Full Text
( * The Town MD of Min en NEVADA The Minden Town Board meeting was held on Wednesday, September 1, 2010, at 1602 Esmeralda Avenue in Minden, Nevada, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Board members present: Ross Chichester, Bob Hadfield, John Stephans and Steve Thaler. Staff present: Greg Hill, Trish Koepnick, Tim Russell, Bruce Scott and Roger Van Alyne. I. PRELIMINARY MATTERS AND PUBLIC INTEREST COMMENTS 1. Meeting was called to order by Chairman Hadfield 2. Pledge of allegiance was led by Bob Hadfield 3. Thaler/Stephans moved to approve the agenda as presented, noting that item number 8 would be heard with no presentation. Motion approved unanimously. 4. Approval of minutes: a. Thaler/Stephans moved to approve the minutes of the June 19, 2010 workshop. Motion carried unanimously. b. Stephans/Thaler moved to approve the minutes of the July 22, 2010 special Board meeting. Motion carried unanimously. c. Stephans/Thaler moved to approve the minutes of the August 4, 2010 Board meeting. Motion carried unanimously. 5. Thaler/Stephans moved to approve and ratify vouchers and claims. Motion carried unanimously 6 No gifts were acknowledged 7. No service awards were acknowledged. 8. Public comment: a. John Cressaty expressed concern that the concerts in the park might be in jeopardy and suggested forming a committee to discuss ideas to finance concerts. John Stephans said that GE and the Town of Minden will have a partnership; GE has been sponsoring the concerts but they are not totally funded. Next years days are set and they will stay in Minden. Mr. Stephans will be on the committee with Mr. Cressaty Mr. Hadfield said that he has asked for a meeting with Gardnerville and part of the discussion will be how to work more closely together and change the competitive tone to work toward commonly identified goals. Mr. Scott said that he would be happy to participate and help in a financial manner as well. b. Roxanne Stangle said that she has approached Roger about the Board considering the historical signs for the downtown. Mr. Hadfield said that he would like to reconsider the banner poles; he would prefer an electric sign at Muller and reminded the Board about the electronic sign for the COD. He would also like to see Gardnerville put up Minden events. The business district signs are pretty but cannot be read. Mr. Thaler suggested a special public workshop to get input on economic development ideas. The concerts are truly community events and a great place to start encouraging people to work together. Robb Hellwinkel would like to be a part of helping with concerts. Contrary to rumors, the C.O.D. project is still going forward, including Schats bakery with the possibility of another restaurant, and they hope to get a building permit by the end of the year. ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Minutes September 1, 2010 Page 2 of 7 II. STAFF REPORTS 1. Public Works: report of activities by Greg Hill. a. There were pre construction meetings last month for the water tank and the pipeline to the water tank. Over 10,000 cubic yards of material have been excavated at the tank site; a lot of it will be put back around the tank. On Sept 18 the tie-in of the 30 inch line to the 16 inch line will start. There will be an opportunity for training on the pipeline installation. b. We are attempting to coordinate Scada monitoring and the needs of the different entities involved in the wholesale water delivery. The Town will need to monitor a lot more information to coordinate the wells, have maximum efficiency and meet the needs of the system. c. There was a meeting concerning the Buckeye Maintenance Facility and the Booster station to coordinate the standby power. We will most likely have a standby generator for each facility. Mr. Thaler questioned if the demands on Greg’s job is overly consuming him. Mr. Hill said that we will be working hard on training the employees. We will be moving forward to do Well 3 in the winter months in the same manner that we did Well 1. We hope to go up to 2000 gpm from 1200. d. Well 8 has been experiencing sanding but it has not affected customers. We have installed flush valves at critical area, and will possibly install a sand separator. This is probably because the flow rate is higher but the arsenic is lower. Mr. Scott said the worst case scenario on this is that we would need to redrill the well. It is an old agricultural well acquired from Bently and is probably 30 years old. When we acquired it there was a sand issue that was addressed by Mr. Bently. We also have the right to use Well 7. Mr. Hadfield said we need to make sure in planning there is a contingency to address this. We need to assure that we can provide good quality water. Mr. Scott said the county has committed to improvements in Minden’s system. Also, the reserves could be used to drill emergency wells if necessary. e. The grant money for surveillance equipment at Minden Park has been received and the equipment has been installed. f. The new sound system arrived this morning; we hope to have it installed by the candidate’s night. 2. Engineering Report: report by Bruce Scott a. Commitments to donate water rights to the Town of Minden are continuing to be processed. Mr. Scott will discuss the Town water rights with the Water Master concerning Martin Slough for water level management We are researching how to manage the algae better; more flow through is an element that can help. b. Mr. Scott will look into what drainage provisions will be necessary for the development for Wal-Mart in south Gardnerville. c. Meeting is scheduled for water purveyors on the Carson River on Sept 17 to discuss water transfers into Minden wells. Also, Douglas County will be putting water into our wells and we are discussing this process with county officials. d. Natgun will be here September 7 to start casting pieces of the water tank on the ground and then piece together; it is a fascinating process. This will not need a coating like Gardnerville’s tank. e. The pipe and materials purchase for the waterline from the Buckeye Booster Station to Heybourne is out to bid, as well as the bid for the Booster pump station equipment, due to very long lead times, possibly up to six months. 