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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Special Meeting of the Ames City Council 04/16/2013MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL AMES, IOWA APRIL 16, 2013 The Ames City Council met in special session at 7:00 p.m. on the 16 day of April, 2013, in the Cityth Council Chambers in City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue, pursuant to law with Mayor Ann Campbell presiding and the following Council Members present: Davis, Goodman, Larson, Orazem, Szopinski, and Wacha. Ex officio member Baker was absent. Mayor Campbell expressed condolences to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. CONSENT AGENDA: Mayor Campbell stated that Item Nos. 1 and 2 on the consent agenda would be pulled for separate discussion. Moved by Davis, and seconded by Larson to approve the following items on the consent agenda: 3. RESOLUTION NO. 13-158 authorizing an amount not to exceed $1,500 for additional litigation expense in Iowa League of Cities v. EPA case **Additional Item: RESOLUTION NO. 13-159 approving closure of parking spaces on Chamberlain Street between Welch Avenue and Fire Station #2 driveway and Chamberlain Lot Y on April 19 - 21 to facilitate staging of law enforcement vehicles and related equipment Roll Call Vote: 6-0. Resolutions declared adopted unanimously, signed by the M ayor, and hereby made a po rtion of these M inutes. RESOLUTION NO. 13-156 APPROVING CHANGE ORDER NO. 2 TO NAES CORPORATION OF HOUSTON, TEXAS FOR STEAM TURBINE NO. 8 OVERHAUL: Assistant City Manager Bob Kindred told Council that the requests tonight are urgent matters. He said that every 5-8 years the units get dismantled to evaluate work that needs done. He said Change Order No. 2 will likely need additional funds, and it will be important to act swiftly to minimize the downtime for Unit 8. Electric Services Director Don Kom said the generator and turbine are still being looked at. He said the turbine is offsite where five minor issues are being looked at, but that since it is already apart, staff wants to use due diligence to be sure everything needing correcting is corrected so that the unit will operate longer. Mr. Kom said it would be more cost effective to fix the issues now, but that would extend the outage of the unit another week to ten days. He said staff is weighing the information, bids, and contractors available and should have recommendations by Tuesday’s City Council meeting. He told the Council that overall, Unit 8 is in good condition. Moved by Larson and seconded by Orazem to approve RESOLUTION NO. 13-156 approving Change Order No. 2 to NAES Corporation of Houston, Texas for Steam Turbine No. 8 Overhaul. Roll Call Vote: 6-0. Resolution declared adopted unanimously, signed by the Mayor, and he reby made a po rtion of these M inutes. RESOLUTION NO. 13-157 WAIVING CITY’S PURCHASING POLICY AND AWARDING CONTRACT FOR POWER PLANT MOTOR REPAIR TO ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND EQUIPMENT COMPANY OF DES MOINES, IOWA: Mr. Kom said that once the motors were taken to a facility in Des Moines, it was discovered that two of them need full coil rework. He said two other firms were contacted, and it was found out that Electrical Engineering and Equipment Company (3E) can do the work more cost effectively than the other firms. He said to waive the bid requirements would allow the units to stay at 3E. There was discussion regarding the costs. 2 Moved by Larson and seconded by Orazem to approve RESOLUTION 13-157 waiving City’s Purchasing Policy and Awarding Contract for Power Plant motor repair to Electrical Engineering and Equipment Company of Des Moines, Iowa. Roll Call Vote: 6-0. Resolution declared adopted unanimously, signed by the M ayor, and hereby made a po rtion of these M inutes. COUNCIL WORKSHOP ON FLOOD MITIGATION STUDY: Mayor Campbell introduced Water & Pollution Control Director John Dunn. Mr. Dunn told the Council that the presentation given tonight is the same presentation that was given twice to the public on April 10. He said there will be one more opportunity for public input before a final recommendation is made. Mr. Dunn recognized the individuals that have partnered together on this study working toward the City Council’s goal of mitigating the effects of flooding on the community. Mr. Dunn reviewed the scope of work, and said HDR Engineering (HDR) will be presenting alternatives tonight. He noted that HDR maximized public input during the entire process, and treated it as more than just communication to the public, but more like conversations with individuals. Mr. Dunn told the Council that the input really shaped the way alternatives were looked at and evaluated, of which there is no single or easy answer. Mr. Dunn introduced Water Resources Engineer Andy McCoy of HDR. Mr. McCoy said 300 people have attended public meetings, 645 have visited the online meeting, and 181 comments have been received through the website. He described the evaluation process. Mr. McCoy described how the extreme rain events that have occurred recently in the state of Iowa were used as examples, and through computer modeling were routed into Squaw Creek and the Skunk River to show how an event could exceed the 2010 flood. He said these alternatives were