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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03272007 City Council Minutes City of Seward, Alaska March 27, 2007 City Council Minutes Volume 37, Page 337 CALL TO ORDER .... The March 27, 2007 regular meeting ofthe Seward City Council was called to order at 7 :30 p.m. by Mayor Vanta Shafer. OPENING CEREMONY Police Chief Tom Clemons led the pledge of allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: Vanta Shafer presiding and Willard Dunham Bob Valdatta Jean Bardarson Linda Amberg Steve Schafer comprising a quorum of the Council; and Marvin Yoder, Interim City Manager Jean Lewis, City Clerk Johanna Dollerhide, Assistant City Clerk -- ABSENT - Robert Thomas CITIZENS' COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING Representative Paul Seaton appeared telephonically to speak to the council about Spring Creek Correctional Center. Seaton queried the council for their opinion on training programs and expansion before he pursued moving forward. Council's consensus was to move forward and Seaton asked for any input along the way. Keith Campbell spoke on the process of the library museum project. Campbell was frustrated with the length of time it took for the city to purchase the land, and he conveyed his frustration with the planning department on property rezoning issues. He felt personal views were being imposed on policies ofthe city. Campbell thought things were moving very slow and hoped the situation could be remedied. APPROV AL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (Schafer/Bardarson) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda --- Motion Passed Unanimous The clerk read the following approved consent agenda items: City of Seward, Alaska March 27,2007 City Council Minutes Volume 37, Page 338 The March 12, 2007 regular city council meeting minutes were approved. :t; .J Resolution 2007-026. authorizing an employment agreement with Phillip Oates for city manager services. Resolution 2007-027. supporting adjusting the area cost differential for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District. SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS Proclamations and Awards A proclamation was read for Earthquake Day. The Boys and Girls Club were presented with a proclamation. City Manager's Report. Interim City Manager Marvin Yoder stated a bill had passed to change the correction oflanguage in the funding bill for the research dock. It was expected for this bill to be on the house floor later this month. Yoder stated this was accomplished in part by Seward's lobbyists. Kent Dawson and University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton met with the J.. Department of Transportation last week. DOT was still concerned with the language correction and .. that it may not satisfy requirements of federal highways. A VTEC - The current lease draft was being reviewed for the fire training facility. Planning and Zoning would be dealing with vacation ofB street and transfer of property. Both issues would be coming to council soon. Head Tax - House Bill 222 was in legislation currently which stated under certain stipulations, a municipality could pass an ordinance where the money would go directly to them, instead of the state. This bill would be heard next Tuesday. Public Works - Yoder expected an agreement with QAP for paving 4th Avenue and a sewer and water project to come to the council soon. Dairy Hill Culvert project funds would be directed to the lift station funds. The Mary Lowell Center replat final hearings occurred last week in the borough and the Board of Adjustment had 30 days to deliberate and come to a final answer. In response to council, Yoder stated the bond package for the Long Term Care Facility was moving forward. Yoder was hoping to talk to DOT soon to address the language issue on the dock funding. Meetings continued to occur regarding the levee and a solution would soon come forward. ~ ..J Chamber of Commerce Report. Chamber Director Laura Cloward stated the chamber recently participated in a joint work session with P ACAB and it was a very productive meeting. It was good to begin establishing the lines between the two committees and Cloward felt this would City of Seward, Alaska March 27, 2007 City Council Minutes Volume 37, Page 339 ~ help out with city projects and the overall development ofthe city. The Chamber continued to have several hits on their website. From their research, it looked like it would be a very successful year in economic development. Cloward didn't think the high cost of fuel prices would deter the number of campers, but predicted visitors would fly into Anchorage and drive down, rather than drive from the lower 48. Fish restoration efforts continued with new 2007 decals for sale. Other Reports, Announcements and Presentations The Seward Chamber of Commerce gave a report on Seward's Ocean Festival in May. PUBLIC HEARINGS Resolution Requiring a Public Hearing Resolution 2007-025. in support of the adoption ofthe City of Seward Emergency Operations Plan, revised March 