Full Text
Yerington City Council Meeting September 12, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. – City Hall The regular meeting of the Yerington City Council was held in the Council Chambers at 10:00 a.m. with the following present: Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Bryant Council Members Shane Martin (via phone), Matthew Galvin and Frank Pizzo City Manager Robert Switzer City Attorney Chuck Zumpft Chief of Police Darren Wagner Public Works Director Jay Flakus Building Inspector Joel Brown Absent: City Clerk Sheema Shaw Grants Administrator Angela Moore Guests: David Ray, Chantae Lessard, Charles Wheatley, Fire Chief Scott Draper The meeting was called to order within the James Sanford Community Center and roll call was reported by Mayor Pro Tem Bryant. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Pro Tem Bryant. Public Participation Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked for comments and no comments were made at this time. Agenda Approval Mayor Pro Tem Bryant stated the agenda would be approved as presented unless there were any objections or corrections. City Manager Switzer stated that one correction was needed. Agenda item, #4 should have the date August 22 instead of August 29. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant noted the correction and the motion was approved unanimously. Minutes Mayor Pro Tem Bryant stated the minutes from prior meeting dated August 22, 2022 would be approved unless there were any objections or corrections. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant stated the minutes from prior meeting dated August 22, 2022 were approved as presented and the motion was approved unanimously. Review Bills Previously Submitted for Payment Bills, Salaries and Vouchers: Accounts Payable Checks 08/23/2022 35779 through 35817 08/24/2022 35818 through 35821 08/29/2022 35822 through 35828 08/302022 35829 ---PAGE BREAK--- Payroll Checks 08/22/2022 35771 through 35775 09/06/2022 35830 through 35832 Payroll Vouchers 08/22/2022 8252201 through 8252228 09/06/2022 9082201 through 9082226 Transmittal Checks 08/22/2022 357776 through 35777 35778 voided – printed in error 09/06/2022 35883 Transmittal Vouchers 08/22/2022 0822201 09/06/2022 9062201 Mayor Pro Tem Bryant stated the bills previously submitted for payment, checks 35571 through 35833 totaling $554,510.40, would be approved unless there were any objections or corrections. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant stated no comments were made at this time and the bills previously submitted for payment were approved unanimously. Discussion and Possible Action to approve an Invitation to Bid on new restrooms at Mountain View Park. City Manager Switzer stated this item came from discussion in the Strategic Planning, Budget and Public Works Committee meetings. Approval of this item will allow staff to advertise an Invitation to Bid for the installation of new restrooms at Mountain View Park. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant stated that one of the companies included in the packet was the same one that did the installation at Veteran’s Park, which went smoothly. Councilman Galvin made a motion to approve agenda item number six as presented, seconded by Councilman Martin. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked for comments. No comments were made at this time and the motion was approved unanimously. Discussion and Possible Action to approve a Request for Quote for installation of a lighting system at Reviglio Baseball Park. City Manager Switzer stated this item came from discussion in the Strategic Planning, Budget and Public Works Committee meetings. Important to improve usability to include night time tournaments and regular season games. There is a need for the lights for safety reasons, and to improve the usability of the park. There are no quotes available at this time. Approval of this item will allow staff the ability to advertise an Invitation to Bid for the installation of the lights at Reviglio Baseball Park. Once the quotes are received this item will be brought back to Council as an agenda item to approve the purchase. Councilman Pizzo made a motion to approve agenda item number seven as presented, seconded by Councilman Galvin. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked for comments. No comments were made at this time and the motion was approved unanimously. Discussion and Possible Action to schedule a Public Hearing for October 10, 2022, to designate California Street and Oregon Street, bordered on the north by Pearl Street and the south by Broadway Avenue, as one-way streets. ---PAGE BREAK--- City Manager Switzer noted that this has also been discussed in council meetings, though no action has been taken. This is an ongoing effort to help increase safety, particularly in the elementary school area where we have had at least one incident with a student. Routing the traffic is challenging and this will not eliminate all issues, but it was felt that during pick up and drop off times, this will go a long way to improve the safety. This goes along with the Kiss N Drop project, which are still waiting on the appropriations from NDOT. We just completed the sidewalk work on California Street as a measure to increase pedestrian safety. City Manager Switzer stated his proposal is not to just approve the one-way streets, but to hold a public hearing advertised to all impacted residents. City Attorney Zumpft asked for clarification on advertising. City Manager Switzer responded sending a letter to all residents in the area, within 300 feet and bringing it out to the public in a public hearing. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked if it would be appropriate to change it to include Pearl or Broadway. City Manager Switzer stated that they could be included in the discussion due to their potential impact. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked if besides the residents and the school district were there others, such as Fire department or Police department or anybody else who routinely has access to the schools who would need notification of the change. A public hearing will be held on October 10 at 10:00 a.m. The hearing will be advertised in the paper and a letter will be sent to residents impacted on California Street and Oregon Street. Letters will also be sent to Pearl Street, Broadway Street, and others within a 300-foot radius. Notification will also be provided to Lyon County School District. Councilman Galvin made a motion to approve agenda item number eight as presented, seconded by Councilman Pizzo. