GRANDVIEW CITY COUNCIL
STUDY SESSION MINUTES
JULY 16, 2007
Mayor Norm Childress called
the study session to order at 6:45 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Present were:
Mayor Norm Childress and Councilmembers Helen Darr, Bill Flory, Pam
Horner, Jan McDonald, Robert Morales, Javier Rodriguez and Joan Souders.
Staff present were:
City Administrator Scott D. Staples, City Attorney Jack Maxwell, Public
Works Director Cus Arteaga, Fire Chief Pat Mason and City Clerk Anita Palacios.
2.
CHERRY LANE SURPLUS PROPERTY EXCHANGE WITH M&R CONSTRUCTION AND
DEVELOPMENT
Public Works Director
Arteaga explained that the Manhattan Estates Subdivision was approximately 80%
complete and in front of Lots 40, 41 and 42, the City has a 14-foot section of
road right-of-way that was of no value to the City since the road improvements
to Cherry Lane have been completed.
The developer of the Manhattan Estates Subdivision, M&R Construction and
Development, proposed to trade the City property around the Cherry Lane Lift
Station for City right-of-way in front of the three lots.
In addition to the trade of private property, the developer offered to
re-side and paint the lift station so it would match the new homes in the
subdivision. He recommended Council
approve the property exchange along with the remodeling of the Cherry Lane Lift
Station by declaring the property surplus and having the City Attorney prepare
the necessary documents for the property exchange.
Following discussion,
Council concurred and agreed to surplus and exchange 14 feet of road
right-of-way along Lots 40, 41, and 42 of the Manhattan Estates Subdivision to
M&R Construction and Development for property adjacent to the Cherry Lane Lift
Station and the remodeling of the Cherry Lane Lift Station.
Council instructed the City Attorney to prepare the necessary documents
to surplus and exchange the property.
3.
SECOND RITE CREMATION BURIALS
Public Works Director
Arteaga explained that in the past, the City has allowed a family member who was
cremated to be buried at the foot of an adult family member_s
space. In 2005, staff experienced a
problem when a family buried the cremated remains of a family member at the foot
of another family members
grave and six months later another family member protested the burial claiming
that the family did not consult her for approval.
The family member who made the arrangements had the family
power-of-attorney and staff did not have any reason to question the request.
At that time, the City Attorney recommended that staff discontinue this
service due to the difficulty of verifying that all family members had agreed to
the burial arrangements. Staff has
continued to receive requests for cremation burial services at the foot of
family member_s
graves. Other cemeteries allow
these requests by charging a fee for
Second Rite
Burial
and endowment care. In addition, a
waiver holding the City harmless would be prepared and signed by the person who
has the power of attorney for the family.
He recommended Council authorize staff to work with the City Attorney to
prepare a hold harmless waiver and an ordinance implementing a fee for the
burial and endowment care for second rite cremation burials at the foot of an
adult grave.
Following discussion,
Council concurred and authorized staff to prepare the necessary documentation to
allow for second rite cremation burial.
4.
MUTUAL AID AGREEMENT WITH HANFORD FIRE DEPARTMENT
Fire Chief Mason requested
Council consider entering into a mutual aid agreement with the Hanford Fire
Department for the following reasons:
_
Opportunity to use mutual
aid agreement with Hanford Fire Department in grant requests.
_
Reduced cost to use HAMMER
training facility.
_
Opportunity to bid on
surplus equipment if desired.
_
Availability of additional
resources if needed for an emergency response.
_
Heavy Rescue
Confined
space, trench rescue, low to high angle rescue and mobile SCBA air supply
capabilities.
_
Aerial
85
platform truck with master stream capability and additional smaller aerial
units.
_
Hazardous Materials Response
Team
Fully
trained Hazardous Materials team including chemists and necessary equipment.
_
Mobile Command Unit
mobile
command unit with multiple program capable communications capabilities and
individual stations for ICS players.
_
Large manpower resource to
draw from.
During meetings with Chief
Kirks of the Hanford Fire Department, the following concerns were expressed and
responses received:
_
Would these mutual aid
agreements be used to diminish the number of firefighters on the Hanford Fire
Department
Chief Kirks
advised that was not a part of the reasoning for pursuing mutual aid agreements
and that the government was required to maintain a fully staffed department due
to the types of potentials found on the site.
_
Would our personnel be
utilized in such a manner that they would need even more training to respond to
some of the special situations that could present themselves with this type of a
facility
Chief Kirks
advised that our firefighters would not be able to respond to nuclear or
chemical problems on site because of security and safety issues. He advised that
our resources would be utilized in such a way as to take care of everyday type
emergencies like we currently all ready respond to, while their resources might
be tied up on a major incident.
The City currently has
mutual aid agreements with the other departments in Yakima County that could
provide the majority of resources listed above.
It was noted that mutual aid resources were not required to respond if
not available for one reason or another, so there would be a benefit to having
multiple options to choose from if one provider was not available.
Following discussion,
Council concurred and authorized staff to prepare the necessary resolution and
mutual aid agreement for consideration at the August 6th meeting.
The study session adjourned
at 7:25 p.m.
__________________________
__________________________
Mayor Norm Childress
Anita Palacios, City Clerk