Council OKs $350,000 for fire training structure

FARMINGTON — Farmington Fire Chief Bill Hellard can seek bids for a training structure to be installed on the city public works property on Broyles Street.

The City Council approved an amount up to $ 350,000 from the general reserve fund for the project.

Hellard said the Fire Department can no longer train in the fire station.

“We’ve crawled around upstairs and through the bay for years and reached the extent of training we can do,” Hellard said, noting he has a lot of young firefighters who like to train and want to do more.

Hellard said he wanted to pursue the project now because towers and facilities are not getting any cheaper.

A fire tower will allow live fire training and provide a place for search and rescue training and ladder training in a building, Hellard said.

In a memo about his request to the council, he said the tower will be a shipping container type structure, up to three stories in height. It will meet all federal and state requirements and also will help improve the insurance rating of the city, he said.

The Farmington Police Department and other smaller fire departments in Washington County, such as Lincoln and Prairie Grove, also will benefit from the tower, Hellard said.

“We all work together on the scene so training together would benefit us,” he told council members.

Council member Hunter Carnahan, a Farmington volunteer firefighter, supported Hellard’s request. Carnahan said he did not receive any live fire training before he responded to his first fire structure.

“The first structure fire I went into, it was the first structure fire I went into,” Carnahan said.

Hellard said he is proposing a structure that can be added to and changed over the years to meet future needs.

The tower will have a fence around it and will be locked, Hellard said.

COUNCIL APPROVES REZONING

In other action, the council approved an ordinance to rezone the property being used for The Grove at Engels Mill from single-family residential to a planned unit development zoning designation.

In all, owner Riverwood Homes LLC is asking to rezone 116 acres for the six phases of the development. The Grove is located off Grace Lane between Folsom Elementary School and the high school and north of Twin Falls subdivision.

Ali Karr with the Crafton Tull engineering firm represented Riverwood Homes at the council meeting and said Crafton Tull is taking over phases 4-6 of the development. Phases 1-2 are finished, and Phase 3 is still under construction.

Karr said the rezoning ordinance corrects property descriptions made in the original planned unit development document approved by the council for phases 1 and 2 and includes rezoning the land for phases 3-6 from single-family residential to a planned unit development.

The only changes for phases 4-6, Karr said, is that the lot depth will be decreased from 120 feet to 115 feet.

The side setback will be 5 feet, except for lots next to Twin Falls subdivision. Those lots will have a side setback of 10 feet.

Each lot will have one tree. The planned unit development includes landscaping around the detention pond and a wrought iron fence around the cemetery located within the development.

When The Grove is built out in an estimated four- to six-year time frame, it will have a total of 410 houses, she said.

The council adopted the rezoning ordinance in one meeting and also approved an emergency clause for the ordinance.

NEW COURT SOFTWARE

The council also approved a request from Kim Bentley, district court chief clerk, to purchase Laserfiche document management software to be used by court and the city.

Bentley said she has wanted the Laserfiche software for five years and had been told she couldn’t get it. She said she learned from Keith Macedo, a local IT professional and a member of the Farmington Planning Commission, that she “absolutely” could get it.

The initial cost will be $37,448.50 for the software, which includes the annual subscription and support of about $5,000. Of the balance, District Judge Graham Nations has agreed to pay for one-half the cost from the court automation fund.

The city is using an older system that is very slow, Bentley told council members. She said Laserfiche will make the workflow more efficient for the court and the city.

Macedo, who has been an IT manager and director for 26 years with local governments, said he has used Laserfiche for 19 years and recommends it.

“I’m definitely a Laserfiche evangelist,” Macedo said.

OTHER NEWS

For the monthly financial report, Mayor Ernie Penn said revenue from the city sales tax is down slightly for January and February, compared to the same periods last year.

“I don’t know what kind of trend that is,” Penn said. “I will monitor that for the next six months. I hope it is not a trend that will continue.”

Revenue from the state sales tax is up for January and February, compared to the same period in 2022.

Council member Sherry Mathews said she is meeting with the homeowners association in the Farmington Heights subdivision about the city purchasing amenities for their community green space using money the city has in its “payment in lieu of land” account.

She has asked the residents to come up with three items they would like.

During the public comment period at the beginning of the meeting, two women proposed having a citywide garage sale June 2-3, the same weekend as The Junk Ranch in Prairie Grove.

They asked the city to waive yard sale fees that weekend, noting a citywide yard sale during the busy weekend would bring traffic to Farmington, and by waiving fees, more people might be encouraged to host a yard sale.

Penn said city officials would consider the request. The council does not respond to comments or questions made during the public comment period but takes those under advisement.