Rio Dell City Council
Meeting Notes
February 21, 2006
The meeting began tonight with the full Council in attendance along with City Manager Jay Parrish, Attorney David Martinek, Accounting Supervisor Gordon Eton, and Public Works Director Jim Hale. The consent calendar was passed as a block, as is standard, with no comments or questions by the Council. The items on the consent calendar are listed on the Agenda posted for this meeting.
There were no special presentations tonight. Ordinances/special resolutions began with resolution no. 913-2006 Expense and use of public resources policy statement. This is in regards to recently passed legislation AB1234 regarding reimbursement of expenses for legislative body members. Those are the elected members and the appointed members of the local government, such as the Council, the planning commission and the parks & recreation commission. No city staff member is affected by this specific legislation. Reimbursable expenses are spelled out pretty clearly as well as non-reimbursable items. Reimbursement is allowed for expenses for training out of the area since the training is considered a public benefit. The resolution was taken from a draft by the League of Cities. Certain allowable expenses must be specifically approved by the City Council, such as expenses over $1,000. Expenses related to city events, personal portions of travel, non-mileage car expenses (repairs, tickets, etc.) and expenses related to a spouse or companion accompanying someone on a trip are all examples of non-allowable expenses. There is some provision for cash advances as well. There are specific expense reports that must be submitted. A brief report by the official attending the training is required at the next public meeting following the training. Council member Dunker requested clarification of mileage rate vs. gasoline reimbursement as well as whether a report should be given in writing or verbally. Eton as well as Parrish concurred that the method of reporting was not specified but believed that either would be appropriate. Mayor Leonard wondered if school board members would be affected. Eton was not sure, school boards were not mentioned in the ordinance but the fire district may be affected. Parrish remarked that perhaps the trainings could be offered closer to our area since so many local areas are affected. Council member Julie Woodall moved, Mike Dunker seconded and the resolution passed unanimously.
The next item listed on the agenda was pulled for "further investigation" according to Parrish. This was listed on the agenda as "electing to become subject to uniform public construction cost accounting procedures and notifying the controller of that election." Parrish explained that the resolution was regarding all public works projects under $30,000 and no longer requiring them to be put out to bid. The matter is being looked into further and may come up at a later meeting.
Resolution 915-2006 was added to the agenda by Leonard and was in regards to claiming the termination of the local weather emergency. Woodall moved for approval, Melissa Marks seconded and the resolution passed unanimously.
Special call items were next with two pay requests for the local water rehabilitation project. They were for $199,401.30 to SJ&B Group and $46,605.70 to Granite Construction. Parrish stated the projects are moving ahead. Woodall moved, Dunker seconded and both pay requests were approved unanimously. Next came the award of services to Planwest Partners for "coordination of community involvement in the EPA Brownfield assessment grant." This will be an independent organization responsible for the community outreach program regarding this Brownfield project, which will include 4 public meetings. This portion of the project will cost $5,000 out of the $200,000 initial grant. SHN Consulting Engineers, who was awarded the rest of the assessment grant project, recommended using a 3rd party to facilitate the meetings and be the public contact. Approval of the contract was moved by Dunker and seconded by Marks, the Council voted yes with the exception of Woodall who voted no.
The second item relating to the Brownfield grant was the award of a contract to SHN Consulting Engineers, Inc in the amount of $158,200. This is for the assessment of petroleum contaminated sites in town, GIS mapping of the sites, etc. SHN and Winzler & Kelly were the only companies to submit proposals and Parrish recommended SHN. Mayor Leonard mentioned that he and Parrish had met with SHN regarding this project and packets had been given to the other Council members. Woodall moved for approval, I did not catch who seconded the motion but it was passed unanimously.
The last item in this section was "approve recommendation pertaining to authorization of construction work for water filtration modifications." The scope of work for the massive water rehabilitation project did not allow for more than 350,000 gallons of water, which doesn't provide for growth in the city. SHN submitted modification plans to augment the water project for an additional $200,000. A representative from SHN addressed the Council with 3 alternatives and their recommendations. First would be to award the contract change order to John Petersen Inc for a lump sum of $200,000, second is to award the contract to Petersen Inc but for a time tracking method to reflect actual hours, third would be to put the contract out to bid. The State confirmed that it could be put out to bid but the engineer pointed out that the project would be delayed while complying with very specific requirements and "probably won't save any money." He stated that additional funding would be necessary. Marc Barsanti asked why $200,000 over? The engineer remarked that the contractor estimated the cost of the project. Dunker asked about any contingency fund money. SHN's representative stated that we did have a contingency fund but that was completely gone already. The original estimates to do the work were not close to the actual amounts due to increased costs. This used up the contingency fund. The state will loan the additional money at 0% interest. Leonard pointed out that if it were put out to bid that we would be close to winter. Parrish stated that the loan money has to be used up before any grant money kicks in. If we don't use up the loan, the city could be on the hook since the grant wouldn't kick in. SHN stated that they would be monitoring the contractor closely for the recommended time tracking method. Woodall asked if SHN would be charging more for that service? The engineer stated yes but that if we put the project out to bid and incurred the additional costs involved it would cost more. The $200,000 includes the cost of the inspection and monitoring. Woodall clarified the specifics of recommendations 1 and 2. Leonard stated that all of the work on this additional project surrounds the filtration center. It would add a clear well to the water tank, retrofit the 2 existing filters, and add a gravity flow system to the pump flow system. Leonard pointed out that the money spent so far on the water rehabilitation project doesn't do us any good without the clear well filtration system. Dunker moved for approval, Marks seconded and it was passed unanimously.
Updates from city staff started off with the City Manager. Parrish stated that the Cox franchise agreement was still under works. The Council should be getting something to vote on in March. The Eel River garbage agreement ends in March also. He stated that the city staff is working on reorganizing and cross training. Leonard remarked on the most recent Cox Cable fee increase of $.35 which Parrish was unaware of but will inquire about. Hale stated that public works is wrapping up projects such as the pipeline and Bellevue. Eton stated the accounting department is in the process of doing the paperwork related to the recent weather emergency. They recently attended a meeting with FEMA regarding their paperwork requirements. They are unsure of exactly when FEMA inspectors would be on site but it should be very soon.
Dunker stated that he would be attending a meeting of the League of California in Fort Bragg on Monday. We would update the Council afterwards.
Announcements of items to be discussed in the closed door session was next. These items are:
1. Potential litigation-Roberts vs. Rio Dell
2. Potential litigation-Nuisance abatement issues
3. Personnel Matter-Police department
4. Potential litigation-Concerned citizens vs. Rio Dell