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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19920824Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 Mayor Bennett called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. in the Pitkin County Courthouse with Councilmembers Pendleton, Peters, Richards and Reno present. OUTSTANDING EMPLOYEE BONUS AWARDS Amy Margerum, city manager, said the city and county are very fortunate to have Scott Keller working for them. Keller is one employee who is constantly praised and recognized by his co-workers at both the city and the county. Keller has saved the city and county thousands of dollars coming up with computer programs to make sure the governments are more efficient. Mayor Bennett and Council presented Keller with a plaque and a check. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Mickey Her ron, representing the Aspen Rotary Club, presented Council a letter thanking and commending all the city staff who assisted in the "Aspen Kenducky Derby". Herron told Council this event raised in excess of $55,000 all of which will be used for youth groups. 2. Lowell brought up the street performers and told Council he feel it was unfair of the city to issue John the Juggler a ticket for disorderly conduct. Lowell said it is strange after 11 years this would occur. Lowell noted Aspen is being accused of being sterilized and sanitized and not much fun. Mayor Bennett said the Council never wants to reduce the vitality of the malls. Mayor Bennett said this is an extremely difficult issue; no one owns specific corners in Aspen. Mayor Bennett said the largest request of John the Juggler was that on certain nights he move 50 feet away so as not to disturb performances in the Wheeler. Amy Margerum, city manager, noted there is the issue of obstruction of narrow sidewalks in some parts of the downtown. Jed Caswall, city attorney, pointed out the Council has no authority to issue tickets or to direct the police to issue tickets. This is within the discretion of the police department. 3. Norman Molinsky, visitor, told Council he and his family greatly enjoy John the Juggler and encouraged Council to allow him to stay. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Mayor Bennett said the Red Brick School vote left him with a dilemma. Mayor Bennett suggested a retreat with all interested persons to work on some way to modify the plan so that there is more than a 3 vote majority to support the school. Mayor Bennett said he does not expect complete unanimity. Councilman Peters said 1 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 if the election is invalidated, he would recommend resubmitting the question to the electorate. Councilwoman Richards agreed it is very important to re-open the dialogue with the community and to try and build consensus behind this issue. 2. Councilman Reno announced 3 Councilmembers and the Mayor will be gone the last 2 weeks of September. 3. Councilwoman Pendleton updated Council on the ridership of the Galena Street shuttle, which is up to 172 riders per day and going up steadily. Councilwoman Pendleton said the shuttle will run through Labor Day and perhaps on the weekends after that. Councilwoman Pendleton reported someone is interested in purchasing the shuttle trailers from the city. 4. Councilwoman Pendleton said she is involved in the community partnership program who has a task force on Latino population. There will be a Latin festival August 29th in Carbondale from 4 to 9 p.m. Councilwoman Pendleton requested Council sign a petition supporting a Spanish language channel on the cable. 5. Councilwoman Pendleton requested a meeting between Counc il and the RFTA board. Council scheduled this for September 15th at 8 .m. 6. Amy Margerum, city manager, reminded Council they have not appointed anyone to the DRG task force. Ms. Margerum recommended Council consider a joint appointment with Pitkin County of Lee Ambrose. Mayor Bennett asked if there would be an advantage of having two members, one from Aspen and one from Pitkin County. Ms. Margerum said this committee is only negotiating the price for the Rio Grande right-of-way. There is a consensus in the valley to purchase this. When a committee is formed or expanded to consider the uses for this right-of-way, Aspen should have its own member. Council agreed. CONSENT CALENDAR Councilman Reno stepped down due to a conflict of interest on (e) Councilman Peters moved to approve the consent calendar; seconded by Councilwoman Pendleton. The consent calendar is: A . Minutes - August 17, 1992 B . Contracts - S treet Improvement C . Budget Approval - Street Department Fence D . Request for funds - One-Way Alley Signs E . Request for funds - City Hall Fire Alarm System F . Permission to Submit Stream Margin Review Applications G . Resolution #41, 1992 - Temporary Municipal Judge/Green All in favor, motion carried. 2 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 ORDINANCE #55, SERIES OF 1992 - Moss SPA Amendment Councilman Peters moved to read Ordinance #55, Series of 1992; seconded by Councilwoman Pendleton. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #55 (Series of 1992) AN ORDINANCE OF THE ASPEN CITY COU NCIL GRANTING A SPECIALLY PLANNED AREA (SPA) USE VARIATION IN A NEIGHBOR- HOOD COMMERCIAL (NC) ZONE DISTRICT FOR A RADIO BROADCAST STATION LOCATED AT 225 NORTH MILL STREET, LOTS D,E,F,G,H AND I, BLOCK 78, TOWNSITE OF ASPEN, COLORADO was read by the city clerk Councilman Peters moved to adopt Ordinance #55, Series of 1992, on first reading; seconded by Councilman Reno. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Richards, yes; Reno, yes; Peters, yes; Pendleton, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #56, SERIES OF 1992 - G.O. Bond Refinancing Councilman Peters moved to read Ordinance #56, Series of 1992; seconded by Councilwoman Pendleton. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINA NCE #56 (Series of 1992) AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE BY THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO, OF ITS GENERAL OBLIGATION REFUNDING BONDS, SERIES 1992B, IN THE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF $4,940,000, FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING FUNDS FOR THE REFUNDING OF CERTAIN OUTSTANDING INDEBTED NESS OF THE CITY, AND PAYING ALL NECESSARY INCIDENTAL AND APPURTE- NANT COSTS AND EXPENSES IN CONNECTION THEREWITH; PRESCRIBING THE FORM OF SAID BONDS; PROVIDING FOR THE SALE OF SAID BONDS AND APPROVING A BOND PURCHASE AGREEMENT AND ESCROW AGREEMENT; PROVIDING A PLEDGE OF THE FULL FAITH AND CREDIT OF THE CITY AS SECURITY FOR SAID BONDS; PROVIDING OTHER DETAILS IN CONNECTION WITH SAID BONDS; APPROVING THE FORM OF THE OFFICIAL STATEMENT was read by the city clerk 3 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 Dallas Everhart, finance director, recommended the city refinance the bonds for the Truscott housing and street improvement bonds of 1979. Everhart said if these are grouped with the bonds for the Red Brick School, about $12,000 of issuance costs will be saved. This refinancing will save the Truscott budget between $10,000 and $15,000 annually. Councilman Peters asked if this makes sense without the Red Brick issue. Everhart said there will still be savings to the Truscott budget. Councilwoman Pendleton moved to adopt Ordinance #56, Series of 1992, on first reading; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Peters, yes; Pendleton, yes; Reno, yes; Richards, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. ROTARY PARK Councilman Reno stepped down due to conflict of interest. Bill Efting, assistant city manager, recommended Council give the Rotary Club permission to do some work on this property this year. Efting said he will come back with a contract to finalize items like who would pay the tap fee and pay for the water. Jeff Yusem, repre- senting the Rotary Club, showed Council renderings of the proposed improvements. Yusem told Council the Moores are offering a 60 foot easement so that the access will be right across of that to the school. Yusem said they have discussed bringing water down from the flume or using the overflow from Highlands irrigation water. Councilwoman Pendleton said she does not want to add burdens to the city's already over-worked staff for maintenance of the park. Efting said these things can be worked out in the agreement; this is to allow the Rotary Club to do preliminary work on the land. Council agreed. RESOLUTION #42, SERIES OF 1992 - Hallam Lake ACES Annexation Councilwoman Pendleton moved to table this to September 14, 1992; seconded by Councilman Peters. All in favor, motion carried. WATER POLICY Cindy Houben, planning office, reminded Council at their last water policy work session they looked at 5 different alternatives. Council decided the alternative they favored was No. 3, Policy Guided Expansion only; Council wanted to take care of their customers in terms of an asset water system, to take care of the environmental concerns, and to provide that water extensions will have to meet specific criteria. Ms. Houben said the changes Council made were that annexation 4 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 extensions should not contribute to growth and the proposal will make a profit for the city. Ms. Houben reminded Council they were interested in footnoting the water policy so that future Councils would know why decision were made. Councilman Reno asked if "growth" is defined in the policy. Ms. Houben said the goals statement said growth that is supported or endorsed by the city. Councilwoman Pendleton suggested there be incentives for practicing conserva tion. Councilwoman Pendleton brought up the tap fee for sprinkler use and when a sprinkler system is installed, less water is used; however, the tap fee for a sprinkler is very high. Larry Ballenger, water department, answered that sprinklers are assessed a tap fee by the square footage that is irrigated. Councilwoman Pendleton said she questions the philosophy; this seems contradic- tory to what the city is trying to accomplish. Ms. Houben recapped the policy (1) supply the existing users with water; (2) take care of the environment and conservation and (3) if there are extensions, there should either be no growth or city- supported growth. Councilman Peters said he endorses this policy; however, these should have elaborations and specificity. Ms. Houben suggested this elaboration be part of the goals. Councilman Peters said defining the water service district should have some more thought. Ms. Houben said the customers currently being served by the city are the highest priority; extending