General Meeting Minutes 2-10-2005

General Meeting

February 10th, 2005

7:00pm

Call to Order

Roll Call

Reading of Minutes

Public comment on Non-agenda Items

Ordinance for Public Hearing

    Revenue & Finance Ordinance

Resolution for Public Hearing

    Resolution for conveyance of land

Publish Resolution 2005-04

    A Resolution giving direction to the Volunteer Fire Department

Unfinished Business

New Business

    Write an open letter to Dick Levitt

    Mike Taylor - Road Maintenance RFQ

    Mark Ortega - BOG Report

    Pedr Turner - Cistern Project

Executive Session

Adjournment

Call to order  @ 7:00pm

Roll Call Kim Heacox, Wayne Howell, Lou Cacioppo, Sandi Marchbanks, Tim Gibson, Martha Romero, Becky King

Approval of Minutes Minutes read and Approved

Public Comment on Non-agenda Items Char Damron revisited the letter she wrote to the City Council. She then read a statement to the Council. She believes the Council member she referred to in the previous letter was speaking as a council member and believes his behavior was unethical. She then suggested the Council create a code of conduct.

Bruce Tedtsen discussed the Fire Department and read from a statement asking the Council to work with the Fire Chief. He went on to discuss funding and training.

Ordinance for Adoption Revenue and Finance Ordinance. No comments. Martha motioned to adopt the Revenue and Finance Ordinance. Motion passed by a vote of 7/0.

Resolution for Landfill Conveyance Sandi read the title of resolution. No Comments. Tim motioned to adopt the resolution. Motion passed by a vote of 7/0.

Resolution giving direction to the Volunteer Fire Department Council published resolution.

Unfinished Business No unfinished Business

New Business

    The council discussed writing a letter to Dick Levitt thanking him for not charging for the electricity at the Fire Hall and the City Hall, Formerly the GCA building, and his continued efforts in bringing cheaper electricity to Gustavus.

    Mike Taylor commented on the road committee meeting. He has forwarded the RFQ to the City Council and asked for their approval. Sandi asked for a few days to review the RFQ and stated there might be a special meeting where it would be brought up again.

    Mark Ortega commented on the Board of Game proposals and the new possible start date of September 1st. He will be proposing September 15th. On March 4th he will be going to another meeting. He asked the City Council for a letter or Resolution of support for the September 15th start date. He is also planning to ask for a two day hunt with a one day a week possibility. Another change could be having 3 drawing permits on the antlerless hunt.

Tim Gibson questioned if it will triple the cost of the hunt if there are three hunts.

Kim asked about the letter and why they are trying to change the start date to September 1st, after we asked for October 1st.

Greg Streveler explained the BOG's reasoning behind their decision.

Mark commented that the September 1st date would interfere with the cranes that pass through at this time.

Rhio asked if Mark's proposals will help locals get more moose.

Mark replied that there are many reasons for his proposals, including hunter safety, management, and hunt quality.

Charlie Rice urged the Council to support Mark's proposals.

Kim Ney mentioned that the early start date would also coincide with berry picking in early September.

Wayne motioned that Mark present the Council with a draft letter for their reworking. Motion passes 7/0.

The GVA is also opposed to the early start date and will also write a letter of support.

    Pedr Turner commented that he was not sure what he was supposed to be talking about. He decided on the cistern project. He explained to everyone what it will look like. He then commented on the suggested locations. He commented on the costs and said it would cost approximately $230000.00. He explained that the FEMA grant program will not fund this kind of project. He stateed that the USDA has a pot of money for this kind of project. He went on to say that the State could possibly fund the 25% local match if we put one cistern out by the airport. He explained that the ISO ratings in Gustavus would be lowered by the implementation of this project. Another cost would be new hoses for the Fire Department. He explained that this would be like moving a City fore hydrant to your driveway.

Rhio asked how we would fill the cisterns. Pedr explained there were different options including using a neighbors hose, digging a well, and using a pump truck.

Kathy Leary asked if there would be training on how to use the cisterns. Pedr said yes.

Sean Nielson asked about maintaining the cisterns. Pedr explained there shouldn't be any if they are installed properly.

Bill Kruger commented that training is not something FEMA offers grants for, but that they do offer funding for new hose.

Wayne commented on the proposed locations for the cisterns and that some would be on private land and what would this cost the City. Pedr said it shouldn't cost the City anything.

It was stated that there wasn't a location yet on Rink Creek road. It was then stated that perhaps it could be placed at the proposed substation.

Wayne asked again if this would include a possible land purchase. Pedr commented that he did not think we would need to buy land and that perhaps we could use the easement.

Bill Kruger asked Pedr to talk about Arch Thompson's comments about City fire hydrants. Pedr explained that it would cost about 1.3 million dollars per mile to install fire hydrants. Pedr estimated that that would come to about 60 - 70 million dollars to install fire hydrants in Gustavus.

Pedr commented that perhaps the cisterns could be brought up with the hydro electric equipment which would cut costs and could possibly be used as the local match.

Wayne asked what the projected costs would be to the City. Pedr talked more but did not give a figure. Wayne asked again what the projected costs would be to the City. Pedr says approximately $21000.00.

Janet Dougherty comments that easement alterations can also cost a lot of money and take a lot of time.

Wayne asked how the substation and cisterns tie in together.

Pedr explained again about the lower ISO ratings and explains how the scores are come up with.

Wayne asked if the whole Fire Department plan ties together.

Pedr again explained about the ISO's.

Bill Kruger commented that the Cistern and substation on Rink Creek road would bring their ISO's down from a 10 to a 6.

Wayne asked about the plan for a new truck and building. He continued and asked if it would be a heated building. Pedr said yes.

Kim Ney commented that Pedr's ISO figures seemed to be high.

Wayne thanked Pedr for his comments. He went on to say that the water storage idea had merit but that it had not gone through the public process. He then stated that he would like to see what this will cost the City in the long term.

Wayne moved that we place a moratorium on all activities by the GVFD until the plan had gone through the public process including a financial analysis to be sure the City can afford the final build out.

Lou asked to add an inclusive audit by the State on the community's needs.

Tim stated that he was fairly excited about the water situation but that he also had concerns about the costs involved.

Wayne again said that we would need to develop a whole plan knowing all the costs prior to going forward.

Mike Taylor commented that the amortization should be on capitol activities, not on all GVFD activities.

Pedr again stated that the cisterns should have no maintenance or additional costs.

Greg Steveler commented that this whole thing was so new that it did not even make it onto the planning needs surveys and said that all functions of the City needed funding.

Sandi asked Greg about the order of the motion. After some discussion Sandi read the first motion and Lou withdrew his amendment.

After more discussion Sandi read the amended motion. Motion passed 7/0.

Lou motioned at 8:43 to go into executive session to discuss personnel matters. Motion passed 7/0.

Pedr Turner asked that the meeting remain open and that the public remain for the remainder of the meeting.

Sandi explained how this would work and instructed everyone that they were not to speak during this portion of the meeting. She then went on to explain the history of the situation and what it was we were going to talk about.

Fire Captain Pedr Turner was then given the opportunity to read a statement after which he fielded questions from the City Council.

Sandi then asked Fire Chief Bill Kruger if he would also like to keep the meeting open. He said yes.

Then Fire Chief Bill Kruger was given the opportunity to express his concerns, after which he also fielded questions from from the City Council.

The Council went back into the regular meeting at 10:25pm.

Adjournment at 10:27pm.