CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO
PUBLIC HEARING AND
REGULAR MEETING
January 13, 2020
MINUTES OF A PUBLIC HEARING AND REGULAR MEETING OF THE NEZPERCE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEZPERCE, IDAHO, HELD ON January 13, 2020.
PLACE: Nezperce City Hall, 606 Maple Street.
THE MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY MAYOR BATEMAN AT 5:30 PM.
PRESENT were Councilmembers Steve Bateman, Mike Jensen, James Zenner, Michelle Lyons, Maintenance Supervisor Craig Cardwell, Fire Chief Dave Kuther and Clerk-Treasurer Rhonda Schmidt. Guest present was Angela Edwards from CEDA. Councilman Tyler Nelson absent.
Pledge of Allegiance: The pledge was led by Mayor Bateman.
PUBLIC HEARING: Budget Amendment FYE 2019- No members of the public were in attendance to speak on the budget amendment. Mayor Bateman read the Budget Ordinance Amendment and no comments were made.
MINUTES of the previous meetings of 12/12/19 were approved as emailed upon a motion by Cm. Jensen, motion was seconded by Cm. Lyons, motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT AND MONTHLY BILLS:
The Clerk’s Monthly Treasurer’s Report dated January 13, 2020 was examined and approved, showing the following:
Funds on Hand $336,203.12 (approximate as no pool received)
All bills and payroll disbursements were examined and approved for payment upon a motion by Cm. Zenner and seconded by Cm. Jensen in the total of $44,850.45 check numbers 15110 through 15113 and 15141through 15190. Receipts since the last meeting were shown as $45,946.63. Checks and stub approvals were signed appropriately by all parties as well as the Payment Approval Report for January.
US Bank Letter to Close Checking Account: Clerk Schmidt is asking the council to close one of two US Bank accounts as the bank closed its Nezperce Branch and we have opened accounts at the Cottonwood Federal Credit Union. Schmidt informed the council that once this account is closed by January 31, 2020, she will ask the council in February to close the last account moving the last of the funds to the Credit Union. Cm. Jensen made a motion to close the account ending in 9110 by January 31, 2020 and sign a letter directing the Cottonwood Branch Manager to move funds to the account ending in 7736 and close said account. Motion was second by Cm. Zenner, motion carried.
PUBLIC COMMENT
BUSINESS TO BE CONDUCTED
1. Swearing in of Mayor Bateman and Councilmembers Nelson & Zenner: Clerk Schmidt swore in Mayor Bateman followed by Councilman Zenner. As Councilman Nelson was absent, he will be sworn in at the next meeting. Cm. Nelson was planning to attend but he is temporarily staying in Spokane WA while his young son is receiving cancer treatment and the weather most likely didn’t help today.
2. Election of Council President: Following a brief discussion Cm. Jensen moved that Cm. Zenner be nominated president of the council, Cm. Lyons seconded the motion, motion carried.
3. REV Up North Idaho – Angela Edwards of CEDA: Angie gave a run down on the workshops that are coming on broadband, housing and downtown revitalization the three top issues that seem to be lacking in our area. The city can be part of one or all three initiatives.
4. Appointment of Council Positions: Following discussion the council would like to keep the same positions that they had over the last 4 years. Those positions are: Zenner – Council President, Jensen – Water & Sewer, Lyons – Streets, Nelson – Sheriff and Dogs. Mayor Bateman – Airport.
5. Liquor License Renewals: Liquor licenses presented to the council were: The Only Store, Nezperce Hotel and Coach’s Family Sports Bar. Coaches is in the process of getting their licenses as was previously the Prairie Smokehouse. Cm. Jensen moved to accept and approve the licenses, while Cm. Zenner seconded the motion, motion carried.
6. Budget Amendment FYE 2019 – Ordinance 2020-1: Mayor Bateman called for a motion to Suspend the Rules after the council reviewed Ordinance 2020-1. Cm. Zenner moved to Suspend the Rules, Cm. Jensen seconded the motion, with the following roll call vote:
Councilman Zenner Aye,
Councilman Jensen Aye,
Councilman Nelson Absent,
Councilman Lyons Aye.
Upon a motion by Cm. Zenner, seconded by Cm. Jensen to adopt Ordinance 2020-1 as presented with the following roll call vote:
Councilman Zenner Aye,
Councilman Jensen Aye,
Councilman Nelson Absent,
Councilman Lyons Aye.
7. Garage Door Repair – 506 Maple Street: Following discussion Cm. Jensen moved to accept the quote to repair the garage door for $1,430.00, motion was second by Cm. Lyons, motion carried.
8. NPDES Permit Update: Engineer Amy Uptmor was going to be here but has not quite finished putting together costs for the feasibility plan so will be at the February meeting. She emailed a status report and Maintenance Cardwell gave a rundown of Amy’s email. We had a call with EPA and they gave us until 2027 for ammonia compliance. If the city goes in the direction of land app several permit requirements will go away while we will receive different land app requirements to comply with. Uptmor will be finishing up the EPA Annual report and submit it to the EPA by January 31 as required on our previous compliance order. Talked about specifics of land app and what all it is going to take for us to get out of the creek.
