Council Minutes

Minutes of Grand Forks City Council/Committee of the
Whole -Monday, August 27, 2007 - 5:30 p.m.___________

The city council of the city of Grand Forks sitting as the Committee of the Whole met in the council chambers in City Hall on Monday, August 27, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. with Mayor Brown presiding. Present at roll call were Council Members Brooks, Glassheim, Gershman, Christensen, Kreun - 5; absent: Council Member Bakken - 1.

Mayor Brown announced that anyone wishing to speak to any item may do so by being recognized, and that the meeting is being televised.

Mayor Brown commented on various items during the past week and upcoming events:
He stated that Northwood (tornado) is first and foremost in everyone's minds and in our thoughts and prayers and asked Rick Duquette, city administrator, to give a brief update on how the City was interacting, that he has spoken with Mayor Johnson twice today.

Mr. Duquette reported on the city's involvement with the city of Northwood last night and today, and thanked our city departments and employees who went into the emergency operations center last night and started working and communicating with Northwood. He reported that this morning at 7:00 a.m. we had 4 street department public works trucks on scene in Northwood, staff with chainsaws to help clear debris and open up roads. The health department has sanitarians and nursing staff on scene to assist with some of those issues, and have also positioned a fire truck and 4 firefighters as their fire station was severely damaged along with most of their equipment. He noted in our meetings today with our department heads and other departments, the Park District has also supplied log haulers to assist with the moving of debris and help clear the roads. He noted that our public information office, Kevin Dean, went in last night and was working with emergency communications and has been there today as well. Tomorrow morning the city will have another 15 people from public works with trucks in Northwood at their request to continue helping with removal of debris, etc. He stated they have also put together a small team of building inspectors, health department inspectors, sanitarians and people from other departments and made those people available as things begin to slow down in Northwood to assist them with the recovery operations, and will continue to help our neighbor as long as they need us.

Mr. Duquette stated they are recommending that those who wish to go out there to help, contact EOC, phone #780-8213, as command location in Northwood is trying to control and manage the situation - help is important but help needs to come in at the right time and needs to be managed.

2.1 Approval of Pledged Collateral Report.
There were no comments.

2.2 Amendment No. 1 to engineering services agreement with Interstate Engineering, Inc. for Project No. 5727, Columbia Road Overpass Repairs.__________________
There were no comments.

2.3 Create special assessment district for Project No. 5703.1, District No. 608.1, paving 47th Ave.S. (S. Washington St. to Belmont Road)_____________________________
2.4 Create special assessment district for Project No. 5767.2, District No. 610.2, paving S. 20th St. from 36th Ave.S. to 40th Ave.S.___________________________________
2.5 Create special assessment district for Project No. 5940.1, District No. 620.1, paving S. 20th St. (40th Ave.S. to 44th Ave.S.).______________________________________
The city auditor reported these 3 items are creations of future assessment areas and
creating those new areas for properties annexed.

2.6 Create special assessment district for Project No. 6150, Dist. No. 456, sanitary sewer for 5500 and 5600 blocks of 1st Ave.N._______________________________________
There were no comments.

2.7 Plans and specifications for Project No. 6180, Dist. No. 297, watermain on 1500 block of 16th Ave.N. Circle.____________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.8 Plans and specifications for Project No. 6151, District No. 457, sanitary sewer on 1400 and 1500 blocks of N. 42nd St. and 4200 - 4400 blocks of 16th Ave.N, and 1500 block of 16th Ave.N. Circle._______________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.9 Create special assessment district for Project No. 6174, District No. 458, Rehabilitate Storm Pump Stations Nos. 182 and 188._________________
Tom Hanson, Webster Foster & Weston, consulting engineers, reported that earlier this
summer the city discovered a leaking pipe at storm station #182, 11th Ave.S. and S. 20th Street, they put a temporary patch on it and shut off one of the pumps and that station is at half of capacity. The original project was built in 1959 and the station was scheduled for rehab next year; temporary solutions were considered but would cost approx. $200,000 and only gain one year, and is his understanding that those repairs would be special assessed. This area has 3 interconnected pump stations that serve the area: Stations 182, 188 and 189 with area from DeMers Avenue to 32nd Avenue South, and from Washington to Columbia Road (approx. 2 sq. miles). The present plan is as follows: #182 install new pumps and piping, new operating floor with larger hatch, new above ground structure and improve inlet conditions, emergency generator, electrical service, etc.; Pump Station #188, serves northwest corner of this area and is located on 11th Ave.S. near Westward Dr.; and would include new pumps, piping, emergency generator, electrical service and misc. items; Pump Station #189 is located in Bringewatt Park on 24th Ave.S. and was rehabbed in 2003.