2007. Notice ofthe public hearing being posted and published as required by law was noted and the public hearing was opened. No one appeared to address the Council and the public hearing was closed. Fire Chief Dave Squires stated under directives by the president in 2004, the city was required to update and reform their emergency plans. To maintain eligibility for grants and disaster funds, the city had contracted out to develop a new, improved plan to adhere to the new directives. .... Motion (Dunham! Amberg) Approve Resolution 2007-025 Schafer asked if the plan was user friendly. Squires stated he hoped so, and an exercise would be occurring to test the plan soon. If it wasn't, the city had the opportunity to change it. Motion Passed Unanimous NEW BUSINESS Resolutions Resolution 2007-028. authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement with Resurrection Rentals to provide portable toilet service. Councilmember Bardarson asked for a ruling on a conflict of interest. Mayor Shafer ruled Bardarson a conflict did exist and Bardarson left the dais. Yoder stated this was the same contract used in the past, and recommended approval. Motion (Dunham/Valdatta) Approve Resolution 2007-028 ..... Schafer felt the city was getting a good deal on this contract. Valdatta agreed but felt Bardarson didn't have a conflict of interest, as Resurrection Rentals was the only bidder. City of Seward, Alaska March 27, 2007 City Council Minutes Volume 37, Page 340 Motion Passed Yes: Schafer, Dunham, Amberg, Valdatta, Mayor Shafer Abstain: Bardarson I ...J Resolution 2007-029. authorizing the city manager to enter into two purchase agreements for wire products, for a total amount not to exceed $108,545. Yoder stated this purchase did go out to bid, but the only response was not complete. After this, he felt the city should select the vendor based on quotes in order to get the supplies needed. Motion (Dunham!Bardarson) Approve Resolution 2007-029 Amberg was concerned with the contingency clause in the resolution. Valdatta responded it was different with materials, as prices could fluctuate. Motion Passed Unanimous Resolution 2007-030. authorizing the city manager to enter into a settlement agreement with IBEW for grievance COS 06-01 for an amount not to exceed $38,265.53. Yoder stated this was a grievance settlement due to a ruling against the city. J Motion (Dunham!Schafer) Approve Resolution 2007-030 Valdatta felt that the fact that the city was short on man power should have been included in the arbitrator's findings. Dunham disagreed and felt this settlement was an accumulation of several grievances, and he felt grievances never went away. Dunham was irritated the city had to settle this. This issue was a large cost to the city. He hoped the city could pinpoint why they had so many grievances and solve the problem. Motion Passed Unanimous Resolution 2007-031. authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement with Air Tec, Inc for an amount not to exceed $60,504.00 for the construction phase of the #1 Lift Station Mitigation Project, and appropriating funds. Yoder stated this was a project that had grant money from the grant mitigation ofthe October flood for repair to the lift station. As mentioned prior, the Dairy Hill Culvert repair project was dropped and funding was moved to the lift station project. The city didn't have that funding as of yet, and this was asking for the remainder of the money to finish up the project. f ... Motion (Valdatta/Bardarson) Approve Resolution 2007-031 City of Seward, Alaska March 27, 2007 City Council Minutes Volume 37, Page 341 Motion Passed Unanimous ..... OTHER NEW BUSINESS INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS (No action required) COUNCIL COMMENTS Valdatta complimented the new Chevron display. He felt the city needed to promote the winter fisheries with gray cod and Pollock. He asked for a work session to discuss this issue more. Dunham was displeased that Seward no longer had a postmark and asked a letter be written by the mayor to ask for it back. Today was the mark ofthe 1964 earthquake. Dunham remarked on school funding issues. The King Crab Festival this weekend was very successful and Dunham asked where the city stood on fish restoration, as this was the last year to take a stand on this issue. Mayor Shafer stated she had afternoon tea with Mary Barry, who presented on her writings of the history of Seward. She intended to write a letter to the Seward Postmaster and would follow up on it. CITIZENS' COMMENTS - None ? ..... COUNCIL AND ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO CITIZENS' COMMENTS - None ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:38 p.m. "" ..If"" .....'1. ~l Or Sl:l1/"", ," ~'............ ~'^ ~.., .:- (} .' o?POIUl~..'~o '<~ .. ....v ' ~.. -;, ~ ..~.. 'A.. t:1 .. .~ ___ '\wII. .. ~ : ~ ~ - . SEAL . .. :0: ~ :0: : \ ; : .., . - . .. -:. ... ~ q, ... . :: ~ d"~"'~kl:' 1 ,\9J~"'.J.J'.$' #..... ~').. ...~...I.... . c::,' ~.... ..,,7:'- . \.~" _,,' "',,' OF ~'o(1o", "'lIu~a~io' ~fL JiJlt',~ Vanta Shafer Mayor (City Seal) .....