Moyie Springs City Council minutes,
September 5
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October 13, 2012 |
City Council met in regular session September 5,
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, City
Attorney Dan Featherston, Fire Chief Ken English
and Public Works Supervisor John Nelson.
Discussed the minutes of the special meeting on
July 25, 2012. A motion was made by Steve
Economu and seconded by Chad Farrens to approve
the minutes as written. Motion carried.
Discussed the minutes of the regular meeting on
August 8, 2012. A motion was made by Bart Klaus
and seconded by Steve Economu to approve the
minutes as written. Motion carried.
Discussed the financial statement. A motion was
made by Terry Johnson and seconded by Chad
Farrens to approve as written. Motion carried.
Lori Johnson, David Sims, Lila Finley, Rob Pluid
and Sheriff candidate, Gary Leonard, attended
the meeting.
A motion was made by Chad Farrens and seconded
by Bart Klaus to approve Ordinance #116 – Cross
Connection Control. Steve Economu – Aye; Chad
Farrens – Aye; Terry Johnson – Aye; Bart Klaus –
Aye. The motion passed unanimously.
A motion was made by Terry Johnson and seconded
by Steve Economu to approve the summary of
Ordinance #116 for publication. Motion carried.
Mayor Evans declared the Budget Hearing open.
Sandy Tompkins read the 1st reading of Ordinance
#117 – the Annual Appropriation Ordinance. A
motion was made by Chad Farrens and seconded by
Steve Economu to waive the 2nd & 3rd complete
readings – the Ordinance to be read by title
only. Motion carried. Mayor Evans read the 2nd
reading and Sandy Tompkins read the 3rd. A
motion was made by Steve Economu and seconded by
Terry Johnson to approve Ordinance #117, the
Annual Appropriations Ordinance, in the amount
of $832,437.54. Steve Economu – Aye; Chad
Farrens – Aye; Terry Johnson – Aye; Bart Klaus –
Aye. The motion passed unanimously. Mayor Evans
declared the Budget Hearing closed.
Gary Leonard, candidate for Sheriff, attended
the meeting to introduce himself to the council
and to thank them for their time. Gary said he
has skills in management, etc. to energize the
Sheriff’s office. Gary said he has 25 years in
management and is the current chief of the
Paradise Valley Fire Dept. Gary said the
department was in disarray when he took over.
There were only 6 volunteers and now there are
19. Doug Ladely is now the part time chief. Gary
said he took over the 4th of July fireworks and
a lot of people stepped up to help him. Gary
said he doesn’t see people volunteering with the
sheriffs dept. Gary was asked what the Sheriff’s
primary duty is? He said to preserve the peace.
Gary asked what we expect from the Sheriff’s
office, and has the current sheriff done it?
Gary said he changed to the Independent Party so
this would be a two man race. Gary asked if
crime has gone up or down, and do we want that
to change? Gary said his goal is to get more
community involvement. Gary asked the question,
why is the current sheriff running for
reelection? The Sheriff is the highest office in
the County. Gary said he will not serve more
than two terms and will do the right things at
the right time and the right way for the
citizens of Boundary County. Steve Economu asked
what volunteers would do? Gary said many
different things. Gary also said if he is asked
questions, and he starts getting slippery, call
him on it. Mayor Evans asked about the Inmate
work program? Gary said it should be a benefit
to the county and he is for it if there are
resources to do it. Mayor Evans said he is more
concerned with garbage pickup, and there’s not
much of that going on anymore. Doug said he
thinks the bus driver volunteered his time. Gary
said he is a strategic thinker and will change
the protocols of dispatch, if elected. Lori
Johnson said there used to be a marine deputy so
why were our boat ramps not able to be used
until recently and why did the waterways
department not take care of the ramps? Gary said
he believes the waterways department should take
care of those boat ramps. Gary said it would
take him 6 – 9 months to get his arms around the
business. The sheriff would be the boss of the
marine deputy. The sheriff’s office has been
$350,000 under budget, in personnel, over the
last 4 years.
David Sims, the new director of EDC attended the
meeting. David said he took Mike Sloan’s
position yesterday. David discussed Broadband.
He said they received documents 3 weeks ago,
some changes needed to be made and they should
get the corrected documents any day. David said
Nancy Strickland will go over the documents.
They are waiting to see the map and are hoping
they come to Moyie. They are hoping to approve
the documents next week, and the bonds will be
sold by the end of the month. Panhandle Area
Council will sell the bonds and the service
provider will guarantee the lease payments. The
service provider is Blackfoot out of Missoula,
MT. The build out will probably be 2 years.
There was no KVRI report.
Comprehensive Plan – Dan Featherston said we are
still waiting for the power letter.
Sandy told the council the interest rate on the
CD that automatically renewed on August 17,
2012, is .15%.
