Council Minutes January 19, 2010 Minutes
January 19, 2010 Minutes
Sunday, 14 February 2010 13:16 | 
MINUTES of REGULAR SESSION
of the BOARD of COUNCIL
of the CITY of RUSSELLVILLE, KENTUCKY
held JANUARY 19, 2010
The Russellville City Council met in regular session on Tuesday, January 19, 2010, at 6:00 p.m., in city hall. Mayor Gene Zick presided over the meeting with Council members Jimmy Davenport, Pat Bell, Jack Whipple, Doug Nash, Russell Jones and Lanny McPherson present.
The mayor asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the regular session held on January 5, 2010.
McPherson moved, seconded by Bell, to approve the minutes of the regular session held on January 5, 2010.
The mayor asked for additions, corrections or discussion. Being none the motion to approve passed unanimously.
Under announcements the mayor told council there would be a reception this Friday, January 22, 2010, at the Cattle Pen Restaurant at 3:00 p.m. for submariners visiting Russellville; the public is invited. There will be a legislative breakfast in Frankfort on January 28th. On February 3rd there will be a KLC City Day/City Night held in Frankfort; anyone interested please let me or Jan Robbins know. The mayor updated everyone on the condition of Bill Pearson; he has gone through this first round of chemo. He has finished with that and now they will give him shots to stimulate the growth of stem cells. The mayor said he had looked at the turn at Cherry Street and Ryan Drive mentioned at the last council meeting. He has gotten an estimate of about $1,900. There can be no paving at this time because of weather. There are two concrete curbs on that street that everyone seems to jump over and it is also very narrow at that point then widens out to about 23 feet at the far end. The mayor said to do the whole street would involve trees, power lines and poles so I think we need to confine ourselves to the entrance and would solve part of the problem. The mayor said he had gotten some phones calls on McPherson’s sewer rate (recently on Feedback). McPherson had quoted the rate at $3.95 but it was actually $8.95).
The mayor asked if there were any committee reports.
McPherson said Logan-Todd would have its next meeting on the last Thursday of this month; anyone is welcome to attend. He said he was meeting with a few on the board to talk about what direction they think they should take to reduce cost. Bell asked McPherson the time of the meeting and McPherson said they were at 5:00 p.m. The mayor asked if there was a report from the water deposit committee and McPherson said the last numbers he and Bell had looked at he noticed the cut-offs were down a little and they were wanting to get three months on record; we should be coming close to getting there now.
Davenport reported the deGraffenried Committee would be meeting this coming Monday (January 25th) at 4:00 p.m. Hedges would be attending the meeting.
The mayor asked Whipple if there was anything to report from LEAD or the IDA and Whipple said there would be a meeting on February 10th to discuss the possibility of a new business; he could not say where or what type right now. The mayor said there has been a lot of activity there.
The mayor said he has been doing some checking on the senior discount program; seniors that live in federal housing has their water bill paid so will not get a discount. The city is right on federal guidelines and they think because social security did not go up more people may be qualified for the discount so we will take another look at them. The mayor said his charge to the water deposit committee was to increase the discount to $15.
Next on the agenda was City Clerk Bob Riggs with a financial report of the city. Riggs reported the General Fund cash position at the beginning of January was about $20,000 and is still very low; about $5,000 or $10,000. We are now at the point we are just trying to get by until the last portion of the month when revenue comes in strong. Riggs said insurance premium fees had been good today and the payroll tax quarter will end at the end of this month. The General Fund owes no short-term debt. Revenue has been slightly above budget level year-to-date. He said the month of December and maybe November was a little below budget but we were so much over budget in October that we were still above budget level. Riggs said there was a new revenue item at the Carpenter Center; Silver Sneakers. The program brought in $650 in December. The Woodland Drive paving has now been reimbursed, about $99,000 in January. This also helped to bring our cash position back up to level. We have spent $809,000 so far on the Rockwell Park project; no change since the last meeting. We still have $720,000 available. There has been no change in the Street Scape grant. We are still close to getting the $325,000. The mayor said the design on the brick was the hold up. Riggs said he had handed out a check register to council for the month of December and also financials for December. If anyone has any questions on those let him know and he would be glad to answer any questions. There had been a question at the last meeting on “other professional” and he has found out one reason that had been higher was because of tree trimming activity and it had been a significant amount. There had also been an error; something was in there that should have been in capital (outlay). The auditors will do their presentation at the next council meeting on February 2nd. When the budget process starts in a month or so we need to remember that the retirement rates have already been set as of July 1st, they will go up from 16.1% to 16.93% on the normal retirement; this is about 5%. On the hazardous retirement, it go from 32.97% to 33.25% which is about 1%. We know this is going to happen. The insurance premium fees (revenues) are set to go down as of July 1st on an annual basis. This will mean our insurance fees instead of being $570,000 annually will be about $460,000; about an $110,000 reduction but we do not know exactly. We will have to think in terms of how we are going to make ends meet in the General Fund.
Riggs continued with a report on the Water and Sewer fund. We had operating cash of $97,000 at the beginning of the month and $196,000 at mid-month. Riggs said he thought there had been quite a bit of activity to try and keep costs as low as possible because they know water rates are going up and it is going to be really tough; some things will have to be cut. There is no short term debt for Water and Sewer. Revenue has been higher than budget most months. The only month it was lower was November. Riggs reported we had spent $488,000 on the Rockwell Sewer project Phase I and $48,000 on Phase II and have $281,000 left for the Johnson Street Phase II portion. This will be used with the $800,000 grant/loan from KIA. On the Rockwell Water project we have spent $708,000 for the water tower and the pipelines going to it. Riggs said the budget process will soon be upon us for Water and Sewer also and we need to think about the Logan-Todd rate increase of 13.3%; it will be really tough to handle. We will be looking at options on that later tonight hopefully. Riggs told council the CPI (Consumer Price Index) from the Labor Department has been used and December is 4.3%. It was lower the month before. He said he thought it would change quite a bit from month to month. The number the chamber had was 1.8% but is a national number, we have been using the southern region number. Riggs said when the chamber’s number had been 1.8% Russellville’s had been 2.7%. Riggs said now, the chamber number had gone up to 2.7% in one month and the city’s had gone up to 4.3%. Riggs added the city normally used the January index so we will be watching that. He said the Perpetual Cash had started the month with $185,000 and we still have that amount at this point. Municipal Road Aid had started the month with $48,000 and we are now at $45,000; we should receive another $40,000 in February.
