The Clearwater City Council voted, 4-0 Monday to pay $20,000 to cover its share to re-do all 106 driveways in the Northeast Area Street and Utility Project.

 

Since last year, residents have complained about  their vehicles rubbing against the high-angled driveways.

 

At last month’s meeting Engineer Kevin Bittner said he met with the contractor and had potentially resolved the issue by dividing the cost between the city, engineering firm and contractor.

 

He said he distributed door-to-door notices to offer residents the opportunity to have their driveways changed to the knock-down curb. At the time, he said he had received 42 responses. The council directed him to mail the notices to residents, with a no-response being the same as declining the offer.

 

Monday, a memo from Bittner said 54 residents had requested a driveway change and seven declined. The rest were no response.

 

With 45 not responding, members of the council felt something more had to be done.

 

“What happens if something pops up at a later date?” asked Councilman Chris Ritzer. “I’d hate to give them the go-ahead and then three weeks later we’re sitting here doing the same thing with another five driveways.”

 

“I just think with such high numbers we should have some kind of confirmation,” said Councilman Mike Ranum.

 

Mayor Pete Edmonson said there wasn’t much the city could do, unless they tried to contract all the residents who didn’t respond.

 

“The only other thing we can do is have the council or direct staff to walk around on nights or the weekend and get them to sign a form,” he said.

 

Ranum said the city should just do all the driveways, but he wasn’t sure what it would cost.

 

Administrator Kevin Kress said he thought it would cost the city $20,000, which was the amount it would have cost if the original contract had been changed to include knock-down driveways.

 

“Unless I was wrong, my understanding was that the $20,000 would cover them all,” he said. “But I’ll have to confirm that with Mr. Bittner.

 

“That wasn’t my understanding,” said Ritzer.

 

Since Bittner wasn’t at the meeting and the council wasn’t sure what the cost would be to do all the driveways, they voted to approved up to $20,000 move ahead with the knock-down curbs with any additional amounts to be negotiated at the next meeting.

 

The council tabled a decision on contracting with Bolton & Menk to prepare a utility master plan. The firm is proposing to develop a plan regarding extending water and sewer to accommodate future growth outside city limits.

 

The proposed fee is $22,500 to complete the plan by July 18.

 

“It’s more than I expected. After talking with some staff and a few residents, it sounds like the city might have had a preliminary plan put together,” said Kress. “If that’s the case, I’d like to see a draft design before we go ahead on this.”

 

The council approved an official job description for the mayor and city council members.

 

The council also approved a policy setting specific procedures for discussing and approving council meeting agenda and consent agenda.

 

The council approved vacating an undeveloped  33-foot portion of Bluff Street to be taken over by Elm Street resident Mike Allen. A public hearing was held by the Clearwater Planning Commission to hear testimony from adjacent residents. There were no objections from other residents.

 

In other action the council:

• Approved a tax exempt temporary gambling permit for Rejoice Lutheran Church to hold a raffle at the annual Fall Festival Sept. 24;

 

• Amended the city’s fee schedule to include a $25 registration fee in  accordance with the new Domestic Partnership Ordinance.