GRESHAM CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
January 5, 2010

A.CALL TO ORDER BY PRESIDING OFFICER

Mayor Bemis introduced Guy Strot, Activities Director at Centennial High School and Alyssa Koulentis the Great Young Citizen.

Mr. Strot introduced Dick Bertleson, Soccer Coach from Centennial High School and presented the accomplishments of Alyssa Koulentis.

Mr. Bertleson discussed Alyssa’s leadership role and contribution to the soccer team.

Mayor Bemis read the Great Young Citizen Award and presented the award to Alyssa.

Alyssa thanked the Council and her parents.

B.CITIZEN AND COMMUNITY GROUP COMMENTS FOR AGENDA (EXCEPT PUBLIC HEARING) AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS

A motion was made by Councilor David Widmark, second by Councilor Paul Warr-King, TO APPROVE CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS C-1 THROUGH C-3. The motion passed as follows:

D.PUBLIC HEARING

Mayor Bemis read the order of procedure for the hearing. 

Mayor Bemis introduced Moen family members, Howard and Greg Moen, long time Gresham residents and leaders in the business community.

Ken Oniyma, Senior City Planner presented the staff report.

Consensus of the Council was to close the hearing.

Councilor Warr-King asked what benefits Mr. and Mrs. Thorp will receive from the conversion of the property to historic resource and what benefits would be given to any future occupants.

Mr. Onyima said there are quite a few benefits as a result of the conversion, first and foremost would be pride of ownership, the pride of one living in a home that has historic significance within the City. Also it will help preserve the architectual integrity of the home over time. It also serves as a precursor for some tax relief from the state and getting listed on the National Register of Historic places.

Councilor Nielsen-Hood thanked the staff for a great presentation and also praised Mr. and Mrs. Thorp for allowing this home to be converted to a Historical Resource.

Councilor Widmark recognized the Chair of the Historical Resource Committee David Lindstrom and Mr. and Mrs. Thorp, current owners of the Moen House property. He said he is pleased to see this piece of property being preserved for future generations.

Councilor Strathern said the beauty of this type of designation is that it tells a story and it protects our history. Without these designations many of these stories would be lost to the community.

Councilor Fuhrer said it is nice to see homes with such historical and architechual significance will be preserved.

A motion was made by Councilor Carol Nielsen-Hood, second by Councilor Shirley Craddick, TO APPROVE CITY APPLICATION NUMBER MIS 09-26000211 BASED ON THE FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE STAFF REPORT; AND MOVE TO APPROVE THE FIRST READING OF COUNCIL BILL NO. 01-10.
  The motion passed as follows:

E.COUNCIL BUSINESS

Sharron Monohon, Senior Management Analys for Environmental Services presented the staff report.

Mayor Bemis asked if the Stonerigde Crossing Stabalization project had a portion paid through litigation.

Mr. Ris, City Attorney said the money received by calling a letter of credit was applied to this project.

Mayor Bemis asked what the total amount of the Stoneridge Crossing Stabalization project was.

John Dorst, Deputy Director Environment Services said the total amount of the Stoneridge Stabalization project was approximately $325,000.

Councilor Craddick referred to the rule changes for the ARRA funds and asked how these changes will impact the cost of the Stoneridge project.

Mr. Stahl said under the original proposal of the grant, a certain level of material costs and labor costs of about $3.7 million was anticipated. With Buy American the cost of meters and installation had gone up and when dealing with 16,000 residential meters that are being put in the ground, a small increase per meter resulted in a conciderable increase to the cost of the project. Depending on the vendor the cost would increase by $300,00 to $600,000. It was a cost increase that was not anticipated.

Councilor Craddick asked how this increase will affect the water fund reserve and what is the risk on this cost increase.

Mr. Stahl said there was a project in the CIP a couple years ago for residential meter replacement and the annual contribution was $140,000. The ARRA stimulus funding will allow everything to be completed up front to get the full benefit and having an updated system and be able to take advantage of modern technology. The additional money from Oregon Busienss Development Department (OBDD) will raise the annual debt service to about $50,000 additional cost per year above what was originally anticipated. From a business perspective there will be a 7-10 year payback on a 20 year system instead of a 5-7 year payback.

Councilor Fuhrer asked if having no contingency on this project is a standard operating procedure.

Mr. Stahl said when staff first applied for the ARRA funding the request was for the maximum amount of $4 million for a green project. The hope was that the estimates were high, given what had occurred on previous construction contracts. The hope was not correct therefore staff is bringing all the additional items that may potentially occur and increased the project cost by $250,000 for meter lids and those types of replacement that would have been needed over the years along with a $200,000 contingency just in case there were some complications but now that the OBDD funding is secure it will fall under the loan obligation.

Councilor Fuhrer asked if the contingency was not listed in the original request because the project hadn't been identified prior to applying for the ARRA funds.

Mr. Stahl said the application request was for the maximum amount for the green project and it did not include a continency. We anticipated the bid would be lower and therefore the funds would be available to meet any additional costs that might be needed.

Ms. Monohon said staff had not anticipated replacing the water meters as a single project in this condensed timephrame. This project was anticipated to be completed over a 20 year period. However, when this stimulus funding option became available staff decided to apply for the maximum amount.

Councilor Widmark asked if all the meters are replaced now, how staff intends to fund the replacement of all the meters again in 40 or 50 years from now.

Ms. Monohon said that is something that will be factored into the long term financial planning and staff anticipates setting funds aside for the replacement in the future.

A motion was made by Councilor Shirley Craddick, second by Council President Richard Strathern, TO APPROVE RESOLUTION NO. 2996: AMENDING THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (CIP) FOR FISCAL YEARS 09/10 THROUGH 13/14 TO REFLECT THE CHANGES AS DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT A.  The motion passed as follows:

F.COUNCIL MEASURES AND PROPOSALS

Mayor Bemis presented the agenda item.

A motion was made by Councilor Paul Warr-King, second by Councilor Shirley Craddick, TO APPROVE NOMINATE COUNCILOR DAVID WIDMARK TO BE THE NEXT COUNCIL PRESIDENT FOR THE YEAR 2010.The motion passed as follows:

G.ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING

___________________________
Shane T. Bemis,
Mayor

Respectfully Submitted,

___________________________
Susanjoy Baskoro
City Recorder