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The Town of Minden NEVADA The Minden Town Board meeting was held on Wednesday, February 4, 2009, at 1602 Esmeralda Avenue in Minden, Nevada, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Board members present: Ross Chichester, Bob Hadfield, Dave Sheets, John Stephans, and Steve Thaler I. Meeting called to order by Chairman Sheets 1. Pledge of allegiance led by Ross Chichester 2. Hadfield/Stephans moved to approve agenda noting that Mimi Moss would be speaking in the place of Harmon Zuckerman for Staff report item Motion approved unanimously. 3. Chichester/Hadfield moved to approve minutes of January 7, 2009. Motion approved unanimously. 4. Approval of vouchers 5. Public comment: a. Robert Pohlman handed out information regarding an upcoming water conference sponsored by the extension office. He expressed concern about the drainage pipe that was covered in the waterline project, and questioned water rights, water going to Indian Hills, and if the county will sell their water rights. Mr. Scott said that development as part of this agreement brings with it a block of Minden water to serve the customers that the county serves as of now, but any additional water would need to be purchased. The Town’s water rights are not subject to dissemination by the county. b. Robert McMillan asked the board to review the training session material carefully. He spoke in particular of the phrase “may be” needing to be “must be” on page 4 and the abandonment issues on page 5 and 6. He believed that in the abandonment of street or easement, we have every right to deny the passing on of these rights associated with the property. c. .Beverly Giannopulos questioned the Jan. 23 meeting for the Mueller Office building and what was decided. She appreciates the dumpster use which made hauling away her juniper trimmings very easy. II Staff reports 1. Public Works: Greg Hill ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Agenda February 4, 2009 Page 2 of 7 a. Greg encouraged the board to follow up last Saturday’s board meeting with any questions they may have. b. Organizational chart shows that we cross train employees. c. Pump tests: The Easterwood Well on Watson drive tested @ 500 gpm for 24 hours and pumped sand above the acceptable rate for a municipal well. The water quality was acceptable. Well #1 pump tested @ 1600 gpm for 24 hours. Water quality was very good with minimal drawdown during test. The pump test reports and water quality test reports will be on file in office in respective well files. d. We will possibly start Well #3 testing next week. e. Tree at 4th & Mono was planted; it is very large and in good shape. 2. Engineering Report: Bruce Scott a. We will be going to bid for everything in red in the pavement management system report. These are the streets in the poorest condition and will probably cost between $450,000.00 to $500,000.00. Petroleum prices are down and we anticipate some very good bids. b. We might consider raising the percentage of the bond on bidders to 150% as protection for low bidding. c. Alleys will be a tough job, inspectors will be watching very carefully. d. Two different entities want to sell the water rights back to town. There is no particular value in not buying back; Bruce requested direction in honoring the condition of having to sell back to town at the price they paid less any costs incurred by Town. Mr. Hadfield said no special approval is needed, that is how it is supposed to work as an administrative function. e. Legislature started; not much seen with water yet, possible draft allowing for a 5 year extension for municipal water rights; currently there is only one year. Tracy Taylor is slowly recovering from a brain aneurism. f. With the development of the Easterwood well we will have some domestic well impacts and need to address this with the state. We are embarking on a domestic well review and water quality sample, and will coordinate with the nearby homeowners. 3. Douglas County Community Development: Annual training on land-use planning and zoning by Harmon Zuckerman, Principal Planner. a. Mimi Moss, filling in for Harmon Zuckerman, provided a handout on power point presentation for mandatory training per NRS. Her presentation reviewed the county process for reviewing projects in relation to the towns, and she encouraged that the recommendations from the town ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Agenda February 4, 2009 Page 3 of 7 board be presented to the county as soon as possible after the board meeting. A letter would be the best way to present this. Presentation backup on Ms. Moss’ presentation will be attached to the meeting record. Mr. Hadfield and Mr. Scott complimented Ms. Moss on the training and the good relationship we have with the county staff. II. Discussion and possible action: Presentation on utilizing construction management as an alternative delivery mechanism compared to the traditional design, bid, build (low bid) approach for municipal construction projects. Discussion will include the pros and cons of construction management from both the clients and construction managers' perspective. No action on this item is anticipated. Greg Hill addressed this concept; the traditional way is to hire an architect or engineer and he oversees the construction process. This option could give more for the dollars spent, and we might want to consider it for the construction of the new Town yard. He introduced Cary Richardson, Vice President of Miles Construction and Mike Mitchell formerly of Carson City School District; both would be interested in providing proposals. Mr. Mitchell’s job with the school district was making sure the district performed in a way