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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1988-03-15 Minutes123 MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS A regular meeting of the Fayetteville City Board of Directors was held on Tuesday, March 15, 1988 at 7:30 p.m. in the Directors' Room, City Hall, 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas. PRESENT: Mayor Johnson; Directors Marinoni, Hess, Bumpass, Lancaster, Martin and Kelley; City Manager Pennington, Assistant City Manager Linebaugh, City Attorney McCord, City Clerk McWethy; members of the press and audience. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Mayor Johnson, with seven Directors 123.1 present. The Mayor asked for a moment of silence. . REPORT TO THE PUBLIC City Manager Jim Pennington presented a report to the public and Board for 123.2 the month of February. He began with•a report of the financial condition of the City. This was followed by an announcement of the hiring of Mike Batie of Little Rock as the Director of Public Works, to begin working for the City in April. It was announced that Beff Kent was hired in the new position of City Nurse Pennington said the position should help in reducing workers' compensation insurance premiums. He commented that the City of Fayetteville has been paying over double what the City of Fort Smith has been paying. Reporting on the cable television franchise negotiations, Pennington said a 123.3 draft of a franchise agreement has been presented to the City by Warner Cable and the City has passed it on to the Washington firm of Arnold and Porter to .review the document on behalf of. the City. Pennington said the Board would hold public hearings. • Pennington said that a flow chart -on the .progress of the Wastewater 123.4 Treatment Plant construction had been distributed. He said meetings have been held with Huber, Hunt and Nichols totryandmonitor the project. He said the project was on schedule from an operational standpoint. He said the new plant was completed on February 24, one day ahead of schedule, and the new plant was placed in operation on that day. He said as of today half - the aeration basins are in operation and,the BOD levels which should be below 10 are at 7. Pennington said a number of items on a "punch list" are still to be dealt with. Pennington reported that last week ,a letter was sent from an Oklahoma congressional delegation to .the,EPA administrator claiming that the City of Fayetteville was putting raw' sewage into >the.'Illinois River. Pennington So 123.5 124 124.1 124.2 March 15, 1988 said the City has responded that this is not the case because the plant is not capable of discharging anything into the Illinois River at this point. He said when the plant is operable it is planned to dump treated effluent into the River. Reporting on the sludge management project, Pennington said there was a temporary halt to the establishment of the bermuda grass crop. He said the staff had met with the United Pacific insurance company and their consultant to review the plans necessary to complete that project. L24.3 On the collection system, Pennington reported there have been problems with the design done by McClelland Engineers. He said the engineers are negotiating with Garney Construction Company to try to get the system operating properly before it is finally accepted. He said there were still problems with overflows or spills in the line near the plant. 124.4 124.5 124.6 124.7 Pennington reported the March 8 election on the construction of the incinerator resulted in 57% of the public voting against the incinerator. He said the City Board met and agreed to abandon the project, and on March 11 the Authority met and officially abandoned the project. He reported the City staff was instructed to develop a "disengagement" plan and to research and bring forth a recommendation for hiring disengagement counsel. Pennington said he had contacted a number of firms skilled in this area. Pennington explained "disengagement" would be broken into three areas: (1) the bond program and maintaining the City's credit rating; (2) disengagement from contracts with M -K Ferguson; and (3) what to do with materials already acquired. Pennington said a request for proposals is being prepared to be submitted to firms who specialize in capital construction contracts. Pennington reported that he had talked with many citizens, both those who were for and against the incinerator project, and he felt those who were against the issue have indicated a willingness to work with the City in trying to develop a workable solid waste plan for the future. Pennington told the Board the Airport Division has begun publishing a newspaper about the Airport, in an attempt to bring about some internal communication within the organization. Pennington added that the management staff and Board of Directors has begun to send birthday cards to employees. 