GOLDSTREAM MOOSE CREEK SERVICE AREA MEETING

Ken Kunkel Community Center

 

APRIL 27, 2006

 

The meeting was called to order by Chair Clint Meyer at 7:08 a.m., at the Ken Kunkel Community Center.

 

MEMBERS PRESENT   Clint Meyer, Mario Gho, Ed Herrgard, Diane Herrmann (Alternate), Pete Simpson, and Alfred Sturmann

 

MEMBER ABSENT        Doreen Fitzgerald (Excused)

 

CONTRACTOR PRESENT          Joan S. O’Leary, Alaska Forget-Me-Not Word Processing Service

 

Quorum was established.

 

GUESTS PRESENT

            Bob and Sharon Baker

            Deborah Koons

            G. H. Pessel

            Christina Worker

                        (List attached to original minutes)

 

Clint Meyer welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked those interested residents for their attendance.

 

1.   Approve Minutes of September 24, 2005 Meeting.

Motion made and seconded (M.Gho/D.Herrmann) to approve the minutes of September 24, 2005. Minutes are posted on the Website. No further discussion or objection. Motion passes.

 

2.   Budget for GMC (Goldstream Moose Creek) Service Area.

Clint had provided the commissioners with a copy of the budget and one was passed around for everyone to look at. We are down to $500, with $17,000 in the savings account, plus our $8,000 reserve, so we are in good shape. The culverts needed to be steamed twice this year and the big culvert two different times. Clint explained that he calls Fairbanks Pumping and Thawing directly and schedules it and the bill is sent to M&M and then the bill is passed on to us. Deborah said we still need some money for road signs. Clint said there is a purchase order for that with about $400 left. And also a purchase order for Alaska Forget-Me-Not and M&M. Ed said the stop sign was knocked over but the State put it back up. The Moose Mountain sign needs to be replaced. Deborah stated we wanted to put rivets on the signs for prevention of theft, as the State won’t do that. Discussion was held on the various signs that needed to be repaired or replaced. Clint said he relies on the people on those roads to call him regarding signs and such things. Mario stated on Frenchmen the sign was gone so he called DNR and they came over and put the stop sign up. Clint said we need to make sure all the road signs are up. Clint thinks the Moose Mountain sign is the only one missing and he has the other signs. Clint will check with the State on the Moose Mountain sign.

 

Pete suggested increasing our maintenance costs and bringing it closer to a 2-mill rate. Clint said you need to have 75% of the people to vote to increase their taxes. This was discussed and we need to have definitive things that we are going to do.

 

3.   Road Improvements

a.   Keystone Road]

Clint’s suggestion was to finish up Keystone as we have the money to do that. Then we are done with that except for the scheduled maintenance in 2007.

b.   Moose Mountain Road

Clint stated the plans for Moose Mountain Road was to repair a couple of spots on the main road where water is running out on the road. On Monteverde West it definitely needs some repair. No major upgrades just start picking out those driveways that need to be raised up and get the water off the road. Specific driveways where the work needed to be done were discussed.

c.   Brushcutting - Moose Mountain Road 2006, Spinach Creek 2007

This year will be Moose Mountain Road in 2006 and Spinach Creek in 2007. This had been discussed previously. M&M felt it would be cheaper for us to do brushcutting by the hour than by the acre. This was discussed as to which would be cheaper and how much he can do in an hour. Pete said a lot of people do their own brushing.

 

4.   New Proposed Subdivision off Moose Mountain Road

a.   Culverts

This plat has not been to the borough yet. Clint had heard through Pete that Roger wanted to put a new culvert in. On the plat it shows a culvert penciled in kind of where he wants it to go. This area was discussed. There are 15 lots. Clint would like to see a detailed drawing of the proposed culvert and the catch basin that Roger wants to put in there and have it approved by a real engineer of roads. This would be perfectly adequate if he puts it in. It would be a real plus for him and a good thing for the service area. Trent said he would keep an eye on this plat coming through. A suggestion was made to contact Martin Gutowski at the Platting Board that the service area be contacted and to get a copy of this plat and to be able to comment on the plat before approval.

 

5.   Clusterboxes (Mailboxes)

a.   Installation

The clusterboxes will be delivered tomorrow to Clint’s house. Clean-up date is May 13th, so this would be a good day. Mario said this is when people are going to be thinking about the community and they will be out. This was set for 10:00 a.m., on May 13th.

b.   How Many Boxes Available

Mario has six people who have paid. One of one should be saved for the Service Area’s mailbox. There are 13 in a cluster, so there are six left. Chris had one person who wanted a box and was out of town and she is unable to contact her. Mario had a lady who was out of town and he said send the money and she did. Clint stated the keys have changed but the boxes look the same. Clint got Chris 50 other keys and blanks. Chris said there is plenty room for the keys in the box she has. These are a higher security key and cannot be reproduced at a key place. So Clint ordered blanks. They will have to contact Chris if they need a new key made.

c.   Rural Mailboxes

1.   Residents are responsible for snow removal in front of their own boxes for mail carrier’s delivery of their mail

Clint heard through rumor that the post office is going to get nasty on the posts that are protecting our mailboxes. They want them out of there. If they want them out, let the post office take them out. Diane said they would not do that. They will just stop delivering the mail. The mail carrier left someone a note last year in their mailbox to clean the snow around the mailbox. She received a note back from them that it is not their responsibility to clean the snow in front of the mailbox. It’s your responsibility as a carrier to get out and shovel it. Deborah elaborated on this. The mail carrier is not supposed to get out of their car. They should be able to drive up to the mailboxes and deliver the mail. When we put those buffer posts there, that forces her to get out of the car. A discussion was held on liability regarding the posts and mail delivery. If anyone comes up with any ideas regarding the posts and informing the residents bring those ideas along to the May 13th installation.