9. Black Mountain Software Cloud Hosting: Clerk Schmidt reported to the council that she spoke with 3 size similar cities about cloud hosting and all three cities reported that they love the hosting and would never go back to the time-consuming process of protecting their software themselves again. Clerk Schmidt pulled information off the internet from sites that provide hosting and the costs associated with securing information and all three had similar costs if not cost more than Black Mountain. Plus, Black Mountain provides the server equipment, maintenance updates to the equipment and top-notch security, plus they update modules automatically. Cm. Jensen moved to accept the Black Mountain quote for $1,415.00 annually, motion was seconded by Cm. Lyons after asking about the security, motion carried.
10. Volunteer of the Year: Council reviewed the nomination forms for Volunteer of the Year for 2019. The name(s) of the Volunteer of the Year will be announced at Arbor Day this Year and until then will be kept secret until the announcement. Cm. Zenner made the motion for the Volunteer of the Year, motion was seconded by Cm. Lyons, motion carried.
DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
1. Maintenance
Water: Maintenance Cardwell reported that everything is going well all samples are in but don’t have the results yet.
Sewer Ponds: Cardwell reminded the council that he was having issues with the chlorine pumps last month and to be prepared that we may need to replace the pumps. Cardwell found someone to repair them and they are going again. The repairman informed Cardwell that these pumps should last 20 years that the problem with them is the design and installation. Cardwell will be repositioning the pumps and with that modification things will work fine. Cardwell is currently looking for a few parts needed to reposition the pumps. Tests for the DMR came back good this month. We will be finishing up a few EPA paperwork permit requirements before the end of the month.
Streets: Plowing and sanding streets the past few weeks has been the priority. The snow late this morning caught Cardwell off guard but he got in there and got the plowing done.
Shop: Cardwell reported that they got all the walls painted and is in the process of cleaning and re-organizing some things. They are going through all the bins and plan to move outside to cleanup and reorganize the equipment bays.
Airport: Due to the location of the helipad Cardwell is making plans to move the windsock that we received from the state aeronautics as it is a lighted sock. We will need a few light parts for the helipad also. We will be working to get the FFA form completed and turned in so we can be ready to go on the project in the spring.
2. Clerk
Lot sales: Clerk Schmidt has been asked about lots for sale as one resident wants to downsize and another might be interested in building. Once the lots are officially in the city’s name how much does the council want to sell them for. $5,000 a lot was the decision.
Library Community Center: Clerk Schmidt was informed of a spot on the carpet and went in and spot cleaned it. She wrote a letter reminding users that we all need to do our part to keep the room clean as possible. Schmidt will have the carpet professionally cleaned in the spring but reported that the carpet is pulling away from the north wall. Cardwell added that he found a problem with the gutter that would allow for water to build up behind the gutter and corrected the issue. He also put timers on the heat strips in the gutters so they don’t run all the time costing us money as the heat strips are effective but costly.
Senior Center: Clerk Schmidt informed the council that the seniors have had a meeting and changed most officers. Seems that their attendance numbers are back up and they raised the meal donation cost. Schmidt spoke with newly elected President Brad Fischer about what the city does for the senior center and that this fall the woodpecker holes were filled and this spring we will be painting the outside of the building. This brought up another subject regarding the paint bid. Tom Scott informed Clerk Schmidt that when filling the holes, he came across lots of weathered wood that will need to be replaced to paint the building which will raise the cost of the bid $1,000.00. Following discussion, the council requests that Scott rebid the painting project.
3. Fire Department Report
Fire Chief Kuther informed the council that he received an email from the insurance rating representative who would like to come to Nezperce in April but Kuther will ask that he come in June, a better month for exercising hydrants. He added that they have been working on the dirty side of the building and got the small bathroom on the clean side going. Mayor Bateman asked if there is anything the city can do to help on the building and Kuther said that we will need to call in an electrician to do work on the dirty side and we can help with that. He will call in people to get the sheet rock up and Mayor Bateman thought that maintenance can help with that during the week also. Kuther said that the rural district bought another truck that will haul more crew and they got it for a great price. They recently held a 2-night workshop in the training room last week called “Stop the Bleed”. It was unfortunate that only a few attended but that is a start. Clerk Schmidt added that plans are underway to have Arbor Day at the station this year, Kuther will plan to have the letters on the building by then, he added that John Miller has spoken about donating a flagpole for the building.
COUNCIL COMMENT
City Official’s Day at the Capital is coming up, Mayor Bateman asked if anyone is interesting in attending? No one is able to attend.
Extension Office meeting invitation was read by Mayor Bateman. Anyone can attend this meeting as they are looking for ideas to improve their 4-H program.
Other/Upcoming Events:
Upcoming Council Meetings: February 10th at 5:30PM and March 9th at 5:30PM
Holiday Closures: January 20th and February 17th
City Officials’ Day at the Capitol: January 23rd
ADJOURNMENT – Meeting was adjourned at 7:13AM
The next city council meeting will be on Monday, February 10, 2020 at 5:30 PM at City Hall.
__________________________ _____________________________
Steve A. Bateman, Mayor Rhonda J. Schmidt, Clerk-Treasurer