CITY OF ABERDEEN

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING

DECEMBER 13, 2016

Mayor Larry Barrett called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. City Clerk/Treasurer Linda Balls was present to record the following minutes.

Council members present were: Karalee Bonzon, Mary Leisy, Brian Schneider, Alan Summers and Craig Wampler. Denise Wahlen was unable to attend.

Also present at the meeting were City Attorney Garrett Sandow, Public Works Supervisor Robert Goss, Jessica Monahan from The Aberdeen Times, Kelvin Bowles, Rebekah Bitikofer and Chief Chuck Carroll.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Councilwoman Leisy made the motion to approve the November 8, 2016 regular council meeting minutes as typed. Councilwoman Bonzon seconded the motion. All were in favor, the motion passed.

Mayor Barrett stated that the Golf Course Lease Agreement is up for renewal, and it is basically the same as last year.

Councilwoman Bonzon said that she talked with Paul Muirbrook regarding the Golf Course Lease and there was a question if the lease would be reduced from five (5) years to a lesser term, but Paul was fine to leave it as is. It would be renewed for a term of five (5) years.

Councilman Schneider asked if there was a separate lease agreement for the property. Bonzon said there was and it was a little bit longer lease and it is the $100.00 a year lease of which hasn’t expired yet. Schneider asked if at some point the two leases could be consolidated. Bonzon stated that she was thinking that same thing, and maybe when the next one comes due to consolidate them.

MOTION

Councilwoman Bonzon made the motion to approve the Golf Course Lease for five (5) years. Councilman Schneider seconded the motion. All were in favor, the motion passed.

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Mayor Barrett stated that next is Ordinance 310, which is the Home Occupation Ordinance Amendment. Councilman Schneider asked for a reminder of what the changes were.

Attorney Sandow stated that the changes were to add that the Home Occupation License requires written consent from all the owners within 150’ on a form for such consent. Then a paragraph was added that if they can’t comply with all the conditions, they would go to the Planning and Zoning Board to have a public hearing. The Planning and Zoning Board would then make a decision. If anyone was upset with the decision on either side, they may appeal directly to City Council. Sandow said that pretty much sums up the changes.

MOTION

Councilwoman Leisy made the motion to waive the readings and read Ordinance 310 once by title only. Councilman Wampler seconded the motion. All were in favor, the motion passed.

Attorney Sandow read Ordinance 310, the Home Occupation Ordinance Amendment once by title only.

MOTION

Councilman Summers made the motion to adopt Ordinance 310, the Home Occupation Ordinance Amendment. Councilman Schneider seconded the motion.

Roll call vote: Bonzon, yes; Leisy, yes; Schneider, yes; Summers, yes and Wampler, yes. Voting was all in favor, the motion passed.

Chief Carroll explained that Resolution 184 is for the destruction of police records of the City of Aberdeen. It is a resolution like the one approved previously. Carroll said that included with the resolution is a list of the records that are appropriate for destruction, as well as a letter from the Historical Society stating that they have no interest in the above listed records. Carroll stated that it is about 11 boxes of records that have been scanned and ready for destruction. There are around 20 boxes left to go through yet.

MOTION

Councilwoman Leisy made the motion to accept Resolution 184 to destroy police records. Councilman Schneider seconded the motion.

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Roll call vote: Bonzon, yes; Leisy, yes; Schneider, yes; Summers, yes and Wampler, yes. Voting was all in favor, the motion passed.

Mayor Barrett stated that last month the council discussed the Rise Broadband Property Lease Agreement Amendment and they didn’t want to tie it in to a five (5) year lease. Rise Broadband has come back with a few suggested changes. Barrett asked Linda Balls to go over those changes.

Linda Balls said that Rise Broadband would like the amendment to extend the agreement automatically for five (5) additional periods of one (1) year each. So each year would be an additional term. Then have the period of time of written notice of termination be 365 days for either party. They were told that the city would not agree to the 365 days, and they asked about 180 days. The original agreement only said 90 days and was fine with Rise Broadband then, so the only thing we would have to change is that we agree to the five (5) additional periods of one (1) year each (each an “Additional Term”)

Attorney Sandow stated that last month it was approved by the council to extend the Agreement for the one (1) year period for five (5) additional periods, and leaving everything else as is, including the 90 day written notice required to terminate the lease. Sandow said he felt that it has already been taken care of.

Mayor Barrett asked Linda Balls to contact Rise Broadband and let them know that is what the council has decided.

Attorney Sandow explained the state statutes have always required that the government entities report their Account Balances monthly, of which we do, but it needs to be under oath. Someone in Coeur d’Alene has been taking a lot of cities to task because they haven’t been reporting the account balances under oath. Sandow said he asked Linda Balls to make a form that would comply with that statute, and that is what the council has been given tonight. It is the same information that they have been receiving but in a different format.

Attorney Sandow stated that the city needs a records retention policy by statute also. He has emailed Linda a copy of Blackfoot’s records retention policy for everyone to review. The chief has been referring to the records retention when he has done the resolutions to destroy police records. Sandow said that we don’t want to make a decision tonight, but it can be put on the agenda for next month for approval or modification. There really needs to be something in place for Aberdeen that sets out when we are going to destroy records and how long they are going to be kept.

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Mayor Barrett stated that everyone should have a copy of the proposed chicken and rabbit ordinance amendment to look over that Attorney Sandow put together. Sandow said that he took

the ideas from Jeremy Marley’s proposal that he went to Planning and Zoning with and the comments that Councilman Wampler made to come up with something that was clear. There is enough changes that the ordinance amendment will need to go back to Planning and Zoning for another public hearing. Sandow said tonight he is looking for guidance from council and any suggested changes before it goes back to Planning and Zoning.