3. Attorney Report: report by George Keele a Mr. Keele has been working with Tim Russell on various items including litigation support and water planning. He is continuing to work on Minden by-laws, including board salaries, which can be changed by resolution rather than ordinance. There is some contention between the legislature and county over this. He discussed provisions for a vice chairman taking over, for filling a vacancy, and technicalities of a quorum of three. He will provide a memo on these subjects. b. Nothing has happened to report concerning the Federal court. ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Minutes September 1, 2010 Page 3 of 7 4. Manager’s Report: report by Roger Van Alyne a. Candidate’s night is coming up soon on October 4 with nothing new to report. b. First item of concern with the Gateway Center contact is weeds; Mimi Moss is also involved with this. U.S. Bank is working on the fencing issue. c. Funds on banner poles and cruise nights are not here yet. d. Main Street event had over 206 entries and was a great event. Mr. Thaler said that this was one of the finest showings of cars; he really liked keeping the venue here. Brian will have a whole year to prepare for next summer’s event and we might need to look at having to expand the amount of closed streets. e. Nevada Territory Wild West Fair: The Carson Valley put on a great show with great cooperative effort and positive feedback. f. The Martin Slough Trail meeting was yesterday, the concept of alignment design by the towns was approved. The town will need to decide what maintenance we are willing to provide for the trail. g. The new board member workshop is in planning stage to help the new board members come on board. h. Hot August Nights Poker Run was a huge success with some areas identified for improvement. i. The County will be getting some new financial management software with changes in the way the Town does business. Mr. Chichester believes that it will be very user friendly .and he has ideas on how the Board approvals will work. j. Roger attended an energy savings workshop sponsored by G.E. with Mr. Stephans and the possibility is for far more than lighting. k. Critical issues conference will be held September 21, if any board members are interested. 5. Board members reports Chairman’s report: Bob Hadfield Mr. Hadfield noted that he has been troubled for many years by the lack of cohesiveness in our community. He believes that we lack a sense of community and need to work towards commonality and start working together to achieve our potential. It is time to find the movers and shakers and challenge others to get involved and be a part of something larger than themselves. We need to look again at the Minden Plan for Prosperity; we have very little in downtown Minden, and Gateway will be challenged because of the Wal-Mart to the south. II ADMINISTRATIVE AGENDA: 1. Discussion and possible action to approve, approve with conditions, continue, or deny a request from Barone and Reed Food Company for: 1) Street Closure on Esmeralda Avenue between 4th Street and 5th Street for a fundraiser benefiting the Sierra Lutheran High School on September 30, 2010, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.; and 2) waive fees of $500 for the street closure. Appearance by Town Manager. This request was approved in the past and nothing has changed with the event. No public comment. Chichester/Thaler motioned to approve the request from Barone and Reed Food Company for: 1) Street Closure on Esmeralda Avenue between 4th Street and 5th Street for a fundraiser benefiting the Sierra Lutheran High School on September 30, 2010, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.; and 2) waive fees of $500 for the street closure. Motion carried unanimously. 2. Appearance by R.O. Anderson Engineering regarding a proposed SR 88 Hazard Mitigation Project. Discussion and possible action to: approve, approve with conditions, continue, or deny a request for a Town of Minden letter of support for the project; and, if approved, direct staff to prepare estimate(s) of funding for the project to be included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011/2012 budget for the Board’s consideration at the October 2010 Board meeting. ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Minutes September 1, 2010 Page 4 of 7 Rob Anderson spoke on behalf of Douglas County Community Development concerning a pending grant application to alleviate the hazardous condition on SR 88, south of the Mackland Subdivision. The project would install a series of arch culverts in SR 88 to reduce the possibility of damage and losses due to flooding. This would protect existing as well as future developments; it would have no benefit to upstream. The potential recurrence of flooding at the current bridge is every 10-15 years. The proposed solution would cost approximately 2.8 million dollars; NDOT is participating in the request. The project meets the goals of the FEMA flood hazard mitigation program. The grant requires a 25% match from local entities, and the Board was asked to consider a contribution to this project, which must be submitted by October 28. Mr. Scott said that the project would be a real benefit but sees a problem assembling commitments at a time when everyone is stretched. Discussion included the history of flooding due to the elevation of SR 88 and