124.8 The Mayor asked about the statement in the monthly report that the E 911 system is slightly off -schedule and may not be ready by October. Public Safety Director Marty Coates said the City had done their part and is basically ready but Washington County had run into some problems which may cause some slight delays. Johnson said the public should be kept informed of any delays, since they voted for that project. Pennington said most of the work being done on the project is in the county area. He said there were county roads which have no road names or house numbers which is causing more work than was originally anticipated. March 15, 1988 12� Tom Brown, speaking from the audience, asked for permission to address the 125.1 Board. The Mayor told Brown that any comments he had would be heard under "Other Business." CONSENT AGENDA The Mayor introduced items which may be approved by motion, or contracts and 125.2 leases which can be approved by resolution, and which may be grouped together and approved simultaneously under a "Consent Agenda." Johnson introduced approval of the minutes of the March 1 Board meeting; 125.3 authorization of the execution of a one-year lease with G & H Management Corp. (Park Inn) foradvertising display space at the Fayetteville Airport (monthly rental rate at $80 per month, term from 3/1/88 to 2/28/89, with option to extend for up to five additional one-year terms), and authorization of the execution of a one-year lease with Corp. Business Services for space in the single-engine T -hangar at the Fayetteville Airport (rental rate at $115 per month, term from 3/1/88 to 2/28/89, with option to extend for up to five additional one-year terms: - Director Bumpass, seconded by Kelley, moved approval of the consent agenda. 125.4 Upon roll call, the motion passed, 7-0. RESOLUTION NO.18&19-88APPEARS!'ON PAGE ._OF ORDINANCE AND RESOLUTION BOOK BOARD OF SIGN APPEALS The Mayor introduced consideration of a.proposed ordinance amending the City Code to .provide that the'Board of Adjustment *constitute a Board of Sign Appeals; left on first reading on `March 1. Tice Mayor told the Board the City Attorney had redrafted -the ordinance., The City Attorney said the ordinance would vest jurisdiction with the Board of Adjustment as opposed to the Board of;Directors. He said that pursuant to instructions from the Boardat their last agenda meeting, he amended the ordinance toan aggrieved rovide that p y gg person or any Director can appeal a decision of the Board of Adjustment to the Board of Directors, and an appeal can be heard only if a majority of the full`Board of Directors votes to hear •the appeal.. He said the Board of Directors would be able to modify, affirm or reverse the decision of the Board of Adjustment. It was decided the intent:of the Board of Directors was to allow only a Director to file an appeal.' Hess said the Board .had indicated that any aggrieved person could go to a Director who could then agree to file an appeal. 125.5 125.6 125.7 y, v March 15, 1988 126.1 The City Attorney read the ordinance as amended. Director Bumpass, seconded by Martin, made a motion to suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed, 7-0. The ordinance was read for the second time. Director Bumpass, seconded by Martin, made a motion to further suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its third and final reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed, 7-0. The ordinance was read for the third time. 126.2 Director Bumpass said he wanted to be sure the timing of the Board of Adjustment meetings and the City Board meetings was such that it would allow the Directors an opportunity to review the Board of Adjustment minutes and have time to file an appeal prior to the deadline. The City Attorney said he thought the staff would instruct the secretary of the Board of Adjustment to have Board of Adjustment minutes delivered to the Board of Directors. 126.3 Upon roll call, the ordinance passed, 7-0. ORDINANCE NO. 3340 APPEARS ON PAGE 3/7 OF ORDINANCE AND RESOLUTION BOOK 2()C SEWER SYSTEM STUDY 126.4 The Mayor introduced authorization to award a contract to study the problems of odor and corrosion in the Fayetteville sewer system. The Mayor said the staff, following the City's professional selection policy, selected from three proposals and recommends the award of contract to Metcalf and Eddy/McGoodwin, Williams and Yates, proposing a lump sum of $21,000. She said the project was budgeted for $23,000. 126.5 The City Attorney said he recommended some contract modifications and it appeared to him agreement will be able to be reached with the contractor. He suggested the Board approve the contract subject to the City Attorney's approval of the modifications he has recommended. 126.6 126.7 Bumpass, seconded by Hess, moved approval as recommended. In answer to a question from Director Kelley, McCord said the changes primarily concerned limitations on liability. 