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked for comments. . David Ray stated he is going to let his board know about the meeting in case they don’t hear about it otherwise. The motion was approved unanimously. Discussion and Possible Action to approve a Request for Quote to purchase items such as planters, trees/plants, benches, signage, and new trash receptacles/containers to enhance Downtown beautification efforts. City Manager Switzer stated that the city is looking to enhance and beautify downtown to increase the activity level downtown. Without pleasing aesthetics, you negate the effort to provide those activities. Approval will allow staff to obtain quotes seeking the lowest cost that meets the specifications. In the budget, $100,000 is allocated for downtown rehabilitation / economic development. This is in the scope of that action. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked Chief Draper if he had any comments. He did not. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant noted there were three quotes included in the council packet. Public Works Director Flakus stated that most of the providers are on the East Coast and shipping concrete is costly to get it across the country. He also stated they researched California and other closer states where we could pick them up ourselves, but that was not working out. He stated that his understanding is that the cost per item should be calculated so that a decision could be made. City Manager Switzer stated yes. Councilman Galvin made a motion to approve agenda item number nine as presented, seconded by Councilman Pizzo. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked for comments. No comments were made at this time and the motion was approved unanimously. ---PAGE BREAK--- Public Participation Mayor Pro Tem Bryant asked for comments. Chantae Lessard from Hud Bay Minerals, a project near the old Anaconda mine site introduced herself. She moved here approximately two weeks ago and stated that she will be attending future council meetings. Department Reports City Attorney Zumpft had no comments. Chief of Police Wagner stated that Officer Mendoza received a letter of gratitude from Michael Gore regarding a bicycle theft in which he was involved. Officer Sanabia will be doing School Resource Officer training on 9/26. He will be fully compliant at the completion of that weeklong class. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant inquired about the Neighborhood Watch Program. Chief Wagner stated two people have expressed interest and hopefully there will be more. Public Works Director Flakus stated we’re taking advantage of the concrete crews in town and the city is paying for them to fix 5 or 6 spots that are in need. The downtown beautification committee focused on Main Street between Goldfield and Bridge. We also have a certain amount of extra money to fix streets. Looking forward to fixing Pearl border to border and Oregon north from Pearl. Right now, the busses are detoured around the schools. City Manager Switzer inquired about the gates for the parking lot at City Hall. Public Works Manager Flakus responded that they are almost done. The tower is done and door openers have been ordered. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant commented that Virginia is doing a great job. She is right on top of many things for us. Jay agreed she is doing great. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant inquired about still being on time for November completion of the road construction. Public Works Manager Flakus stated no because it will start to get cold and that will delay the paving. City Manager Switzer stated he believes it will be done in the spring, March perhaps, or first part of April. City Manager Switzer we have a formal request in to USDA for additional funding, separate from intermediate loans and long-term loans. For sewer work, particularly sewer work on California Street. Focusing on the Colony now. Building Inspector Brown had no comments. City Manager Switzer referred to Tab 10, the letter informing the Lyon County School District that the City is taking back the maintenance of Booth-Parr Field. The school district will then be subject to the same criteria as others using the park. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant stated that he has discussed this with the athletic director to give a heads up. Public Works Manager Flakus inquired about the effective date for his crew to begin the process. The letter states effective January 1. Do they need to begin sooner? General consensus is that it is looking bad and they need to start now to clean up weeds. The facility maintenance is less important at this time. It is still a highly visited field and a main thoroughfare while construction is going on. We need to give a better impression to visiting schools and others using that area. ---PAGE BREAK--- Councilman Pizzo reminded everyone of the “Fly-in” in a couple of weeks and that he was hopeful they get a good turnout. City Manager Switzer commented that a Chinook helicopter that was going to be dedicated from the National Guard in Stead may not be available due to safety and airworthiness considerations. The Department of the Navy approved a static display for aircraft. An F-18 was requested, but we will get whatever they bring. The event is Saturday, October 8 from 7 a.m. to Noon. Fuel may be advertised for $2.99 per gallon for the first 35 aircraft. Councilman Martin had no comments. Councilman Galvin reported on the Room Tax meeting. Had to explain where we wanted to put the money for the downtown project. They were a little sore over the money going to the dog park. It does not put “butts in beds” in line with tourism focus. They want to bring City Council a plan to discuss advertising expenditures and what can and cannot be done. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant stated that he toured the Hill with Laura Hardesty-Butcher to see what their proposal was. They are up against a deadline to seek funding. Asked if that could be added to next meeting agenda, September 26, as a discussion item. If it is approved, they would be within their timeframe to seek funding for next year. City Manager Switzer inquired if this would be a request through the city for grant funds. Mayor Pro Tem Bryant responded that at this time, they are seeking the City’s permission to use the land and they would seek the grants on their own behalf. They just want a definite yes or no from the City if they can use the land. Mayor Pro Tem closed the meeting with comments about the twenty-first anniversary of September 11 and the slogan we always hear is “Never Forget”. It is very important that we do remember the incidents of that day and it is up to us to teach the next generation about what occurred that day. One of the good things to come out of it was the swelling of American pride that followed in the next few weeks, months, and even years. Just as importantly as the events of the day, I think it is also important to teach American pride. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Mayor of the City of Yerington ATTEST: City Clerk of the City of Yerington