McPherson asked Riggs if the city still owed Scotty’s $135,000 for work and the mayor answered yes. McPherson asked if bills had been settled with Knight Electric on the lighting and Riggs said those had been settled. McPherson asked then all bills were paid then except for the $135,000 and the mayor said yes.
Next on the agenda was Jane Kisselbaugh with an update on the Waste Treatment Plant and Inflow and Infiltration. Kisselbaugh had a presentation and also had handouts for the council. She said the problems the plant was currently facing were old sewer lines and the failure of those lines, rehabilitation of the manholes and locating them, location of lines and the accessibility to them, inaccurate maps, aging equipment, inflow and infiltration and money. Kisselbaugh said areas of concerns were the old lines that are still in service, I&I, neglected manhole rehabilitation, lift stations, older and faulty equipment. Kisselbaugh said she had Jeff Rager had only been in charge of I&I since September so they had some projects they are interested in. Kisselbaugh said they believed in what they have done so far is the line behind Brown’s Tobacco Warehouse to the Sycamore Drive area. The project is going to involve 2,130 ft’ of 8” line; this will be Phase I of that. This would involve the rehabilitation of 9 manholes with a total cost of $44,100 (best estimate). Kisselbaugh explained the Crittenden Church project was not actually the church but the Crittenden area. DDI Engineering has been looking into that for the city. The price on the project is $76,654; it involves 857’ linear feet of 8” line and the removal of a manhole. The mayor asked Kisselbaugh if that was the one under the church and Kisselbaugh said she wasn’t sure. Wayne Thomas and Scott Randolph with DDI Engineering both said it did involve the line of the church and Randolph added it was under the part part-way. Councilman Jones, who attends the church, agreed the line was under the church part-way but could be gotten to from the outside but it goes under the church. The mayor asked if we were going to leave out the line why did we not just fill it up. Kisselbaugh said she was sure there was more details should they (DDI?) be interested in the project. The mayor said he remembers someone wanting to put cement in the line.
Kisselbaugh continued: The department has uncovered 13 manholes located at 3rd and 4th Streets, 4 along 68/80 at the rear of Max Arnold and Sons and extending to the RJ Corman lot off of Depot Street, 2 on Peyton Street and 1 found between East 1st and East 2nd Street. Another was found on Cornelius Avenue by the railroad crossing. The one located on Hopkinsville Street had been back-filled with dirt and was not capped. Kisselbaugh said they were finding some difficult things as they move. These have been a source of I&I that had gone unnoticed and feel good about the find. She said all of the manholes had been covered for quite a while and were being added to the map. Another project they were looking at was a Daleview line. The total length that needs replaced is 1,791 feet of 8” line and the rehabilitation of about 6 manholes. The total cost of the project would be about $36,570. The mayor asked Kisselbaugh if that would include the engineering and she said yes, this was their best estimate.
Kisselbaugh some future needs of both departments were to be able to lease a plotter; this would help them with map generation, a metal detector and line locator, more trench boxes, a back up or possibly a new sewer camera; a lot of down time has been due to the camera we have, lift station up-grades, a back up truck; we are the only county without one, new or better vehicles. Kisselbaugh said none of these items were immediate needs but future needs.
Kisselbaugh summarized other activities of the departments. About 13,000 feet of line has been washed and cut, video inspection of the majority of those lines. McPherson asked what one slide was in particular, it had looked like a fence post and Kisselbaugh said possibly the pictures were some really horrible examples of what has happened. Kisselbaugh said some of the more notable areas are the Browns line to Sycamore and Cornelius Avenue; approximately 1,000 feet of line was replaced along Cornelius Ave. She said there have been many spot repairs made; Baker Drive had 2, Brookhaven Dr. had 3, Peyton Street had 2. Manholes have been rehabilitated to stop I&I from entering on Meadow Lane, Francis Avenue, Armory Drive and along the creek. She said 3 of the 4 repairs have been on the line located on the Rolling Hills Golf Course; they want to wait for better weather to complete the 4th one so we will not cause any damage. One picture was of a galvanized line with a hole in it that was found on Armory Drive. Kisselbaugh finished by telling the I&I percentage now stood at 44.6%. We started at 78% on August 6, 2004. Kisselbaugh told the council they could realistically look for 35%.
McPherson asked the mayor what the price of the sewer camera had been when purchased years ago; it was in the $40,000 range. The mayor said the camera has gotten so much use is was always being repaired.
Next on the agenda was Scott Randolph with DDI Engineering and Cathy Maroney with Parks and Recreation to discuss sod versus turf. Randolph handed to the council a cost comparison of natural grass versus artificial turf. He said since the last presentation, at the city’s request, they had tried to look at cost comparisons of Bermuda natural grass fields seeded with rye compared to the artificial turf fields that we already have a bid on. Randolph said he was not an expert so he has tried to consult with several other individuals to get the prices. Some individuals he had talked to were Kenny Grant with the Liza Sod Farms, Greg Fear with WKU maintenance, Chris Werth, Werth Surfacing and Irrigation and Ben Casey. Randolph explained they tried to come up with the initial cost for putting gin the natural grass fields. He said there were several different options that keep coming up that they tried to evaluate. Option I was for 6” of topsoil is basically the numbers difference in these and had a canon irrigation system, or no infield irrigation (sprinkler heads or piping). It will be irrigated from the side. Randolph explained the thinking on this was to get infield irrigation you will have to put in more topsoil, if not every time you try to aerate the fields you will be hitting the irrigation system lines. Randolph said some have said that 6” of topsoil was the minimum; some said 8”. He said with the gravel bed underneath it the recommendations he had was 6” as a minimum. Option II would be 12” of topsoil with the infield irrigation system. Randolph said council should see those two pretty much off set between the extra topsoil versus the infield irrigation. Some have said that the maintenance cost may be higher with the infield irrigation system because there will be more field damage if there is a plumbing leak or sprinkler head replacements. Randolph said another thing with Option I & II was both Bermuda grass sprigged. To sprig it comes between May 1st and June 1st; then it will be pretty much 100 days from the time it is sprigged before you can play on the fields for the grow in time period. Randolph with Option III basically you take the canons or the in-field, the price will be pretty close to the same but he took the canon irrigation system, and went with sodding the fields in case the council wanted near immediate playability. Of course the cost is considerably higher with that. Randolph said those were the differences in the three options. He explained on Option II was laser grading (3rd line down). He said he doubled this because it was going to have to be we would have to put the in-field irrigation…laser grading is laser grading the topsoil to get a smooth surface. You have to do this, put in the in-field irrigation system then grade it again. Randolph said there was a pump in Option I to do the canon systems because it will have to have a lot of PSI (pounds per square inch). He said also another cost on there was the cost for some 6” water line because currently on Armory Drive there is only a 2” or 3’ line. The closest 6” line he thought was either on North Main or the armory itself. Randolph said the number he had come up with for equipment had been an average price of used equipment.
