Committee Minutes

Minutes of the Grand Forks City Council Service/Safety
Committee - Tuesday, June 15, 2010 - 5:30 p.m.________

The Service/Safety Committee met on Tuesday, June 15, 2010, at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers in City Hall with Chairman Kreun presiding. Present at roll call were Kreun, Bjerke. (Council Members Bakken and Gershman out of town).

Others present included: Al Grasser, Dean Rau, Mark Walker, Don Shields, Chief Packett, Chief O'Neill, Pete Haga, Peg O'Leary, Howard Swanson, Emily Fossen, Saroj Jerath, Todd Feland, Tom Hanson, Todd Hanson, Margaret Emmanuel, Becky Ault.

Chairman Kreun called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m.

1. Application for taxicab license by Sabo Yahaya, 4004 S. Washington Street.
Chief Packett reported the process for approval of taxi license - review of the application by their department along with inspection of the vehicle(s). Mr. Yahaya was present and would proceed to follow requirements for licensing. Committee moved this item to council for approval.

2. Create special assessment district for Project No. 4704.6, Dist. No. 14.6, Permanent Flood Protection Project - third assessment.
Mark Walker, asst. city engineer, reported the completed work on the project which was assessed in 3 segments, first assessment of $20.3 million, second $16.1 million and final assessment $4.3 million - originally anticipating $52 million for assessment but reduced down $42.3 million, numbers based on cost breakdowns from expenditures to date along with Corps figures, and will continue working with Corps to work out those numbers for final cost and actual assessment will be based upon our best estimate. Kreun stated that the City's share of the complete project is $78 million, State share $52 million for total cost of $130 million - Walker stated he didn't provide breakdown of the entire project costs nor federal funding, that Corps stated that cost for local sponsor was $130 million and without the Corps and without the State's participation $78 million would have been our cost. Funds received from federal government and State and locally, including sales tax - $800,000 interest income and resale of some of the properties $3.2 million and lot of components that led to the reduction of this last special assessment. Agreement with the federal government/Corps of Engineers indicated City's cost was acquisition of property, relocation of people living in homes, relocation expenses of utilities, 50% of recreational features (parks) and anything that the Corps considered a betterment (increased type of floodwall) - balance of unspent betterment money.

Bjerke raised several questions - the Bateman decision re. agricultural land, receiving of benefits, and would like information re. far southend land within the city limits with zero benefit, that if agricultural land within the city receives benefits from agencies protected by the flood control project, and questioned zero benefit. Howard Swanson, city attorney, stated he would have to change ND law - benefit you speak of is not a benefit to the property, but benefit to the owners of the property, specials have to be based upon a benefit to the real estate - that if attempting to assess a flood control project, the properties that are outside the benefit of flood control do not receive an actual benefit. The description of the Bateman decision isn't entirely accurate, the issue is not whether or not agricultural property, the issue is whether or not the real estate received a benefit from the project and the Special Assessment Commission found that it did receive a benefit of protection from overland flooding from the west, that was not accepted in trial court nor was it accepted in Supreme Court, basic issue is can you establish a benefit to the real estate.
Bjerke requested a complete breakdown of the $4.3 million assessment, if the Riverside pool money included in that, dog park and paving of road in front of dog park monies included, or if any other betterment money is included, etc. He stated for the record the Betterment Fund that there is no money in it, when decided to do betterments just did them and then raised taxes to pay for them, that if project done and selling final bonds, the betterment fund should be closed, doesn't want this to become a permanent fund. He noted that outside the city limits there are future assessment areas, would like a map of that area by Monday night, and that will generate money and what will happen to those funds. Emily Fossen, finance department, reported that it was decided at the first assessment to use the funds from the future assessment district as money to pay for operating and maintenance of the flood protection project and the greenway, monies set aside as maintenance account. Bjerke stated then could have discussion re. greenway maintenance fee if have new money coming in and if that is permanent. Ms. Fossen stated it will last as long as there is property outside that will be coming into city limits within that district. Al Grasser, city engineer, stated the future assessment districts and have depreciation schedule but doesn't go to zero, and are envisioning that it will last as long as anything can, lot of earth mounding, concrete structures, etc. and future income sources will be used for - some areas need capital replacement i.e., pumps, generators, etc. and the operations and maintenance includes capital replacements, repainting of floodwalls. It was noted that these costs are on-going and hold down general taxes. Committee moved this item to council for approval of recommended action.

