Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017 17 07JOINT CITIES/COUNTY MEETING AGENDA COMMISSIONER'S CHAMBERS 624 E. CENTER, RM 214 JULY 17TH° 2017—12:OOPM 1. Updates from Pocatello, Chubbuck and Bannock County 2. Discussion of the Interstate Exchange on Siphon Road 3. Ken Bullock to discuss the Transition Center 4. Moving forward — General discussion of goals and purpose of the joint county/city meeting 5. Pocatello City Council would like to discuss options regarding the non- emergency transport of patients by Pocatello Fire Department staff July 17, 2017 In the Matter of JOINT CITIES/COUNTY MEETING) Commissioners Frasure and Bullock met with various City of Pocatello and Chubbuck officials for a joint cities/county meeting. Also present were City of Chubbuck Mayor Kevin England and City of Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad; Chubbuck City Council Members Josh Ellis, Melanie Evans, Ryan Lewis, and Annette Baumeister; Pocatello City Council Members Heidi Adamson, Steven Brown, and Jim Johnston; Bannock County Assessor Jared Stein, Treasurer Radene Barker, Clerk Robert Poleki, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jared Johnson, Paralegal Nancy Nelson, Administrative Manager/Clerk Linda Tigert, Senior Management Assistant Jamie Kerbs, various staff, and interested parties. Commissioner Frasure called the meeting to order at 12:09 p.m. • Updates from Pocatello, Chubbuck, and Bannock County Mayor Blad spoke about the city budget, scheduled street work, and upcoming city elections. He said economic development was going well. Mayor England spoke about the city budget, scheduled street work, and upcoming city elections. He reported that movies in the park had started, and great economic development was happening. Commissioner Bullock spoke about county budgeting and reported that official tax valuation numbers would be available soon. • Transition Center Discussion Commissioner Bullock summarized jail overcrowding issues and disclosed that the county was proposing a regional transition center as an alternative to incarceration. He outlined the components of the transition center, the entities that had been involved, the progress to date, and efforts to find a suitable building. He reviewed options for the judicial system and spoke about the upcoming bond for the jail expansion, possible funding streams, the soon -to -be -launched publicity campaign, and the need for community support. Mayor England suggested that plans needed to be made to ensure that the jail would not be in crisis mode in another ten years. Bullock disclosed that the cost of the proposed 160 bed jail enlargement would be almost 14 million dollars, and, in addition, several million dollars may be needed for the transition facility. He emphasized that a place was needed to get people with caseworkers instead of behind bars. He acknowledged crime and opiate use was up, the need for jail beds would likely go up, but hopefully some folks could be diverted from incarceration. He spoke about how the SHARE and SCILD programs could function as alternatives to jail. Mayor Blad pointed out that the entire country was experiencing similar problems with the opioid issue and transitional housing. Bullock concluded that the transition center would be tied to the jail expansion, but with state funding, the transitional center could be operational in a matter of months instead of years, and the community needed to be educated about the proposal, Commissioner Frasure acknowledged past problems with setting aside funds for jail purposes, and said a solution would be offered as an answer to critics. He pointed out that a two-thirds vote was needed to pass the bond, but he was hoping for a larger turnout. He disclosed that the county's budget was tight as numerous deferred maintenance issues were going to be addressed. • Options for Non -emergency Patient Transport by Pocatello Fire Department Staff Commissioner Frasure commented that because Pocatello City Councilmen Bray and Orr were not in attendance nor was Commissioner Tovey, he would defer the discussion of the patient transport item to another meeting. No objection was heard. • Siphon Road Interstate Exchange Discussion Commissioner Frasure initiated a discussion of the Interstate Exchange on Siphon Road, issues related to the sewer, and future development. He introduced Ed Bala, from Idaho Department of Transportation, and Buck Swaney, developer, and invited them both to address the group. Mayor England commented that the city had been well informed by their technical staff, and no decisions would be made at the meeting, but he was open to comments and suggestions going forward. Swaney reviewed previously discussed sewer program management alternatives and said to be able to front a 12 to 13 million dollar expansion in a couple of years would not work from an investment standpoint. Swaney proposed several new alternatives: 1) buy Equivalent Residential Units (ERUs) made available through the development process, and then use or borrow additional ERUS while collecting fees to create resources to build the system; 2) establish a lease program wherein the development community upon the Pocatello's East Bench would lease capacity in the Siphon Line for a set period of time allowing us to collect fees as ERUs come online, fees would be put in a safe public place to be managed and protected, and then as soon as the threshold to fund the system expansion was reached, the resources would be turned over to whoever wanted to expand the sewer, and allow them to bring our capacity on line. He explained that with the transfer of funds at that future point in time, we would be buying our new system that would be prepaid. Bala commented that he felt like the model would fit in well. He added that everybody's comments on the six -party agreement had been received. Swaney mentioned that if a connection could not be brokered through Chubbuck City, another option was an onsite treatment facility. He added that the cost to the development community would be tremendously less expensive than making the pipeline connection, but it would have its own public involvement process and would cost time to permit, and time was not something they had right now. Commissioner Frasure disseminated a document containing a roadmap detailing commitments already made by Bannock County, Chubbuck, and Pocatello. He explained that the County's million dollar commitment shown on the document was included in the FY18 budget; the negotiated road alignment was shown on the map; and by month's end, the County would have deeded property and was prepared to start construction. He emphasized that the sewer issue needed to be solved before the County could proceed. Mayor England commented that the Chubbuck community had bought into and had been paying for a huge sewer system starting in 2003, elected officials should keep in mind the sacrifices made to make the system available, and those interests should be taken into account. Frasure disclosed that a contract for the exchange was about to be signed, Bala confirmed that the agreement for the exchange was structured so that once the connecting infrastructure was 50% completed; IT© could begin constructing the interchange. Swaney stated that almost 3.5 million dollars in cash was going to come out of the private part of the freeway interchange; it was a tremendous commitment from the private sector that was not normally built into their cost recovery equation that changed how they could invest in other things; and they were relying on the public-private partnership to make workable solutions for what was left to do. Future meeting topics and a possible executive session were discussed. Mayor England indicated that meeting invitations would be forthcoming. • Moving Forward The frequency of future joint city/county meetings was discussed. The group concurred to hold quarterly meetings with the next one to be tentatively scheduled around the first of September. Mayor England moved to adjourn the meeting; Blad seconded the motion. The motion passed by acclamation and the meeting was adjourned at 1:09 p.m.