Present: Mayor Kim E. Wilson, C. Chylene Whipple, C. Molly Keaton and C. Susie Hatch

MINUTES OF HANKSVILLE TOWN COUNCIL MEETINGMEETING HELD AT HANKSVILLE COMMUNITY CENTER ON THE 2nd DAY OF FEBRUARY AT 6:00P.M.

The Hanksville Town Council meeting convened its regular session on the 2nd day of February in the Hanksville Community Center; meeting commenced at 6:00 p.m.

Present: Mayor Kim E. Wilson, C. Chylene Whipple, C. Molly Keaton and C. Susie Hatch

Absent: Clerk Lisa Wells

Employees: Maintenance Jeff Pei and Treasurer Jessica Alvey

Public in Attendance: Keith Hunt, Kelly Chappell, Ensign Engineer

Meeting to Order: Mayor Kim E. Wilson

Pledge: Mayor Kim E. Wilson

Prayer: Chylene Whipple

Roll Call: Mayor Kim E. Wilson

Approval of minutes: Motion to approve minutes of January council meeting: C. Molly Keaton; Second C. Chylene Whipple Aye: All in attendance

Report of Officers:

Councilmember Celeste Sellers:

Submitted her letter of resignation on 1/26/2017 Clerk will advertise for vacant council seat

Councilmember Molly Keaton:

Nothing to report

Councilmember Susie Hatch:

Easter Egg Hunt and 5k will be April 15th, C. Chylene Whipple volunteered to be in charge of the Easter Egg Hunt and she will have the elementary students help color the eggs. Budget for the egg hunt was in question, Chylene will look it up.

Councilmember Chylene Whipple:

The lease has expired between the town and Wayne Community Health Center for the office space in the community center. WCMC requested a reduced monthly lease amount due to money they paid up front to help fund the remodeling of the community center to accommodate space for a clinic.

The heater in the old church is still not working; it may be an issue that we just don’t understand how to run the thermostat. Training on the use of the thermostat is needed for some to understand how it works. The Garkane power bill was unusually high, some of that might be the school bus plugged into the power at the old church and some of that could be the power to run the Christmas lights.

Jeff will be replacing the water heater on Jaron Jackson; he will check on the price and report back at the March council meeting.

Mayor Kim E. Wilson:

The mayor met with Six County AOG for their annual meeting in Hanksville. They outlined several different programs and the different funding sources that are available to communities. There are new procedure requirements for the capital improvements list which the council will need to update by the end of the month. Adus Dorsey, Wayne County Economic Development, attended the meeting as well.

Maintenance Jeff Pei:

Jeff presented a contract from the Utah Statewide Wildland and Wayne County fire district which Mr. Pei said the town has to sign. The county will be doing a flat tax across all properties, whether it is green belt, private, commercial, or residential for fire district funding. Tuesday the towns were invited to a meeting to speak about this fire tax that they are imposing on all county residents and municipalities within the county. It is something that the town has to vote and agree and sign a contract or there is an option of taking care of it ourselves. At the meeting that Jeff attended it sounded like the county will slowly take over as time goes by they will eventually end up owning our firehouse; that is the direction that they want to go with it. Wayne county has been acting as a fire district and now they are legally going to be a fire district with oversight from the state whether we like it or not. The county doesn’t have it all put together but it is something for the council to think about. Either we sign it and go in with and be a part of the county wide tax or do it on our own. There was discussion at his meeting and several items have not completely been addressed. Matt Christensen, with the state Wildland Fire Program is willing to come to a council meeting and explain the agreement that the town has the option of participating in or opting out of.

Jeff would like to know about the maintenance budget for the year. Eric has applied for the UDOT position so Jeff would like to know where the budget for him is right now. Jeff stated that Eric was told this this last January would be his last month and Eric hasn’t heard since. We have moved on from our last mayor and now Eric wants to know from the 1st of February on what the status is, whether he will continue on until the season hits. Jeff would like to discuss that. Treasure Jessica Alvey brought up that last year the second maintenance position was kept year round for the sewer project and the season came again and he is still on year round so the council should look at that. Was the position to end in November or in January? Jeff said the discussion was to have the second maintenance position through January. As of January council meeting the maintenance wage is within the budget set. C. Chylene Whipple discussed that there was conversation last year about cutting back Jeff Pei’s hours for January and keeping both maintenance people working, because there is not that much need in January. C. Chylene Whipple said that Eric has an interview on Tuesday with UDOT and that puts the council in limbo on what to do. Financially she doesn’t feel that we can keep him on. The busy season for the maintenance starts in April and ends in November for lawns, weeds and mosquito control. As a council they need to decide if they are going to keep the position filled or lay him off until April again. Jeff mentioned that Eric is willing to help wherever he could. C. Susie Hatch wanted to keep him on through February and then take another look at the budget in March and then make a decision. Jessica asked Jeff if there is a need to keep Eric on and he told the council probably not, he could use him but does he need him? No.

Dennis Leird wants a connection to his new lot he purchased. He has talked to Lisa Wells about transferring his sewer and water rights from his trailer to this new property but that is not feasible as that is tied to another property. He will need a new meter and pay the impact fees, he has already hooked up to the sewer. He is building a shed on the property and a couple of RV hookups for occasional use. Mayor mentioned that Blondie’s and the Hollow Mountain would like to connect with the town water due to their wells failing the arsenic test.

The usage has been reduced on well #2 and increased the usage of the Navajo well. The town has not received a violation from the DEQ yet regarding the arsenic. Jeff has not contacted Rural Water to inspect the tank with the leak.