the service area would be an addition to that current service area. Councilman Peters said there are questions about the current service area. Councilman Peters said he can see a difference in the way the city would look at requests for taps within the city and an extension out to the Airport Business Center. Ms. Houben suggested first priority would be serving people in the city of Aspen, the second priority would be within the service areas and attach a map. Councilman Peters said Council should acknowledge there should be review of water service extensions because they may have growth implications. Councilman Peters said these areas are beyond the Aspen metro area. Mayor Bennett asked why it is important to resist the development of competing substandard private water systems and wells. Ms. Houben answered because the city does not want to have to take over substandard systems. Cindy Covell, water counsel, pointed out the city is spending money to extend water lines. When people use wells, the city does not get money back. Councilwoman Richards said she has no interest in resisting the use of wells outside the city metro area. Councilman Peters said anything the city does to extend their municipal water system makes property more develop- able. Mayor Bennett suggested 1A should state, to resist wells in the primary service area and also to resist wells for domestic use 5 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 in the remaining service area whenever such use would threaten the city water rights. Councilman Peters suggested adding "substan- tially threaten". Councilman Peters proposed adding another objective to say, "Do not take over substandard water systems at city's expense". Council agreed. Councilwoman Pendleton said she would like the objectives to include incentives for water conservation. Council agreed. Larry Ballenger presented a slide show of the city's water rights in the Castle Creek, Maroon Creek, Roaring Fork and Hunter Creek valleys and how they are used throughout the town. Louis Meyer and Dean Gordon presented a report on the east plant evaluation. Meyer told Council their direction was (1) to assess the leakage out of the east plant, how much and where it was going and the potential damage; (2) to assess the plant controls and why they do not work, (3) to do a literature research and determine the plant capacity was during the design phase and what it is now (4) to do a general plant performance analysis, (5) to assess problems with the chlorine system, (6) to assess the Aspen water demands, how this relates to the capacity, the east and west plants, and (7) to do a literature review of the history of the east plant. Meyer told Council his firm went through a vigorous analysis. There is a large amount of leakage, 109,000 gallon per day. This water would take care of 100 to 300 single family houses. Meyer told Council 95 percent of the leak is in the filter basin. There is leakage in the chemical feed basin and the raw water basin in between the filters. These are right above the treated water basins, which could become contaminated. Meyer told Council the concrete workmanship at the plant is very poor; it is visual, there is honeycomb in the walls. This is contributing to the leakage. Meyer estimated the cost to repair the leaks at $500,000. Meyer recommended the city hire companies who specialize in this type of work if they elect to do this work. Meyer said staff has felt from the beginning that the plant controls were not working. These control the valves, level gages and operate the plant. Meyer said these controls do not work. Meyer said these controls can be corrected; it would take calibrat- ing of the equipment and purchase of some new equipment. Some of the existing equipment is outdated. Meyer said the trend is toward computer-operated controls. This would cost between $200,000 and $400,000. Meyer said they ran the plant to see how it processed water and confirmed it does not work very well. There were giardia break- 6 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 throughs. Meyer said the most serious defect in the media is underneath the sand and above the filter blocks. The under drain gravel is missing. Councilman Peters asked if there is design deficiency that is glaring. Meyer said it is not a glaring deficiency. These types of problems are fairly common. There are a lot of small problems and they should be fixed. The next problem is with the chlorine system and there are some violations of the state health code on the chlorine system in general. The room needs to be completely sealed off. Meyer said he found a lot of places for the gas to escape. The most serious problem with the chlorine is that the plant uses cylinders full of liquid chlorine gas at high pressure. Generally plants using these type of cylinders have hoists to handle these. The east plant has a small chlorine room and the staff moves the chlorine cylinders with backhoe. Meyer recommended the building be expanded and hoists installed. This is not a violation of the state health code. Meyer told Council under the 1988 fire code, the fire marshal takes the position the city has to have a chlorine scrubber anytime chlorine gas is contained. Meyer said he feels the code is vague on this point; however, the fire marshal has taken the opposite