January 16th, 2007 Meeting Notes by Sharon Wolff

Tonight's meeting began with all Council Members present along with City Staff John Miller, Stephanie Beauchaine, Jim Hale and Attorney David Martinek.  There had been a closed door session prior to the public meeting that was an update on the 4 potential litigations and a conference with real estate negotiators regarding Scotia (Agenda).

At the start of the public session, Mayor Bud Leonard added an item to the agenda regarding a funding increase for the water project.  The ceremonial matters were next with a proclamation in recognition of Engineer's Week Feb. 18th-24th.  The consent calendar was then passed as a block. 

The first item discussed under ordinances/special resolution was the funding increase added to the agenda earlier.  Acting City Manager John Miller presented the summary which stated the need to raise the loan terms for the water project from 2.16 million to 2.71 million and the term of the loan from 25 years to 30 years.  After limited discussion the resolution was moved by Mike Dunker, seconded by Melissa Marks and approved unanimously.

The transfer of CDBG funds to pay for the required driveway from Dr. Ralph Roberts property to Wildwood Ave. was postponed while some language is changed and approved by the lawyers.  The driveway had been eliminated by the new windy sidewalk of the Gateway Project and the city is having to restore it.  The city has already had to remove some of the new center divider blocking businesses along Wildwood Ave. 

The next resolution approved authorizes the City Manager and the Finance Director to transfer funds between accounts held at US Bank.  This will allow for electronic transfers rather than the current system of writing checks between accounts.  The resolution was moved by Julie Woodall, seconded by Marc Barsanti and approved unanimously.

The joint use agreement between the City and the Rio Dell School District for use of the school property for recreational activities was discussed next.  There used to be an agreement but it was no longer in affect.  The City has some parks and recreation grant money that is going to expire if they don't use it soon.  In order for them to be allowed to use the grant money on school property, they have to have a joint use agreement.  This would allow for the grant money to be used for things such as improvements to the tennis courts, baseball diamond, parking lot and the like.  Melissa Marks asked about using some of the grants for the track and field project at the school.  Miller stated that some of the grant money will hopefully be used for that.  The resolution was moved by Dunker, seconded by Marks and approved unanimously.

The last resolution was in regards to applying for a grant to the Rubberized Asphalt Concrete Use Program.  The maximum grant amount is $250,000 with no matching funds needed.  This also included the adoption of a recycled content purchasing policy.  The material can be used for a variety of needed pavement projects however this resolution approved the initial grant application, it will be a long time before any grant money would come through if Rio Dell is fortunate enough to be approved.  The resolution was moved by Marks and seconded by Dunker with unanimous approval.

The special call items were next with two pay requests related to the water project.  Public Works Director, Jim Hale, stated the project is nearing completion and there will be some repaving work done on Edwards Dr.  There is a walk through scheduled very soon and then there should be the final approval.  The pay requests were approved unanimously.

An update on Car Amnesty Day by Code Enforcement Officer, Carla Ralston, was next.  Ralston reported that 220 vehicles had been removed from the County with 100 coming from Rio Dell, 18 of which were removed from a property on Center St. near Napa Auto Parts.  At some point during the rainy days Environmental Health was called in due to auto fluid leaks.  Ralston stated that Public Works responded quickly and installed some booms around the drain pipes and such.  At that point some form of fluid collection system was put in place.  Ralston acknowledged the damage done to the parking lot of the Rio Dell Fire Department (as is plainly visible to anyone driving down Wildwood Ave.).  She stated that the responsibility for repair is shared among the city, fire department and Cream Dismantlers.  (See the video clip)  Public Works will be working on the lot this coming week and cleaning up.  Hale stated they would send a bill for Public Works expenses to Cream Dismantlers.  The Fire Dept. is getting prepared for their annual dinner event to be held at the Fire Hall.  There was some discussion of using the Rubberized Asphalt grant, that the city hasn't yet applied for, to repave the parking lot as one possible idea.  Something will have to be done to restore that lot and hopefully sooner rather than later.

The written report submitted to the Council by Ralston included the following; "In addition, damage was done to the parking lot at the Fire Hall. The damage was partially from the weight of the forklift and moving the crushed vehicles, but also the parking lot was in need of repair or repaving due to its age and it being the original surface. We are currently looking at ways to assist the Fire Department in repaving the lot as we feel we have a responsibility to do so and have potentially identified some funds that we may be able to use. We have requested that Cream Dismantling assist the Fire Department as well. Council will be updated as we have more information regarding this subject." 

Discussion of the Scotia Infrastructure Report was next. Hopefully the Economic Report will come in the next week but the Environmental Impact Report may not come out until next month.  The report is very lengthy and will take some time for people to review and evaluate.  There were substantial recommendations for repair and mostly replacement of infrastructure as well as building a new water treatment plant for the use of both Rio Dell and Scotia.  Operating two plants would be economically unfeasible and neither of the existing plants could serve both communities well.  The ballpark dollar amount is $24 million dollars in recommended improvements to the infrastructure alone.  (we will be curious to see how the recent bankruptcy filing by Palco is going to affect this annexation)  There were no questions by the audience as nobody had gotten a look at this new report yet.  There is a study session scheduled for Jan. 23rd at 6:30pm at City Hall to review this report and Palco's response.  They don't agree on the need to replace some of the infrastructure using the current code for subdivisions.  They contend that Scotia is an existing community and that is unreasonable.  Melissa Marks asked about the formation of an advisory committee to review the extensive data on the annexation and advise the council.  This would allow for more scrutiny of the vast amount of information and a further level of review.  The ultimate decision would still be made by the Council though.  This matter is on the agenda for the study session as well.

There were no public presentations.

During staff reports, Jim Hale reported that the stairway off of Edwards Dr. down towards the river was reviewed by SHN and found to be ok by OSHA standards.  The steep straight stairway does not exit a doorway so there are no landing requirements.  SHN provided a memorandum to the city stating their opinion on the legality of the stairway. 

Acting City Manager John Hale stated that the packet of information given to the Council is available on the Cities website as well as the calendar of meetings and events.

Accounting Supervisor Stephanie Beauchaine reported that work continues on cleaning out the records retention room to make an office for Public Works Director Jim Hale.  The audits continue.

Melissa Marks commented on the budget situation and the need to make some budget cuts now rather than wait for later.  The City is in pretty dire financial straits and looking into doing things such as selling off City property in order to pay the debts.  Beauchaine agreed with Marks assessment.  Marks also asked about the Davis St. public access to the river that she has asked about in the past.  It was noted that there is an agreement in place for public access during daylight hours but the gate has been closed recently. 

Julie Woodall mentioned her desire to look into forming a design review committee.  Miller pointed out that the planning commission had come up with some guidelines back in 2002, for the downtown area in particular.  There was a lot of work done on various reports for the Gateway Project which included design review components.  Miller suggested looking at the work done then as using them as a starting point.

The meeting adjourned.

January 16th, 2007 Meeting Agenda