Randolph asked council if he wanted to have discussion on slide at a time or for him to go through all of the presentation and open it up for questions. With no council input Randolph said he would go through another slide or two but if anyone wanted to go back they could.
The next slide Randolph presented was the annual maintenance of sod and artificial turf. Randolph said from the last slide natural grass was considerably less expensive to install initially but then the annual maintenance cost of natural grass is more than the artificial turf. Under maintenance of natural grass Randolph had mowing (WKU mows usually three times a week) during parts of the year if it was a good growing season. Randolph said he took one and a half times a week for mowing for 3 weeks to come up with these costs. Included items were fertilizer, top dressing and other items. Randolph said major items were water (for irrigation system this is a major dollar item on annual maintenance) and the other is re-sodding the field. He has talked to several different schools about maintaining their fields and typically for soccer the biggest problems are the goalie boxes. They replace these each year if they get much use at all. With football and soccer a good portion of the middle of the field has to be replaced once a year.
To summarize the costs of the two Randolph said he had made a third comparison to try and come up with an equivalent cost comparison of the two systems. He said to do this he had taken the initial cost of the natural grass and spread it out over 50 years for most of it. He said this was because once the dirt is in there it will not be going anywhere, if you go further than 50 years the number changes but very little. The equivalent he went to was 20 years but was probably stretching it for the maintenance equipment. The main reason for this was the pump and irrigation system (big dollar item) and we would probably be looking at replacing the pump station. Randolph explained the “S” on the slide stood for salvage value at the end of those years; the curbing on the field itself was $161,120.50. This is the cost of the fields minus the equipment cost; the pump and the maintenance equipment. The salvage value would be the topsoil cost and other items that would still have value in 50 years. Randolph said there would probably have to be some free grading. He said on the pump at 20 years the pump will still have some value, $7,000 but some will have to be replaced. He explained on the artificial he had taken the initial cost of $467,000 and spread it over ten years which is he thought conservative on the life of artificial turf. Some people say this will last 12-15 years depending on use and how well it is maintained. He said if we went that far though he thought as far as stretching it over the lifespan he would need to put more money into the annual maintenance costs because once the warranty runs out you will put more money into the annual maintenance cost on turf in the latter year. So with the cost to replace the turf at the end of ten years, salvage value of $3,000 for the equipment Randolph came up with an equivalent annual cost comparison. On the natural grass there was capital recovery for the expenses of the field and equipment and your annual maintenance costs which is straight off the annual maintenance spreadsheet and totals $79,678.18 a year. The equivalent annual cost for artificial turf was for the turf spread out over 10 years and adjusted for inflation, the annual maintenance of $61,423.43. He has used 3% for inflation rates.
Randolph explained the spreadsheet itself did not include the potential revenue generation numbers or any utilization difference numbers. With artificial turf we should get to play on it more; rained out less. You should get to use that field more. The spreadsheet does not take these into consideration. Randolph said some will break it down and look at a cost per use (and we could do that with these. Some estimates he has looked at say artificial turf will be used twice as much as natural grass. He said this was debatable but the spreadsheet was adjusted for utilization.
The mayor asked Randolph if his key points were the annual maintenance costs and Randolph said it would be $68,033.92 for the natural grass. The mayor stressed this would come out of the General Fund operating fund. Randolph said this would be versus $6,863 annual maintenance for the artificial turf. The mayor said Randolph’s other point was he was using an average cost of used equipment for capital purchases and Randolph agreed saying the list was on the wall (of chambers). The mayor said thought the low side was $30,000 and the high side was about $101,000; an average of about $67,000. Randolph said he thought we could spend less on equipment up front; you are going to replace them more often. The more spent now hopefully the less you would spend overall. The mayor asked Randolph in his conversation with Greg Fear, who operates all of WKU’s facilities, what he had said about sod versus turf. Randolph said historically Fear was a fan of natural grass but when he had sent the maintenance spreadsheet to him for input, Fear said on the football and soccer fields at WKU artificial turf had been very little maintenance. He also said if the city had the money to spend up front he would recommend going with artificial turf because most people that do not want the artificial turf is because it is hard to come up with the extra money to spend to get an artificial turf field. He recommended the artificial turf if at all possible. The mayor commented that Randolph’s numbers didn’t reflect any additional revenue derived from concessions and fee utilization. He said he thought this was a major factor. Another factor was making you different that everybody else.
The mayor said one thing that had dawned on him while talking with Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Maroney the other day was that it was not just going to be soccer and football. The plans that Maroney has (is equivalent to) is 12 fields.