3. Create special assessment district for Project No. 4704.7, Dist. No. 14.7, Permanent Flood Protection Project for newly annexed property from June, 2009 to June 2010 and to properties with lot-line changes due to an annexation.
Saroj Jerath, city auditor, stated this creates special assessment district for newly annexed property from June 2009 to June 2010 and lot line changes due to annexation. Comm. moved this item to council for approval of recommended action.

4. Construction Engineering Services Agreement for Project No. 6101, Dist. 642, paving S. 48th St. from 16th Ave.S. to 32nd Ave.S. and for Project No. 6101.4, Dist. 466, storm sewer and drainage on S. 48th St. from 17th Ave.S. to 32nd Ave.S._____
Walker reported when this item was referred with request to approve agreement, intention was when they received information would provide it to the committee - new rules of DOT re. selection of consultants for use on federal aid projects - that they have received proposals from engineering firms, conducted interviews and selected firm, and have entered into discussion with top ranked firm to negotiate a price and forwarded that to the DOT for their approval, and since have approved the dollar amount and forwarded an agreement between City and consultant. The firm selected was CPS, Ltd. and have agreed upon a not to exceed price of $684,256.00, 81% eligible for federal reimbursement. He reported the agreement has been submitted to the city attorney for his review and will be updating the staff report for the council to reflect those changes and to enter into an agreement. Comm. moved this item to council for approval of firm of CPS, Ltd and a not to exceed price of $684,256.00.

5. Consideration of bids for construction of Project No. 6339, Bus Garage Pavement Replacement.
Dean Rau, asst. city engineer, reported this is second bidding of the project, error in first bid as had omitted DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) standards language in bid proposal and packet, bids came in very favorable on second bid, approx. 7% below engineering estimates and recommended awarding contract to Opp Construction in the amount of $272,405. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

6. City Project No. 6549, 2010 Bike Racks. - Information only.
Al Grasser, city engineer, reported several years back the council authorized creation of greenway and trail users group to help city in identifying and working through issues with bike paths, bicycles, etc. this group looked in the downtown area and work with businesses that needed bike racks and location and that his department would do ordering of material re. installation. Through this process the Greenway Trails Group was approached by Dakota Harvest Bakers as they have large clientele using bicycles that frequent facility, and amount of bicycles at any one time exceed what they can put in on sidewalk - have large rack that can hold 15 bikes and want it close to the business and are looking to locate the rack in the street in one of the parking stalls in front of Dakota Harvest. This is information only but wanted to make sure the council is aware of this. This is pilot program to gauge effect and feasibility for potential use. Grasser stated they will be putting together bid package for this location and possibly some additional bike racks - public works crews will assist in installation (racks removed during winter). Committee action only.

7. Bids for Project No. 6556, 2010 CDBG Sidewalks.
Rau reported this project does sidewalks in the CDBG (LMI) area and continuation of that project , bids received last week and came in below engineer's estimate, Rogers Construction was low bidder and their recommendation is to award contract to Rogers in the amount of $130,610. There was an evaluation done last year through Urban Dev. and engineering staff and only residents getting sidewalks, no businesses. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

8. Bids for Project No. 6570, Sanitary Forcemain Bypass Risers.
Walker reported this project would include putting in some risers that would allow them to do bypass piping in event that have forcemain break or need to take out a section of forcemain out of service for interior inspection and as part of long term study have been determining what doing with some of our existing aging forcemain system and this is part of ability to do that work. He noted that this also will require them to put in interim bypass pumping in several locations; their intention is to have some public hearings notifying neighborhood of the project and the temporary bypass forcemain take 7 to 10 days. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

