Troy City Council Business Meeting; City of Troy approves Noise Ordinance
By Ashley South
Fifteen or so community members gathered for the Troy City Council Business Meeting on September 21, in the council chambers. Following the pledge of allegiance, a public comment period was open for matters on the agenda.
A handful of community members spoke in regard to the 1st reading of the proposed noise ordinance No 2022-819, requesting longer time periods for the noise ordinance on the weekends, and the possibility of creating a committee to create a fourth option for a noise ordinance.
Closing the public comment period, the council members discussed the 1st reading for the change of the council meeting day ordinance No 2022-818. The City Council members voted all in favor to change the meeting day to the third Monday of the month.
Next on the agenda was the discussion and vote for the proposed noise ordinance. After hearing from the public and making a few suggested changes for snow removal, the council members voted all in favor for option two of the noise ordinance.
The noise ordinance includes permits for events that can go beyond the restrictions of the ordinance.
“We want to make sure we are making good decisions for the whole town with this ordinance” said Crystal Denton Council Member.
All past city council meeting minutes were approved from June 15th to August 17th, 2022. Following approved business, the council discussed the approval to cover a portion of the gas expenses for the Roosevelt Park and Museum hosts.
“They love their job, they really do” said Tracy Rebo City Clerk and Treasurer.
The council voted all in favor for supporting cost.
A member of the public approached the council members with interest of allowing horses on his property located in city limits. Horses are currently not permitted in city limits due to limited space and unavailable care options. It was discussed and the council members ultimately could not allow horses to be allowed in city limits.
Next on the agenda the city council members approved the installation of drywells on 2nd street. The approval will help with flooding issues along 2nd street and highway 2.
The LWCF grant agreement was approved to start projects at the Troy Museum and Roosevelt Park. Some of the projects include a new skatepark, splash pad, and bathrooms.
For old business there was nothing to report except for the mention of the Bonneville Power Rebate Program for energy efficiency. This topic has been discussed for multiple past city council meetings. The city of Troy is one of 120 publicly owned utilities that purchases its power from Bonneville.
According to Lindsey Hobbs, the Energy Efficiency Representative from the Spokane Washington office stated during the September 14th Troy City Council Meeting, the energy efficiency rebate program enables economic viability for end users. It allows lower costs and less energy used for businesses and communities. Bonneville power offers budgets and incentive programs for towns and cities to create programs to lower power costs and usage for communities.
“I don’t think you are going to have a hard time spending your budget but what I want to do is help you prioritize what to spend your funding on, like low income or grid space. Those are all things I can help you do.” Said Lindsey Hobbs.
The city has a budget from Bonneville of $60,000 right now. This budget is based on a couple rate periods of accumulations. Bonneville functions on a two-year rate period and the end of this rate period is September 30th of 2023. Then a new budget will be allocated on a tier one cost allocation otherwise known as TOKA. This is based on the amount of power you have purchased over the last two years, historically the city has received $40,000 per rate period from those power purchases and those are designated for energy efficiency programs. If the funding is not spent in the two-year period a city can bank it and roll it forward, but it is not infinite. Within this period, the city will need to spend up to $10,000 or gift it to another entity. This money is rate payer dollars and needs to go back into the community. Bonneville doesn’t require the budget to be divided equally between city sectors, residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or your utility.
Many utilities choose to invest in their infrastructure like street and security lighting, schools, and fire house upgrades. Commercial and industrial rebates are a little different because commercial sells products like grocery stores, and industrial manufactures a product or processes things like wastewater treatment plants.
The incentives for these are available to increase the productivity and efficiency of business and entities in communities to lessen greater impact on the local grid. A remodeled building that is residential or commercial can apply for rebates and incentives to weatherize and upgrade buildings to bring them up to code and ultimately save power and funding.
“You can choose what you incentivize, you are in control of your budget and the energy efficiency programs you offer.” Said Lindsey Hobbs.
The department heads gave their reports for the month of September, beginning with the power department.
They worked on fixing malfunctioning wires and meters and fixing a power outage from lightening. They put out a tree fire and serviced the new Town Pump Building. The crew set a new power pole at the Forest Service near the airport and trimmed trees along ally ways and the railroad.
The Troy Police Department reported they are recertifying all officers in CPR, AED, FA, and ongoing firearm training. They are servicing all police vehicles and looking for funding to purchase new radios. The police is preparing for upcoming events in the Troy area including the Apple Festival, Halloween, and the Christmas Tree Lighting.
The Public Works and water department reported they are maintaining the sprinkler system, cemetery mowing and plot measuring, helped the power company with their wire reel, and fixed some asphalt around the storm drains by the fire hall. A new water meter was replaced at a residence and pulled out the sewer pump at the main lift station.
The City Clerk and Treasurer reported she got the ACH email bill modules for utility billing set up, and it works well. Now they can do email billing for utilities and ACH payments.
The city currently has one hundred accounts and ten percent signed up for email billing with eighty-five for ACH.
The cemetery program has been installed on the cloud and currently getting all the information transferred to the program.
The Pedalers park final report and request for funds has been submitted, and the city is waiting to hear if it is closed or not. The playground shade cover has been ordered.
The City Clerk contacted MMIA regarding the claim that was submitted for the vandalism. The walking path lights are not covered and have a very high deductible. The city is waiting to hear about the coverage options.
The next city council meeting will be the 17th of October.