Rob Pluid attended the meeting to discuss the
mobile home that was illegally placed on his
property. Rob talked to the council about the
Mobile Home Ordinance. Rob said his mobile is
hidden – if someone’s trailer burned down, what
would it be replaced with? Rob said single wide
mobile homes are starter homes. Rob has had his
property for 30 years and at one time there was
a doublewide on the property, but was sold when
they built a home on another piece of property.
There was also a camp trailer on the property
for some time. Rob said his motive was to help a
friend – a disabled vet. There are still
outbuildings on the property. Rob said it isn’t
a new development – if the property is going to
be used, it would be the same usage as in the
past. Rob asked if the council would amend the
Ordinance for existing sites? Rob said he was
going to ask for a variance, but decided not to.
Lila Finley said if it’s clean and neat it
probably looks better than some places in Moyie.
Steve Economu asked the year of the mobile? Rob
said late
70’s. Rob said he was made aware after the
mobile was bought, paid for and ready to move.
Steve Economu said he appreciates the points Rob
made. Steve also said the Ordinance needs to be
looked at. Terry Johnson said he has no problem
with the mobile being there, but we’ve denied
other mobiles. Rob said the others were probably
wanting to put a mobile where there hadn’t been
before. Dan Featherston said grandfathering says
you don’t change the rules. If we start making
exceptions with mobiles that are not
grandfathered, we are going to talk ourselves
into repeating this over and over again. Dan
also said any legislation is going to create
hardships on somebody. Land use regulation is
setting a standard not based on morality. Dan
said if we want to give some consideration that
things are different in different parts of the
city or they don’t fit our community and should
be thrown out, we can do that by changing the
ordinance. Basically, Rob has brought himself
into this situation and we now have to live with
the consequences –the city may have to modify
the Ordinance so he won’t be in violation. If
the council amends the ordinance, Rob agrees
he’s the first one that will benefit from it.
Lori Johnson said, in their area, there are all
kinds of trailers. Dan said we’d have to study
the layout of the city – we can’t spot zone.
When Ordinance #109 was done, it was to prevent
a shanty town in the whole city. Dan said the
Mayor and Council serve at the will of the
people. Dan said the council can accept this as
a grandfathered situation setting ourselves up
as to the meaning of grandfathered or insist on
the immediate replacement of the mobile. Dan
said it’s not a legal risk but a political risk.
Rob said the mobile home is there temporarily
and he has owned the property since 1983. Dan
said Rob and the council could enter into a
temporary agreement that both sides acknowledge
the problem and until both parties could agree
for an X amount of time, so both parties would
go in knowing it’s temporary – no assurance the
city will change the ordinance but could waive
the enforcement of the ordinance against him for
a period of time to seek a solution. Dan said
Rob has brought up some good points with a good
attitude. Dan will make up a Memorandum of
Understanding between the City of Moyie Springs
and Rob Pluid for the October 3rd meeting. A
motion was made by Chad Farrens and seconded by
Bart Klaus to approve a temporary arrangement
with Rob Pluid until June 1, 2013, and there
will not be a waiver by either side. Motion
carried. Steve Economu asked Rob is he has the
title for the trailer? We need to know if the
trailer has an Idaho seal if prior to June 15,
1976. Rob was also told he needs to fill out a
site location permit.
Discussed the Volunteer Fire Department. Ken
English reported there was a fire in the canyon,
under the bridge, and a car accident on the east
end of the bridge.
Discussed the Water & Sewer systems. John Nelson
reported we pumped a high on August 9th of
741,600 gpd, a low on the 31st of 190,100 gpd,
an average of 318,058 gpd and a total for the
month of August of 9,859,800 gallons. John said
the water tank overflowed 3 different days. He
would like to look into wireless telemetry – it
costs about $3500. John will talk to Eric
Lederhos. He would like to do this ASAP. John
talked to John Tindall, DEQ, and he wants John
to schedule a meeting with Larry Comer and him.
John has been working on the sewer lagoon – an
18” culvert broke. He is putting in 4” pipe. He
had the City of Bonners Ferry bring their camera
out and saw drips on the top of the plastic
culvert. John said we should buy 5 to 10 acres
of property from the Forest Service and have a
drain field there instead of below the mill.
John said he sees no reason we should have to
scrap our lagoon. John said there are some trees
in the
way of the wireless telemetry between the water
tank and the filter plant. About 750,000 gallons
water were used because of the overflow of the
tank in August. John was told to get more
information for the October 3rd meeting. The
county chip sealed E. Railroad St. and it cost
$7837.31.
We will discuss codification next month.
Discussed the bills. A motion was made by Terry
Johnson and seconded by Chad Farrens to pay the
bills. Motion carried.
A motion was made by Steve Economu and seconded
by Bart Klaus to adjourn. Motion carried.
/s/
Attest: City Clerk
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