Session 08-29 a Special
Meeting of the Homer City Council was called to order on
PRESENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: HOWARD, LEWIS, NOVAK, ROBERTS,
WYTHE, ZAK
STAFF:
Department Heads may be called upon from time
to time to participate via teleconference.
AGENDA
APPROVAL (Only those matters
on the noticed agenda may be considered, pursuant to City Council’s Operating
Manual, pg. 5)
New Business item B was moved to agenda
approval. The agenda as amended was approved by consensus of the Council.
B. Oath of Office administered to the
Newly Elected Officials, James C. Hornaday, Barbara Howard, David Lewis and
Bryan Zak.
City Clerk Johnson administered the Oath of
Office to Mayor Hornaday and Councilmembers Lewis, Zak and Howard.
PUBLIC COMMENTS UPON MATTERS ALREADY ON THE
AGENDA
There were no
public comments.
VISITORS
A.
Den
Leader McAllister & Webelo Den #3
Three scouts from Den #3 introduced
themselves.
A.
Recognition
of Outgoing Elected Officials, Mike Heimbuch and Matt Shadle.
Outgoing officials Heimbuch and Shadle were
not present.
Plaques were prepared listing their accomplishments.
Mayor Hornaday apologized for the last
meeting where telephonic participants Novak and Shadle were not heard within
Council Chambers.
B.
Oath of
Office administered to the Newly Elected Officials, James C. Hornaday, Barbara
Howard, David Lewis and Bryan Zak.
Completed under Agenda Approval.
C. Memorandum 08-144, from City Clerk, Re:
Selection/Appointment of Mayor Pro Tempore.
Councilmember Roberts nominated Dennis Novak.
Councilmember Zak nominated Beth Wythe.
Councilmember Wythe respectfully declined.
ZAK/WYTHE – MOVED TO CEASE NOMINATIONS.
There was no discussion.
VOTE: YES. NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
There was no discussion on the nomination of
Dennis Novak as Mayor Pro Tempore.
VOTE: (main motion) YES. NON OBJECTION.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
Councilmember Lewis was seated in Mike
Heimbuch’s seat; Councilmember Zak was seated in Matt Shadle’s seat; and Councilmembers
Roberts and Howard exchanged seats.
A.
City
Manager’s Report - City Property,
City Manager Wrede explained last week’s
audio problems resulted in Systems Manager Bambakidis determining the problems.
Speakers in the ceiling are undersized, with two back speakers having to be
turned off due to feedback. Independent speakers will be placed in each corner
of the room for better sound. The equipment will cost $4,000.
At the last meeting there was a bid opening
for the old library lot, with one bidder who proposed a trade. Council rejected
it as not responsive to the RFP. There are appraisals for the three lots of
Paul Taylor’s adjacent to the cemetery. There are no appraisals for the Lillian
Walli lots the
Council discussed the disparity of value in
the trade and the need for cash to pay down the new library loan. Council
questioned trading for substantially less than property values.
PENDING BUSINESS
A.
2009-2014 Capital Improvement Plan and FY 2010
Legislative Requests.
WYTHE/ZAK - MOVED
TO REMOVE COMPLETED ITEMS
Discussion ensued
on lack of need of a conference facility at this time.
VOTE: YES. NON
OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
As previously
advised by the City Attorney, Councilmember Howard removed herself from
discussions pertaining to the
NOVAK/ROBERTS -
MOVED TO ADD THE PROPOSED NEW CIP PROJECTS TO THE LIST: BELUGA SLOUGH TRAIL
RECONSTRUCTION, BISHOP’S BEACH PARK PICNIC SHELTER, BRUSH/WILDLAND FIREFIGHTING
TRUCK, COMMUNITY RECREATION/MULTI-USE CENTER/
WYTHE/ROBERTS -
MOVED FOR A FRIENDLY AMENDMENT TO REMOVE THE BISHOP’S
Council discussed adding
the $50,000 project to next year’s budget.
VOTE: (amendment) YES.
NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
VOTE: (main as
amended) YES. NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
ROBERTS/WYTHE
-MOVED TO MOVE FIVE ITEMS TO THE 2014 APPENDIX SECTION: LAND ACQUISITION FOR
NEW ROADS, DOWNTOWN RESTROOMS, GREENHOUSE, MARINER PARK IMPROVEMENTS
WYTHE/ZAK - MOVED
FOR A FRIENDLY AMENDMENT TO INCLUDE THE TOWN CENTER INFRASTRUCTURE
Councilmember Wythe
noted with recent activities, there is not much prospect of the items coming to
the top in the next five years.
Councilmember Howard
rejoined the Council.
VOTE: (amendment)
YES. ZAK
VOTE: NO. LEWIS,
ROBERTS, WYTHE, HOWARD, NOVAK
Motion failed.
High construction costs
and difficulty of maintaining restrooms was discussed.
NOVAK/ROBERTS -
MOVED FOR A FRIENDLY AMENDMENT TO SEPARATE OUT THE TWO RESTROOMS, HAVE
Council voiced the
necessity of one restroom on the CIP list for the next five years as
responsible.
VOTE: (amendment)
YES. NOVAK, LEWIS, ROBERTS, WYTHE, ZAK, HOWARD
Motion carried.
