in above the ditch. Neilson stated that it puts us in a corner and we could be sitting with a vacant lot growing weeds. The Mayor stated the applicant can come back to us with a new application for the section above the ditch. If they work out something they can bring it to the Council. Neilson stated that with phase seven of Saddlebrook, the developer did not plat the last phase as it is no longer profitable. It is a very difficult situation. The access issue is the same thing, it is a red flag. This application seems to be the same thing. The Mayor stated that we do have a little bit better option on this property. Chadwick moved to approve File #PP-16-01 for everything south of the Foothill Ditch with the fourteen conditions, adding stub roads between lots ______ , and the conditions of the other responding agencies, Lockett seconded the motion. Hershey, Lockett and Chadwick – all ayes; Nielsen – nay: motion carried. Reports: Staff: Chief Laraway stated that the department is working on creating a “Safe Zone” for exchanges on Craig’s list and/or custodial exchanges in the back parking lot. They will be installing cameras to video the area. The other item is that we have lost four of the twelve sex offenders we have. The City Clerk and Hank Day are working on the boxes for the prescription drugs. Council: Hershey did get a great tour of the jail facility and 911 area. Great facilities and tour. Lockett also went on the tour and attend the second phase of the transportation study; there will be a third phase. Lockett will be attending the Boise Mayor’s banquet for Star’s Youth Awards tomorrow. Nielson working with Microsoft on bids and what he could provide for services and implementation for IT. He hasn’t heard back from Shawn Trent. He will be attending the upcoming Star Chamber meeting. Chadwick asked if the Microsoft cloud stuff would expand our stuff as he tried to attend the last Council meeting by audio but couldn’t. Chadwick did get the shooting trailer for the Hometown Celebration. Mayor – The Mayor reminded Council about the workshop on May 13 at 2 pm. He stated we hired two new employees for maintenance, Bob Little and John Hess. We are getting caught up with maintenance. We should have the Hometown Celebration schedule out next week; Ward 4 working on a flyer and Osborne is working hard on the events. We need more help. Mayor’s scholarship banquet will be the 19th of May at the Heron River clubhouse. Council needs to RSVP, it starts at 6 pm. The District 14 meeting was cancelled. The Council meeting on May 17 is cancelled due to elections. The Mayor thanked the Chief for setting up the tour of the facilities at Ada County, it was a great tour. He has lapel pins for Council with info packets. The Mayor officiated the Color Run for the Elementary School. The Mayor ran and had a great time. The Mayor attended a two day conference at Sun Valley for the Leadership Conference. The entire conference was about Ag and Ag Tech. Committees are going to meet here on the 10th. Mayor’s Youth Committee will be meeting twice a month. They had a skate park meeting yesterday. The pre con meeting totally finalized everything and we are ready to go. Dirt will be moving in the next ten days. Adjournment: Lockett moved to adjourn the meeting, Nielson seconded the motion. All ayes: motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:26 pm. Approved: _________________________________ Respectfully submitted: Charlten Bell, Mayor ____________________________ Cathy Ward, City Clerk 5