Next on the subject of sod versus artificial turf was Cathy Maroney to talk about the revenue and utilization. She began by reminding the council with the fields themselves she wanted to make sure there is the most utilization. She said there were two large fields, open areas. At the beginning of the beginning we had decided to make sure we could divide the fields up and right now we currently have 4 Youth soccer league in each age groups in their leagues. What we were going to do to utilize all of the space they can is to have 8 soccer fields, 1 Jr. Pro. Football field and 2 regulation soccer fields. Maroney said then we would be talking about a potential of 12 fields no matter what type of turf we have. She said there would be spring soccer and fall soccer then fall football. She said during staff planning they plan to utilize it during the summer also. They are stretched for space now when it comes to baseball and softball leagues. We have taken the bottom field at the city park and made it into 3 but the league is still finding it hard to find a place to practice because the leagues are getting bigger and bigger. Our staff is proposing that each corner can be used for practice spaces so year round this facility is going to get utilized with the exception of maybe December and January for actual sports that we plan. Maroney said they were starting soccer sign-ups now and would be playing in February. She said also in talking with her staff, they did reserve the fields at both Hampton and City-County Parks for tournaments and there is a fee for this. She said in trying to figure a fee structure for this they have researched it and it does depend on the type of turf that you have but you can dictate your own price to help cover costs. With the way the fields are designed now, no matter what type of turf, no lines will be put on the main soccer fields. She added with artificial turf it was initially the corners where we would put our own lines in with paint or portable lines. Either way we are not locked into the type of fields we have here (or the number), we can move things around. Maroney said if someone did want to come in and have a tournament we would charge a fee per hour. The going rate per hour is about $40 an hour. This is just to rent the fields, this is not counting utilities. She said they are getting ready to work with the Electric Plant Board and turn the lights and figure out how much wattage we use; what the rate is going to be. That way we can charge for lights if they are used. Maroney said concessions will also be there for revenue. She said it would not generate a lot but we figure we will get the majority with people coming in to do tournaments; bringing people in from Bowling Green with the Sky League for soccer and also the high schools. Maroney said there were two fields that are big enough for high schools to come in and play. We will work with them but we can charge admittance (fee) when people come in. Maroney said in researching this they found out when people have tournaments and they rent the fields, they rent it to the organization per hour but also a percentage to anybody that comes through the gate. That number is iffy right now though. Other revenues would be sponsorships. This will be something we actively pursue each year to bring people in. we have currently spent in an application to the Department of Energy for lighting and hopefully we will hear something within the next month. We think we are pretty much locked in on someone for playground equipment. Coca-Cola has committed to, over a period of 3 years ending in 2013, putting in a score board. They will also put one in at the city park to replace the one at the Little League field. But in regard to that it is a “gentleman’s agreement”. We will be obligated to sell their products and she has no problem with that. We can each year renegotiate on what we need to do there. There will be a time limit; usually with Coke it is a 3-5 year time limit. I will hopefully have the proposal with the next couple of weeks. When I spoke with him and got the verbal agreement he could not give the years to us all at once but one every year.
Maroney said told council they were still actively pursuing other industries as well. She is in the process of finishing up the Tony Hawk Foundation grant to finish up the skate park. This will probably run about $35-$40,000 which is about normal. This is a 100% grant, there is no matching. She is looking at playground equipment and has met with people from GameDay who is working with her on a grant that will be 80%-20%. She said we have a sponsor on that. She is also in the process of finishing up (a grant) with the Carpenter Foundation. She said we already have commitments from RJ Corman, Logan Aluminum to donate toward bleachers and goals. We still need to finish this up and whatever we have left over we are putting into our presentation with the Carpenter Foundation; to finish up the amenities of either the goals, bleachers are not a big thing. She said when you research it a lot of soccer fields to not have bleachers; people bring their own chairs in. She said they were looking at the 3-row bleachers, not the big ones. We are also looking at trashcans and water fountains.
The mayor said he had other activities in mind for the fields also; concerts, portable movie screen, band practices and those kind of things so it would be loaded. A sod field will kind of restrict those types of activities and Maroney agreed.
The mayor said he had been talking with the state relative to the bridge between the ball field and the soccer field and it looks like we are going to have a solution to that fairly soon. He told the council he would keep them abreast of the situation.
McPherson said he thought Randolph had done an excellent job on his presentation. He thought the maintenance costs were a little high but thought the construction costs were well in line. He said he thought the water costs were high but we would be at the mercy of Mother Nature. He said it was just a question of whether we wanted to pay now or pay later. He said right now after paying Scotty’s (for their work) the Rockwell park fund) would be at $585,000 and the quote for the artificial turf for the soccer fields was $467,764 then that would leave us with $117,236. He told the mayor the last time he had seen anything on the softball field proposal, the turf installation and infield quoted for that was $165,000, was that bid still accurate? He said they had quoted numbers but that hasn’t gone out for bids yet, we were putting the packets together for the foundation and the grading of that then go to a supplier which is what we are in the middle of doing right now. We will be going out for bids on the foundation and the turf on top of it. McPherson asked if it was going to be less than $117,000 and the mayor said probably. McPherson said the reason he was asking is because if you look at the risk management plan with the state it looks to him like the only place we told them we would put down artificial turf is on the Tract II property which is the tract that goes around there where the softball field is. The mayor said the agreement with the state was since we were taking that environmental step over there we were going to continue that on the soccer fields side as well, plus we had to go off of the elevation because of the flood plain. He said that was the reason we were doing that plus the utilization factor is a major one putting artificial turf there. As you heard from Maroney we are looking at 12 teams so we will get a lot of activity of those field turf wise. The mayor said if we say water cost will go down if we have a lot of rain then the utilization will also go down. He told McPherson it would be like people playing on his cut grass, he wouldn’t want people running around.
McPherson said another question he had in his mind was if you look at the acreage that’s on those two tracts, it says there are 9.5 acres in the tract where the soccer fields are and 7.2 acres in the tract where the softball field will be located; this does include the buildings and other stuff. But, around those soccer fields, after looking at some things that Maroney had that was kind of like an artificial turf she said the mayor was going to put down to the edges and butt up to the soccer field. He asked how far out would this go if the mayor did that. The mayor said out to the gravel of the parking area. The mayor explained where the gravel comes in, where there was talk of pavement, it was better environmentally to leave it gravel because the water goes down through it rather than have a storm water run-off problem or you’re going to pay a lot more for pervious. But the mayor explained to McPherson we would go all the way around to the outside. McPherson asked what it would be away from the parking area, grass. He said there was already grass there in the fence line. The mayor said that was all vine, ground cover. He explained that would be completely filled up, it wouldn’t have to be mowed at all; that will grow about 6” high and you can see the amber color to the plants now but in the springtime they will be green and stay that all year ground. McPherson said he was sure they would have to be trimmed back and the mayor said no except where it comes down to the bottom, you will have to control it so it doesn’t take over.
