MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING

MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING

MARCH 10, 2003

PRESENT: Mayor Bob Jepsen; City Manager, Jerry Breazeale; Public Works Director, Craig Canham; City Attorney, Bill Kuhn; Planning Commission, Jerry Gentry; MCSO Deputy Randy Rayburn; HFD Rusty Estes; Council Members: Judy Buschke, Tom Wolff, Kay Robinson; Marian Murchison; Tim VanCleave, Dan Dunnett, Cindi Doherty

VISITORS: Randy Lott, Bernice Lott, Dave Pranger, Jerry Healy, Kim Cutsforth, Sharon Lewis, Tim Collins, Dave Campbell, David Sykes , Ken Bailey

1. GENERAL BUSINESS:

A) Call to Order. The meeting of the Heppner City Council was called to order at 7:00 PM.

B) Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Mayor Jepsen led the Pledge of Allegiance.

C) Announcements.

(1) All Council members are present.

(2) Mayor Jepsen welcomed all visitors to the meeting.

(3) Changes to the agenda:

(a) The February 4 minutes are added to the agenda for approval.

(b) HUD Dollar Sale

D) Approval of minutes of the February 4, 2003 and February 10, City Council Minutes.

(1) Approval of February 4 minutes. Tom Wolff moved to table approval of these minutes until the next council meeting. Seconded by Marian Murchison. Motion carried.

(2) The February 10 minutes were reviewed by Council members. Mr. Wolff outlined changes to the minutes. Mr. Wolff moved to approve the minutes of the February 10 meeting as changed. Seconded by Cindi Doherty. Motion carried. Judy Buschke abstained.

E) Report from the Planning Commission. Mr. Gentry gave an oral report on the March 3 Planning Commission meeting as follows:

(1) City Hall. Mr. Gentry stated that the City Hall needs to be enlarged.

(2) New Planning Commission member. Dave Fowler will be serving on the Planning Commission.

(3) The Planning Commission approved a variance to allow Jerry Healy relief from setbacks on his property at 645 Hager Street.

(4) The Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for a mechanic’s shop on Chase Street with the stipulations that no vehicles be allowed to park or be stored on the property for more than 45 days, and no noise from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM.

F) Correspondence.

(1) Letter from Campfire USA requesting permission to sell candy in Heppner from March 14 to April 30. These will be local children. Tom Wolff moved to approve the request. Seconded by Judy Buschke. Motion carried.

2. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC.

A) Oral communications not on the agenda. Mr. Wolff questioned whether a permit had been issued for the St. Patrick’s Day parade. According to Mr. Breazeale, the city has approved the permit and it has been issued.

B) Morrow County Sheriff’s Bike Rodeo. Deputy Rayburn gave the presentation since Deputy Zeiler had other commitments. They have distributed fliers and are soliciting donations from local businesses. Donations will be used to provide bike helmets to children in the area. A donation of $500.00 from the City of Heppner is being requested in order to sponsor a Bike-O-Rama group from the Tri-Cities to travel to Heppner to give their presentation. Mr. Wolff asked when the money was needed and Deputy Rayburn stated that he will check on this. Mr. Canham and Mr. Breazeale stated that there is money set aside in the city budget for various projects. Mrs. Robinson questioned whether there was enough money budgeted to cover this and whether the city would want to spend that amount. The Council agreed to postpone the decision on this until the April meeting. Mr. Canham stated that funds are available for this. Mr. Wolff stated that he wasn’t comfortable with the City contributing money to this program. Ms. Doherty asked if the City donates money for helmets, and Mr. Jepsen wondered if the city donated money last year and was told that the money came from other sources. Mr. Jepsen stated that the council would like more information on the program before making a decision.

C) St. Pat’s Cruz-in street closure request – Dick Sargent. Letter requesting approval to park cars on Willow Street for this event during St. Patrick’s Day. Permission has previously been given. Cindi Doherty moved to issue formal permission. Seconded by Tom Wolff. Motion carried.