9. Bids for construction of Project No. 6577, Police Dept. Firing Range Paving, 1220 S. 52nd St. at the Public Service Center._______________________________________
Rau reported when range built only put in on gravel area, problems in the spring of the year and at time of heavy rain, requested paving of the area; received bids 19% below engineer's estimate, and recommend awarding contract to Rogers Construction in the amount of $75,507.00; funding out of cash carryover. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

17. Because of another commitment the committee allowed Peg O'Leary, Historic Preservation Commission, to present her information relative to this item; and read communication from Grand Forks Historic Preservation Commission into the record as Commission's responsibility to protect health and welfare of Grand Forks' citizens and to protect the historic built environment, contend that climbers on the Northern Pacific Railroad Bridge pier sets dangerous precedent, endangers structural integrity of the pier and under no circumstances be allowed to drive anchors into the pier. They recommend that permission to climb on the pier be denied; however if granted should not be allowed to damage the pier in any way, further that the pier be inspected by city personnel before and after the climb. She stated this is the considered opinion of the Commission that the pier should be out of bounds and if it isn't, then users have to be restrained.

10. Bids for Project No. 6584, Dist. 183, Street lights on 6th Ave.N (N. 53rd to N. 55th St.)
Rau reported that this 2-block segment of street did not get street lights, and residents on north side of the street have asked for lights to be installed, received favorable bids for installation of 3 lights - RBB Electric was low bidder in amount of $5,273.00. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

11. Joint Powers Agreement for Project No. 6594, Police Building Addition for PSAP Expansion.
Walker reported the Joint Powers Agreement between City and Grand Forks County PSAP that would allow this project to go forward, both in terms of funding and long term use of the property. The agreement was prepared by the city attorney and has been presented to the 911 Authority Board and meets their approval; recommendation would be to approve. Kreun stated this will save money and utilize the funds through the 911 service fees that we are collecting and that was part of the reason we had to wait to make sure the Legislature would give us the authorization to utilize those funds, location and funding mechanism were parts of it. Bjerke questioned $625,000 funding from Waterworks, Feland nodded okay for this. The city auditor indicated there might be some extra funds available for prepayment. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

12. Bids for construction of Project No. 6595, Dist. 644, N. 36th St. paving extension.
Rau reported this was request of Philadelphia Macaroni for their building expansion, received good bids, low bidder was Strata Corporation in the amount of $237,759.55, and recommendation is to award bid to Strata. Project funding is 20% from City as collector street, and remaining 80% split 50/50 to both sides of the street (only 2 property owners, the City and Philadelphia Macaroni).. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

13. Budget amendment for Mosquito Control Lab Construction.
Don Shields reported this is follow-up of mosquito control laboratory that was approved by the council and this was budget amendment to go along with that, bid was awarded to Innes Construction. Grant funds for equipment and project using cash carryover. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

14. Bike helmet ordinance discussion.
Chief Packett reported that the city attorney has presented an ordinance draft as guide for discussion today and if any questions and do have couple citizens who wish to be heard. Kreun stated he was not sure of age where would start, 14 to 16 not too happy with this but for younger children preventative measure of injury, and that he doesn't want to use harsh deterrent, but strong positive aspect; knowing that some of our officers have been able to give out gift certificates through Safe Kids Coalition, etc. and would like ordinance in place but have reward provision in the ordinance rather than deterrent - along with notice to parents.

Carma Hanson and Patty Olson, coordinators for Safe Kids-Grand Forks, stated they were approached by Mayor Brown to look at this ordinance, that they looked at several ordinances around the country, that they decided that in the city of Grand Forks to start out with children age 14 and younger, children 14 able to get driver's license and in making it easy to say that there isn't a child going to an elementary school or middle school that should be riding to that facility without a helmet on, longer keep in helmet chances of that behavior continuing into adulthood is higher. That Safe Kids-Grand Forks and Altru Hospice do a lot of work in area of education - ads on television, newspaper, work with police department and other entities, visit both public and private schools within the city - provide cards to police department for use as positive award and also through school system - provide helmets at low price ($7.00) or free of charge - would like to continue with reward but also some type of penalty (take kids home and talk to parents - any tickets would be to parents)

Comm. stated they would like Chief Packett to work with Safe Kids and city attorney to come up with recommendations of age and penalty and return to committee at later date.