Special assessments for this project were spread over 65% of the 2 sq. mile area, and leaves 35% left to pay for the remaining pump station work. Because of the way the collection system is interconnected, it is very difficult to accurately assign benefits to a specific location or property, the intent of this project is to bring all 3 stations to similar standards to result in fair assessment of the cost to all properties, and the only way to fairly deal with this is to include those people who paid for Pump Station #189 in the district and the Special Assessment Commission will then spread them appropriately, basically bring everybody up to the same level to what those people were spread at, and then do additional costs above that.

2.10 Budget amendment for West Nile Virus Grant, and move 2007 WNV grant budget from Grant Fund (2146.400.4590) to Enterprise Fund 5800.____________________
There were no comments.

2.11 Appointments to Board of Health, Public Health Officer and Deputy Public Health Officers._______________________________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.12 Matter of application to move dwelling w/attached garage from Fairdale, ND to 5410 W. Plum Dr. (public hearing 9/04/07)__________________________________
Council Member Gershman asked if this building is compatible with the neighborhood.
Bev Collings, inspections, reported that there are several vacant lots in this area, no neighboring lots and that there are some ranch homes in the area and have been successful in moving 4 or 5 homes out there She stated this house is in very good condition and will be resided with more conventional siding, and should fit into the neighborhood.

2.13 Matter of moving permit application to move garage from 1422 S. 9th St. to 1414 S. 9th St. (public hearing 9/04/07)____________________________________________
There were no comments.

2.14 Landfill Services Plan. [staff report under separate cover]
Todd Feland, public works director, presented information relating to the landfill interim
plan, that they compared the City of Fargo proposal vs. the Waste Management Gwinner landfill proposal - that the City of Fargo proposal is $53.87/ton and Waste Management is $56.12/ton; thought that the City of Fargo was the obvious choice because cost less and was closer, however, their proposal is only for Grand Forks' garbage and not the City's intent because half the garbage comes from outside the city of Grand Forks, presently at 70,000 tons of MSW, 35,000 from Grand Forks and 35,000 from outside the city; and will come back with a recommendation in September of how we do that.

Council Member Gershman stated what we will be talking about is not only a Grand Forks issue, but is a regional issue, that we take the controversy for it but if we were to exercise the option of just going to Fargo, all of the neighbors around us that have stayed with us would have a real problem getting rid of their garbage.

Mr. Feland presented information relating to areas in the northwest part of the city that are being considered for a landfill, properties in Rye Twp. 14, 13 and 24, and Falconer Twp. 18 and 19 - 5 sites they are looking at as potential sites, and also reviewed challenges they have with these sites: sites are within the FAA 5- mile exclusionary zone (FAA radius of concern) and within Zone D airspace protection buffer area of the Grand Forks International Airport Land Use Plan, and the USDA Wildlife Service (wildlife hazard assessment). Enhancement projects at the airport which need federal money (80% by federal government) and FAA states that they can't tell the City what to do but if don't agree with uses in advisory area, can decide not to fund certain projects. He stated in his discussions with the USDA Wildlife Service and the FAA, both have said to do a wildlife survey, update the plan to see what we are planning in this particular area and will it create more of a wildlife attraction or will it make things better. He also noted that the City bales solid waste to make more aesthetically pleasing and adds years onto life of landfill. His recommendations are in the north end to send letter to the USDA and ask for expedited wildlife hazard assessment, do a ND Department of Health pre-application permit process (preliminary report to determine whether these sites are worthy of going to permitting stage) and the State Water Commission, the State Geologist and the ND Dept. of Health on a range of environmental and planning issues review to see if acceptable sites.

He also presented information relating to areas in the southwest sections - Walle Twp. 6, 7 and 18, and Brenna Twp. 36; that these sites are outside the 5-mile area. Some of the advantages of these sites is that they are near the I-29 corridor and Merrifield Road. He stated the sites to the north are more like the Turtle River Twp. site, have saline ground water very near the surface and heavy clays; and sites to the southwest have thinner clays, better soil drainage; and have issues with people who don't want it in their backyard and concerns about future development. The timeline would be to start in August, 2007, get the USDA Wildlife Service report back towards end of the year, and get the ND Dept. of Health pre-application process back, then would provide the city council in January, 2008 with information and ask to narrow down to a site where they can proceed with ND Dept. of Health permit, if there is an applicable site at that time - this is narrowing down sites to one in particular.