Next on the agenda was the status of the committee to review police and fire policy and procedure on vehicle accidents. The mayor said he has talked to the State Fire Marshal, Franklin Fire Chief and Police chief, State Police, the State themselves, Bowling Green Police Dept and Fire Depts. He said in addition he had looked at the handbook on DUI training standards and we have received information back from the state relative to police. Basically the State Police and the State themselves say that the only thing they see different on the police policy on accidents was there was a clause missing. The mayor said the clause was an unusual one and it will be incorporated. It says essentially, if the incident involves a motor vehicle accident in which there was a fatality, the investigating peace officer shall seek a search warrant for blood, breathe and urine testing unless the testing has already been done by consent. The mayor said it further stated any person who is dead, unconscious or otherwise in a condition rendering him or her incapable of (inaudible) provided subsection of this section, the test may be given. The mayor said that was the only language that was different than what we have in our police policy that exists right now. He said he was still getting returns relative to fire departments. He said the two returns her had gotten were Franklin-Simpson. He said they were slightly different because they were volunteers. They have a different response system they utilize and their guideline relative to who is in charge, the incident commander is who is in charge. The mayor said he would be talking to Chief Poole relative to that and see if we can work out any differences. The mayor said other than that they all agree that basically all the criteria that is required for a motor vehicle crash investigation is covered.
Next on the agenda was an update from the committee to consider a rate study and the Logan-Todd water rate increase. The mayor said the committee consisted of Wayne Thomas, Teresa Galiszewski, Doug Nash, Russell Jones and the chairman was Bob Riggs. The mayor asked Riggs to give the rest of the council an update on the impact of the various options they had looked at other than do nothing with the rate increase and laying off people and that type of thing.
Riggs also presented slides on his committee’s findings (attached). He reported the committee talked about quite a few things. They started with how much the impact of the 13.3% increase from Logan-Todd Water was going to mean dollar-wise to the city. Riggs said what it means is that the city has revenue of $4 million and we have a volume of water sold of 190 million gallons. Therefore, if we look at it in terms of average rates our water rates will be $12.26 for an average customer; the sewer average per month is $8.95 and an average bill is $21 currently (for 1,000 gallons). He said this is just a base. He explained what would be happening is that $3.31 per 1,000 gallon we are buying from Logan-Todd is going up $.44 making it $3.75; this is the 13.3% increase. Riggs said the city buys 329 million gallons of water and currently pays $1,090,000 for water and it will be going up $145,000 making our new cost of water $1,236,000. Riggs explained this was not the only increase the city was looking at when we start talking about the next 12 months because it will be a new budget year July 1st (tape stopped).
Tape restarted: Riggs said COLAwas actually more than 3%, we didn’t know what it will be until we get out there; it is actually 4.3% at the moment (for) December for the past 12 months is was 4.3% for this (south) region. It is mainly driven by the cost of energy, gasoline, oil products. TVA is based on coal prices. If salary increases were given based on the CPI (Consumer Price Index), no merit increase, just a cost of living increase, in Water and Sewer it would be $31,000. Retirement costs are going up, that level of salaries would be another $14,000 retirement; the rate itself is going up by 5%. There would be more FICA. Riggs noted these items were absolute if the city sticks with what we have been doing the last 5 years giving the southern region CPI. He said last year it had been nothing and we gave nothing. Riggs said the electric cost, if you assume it will go up 3% and that is very conservative, will go up $4,000; fuel cost $1,000. He said there is $53,000 in cost increase and the council might say we need to buy capital; we do not have any capital in our budget at all for Water and Sewer except Rockwell related capital. They have given us money on the Johnson Street project and the water tower but as far as buying sewer wagons and cameras and things needed there is no money. Riggs told council to keep this in mind if $40,000 was put in the budget. He said the increase from Logan-Todd would be $145,000 and we need to think of another $50,000 that is probably going to happen if we do certain things; if we need capital money maybe another $40,000 so we are really talking about close to $240,000 of a budget problem. Riggs said council should think about what they want to do. They could always say they weren’t going to give an increase but we have to do something because we know some of these things are going to happen.
Riggs continued by looking at some of the options (second slide) the council could have. He said the committee had talked about what the city could do and how people cannot afford to pay more. He said one of the things the committee looked at had been if Logan-Todd raised their rate by 13.3% and the city raised its rates to cover the costs he just mentioned; $145,000 Logan-Todd, the anticipated CPI increase, and $40,000 capital, which is not a lot. If council did this to the $238,000 they need and it is put into the 190 million gallons we are selling, it would be an increase of these amounts; for 1,000 (gallons)it would be $1.31. Riggs said 3,000 gallons would be $3.75 a month if we roll that into the water and sewer rates and covered that whole amount. Riggs said he wasn’t saying that was the best thing to do this was just what the numbers would tell you if council decided to try and maintain the level of service the city does right now and pay for the increases that are anticipated. There are all kinds of different options. Riggs said (it would be) $3.75 per month for 3,000 gallons or $2.52 for a 2,000 gallon customer per month increase. The mayor has already said he wanted to go from $10 a month for the senior discount to $15 a month. When the committee talked about this everyone was in agreement that when rates are raised it was almost a necessity to do something like that.
