Special Meeting 9/16/2007

Village of Thurston

Council Meeting Minutes

September 26, 2007

**** SPECIAL MEETING ****

Special Meeting called to order at 7:35 p= m by Mayor Mary Barber. Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Thurston Village Council roll call: Robert Ortman – present

= ; Warren Simpson – present

= ; Ed Vanek – present

= ; Vickie Carroll – present

= ; Laura Clark – present

= ; Detria Hiles – present

= ; Mary Barber – present

= ; Aaron Reedy – present

&nb= sp;

Baltimore Village Council roll call:=

Robert Hankison – p= resent

Judy Landis - present

Jim Hochradel - present

Tony House - present

Chuck Keller - present

Dwayne Mohler - present

Also present from Baltimore were Marsha Hall, Flo Welker, Dennis Rose.= Michelle Shumaker, Thurston Village Administrator, was also present.=

Aaron announced that this special joint meeting was called to discuss contract issues between the Village of Thurston and the Village of Baltimor= e. Marsha Hall will be speaking on be= half of the Council of the Vil= lage of Baltimore.<= /o:p>

Marsha said when Aaron and Michelle conta= cted her regarding their concern of rising water costs to the Village of Thurston= , she looked into some options. There are several options available, depending on which direction both entities wanted to take. She also said= there were organizations in existence who can assist smaller communities in contr= act documentation.

Marsha said she reviewed the income and expenses for the Baltimore water system for the entire year of 2006.&= nbsp; She split expenses into three categories; processing (plant) charges; distribution (line repairs, meters, valves); and “all other”(insurance, engineering, etc).= Looking at the entire year’s revenue, Thurston’s portion= of the water revenue for Baltimor= e was about 19.2%. Applying that percentage then to the expenses, she came up with about $32,000 of the expe= nses was Thurston’s portion. In 2006, Thurston paid Baltimore<= /st1:place> about $68,000 for water. Thurston’s portion of the expenses (minus distribution) was $32,000, leaving a $36,000 difference.&nbs= p; Adding in distribution, the total expenses were close to the $68,000 Thurston paid.

Marsha agrees there is room for negotiati= on, the two entities just need to work a contract out. No one is familiar with how things= (the contract) were put together back in the 1970’s. Baltimore Council is hoping Thurst= on doesn’t feel Baltimore as been purposefully “gouging” them; this contract was put toge= ther years ago, and both parties have just been going along with it. Now is the time to review it and s= ee what can be done.

Council members discussed where services = fit in the grand scheme of things – both water and sewer. They spoke also spoke of what territories they could provide services.&n= bsp; Both Councils would like to re-examine the water contract, but would also like to discuss joint services and development agreements. All members agreed it makes better= sense to work together rather than to fight each other.

Ed said we need to work together. He feels Baltimore is going to move towards Thur= ston whether we like it or not. He= said we should possibly consider a Joint Economic Development District (JEDD).

Mary asked when Baltimore Council started talking about our rates and services. Marsha said for about a year. Detria said we feel we have some major problems with our meters. We need to get them replaced.=

Tony House said they’ve been doing a water study. Their plant is seventy-five years old. He wo= uld like Thurston to be present for the presentation by their engineer. It will be on October 16^{th at
7:00 p.m. at the Baltimor=
e
Municipal Building. The plan is finished – they =
will
be reviewing the findings.}

Marsha said there is a debt service fee on the sewer in Baltimore. As new development comes in, they = will try to find a way to transfer the debt service to water over time. What they have now is normal opera= tional income.

Detria asked if the inclusion of Thurston benefit the possibility of them getting grants. Marsha said joint applications get scored higher.

Population projections were discussed. They’ve slowed down due to t= he slow housing market. Baltimore has mod= ified their land-use plan. TheyR= 17;re also reviewing the needs on some streets to increase water line sizes. They have a few streets with ¾” lines. Detria= said that when our entities start getting deeper into details, there could be so= me major line replacements in Thurston that need done.

Marsha said most contracts have review po= ints every few years to allow for modifications to the agreements. Aaron asked where we go from here.= Marsha suggested having a smaller, independent committee meetings discuss things. There’s more freedom for brainstorming and discussion.

Detria asked if Baltimore came prepared with an offer &= #8211; or some sort of “skeleton” contract to start with. Marsha said no, and that the costs= would be based on what responsibilities each entity will have. Detria feels Baltimore should make the first offer.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Aaron said he feels Thurston first= needs to figure out what we want to happen.

Judy Landis said she would think Thurston would want to be part of the grown and development in the area. Marsha said there is a lot more th= at we agree on than we disagree on.

Mary asked Ernie Harter about how things = got started between Thurston and Baltimore. Ernie discussed how Bal= timore kept raising Thurston’s rates, which led to the lawsuit in the 1980’s. He said the con= tract we have now was created by the judge and lawyers from Thurston and Baltimore. He brought up the = meter at the Keck’s property and said he feels Baltimore should not have pulled that a= nd put their own in.

Tony House said he would hope that all the mistrust can be overcome. Jim Hochradel agreed and said he would like for us not to use the words “= taking over”, but “entering into a contract with”. Marsha said we can work together a= nd learn to trust each other. We= can then go out to the public in a united front.

Jim said it’s possible that we could break the current contract early if both entities agree, and put a new cont= ract in place. Thurston could then= get the benefits of it sooner. Cu= rrent contract ends in 2014. Jim al= so said they need to know where Thurston is going to be over the next several years. That will help Baltimore plan fo= r our future water needs. With us working together, it will help Baltimo= re know where they need to be in the next several years.

Both councils discussed development in the area and how that would help bring jobs into the area for all our residents. Both sides need to= work close together. Mary said we = can setup a small committee to be meeting with Baltimore to figure out where to go from here. It was decided to have = three representatives from both sides be on the committee. This will be:

&nb= sp; Thurston:<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Mary Barber, Ed Vanek, Aaron Reedy=

&nb= sp; Baltimore: Tony House, Dennis Rose, Marsha Ha= ll

Ed made a motion to take a five minute break. Laura second. All yea.

After the break, Ed made a motion to go i= nto executive session to discuss annexation, allowing the Councils, Village Administrators, and Clerks from both entities to remain in the meeting room. Laura second. All yea. The time is 8:55.

At 9:40 p.m., Ed made a motion to come ou= t of executive session. Detria second. All yea. The time is 9:40 p.m.

Ed made a motion to adjourn. Robert second. All yea. Time is 9:41 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,=

_______________________________

Aaron L. Reedy, Clerk