D) Animal Permit – New – Betty Wilhelm, 105 NW Gale St. –3 Lambs.

E) Animal Permit – Renewal – Betty Wilhelm, 105 NW Gale St. – 1 Horse.

F) Animal Permit – Renewal – Tim and Jean Collins, 610 Elder Street – 2 Horses

G) Animal Permit – Renewal – Kenneth Collins, 233 Lynden Way – 2 Emus

Tom Wolff moved that the City Council approve the animal permits with the caveat that if the animals become a nuisance, they will be removed from the property. Seconded by Kay Robinson. Motion carried.

3. PUBLIC HEARINGS

A) Proposed Water System Rehabilitation and Improvement Project, accepting $4,000,000 in loan funds from EOCDD through Water/Wastewater Financing Program and $1,000,000 interim financing loan and accepting $1,000,000 grant and $1,000,000 loan from USDA, Rural Utilities Service, to finance improvements described in the City of Heppner Water System Master Plan, April 2, 2002.

1) Public hearings were declared open on the proposed water system improvements and financing plan. Mayor Jepsen stated that it has taken a couple of years to get everything together and then two more years to figure out how we are going to finance the plan. The council will consider accepting loans. The hearing was turned over to Mr. Breazeale, who distributed information on the proposed system to attendees. He stated that the study was done in 1999, and read a brief description of the project. Pipe under the lake would be replaced with a pipe around the lake so that in case the pipe under the lake breaks, the city would not be without water. Mr. Breazeale outlined the material in the handouts which includes detailed descriptions of how many feet of pipe will be installed. He stated that if the bids to install pipe came in higher, we would have to decrease the amount of pipe and if they were lower, then increase the amount of pipe.

In order to fund this project, the state requires a rate of $35.10 per month for 7500 gallons. If the project costs are cut, we would lose of the grant first. The question was asked as to what would happen if we needed more money. According to Mr. Breazeale, we do not get more grant money. Mr. Campbell wondered how the 1% interest rate compared to a bond rate. Per Mr. Breazeale, bonds are 4-5%. He outlined the planned rate structure.

Currently, the city has a special usage rate for low income people. USDA rural development’s ruling is that in order to use their money, special rates cannot be given to any group of people. Planners have looked at breaking up the rates from $8.75 for 2000 gallons to reach the $35.10 for 7500 gallons, and Mr. Breazeale showed examples of rates broken down by usage. Anything over 7500 gallons would cost $.90 per 1000 gallons. Multiple units would be charged $35.10 plus $8.75 for each additional unit. Part of the reason that they structured this in the city is that the fire flow requirements are more for multiple users. Users outside the city limits would have the same rate as city users, plus a $20.00 right of service fee. Mr. Wolff asked whether the water services that the city has a legal obligation to provide, would remain the same. He also asked what the cost would be for 7300 gallons. According to Mr. Breazeale, they would be paying the $35.10 rate. Mr. Wolff wondered if this was an administrative or council decision. According to Mr. Breazeale, the council would have to approve this. Ms. Devin had provided usage scenarios for each council member and for lower users. The lower rates would actually be less than the present rates. Mr. Healy stated that he understands that in some months there would be a lower water usage factor. Many users would end up with lower bills during the winter.

Kim Cutsforth stated that she had attended the last meeting of the Willow Creek Park District and members questioned whether the free water would be taken away from the swimming pool since they had never been charged for water. She asked whether there has been any consideration to easing them into the new structure so that they can plan the increase into next year’s budget. She is requesting a council member attend their March 11 meeting. Mr. Canham stated that the pool used one million gallons of water last year.