the lack of sufficient flood conveyance capacity beneath the road. This project would potentially bring homes out of FEMA flood plain in Mackland. For this reason Mr. Keele said any board members affected were required to disclose but did not have to abstain from voting. Mr. Chichester, Mr. Hadfield and Mr. Stephans disclosed themselves as potential beneficiaries of this grant project. Mr. Chichester felt that a letter of support was justifiable but he would like to have any other partners and their contributions identified before the Town commits to any funding. Public comment: a. Bev Giannopulos was told that improving the existing structure is financially unfeasible. The plan allows more water to flow but the debris that gets blocked is not addressable. b. Sandy Deyo said that Minden citizens pay gas tax and get nothing back because it is a state road. He felt that the project should be supported but not funded by the Town. Thaler/Chichester moved to approve a request for a Town of Minden letter of support for the project and to direct staff to prepare information on costs and who the partners are and how much they are committing. The Town is not making a commitment to funding, and the project may or may not be included in the 2011- 12 budgets. It will be brought back at the October 2010 board meeting for further consideration. Motion carried unanimously. 3. Appearance by Resource Concepts, Inc. (RCI) regarding the Town of Minden Capital Improvement Program. Discussion and possible direction to staff regarding the phasing, schedule, sequence, funding, and other matters relating to the planning for and the execution of the Town’s Capital Improvement Program for water system improvements. Mr. Russell said that the purpose of this report was to clarify water projects and give an idea of budget. He gave a presentation showing mapped projects with a narrative about each project’s expenses. Overall summary of funding and mapping of projects is attached to the permanent record. There are two maps; the first shows the improvements in the town. The 1st project on this map is the construction of the water line up Lucerne to the Pole Line ditch and over to the future Heybourne Booster station. We anticipate to put materials out for bid in November, with bid for installation in January, which allows for paving right after the pipeline is installed. 2nd project on the first map is the North Minden Booster that will be supplying water north and be designed for two phases to address future needs. Minden will be fronting the money but reimbursed by the other entities receiving the water. 3rd project on this map is the 30 inch pipeline going east on Buckeye to the existing Booster station. Materials are currently out to bid for this project. On the 2nd map there are 5 projects. The first project is the water tank currently under construction estimated to be done by Thanksgiving before it gets really cold. 2nd project on this map is the 30 inch waterline up to the tank. 3rd project is the Buckeye Booster Station; it will not be a retrofit and can be easily expanded in the future. ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Minutes September 1, 2010 Page 5 of 7 4th project is the 30 inch pipeline from the booster station that ties in with the 30 inch pipeline that goes to the water tank. We hope to go to bid for these materials in mid October with installation bid following and construction in January. The 5th project is a new well at Buckeye Maintenance facility, to be slated for construction once we have a better idea of budget. We would recommend construction as soon as possible to deal with possible demand. Overall summary and individual breakdown of costs for each project was provided in handout. Mr. Chichester noted that the water tank and the 30 inch line to Orchard have been bid on, the bid awarded and they are real numbers. There are four other items on the list plus project number 8, which is a reimbursement from the county and number 7, which probably will not happen for a while. Mr. Stephans summarized and asked if he is correct: We have 10 million dollars from water right sales. 1.2 million has been put back into reserves. We spent 4.6 million and have 5.4 million left to go. Hopefully the other four projects will come in for a lower cost and we will be ok. Mr. Scott noted that we originally hoped for 15 million and got 10 million dollars. We have done as much phasing as possible and hope to come in closer to 10 million in costs but it remains to be seen. All of these projects are absolutely essential. Mr. Hadfield said that the investment will be reimbursed over time; we will not be pumping water at a loss. Mr. Scott said that we expect to get very good competitive bids for these projects, and the estimates for the jobs are conservative. Mr. Chichester noted that he feels much better after seeing these numbers. Mr. Van Alyne said that we will be including these numbers every month in the packets. Mr. Scott said he would be happy to give input to board candidates if they have questions. 4. Discussion and possible action to approve, approve with conditions, continue, or deny a request from Q&D Construction, as agent/contractor for the Town, to award a contract to provide four pre- engineered metal buildings in the proposed Buckeye Maintenance Facility. Staff recommends Miles Construction in the amount of $325,490. Appearance by Town Manager. Mr. Van Alyne noted that the bid tabulations show Miles Construction as the 2nd lowest bidder but there were some major concerns with the apparent low bidder concerning irregularities in licensing. The bid amount is still well within the budget. No public comment. Stephans/Thaler moved to award a contract to provide four pre-engineered metal buildings in the proposed Buckeye Maintenance Facility to Miles Construction, as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder, in the amount of $325,490. Motion carried unanimously. 