 

6.   Community Input on Overall Winter Condition of Roads

Mario felt we did great on the roads this winter. The last big snowstorm in March they were a long time getting to us. Clint said that was because we did a plowing a week before and it snowed three days in a row. Clint felt it wasn’t much sense in plowing and then turn around and plowing it again. If we want to plow more often, Clint will be happy to spend the money, but he was just trying to wait it out for one plow. They have 24 hours to respond. It was only this one time but some of these storms are tricky. Everyone was in agreement to use the money on road improvement instead of unnecessary snowplowing. Driveways were discussed and people plowing their driveways. Mario asked if we had any complaints from the school bus drivers. Clint said we got one call regarding Hardluck. Clint told them they were plowing the next morning and he said okay.

 

Pete said Water Wagon said they would be charging more if we do not have the roads graded in the summer because it is beating their truck up so much. Grading of the roads was discussed and limiting the people from going so fast causing the washboard roads. Diane felt a little public education would go a long way. Diane will be doing the newsletter again and Clint has some information for her.

 

7.   Need criteria established as to when Commissioner calls out for road gravelling in winter. Discussion.

Diane brought this matter up with Clint. We should come to some kind of decision or criteria of winter gravelling on the roads. Pete had asked Roger about putting some extra in for gravelling as they are the ones who use this road the most. We are responsible for the roads no matter who uses them. A sandbox was suggested for the intersection instead of calling out the sand truck. It was suggested that every time the road is bladed then it should be sanded. Pete said it is relative to the temperature. There is a minimal call out and two-ton is the minimal he will bring out. Clint explained the area this would cover. It is around $90.00 for this. Ed felt sanding was only needed at the stop sign. The only time Clint had called out was for the ski hill. That is a discussion we should have with Moose Mountain as this is a commercial operation in a residential area and if this is a responsibility for us to take care of the buses and the cars going up on a commercial application. Mostly it is the skiers that have slid off the roads and not the residents. Clint felt that when they have the ski meets that is their issue then. We will take care of it otherwise. So the consensus was to do a sandbox at Moose Mountain and Spinach Creek and if it gets bad then we will deal with it.

 

Discussion was held on the extension road by Pete’s. Clint said it is the service area road up to the back of Pete’s property line. Pete stated it ends at the power line. There was concern of an emergency vehicle getting lost with no place to turn around. Pete suggested a sign that said No Turnaround Ahead. Clint had called Golden Valley and we don’t have to keep it open for that. So maybe we will just stop plowing that. We can’t put barrels up. It has to be either open or closed. If we put a gate up, then we have to erect a no turnabout sign. Clint said the borough standard is 1,300 feet from the beginning of a road to the end of the cul-de-sac. So Clint always sees that area is plowed. If Roger elects to put up a gate, then we do not need to plow it but erect the sign. Pete said there is a big sinkhole up there and Pete doesn’t like it because he has to look at it all the time. This road is only used in the winter at ski meets. Clint will ask Trent and see if we can turn this into a private road, with a gate down at the bottom and drop it off our list. It is 333 feet from the corner up to where the property line. Other then the buses and kids going up there to party no one else uses this road. Pete and Mario suggested the gate and putting up the sign and then it is up to us if we want to plow it. Clint will find out the cost of the sign.

 

Chris mentioned her concern of the kids using the road as a sledding area. It has happened several times, so we probably need to do something about this. She had them sliding down the road at her. The issue is if she is not completely stopped and they hit me, that is on her insurance. They come in from the University generally. Also mentioned were people using the ski hills and cars driving back and forth all night long. Roger had said that his insurance does not cover him if there is no ski patrol on that hill.

 

8.   Letter about Keystone/Spinach Creek intersection and Keystone extension.

A letter was passed around about the Keystone and will be attached to the minutes.

 

9.   Community Website Maintenance. Discussion.

Clint stated the cost of this is $50 every two years for a Website. Clint does not have a problem with the $50 every two years, but the big issue is once Jen and whoever quits maintaining it. We need to consider the long-term ramifications of this and are we going to have someone who will want to continue with it. Mario stated to continue it for the next couple years and review it every couple years. Maybe someone else in the community is willing to maintain it and if not, just cut it off. Clint will talk to Jen if she will continue it for another two years.

 

10.  Next Meeting Date

Deborah stated we are supposed to do this every three months and feels if we do it every six months we get just as much accomplished. Clint said that Rural Services is happy that all of us are fairly proactive in the service area. Rural Services likes to see the minutes and know what is happening in that service area. Someone suggested if something important comes up a special meeting could be called. The next meeting date was set for 7:00 p.m. Thursday, September 28, 2006 at Ken Kunkel Community Center.

 

Other Comments

Diane went to the District meeting and wanted to know if we needed to get our wish list up to date. They are hoping by October to have it figured out how they are going to divide up that money. Clint said we have seven projects from $23,000 to $255,000. Clint felt we had a good project list. Clint will see if we can add sandbox to that list.

 

Adjournment

With no further business to come before the Commission, the meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

 

            DRAFT

 

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April 27, 2006                GOLDSTREAM MOOSE CREEK SERVICE AREA MEETING                Page 4 of 5