position. A chlorine scrubber in the case of a leak would convert the gas into sodium hydrochloride. This would cost about $300,000. Meyer said the chance of the chlorine going downstream is very remote. Ballenger told Council his staff is well trained and very knowledgeable and has the equipment to effect repairs on any of the chlorine equipment. Meyer said they looked at the relationship between the east and west plant and whether the west plant can handle the present demand. Meyer said for the last few years the city's maximum daily use was 7.5 million gallons per day. The capacity of the west plant and Little Nell well is about 8.62 mgd. Meyer said the use has increased this summer and the city may not be able to rely on the west plant and the Little Nell well. Meyer told Council staff was aware of many of the problems during construction. These were passed onto the design engineer who requested the contractor fix these. These problem areas were on a series of punch lists. Meyer said it is not known why these were not fixed. The large leakage was not noted by staff. Meyer told Council there were some liens filed, some disputes between contractors. Meyer said there city staff did work on the chemical feed equipment which contributed to some of the problems. The contractor completed the project, the city had not completed the chemical feed equipment so the one year warranty period started. 7 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 Meyer said the city has to fix the chlorine and the controls. The really costly items are fixing the leaks in the filter base. These can be phased in. Ballenger told Council the water demands increased greatly this summer. The present high demand was 7.5 million; this summer the usage topped 9.4 million gallons in one day. Ballenger said he originally looked at a 4 year phase-in program for the east plant. However, if the water demand contin ues increasing, this work will have to be done sooner. Ballenger said the city will have to enforce water conservation. Ballenger said the city can re-open the Mill street well. Ballenger told Council to upgrade the Little Nell well to full capacity will cost $55,000. Ballenger said there are no particulates in the Little Nell well; it is groundwater. Councilman Peters said the discussions of repairs and funding for these repairs should take place at budget time. Council needs to look at fund balances and the remainder of the outstanding bonds and debt service. Amy Margerum, city manager, told Council staff feels it is dangerous to keep using the west plant at maximum level. Some things should be done immediately to reduce the stress on this plant. Ms. Margerum said staff will return with some of these alternatives. Ballenger said the water usage will be decreasing for the winter season. Councilwoman Richards asked if there is a way to re-open the warranty issue with the contractor. Councilman Reno pointed out that items were brought to the contractor's attention during the warranty time period. Jed Caswall, city attorney, said one of the problems is that the city of its own violation got involved in the construction; this will cloud any claim against the contractor. The contractor is also no longer in existence. Ms. Houben said staff would like to develop an operating plan for the water department so that during budget review Council knows where this plan is going. Ms. Houben said she would like approval to write a capital improvement plan outlining what needs to be done to improve the water system in conformance with the policies and goals. This will be reviewed annually. Councilman Peters said he feels the policy decision is to get back to basics and get the city's house in order. Ms. Houben questioned whether this policy is firm enough for staff to develop a 5 year capital budget for the water system. Ms. Houben pointed out raw water irrigation has a major fiscal impact on the city. Councilwoman Richards said she would like to see a matrix of all these decisions. Councilman Peters said he feels staff can get a general direction from this discussion, bring it back to Council for further comments. Councilwoman Pendleton said it is hard to make these decisions until Council decides what to do about the east plant. 8 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 24, 1992 Council agreed staff should move forward and present more tangible options. Mayor Bennett said Council does not want the aggressive expansionist water policies of those in the past. They are not appropriate today. Councilwoman Richards moved to adjourn at 9:15 p.m.; seconded by Councilwoman Pendleton. All in favor, motion carried. Kathryn S. Koch, City Clerk OUTSTANDING EMPLOYEE BONUS AWARDS 1 .............................. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1 ................................ ............... COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1 ................................ ......... CONSENT CALENDAR 2 ................................ ............... ORDINANCE #55, SERIES OF 1992 - Moss SPA Amendment 3 ............. ORDINANCE #56, SERIES OF 1992 - G.O. Bond Refinancing 3 .......... ROTARY PARK 4 ................................ .................... RESOLUTION #42, SERIES OF 1992 - Hallam Lake ACES Annex ation 4 ... WATER POLICY 4 ................................ ................... 9