Jeff is starting a water audit in February on all meters. He also would like to discuss changing the status of the Bromide RV Park to a permanent trailer park, this will boost the revenue of the town. They do not qualify as an RV park and the impact on the town system is greater than an RV park. The Bromide Park is year-round and not seasonal.

Treasurer Jessica Alvey:

Discussion regarding payroll dollars for second maintenance position. Jessica’s concern is that the town has used the B&C road money in a lot of different ways and now the town is looking at an upcoming roads project and there are not enough funds for the project and so for the next 10 or so years the money from B&C roads will be committed to this project and the other areas that have been used from B&C roads will have to come from the general fund or be cut back. So the council needs to think ahead on these funds because we will be that much money short once we start the roads project.

Clerk Lisa Wells: (ABSENT)

·  Bills were presented by the Mayor (see attached spreadsheet)

·  Motion to approve bills for payment C. Chylene Whipple; Second C. Molly Keaton Aye: All in attendance.

·  The vacant council position will be advertised and applications due by next council meeting.

Tabled items:

Division of Drinking Water – Federal SRF Loan Authorization of and Procedures for Committal of Funds for the water project.

Mayor asked for a vote on if they council wants to ratify this application and proceed and accept the grant/loan package for the project or not.

Kelly Chappell, Ensign Engineer – The state has approved this project, if the project gets changed that means we have to go back and amend the application; which can mean that the state changes the funding options. If we don’t the project a lot then Mr. Chappell doesn’t see them changing it at all but if we go a completely different route then they have the option of changing the funding. Also, with the arsenic, the state is coming down and saying the town needs to do something with the arsenic levels to bring them in to compliance with the regulations. The state is not saying that has to be done with this project but they are saying that a plan needs to be in place. There is an option of going after more funding from the USDA rural development. They have a package where you can qualify up to 75% grant if the system has health hazards, which arsenic counts towards. Besides this Division of Drinking water package that route is probably the best package that Hanksville is ever going to get, the only problem with that package is you have to have an income survey from the town completed by a third party. Rural water does these quite a bit, Kelly has talked to them over the last few days, they typically get a 30% response rate is a really good survey for them. In order for USDA to approve the loan you need an 80% response rate. He doesn’t see any problems with Hanksville qualifying; he just sees problems with getting those needed responses from the survey. For the survey they send out a letter, fairly harmless, you have to put how much you make and they do require it with your name attached so they can track how many people turn it back.

Mayor Wilson – Recapped the concerns of the council.

1.  The council has brought up several issues that they determined our flawed in what was originally engineered for the town and they would like those items addressed.

2.  Rate increase – Mayors calculations are different from the engineers and the town has never been given that actual rate increase that the engineer is recommending. Council is aware that there is two phases to the project if we cannot take care of the arsenic issue with some of the ideas that the mayor has recommended such as bypassing the current test point and by utilizing the Navajo well more in the blending of the water, and the second phase will require another rate increase.

Kelly Chappell stated that the DEQ will not approve a blending program for the town unless another water source is used. The town has the option of accepting the package that has been approved by Div. of Drinking Water or amending the application and see if they will approve the amendments. Council is still concerned how the town will pay for the project. C. Chylene Whipple would like to look into the possibility of a solar power source to operate the Navajo well because it does have the capacity to meet the needs of the town and would cut the cost of more piping across the red hills.

Mr. Chappell is meeting next week with rural development to see if there is anything that Ensign Engineering can do help this third party survey go better than it ever has in the past in gathering the income of 80% of the citizens. Their thoughts are having the town campaigning up front and possibly asking the third party if they would be willing to go door to door. If they approve that and Hanksville qualifies, that will open up another source of funding. If we are unable to take those steps to help those surveys come back then Drinking Water is our only option for funding. If the town wants to amend the plan and put a new well out in Dry Valley for a new source of water or an arsenic treatment is an option, they would be really similar in cost, depending on how the town wants to go. Ensign has contacted Garkane to get an estimate of bring power out to the Navajo well. Drinking Water would look more favorably at funding a new tank instead of piping, if the tank is leaking. Council discussed raising both water and sewer rates for future maintenance.

New Business and Public Comments:

Renewal of lease with Wayne Community Health Center – Council discussed the current rate is $550 and the WCHC is asking for a reduction in their lease amount. The town appreciated the health center coming to Hanksville and it is a needed service. The town budget has already included the full rent of $550 in the budget.

Motion to reduce the monthly rent to $500 for the Wayne Community Health Center in the town building C. Molly Keaton; Second C. Chylene Whipple Aye: All in attendance

Council had more discussion on the assistant maintenance position: C. Molly Keaton is of the opinion that the position was not going to be carried all winter long and that the council was going to re-negotiate in the spring for that position. C. Susie Hatch agreed that the position can be done if Jeff Pei feels it is not needed. C. Chylene Whipple would like to look at hiring summer help for April or May. In depth look at the budget needs to happen to make sure there are funds for two maintenance positions and also to set aside money for a capital improvements fund. The council could begin the capital improvement funds with the money received from the recent construction and purchasing of water by Neilson’s. Council discussed that originally the position was part time and would be responsible for grounds keeping, paying this person a lower wage and saving Jeff’s position for more technical jobs.

Motion that the council let Eric Wells go and revisit it the first of March and decide what the council wants to do with the summer project hours C. Chylene Whipple; Second C. Molly Keaton Aye: All in attendance

MOTION TO ADJOURN: C. Chylene Whipple; Second C. Molly Keaton Aye: All in attendance Adjourned 7:25 pm

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