Riggs said some may be wondering why the committee would suggest putting the increase on sewer rates as well as water rates and Riggs said the thought was you have to stay balanced. Sewer rates were not raised the last time as much as we maybe should have. We actually have a loss on sewer of $370,000 a year; we have that much gain in the water department; overall we are breaking even. Riggs pointed out this could cause a problem when you are dealing with someone like Kentucky Infrastructure Association who asked those types of questions; they could make us raise our sewer rates. Riggs said if the city wanted to stay relatively even in both we should address sewer. Riggs said something else council might do is layoff salary people; the average salaried person in water and sewer is $36,000 with fringes. So you can see how many people you are talking about if you want to think having reductions in workforce rather than having an increase in rates; this was just one option. He added the committee does not have a favorite option because none are really things you can embrace. Getting back to Option II Riggs said it was to cover 198 thousand, leave out the capital, cover the 190 million gallons of water we sell and then you would have an increase of $1.09 for 1,000 gallons, $2.10 on 2,000 usage and $3.10 on 3,000 gallons; all a month. He explained the household that uses 3,000 a month would be impacted $3.10 every month if you look at the actual rate (slide). He said the one on the previous page, instead of being $3.10, was $3.72. Riggs said if the council wanted to try and have enough money for capital and other things. Riggs said another option, all options were dropping down, and if everything is ignored CPI, pay raises etc, with just the $145,000 that Logan-Todd is charging us right now on the 190 million gallons that we sell would increase by $2.27 for 3,000 gallons. Riggs said that versus the $3.10, if council tries to take care of the cost of living, and the $2.27 is compared to $3.72 if you tried to have enough money to buy a minimum amount of capital in next year’s budget. He said this was something he knew the council did not address every day. Whatever council decides to do as far as rates you might do now but you certainly won’t bring this subject up again when we are working on the budget and say now we need to address it again. This is not the kind of thing you want to bring up unless it was absolutely necessary.
Riggs said this was the three options; $3.72 versus $3.10 versus $2.27. He explained the committee had covered different levels of anticipated costs increase. Ignoring them doesn’t mean they will not happen, it just means we will do something else if it does happen. Riggs told the council this would probably be the only chance they have logically to raise the rate. Riggs said he had presented the numbers for the council but wanted to turn it over to the council seated on the committee.
Jones said his main thought had been when he was looking at this (options?) was Logan-Todd was talking about a 13.3% increase and the city is looking at something quite a bit less than that as far as water was concerned and just trying to take the same opportunity to adjust our sewer rates which we have not done in some time. Jones said any place you buy a product they go up on their cost to you when their costs go up, they have to; you can’t absorb just up to a certain point, you have to pass it on. He said he thought this was a very fair suggestion of an increase, whichever one of the options we as a council decides to use that we are being fair to our customers. He said the most impact on a household would be $3.75 and most people take increase like this on their cell phones, satellites and other things they do not need, water is a precious commodity they can’t do without. He said he thought we would see a lot of other people pay a lot more for this commodity in other areas that have not had to go through the correction that Russellville has had to go through in the Logan-Todd area. Jones said his personal opinion was the council should go ahead and take the 5.91% and increase the rate on the average household $3.75 because we are going to take care of people that are on fixed income if we increase the $10 we give to senior citizens to $15. We have already more than absorbed what they are going to use, what an increase will be to them.
City Attorney Bob Hedges said that any increase would need to come in the form of an ordinance.
Councilman Doug Nash said he believed that Logan-Todd had made the statement that the water consumption was down and that was due to people cutting back. He said if council goes to raising the water rates again they are going to cut back again and then they (L/T) will raise the water rates again so he didn’t think there was any “win” to it. He said the mayor has already said and it has been in the paper that Russellville cannot stand another water raise and I agree.
McPherson said one thing he had a question about was that someone had said at one of the meetings, and he was not sure where he heard it, but there was a CPI increase built into our water rate structure. Riggs said the ordinance mentions it. McPherson asked what the ordinance said and the mayor said the ordinance said it was up to the council. He said he thought he mentioned it at the last meeting; the council put it in the ordinance that says we can increase by COLA the CPI index using the southern regional CPI as we do for anything else but the council has to vote on it; it was not an automatic. The mayor said this was done on purpose when we put that in because they didn’t want to be like congress that gets an automatic raise just as some other utilities do. The ordinance says basically it was there for the council to use and utilize if they so choose on an annual basis. The mayor said the CPI or the Southern Regional is what we have been using, not the U.S. McPherson said if the CPI was 3.2 and Riggs said it was 4.3 for December. Riggs said he didn’t know what it would be in January. He said when we did the budget the last few years we used January percentage.
The mayor asked for other comments. Bell said it did seem like it was a no win situation and she thinks the council should get a hold on this water increase, something needs to be done we just can’t keep going up and up. It was ridiculous now what you have to pay for water and sewer.
Nash said and also we were talking about the water and sewer bill being $66 a month. With the electric in the summer it goes up and in the winter it drops back down and it is vice versa on the gas so water and sewer will be more than gas and electric per month.
Davenport said water has been the council’s biggest enemy since he has been on the council but like Jones said it was a commodity we have to have. He also made the statement that when someone goes up on a commodity you have to stay on game. He said he understands where Russell is coming from but he thinks that is only if you have done everything else possible. I will not be for passing over one red cent to the citizens right now when we had a meeting two weeks ago that 43% of our water we can’t even account for. He said he thought we should do a blitz, at least cut that to 30 or 35. I think there are other things that can be done before we can even think about water rates. That is my opinion.