126.8 Upon roll call, the motion passed, 7-0. RESOLUTION NO. 20-88 APPEARS ON PAGE OF ORDINANCE AND RESOLUTION BOOK USE UNIT -29 March 15, 1988 The Mayor introduced an ordinance amending the City's zoning ordinance to add Use Unit 29, tostipulate density and off-street parking requirements for the R-1.5 "Moderate Density Residential" zoning district. The City Attorney told the Board that in October of 1985 R-1.5 zoning was created by the Board as an interim density between R-1 and R-2, and authorized triplexes in the R-1.5 district. He said, as an oversight, the Use Unit envisioned by the ordinance was not incorporated in the zoning ordinance.n • The City Attorney read the ordinance for the first time. Director Bumpass, seconded by Martin, made a motion'to' suspend the rules and place the ordinance on its second reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed, 7-0. The ordinance was read for the second time. Director Bumpass, seconded by Martin, made a motion to further suspend the rules and place the ordinance on:its third and final reading. Upon roll call, the motion passed, 7-0. The ordinance was read for thethird time. Upon roll call, the ordinance' passed, 7-O. ORDINANCE NO. 3341 BOOK Xj(/ SEWER LINE REPORT APPEARS =ON PAGE 3/9 ' OF ORDINANCE AND RESOLUTION e� • The Mayor introduced c report.from McCleiland'Engineers on a proposal "for resolving an airlock problem in the sewer line on Fox Hunter Road. Joe Tarvin addressed the Board on behalf of the firm. Tarvin said the manhole in question was located near Fox Hunter Road about 200 feet from the road on the.Henson property, at the top of the hill. He said the pipeline which feeds.the •.manhole=isa'force main pressure sewer. line coming from the Old Wire Road lift'station. He said the only time there was any flow in that -pipeline was when the. lift station pumps are operating. He said it was about 6200 feet downhill from the manhole to the treatment plant. He said when the pumps were fiottoperating the pipeline was full of air. He said the line in question was built last year as part of a contract with Garney Construction which was 3ust{completed, and parallels a sewer line that was built.about 20 years ago. He said at the time of the design it was found that the '61d line had vents1 which were stuffed with paper by residents who had complained about the odors from the old pipeline, to keep the gases from being vented from the line and to keep odors down in 'the neighborhood. He said the landowners told the design engineer they didn't want, any vents on their property. He said an attempt was made, instead of placing numerous vents along the pipeline, to vent the line at the top, and an attempt was made to save the cost of building the vents in the first place. He said the line was placed in operation in December, and the first overflows occurred about that time. He said the engineers 12 127.1 127.2 127.3 127.4 127.5 128.1 128.2 128.3 128.4 128.5 128.6 March 15, 1988 investigated the problem and found a valve connecting the old line with the new line was shut, and all the flow was attempting to go through the new pipeline. He said at the time it was thought that was causing the overflow. He said the valve was adjusted but an overflow happened again late in January and it was then thought the problem was an airlock. He said copies of the plans were sent to an air and vacuum release valve manufacturer in Chicago to be evaluated. He said there were additional overflows in March and a recommendation was then made to install three air and vacuum release valves. He said City staff has also asked for odor reduction devices to be installed on the valves to reduce the odors from the valves. Tarvin said he believed the odors were coming from septic sewage somewhere between the Johnson Road lift station and the Old Wire Road lift station. Tarvin said the City is contracting to do a study on the odor problem. He said in the meantime the odor reduction devices will provide an interim solution. Tarvin said it was unfortunate the firm did not decide to install the release valves in the beginning. He said the decision was made to save the City money by not installing them and it was an attempt to cooperate with the landowners. Tarvin estimated the cost of the valves and their installation to be $30,000, including the odor control devices. He said two of the valves would be located in county road right-of-way, and the third would be located on an easement. Tarvin said the odor control devices consisted of granular material coated with an oxidant which removes hydrogen sulfite gas from the venting. He estimated the life span of the material might be as much as six months. Director Kelley asked if a determination had been made as to who would be liable on this project. City Engineer Don Bunn responded that the City staff felt the City should pay the $30,000 for the additional air vents, because the City was working actively with the residents and with McClelland Engineers in making the decision to vent the line at one manhole, and because no extra money was spent at the start of the project. He said if the decision had been made to start with to install the devices, the money would have been spent at the beginning of the project. Kelley asked if it was the City staff or McClelland Engineers who recommended the design which was used. Tarvin said the decision was made by McClelland, and the pipeline was specifically designed to vent at the location of the manhole. Tarvin said McClelland had evaluated the costs and feel they are in line with what they should have been if the valves had been in the original design. Director Hess asked, if odors will be eliminated "up the line" before getting to the point in question, will three valves still be needed at the point. Tarvin said it would depend upon the effectiveness of the other work. He added that there were