Mayor Barrett asked if the council approves the ordinance amendment that defines livestock, of which chickens and rabbits are included, would that kill the above proposed chicken and rabbit ordinance amendment.

Attorney Sandow stated that it wouldn’t necessarily because the way the chicken and rabbit amendment is drafted “is not withstanding any other restrictions in Aberdeen City Code.” If the council adopts this amendment, it would control chickens and rabbits. If the chicken and rabbit ordinance amendment doesn’t pass, then the amendment that defines livestock will have to be done.

Councilman Schneider said the proposed ordinance amendment doesn’t talk about chickens running free. It talks about the containment of the chickens, but it doesn’t actually say that it is required.

Councilman Summers stated that at the last meeting they talked about rentals and trailer courts. He asked if a person rents, would they not be able to have chickens and rabbits.

Mayor Barrett said that he felt it would be up to the landlord.

Attorney Sandow stated that as far as chickens running at large, it can be added in. But Blackfoot has never had an issue with that.

After more discussion, the council decided to send the proposed chicken and rabbit ordinance amendment back to Planning and Zoning with the suggested changes made so they can hold another public hearing.

Chief Carroll stated that he has boxes of records to destroy, and the first batch were burned which takes a while to make sure they are burned completely, so he researched into Shred-It. It is a company who has an office in Pocatello that would bring two 64 gallon totes for things that need to be shredded to go in and come every three months to empty them. They would let the city sign a contract for one year instead of the normal five year contract. The cost would be $63.00 every three months. Carroll said Shred-It is one of two companies in the United States that are bonded that do this. The containers themselves are locked, but there can be someone

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designated on site to have a key so if something is dropped in that shouldn’t be, it can be retrieved.

Mayor Barrett asked Chief Carroll if he was basically asking the council for permission to go with this company to shred records. Carroll said yes, but he didn’t know if Barrett wanted him to sign the agreement and negotiate the fine details. Barrett asked if the first year expense would come out of the police budget. Carroll said that he didn’t budget for it and was thinking that it could be shared with the other departments.

Mayor Barrett asked if there were any questions. Councilman Schneider stated that he was fine with it for a year. He would like to see how it went after the year was up and if it was worth it.

MOTION

Councilman Schneider made the motion to adopt the Shred-It Program for one (1) year and authorize Chief Carroll to sign for it. Councilman Summers seconded the motion. All were in favor, the motion passed.

DEPARTMENTS

Councilwoman Bonzon stated the Golf Course Lease Agreement has been taken care of already.

Councilwoman Bonzon said that she did the recertification for the Tree City USA for another year. She has also received the Little Free Library boxes that are going in the parks.

Mayor Barrett stated that he was asked last week if the city had ever looked into having a skateboard park. Councilwoman Leisy said that years ago it was checked into, but there was a liability issue.

Mayor Barrett said that he saw a couple of boys on the ice skating rink. They didn’t have skates, but they were out on the ice.

Robert Goss asked Mayor Barrett if we needed to hang a sign at the ice skating rink that says “Skate at Your Own Risk”. Barrett said it wouldn’t hurt to put a sign up.

Mayor Barrett stated that Councilwoman Wahlen wasn’t there and he wasn’t aware of anything that Planning and Zoning had done. Barrett asked Robert Goss if he had looked at any zoning permits this last month. Goss said that he did look at one for Direct Communications that is putting in a small building on a lot they bought from the canal company. It is zoned industrial and they can build to the property line, but the building will be 30 feet back from the front property line and in 9 feet from the alley. It will be a concrete building and they will be running a line from there out to the cell tower. Barrett asked when Direct Communications runs that line

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and comes to one of our roads, if they were going to bore underneath the road or dig through the road. Goss said they are boring and have already gone through one of our water mains. Goss stated that the crew did fantastic. From the time they heard that the water main was hit, within two hours it was fixed where the water could be turned back on. The water had to be turned off again the next day as A J Excavation had to come and fuse the line together to where it needed to be and not have a temporary band on it. Goss said that Direct Communications will have a big bill to pay for the repair.

Kelvin Bowles stated that A J Excavation fused the pipe but the city did the excavation of the pipe. Bowles said the city did that because he knew where the main line was at and didn’t want any more damage done. That was why they were able to get it back on line as quick as they did. A band aid was put on it so the water could run through the night and people could have service until it could be fixed permanently. Bowles said everything held just fine, so they will keep the bands in case it happens again so they have a way to repair it quickly.

Councilman Schneider said that he had nothing in his departments, but did ask Robert Goss where the water line was damaged. Goss said it was at 3rd East and Fremont.

Councilwoman Leisy stated that they are still working on the Gem Trail. The economic development group has gotten their Little Free Libraries and Christmas decorations have been put in the planters that are left out.

Councilman Summers said that regarding recycling he talked to Mr. LeFevre and he no longer wants refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners or anything with Freon in it. Summers said Mayor Barrett is having a sign made that says the above plus “no garbage”, as he has had a problem with people dropping off couches and garbage at the recycle center also.

Mayor Barrett asked the city crew to take the non-recyclable items to the landfill from the recycle center to clean it up. Barrett also asked Chief Carroll and Robert Goss to work on getting a camera at the recycle center and decide where a good place would be to put it.

Councilman Wampler asked how much it would cost to have the codifiers put the city ordinances online. Linda Balls stated that Jeff Pratt is working on putting the city ordinances on our website right now.