The mayor said there had been some recalculation on the water loss and it really was 35%. He said the way Smith was calculating and Wayne Thomas could explain that more, but since he did go through the 2009 utilization. The mayor asked Thomas if he was correct in saying that December 2009 it was 35.13% and Thomas said it was because what you are looking at goes for an entire year. The mayor asked Thomas if he had a chart with him relative to what the department has been doing relative to leaks. McPherson asked Thomas if he knew what the error was (because) it is pretty simple math. Thomas said he asked Melvin Smith what he had used to get the number and he had said it was between what was purchased versus what was sold. Thomas said we had to take into account the consideration of the leaks that are out there, water loss that you are getting through from that, what you are capturing back. He said you have to show that in those numbers as well. He said even though you have water in your distribution system that is sitting there and you have to account for that. Also, as you go through with any usage from the fire departments or anyone else out there, that has to be considered as water loss which then would drop that number down which took it to 35%. McPherson said he understood what Thomas was saying about the water in the distribution system and possibly the first time you filled it up you would have that and we may have had that on the tank at Hospital Hill where we lost 200,000 (gallons) in the buy-sell of that and would account for part of that. Thomas said he had also asked them to create a map (which he had) that had to do with everything the department had done in 2009; it showed a total of 65-67 leaks they had repaired. Thomas said he also asked Smith to take the map and put those areas as to where the leaks were found and put a peg number by each one and on the sheet given to council. Thomas said in doing this and looking at the map, the major cluster of leaks have been in Wright’s Subdivision. He said every time a leak has been fixed the galvanized pipes pop somewhere else. He said this has been the major concentration; going in there and taking all of the galvanized pipe out and putting in pvc pipe. Thomas said removing the galvanized pipe was addressing the major point of the leaks we found this past year. Thomas said there were several other places on the map they had down town where there were clusters; probably not as many. The mayor asked Thomas if he had a priority list on where he was concentrating his workforce. Thomas said Bethel and Fourth Streets were next because they cannot actually put a number on the loss there; they just know that it is a major leak. It calls for cutting a section of pipe completely off and eliminating it and extending a 6” line that is coming off of Cherry Street and taking it all the way over and tying it in. He said the fire hydrant would have to be moved from the corner where the Blossom Shop is located to set between the real estate office and the Blossom Shop. Thomas said all told this would be $24,000 to do the project. Thomas said to address what Davenport had mentioned about focusing on leaks and the other piece of equipment; he has talked to Kentucky Rural Water about coming in. They said they could but at the same time Thomas had asked when they could come in and spend a month and they said they could not do that because of their being spread out over the entire state. Thomas said the piece of equipment they use which works on pvc and metal pipes cost them about $3,000, maybe a little more. Thomas explained what the equipment does is they listen from one water meter to another and if the numbers are different they know the biggest number is where the leak is at; they can pinpoint it a lot better; versus what they have now doesn’t work on pvc very well. What they have has is strictly for metal pipe. This has been purchased and goes back to when CIMA was. Whipple asked Thomas the difference in galvanized pipe and plastic pipe and Thomas said as far as the equipment used to detect it, it has to do with the way it bounces the signal off of something and reads it. He said there was apparently a difference in the pvc and the galvanized.
Bell asked the cost of the piece of equipment again and Thomas said $3,000. He asked them if that would include everything that would go with it; it is the same thing Kentucky Rural Water is using.
Jones asked Thomas how many employees he was devoting to water leaks and Thomas said on the detecting it usually takes two people and then some come in to repair. Jones asked Thomas what would happen if the number had to be cut and Thomas said if the manpower was reduced it would mean there are not as many people searching for leaks and the loss would probably go up. The mayor asked Thomas was he not using two people for detection and if the equipment was bought there could be two full crews working and the repair crews following right behind it and Thomas said yes. Jones said he remembered when we had the problem with sewer and that was why Kisselbaugh had given such a good report tonight; when we had I&I problems and had tap on bans we were told we had to do it; when we got the manpower out there to take care of it we started to eliminated the problems but until we could do that and put the manpower on it, it was still going to be there. Jones said he thought that was what we were going to have to do with our water to get it down.
There was a discussion going on away from Jones’ to switch to which Thomas replied to a comment that we would have to have that piece of equipment to get it in because Kentucky Rural Water will not make the commitment to come in here for long. If the city got it then our people are already trained so we could put them out there and get more accomplished. Whipple asked Thomas how many employees were in the water department and Thomas said there were a total of seven counting Smith.
Kisselbaugh said since Riggs thought water and sewer was one department anyway why couldn’t we combine and make use of all of the equipment and personnel. Nash said he thought this was a good idea. Thomas said he thought this had been done once before and Kisselbaugh said the mending and borrowing; the personnel. The mayor told Kisselbaugh she had leaking problems of her own she had to get and she agreed.
The mayor asked for other comments on the subject. There were comments again about the number of employees in the water department and the jobs they do. The mayor told Riggs he had heard the council’s comments and to take them back to the committee and come back to the council with a suggestion of which way to go.
The next item on the agenda was an update on the ladder fire truck cost options. Riggs, Fire Chief Billy Poole and Kaye Simmons had been on this committee. Poole said it had been 3 years since he had asked the council for anything but was now asking for a ladder truck. He said there has been discussion on this for awhile; it is a 20-year old E1 and has been causing problems for quite a while. Jeff Meador at the service department has been patching it together for us. He said the first meeting had been 3 years ago this month with Mayor Zick who asked them what was needed in the department and he was told a ladder truck. Poole said he knew it was a lot of money. Pierce has been the only one that has given him a breakdown of the costs; he has 3 estimates. They are for 5, 7, and 10 year (loans). Poole said he would like to see the 7 year option if the city could handle the yearly payment. He said the reason he did not want to stretch it out for 10 years is because the 1999 model brought under Mayor Yassney is now 11 years old and in 7 years it will be pushing the 20 years and by then we will need to buy another one; 20 years takes a toll on these type of trucks. He said the main concern he has on the 20 year old ladder truck was safety besides the other problems it has. He has only been keeping up with it since he started; he couldn’t find any maintenance records prior to that. Poole went over the maintenance record (ATTACHED) saying he had gotten a request from Greenville Fire Department in September 2009 asking for Russellville’s ladder truck for a big fire downtown and I had to make a tough decision and tell them we could not take the truck that far in the middle of the night because I did not trust it. I received phone calls from the residents asking why we had not helped them but they didn’t understand. He said he had just not trusted it, that is the kind of shape it is in. Poole said Councilman Nash had come over recently and until he did not realize how little the council knew about the trucks and gave the council a handout on them. He said he had gone into as much detail as he could on Ladder 7 on the sheet. Poole said he has gotten letters of support from every fire department in the county; these are the mutual aid department that Russellville has to respond to because they have signed mutual aid agreements with them so we have to respond. He added this was city to city and Logan Aluminum. Logan Aluminum has also sent a letter of support. Poole said the truck was used for more than fires; it was also used for rescues because it can get up in the air. He said again that Pierce had been the only company that had expressed concern; the other two did not send breakdowns but said they would work with the city. Poole said the city already has two trucks and they are excellent trucks. They have only had minor issues with them, nothing major.