places in the system where it takes four days to get wastewater from one part of town to the other, and during that time the wastewater becomes septic and creates corrosive gases. He said chemicals or bacterial culture can be injected into the system which will March 15, 1988 keep -the septicity from ever occurring but there still needs to be one valve per vent. He recommended the manhole in question not have a vent, and added that Mr. Henson has indicated he does not want anything installed above the ground on his property. Director Martin asked Tarvin his opinion as to whether the additional vents will solve the problem. Tarvin said the problem is getting so much attention that McClelland is now tending to "overkill" to be safe. He said he had concluded that, unless there is some physical blockage in the line of which they are not aware, from'an engineering standpoint it has to .be an air problem. ;. In answer to a question from Director Bumpass, City Engineer Bunn said City staff talked with McClelland about the possibility of having a .line that would work without vents and left it up to McCIelland's engineering judgment as to whether the line should be designed.: without vents or whether the air release valves should be placed in the lines. He said McClelland made the decision to design it to be built the way it is now. Bumpass asked Tarvin if they .would charge the City ;any additional design costs. Tarvin said there was a lump sum fee forthe design of the system and there will be no additional design costs. " He said there would be a change order for construction costs only. • r ..M Director Marinoni asked if it was "putting the horse before the cart" to hire two different engineering firms, one to study the odor and corrosion problemin the sewer system, and one -Co install odor control devices prior to the recommendation from the study. Director Martin pointed out that the $30,000 expense was primarily for venting, with the odor control devices being an adjunct. Tarvin said the cost'of the odor control devices would be about $5,000 of the $30,000 expense. 4 129 129.1 129.2 129.3 129.4 City Manager Pennington said he felt something immediate needed to be done 129.5 about the odor problem for ,the benefit of .the residents in the area. Director Hess said his problem was with the process that was used. He said he -did not think the decision should have been made by McClelland but instead McClelland should have made a recommendation to the City staff and the staff should have made a recommendation to .the City Board. Director Martin said he thought it was ridiculous for the City Board to be involved in the nuts and bolts of every sewer line, commenting that staff and consultants were hired to design projects to work in the best interests of the public. Hess disagreed and said the issue should have come before the board because "normal engineering practices would have said put the vents in if you .want to be safe " Tarvin said the designer thought it was worth trying to save money and to cooperate with the people in the area, realizing that the vent could be added later if necessary. Director Lancaster, seconded by Bumpass, moved that the recommendation of the City Manager be approved.. 129.6 130.1 130.2 March 15, 1988 Fran Alexander, speaking from the audience, asked for information about the schedule for repair on the overflow problems. Tarvin said construction could be done in three to four weeks, delivery time on the odor control devices to be six weeks. He said the overflows should cease within a month, and the odor control should begin two weeks after that. Alexander said overflows did not begin in December but instead began last August. Ruth Collier, speaking from the audience, asked where the three valves would be located. Tarvin said one would be located where the Henson property adjoins the Brigham property, in the country road right-of-way, a second one would be located on the Portch property in the county road right-of-way, and the third location would be east of Schultz's driveway. 130.3 Director Marinoni asked if the construction would be let for bid. Tarvin said it would be a change order to the existing contract with Garney Construction Company which built the pipeline. 130.4 The City Manager said his recommendation was to authorize the construction as described, but he pointed out that the City was not giving up any potential liability because the project has not been completed or accepted by the City. 130.5 130.6 130.7 Upon roll call, the motion passed, 7-0. CITY MANAGER EVALUATION The Mayor introduced Board evaluation of the City Manager. Director Lancaster moved the Board go into executive session to evaluate the performance of the City Manager. CITIZEN COMMENT Director Martin said he thought it would be fair to allow the citizen to speak who requested permission to speak earlier in the meeting, before going into executive session. Director Bumpass agreed, noting the Board had no idea how long the executive session would last. Director Marinoni agreed and, although not all the Directors agreed, the citizen was permitted to address the Board. 