incorporated into web-based maps. Nathan Young of the Iowa Flood Center gave a demonstration of how the maps can be used, and said the web interface was created specific to this project. To access the maps, he said to go to the City’s website: www.cityofames.org and then click on “Flood Mitigation Study”which is located under “In the Spotlight”. Mr. McCoy said the public could use the tool to search for homes and view the effects of flooding. Mr. McCoy reviewed the presentation. The alternatives being considered were discussed: •Centralized Storage •Regional Flood Storage •Floodplain Storage •Diversion (2 options) •Conveyance Improvements (3 options) •Levee Protection to 100-year flood level •Levee Protection to 500-year flood level For each alternative the benefit cost analysis was reviewed, including construction costs, annual cost, annual benefits, and the benefit/ cost ratio. Mr. McCoy said HDR needs to obtain Council’s feedback on options it is interested in so that next step options can be calculated. There was discussion among the Council members about the alternatives. Mr. Larson asked about combining different alternatives, and if the benefit/ cost ratios could be modeled from several different combination scenarios. Mr. McCoy said that is possible, and that alternatives that provide natural combinations would be channel improvements along Squaw Creek, lengthening the bridge at US Highway 30, and adding a levee. He said now 3 HDR wants to quantify the different combinations, and asked if there were any alternatives that should not be further considered. Mr. Schainker said it would be best to optimize the impact for the best cost. Mr. Larson said he would like to know which three options in conjunction with other options could slow the flows down coming into Ames. Mr. McCoy asked if he would like to see the best stand alone detention facilities put in combination with other alternatives. Mr. Larson said yes, and added that the City will have to rethink what is allowed for development. Mr. Goodman said slowing the water down is important, and said that money could be made available for buy outs that would help eliminate economic impacts. Mayor Campbell said after the 1993 flood there was an effort to have individual properties put up flood walls. Mr. McCoy said they did not look at flood walls for specific properties. Mr. Goodman asked how the project would be funded. Mr. Schainker said outside funding would be researched, or bonds could be issued. Mr. Orazem asked if there are different probabilities for getting outside funding for the different options. Mr. McCoy said the benefit/ cost ratio would need to be above 1. Discussion continued. Mr. Dunn said if the Council paired up different alternatives, not everything would be constructed in year 1, but incrementally which would spread out the expense. Mr. Orazem asked about Decorah, Iowa. Mr. McCoy said Decorah combined levees and bike trails to enhance the area. Mayor Campbell asked if Council would like staff and the consultants to eliminate the unlikely options. Mr. Larson said he would like at least one option that includes storage in the most cost- effective way. Mr. Goodman asked if we are still within the scope of the study. Mr. Dunn said we are outside the scope, but HDR has agreed to look at one more analysis. Mr. Goodman asked about buyouts. Mr. McCoy said that option can be provided, as it is the baseline that everything is compared to. Mr. Larson said certain entities would need alternative locations if bought out. Mr. Dunn asked the Council if it is accurate to say it would like HDR to prepare combination alternatives with upstream storage. Mr. Orazem said storage vs. levees is a logical question. Mr. Larson said he is interested in any combination with a benefit/ cost ratio better than a 1, then it can be determined if environmental impacts could be mitigated, or if they are too great. He said if the alternative would protect against a 500 year flood and has at least a 1, he wants to see it. Mr. Dunn said HDR will provide a draft of the final written document within 4-6 weeks and then staff will review it and the finalized report could be presented to City Council in June or July, when staff will present the finalized alternatives. Mr. Dunn said it will be that same time that staff is about to assemble an update to the CIP if there is an option that Council would like to pursue. Mr. Dunn said that Mr. McCoy and his team have done an outstanding job on the study and have been positive ambassadors on the Council’s behalf. He said they took many comments and were always respectful and receptive to all of them. COMMENTS: There were no comments. The Council recessed at 9:21 p.m. and reconvened at 9:30 p.m. Moved by Davis and seconded by Larson to go into closed session at 9:31 p.m. Roll Call Vote: 6-0. Resolution declared adopted unanimously, signed by the Mayor, and hereby made a po rtion of these M inutes. 4 Moved by Davis and seconded by Szopinski to return to regular session at 10:35 p.m. Vote on Motion: 6-0. Motion carried unanimously. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 10:35 p.m. _________________________________ _________________________________ Diane R. Voss, City Clerk Ann H. Campbell, Mayor ___________________________________ Erin Thompson, Recording Secretary