The mayor asked Poole how high of a ladder would be needed for the new justice center and Poole said a 75’. The mayor asked if a 50’ would work and Poole said there were a lot of places like the Piggly Wiggly where they had to park so far away from the heat. They could not get anybody on the roof because it was so far away; it would have been straight out and that is not straight. Poole added that a 75’ would give them 25’ more reach, which is almost a half more than what we have now. These trucks are also more stable and safer. The mayor said in a previous meeting it been brought up what the usable life of ladder trucks were and he thought Bell had said 10 years, was that correct? Bell said yes usually after 10 years they will take them out of service. Poole said most of the bigger departments will take them out after the ten years. The mayor asked if there was any salvage value or trade in to them and Poole said neither of the three who had given him an estimate had wanted it because they can’t get parts for it. Poole said the last part he had to buy for it had been electric motors that operate the nozzle and they do not make them anymore; he had found 2 and was told he should buy them both and are on the truck. The nozzle is working now but it if quits… The mayor asked if there was any way to modernize the spray system without buying a new truck, like put a new attachment version on it and Poole said the (inaudible) would never allow that. The mayor asked Poole if the truck went down what would happen to the insurance rates in the city and Poole said it would mainly hurt the industry, it wouldn’t hurt everybody. Poole added that was something he had not mentioned but now the city held an ISO rating of 4 and one of the reasons we cannot get a 3 is because we do not have a reserve ladder truck; there are other smaller things but that is the big reason. The mayor asked so they were requiring two trucks and Poole said it was for the ISO rating of 3 where everybody insurance rating would go down. The mayor asked by how much and Poole said he asked that question and been told that would be up to the individual insurance companies. Poole said that’s all we would need is a reserve, it just has to be sitting in the building. He said again it just wasn’t that issue but smaller ones; very few cities our size have a 4 rating and some have a 5.
Nash asked Poole about the engine on the ladder truck, he had heard it was hard to start. Poole said yes it was slow to start but a lot of the times Jeff Meador has found there is an electrical short in it somewhere. He said since he has been in office he has put 3 sets of 2 batteries in it. Nash asked if the truck was a diesel and was told it was. Nash about the brakes on the truck and Poole said actually it was the gas pedal that sticks. Meador has oiled it and it didn’t work. He put a stiffer spring on it and that didn’t help. Poole said it was just the age of the truck.
Davenport asked Poole who and when had been the last time the truck had been inspected and Poole answered the DOT had inspected it last year. Davenport asked if the truck had passed and Poole said yes; they inspected the lights and basic stuff, not the ladder operation. Poole said the jack used for stability purposes had slipped twice and once the jacks would not come up.
Nash said it helped with a diesel if you put ether in them, especially in the wintertime.
McPherson asked how long it would take to hear from the grant we applied for and the mayor said he thought it would be a month or two before we hear. Bell said it takes a year or longer to make a truck. Poole said they have them one in stock now. He added that all 3 companies have told him the 2010 emission go into effect this month and anything built after would add another $15,000 to the cost of the truck. The truck is not fancy but what we need; Bowling Green bought the same truck last year and it was $698,000 and the one he looked at was $599,000. The mayor said but it was not a base truck, it would come with everything they needed and Poole agreed and added it just would not have the bells and whistles.
Bell asked how many more payments were left on the other truck and Riggs said the last one was next October. Riggs asked the council to remember we have reduced our revenue coming in by $110,000 a year. The mayor agreed saying yes, when the insurance takes effect. Bell said if we don’t purchase a new truck then the city rating would go up and homeowners and we are not in compliance with the truck we have now; we won’t be. McPherson said but it wouldn’t go up until that truck is non-functional. The mayor said until the next inspection or we side-line it. Poole said if we side-line it we will not only suffer but all of the other cities that depend on us will be hurting too. McPherson asked when the city got a mutual aid call did it get re-reimbursed anything for the use of the truck and Poole explained it was just a swap out; if he needed help they would come and help him. Poole said that was why he really hated to tell Greenville, because he knew the chief and if he needed help he would send it but he didn’t know about now.
Nash said when the DOT inspects it wouldn’t they inspect the brakes and tie rod ends and Poole said yes. Poole said the last time the ladder had been inspected they had found a leak inside the turntable which has to be fixed pretty soon. He said to do that he would have to take it to Chandler, Indiana because that is the closest shop; they will have to take the ladder completely off the truck and it will take about 3 months. He said this was a hydraulic leak.
The mayor asked the council if they wanted to think about this he would get more information, nail down the grant timing and get back with them on a proposal.
Davenport said this was a situation where we knew we didn’t have that kind of money but we couldn’t put a value on people’s lives. If it is a professional opinion that the city needs this and if we don’t get it and it could possibly put somebody’s life in jeopardy I am the type of person who thinks we have to make some type of provision we should be able to pay for in the next 7 years. He said that would be his opinion if it came to a vote when we are talking about saving a human life. He thinks we should do what Chief Poole suggests.
The mayor asked if the council wanted to consider putting a surcharge on property tax for the fire truck itself so it would come off and disappear and only be specifically for that purpose. Poole said he had asked the Bowling Green fire chief how they could afford to pay for 2 trucks a year and the chief explained they have a $10 per household charge per year flat fee that goes straight for that. The mayor said they also have 50,000 people. The mayor said we could physically go out for a loan, wait for the grant or start to do something. McPherson said if we go out for the loan we probably won’t be able to get the grant, would we? The mayor said probably not. McPherson asked what the difference was going to be in the 2010 (model ladder truck) and the pre-built model that is sitting there. Poole said it was EPA emissions and cost wise it would be about $15,000 more; that is for a stock work if we build one it would be about $32,000 more. Poole told the council he wouldn’t be coming to the council and asking for the truck if it were not needed.
The mayor asked council if they wanted him to get firm numbers on a grant and get back to them and McPherson said yes.
McPherson said there were fees on the water that were going to be going off, surcharge on the wastewater treatment plant. Would those be dropping off soon? Riggs knew the amount of the surcharge was .55 but did not know when it would be coming off. McPherson asked him to let the council know at the next meeting; this might influence the council’s decision.
The mayor recognized visitors to the council meeting and asked if anyone would like to say anything.
Joe Laird complimented the work and workers of the water department.
The mayor said he had no reason to go into executive session unless someone else did.
Bell asked to go into executive session for reason of personnel.
Nash moved, seconded by McPherson, to go out of regular session and into executive session for reason if personnel. The motion passed unanimously.
Jones moved, seconded by McPherson, to leave executive session and enter back into regular session. The motion passed unanimously.
Nash moved, seconded by McPherson, to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
ATTEST:
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City Clerk Mayor