Special Meeting Minutes 4-24-2005

Special Meeting

April 24, 2005

7:00pm

Call to Order

Roll Call

Paul Berry

Road Maintenance

Librarian Position

Bartlett Cove/Ferry Resolution

IFQ Resolution

Council Comments & Questions

Call to Order @ 7:00

Roll Call Sandi Marchbanks, Martha Romero, Kim Heacox, Wayne Howell, Ken Klawunder, Tim Gibson (Came in Late), Absent - Becky King

Paul Berry Sandi asked Paul to talk about the new summer assistant position. Paul explained that Eric will not be able to work in the summer but that he would like to keep Eric as an employee in the winter.

Sandi asked if there are any prospective candidates for the new position. Paul said that Brian Raisen & Donny Romero have shown some interest. Paul then explained that that it is a tough job to fill due to the lack of hours and pay. He went on to say that he would need three days to train the person and that he will need the new employee when the lodge opens this summer.

Sandi asked if anyone had any comments.

Ken asked how many employees the DRC has. Paul said that the DRC has three employees including Janene Driscoll.

Wayne asked what will happen this winter and if there would be work for the new employee. Paul said that he was not sure. More discussion.

Tim motioned to accept a summer seasonal position at the Landfill. Motion passed 6/0.

Road Maintenance Ponch Marchbanks reported on the Road Maintenance completed so far. He said that they had graded approximately 12 - 14 miles. He said also there have been a few pit runs, Holes have been patched, and that they were reshaping as they go. He guessed that they had spent about $4300.00. He said that they planned on going to the worst places first. He planned on dropping about 1200 - 1500 yards on Rink Creek road. He said then they would start on Good River road. He then asked for any input from the City Council.

Richard Sirstad said he was concerned with funds and what is going to happen this winter. Ponch said there should be plenty of money. He then said he should only need about $9000.00 for snow plowing. Richard then complimented Ponch and said that he thought we were ahead of the game.

Wayne complimented Ponch and the Road Committee and said the road committee needed to meet. He also said we should be looking for more road if possible to increase our funding. He then said that the road committee needed to get the road network to the planning committee.

Sandi discussed the Landfill parcel and said it would have to be surveyed. Ken explained that this parcel needed to be taken care of before the land selection committee could start shopping for other land.

Janusz Kunat asked if the boat harbor fell under road maintenance. Sandi said no; but that the marine facilities committee was working on it.

Richard was concerned that people building roads in Gustavus probably needed to inform the City before building roads. Sandi suggested that the road maintenance committee come up with a plan.

Librarian Position Kathy Leary asked the council to look over the information she brought in. She then explained that the summer reading position is a contractual job, not another employee. She said she would like to get the Applications in for the summer reading position by May 9th.

There was then extensive discussion about the possibilities for filling the Librarian position. She then suggested asking for applications for 1. the job as a whole. 2. for just the administration. And 3. Just a program coordinator.

Tim asked if the library board had seen this. Kathy said yes.

There was then discussion on who should screen the applicants. The council felt it would be better to have the library board do the screening and then present their recommendations to the council.

There was then discussion on what the pay scale should be. It was explained that the council was trying to come up with a tier system starting at $15.00 an hour.

Sandi asked what would happen now. Kathy said the job description would go back to the library board for review and then it would come back to the council for posting.

Kathy then commented on the insurance increase in the library's budget. She said she did not think the library should be responsible for the increase in liability insurance just because it was now part of the City. More discussion on this and Ben was asked to call P-W Insurance to see if he could get some kind of breakdown.

Bartlett Cove/Ferry Resolution Sandi discussed the fact that there would be no freight or cars brought over on the ferry and asked if it gave us something we needed, or if it would just divert the attention from what we needed. There was then discussion on writing a letter to Robin Taylor addressing our needs.

Wayne motioned that we not pass a resolution. Motion passed 5/0 - with one abstaining.

Janusz commented that the ferry coming into our only safe harbor could be a good thing.

Sandi stated that it wouldn't, it would just divert the attention from our real needs.

IFQ Resolution Sandi asked for comments. Ken commented on other proposals that Forrest Braden was making, one of which was creating stamps for halibut like we have on king salmon.

Wayne said that although he felt the charter fisherman did more than provide a ferry service out to the fish, he did not feel that the IFQ's for charter fishermen was a good idea. Ken said that he agreed with Wayne.

 Kim said that many people in the community did not disagree with the IFQ's because of all the fish being shipped down south out of Gustavus and he felt the charter fishermen should have an open house to discuss the LAMPS plan with the community.

Wayne then read the resolution. He then made suggestions for amending the resolution and more discussion and changes followed.

Martha motioned to accept the resolution as amended. Motion passed 5/0 - with one abstaining.

Council Comments & Questions Sandi read the letter from the DCCED concerning funding to offset the high fuel and electricity costs. Discussion on how to give this as a discount to the community followed.

Different ideas were discussed including buying the fuel from Dick Levitt and then subsidizing electric bills until the money ran out and giving the money to the school to offset its electricity costs.

It was then decided that we would work on this at the next work session.

Wayne then mentioned that while he was away there was a problem with a 911 call and how it was handled. He then asked the Mayor and the Council to write a letter to the fire chief asking for full report on what happened.

Meeting adjourned at 9:20pm