The INDEPENDENT, April 17, 2003
Page 13
anks Council returns to nuisance abatement, park maintenance
Nuisance abatement, the
park maintenance agreement,
and the impact of PERS on city
funding were the main items at
the Banks City Council meeting
April 8.
Nuisance Abatement
Last month, apartments lo
cated at 263 and 265 Wilkes St.
were declared in violation of
the city nuisance ordinance.
The property owner was sent a
letter requiring compliance by
late March, according to city at
torney Jim Lucas. Police Chief
Daryl Crandall showed council
photos of the property from last
month and this month that
clearly indicate the condition of
the property has continued to
degrade.
In a phone conversation, Lu
cas said, the property owner
seems anxious to clean up the
property, but claims that the
cars and garbage in question
belong to a renter. Councilor
Kirk Andrews said that half of
the building has two year old
fire damage, and wondered if
this would meet the city’s at
tractive nuisance ordinance.
Council directed Crandall to
draft another letter detailing re
quirements and granted the
homeowner until May 13, the
next city council meeting, to
comply.
Park Maintenance Pact
David Valdez, secretary
treasurer of the Arbor Village
Homeowners
Association
(AVHA), brought an AVHA pro
posal to council in February,
outlining a process for the city
to take over maintenance of
Greenville Park. The cost for
maintaining the park is current
ly included in AVHA member
fees, though the park is owned
by the city. Valdez told council
that this creates tension and
that AVHA was looking for an
equitable and responsible solu
tion.
The plan proposed by AVHA
has an 18-month take-over
time to allow the city and AVHA
to secure funding for continued
maintenance of the park. Be
ginning July 1, 2003, the plan
calls for the city to take over re
sponsibility for irrigation of the
park. The association pays ap
proximately $9,000 annually to
irrigate. Because the city sells
water at the same amount it
costs to produce clean water,
city irrigation expense would be
the same, according to Mayor
Bob Orlowski. The AVHA plan
would further have the city take
over the entire cost, approxi
mately $30,000, at the begin
ning of the 2004-2005 fiscal year.
According to Valdez, AVHA
members don’t anticipate any
reduction in the amount they
pay for park maintenance. Us
ing the example of a park levy,
which would assess fees based
on property values, Valdez said
it could result in higher costs for
many homeowners, but that it
is more equitable to spread the
cost throughout the city, since
all city residents use the park.
Responding to a question
from Andrews about how much
would have to be raised to cov
er park maintenance costs,
Valdez said that an additional
$5 fee on the water bills would
cover current costs. Orlowski
noted that the city’s water rates
are currently among the high
est, compared to thirty other
cities. Councilor Pete Edison-
added that all cities pay for their
parks.
Speaking from the audience,
Franklin Smith asked why
council could not simply sell the
land for more houses in order
to increase income for the city,
Orlowski explained that deed-
ing the park to the city was part
of the land use approval that al-
lowed the development to be
built. The city can use the land
for a park, only, not for any an-
other purpose, Orlowski said.
The city’s general fund will
be reduced in the next fiscal
year because of the loss of to
bacco settlement money, Or
lowski explained, and because
the city has very few buildable
lots remaining, there will not be
much income from building
fees. Orlowski explained further
that a levy can be put on the
ballot, either by the council or
through the initative process,
and reminded council that they
have already placed a police
department levy on the ballot
this year.
The discussion ended when
Valdez said that AVHA has re
ceived a verbal opinion from
their attorney that the city has
“legal exposure.” Council will
continue the discussion in ex
ecutive session next month, af
ter the city attorney has an op
portunity to speak with repre
sentatives of AVHA and their at
torney.
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PERS Increase
When a public employee ac
crues more than 600 hours in a
calendar year, Mayor Orlowski
told the council, Public Employ
ees Retirement System (PERS)
benefits are triggered. Two li
brary employees have met this
threshold and the city will be re-
quired to pay PERS benefits for
them. Orlowski complimented
the library staff for including
both this increased expenditure
and building a beginning fund
balance to cover the possibility
of the library levy failing (which
¡t did). However, Orlowski told
council that he does not want
the city to get in a position of
having increasing, uncontrol-
lable expenses, such as man-
dated PERS benefits, when
revenues are stable or falling.
Orlowski asked council to
consider setting a policy that no
city employee could work more
than 600 hours without council
approval. Further, he asked
that council direct the library to
roll back the hours of the two
positions that have qualified for
PERS benefits to less than the
600 hour threshold so that
those positions could be re
moved from the PERS roll.
Library com m issioner Ed
Ohlman told council that it will
be difficult to attract qualified
people to work at greatly re
duced hours. The current posi
tions are held by two half-time
employees, and would have to
be filled by four employees to
stay under the 600 hour limit.
N open1-
Breakfast
• Mayor Orlowski informed
council that the city’s insurance
carrier is looking for a less ex
pensive alternative for employ
ee health insurance.
• Brock Banks told council
that the parks committee would
be re-bidding the landscaping
contract for a three-year period
in order to reduce expense.
• Appointed Jeannette Gar-
nsey, Brian Biehl, Dee Coffey,
Robert Murdoch, Gary Coffey,
John
Deegan
and
Jim
Branstitre to the budget com
mittee.
• Approved the budget cal
endar. Presentation of the
budget message will be at the
first meeting on April 23 at 7:00
p.m. The budget committee will
also meet April 30, with addi
tional meetings scheduled for
May 7 and 14, if needed. A
budget hearing will be held May
21 and the budget will be
adopted at the June 10 council
meeting.
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Councilor Ryan Birr asked if
it would be possible to draft a
policy that no city position could
expand the number of hours
worked to the point that retire
ment benefits were triggered.
Discussion ended when Lu
cas suggested that the item
should be included on the regu
lar agenda in order to ensure
that those affected received ad
equate notice. The discussion
will be continued in May.
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