VOTE: (main motion
as amended) YES. NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
WYTHE/HOWARD -
MOVED TO MOVE THE NEW
There was no
discussion.
VOTE: YES. NON
OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
WYTHE/ROBERTS –
MOVED TO REMOVE THE BELUGA
Discussion ensued
on the trail that has become a liability to the City due to being slippery.
Fish and Wildlife removed their section of trail which would make the City
start a trail in the middle and go to the beach. The point of the trail is to
keep people from walking in the wetlands; if Fish and Wildlife is not building
a trail, people will not be encouraged to walk out there.
City Manager Wrede
encouraged Council to maintain the trail on the CIP list, or move it out beyond
2014. A Memorandum of Understanding with Fish and Wildlife exists. The City’s
part of the trail is in disrepair, used frequently, but presents a liability.
It is possible an agreement can be worked out with Fish and Wildlife. It was
suggested fish net or a deck coating would lessen the liability.
VOTE: NO.
UNANIMOUS.
Motion failed.
NOVAK/ROBERTS -
MOVED TO COMBINE ITEM 3 HARBOR FLOAT REPLACEMENT/RAMP 3 GANGWAY
Council discussed
the possibility of legislative funds for an
VOTE: YES. NON
OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
The five land
acquisitions for new roads was moved to the appendix, past 2014. Council
discussed the
ROBERTS/WYTHE –
MOVED TO ADD KAREN HORNADAY PARK IMPROVEMENTS.
There has been lots
of discussion on improvements for the park; it is the kind of project where money can be found in the legislature.
VOTE: YES. NON
OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
WYTHE/NOVAK – MOVED
TO INCLUDE DISCUSSION IN THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE SECOND MEETING IN JANUARY
TO DISCUSS LAND
There was no
discussion.
VOTE: YES. NON
OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
City Manager Wrede
commented the ladder fire truck did not get a vote, although it has been a top
priority for some time for
ROBERTS/NOVAK -
MOVED TO REPLACE LADDER TRUCK WITH
A fire pump trailer
may be funded by the legislature as it is a lower dollar item than a ladder
truck.
WYTHE/NOVAK – MOVED
TO AMEND TO KEEP THE
VOTE: (amendment) YES.
NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
VOTE: (main motion
as amended) YES. NON OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
ZAK – MOVED TO
Motion failed for
lack of a second.
City Manager Wrede
commented Council appropriated $60,000 for the boiler replacement and it is
included in the budget.
NOVAK/ROBERTS –
MOVED TO DELETE
There was no
discussion.
VOTE: YES. NON
OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
NOVAK/ROBERTS –
MOVED TO AMEND THE TITLE TO
There was no
discussion.
VOTE: YES. NON
OBJECTION. UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion carried.
Bill Smith, Kenai
Peninsula Borough Assemblyman, congratulated the newly elected officials. At
last week’s KPB meeting the Assembly did not reconsider the ordinance to allow cities
to chart their own food tax. Homer may continue to tax non prepared food items
if desired. The KPB tax exemption for non prepared food items takes effect
January 1st.
B. 2009 Budget
Finance Director Regina
Harville provided an overview of the Preliminary Budget for FY 2009.
COMMENTS OF THE AUDIENCE
Leonard Wells, city resident, asked Council
why they didn’t move to reconsider allowing the three cities to allow tax. He
hopes they are not foolish enough to go against 60% of the voters that turned
out to get the non prepared food tax back. For people not on water and sewer,
you should ask whether they want to be on. A lot of people have wells and
septic systems that are perfectly fine; a lot of people out there would like to
be on water and sewer. In considering the new rate, consider the base rate for
both water and sewer to be based on the pipe size from the water lines, rather
than the amount of water used. The price per gallon will go up. It is something
individual business can handle by reducing water consumption.
COMMENTS OF THE
City Attorney
Klinkner was not present.
COMMENTS OF THE
City Clerk Johnson
had no comments.
COMMENTS OF THE
City Manager Wrede
had no comments.
COMMENTS OF THE MAYOR
Mayor Hornaday commented we lost Julie Cesarini.
He thanked outgoing Councilmembers Heimbuch and Shadle for their service on the
City Council. They put a lot of time in and it is appreciated. Former
Councilmember Val McLay is getting the pins out of his seriously injured leg. He
also saw the eagle lady at
COMMENTS OF THE
Councilmember Novak welcomed the new
councilmembers and the Mayor back. It has been a good year. The CIP is finished
and now Council has the budget to finish before December.
Councilmember Zak commented it is good to be here.
Councilmember Wythe welcomed the new councilmembers,
and congratulated Councilmember Howard on her re-election. It was good work on the
CIP; it is a functional document to see the goals achieved.
Councilmember Roberts wished good luck to
outgoing Councilmembers Shadle and Heimbuch. She will miss Mike’s good energy.
She welcomed the new members. The CIP list includes no nonprofits or state
projects, only projects of the City of
Councilmember Lewis had no comments.
Councilmember Howard said thank you to outgoing
Councilmembers Shadle and Heimbuch. She is sorry they did not come tonight. She
welcomed Councilmembers Lewis and Zak. She commented the budget document is a piece
of artwork and she really appreciates it. She noted her absence for the October
27th meeting, although she will be listening via radio.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come
before the Council the meeting was adjourned at
______________________________
JO JOHNSON,
Approved: _____________________