that they promised taxpayers. NRS allows certain ways to bid projects and spend tax dollars. Often bid prices are exceeded. Construction manager is an agent with a fixed fee; he helps select the architect and design team. This creates a better team oriented philosophy and allows owner more control of the project. The construction manager is generally a general contractor but can also be an engineer or architect. Low bid can still be awarded and the construction manager acts as arbitrator. Mr. Scott noted that RCI has used and really likes this process. Cary Richardson noted that the change order process can create a combative approach; the low bidder does not intend to lose money. Greg’s goal with the new yard facility is to serve the community for years to come with the design lending to future additions. III. Discussion and possible action: Approve, approve with conditions, deny or continue request of approval for Farmers Market to take place on Esmeralda Street on Tuesdays from June through September 2009. Howard Herz represented this item; Roxanne Stangle was not able to attend. Greg noted that there had been no problems with the Farmers Market. Mr. Keele recommended that the motion needed to include working out the specific details with Greg and to involve the stretch of Esmeralda Street between 4th and 5th Streets. Mr. Herz noted that the market times could vary a bit depending on weather and level of darkness. Thaler/Chichester motioned to approve with the conditions set by George for the approval of the Farmers Market to take place on ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Agenda February 4, 2009 Page 4 of 7 Esmeralda Street on Tuesdays from June through September 2009. Motion approved unanimously. IV. Discussion and possible action: Approve, approve with conditions, deny or continue request of approval for Design Review of duplex apartment and 9 foot setback on west and east property line for garage only at 1576 Mono Avenue APN 1320-32-111-077, Don Park applicant. Mr. Scott noted that Mr. Park has submitted a proposed design, and he has made a modification to original design as shown on handout. Variance request is one foot on each side of duplex. Mr. Park made himself available for questions. Michelle Gabler owns property on each side of property and approves of this project. This is a good example of larger project on small property and a very straightforward infill project. Mr. Park understands that he is setting a precedent. Hadfield/Stephans motioned to approve, with the conditions all fees and requirements of the Town of Minden and the county associated with this project be met, the design review of duplex apartment and 9 foot setback on west and east property line for garage only at 1576 Mono Avenue APN 1320-32-111-07. Because the revision eliminates the garage only, the motion was amended to reflect setbacks shown on handout, which will be part of the record. Mr. Park stated that he intends to live in Unit B, and the single car garage would be for Unit A. Both units have approximately the same square footage. Motion passed unanimously. V. Discussion and possible action: Approve, approve with conditions, deny or continue request to award recommended bid for the 2009 Alley and County Road Waterline Upgrades Project. The board will decide whether to enter into a contract with the lowest responsive bidder for the project. Bids will be opened on January 29th, 2009. Mr. Keele disclosed Wes Construction was a prior client. 16 bids were received; low bidder is Wes Construction. Recommendation by Mr. Scott was to approve and to supplement that approval with increasing the performance bond to 150% of bond. We might have to pay them more money but it will not change the overall price. Mr. Scott noted that there are some very tight proposals and RCI will have very thorough inspection. Time constraints are 2-3 weeks for bonds and insurance certificates, and they will give us a schedule with a certain amount of days for completion of project. This project is believed to be in this year’s capital improvement plan, it will be checked. ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Agenda February 4, 2009 Page 5 of 7 Hadfield/Chichester motioned to award the bid for the 2009 County Road and alley waterline project to Wes Construction the amount of $539,292.60 with the additional provision that we require the contractor to bond the project to 150% of the bid price. Robert McMillan questioned where the old pump is going, and if there will be a salvage price. Mr. Scott clarified that this is a waterline project; the pump is on the next agenda item. No pump will be removed, this is a waterline project. Motion carried unanimously. VI. Discussion and possible: Approve, approve with conditions, deny or continue request of approval for re-equipping Well # 1 with a new pump and motor, VFD Drive, electrical service upgrade and pump house building. These are the estimated costs to complete this upgrade: Pump and 100 hp motor Carson Pump $31,400 Up grade electrical service SPPC $20,000 est. VFD Drive controller & Electrical Buffo $20,000 est. 10' x12' pump house Town of Minden $10,000 est. Mr. Hill noted that the only hard cost is the pump with a quote from Carson Pump. We will be using existing telemetry. We will need to upgrade electrical service to 480 volts requiring an additional pole and transformer as required by the power company. This project buys us at least 10 years of time and triples the capacity of the pumping. We do not need to do another pump house in the name of value for dollar, building a new pump house would extend the time frame for construction. Mr. Hadfield noted that the long range plan is to sell the property around the pump house. If we re-drill the well, the pump house will have to be demolished, so why do improvements if we have to tear it down. We would probably surplus out the pump, it has limited value Mr. Scott encouraged having the additional capacity ready for the summer; this basically get us through the next 5 years. Project is a combination of staff and Carson Pump, who is a long term relationship vendor and is a good value for the investment. He recommends minimizing construction costs, everything else is useful in the long run. The site is critical in regards to our system. The pump would be capable of pumping 1500 gpm capacity. VFD regulates system based on the demand. This is very good quality water, it meets our immediate needs and helps get to our goal of 10,000 gpm system wide. Any necessary ancillary equipment would be in the bid, whether we build a pump house or not. ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Agenda February 4, 2009 Page 6 of 7 Chichester/ Hadfield moved to approve a bid not to exceed $81,400.00 for the purchase of a 100 horse power pump and motor, to upgrade the electrical service with Sierra Pacific Power Company, putting in a variable frequency drive controller and electrical work to be done by Buffo and any ancillary connections not to exceed that amount to get Well 1 to a capacity of 1500 gallons. Motion carried unanimously. VII. Discussion and possible action: Continuing discussion on annual review of CVIC Hall, Minden Park, and Street Closure rates taking into consideration increase or decreases, as applicable, of materials costs, labor rates, insurance rates and other factors. The Board plans to take no formal action on this item other than possibly setting another hearing on this matter. A business impact statement will be prepared and made available to the public before this matter is acted upon by the board at a future agenda meeting. Mr. Keele met with Joe Ward from District Attorneys office. No business impact statement is necessary for street closure, but it is mandatory to kick into high gear the use of their format any time we are engaging in rule making, legislative action, and adopting ordinances. Chapter 237 addresses the governing body, but because the town engages in dealing with our own property, we become the governing body for the Town of Minden. It is not a bad habit to follow the county code as far as findings and conclusions, but we can adopt the discipline of scrutinizing everything that comes before us using the same standards as county. The Town of Gardnerville’s lawyer prepares their Business Impact Statements. III. Staff Reports Continued 4. Attorney Report: George Keele Mr. Keele is working on leases with Trish. We do have easements for County Road with originals to be kept in the office. Commendations to Greg and staff for all the work on this beautiful project. 5. Board reports: a. Bob Hadfield reported on budget hearings; he is concerned about the increase of sales tax and the money grab by the state. He will get any list to the Board as far as the stimulus package. John Stephans noted that he did a spreadsheet based on the county report from 1999 through 2008. It appears that the revenue is basically flat lined; interest we are getting is going down and the expenses not decreasing. Pipeline to airport needs to be to finished, spare parts for wells, legal fees, etc. We would like to contribute $250,000 a year to reserves, but at the current rate we charge we would be lucky to put in $200,000. There is a shortfall in the trash fund; we have been taking $100,000 out of trash fund to repair roads that the trash trucks take a toll on. In the reserves right now there is basically $38,000; we have aimed at possibly a $50,000 a year reserve. Can we limit expenses, or cut services? How do you want ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Agenda February 4, 2009 Page 7 of 7 the reserves to grow? We will discuss this at rate hearing in March possibly based on a 3% increase. Discussion included if there is a standard for water companies to have in reserves in the case of catastrophic loss, and the need to show why you have large reserve, showing need for future. Trish will check on insurance and co-pay for water. Mr. Chichester noted that in building the budget the unknown factor is that we do not know how much water we will sell; next year there will be a lot of augmentation to the water fund. Rate structure builds in upgrade costs. John noted that every month we will be reconciling our financial records each month to the County’s. Mr. Chichester noted we will be going through personnel and direction on budgeting for a manager position. Manager position to be on March agenda. Mr. Thaler thanked to Greg and Bruce for the field trip, it was very informational; everything makes much more sense and he encourages that we do it again and possibly open it to the public. b. Mr. Sheets noted the response on County Road. The County’s stance is that that crosswalks are not required and they do not wish to have them. Steve Thaler volunteered to be the town representative on the Carson Valley Arts Council, and John Stephans will be on the Christmas committee to work to revitalize the lighting of the gazebo and other first weekend in Christmas events in Minden. The letter on the clarification of the waterline agreement was hand delivered on Tuesday to the County Manager. Dave will go to the County Commission meeting on the outdoor festival permit for the town’s submittals on March 5. If any changes need to be made to the organization chart, please give input. Office will write letter concerning Mr. Thaler and the Arts Council. Hadfield/Stephans motioned to adjourn meeting at 10:05 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.