5. Discussion and possible direction to staff regarding a proposed interlocal agreement between the Town of Minden and Douglas County for Wholesale Water Service in the South Valley area (Ruhenstroth/Fair Grounds). Appearance by Town Manager. Mr. Van Alyne noted the need to move forward considering the South Valley agreement. There is now a revised Exhibit A that clarifies fiscal year 2010-11 is year one to make sure this rate structure is in line with the rate charged in the North Valley agreement. Review of rates for both agreements will be reviewed at the same time yearly. Mr. Stephans suggested that he and Mr. Thaler work on this agreement with the manager and plan to bring it back to the Board. Mr. Thaler questioned how to come up with estimates for costs. We will have an actual year of expenses; that will get good costs. There is no hard deadline for the agreement but water quality issue is driving the county. We will target next month for information to be brought back and November to ratify the agreement. 6. Discussion and possible action to approve, approve with conditions, continue, or deny a request to transfer monies within Fund 640, Water Fund. Appearance by Town Manager. Mr. Chichester noted that this is an internal water fund adjustment moving money from Capital Projects to Capital Improvement Reserves. Chichester/Thaler moved to approve the request to transfer monies within Fund 640, Water Fund. Motion carried unanimously. ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Minutes September 1, 2010 Page 6 of 7 7. Discussion and possible direction to staff regarding options for procurement of a site for the proposed Heybourne Water Booster Pump Station. Appearance by the Town Manager. Mr. Van Alyne requested parameters and limitations for obtaining the easement at the Winhaven Gardens Homeowners Association site. Mr. Chichester said that we are bound by the appraisal, if they do not like it we need to look at other options. Mr. Hanly with Syncon would like to help provide a site but it is out of his control due to financial restrictions. Mr. Scott asked that the Board consider appointing 1-2 members to be on standby if a meeting can be arranged with Mr. Bently. Mr. Chichester and Mr. Stephans were delegated to be ready to work with Mr. Bently; someone that Mr. Bently likes can be used for an appraisal. 8. Appearance by Douglas County Community Development Department. Discussion and possible action to approve, approve with conditions, continue, or deny a request for a Town of Minden letter of support for Douglas County’s applications to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s TIGER II Discretionary Grant Program, to include improvements Muller Parkway and East Valley Road, and planning for the East Ranchos Connection. Rob Anderson represented Douglas County Community Development. He said that this is a potential 100% grant for three road projects: 1) East Ranchos connection costing $3.187 million dollars; 2) East Valley Road from Stockyard to Johnson Lane costing $8.5 million dollars. and 3) Two lanes of Muller costing $13.4 million that would fulfill the Douglas County obligation. They are potentially 100% grants; however there is a value assigned to dedication of the easement by Park Cattle Company and a cash commitment by the county. Chichester/Stephans moved to approve a request for a Town of Minden letter of support for Douglas County’s applications to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s TIGER II Discretionary Grant Program, to include improvements to Muller Parkway and East Valley Road, and planning for the East Ranchos Connection. 9. Discussion and possible action to approve, approve with conditions, continue, or deny a request from “Willow Bill” to place a non-religious holiday display in the park at the intersection of U.S. 395 and State Route 88 from November 27, 2010, to December 31, 2010. Appearance by Town Manager. Mr. Van Alyne said that “Willow Bill” teaches kids how to use willows. Local school students would create a reindeer and sleigh display. We would light the display based on the availability of power at the site. Thaler/Stephans moved to approve a request from “Willow Bill” to place a non-religious holiday display in the park at the intersection of U.S. 395 and State Route 88 from November 27, 2010 to December 31, 2010 Motion carried unanimously. 10. Discussion and possible action to approve, approve with conditions, continue, or deny Resolution #2010R-077 to augment the 2010/2011 budget. Appearance by Town Manager. This is a housekeeping item to close out the fiscal year. Chichester/Stephans moved to approve request for Resolution #2010R-077 to augment the 2010/2011 budget. Motion carried unanimously. 10. Discussion and possible action to approve, approve with conditions, continue, or deny a request to reclassify a Maintenance Specialist II position (Grade 37) to a Maintenance Supervisor (Grade 46). Appearance by Town Manager. This addresses an employee who is working out of class and simplifies organizational profile. His current class and most recent raise place him in the salary range for the supervisor position. There would be no change in his pay if approved but creates a greater range of upward mobility. Public comment: ---PAGE BREAK--- Minden Town Board Minutes September 1, 2010 Page 7 of 7 Bev Giannopulos questioned at what grade a new person would enter this position; it would be at grade 46. Thaler/Stephans moved to approve a request to reclassify a Maintenance Specialist II position (Grade 37) to a Maintenance Supervisor (Grade 46). Motion carried unanimously. IV. Adjournment Chichester/Thaler motioned to adjourn at 8:55. Motion carried unanimously.