Minutes
CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO
REGULAR MEETING
April 12, 2021
MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON April 12, 2021
PLACE: Training Room – Nezperce City Hall, 606 Maple Street.
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY MAYOR BATEMAN AT 7:09A.M.
PRESENT were Councilmembers Steve Bateman, James Zenner, Mike Jensen and Tyler Nelson; Maintenance Supervisor Craig Cardwell and Clerk-Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt. Guess present was Amy Uptmor, JUB Engineer. Cm. Michelle Lyons and Fire Chief Dave Kuther were absent.
Pledge of Allegiance: The pledge was led by Mayor Bateman.
MINUTES of the previous meeting of 3/24/2021 were approved as emailed upon a motion by Cm. Jensen, motion was seconded by Cm. Nelson, motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT AND MONTHLY BILLS:
The Clerk’s Monthly Treasurer’s Report dated April 12, 2021 was examined and approved, showing the following:
Funds on Hand $562,243.57
All bills and payroll disbursements were examined and approved for payment upon a motion by Cm. Nelson and seconded by Cm. Jensen in the total of $67,208.54 check numbers 15811 through 15861. Receipts since the last meeting were shown as $106,735.46. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well as the Payment Approval Report for April.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No members of the public were in attendance.
BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED
1. Lagoon Leakage Test Contract & Property Acquisition Update– Engineer Amy Uptmor: Engineer Amy Uptmor explained that lagoon leakage tests are required every 10 years. The individual the city used to do the testing before is no longer doing the testing so Amy explained that JUB can do the testing unless Cardwell has found someone else to do it. Cardwell said that Idaho Rural Water has offered to do the testing. Uptmor added that an engineer will be needed to review the data information if the testing is done by IRWA. Uptmor has put together a scope of work for DEQ to approve and has a contract in hand in the amount of $11,000 if the city wants JUB to do the testing. Cm. Zenner made a motion to have JUB provide the lagoon leakage testing for the city for $11,000.00, motion was seconded by Cm. Jensen, motion carried. Amy informed the council that the survey has been completed but we are awaiting the legal description so that we can move on to the appraisal process. Amy continues to work on project funding and DEQ has some loan forgiveness, right now our project is ranked #4 and they only have money to fund one project; Amy is also working with John Lynn from RD on a funding package. Amy asked when we can get some digging at the proposed site for a proposed storage lagoon as we need to know if this site will indeed work. Cardwell will get the excavator scheduled to use.
2. Surplus Property Bids: No bids have been received on the advertised surplus equipment so we will take photos and put it on Facebook Marketplace and see if we can sell them.
3. Dog Ordinance Correction & Letters to Violators: Clerk Schmidt informed the council that 3 violation letters were mailed and copies sent to Sheriff Davis who followed up on the letters. 2 of the violators have licensed their dogs and one is a hold out. Clerk Schmidt will follow up with those letters. Sheriff Davis would like the letters to have the attorney letterhead on them as that really helps people take the situation seriously. Clerk Schmidt informed the council that since reviewing the fees for licensing it appears that there is no fee for an unneutered dog and would like to set a fee. Following discussion, Cm. Nelson moved to charge $35.00 for an unneutered dog, motion was seconded by Cm. Zenner, motion carried. Letters will be sent to Jack Trombetta and Kelly Johnson requesting that they begin picking up their dog feces when they walk their dog. Dog stations are being ordered for placement in the downtown area.
4. City-wide Clean Up: Cardwell informed the council that roll offs for the cleanup arrive on May 3rd and will decided where to place them so that we can advertise the cleanup on Nezperce News.
5. Arbor Day – Volunteer of the Year: This year Arbor Day is combined with honoring the 2019 Volunteers of the Year on April 30th. Schmidt has a neighbor with a tree spade and will hire him to take out a dead tree at the arena and replanting a tree in that same space. We will also take out trees at the senior center to give away. The Volunteers of the 2019 Year will receive a tree and a plaque and we will plant a tree of their choice in their yard.
6. Fire Chief Benefits – Wage & Retirement: Following discussion it was decided that no changes will be made at this time.
7. Council Wage Increase: Following discussion the council decided to table an increase as they don’t feel that an increase is necessary at this time.
8. Museum Improvements: Clerk Schmidt reported to the council on behalf of the Nezperce Historical Society that the museum lost its gutters in a wind storm and need to be repaired. The museum also needs a dehumidifier to clean the air as the building has a moldy musty problem that is dangerous to people as well as the artifacts; Schmidt asked Janet from Brady Industries to look into a system for the building.
9. Office Assistant Advertisement: Two applications have been received for the Office Assistant position and she will be conducting interviews in the coming weeks. Schmidt explained that this new person will work Fridays each week and a second day to train. Schmidt is hopeful that this person will agree to do some light janitorial as we need assistance in city buildings.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
1. Maintenance
Water: Cardwell reported that the pump valve stuck open and over filled the water tank again, Cardwell will need to work on a fix; maintenance will begin reading meters this month. Cardwell had the Cottonwood Maintenance Department come over and weld the pipe together for the water install at the Willow Street Development. Currently we are waiting for Summit to finish another job before they can come back and install the waterline and will see what they will charge for the sewer install.
Sewer: Discharge at the lagoons was shut down due to an algae bloom.
Streets: Maintenance plans to do some crack sealing as we already have the product and fill in potholes. The sweeper is down as parts are ordered and working on a way to adjust the rubber liner from getting ate away by gravel. Hopefully we will find out more about stimulus relief for street infrastructure we have heard about.
Parks: Cardwell talked to the council about taking the aged wooden swing set out of Memorial Park as it is dangerous. Maintenance needs to fix the partitions in the RV comfort station rest rooms and trim trees this month
2. Clerk
Clerk Schmidt will be gone to an AIC training on April 19th in Moscow.
3. Fire Department
Fire Chief was not in attendance as the department was fighting a house fire at the Trombetta house next door to the EMS building. It was heard that the fire was reported at or around 6AM.
COUNCIL COMMENT
ADJOURNMENT: Meeting adjourned at 7:11AM.
Other/Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Council Meetings: April 12th and May 10th at 7AM
Trainings: AIC April 19th in Moscow
The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be on Monday, April 12th at 7AM at City Hall.
______________________ _____________________________
Steve A. Bateman, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer