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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Special Meeting of the Ames City Council 05/03/1994SPECIAL MEETING OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM 235 AMES, IOWA MAY 3, 1994 The Ames City Council met in special session at 7:00 p.m., May 3, l994, in the City Council Chambers in the City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue, pursuant to law with Mayor Curtis presiding and the following Council Members present: Campbell, Tedesco, Parks, and Wirth. Council Member Hoffman was absent. Council Member Brown arrived late. CAMPUS TOWN IMPROVEMENT PROJECT: Moved by Wirth, seconded by Tedesco to adopt RESOLUTION NO. 94-172 approving contract and bond for Manatt's, Inc., in the amount of $627,318.22 for Campustown Improvements Project Division I - Paving and Utilities, and for Koester Construction Company in the amount of $218,000.00 for Division II - Clock Tower. Roll Call Vote: 4-0. Resolution declared adopted unanimously, signed by the Mayor, and hereby made a portion of these minutes. LANDFILL CLOSURE PROJECT: Moved by Campbell, seconded by Parks to adopt RESOLUTION 94-173 approving change order for Landfill Closure Project. Roll Call Vote: 4-0. Resolution declared adopted unanimously, signed by the Mayor, and hereby made a portion of these minutes. Council Member Brown arrived at 7:08. LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION: Moved by Tedesco, seconded by Wirth to approve the liquor license application: a) Outdoor Service Area - Iowa State Memorial Union, ISU Campus. Council Member Parks inquired how this applies to the City Ordinances attached to the University but not to the activities of private citizens who happen to be on the campus. His concern was expressed with the Maintenance Shop classification. Mr. Klaus, City Attorney, thought the Maintenance Shop would be beneficiary of the liquor license that extends throughout the Union. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. PUBLIC MEETINGS FOR HOSPITAL: Moved by Parks, seconded by Campbell to approve public meetings schedule for Hospital governance options. Council Member Campbell was concerned about the number of people that could fit into Room 235. Council Member Parks made the suggestion that the meetings be moved to the auditorium or into the Council Chambers to provide adequate spacing. Council Member Campbell suggested that notices be sent to individuals and committees who have an interest in this topic. Vote on Motion 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. REQUEST TO EMPLOY LEGAL COUNSEL: Moved by Parks, seconded by Wirth to approve a request of Hospital Trustees to employ legal counsel for development of 501(C)(3) governance options for City Council consideration. A letter written by Linda Dasher, Chair, Board of Trustees, Mary Greeley Medical Center regarding permission to retain legal counsel was distributed to all Council Members and one to the Clerk. Council Member Brown expressed concern that this issue has already been decided and feels this still needs to be debated, as well as to have a credible presentation from the medical community. Council Member Parks stated that for MGMC to adequately prepare the proposal they would need legal advice, but feels if Mr. Klaus is used in that capacity it would put him in a difficult position. Council Member Campbell stated there has already been a presentation from the Hospital Board and this enables them to move on to the next presentation to the City Council. Vote on Motion: 4-l. Voting Aye: Campbell, Parks, Tedesco, Wirth. Voting Nay: Brown. Motion declared carried. DISCUSSION ON WATER RATE INCREASE: City Manager Steve Schainker prefaced comments by reminding Council Members that they are not being asked to vote on the water rate increase at this time. Mr. Schainker asked the Mayor to direct staff to develop an ordinance for Tuesday night's first reading with the second and third reading proposed by May 24, l994. Mr. Tom Neumann, Director of Water and Pollution Control opened the discussion. He related that water rate evaluations began in the summer of l991, a council workshop on utility rates was held in November of l99l, and subsequent budget hearings, and another Council workshop was held on February 4, l994. During the 1994 budget hearings, the Council approved a 33 percent revenue increase for the Water Fund beginning July l, l994. At the end of fiscal year l993 there showed a $l.48 million balance for the water utility. However, future operating expenses and capital improvements to address the needs of the utility at the end of the current l993-94 year shows a balance of just over a million dollars. That figure falls drastically, to just over a half-million dollars in l995. The adopted budget and the CIP Plan would place the budget over one million dollars in the red by l996. The option decided upon to follow was a 33 percent increase beginning July 1, 1994, followed by a 25 percent increase in l997. This falls into the criteria set by the Council two years ago in the rate structure of maintaining a working balance of about 10 percent. The decision needs to be made of how to distribute the increase among all the customers of the utility. Presently there are 11,500 customers that pay monthly water bills through the rate ordinance structure. Contract customers would not be affected because they pay as they use. The present minimum bill is $4.00 per month with a 100 cu. ft. allowance. Rate proposals include a $6.00 minimum bill, both with and without an allowance. Corresponding proposals were presented for minimum bills of $5.50 and $5.00 if it should be considered necessary to reach the proper minimum bill in several steps. Currently the cost of serving customers without any water use is $6.00. Other factors not considered in the rate projections are the impact of 2 recent State legislation, possible extension of water lines into rural areas, and a value maintenance program. A lengthy discussion was held over the various rate options. Moved by Campbell, seconded by Parks, to direct the City Attorney to prepare a City ordinance in accordance with provision CW/O $6.00 per month service charge, no allowance and $1.14 per 100 cubic feet. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. Moved by Parks, seconded by Wirth, to make a recommendation that staff figure the cost of earmarking bills for any future state or federal mandates adding additional charges. Vote on Motion: 5-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. YARD METER PROGRAM: In l985, the City Council adopted the yard meter program in response to citizen complaints about high sewer fees for water use that did not reach the sanitary sewer. It was decided that any customer could install a yard meter and make the necessary plumbing change, all at his/her own expense. Although the program was intended to relieve customers of sewer charges on summer lawn watering, it has been observed that water is used through some yard meters l2 months of the year. The growth of yard meter installations since l985 has been unexpected, rapid, and continuing. Approximately l,000 meters are now installed. This number is not included in the present total of 11,500 water utility customer accounts. Most new homes are plumbed with a yard meter installed. Water meter growth will continue at a rapid rate as sewer service charges continue to increase. In a normal year, approximately 70-75 percent of total annual yard meter use will occur during the four summer billing months, with activity in 80-85 percent of all installations. The same percentage will be active during the two months preceding the summer billing season, but total use will be only 20-25 percent of the annual total. Less than 10 percent of use will occur during the remaining six months. During the three winter months of lowest activity, yard meter water use will be less than one percent of the total for the year. The suggestion was made during the summer billing months of a $4.00 minimum bill with no exception, plus a unit rate higher for water consumed. In the off season, if there was no usage, there would be no bill. If there was usage they would pay $4.00. There was considerable discussion regarding the yard meter usage during the winter and summer. It was agreed that there was a need to develop and enact a yard meter rate schedule which will recover from those benefited some or all of the utility's costs for the yard meter program. Mr. Schainker related that discussion was needed in June about the rural water supply and water pressure regarding rate increases in the Capital Improvement Plan. 3 Mr. Neumann related there was no further discussion on water, however, wanted to remind Council regarding the recommendation to increase the minimum bill on sewer in l995. That slight change would extend the time frame to l998 before an overall rate increase would be needed. A narrative and documentation will be worked up on this issue. COMMENTS: Council Member Campbell suggested that the Mayor write Harris Seidel and Deb Shields a thank you letter for all of their volunteer time in putting this together. Mayor asked Council Member Campbell to write letter for him. ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 8:28 p.m. _________________________________ _____________________________________ Jill Ripperger, Acting City Clerk Larry R. Curtis, Mayor _________________________________ Ginger Jones, Recording Secretary 4