130.8 Tom Brown addressed the Board, commenting that he lived in Morrow but paid Fayetteville sales tax, sewer tax and property tax. Brown said last Spring there was a consensus of the voters that they not be taxed to provide for school bonds. He said the amount of taxation which would have occurred as a result of that school bond is essentially less than the amount being proposed to be inflicted upon Fayetteville taxpayers by the incinerator bond issue. He said he believed the Northwest Arkansas Resource Recovery Authority to be an illegally constituted body which served only as a front for Fayetteville's operations. r March 15, 1988 Brown said''a new group had been formed called "Citizens Against Payment" (CAP) dedicated to the.proposition that "we will not be held responsible for what we regard as illegal acts which have resulted in a bond issue which has named the City of FayettevilleTand its taxpayers as the responsible payees of•the bond issue." 161 131.1 Brown said some City Board'+members have a record clearly established as• 131.2 being positive toward the establishment of the incinerator, the Northwest Arkansas Resource Recovery Authority and the bond issue, positive in denying a vote of the people up until -March 8, and positive in spending money•on contracts prior to any reconsideration (which he said was moved by Director Bumpass on numerous occasions). • Brown said he could get the City Administration to act to negate the debt, or he could act in concert with other taxpayers and propose that legal action be taken to indict and prosecute those who would attempt to make him pay this debt. He said he would prefer t� avoid "needless bloodshed" that will occur, commenting that v penalties would include jail sentences, fines and financial liability. ,: He said he believed if Directors who are responsible were to resign;' and "wrap themselves in their legislative immunity" and walk out the door, there was every probability that no legal action could successfully betaken against'v.-them individually. He said if they chose not to resign, thei only recourse *left to taxpayers who do not wish to pay this debt is to take legal action which would encompass not only the City Board, but all members of past boards whose names are affixed to contracts (naming Marion Orton, Peg Anderson and Paul Noland). Brown said he hoped each of the Directors would get competent legal advice as to their responsibilities and options.-`) '. • Brown said the City Board would,in the near future be taking action to raise sewer rates and redirect more taxpayers' money to reduce the indebtedness on the bond issue. He said at that time the Directors would, in his opinion, be committing illegal acts. He said, according to Black's Law Dictionary, misfeasance is "the improper performance of some act which a person may, lawfully perform" and malfeasance is "the doing of an act which a person ought not to do at all." Brown said he had questions about not taking low bids for the project, and questions about denying a public vote when the testimony indicated that it was understood that a public vote would deny the opportunity to go forward with the project. He said "a public officer engaged wholly in the performance of public duties is personally liable only for his own acts of misfeasance." Brown said the accounting firm of Coopers and Lybrand stated to the Directors that the management contracts were unfavorable to the City. Brown said he would rather have individual Directors who can prove that they are not in complicity form a new City Council, declare "this whole business to have been an act of fraud", and recover the moneys back to the taxpayers of the City. Brown said he would do everything in his power to prevent payment being forced on the rest of the taxpayers. 131.3 131.4 • 131.5 .11.1.1 w 132.1 132.2 132.3 132.4 132.5 March 15, 1988 Director Lancaster said Brown had led him to believe that maybe he had the wrong attorney advising him over the years. He asked Brown his occupation and whether he owned property in Fayetteville or was a registered voter in Fayetteville. Brown said he was a painter and did not own property in Fayetteville nor was he a registered voter in Fayetteville. EXECUTIVE SESSION Director Martin moved the Board go into executive session to consider the evaluation of the City Manager. The motion was seconded by Bumpass and, upon roll call, passed, 7-0. The Directors met in executive session from 9:05 to 9:35 p.m., at which time City Manager Pennington was invited into the executive session. The Board met with Pennington from 9:35 to 10:30 p.m., at which time the meeting reconvened. Director Martin, reporting on the executive session, said individual evaluations of the City Manager for his first six months were discussed and the consensus was that the City Manager was exceeding expectations in his performance. Martin said the Board wished to congratulate him and express their appreciation for his excellent work. Martin said the Board would like the City Manager's annual evaluation to be synchronized with the end of the fiscal year and, since he began in September, the Board felt that an interim pay adjustment was warranted. Martin, seconded by Bumpass moved that the City Manager's monthly salary be increased by $200. Upon roll call, the motion passed, 7-0. ADJOURNMENT 132.6 The meeting adjourned at 10:35 p.m.