According to Mr. Van Cleave, some bills would most likely double. Ms. Cutsforth stated that the out-of-city residential bills will increase up to $350 per year under the new rate structure. She doesn’t know how to justify the additional $20.00 per month. Her water bill in the summer will go up. The fact is that out-of-city water bills would be $28.75 for 2,000 gallons. Mr. Gentry stated that having city water has affected their decision to build outside the city limits and he feels they should look at how much cheaper it is to have city water vs drilling a well. His point is that the charges for the city services should be passed on to those outside of town who will be using city services. Mr. Jepson recommended studying the information that came out in the newsletter. Tom Wolff doesn’t understand the figures that were worked up for his property. Mr. Campbell gave a prepared statement on the water system problems: The water lines are a mess and the topography is a mess. He stated that we are going to have to spend some money to fix things. Mr. Campbell is attending the meeting to give his support to the water project. Mr. Campbell stated that he doesn’t see how we are going to get any better deal than the 1% loan money. He would like to see a committee formed to work on this.

Randy Lott asked what the population of the city is today. According to Mr. Breazeale, it is approximately 1400 people. Mr. Lott asked what size of city the proposed system would serve. Mr. Lott is in favor of the project but wonders if we need the additional storage capacity. Mr. Breazeale stated that during a recent water leak incident, our main reservoir drained in 7 hours. Luckily, there wasn’t a fire or any other serious disaster at the same time. According to Mr. Lott, back in the 1970s he understood that the water system would serve a city of 2,000 people. He said 5 years ago when locating the boot camp in Heppner was discussed, they were assured that we had sufficient water for 2,000 people. Mr. Breazeale stated that he was not in Heppner at the time. He has reviewed the study done in 1989. Mr. Lott stated that we have already added the capacity to support 2,000 people and he wondered how many gallons we have now. He also questioned the cost of the reservoir and pipe to tie it into our existing system. According to Mr. Breazeale, if you reduce the project cost, the only money you are losing is the grant money. Mr. VanCleave stated that we need the additional well to cover large fires. Mr. Lott disagrees and doesn’t feel we should drill new wells and that there must be a way to tie the fairgrounds well into our system in case of an emergency. He also wondered if we need to drill additional wells if there is a well we could tie into in case of emergency. He wondered how much money we have in reserve for this. Per Mr. Breazeale, we have been using the money to repair pipelines. We can’t go back to what has been done years ago and the problem still needs fixing.

Mr. Dave Pranger attended the meeting on behalf of the Little League. There are three fields here in town. He is not sure how this is going to affect them since at this time they haven’t been charged for the water they are using on their fields and water costs are not included in their budget. He hopes that the city will keep in mind that this will be a tremendous burden on the Little League program. They have never had a meter reading and Mr. Pranger asked if it would be possible to get meters read starting now so that they could have an idea of the potential cost. They are already trying to conserve and are looking at grants to install new sprinklers on timers. He said another problem is the high school softball field and if the free water is cut off there he isn’t sure about the results. According to Mr. Breazeale, they have discussed the ball fields at the utilities commission meetings and that the city could put money into a different fund which could be used for the watering of the fields. Jerry Healy stated that he would support Mr. Breazeale on the use of the meters and billing so that we can determine the parameters are and look at the uses for the good of the city.

Mr. Wolff wondered what the debt service would be. According to Mr. Breazeale, it is $145,000 per year. We are talking about $18.00 per month per service for debt service. Craig Canham showed the council the records of Reservoir 1 from the water leak at the school last week. Randy Lott wondered if there was any way the reservoir could be shut off. Craig Canham explained the reservoir operation. He stated that the maintenance is needed on the public system. Mr. Jepsen praised the city crew for their quick action on the leak. Jerry Healy stated that his biggest concern is overkill on the reservoir, although he does agree that we need a new system in town. He is also concerned about the new water rates and the fact that we will see yards turning brown and businesses leaving town along with the possibility of the people not relocating to Heppner due to additional taxes and fees.