15. Texting while driving ordinance discussion.
Mr. Swanson presented copies of draft ordinance that would address concerns raised by Council Member Gershman, the ordinance draws a complete distinction between texting and cell phone usage - does not apply to cell phone usage - the ordinance would only apply to a driver, not to passenger in the vehicle and only applies to texting and internet access/usage of a wireless type of device. He stated information provided, there are 28 states and Dist. of Columbia that have prohibitions on texting while driving and this draft similar to draft that ND Legislature defeated in their last term. The prohibition in the ordinance in subsection 1, some exceptions in subsection 2 that would not apply to law enforcement or fire department emergency services - does not apply to individual reporting an emergency or criminal activity, does not apply if a vehicle is parked but if operated or stopped for stop sign, etc. would still be prohibited act; defines electronic information/messaging/wireless communication device is. He stated he has not identified what type of fine would apply to the ordinance if adopted and is waiting to confer with city prosecutor on that but thinks it will come down to a policy decision by the city council as to what level of fine or penalty they would impose on that. Determining who is texting or dialing phone number would be matter of observation and an issue of enforcement. Mr. Swanson recommended that the ordinance stand alone and not be incorporated with another section. - City does not have a distracting driving ordinance. He stated they can move forward with ordinance or consider for further discussion, only thing not included in the ordinance is any type of proposed penalty. Comm. moved the item to council for discussion/approval.

EXTRA ITEM:
Chairman Kreun asked Chief Packett in light of the tragic accident that happened last week, what is City's policy re. chase situations. Chief Packett reported he had provided a copy of our pursuit policy to Council Member Glassheim and will provide to full council - but our policy follows similar policy of what you see nationally of National Accreditation Standards and the Police Chief's Assn. Standards of our criteria for officers to follow when they decide to initiate a pursuit, time of day, nature of case, pedestrians present, weather conditions, traffic conditions, etc. so there is a decision tree that an officer has to go through when he/she decides whether to pursue a vehicle or not, the chance of apprehension later and should the pursuit actually occur, then an opportunity for not only the initiating officer but the supervisor to call the pursuit off. There is criteria for number of units involved and support required and should the pursuit continue on, then there is a review after the fact and after actual report as to whether the pursuit actually followed department policy - quite extensive.

Kreun stated there is a lot of decision making that has to take place in short period of time and has to happen by police officers in very stressful situation every day, and give lot of credit for being able to make those decisions; comforted that we have that policy in place and that our officers are trained to high degree to help make those responsible decisions. Chief Packett shows importance of good policy procedure, practice and manuals that have all of our policies and meet the mission on accreditation for Law Enforcement Accreditation Standards, although not officially accredited but are researching that and may be bringing something to the council in next few months as far as the council's desire as to whether they actually seek the accreditation standard, pay the fee and actually have a team come in within the next couple years to assess us and look at our policies and practices, etc.

16. Public Transportation Facility fuel tank and ancillary fuel monitoring and accounting system replacement bid - Project No. 6563.
Todd Feland, director of public works, reported this is capital replacement and are going to replace fuel tank and reader system, etc. and recommends to accept the bid of $98,531, budgeted $100,000 for this and low bidder O'Day Equipment. He stated they are replacing road and parking lot and work in parallel with this; and do anticipate getting building rehabilitation over next 2 to 3 years - trying to renew building and grounds. Bjerke asked for explanation of passive fuel control accounting system is and how save money as City upgrades other city fuel system. Feland stated they have a fuel system at landfill facility and public works facility - and when those are aging and when replace the system underground and card readers, etc. can attach those facilities onto this so don't have to purchase new system - smaller component part that we can go back to the central server so this will serve as the master and have subordinate systems so can continue adding onto it - transit will have this system and system at public works where most people fuel, will be different system but when decide to upgrade it, will be able to tie it into that one - rather than two new systems, will have one main line system and add 4 or 5 systems hooked onto this. Comm. moved this item to council for approval.

