Moyie Springs City Council minutes |
| April 21, 2012 |
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City Council met in regular session March 7,
2012, at the Moyie Springs City Hall. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Doug Evans. Present were Councilmen Steve Economu, Chad Farrens, Terry Johnson, Bart Klaus, Fire Chief Ken English and Public Works Supervisor John Nelson. City Attorney Dan Featherston was unable to attend the meeting but was available by cell phone. Discussed the minutes of the regular meeting on February 8, 2012. A motion was made by Chad Farrens and seconded by Bart Klaus to approve the minutes as written. Motion carried. Discussed the financial statement. A motion was made by Terry Johnson and seconded by Steve Economu to approve as written. Motion carried. Ron Frederickson, Kevin Frederickson and their attorney, Brian Woods attended the meeting to discuss recycling. Ron said they attended a meeting with the City of Bonners Ferry last night, but the city has made no decisions yet. Ron said he lowered his prices so it’s more appealing. Ron thinks the City of Bonners will go for curbside recycling. Ron asked the council if they had talked about recycling yet? Mayor Evans said no. Steve Economu asked if he had looked at the city map to see where they would go? Ron said no. Mayor Evans asked if Bonners Ferry is a 2 day thing? Ron said yes – every other week. Ron said in Moyie there are some issues. They don’t like to go on private property because of the liability, but that can be worked out. Steve Economu said the biggest obstacle is having to take the cans to the road. There are also concerns about recycling – Terry Johnson said it should be done all at once. Ron said it would probably be easier to do the garbage part first. Terry Johnson said it would be better for the council to do it all at once. Steve Economu said we have citizens who are kinda anti-government and they’ll have a fit if we tell them garbage pickup is mandatory. Doug said it would be in our best interest to have a public meeting for the residents. Brian Woods, attorney for Ron Frederickson, brought a model garbage ordinance modeled after the one for the City of Bonners Ferry, that may work for the City of Moyie. Brian said part of the Bonners Ferry council were in favor of curbside recycling @ $3.25 per household. Brian also said the State requires cities to handle garbage collections. There will be a public meeting on April 25, 2012, at 6 PM to discuss mandatory garbage pickup in the City of Moyie Springs. The City of Moyie has a franchise with Wilbur Frederickson, who is now deceased. Brian also brought a preliminary contract if that’s the way the city decides to go. Bart Klaus asked about charges – Ron said he doesn’t have the numbers yet. Recycling will be an additional charge. Steve Economu asked Ron if he makes money on the recycling or is it just a service? Ron said a service. The City of Bonners Ferry residents pay $100 per year for solid waste fee and County residents pay $120.00 per year. Lori Johnson asked if we have recycling, will our solid waste fee drop too? Mike Sloan attended the meeting. Mike had a conversation with the Border Patrol and they think they will be up and running by May. The new buildings will hold 52 agents and there are under 30 here now. They are not going to be hiring agents. There will be other people hired for animal care, landscaping, etc. Mike said Quality Farm it under contract to be sold and Safeway will be expanding and adding a fueling station. Lori Johnson said it is rumored the Feds are talking about closing the Porthill border crossing. Mike said he hadn’t heard that, but will check it out. Ken English said the Canadian truckers can come through here on their way to Vancouver BC and save $100 is fuel costs. Sandy said she received a call from a man interested in purchasing a lot in Mill River Subdivision and he wanted to know if he could park an RV on the lot while he builds his house? The council said that wouldn’t be a problem. Discussed the city hall sign. Doug talked to Tim Dougherty, who will talk to Bob Blanford at IFG to see if they have the right size saw blade. Discussed the PAC representative. A motion was made by Chad Farrens and seconded by Steve Economu to appoint Bart Klaus as the representative and Terry Johnson as the alternate. Motion carried. Discussed the Tate property. Sandy told the council Marty Jensen paid the judgment so there was no sheriff’s sale. John will figure the cost to reconnect that property to the waterline, when the time comes. A motion was made by Steve Economu and seconded by Chad Farrens authorizing Doug Evans to sign the DEQ letter giving our grant back. Motion carried. Discussed the letter from Welch Comer concerning the sewer facility study. Doug said we should set up a meeting sometime in May with the City of Bonners Ferry, Boundary County, the Kootenai Tribe and the City of Moyie to discuss sewer options. Mayor Evans reported on the KVRI meeting. Caribou were discussed again. Wayne, the biologist for Fish & Game gave a talk on what is going on with them. Doug asked if when they did the study, did they use any of his information? Wayne said no. There will be another meeting the end of March. There were 103 transplanted, collared caribou – none survived. The highest mortality was from predators. The amount of tax money spent so far is $4.7 million and $1.2 million spent by the Canadians. The herd population has not changed by more than 20. The Bonners County Commissioners are trying to get the federal biologist replaced because of false information and lying. Caribou have been on the endangered species list since 1984. Discussed the Volunteer Fire Department. The following calls in February – 1st – Ambulance assist; 15th Fire Chiefs meeting; 17th – Special Fire Chiefs meeting; 18th – Ambulance assist; 19th – natural gas leak in Rivers Mobile Home Park. Ken English reported there was an ice rescue class last week – he didn’t attend but all the firemen should eventually take the class. There is a new life flight helicopter in Sandpoint, they are looking for sites for heliports – they need 100’ square piece of ground with no wires. Ken said the 911 enhanced system is up and running. They had 21 hang up calls in February and found all of them. There will be a damage assessment meeting at South Boundary on March 15 from 8 to noon. The hospital is going to have an earthquake program on May 3rd – what would happen if there was an earthquake at the Libby Dam. All surrounding hospitals will be involved. There will be a suicide prevention class at Panhandle Health. Ken has received the jackets, gloves and hats. Discussed the Water & Sewer systems. John Nelson reported we pumped a high on February 8th of 129,000 gpd; a low on the 23rd of 55,800 gpd; an average of 107,406 gpd and a total for the month of February of 3,114,800 gallons. John said he hasn’t heard back from DEQ yet concerning the Cross Connection Control program. The aerator in the lagoon went down 2 weeks ago – it’s been repaired and reinstalled today – the cost was $1,000. The cost for a motor, shaft, etc. would be around $3500. John attended a meeting in Sandpoint concerning the work that will be done on the Moyie Bridge. They will start redecking the bridge in May and it will take 70 working days to get it finished. John said he needs to rebuild the Oxford hydrant and will have to shut the system down to do it. Jimmy Ball has an offer in on the Clark Halverson property. There will be a clean up day at Rivers Mobile Home Park on March 17. Sandy was asked to check to see if the Moyie Club is using their city beer and wine license at the Mud Bog. Steve Economu said when the fire department goes on a call, they leave everything open at the fire shop – they would like a remote for the door so it can be closed when they leave. Bart said the receiver and remote are $55.00 and each additional remote is $25.00. Doug said to make sure of the prices and we’ll discuss this again at the April 4th meeting. Discussed the bills. A motion was made by Steve Economu and seconded by Chad Farrens to pay the bills. Motion carried. A motion was made by Terry Johnson and seconded by Steve Economu to adjourn. Motion carried. /s/ Attest: City Clerk |