Brad Gengler, city planner, presented the Grand Forks zoning map identifying the northerly tier sections, showing areas of A-1 Agricultural District, and A-2 Agricultural Zoning Districts; that sections to the south - 36, 6, 7 and 18 are all zoned A-1 and the northerly tier sections 14, 13, 24 are all located in A-1 Ag District, sections 18 and 19 are split, easterly half are zoned A-2 and westerly half are zoned A-1. He stated the zoning jurisdiction which is 4 miles does have as a permitted use a municipal solid waste disposal facility. He also presented a copy of the Land Use Plan which has been adopted and highlighted the section numbers. He stated they have an area that is immediately adjacent to the city and is referred to as Tier 1 area, the amount of land anticipated we need until the Year 2035 for buildout on their long range plan. Tier 2 which is represented in some various residential/commercial/industrial district doesn't have identified timeframe and this plan is updated every 5 years. Tier 3 on the outer ring, don't have a date certain as to when those areas would be developed for uses other than what already identified in their A-1 and A-2 zoning districts.

COUNCIL MEMBER McNAMARA REPORTED PRESENT

Marilyn Gregoire, 1318 11th Avenue NE, Grand Forks, stated she is a County resident. She stated that Mr. Feland in describing the southern sections of land stated that the soil had better drainage than what is farther north and read from draft of the EIS (Environmental Impact Study) written in September, 2003. She noted areas of the map that are glacial sands and gravel; areas that are beach strandline deposits, and areas that have both soil conditions. That section 36 of Brenna Twp. has glacial sands and gravel; and sections 6, 7 and 8 of Walle Twp. are both glacial sands and gravel and beach strandline deposits, that she talked to Dr. Dexter Perkins and he gave her a phrase as to what these soils are about, that can't put a landfill on land that is too porous; the clays are not there, thin clays and won't be able to find the materials that you need for the daily cover. She stated that the results of this analysis effectively excluded all areas except some of the southwest and northeast corners of the county and west and north of Northwood there is land available; the northeast corner of Grand Forks County is where there is more soil that is suitable. .
Mr. Feland responded to Ms. Gregoire's comments and reported that the City went through a process to narrow down what the best sites were, that we have to go back to look at sites within our extraterritorial zone, and all of these sites are going to have challenges because we are in this glacial lakebed as described, no matter if it is to the southwest or to northwest of the city that have some challenges and that is why do a geotechnical review on all these sites and plan to do borings on all these sites, and if not an appropriate site and can't design around it, the City wouldn't proceed with that. He stated if had choices would locate to the north of the city because that is where they are located, less expensive from transportation, near wastewater system, etc. and except for the FAA and the Airport issue, but as Dr. Perkins said in his report, if all else fails then probably should go ahead and look at these sites as described on the southwest, challenges on both so need to go with both and work on this in parallel - challenges no matter where we go.

Council Member Gershman stated he would concur with Mr. Feland and read Dr. Perkins' report and prefers the north end too and that the City is going to see if we can convince the FAA to give us a waiver, that with the University of North Dakota and with commercial air service that if we jeopardize federal funding, couldn't do it, have a serious issue, and that he will do what he can along with others on the council to work with the FAA to get that waiver because that appears to be the best location; but if can't do that, have to do both north and south, and going to try to find the solution.

COMMENTS BY MAYOR AND COUNCIL

1) Council Member Brooks thanked staff for what they have done for Northwood to assist them
- important that we offer to the surrounding communities in return for what they do for our economy.

He stated that the MN Dept. of Transportation closed the bridge by Drayton, now reopened, but concern is that MNDoT is getting aggressive with their reviews and examinations of bridges, that we are in the middle of the beet harvest, and has asked staff in East Grand Forks to make contact with MNDoT and to seek our input with Grand Forks' assistance before they start shutting down bridges and doing some repair work without at least checking with us. He stated he communi-cated with Dave Berg, American Crystal, and would like to work with them on this, potential problems it could raise for the cities and impact the harvest itself, and will keep Mr. Grasser and Mr. Duquette informed on this.

2) Council Member McNamara reported that he had been in Northwood today, that it is amazing that there are not more injuries there when you see the amount of destruction in the city, any loss of life is substantial. He stated there is tremendous desire to help but they are doing a great job and made substantial progress but listen to what they ask for - they still have the city closed, it takes a pass to get into the city so listen to what the mayor and officials in Northwood are asking for. He stated he saw city of Grand Forks staff, people from County and State, public health department, and police department - also saw law enforcement from Valley City and makes you proud to be a member of this part of the country. He also put in a pitch for NOAH weather radios.

ADJOURN

It was moved by Council Member Gershman and seconded by Council Member Brooks that we adjourn. Carried 6 votes affirmative.

Respectfully submitted,



John M. Schmisek
City Auditor