17. Request to waive Ordinance No. 3546 for special events, Extreme North Dakota Adventure Race (END-AR) September 4, 2010.
Andy Magnes, 2524 8th Avenue North, director of the Adventure Race, stated that this will be the third Adventure Race in North Dakota, one in 2007 and second in 2009, and this race received grant from the ND Board of Tourism and trying to promote the sport in Grand Forks and in North Dakota, and races are done in the country and internationally. They are trying to bring to community where they live, and will bring in teams from other areas (Cities and from Wisc.).

Adventure racing is multi-sport event and use some aspects of paddling, running or trekking and mountain biking and various other events depending on the venue and the race organizers. In addition teams navigate to -- the course is not known ahead of time, teams will get map at the beginning of the event and will have to travel to checkpoints in order - teams would be traveling together at all times during the race. The September 4 race will be 10 hour race and taken place along the greenway corridor and Red Lake River (recreation area adj. to that area) as well as on some private land north of town. He stated he met with reps. of City event planning and had a preliminary meeting last week with police and fire and others that needed to be present and they covered the basics they are hoping to include in the event and swimming specifically was what was suggested that they need to have the ordinance waived for the date of the event. The unimportant details are kept secret until the actual date, when getting map and information right before the event, etc.

Kreun stated another question was brought up by Peg O'Leary is that using the old turntable in the center of the river and she has indicated that is on the historic preservation list and can't be damaged in any way. Magness stated they reviewed that in their preliminary meeting where getting information and came out after the fact that it was owned y the City, do have secondary plan that would allow them to use that structure and anchor points would not have to be installed, but use existing anchors on the structure and not need to do any drilling or affix any anchors whatsoever. Kreun suggested that they work with Ms. O'Leary on that issue.

Mr. Swanson advised committee that they have no authority to waive swimming in the river prohibition but if would like to have that authority would need to amend the ordinance to allow granting of waivers or permits for certain activities or events; that if inclined to want to entertain the event of this nature which involves swimming in the Red River, that would need to be done - there are obvious liability concerns with an event like this and if were to move forward in addition to amending the ordinance, there are other requirements that they would be recommending from the city attorney's office that would require sponsoring organization to provide insurance, hold harmless indemnification agreement and all participants be required to sign a similar type document before being allowed to participate - from the request to allow swimming in the Red River council doesn't have that authority to entertain that request without amending the ordinance. Magness stated they will carry insurance policy with an insurer that regularly insures Adventure Racing event and both Grand forks and East Grand Forks will be named in hold harmless agreement and each participant is also required to sign a document.
Swanson stated that both cities have prohibitions on swimming in the river; but pier structure believes City of Grand Forks is title owner of that structure. Magness stated they are working on setting a date with East Grand Forks city council; and point where races would access the river is on East Grand Forks bank - they will not be entering the river from the pier.

Mr. Swanson stated that if they were to amend the ordinance, would require first reading at city council meeting and would require second reading, timing minimum. He also stated that he wanted to make them aware that even with insurance requirements he is recommending, even with hold harmless identification, etc. City will not entirely eliminate the risk of litigation, by authorizing the event you incur some risk.

Chief O'Neill stated that over the past year have had 7 events in the river and probably have in excess over 100 hours - had 4 rescues on the river, and was very encouraged when the no swimming ordinance was adopted, supported that ordinance and over the years with the fire department seen many tragedies on the river and urged caution - understands excitement of an adventure race but wanted to express concern over the entire event - accidents do happen and encouraged caution. It was also suggested that any expenses incurred by the fire department would be included. It was noted that if the river level is over 28 ft. swimming portion would be cancelled. Swimming in the river will be optional and teams will not have to complete that; and anyone entering the river will have to have a pfd on.

Comm. moved this item to council for consideration along with draft of ordinance and other requirements; and urged Mr. Magness to visit with Ms. O'Leary that there wouldn't be any damage to the pier.

The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m.

Alice Fontaine, City Clerk