Thayne Wyoming Town Government

Thayne Town Council Meeting
December 12^th, 2007

Present: Mayor Don Aullman. Councilmembers: Jim Bartleson, Robert King, Lindsay Spencer, and Lorell Woolley. Clerk Joan Jensen.

Mayor Aullman called the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance. He asked Councilman Woolley to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

The minutes of November 14^th were approved in a motion made by Councilman Bartleson and seconded by Councilman King.

Fire Chief Todd Erickson was next on the agenda. He informed the council that he wanted to just give them a quick update on what was happening in the fire department. Chief Erickson asked Clerk Jensen to remove Jason Navertee, and Darrin Day off of the worker’s compensation for the fire department. Chief Erickson informed the council that after the first of the year the officers were meeting and sending out letters to the firemen to make them aware of their attendance at meetings or lack of. The state training officer wants to put all the cadets through the Fire Training I. This will save the fire department about a hundred dollars a cadet. Chief Erickson felt that this would be the best route to training the new cadets. It will take about a six-month period to finish this training. Chief Erickson informed the council that Star Valley Cheese was housing truck #5 until we could get it into the town’s maintenance shop. He informed the council that it was in an unheated building and that it needed to be in a heated building to be in service with ISO. Clerk Jensen informed Chief Erickson that Robert was ready to move it to the shop and that they needed to set a time to do that. Truck # 5 will be moved tomorrow.

Robert Hood represented Sunrise Engineering. He wanted to give an update on the Infrastructure Grant on Park and Wright Street. The project is shut down for the winter months and will finish up the sidewalks in the spring. The Paul addition water and sewer lines are complete. The rules for testing the lines state that the infrastructure needs to be in the ground for thirty days before inspection. At the last council meeting the council passed a motion that we wanted our inspections completed by the 15^th of December. Robert felt that it would be better to wait thirty days and have the town’s new water and sewer lines inspected the same time as the inspection for the Paul addition. Council agreed to postpone their inspection date to be done in accordance with the Paul addition inspection.

Brett Merica was next on the agenda regarding the development agreement with him and the Town of Thayne. Council reviewed the agreement that was drawn up by the town’s attorney. Mayor Aullman asked Brett if they had a legitimate cost estimate regarding their portion of the pledged roadway. Mayor Aullman stated that we needed something in writing to attach to the agreement. Brett Merica informed the council that he had a quote from H K Contractors. Mayor Aullman asked Robert Hood if Sunrise Engineering could verify the costs for the street. Robert said that it would be pretty easy to do with all the figures that they have from the grant for Wright and Park Streets. Mayor Aullman asked Robert to verify the costs and submit a letter to the town stating that it was a reasonable figure. The town also discussed how many free water and sewer hookup’s he would receive from the town for putting in the new infrastructure. Terri Merica informed the council that they were told in a Planning and Zoning meeting that they would be given the amount of water and sewer hookup’s that was equal to the cost of construction. Terri also informed the council that there was a possibility of Brett being able to have six lots instead of five with his new addition. Council informed them that they would have to submit a new Platte to the town for the town’s approval. Terri also discussed that they would like to have the town draft a letter of donation for tax purposes regarding the land that they were donating to the town for the street. Terri asked if Jim Stoker could also be included in their development agreement. Councilman King stated that it needed to be a separate agreement with Jim. Councilman Bartleson made the motion that the Town of Thayne agree to give free water and sewer hookup’s equal to the cost of construction for water and sewer lines. He also authorized the town to get started on the development agreement with Jim Stoker. Councilwoman Spencer seconded the motion. Mayor Aullman informed the council that the development agreement stated that the developer needed to supply the town with a letter of credit for the amount of the paving of the street. Mayor Aullman expressed his opinion that to protect the town the agreement should state a bond instead a letter of credit. Councilman King informed the council that our ordinances state that a bond will be given to the town for these projects and not a letter of credit. Council also discussed the letter of donation and established that as soon as the documents were finished, filed and dedicated to the town, that a letter of donation would be signed by the town. Councilman Bartleson made the motion to amend the last motion to include a bond for the amount of paving the street instead of a letter of credit. Councilwoman Spencer seconded the amended motion.

Barry Fullmer and Scott White were in attendance to represent “Howard’s Cove”.

Howard’s Cove is the name that they have given to the project by Howard McKims. They showed a drawing representing the approved 18 units with three parking spots per unit. Mayor Aullman asked them if the townhouses have the double firewalls and separate walls to meet the fire marshals rules. Barry stated that the town houses met the states requirements. They informed the council that they had come up with a plan for the irrigation water that runs through this property. They will have a concrete gutter in the middle of their street. They have already talked to the adjacent landowner about redirecting the ditch so that it will come into Howard’s Cove at the middle of the property instead of at the northeast corner. This will take the curve out of the existing ditch and then it will direct the water through the middle of the street and then right back to the ditch at the west end of the property. Mayor Aullman suggested that each deed has a disclaimer attached to it so that each property owner knows that the sloped road is used as an irrigation ditch. Mayor Aullman also suggested that they contact Jade Henderson about the re-routing of the ditch to make sure that it was legal. Scott informed the council that after this point of diversion there is no more irrigation. He suggested that whoever owns the water rights could donate them to the Town of Thayne instead of just abandoning them. The water has not been used on this property for ten years so it is already a subject of abandonment. Scott also suggested that the town visit with Merica, Stoker, Paul and McKim about donating their water rights to the town. Councilman Bartleson stated his opinion that this was a good suggestion from Scott. Robert Aullman informed the council and those in attendance that there is a lot of ground water running through this area most of the time. Barry said that the units were being designed with a sub-pump station. Mayor Aullman stated his opinion that it was a good thing to design for what might happen with the ground water in the coming years, and not just on what was happening there today because it is subject to change. Mayor Aullman asked how they were going to keep the grease and oil from the pavement from running into the canal. Councilman King suggested that they put a filter or some kind of dry well at the end of the ditch. Barry and Scott will work on the things that the town has required and come back to the council when they have reached a solution to the problems.

Robert Aullman gave the council a maintenance report. He reported that the new sander was working well.

Mayor Aullman informed the council and William Klinger that we had contacted Twin D regarding locating sewer lines. It would be a large amount of money to have them come and video the sewer lines. Mayor Aullman suggested different ways that we could locate the line in question for Mr. Klinger. Robert Aullman informed Mr. Klinger that he was pretty sure where the line was. Mr. Klinger asked the council if they would have a problem with him relocating the sewer line. Mayor Aullman replied that the town would not have a problem as long as he met DEQ regulations and kept a 32-foot easement for the sewer line.

Mayor Aullman reported that he and some of the firemen and EMT’s had met with an architect regarding a new EMS building. They will meet again with Randall Hein in January. Clerk Jensen will contact Mr. Hein and schedule the meeting for a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evening.

Clerk Jensen had been contacted regarding possibilities of remodeling the home on 299 Wright St. Part of this home is just a trailer that was connected to the existing home. Council discussed that they would be able to remodel the home and demolish the trailer section. With the zoning of that property they would also be able to put a town house on the existing lot or a business that was connected to the home as long as there was adequate parking.

Mayor Aullman suggested to the council that after the infrastructure was completed on Park Street that the town should rename the street. Park Street was given that name when it was just an entryway to the arena and not a dedicated street. The town has always named their dedicated streets after existing mayors. Park Street will be renamed Myers Street after past Mayor Bart Myers. Council was in agreement with renaming the street.

Council was invited to attend a Business Committed Grant meeting December 18^th at 2:00 p.m.

Mayor Aullman also discussed with the council the study that was done by Sunrise Engineering regarding 8-inch water line connections. Council reviewed the document and discussed that the sewer connections should be based on the size of the water connections. At the present time, the sewer connection is just a flat rate of $2,500.00. Council all agreed that the sewer lines need to be based on the size of the water line. After a short discussion, Mayor Aullman asked for a motion to amend the current tap on fees for sewer to be based on the same size of water tap on fees on first reading. Councilman King made the motion to approve the motion on first reading. Councilman Bartleson seconded the motion.

Council reviewed the bills for payment. Councilwoman Spencer made the motion to pay the bills. Councilman Bartleson seconded the motion.