Mr. Breazeale read a written comment regarding the water project from Gail Hughes. She is in favor of the improvement which has been needed for years, and accepts the fact that water bills will have to up. She also recommended restructuring the billing system for sewer and basing billing on the amount of water used during the winter months., i.e., billing for summer months on the average use during winter since single member households are paying the same as multiple members. She suggested starting with a flat service fee for everyone with a use fee based on volume. She felt that conserving water usage and disposal might lighten the load on the system. service fee with each fee based on volume. Per Tom Wolff, this is a method of costing with the sewer. According to Mr. Breazeale, this can be done but we would have to run figures to reflect the usage. According to Mr. Jepsen, this would be another study for the city. Mr. Breazeale stated that all of our bonds except the Senior Center would be paid off in 2009. Tom Wolff pointed out that all the city’s debt will be gone by 2009. Mr. VanCleave wondered if there is a way of studying this. Per Mr. Breazeale, it would involve considerable staff work.

Public Hearing Closed.

8:35 PM – Mayor Jepsen called a ten minute recess. Meeting reconvened at 8:45 PM.

4. CITY COUNCIL ACTION.

A) Authorization of the Mayor to sign contract documents to obtain the financing.

Discussion: Ms. Buschke voiced the opinion that she doesn’t feel we need an additional reservoir. Ms. Robinson feels we need backup in case of a large fire. Mr. VanCleave feels it would be a shame not to do this now and then somewhere down the road find out that it should have been done. He doesn’t think it is overkill. Ms. Buschke asked if the bid will be advertised locally so that local contractors can bid on it. According to Mr. Breazeale they will be advertised, but the drawback for small contractors is the bonding requirement of the project. The main contractor could also subcontract some of the work. Ms. Doherty stated that the city of Ione didn’t feel their new reservoir was overkill. She doesn’t want to postpone this and then have to do it down the road and end up with more expense. Mayor Jepson asked how much the water rates were in Ione. According to Cindi, they went from $7.00 to $30.00 and anything over 3000 gallons usage costs $.80 per 1000. Ms. Murchison feels we should proceed with the present plan and that as long as it is going to be done, it should be done right. Tom Wolff feels we need to fix the water pipes in the city and that the financing is the best we are going to get. He feels the city should tell the contractor what we want and wonders how the new reservoir would affect operating the cross on the hill since Heppner residents are very proud of their cross. He also feels that we should pursue the use of the fairgrounds well. He stated that the council should reserve the right to redo the rate structure. He is not in favor of the reservoir on the hill but feels the project is necessary. However, he still has concerns on the rate structure. Mr. Jepson disagrees with Randy Lott on the reservoir because in the recent emergency the extra reservoir was needed. He will not say “no” to another reservoir. Mr. VanCleave asked about the water system and a new reservoir. According to Mr. Jepson, the wells go down in the summer. Mr. Lott wondered about the old well at the court house. Per Mr. Jepson, the water in that well was bad. Judy Buschke asked when the project would start and how long it would take. Mr. Breazeale stated that it will be one year before the contract goes out for bid and then construction will take two years after the bid is accepted.

Tom Wolff moved that the City Council authorize the mayor the authority to sign contract documents to obtain financing for the water system improvement project. Seconded by Kay Robinson. Motion carried unanimously.

5. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE COUNTY SHERIFF.

A) Activity Report. Council members reviewed the Police Commission packet included with no questions.

B) Police Commission. The next Police Commission meeting will be held at 8:00 AM on March 27.

C) Code Enforcement.

(1) Deputy Rayburn has contacted Josh Roy. One of the trees on the Alston property has been taken down by the owner and they are working on the other one. Deputy Rayburn wanted thee council’s guidance on whether to do a code enforcement since Mrs. Alston was given until March 10 to have the trees removed. The Council felt that they should let her complete the job and let her know that since she is working on the property they will give her some additional time to complete the work.

(2) Wenberg property on the corner of Water and Jones Street. No action taken at this time.

6. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR

Activity Report. Council members reviewed the activity report included the packet. According to Mr. Canham, everything is working at the sewer plant. They are starting the enzymes in preparation for this weekend. There have been a lot of positive comments on the community service workers and these workers are doing a lot of work. The shamrock will be painted on March 12. The fire crew has cleaned the shamrock off in preparation for the painting. The drinking fountain will be unveiled on Friday, March 14, at 4:00 PM. Mayor Jepson is meeting with the National Guard on March 12. They now have funds to do some of the work. However, due to recent national events, there may not be personnel available to do the work.

7. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE FIRE CHIEF

A) Mr. Estes stated that they are still working on the rural fire district issue, which is not quite as easy as they were told.

B) The are working on the “no mans land.” He has also attended a grant writing course.

8. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CITY MANAGER

A) Resolution Approving Accounts Payable for Payment. Ms. Robinson moved to approve the accounts payable for payment. Seconded by Ms. Doherty. Motion carried.

B) Agreement for Engineering Services – Water Improvement Project. This item will be discussed in the April City Council Meeting.

C) Cost of Living increase for 2002. The Consumer Price Index has raised to 2.4%. This figure will be used for the proposed salary schedule which will be presented in April at that City Council meeting.

D) City Hall Remodeling Committee. This meeting was held on March 7 and was well attended. Members reviewed a diagram of the original layout of the space, plans that had been drafted by an architect, and plans drafted by the Public Works director. The plans for the space are required to meet ADA requirements. Some of the ideas from the committee were very good, such as installing public restrooms. All members of the committee were asked to prepare their own drawings using their own ideas on renovating the present building.

E) Financial Statement for February. We continue to be in good shape.

F) Approve heating system for City Manager’s office. Mr. Breazeale has asked for quotes to install a heating system in his office and received two estimates, one from Heppner Heating and one from Roadrunner. The low price of $2204.60was from Heppner Heating. Mr. Wolff asked whether the proposed unit would be adequate under the renovation. Ms. Buschke feels this decision to install a heating system at this time is premature. Mr. Wolff also feels that a heating system should be included in the master plan for the renovation. According to Mr. Breazeale, this was researched and there are concerns with the safety of the present system and that the space after renovation would probably be the same size as the present area. He has discussed this with the contractors to determine if the system could be adapted to be used after the renovation. He also asked Mr. Gentry whether the ductwork, etc., could be adapted to the space and he felt that the ductwork could be built to accommodate the renovation. Mr. VanCleave would like to postpone this decision for one month in order to have a heating contractor attend the next meeting and answer questions. Mr. Gentry stated that he doesn’t feel that such a large system is necessary and suggested a unit such as a Monitor heating unit. Randy Lott suggested baseboard heating and an air conditioning unit similar to the one in the present city office. Mr. Breazeale asked to table this decision until a future meeting.

G) HUD Dollar Sale. Rod Wilson has been authorized to do some of the improvements on this property on Gilmore Street. The potential buyers are currently leasing the home and occupying the basement of the home. In order to pass inspection for closing, there are some additional repairs that need to be completed, i.e., replacing R-19 insulation with R-38. The original $2500.00 has already been spent and an additional monies are required. Mr. Wolff moved that the council approve up to $1500 to complete the repairs. Seconded by Ms. Buschke. Motion carried.

H) Vacation Schedule. Mr. Breazeale requested vacation time Apri 2-9, 2003 to attend his son’s wedding in North Carolina. He will be absent for the April Planning Commission meeting, but will return in time to attend the April City Council meeting. Mr. VanCleave moved to grant Mr. Breazeale permission for vacation April 2-9, 2003. Seconded by Mr. Wolff. Motion carried.

I) Additional Discussion. Mr. Breazeale stated that he would like to have another meeting on the downtown development plan on April 21, 2003, 7:00 PM, location to be determined.

9. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY Mr. Kuhns is continuing work on the engineering contracts for the water system.

10. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE MAYOR/CITY COUNCILORS

A) Beautification Commission –Next meeting to be held March 13, 2003.

B) Heppner Housing Authority – Next meeting to be held March 31, 2003.

C) Additional Discussion. Ms. Doherty has received a complaint from a private citizen on who maintains the property in front of Joan Wood’s residence. Since the city maintains this property Ms. Doherty asked if some of the community service workers could do some maintenance work.

Meeting adjourned at 10: PM.